In Daniel Chapter 7, Daniel sees a vision of four beasts rising out of the sea of nations. The first beast is a lion with the wings of an eagle. The second is a ferocious bear with three ribs in its mouth,[1] its right side rising up higher than the other. The third beast is a leopard with four heads and four wings, and feet which never touch the ground due to its speed in conquest. The fourth non-descript beast seems the most terrible of all. It has ten horns and devours its prey in unparalleled strength while stamping the residue with its feet.
PICTURE of FOUR BEASTS
Let’s let Daniel tell us his own story:
2 … I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. (Daniel 7:1-7)
A terrifying picture indeed. The four beasts of Daniel Chapter seven correspond exactly to the four metals of Daniel’s image in Code Key #1. The head of gold in Daniel’s image matches perfectly with the first beast of Daniel Chapter 7. The gold head and the lion with eagle’s wings speak of Babylon, the first kingdom considered in Daniel’s prophecies. The silver chest and arms of Daniel’s image correspond to the two-fold division of the Medo-Persian Empire, pictured as a ferocious bear raised up with one side higher than the other. In Code Key #2 the third beast holds the greatest interest, for in the image of the leopard we discover detailed predictions of a kingdom which corresponds to the belly and thighs of brass in Daniel’s image. It is the kingdom of Greece.