In Daniel 7 there are four beasts described, from a vision Daniel had, each representing a prophetic kingdom. If you remember, in Daniel 2 there were also four kingdoms represented by four sections of a statue. Those were four ancient kingdoms, each succeeding the previous one, with all of them ruling the Asia Minor and Mesopotamian region at one time. Babylon, Persia, Greece/Alexander and Rome - I wrote a blog about it once. Those four ancient kingdoms seem to share some similarity with the kingdoms prophesied with the four beasts, but they are not the same; there are some distinct differences. The most obvious difference is the fourth beast. It has iron teeth, like Rome with the iron legs/feet, but the magnitude of its power and terror is much greater. Anyone who has studied eschatology can spot very quickly how the fourth beast relates to Revelation 13, and so it does. But lets go ahead and take a look at the first beast and see if we can figure this out.
The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it. Daniel 7:4
This beast shares some similarity with the golden head representing Babylon. The lion symbolizes majesty and power. The wings of an eagle means that this beast can travel over great distances. There is only one kingdom in modern times that fits the profile, and that is Great Britain. This is true for a number of reasons. Great Britain has come the closest of any modern power to actually conquering the world. It was once said, "The Sun never sets on the British Empire," meaning that in every part of the world Great Britain had colonies. And the lion has always been associated with Great Britain. You can see it on the royal coat of arms. The wings of an eagle could refer to the original thirteen colonies, as the eagle is associated with the US and the thirteen colonies broke off from the British Empire. The wings could also be simply all of Great Britain's colonies, which have broken away.
And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, 'Get up and eat your fill of flesh!' Daniel 7:5
A bear is big, brutal and clumsy. This beast represents a kingdom like that - big, brutal, and we might say unpredictable. In the ancient world, the Persian Empire was much like that. They won battles simply by outnumbering their opponents. They were not majestic like the lion. They didn't rule with equity; they oppressed people. And it was big. There is a modern kingdom that fits the description perfectly: Russia. Russia is just like a bear, which is why Russia has been associated with the bear for many years. And if we consider the population of Russia, it is raised up on its western side. Now its clear that right after WWII the Soviet Union ate its "fill of flesh" when it conquered and controlled Eastern Europe. What's not as clear is the meaning of the three ribs in the bear's mouth. I've heard it speculated that the Yalta Conference, with Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin as the three ribs, is the fulfillment of this. I don't know, it could be. The timing is perfect.
After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. Daniel 7:6
The third kingdom in the ancient world was Alexander's Empire. Alexander the Great went out and conquered in a flash - he conquered the entire Persian Empire in only ten years. This is much the way a leopard operates; by springing on its victims in a moment. And we know Alexander's Empire was split into four kingdoms, ruled by four of his generals. But this beast must represent a modern kingdom, if its to be consistent with the rest of the prophecy, particularly with the fourth beast, which is clearly the antichrist's global kingdom, revealed in Daniel 7:16-28 and in Revelation. It takes a little pondering to figure out what modern kingdom the leopard represents, but its clear once you know. Germany is the answer. The first thing we notice is the four heads and the four wings. These are four kingdoms within the greater kingdom and four leaders of each of those kingdoms. As we know, Hitler was the leader of the Third Reich, which literally means "Third Kingdom". The first kingdom was the Holy Roman Empire with Charlemagne as the first king, and the second kingdom was the German Empire with Otto von Bismarck as the second king. This suggests that there will be a Fourth Reich with a fourth leader sometime in the near future. It also fits perfectly with the chronology of the prophecy - Great Britain going out and conquering first, Russia eating its fill secondly, and the final head of the leopard, Germany, being given authority to rule thirdly. The way this will likely work out, given that the European Union is already formed, is that in some way authority to rule the EU will be given to Germany, and there will be a powerful leader in Germany at the same time. Whether he will be as ruthless as Hitler, or if he will go out conquering like Alexander, we do not yet know.
To make the leopard/Germany association clearer, consider how Hitler conquered France: with Blitzkrieg and tanks. Consider what the name of German tanks are today. This is a picture of the German Leopard 2
These are the first three beasts. Similar to the ancient kingdoms of Babylon, Persia and Greece, but different in some way or another. One thing that is similar but different is the fact that they are all in one region of the world, but that region is different from ancient to modern. In the ancient world these kingdoms ruled the Mesopotamian and Asia Minor region. In the modern world these kingdoms are all in Europe. And the fourth kingdom is both - Rome. Rome is in Europe, but the ancient Roman Empire ruled the same region that the other ancient kingdoms ruled. The modern Roman Empire, or "Nova Roma", is prophesied in verse 7:
After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast - terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. Daniel 7:7
We see how this relates to the statue prophecy in Daniel 2:40 with the use of iron. The iron in Daniel 2 represents the ancient Roman Empire. The beast with iron teeth in Daniel 7 represents the global empire of the antichrist, which will rule the world for a period of seven years. We see the connection with Revelation 13:1, because of the ten horns. And we see the explanation of it in Daniel 7:15-28. I'll let you read it without me quoting it here, since it is pretty lengthy.
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