The book of Daniel has two main sections. The first section (1:3—6:28), which comprises six cases, speaks of the victory, in their captivity, of the young descendants of God's degraded elect over Satan's further devices. The second section (chs. 7—12) records the visions of the overcoming Daniel. Daniel's faithfulness and victory gave him the position and the right angle to receive the visions from God.
Daniel received vision after vision. He received visions from God not only concerning the destiny of His elect but also concerning God's eternity. This book, at its highest point, touches the matter of how God intends to spend His eternity.
In chapters two and four, Nebuchadnezzar, a Gentile king, saw two great visions—a great human image and a big tree. Although Nebuchadnezzar saw these visions, Daniel was needed to interpret them. The big tree in chapter four corresponds to the head of the human image in chapter two: both signify Nebuchadnezzar. When the head was touched by God, the tree was cut down, and Nebuchadnezzar became a beast (4:16, 25).
In the first vision, the head of the great human image was gold. Each successive part of the image was made of different metals from silver to bronze and eventually to iron. In man's eyes these four metals represent four great human governments and cultures. However, what Daniel saw in the vision in chapter seven was very different. Instead of four different metals, he saw four cruel beasts. We need to study carefully the description of these four beasts.