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.”
This brings us to the second beast mentioned in Daniel’s vision. Daniel describes the second beast as a bear which 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!' In this section we want to discuss two aspects of this image. Firstly, we want to discuss who the bear is, and secondly we want to discuss what the bear being raised up on one side, represents. And so in answer to the question, who is the bear? It is more than probable that this beast represents Russia today. So why do I say that? Russia was the controlling nation in the old Soviet Union. And so after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1992, Russia became a single nation once again. Nevertheless despite the Soviet Union’s collapse, Russia kept its military strength intact, including full control of the nuclear arsenal that was once under the command of the old Soviet Union. Over the years Russia has slowly built up its military and is now ranked as being the second most powerful in the world, after the United States of America[1]. It is also interesting to note that despite economic sanctions placed on Russia in 2014[2], Russia has continued to grow her economy over the years, becoming the fourth largest economy in the world ranked on gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity[3]. The Russian Federation is also the largest country in the world, which in turn makes it the richest nation in the world in terms of natural resource wealth[4]. Clearly Russia is one of the three dominant superpowers in the earth today, both militarily and economically. So what does it mean when we see the bear being raised up on one side? We get some indication of what that means when we look at Daniel’s vision of the two horns on the ram. In that vision the horn which was raised up last was higher than the first, indicating that it was the more powerful of the two horns (Daniel 8:3). That vision represented the rise of the Median Empire followed by the rise of the Persian Empire. History reveals to us that the Persian Empire was more powerful than its predecessor the Median Empire, and so the Ram’s horn being raised up last but higher than the first, signified that Persia would be the more powerful of the two empires. And so in light of that understanding we can interpret the vision of the bear being raised up on one side, as representing this kingdom focusing most of its military power on one side of its borders. Throughout its history, Russia has always been invaded from the west, i.e. Europe. The nations that have invaded Russia in turn include Poland (1610), Sweden (1708), France (1812) and Germany (1941). Currently Russia perceives its greatest threat as coming from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on its western border. NATO is an alliance of North American and European nations, which was set up to oppose the Soviet Union during the cold war era. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO logically should have been dissolved, because the Soviet threat had been removed. NATO chose not to dissolve however, and in fact began to increase its membership to include the East European nations that were once a part of the old Soviet Union. So why has NATO acted in this manner? The reason is because NATO was not satisfied with the destruction of the old Soviet Union but wanted to ensure the destruction of Russia as well. And so today NATO is no longer a defensive alliance against the Soviet Union, but rather it has become an offensive alliance dedicated to the destruction of Russia. And it is for this reason that Russia has focused most of its military strength to defend its western border, i.e. it is raised up on one side.
Michael E.B. Maher
Commentaires