Daniel 7:2-12 “Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. (3) And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. (4) 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. (5) "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!' (6) "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. (7) "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, and it had ten horns. (8) 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. (9) "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 a burning fire; (10) 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 opened. (11) "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. (12) As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord showed Daniel a vision of four great beasts that came up from the Great Sea. The Great Sea in this vision represents the nations of the earth, and the four beasts represent the final four kingdoms that will be present on the earth at the end of the age. We know that these kingdoms will be present at that time, for our Lord links the vision with the judgement at the end of the age. And so we see that there will be four dominant kingdoms in the earth when the Lord Returns. We also see from this passage that the fourth kingdom will be destroyed when the Lord returns, while the other three will be allowed to remain. We will not discuss the fourth kingdom in this series however, because of its uniqueness; it is discussed in detail in separate series. Suffice it to say that the fourth beast in this passage refers to the kingdom of the anti-Christ, and that the kingdom of the anti-Christ is in fact the kingdom of Islam, which is already in the earth. Nevertheless, the anti-Christ will only manifest himself in the earth after the events discussed in this series. And so that brings us to the other three kingdoms mentioned in this passage. Who are they? Since the year 2012, for the first time in the history of mankind there are three Global Superpowers that are in the earth simultaneously. Those three Global Superpowers are; the United States of America, Russia and China. All three of these Superpowers have risen to prominence in the earth both economically and militarily, and all three have developed vast nuclear arsenals which are capable of impacting all the nations of the earth. And so in this section we want to discuss the very real probability that the three remaining kingdoms shown in Daniel’s vision are in fact the three Superpowers which are in the earth today.
The first beast that Daniel described was like a lion which had eagle's wings. Daniel goes on in this passage to tell us that he watched till the beast’s 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. In this section we want to discuss two aspects of this image. Firstly, we want to discuss who the lion is, and secondly we want to discuss the eagle’s wings on the lion beast, and what they represent. And so in answer to the question, who is the lion? It is more than probable that the lion beast in Daniel’s vision represents the United States of America. So why do I say that? Prior to World War Two, Great Britain had been the dominant superpower in the earth, having global influence both economically and militarily. After WW2 however, Britain was almost bankrupt and no longer had the capability to exert influence on the world stage, either economically or militarily. Unlike Great Britain however, a new superpower had emerged from WW2 far stronger than it had been going into the war, i.e. the Soviet Union. After the war all of Eastern Europe fell under the Soviet Union’s control, and it began to increase its influence on the rest of Europe as well. And so in order to counter the growing spread of communism under the Soviet Union, the United States of America stepped into the role of becoming a global superpower. Over the next four decades these two superpowers, i.e. the Soviet Union and the USA, entered into a competition with each other for global dominance, which became known as the cold war. Although both superpowers grew militarily, it was really only the USA that grew economically. And so in 1992 the Soviet Union eventually collapsed, being unable to afford the cost of trying to compete with the USA’s military growth. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992 meant that there was now only one dominant superpower in the earth i.e. the United States of America, and that status quo remained in place for the next two decades. And so clearly the USA is one of the three dominant superpowers in the earth today, both militarily and economically. So what is the significance of the eagle wings on the back of the lion beast? The eagle’s wings in this passage represent the extensive dominion given to this beast. We know that to be the case because both the Babylonian and Egyptian Empires had great dominion when they were on the earth, and God described both empires as eagles with great wings (Ezekiel 17). And so over the years, the USA has certainly developed extensive influence (dominion) in the earth, both economically and militarily. In the economic sphere the USA became the largest economy by far, and the US Dollar became the reserve currency for the nations of the world. The USA also became the dominant military power in the world, and by 2020 the USA controlled about 750 military bases in at least 80 countries worldwide and it had approximately 173,000 troops deployed in 159 countries[1], while the USA’s nuclear arsenal was rivalled only by Russia. And so we see that the eagle’s wings on the lion beast represent the extensive global dominance enjoyed by the United States of America.
Michael E.B. Maher
[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/infographic-us-military-presence-around-the-world-interactive
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