Commentary: Is America the First Beast of Daniel?

The Prophet Daniel wrote that, at the end of the Age of the Rule of Man, four great and powerful nations would need to all exist at the same time, and that Israel will be a nation. Rome completely destroyed Israel in 70 A.D. dispersing the majority of the Jewish race to the four corners of the earth. Then, in May of 1948, Israel defied all odds and once again became a nation. They had retained their religion, language and customs for two thousand years! Today, it is a democratic and sovereign country with a population of 6 million people, primarily Jews. It has developed the most powerful economy and military force in the entire Middle East. While Daniel describes four beasts that he saw in a vision, the first has direct ties today to England and America. While we will study this one beast now, you can read about the other three in the Paper titled, “Daniel’s End-Time Prophecy of America” located on the sites Library. 

The Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation were written 600 years apart, yet they speak of the exact same future historical events. Why? Because they were revealed by the same author just using two different stenographers. We can trust Daniel’s prophecies as Jesus Himself declared Daniel a prophet (Matthew 24:15). And we can know the Book of Revelation can be trusted as Bible scholars are in agreement that the Book was written by the Apostle John. He was the only Apostle not martyred as Jesus prophesied, and was “the one Jesus loved” (John 13:23; John 21:20-22) The slight difference in the visions given by Christ to these two prophets is that while Daniel saw four separate beasts, John saw one beast with four heads and ten horns (Revelation 13????). This merging of the beasts in John represents the One World Order which will be the goal of the Antichrist. It is interesting to note that Daniel's vision of the four beasts is the essentially the same as Johns vision only the beasts are listed in reverse order. Why? John is seeing them in advance, while Daniel is looking backwards to the vision given to him in his first years in Babylon.  

The first six chapters of Daniel are history. Chapters seven through twelve are prophetic. Chapter 7 of the Book of Daniel is considered by most Bible scholars as the greatest prophecy chapter in the Bible. Chapters 7 through 12 is sometimes referred to as the Second Book of Daniel. 

The Following is a Commentary on the Book of Daniel 

Daniel 7:1- “In the first year of Belshazzar King of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: Then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.” 

Daniel was born c.620 B.C. and was exiled to Babylon from Judah as a fifteen year old teenager in c.605 B.C. There he later served as Chief of the Magi under King Nebuchadnezzar until the King retired and turned the rulership over to his son (possibly grandson) King Belshazzar in 556 B.C. So, Daniel is remembering back 49 years to the first year he spent as Chief of the Magi in the court of King Belshazzar. It was then he had a dream that left distinct vivid images in his mind as he lay asleep “on his bed”. When he awoke, he immediately “wrote down the dream” in its entirety. He apparently then “told” the entire dream to his roommates Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego all living together in Babylon.

Daniel 7:2- “Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea,:”

Daniel is now telling the dream to his friends. He says that the vision or dream came to him in the night. He literally saw the “four winds of the heaven” or the sky “strove” or rage across the great sea. The four winds are those that can come from the north, south, east or west. In this case all four were blowing at the same time colliding with each other which caused great wind storms. To make matters worse, this was happening over the “great sea” referring to the Mediterranean Sea . This would have cause great rolling waves each crashing into each other from every direction. But prophetically Daniel was seeing the great powers throughout the world creating conditions that were stirring up the worldwide sea of humanity. Daniel is describing world powers that are colliding which in turn caused great turmoil and destress within the sea of humanity. Jesus called this a time of wars and rumors of wars when nation will rise against nation. (Matthew 24: 6-7,  21-22). 

“And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another.” 

Literally Daniel saw in this time of great turmoil and tribulation, four great beasts come up from the sea one after the other each looking very different from the others. But prophetically he was seeing four great national powers each with their own leaders rising up amid this chaotic time in order to take advantage of this situation of discontent within society and each initially with their own separate agendas.  

“The first was like a lion,:” The first beast that rose up out of the sea of chaos resembled a lion with wings. This is literally the symbol of the Babylon Empire. This Empire is considered the first truly great civilization on earth. Its symbol can still be seen on the tile work that covered its great entrance gate. But prophetically, the lion today is now recognized as the national symbol of one of the earth’s modern and greatest nations know as Great Britton. So, Daniel’s dream is telling us that when the end of the Age of the Rule of Mankind arrives, there will be chaos, and a great nation whose symbol is the lion will be in existence. And now we know that nation is England.  

