God's Prophetic Calendar

Today on Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis, she moves our lesson forward from the history chapters in the book of Daniel to the prophetic ones beginning in chapter seven.

Here's Dr. Davis and God's prophetic calendar. Hello, I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis, continuing with our study in the prophetic writings of Daniel. Today we're beginning in Daniel chapter seven. This chapter begins the prophetic writings of Daniel. If you look in the past six chapters, chapters one through six are historical in perspective, but chapter seven through 12 begins Daniel's prophetic writings. Specifically, chapter seven is very similar to chapter two in its content. You remember in chapter two, it was the transfer of the dominion of world power from the Jews to the Gentile kings.

We covered the statue of gold, silver, bronze and iron and how that previewed the timeline of the transfer of the world powers to the subsequent kings of the Gentiles. It has been said about the chapters of Daniel, especially chapter seven was considered the greatest chapter in scripture among the scribes who translated the Old Testament. The vision of Daniel provides the most comprehensive and detailed prophecy of future events to be found anywhere in the Old Testament. It's one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.

Let's get into our study. Daniel chapter seven, verse one reads, In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts. As we know, Daniel is a dreamer.

He is a dreamer himself, not just an interpreter of dreams. In verses two through eight, Daniel spoke, saying, I saw in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea and four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man.

And a man's heart was given to it. And suddenly another beast, a second like a bear, it was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this, I looked and there was another like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads and dominion was given to it. After this, I saw in the night visions and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth.

It was devouring, breaking in pieces and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it. It had ten horns. I was considering the horns and there was another horn, a little one coming up among them before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots.

And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words. Early in verse two, we see four winds of the heavens were stirring up in the great sea. I want to remind you that prophecy or prophetic truth is conveyed through signs and symbols, just like in Revelation.

So what are these four winds? It could be political strife, uprisings, wars and bloodshed of nations. Whenever we see the sea, the Bible often equates the sea with humanity, but we see four great creatures come out of the sea. The creatures are symbols of the nations and their moral character. If you remember the statue back in chapter two, whenever we look at man's perspective of the statue, it was the transfer of the dominion of power. But if you look at God's perspective, as we went down the statue in chapter two, with each transfer of power, the moral character of each nation degraded. So I'd like for you to take this context of God's perspective, looking at the moral character versus man's perspective, looking at dominion and statue as we go through these creatures.

But please remember the creatures are symbols of the nations and their moral characters. The first beast is presented in verse four. We see a lion with eagle's wings.

Who is this? Who does this symbolize? It is Babylon. Lions are strong. They are king of the jungle.

They are highest on the food chain. And we know that this is the symbol of Babylon that was discovered by the archaeologists on the Ishtar Gates. This is a symbol of strength and power of a lion and eagle. If we read Jeremiah 4 7, a lion has come out of his lair.

A destroyer of nations has set out. This describes King Nebuchadnezzar. As we continue in verse four, the word says, I watched till its wings were plucked off. A winged lion had its wings plucked off.

That symbols arrogance and pride. He is reduced to a beast for seven years, walking on all fours and eating grass. After a time, he was allowed to stand and given a new heart. And we know the story to be true because we find that in Nebuchadnezzar's pride and arrogance and how he suffered. And when he was turned into a beast and then allowed to live as a beast.

And when he came back to his senses, this was evidence that Nebuchadnezzar made a true commitment to God. In verse five, the second beast, this is a bear. The bear is symbolizing the Medo-Persian Empire.

The bear has a vicious nature. The second kingdom, the Medo-Persian Empire, was ferocious and greedy. Notice that the bear has three ribs in his mouth. Medo-Persia historically conquered Lydia, Babylon, as well as Egypt.

The Persians took over the Medes. This is the bear being propped up on one side. As it says in verse five, it was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it, Arise and devour much flesh.

The bear had a voracious appetite as well as the Medo-Persians for power. Moving on to the third beast in verse six, we see a leopard with four heads. The leopard with four heads symbolizes Greece. If we look at the nature of the leopard, the leopard is known to be swift, cunning, cruel, and has a strong appetite for blood. There was no military as great as Alexander the Great.

