Unraveling Revelation: The Ages of Man

We continue our discussion of the symbols used by the prophet Daniel to represent the ages of human history and our prophesied future.

The metals of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream—gold, silver, bronze, and iron—were used by pagans to divide human history and the foretell a future “golden age.” Daniel was shown a series of beasts—first, a winged lion, a bear, a four-headed winged leopard, followed by a beast that was “terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.” Later, the prophet was shown a ram that was trampled by a male goat.

We deal with the historical representations of these beasts, and next week we’ll continue with a discussion of the ten horns, which correspond to the horns on the Beast that emerges from the sea in Revelation 12—the Antichrist.