Lesson 8 - August Second Week
DANIEL, DREAMS, AND VISIONS
Background Reading:
Amos 3:7, Habakkuk 1:5-11, Joel 2:28, Acts 2:16, 1 Corinthians 14:6, 1 John 2:18
Devotional Reading:
Daniel 7:1-8
Central Verse:
“And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes; but he shall be broken without hand.”
Daniel 8:25 KJV
“He will be a master of deception and will become arrogant; he will destroy many without warning. He will even take on the Prince of princes in battle, but he will be broken, though not by human power.”
Daniel 8:25 NLT
Key Terms:
Antichrist– One who denies or opposes Christ, a great antagonist expected to fill the world with wickedness but to be conquered forever by Christ at His Second Coming.
Symbolize– To represent, express, or identify by a symbol.
Rival– To be in competition with.
Introduction:
Visions and dreams can serve as guides, warnings, or confirmations of God’s plans for His people. Most of the time when people think of dreams, they think of them as night-time occurrences. But the Bible teaches us that God uses dreams as a means of communication. When the believer opens their heart and mind, they learn that God can guide them through visions and dreams. Sometimes, believers need to seek divine communication in their private lives.
Daniel was not just a person who interpreted dreams, but he was also a man in touch with God, and he was blessed to have the divine inspiration of God working in his life. God gave Daniel interpretation of some mighty powerful dreams that affected people and nations. God allowed him to interpret a dream that the dreamer had forgotten but was troubled by, and later, God began to give him dreams that became important in his life.
Discussion:
God gave Daniel a dream that involved four beasts. Daniel said that he saw four winds of Heaven
upon the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea. Each beast was different, each great in their own right. Some modern writers take these beasts to represent nations existing in the End Times, according to the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.
Some Bible commentators take this vision, not to parallel Nebuchadnezzar’s dream but to reveal the bestial, inner characteristics of the kingdom. The first beast, the lion, a symbol of royal power, represents the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The eagle, king of the birds, may specifically represent King Nebuchadnezzar’s power, and the plucking of the wings represents what happened in Chapter 4. As Daniel watched, the wings were torn off the beast, and the creature stood erect like a man and a human mind was given to it. Babylon was known for its regal splendor and widespread dominion. The mention of an eagle’s wings is said to underscore the swiftness of conquest.
The second beast, the bear, raised up on one side, represents Medo-Persia, with Persia dominating Media. The three ribs in its mouth may represent its conquest of Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt. The third beast was told to get up and gorge itself with flesh. The bear’s characteristic of being raised upon one side symbolizes the unequal power dynamic between the Medes and the Persians. The three ribs in its mouth seemed to represent the three major conquests of Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt, each of which fell to the expansive Medo-Persian realm.
This beast was the leopard, a powerful and swift animal, with four wings and four heads. The four wings that looked like bird wings represented Alexander’s Greek Empire and his rapid conquests. The four heads, which represented the ability to rule, are the four kingdoms that came out of his empire when he died, for it was divided among his generals: Lysimachus, who took Thrace and Bithynia; Cassander, who took Greece and Macedonia; Seleucus, who took Babylon and Syria; and Ptolemy, who took the Holy Land, Egypt, and Arabia. The four wings emphasized the swiftness with which he subdued vast territories from Greece to Egypt and even as far as parts of India, within a few short years.
The fourth beast, dreadful, terrible, and extremely strong with large iron teeth devoured, crushed, and trampled whatever was left underfoot. It was different from all the other beasts before it. It had ten horns and was not given the name of any known beast, but it was said to have represented Rome, which was noted for its iron rule and extensive dominion. Rome’s formidable military might and structural organization enabled it to devour and crush rival nations. The ten horns symbolized ten kings or world powers that arose out of this empire.
There came up among the horns another little horn, and in these horns were eyes, like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. This little horn symbolizes the last great ruler in the world, the Antichrist.
This dream lets believers know that the Antichrist will come with power to conquer kings and make war with, overpower, and speak against God’s people. But when Jesus comes, the Saints will possess the Kingdom. Chapter 11 of Revelation tells believers that the Antichrist shall be destroyed and cast into the Lake of Fire.
This vision that Daniel saw at night troubled him for a while. His vision assures believers that the world’s empires have a certain amount of authority for a limited period of time and that they will all pass away, so that “the holy people of the Highest will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever – yes, for ever and ever” (Daniel 7:18).
Conclusion:
Sometimes, it seems that God’s people suffer so much at the hands of enemies, but God sent dreams to Daniel so that he could let people know that, even though they had to endure some things due to their stubbornness and disobedience, God is still in control of the universe. God said that He would not do anything without letting His servant, the prophet, know. So, He allows dreams and visions to come to His prophets and makes His children aware of the coming judgments.
God uses nations, kings, and rulers to come against His people, and then He allows the same people that He used to be destroyed. The Book of Daniel tells God’s people of many End-Time happenings.
Questions:
1. What is the purpose of dreams and visions?
2. How did Daniel become known for interpreting dreams?
3. What was the dream of the four beasts about?
4. Why was it necessary for Daniel to dream such a dream?
Essential Thought:
The enemy has power,
but his power is limited.
God is all powerful!