In the first year of the reign of
King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream. What he saw as he slept in his
bed terrified him—a real nightmare. Then he wrote out his dream:
“In my dream that night I saw the
four winds of heaven whipping up a great storm on the sea. Four huge animals,
each different from the others, ascended out of the sea.”
Have you ever had a nightmare with strange
animals? Our minds can imagine strange things—but Daniel’s dream didn’t come
from his own mind, his own thoughts, it came from God giving him prophesy of
future events. So many symbolic things in the Bible can be interpreted from
other scripture verses, so we will attempt to understand some of Daniel’s
vision with other verses, from searching Strong’s lexicon study tool and
seeking wisdom from commentators. Daniel wisely wrote down his dream, otherwise
he may have forgotten parts of the details that are so unusual and mysterious.
The four winds of heaven seem to represent
actual wind from the four corners of the earth. Some commentators say that four
represents the earth and we’ll continue to see how that applies to Daniel’s
dream. Wind is wind, although sometimes it represents the spirit, specifically
the Holy Spirit. In this case according to Matthew Henry the winds are from the
four corners of the earth representing four earthly empires struggling for
power. So in Daniel’s dream, as the winds stirred up the great sea, or the
earth, these powers came forth in the shapes of four very different animals.
Daniel’s dream takes place in the first year of
Belshazzar’s reign, so Daniel was about 63 years old. The rest of the book of
Daniel is about prophesies and visions that the Lord gives him and is not
chronological with the first six chapters in this book. Daniel had interpreted dreams
for others before and now he is having dreams of his own and interpretation of them
is in part reflected back to some of Nebuchadnezzar’s earlier dreams. Our
dreams may seem very tame compared to Daniel’s dreams. Who is to say whether
our dreams have a spiritual significance or not? Our thoughts when we are awake
are what really matter. May your thoughts focus you on Jesus and your
relationship with Him.
Dear Lord, As it says in
Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my
anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the
everlasting way.”May the thought of my heart be pleasing to you.
© 2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
Scripture from The Message, except where noted.
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