Daniel's Vision of the Four Beasts
After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. Dan. 7:7
After this I... The phrase "after this" indicates that the fourth kingdom would follow the preceding one—Greece (Dan. 7:6, 7:7).
a fourth beast... The fourth beast is a symbol of the old Roman Empire, the fourth of four kingdoms in succession. It is mentioned by name only in the N.T. (John 11:48; Act. 2:10; 16:21; etc.). This is a nondescript beast for there is nothing on earth to compare it with. It is a dreadful, terrible, strong beast with great iron teeth symbolizing the same as the iron on the image of Dan. 2:40-43. In fulfillment it devoured the other beasts and stamped upon them with its feet, meaning it conquered all the territories of the first beasts—Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. It was different from all beasts before it, not only in a republican form of government, but also in power, greatness, extent of dominion, and length of duration. The ten horns symbolize ten kingdoms in the latter days, the last form of the old Roman Empire (Dan. 7:7-8, 7:23-24; Rev. 13:1-18; Rev. 17:8-17). Horns always symbolize kings (Dan. 7:7-8, 7:23-24; 8:8-9, 8:20-23; Rev. 17:8-17).
The fourth beast is not given a name and therefore must have had the character of an unknown hideous monster. It foreshadows the Old Roman Empire. The ten horns are 10 kings (verse 24), and the little horn (verse 8), is another king who will arise after the 10 and be coexistent with them. The 10 kingdoms represented by the 10 horns may be the nation that will grow out of the Revised Roman Empire, or they may be 10 future kings who will rule over some form of the revised Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire has been reconstructed in our day with the common market nations. I believe the ten horns could be the nations which make up the common market. The horn speaks of power. This is a powerful organization headquartered in Rome.
Daniel now described a fourth beast. Instead of likening it to some known animal Daniel simply called it a beast. Apparently it was a mongrel composed of parts of a lion, bear, and leopard (cf. the beast in Rev. 13:2). This fourth beast was more terrifying and powerful than the three preceding beasts, which were all ferocious and destructive. This beast had large iron teeth with which it was able to crush and devour its prey. The empire represented by this mongrel beast had crushed and assimilated into itself the three previous empires described by the lion, the bear, and the leopard (it trampled underfoot whatever was left; cf. Dan. 7:19).
A significant feature of this fourth and different beast was that it had 10 horns. According to Dan. 7:24 they represent 10 kings.
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