“ …and had eagles wings:”:  

Once again, literally the symbol of Babylon was a Lion with eagle’s wings. But in this particular case something very peculiar happens to the wings. 

“I beheld until the wings thereof were plucked and it was lifted up from the Earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. 

Here is an extremely rare Biblical reference to America. God is revealing to Daniel in 556 B.C. that at the end of the rule of mankind on the earth, the nation of England will exist. As Daniel literally considers a lion with eagle’s wings, he sees the wings plucked or uprooted by force and apparently removed to another place separate from the lion. Prophetically, God is revealing to Daniel that a nation that is represented by the eagle, will come out of a nation represented by a lion. And, this nation will be located away from that of the lion. We now know that England is the lion. So what nation represented by an eagle, and removed from England, came out of England by force?

It is of course America. This nation had to fight in order to be a released from English colonialization. Further, because the wings are removed and not mentioned again by Daniel, this means that America is not one of the four countries or beasts that come under the direct control of the Antichrist. America will exist and will have to deal with the Antichrist’s invasion into sovereign nations. We read of America helping Israel when the Antichrist tries to carry out a campaign of genocide against Gods chosen people (Revelation 12:14). In fact, America will have to deal with Antichrist supporters, some of whom will be elected into congress and other to positions of authority. So while the entire earth will feel the effects of the Antichrist, most of his actual conquests will be in the Middle East. However, America is not cited as a country that actually comes under his rule. 

Next we read that after the wings were plucked off “it” was lifted up and made to stand on its feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. So what is the word ”it” referring to? If "it" is the eagles wings, then the phrase is referring to America which, once freed from Brittan, would rapidly grow in economic and military might, thus standing up on its own two feet. Since only God can give a "heart" or conscience to someone, or symbolically to something, this phrase must be referring to the fact that, while America is a super power, it is a Christian nation. Therefore, it is against its moral code of ethics to take advantage of its status by invading or denigrating other countries. Instead, America works with other countries to help create prosperity and promote democratic freedom by giving them a hand up through various means.

On the other hand if the word “it” is referring to the lion, then it may be referring to two separate events. Literally, King Nebuchadnezzar in the time of Daniel, became overly proud of all he had accomplished. God punished him by making him crawl on all four legs and eat grass like an animal for seven years. Then God restored the King to his right mind. The King immediately praised God for a lesson hard learned. Some scholars believe the lion seen going from a beast to man represents the King going from a beast of a man, to acting like an actual beast, only to return as a man with a penitent heart. However, Nebuchadnezzar soon relapsed and had a giant statue constructed and announced that the people were to worship him or be executed. Prophetically, the lion represents the English monarchy after the American Revolutionary War (1776-1783). King George the III was the English monarch at the time of the revolution. He was cruel when it came to the colonies and swore that England would continue the war forever. However, in 1783 Cornwallis surrendered and the war was over. In 1788 King George became a bipolar schizophrenic. By 1811 he was blind, deaf and violently insane. His son then ruled for nine years and died of this same affliction. In the following years, England would move from being ruled by a dictatorial king or beast of a man, to a kinder more humane rule by way of a democracy. And, America would in turn, slowly establish economic partnerships with Great Britain that continue to this day. So, we see that after the wings were plucked off, the lion became more human or humane with the death of King George. And Great Britain, as a democracy, established peaceful relationships with America and the world.

However, it could be that prophetically, the wings of America and the lion of England, both stood up on their own two feet, and setting aside past differences, both developed a heart or respect for one another. Today, with the help of trade with America, England has the sixth largest economy and fifth largest nuclear military force in the world.

On a final note, two more points to be considered. First, it is very interesting to consider that the description of the wings standing upon two feet and being given a man’s heart, may well be a reference to a second well known symbol of America. That being the man known as Uncle Sam.

Second, the reference to America coming out of the lion is found in Daniel chapter 7 verse 4. And the Declaration of America's Independence from England was ratified on July 4th {7/4/1776}.

So now we see that one of the four countries that need to be in power during the time of the Tribulation, rise of the Antichrist and the Second Coming of Christ is Great Britain. While we have learned of the prophecy of America existing during the time of the Antichrist, it is not one of the four beasts directly involved in his rise and fall. To read more on the other three countries that must exist in the days leading up to the End of the Age of the Rule of Man on Earth, please read the Paper, “Daniel’s End-Time Prophecy of America Revealed" in the website's Library.