Daniel’s 4 Beast Empires, Part 1

By Marvin J. Rosenthal

3 Eras of History
The first verse of the New Testament opens with the forceful declaration: “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).

The Jewish readers of Matthew’s Gospel understood at once the importance of this statement. As the son of King David, Jesus had a right to the throne of Israel; as a descendant of Abraham (to whom God had said, “And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land” – Genesis 17:8), Jesus had a right to the land of Israel.

After tracing the genealogy of the Messiah, Matthew sums up his account with these words:

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations (Matthew 1:17).

This unique division of the Lord’s genealogy highlights 3 events of tremendous significance. The first division is from Abraham to David, the second division is from David to the Babylonian captivity, and the third division is from the Babylonian captivity to the birth of Jesus.

The genealogy calls special attention to David, because David was the first divinely appointed king of Israel. His enthronement brought with it unprecedented potential for good. Israel was to be a theocracy. She was to be ruled by God through divinely appointed kings.

If King David (a man after God’s own heart) and his descendants ruled in submission to their God, the nation would experience unprecedented blessing, prosperity, and peace. It is for this reason that Matthew’s first pause is to call attention to King David. Here was a great high point in Israel’s history.

Matthew’s genealogy then moves about 400 years from King David (1000 B.C.) to his second point of note, the Babylonian captivity of the southern kingdom of Israel (605 B.C.). If the enthronement of King David had occasioned an unprecedented prospect of blessing for Israel, the Babylonian captivity (the result of grievous sin) occasioned despair and cursing for Israel.

Instead of divinely appointed Jewish kings ruling over her, Israel would now know only the oppressive heel of heathen kings and nations. This period of Gentile domination over Israel and her people is depicted in the great colossus of Daniel 2 and the 4 beasts of Daniel 7.

Third, Matthew’s genealogy moves from the Babylonian captivity to the birth of Jesus. Here was the Son of King David according to the flesh. His genealogy could be traced back to David through Joseph, His legal father, and more significantly through Miriam (her name has been anglicized into Mary), His actual mother.

With the birth of Jesus – King David’s Son but also King David’s Lord (Matthew 22:41-45) – the hopes and dreams of the Jewish nation had never shone brighter. If only they would see in Jesus their long-awaited Messiah. He had come with healing in His wings. His only demand was that Israel repent of her sin. He could end the period of Gentile domination over Israel, but the religious leaders of Israel chose not to have Him rule over them.

In the perfect and omnipotent plan of God, Jesus – who is “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) – would, as the Great High Priest, offer to His heavenly Father a sacrifice for sin and then turn around and be Himself the sacrifice that was offered. He would be priest and sacrifice, agent and object. He alone, as the son of David but also the Son of God, could tear down the veil that separated sinful man from a holy Sovereign.

It is precisely because Israel rejected King David’s greater Son (the Lord Jesus) – despite the fact that His credentials were impeccable – that she has continued through all of these centuries without a king of God’s choosing to rule over her, and as a consequence, without the accompanying opportunity for national blessing, joy, and peace.

Astoundingly, but quite factually, from the Babylonian captivity until the present hour of history (approximately 2,600 years), Israel has been without a king of God’s choosing and under Gentile domination. The only respite has been two brief periods of time: the first, during the second century B.C. under the leadership of the Maccabees; the second, the present hour of history when, by divine design and while still in unbelief and spiritual blindness, the Jewish people have returned to their land in preparation for the second coming of Christ and the end of Gentile domination.

But reaching that ultimate and glorious event will require history’s most difficult birthing – a period of time called “the Great Tribulation.”

The Course of Nations
In Daniel Chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a dream. He could not remember its contents, therefore, neither could he understand its meaning. He rightly understood however, that the dream and its interpretation were of great significance.

The king sought help from his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans (Babylonian priests). They could not tell the king the dream or its interpretation. Then Daniel the prophet stood before the king, and in stark contrast to the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans, said: “However, there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days” (Daniel 2:28).