When Alexander died, the kingdom was divided between his four generals because he did not have any living descendants. And the dominion was given to it in verse seven is very interesting as God gave Alexander the Great the authority to rule and to conquer the known world. Moving on to verse seven, the fourth beast.

It is difficult to describe this beast because it is so terrible. It has iron teeth, but as we know in the previous statue that iron represented Rome and this terrible beast represents Rome. If you look at the transfer of beast as each beast rises on the scene, we go from a noble lion, which is the king of the beast, to a nondescript creature.

This shows the moral degradation gradient in the decay of the moral character as each beast comes on the scene. The fourth kingdom is all Rome. The Roman Empire never fully disappeared in history. Those nations that were a part of the Roman Empire are still around.

Some commentators believe these 10 countries to be Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Britain, Samaria, which is Ukraine and Russia, Asia, Greece, Egypt and Pannonia, which is Hungary, Austria, Croatia, suburbia, Slovenia and Bosnia. Moving on to verse eight, we see the little horn coming on the scene. I was considering the horns and there was another horn, a little one coming up among them before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and then mouth speaking pompous words. Three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. In the horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and mouth speak and a mouth speaking pompous words.

We all know that the little horn has been labeled before as the Antichrist, and we'll see the rise of the Antichrist after the continuation of Rome and the formation of the Roman Confederacy in the last days. We will get to this at the end of the chapter as far as Daniel's vision interpreted. But then he sees a vision of the Ancient of Days in verses nine through 14.

I watched till thrones were put in place and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was white as snow and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court was seated and the books were open. I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking. I watched till the beast was slain and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days and they brought him near before him. Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. In verses 9 through 14, this is the only time in the Bible where God is called the Ancient of Days. Jesus is described this way in Revelation chapter 1. The books were open which signifies judgment. In verses 11 through 12, it signifies the defeat of the Antichrist. Because of the sound of his pompous words, I watched till the beast was slain and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.

This shows his ultimate defeat. And in verses 13 and 14, this tells us about the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ which will exist in the millennium. We have gone through the beginning of Daniel chapter 7 and really went through the interpretation of the beast and their moral characters. But I will continue to read 15 through 24 as this is Daniel's vision interpreted. I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body and the visions of my head troubled me.

I came near to one of those who stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things. Those great beasts which are four are four kings which arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Then I wish to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured broken pieces and trampled the residue with its feet, and the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up before which three fell, namely that horn which had eyes and a mouth, which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. I was watching and the same horn was making war against the saints and prevailing against them until the ancient of days came and a judgment was made in favor of the saints on the Most High and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. Thus, he said, the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms.

I shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it into pieces. The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom and another shall arise after them. He shall be different from the first ones and shall subdue these kings.

Moving on to verse twenty five, he shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. Time, times and half a time. Time is one year. Times is two years and half a time is one half.

This equals three and a half years when you add these all up together. And what is being described here is the Great Tribulation. What is being described is the ten nation confederacy that will have its origins out of the Roman government. And one king that will subdue this ten nation confederacy will be the Antichrist, who will bring into accord and promise peace and safety on the earth.

But will then approach Israel with a peace treaty, which will begin the Great Tribulation. Whenever we reference the ancient of days, we find in Psalms 90, verse two, before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Psalms 97 three, fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. When it talks about the books being opened here in Chapter seven, Moses knew of books. We know about the Book of Life. We have the Old Testament, the New Testament book, the Book of Acts, as well as thoughts. But in Exodus 32 32, Moses says, But now please forgive their sin.

But if not, then block me out of the book you have written. Psalms 56 and eight. Record my lament. List my tears on your scroll.

Are they not in your record? Amalekhi three sixteen. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. It has been observed that if you study the prophetic books of the Bible, keep your ear tuned to the news of the day and watch what is happening on the global stage with Israel, then you will have a clearer understanding of what date it might be on God's prophetic calendar. We believe time is short and time to get your life right with God as we see what is happening in America today, in Europe, in Asia and the Middle East. We can clearly see the prophecies of Daniel and other Bible prophets coming into fruition as we witness this transition in time and event. We can have confidence in knowing that God's word has given us a vision of the future and a timeline for the end. This has been Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Please connect with us on Facebook and by email at CherylDavis at ProjectTruthMatters.com.