As for the first three beasts in Daniel 7, their dominion, that is, their authority and kingdom, was taken away, but an extension of life was given to them for a season and for a time (v. 12). This indicates that although the dominion and authority of Babylon, Persia, and Greece were taken away, their culture will be extended and remain. Today the culture in the human world is still the Western culture, the Roman culture. Western culture is the consummation of Roman, Greek, Persian, and Babylonian culture.
Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was defeated by Darius the Mede. Then Alexander the Great defeated Darius the Persian, a different Darius, in 330 B.C. Alexander the Great was succeeded by his four generals who ruled over four kingdoms. In 27 B.C. Caesar Augustus became the emperor of the Roman Empire and replaced the Grecian Empire. Although the Roman Empire came to an end around A.D. 476, the Roman spirit, culture, law, politics, and customs continue to exist. Therefore, in a sense, the world today is still a part of the Roman Empire.
Daniel clearly unveils God’s economy. According to His economy, God is ruling over the world in order to produce a situation for Israel to be His elect, to gain the church to be His mysterious people, and to have all the nations to be the peoples in the eternal kingdom of God. If we see this, we will know where we are, and we will know the meaning of our human life.
The vision in 8:3-14 concerns a ram and a male goat with its successors.
The ram signifies Medo-Persia (vv. 3, 20; 11:2). This ram was standing before the river Ulai (8:2-3), signifying that the Medo-Persian Empire became strong by the river Ulai. The ram had two horns, which “were high, but one was higher than the other; and the higher one came up last” (v. 3). These two horns signify Media and Persia. Persia with its king Cyrus (Ezra 1:1) became higher than Media. Daniel saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward (Dan. 8:4). This signifies that Medo-Persia conquered Babylon in the west, Assyria in the north, and Egypt in the south. Verse 4 also says, “No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could deliver from his power.” This signifies Medo-Persia’s subduing power. Furthermore, verse 4 continues, “He did as he pleased, and he became great.” This indicates that Medo-Persia had no fear of God and became arrogant in itself. Eventually, God dealt with Medo-Persia by raising up Alexander the Great.
The male goat signifies Greece with Alexander the Great (vv. 5, 21; 11:2-3). This male goat came from the west (8:5), signifying that Alexander the Great came from Europe. The goat came over the face of the whole earth without touching the ground (v. 5). This signifies the swift movement of Alexander the Great over the earth. Daniel saw that the goat had a conspicuous horn between its eyes (v. 5). This signifies Alexander the Great as an extraordinary horn who was very intelligent. The goat came up to the ram in his mighty wrath, struck the ram, broke his two horns, threw him to the ground, and trampled him. The ram had no strength to withstand him, and there was none to deliver the ram from his power (vv. 6-7). This indicates that Alexander the Great conquered Medo-Persia and destroyed it. The male goat became very great, but once he became strong, the great horn was broken (v. 8). This indicates that Alexander the Great became arrogant in himself. Furthermore, once the great horn of Greece, Alexander the Great, became strong in power, he died.
The second half of verse 8 through verse 14 speaks of the successors of the male goat.
Daniel said that in the place of the great horn, four conspicuous ones came up toward the four winds of heaven (v. 8; 11:4). After Alexander the Great, his four generals who correspond to the four wings and the four heads in 7:6—Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus—rose up from the four ends of the Grecian Empire to form nations in Macedonia, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Syria respectively. According to the human point of view, the Grecian Empire ended with the death of Alexander the Great. But in the sight of God the Grecian Empire continued to exist in the four empires formed by Alexander the Great’s four generals. One of the four empires was Egypt in the south, and another was Syria in the north. Daniel 11 describes the warfare between these two empires in the territory of Israel.