Good Morning! - Daniel 7:6 - The Leopard with Four Wings and Four Heads - 2009.11.23

After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it (Daniel 7:6).

Another like a leopard - four wings - four heads.This was the Greek empire with Alexander the Great as its aggressive king. It has been pointed out that the leopard is a spotted animal and that makes it a fitting symbol of the various nations within that empire with their various customs and languages. It also may be fitting for Alexander himself who was a package of unpredictable opposites. Sometimes he was mild and sometimes violent and cruel. He could be sober or drunk. Though the leopard is small, it is not afraid to attack a lion. This was characteristic of Alexander.

"Four wings" speak of the ability of Alexander to move his army with great speed and to strike suddenly. "In comparison it would have made Nebuchadnezzar's army look like it was on a slow train through Arkansas" (McGee) When Hitler invaded Poland in the fall of 1939, he employed "Blitzkrieg" warfare. Lightning warfare. For many centuries victorious nations are those that are able to move their troops rapidly. During the American Civil War (1860-65) some of the generals were so cautious and slow that they gave the battle to their enemy.

"The Babylonian empire was represented with two wings; and they sufficiently marked the rapidity of Nebuchadnezzar's conquests; but the Macedonian has here four wings; for nothing, in the history of the world, was equal to the conquests of Alexander, who ran through all the countries from Illyricum and the Adriatic Sea to the Indian Ocean and the River Ganges; and in twelve years subdued part of Europe, and all Asia" (Clarke).

The "four heads" are a picture of Alexander's empire after his death. He was only in his thirties when he died in the city of Babylon in the afternoon of 11 June 323 BC after a heavy drinking bout. An Indian sage, Dandamis, had once said: "You will soon be dead, and then you will own just as much of this earth as will suffice to bury you." In 331 BC Alexander had entered the ancient city of Babylon and made it his headquarters while he sought to solidify his gains in that part of the world. He loved Babylon and had ordered its restoration.

McGee says: "Babylon went down in a drunken orgy and so did Alexander—they both went the same way. Our nation is going down the same path today. We are living in a day when the social drink is accepted. Our people don't want their young people on drugs, but they don't mind if they go out drinking. Following the death of Alexander, four of his generals divided the world empire which he had carved out, because each of them knew they could not control the whole. Cassander took Macedonia; Lysimachus took Asia Minor; Seleucus took Syria (out of which came the "little horn" of Daniel 8, Antiochus Epiphanes, who wrought such havoc with the temple in Jerusalem); and finally, Ptolemy took Egypt, and of course, Cleopatra came along later in that line.

Scripture does not give us a historical record of the Graeco-Macedonian kingdom. It falls chronologically between the Old and New Testaments—the period known as the inter-testament period. It was, however, the time when the remnant in Palestine endured the greatest suffering at the hands of Egypt and Syria."

Dominion was given to it. Politicians don't like to acknowledge that the living God has anything to do with the shaping of nations—with their rise and fall. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had learned the truth of this after he ate grass with the oxen for seven years. Dominion was indeed given to Alexander the Great by the God of heaven and when it was over, it was over. It would be hard to estimate the great influence Alexander had on civilization. The architecture that developed under his brief reign is amazing and its pervasion among nations is even more amazing. Churches in America have savored the Greek columns in building church buildings. The Christian New Testament was written in the Greek language.

What does this have to do with me? God's predictions of the political powers has to be reckoned with. If God can shape and control the world powers, which He does quite well, then He can make a way for you to fulfill His perfect will for your life. Trust Him. Lean on Him. Talk things over with Him.

Memory Verse for this week: (This is the second week with this important verse.)

(Hebrews 3:12,13) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:12,13).

Digging Deeper

While it is called Today. It can be paraphrase it to mean "while time still lasts for you."While you can say of each new day: "It's another day" or "I can say again: today." This verse also reveals the hardening effect of sin. Sin is dependable to cause hardening of the heart and thus will harden human relationships and especially our relationship with God.

Unbelief within itself is evil. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son (1John 5:10). This is strong language, calling God a liar. It is not a matter of not believing in God but a matter of believing not God. He has said something and wicked people reject His statement and in so doing are calling God a liar. That is evil. Unbelief is evil.