Daniel then recounted the dream to the king (Daniel 2:31-35), and gave its interpretation (Daniel 2:36-45).

In his dream, Nebuchadnezzar saw a great colossus, an image corresponding to human form. It was “large” in size and characterized by “extraordinary radiance” – an aura which evidently surrounded the entire colossus. It depicted the glory to be associated with the colossus and the Gentile kingdoms it represented.

The colossus was “awesome” or more accurately, “terrifying” to look upon. That Nebuchadnezzar, the fearless world leader of his day, should view this image as terrifying in appearance more than hints of its overwhelming appearance. So then, it was large, it glowed, and it was terrifying in appearance.

The colossus was primarily made of metallic substances. The head was of fine gold, its breast and arms were of silver, its abdomen and thighs of bronze, the legs of iron, and the feet part of iron and part of pottery. There appears to be important significance associated with the metals.

As one views the image from the head to the toes, there is a clear diminishing of value. Silver is of less value than gold; bronze is of less value than silver; iron is of less value than bronze, and the clay is of less value than the iron.

Conversely, each metal is more powerful than its predecessor. Silver is stronger than gold; bronze is stronger than silver; and iron is stronger than bronze. In the feet and toes there is a composite of iron and clay, representing a mixture of strength and weakness.

In most fundamental terms, the colossus represents the “times of the Gentiles” or nations (Luke 21:24). Specifically, it represents that period of time which began with the Babylonian captivity in 605 B.C., and which will end with the return of Christ as “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5) – the Root [and offspring] of David (Revelation 5:5; see also 22:16).

Once again, a surviving remnant from among the Jewish people will have their own king – one of the Father’s choosing – ruling over them. In that day, He will be “the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Revelation 1:5), or the more familiar, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16). He will rule the world from Jerusalem.

In the interim, the colossus depicts 4 Gentile empires which conquer, persecute, and rule over Israel and her capital Jerusalem. These 4 empires diminish in their purity as absolute powers, but increase in raw strength and ferocity as indicted in the representation of metals and bodily parts.

The head of gold is the Babylonian Empire. It conquered Israel, destroyed the house of the Lord, and killed and plundered the people. Daniel and his 3 friends were among those carried off into captivity.

The chest and arms of silver represent the Medo-Persian Empire. The entire Book of Esther finds its setting during this empire when wicked Haman, the prime minister, seeks to annihilate all the Jews within the vast 127 provinces of the Persian Empire.

The Grecian Empire is depicted by the belly and thighs of bronze. Out of this empire would arise a ruler by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes. His persecution of the Jewish people and defilement of the Temple is prophesied by Daniel (Daniel 8:9-14) and historically recorded in the first 6 chapters of 1 Maccabees (an historical book found in the Apocrypha).

The Roman Empire is depicted by the legs of iron. Rome ruled over Israel when Christ was born. Herod the Great was a Roman puppet – placed in power and kept in power by Rome. Roman legions entered Israel in A.D. 66 to put down rebellion. By A.D. 70, they managed to ravage Jerusalem, destroy the Temple, murder, and plunder, and then initiate Israel’s harsh trek across the face of the earth.

The feet and 10 toes of iron mixed with clay depict the Roman Empire at the end of the age, made up of a 10-nation confederation over which the Antichrist will rule.

The great colossus, then, depicts that period of history when, because of Israel’s sin, no divinely appointed son of David would rule over her. The vacuum created by the absence of a Jewish king would be filled by Gentile nations and kings.

This rule by wicked kingdoms over the people of Israel, the land of Israel, and the capital of Israel is to be rightly understood as Satan’s opposition to God and God’s program for planet Earth.

In Part 2, we will examine the Character of the beast empire nations.

Marv Rosenthal, founder and President of Zion’s Hope, was an acclaimed international Bible teacher for almost 6 decades