“He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.”
~ Daniel 7:25
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you remember dreams that you have had? Do you tell your dad and/or ma or a kid friend about a dream that you have had? Do you like it when a kid friend thinks that he or she has to tell you about a dream that he or she had? Even though your grandpaa remembers that a dream that he had was a really weird dream, your grandpaa most of the time does not remember what he dreamt. Why do you think that it is that God has hardwired kids – and guys and gals, to have dreams while they are sleeping? Do you think that having a dream is good? A dream was one way that God passed on messages from one guy to another guy or guys about something that He was going to have to take place sometime in the future. God via a dream passed a message through Daniel in which He told Daniel to tell the guys who were retaining His specially chosen guys and gals in Babylonia what He was going to have to take place sometime over the next 600 years with the four nations that He was going to allow to be for a period of time a world power. Daniel 7 is about a message that God via a dream gave Daniel about three changes that He was going to have to take place sometime in the future on planet Earth. When Daniel woke up after this dream – which he knew was a message from God, Daniel recorded everything that he could remember what was in the dream. Have you ever wrote down what you remember was in a dream that you had?
Daniel had more than one dream that he recounted in what is now the Daniel Book. The dream that Daniel recounted in this chapter he had during Belshazzar’s first year being Babylonia’s king. Belshazzar’s first year being Babylonia’s king was 553 years before Jesus was born. This dream that Daniel had at this time sounds to your grandpaa really foreboding. Daniel saw in his dream four different kinds of beasts. Daniel had his dream begin with a great sea having winds coming across it from four different directions making the great sea really rough. Daniel saw in his dream four beasts come out of the great sea. The first beast looked like a lion. This beast had eagle’s wings. The second beast looked like a bear. This beast had in its mouth between its teeth three ribs. The third beast looked like a leopard. This beast had four birdlike wings and four heads. The fourth beast had iron teeth, ten horns and was exceptionally strong. While Daniel was wondering what in the world he was seeing in his dream, he saw a tiny horn begin to grow between the fourth beast’s ten big horns. This dream that Daniel had God give him detailed the future of four nations that was and would become over the next 600 years world powers. The lion symbolizes Babylonia and Babylonia’s king – Nebuchadnezzar, who was already dead. Daniel saw the lion’s wings being ripped off – indicating that Nebuchadnezzar became like any other guy who has a heart and who has to stand on his own two legs. The bear symbolizes the guys who would overthrow the Babylonian army. The guys who overthrew the Babylonian army were The Medes and the Persians. The three ribs that the Medes and the Persians had in their mouth between their teeth indicated that the Medes and the Persians would overthrow three nations. These nations were Lidia, Babylon and Egypt. The leopard symbolizes Alexander the Great’s conquest of planet Earth’s nations. Alexander the Great’s conquest of planet Earth’s nations took place over 200 years after Daniel has this dream. The four wings indicate how quickly that Greece and Alexander the Great would conquer planet Earth’s known land area. The four heads denote how Greece and Alexander the Great – before Alexander the Great would suddenly die, would divide the land that would be conquered into four different areas or regions.
The fourth beast was the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire began conquering planet Earth’s nations about seventy years after Jesus – God the Son, had been cruelly crucified on a cross for all the sins of all of His specially elected guys, gals and kids. The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful empires that has ever been a world power on planet Earth. The ten big horns symbolize how powerful that the Roman Empire would one day become. The tiny horn that began to grow between the ten big horns is the pending arrival of the antichrist or a world ruler who will have the characteristics of an antichrist. The antichrist will be a sociopath who will think that he is as powerful as God the Creator. This guy will make himself the leader over all the nations on planet Earth. This guy will first destroy the three horns – or the three rulers of the three nations, who will become powerful after the existence of the ten horns. Verse 25 says this about the guy – as the antichrist or as planet Earth’s ruler “He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.” Your grandpaa does not believe that this horrific time has yet taken place in history. Your grandpaa knows though that this horrific time is getting closer and closer to taking place. Your grandpaa hopes that you will be prepared for this horrific time – as this time gets closer to taking place. Planet Earth’s landscape has been changing overnight as a burgeoning belief system – called Islam, is blurring the boundaries of nations all around planet Earth. Your grandpaa is seeing the United States, Russia and China – the three nations that have been primarily dictating planet Earth’s direction, losing the influence that they have had to an ideology that is now worldwide that is being fomented by a belief paradigm propagated by Muslims. Your grandpaa today – which is seventeen years after he originally wrote this devotional, is even more convinced of the imminent return of God the Son to planet Earth because of China having unleashed everywhere on planet Earth a pandemic.
Daniel 7 (351)