Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. © Copyright 2010 - 2019   All rights reserved. Daniel 11 Explained (condensed ‘one page’ commentary) ‘Matthew 24’ Explained (must match Revelation) The ‘Seals’ Explained (Revelation timeline revealed) Seven Churches Explained (Past & Present Church Prophecy) Note: ‘Sitemap’ shows a complete list of all pages (by category). ‘Homepage’ gives 3 simple steps + timelines + summary. The “Lion” is ‘Iran’  (1st beast) Daniel 7:4  “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle.  I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it.”    The lion has always been the symbol of the Persian Empire, as displayed on its flags. (left) The current regime came to power by the Islamic Revolution of 1979, which is described in Daniel 11:21.  The “wings of an eagle” could possibly represent the United States, who inadvertently helped Iran by eliminating Saddam Hussein in 2003, which was the first part of Daniel 11:22.  That was important because it allowed Iran to expand their influence into Iraq, which would never have happened with Saddam or his sons in power.    The next sentence has two different elements because the first is destructive but the second is restoring.  First, the “wings were torn off”, which represents the crippling sanctions imposed by the United States, which peaked in 2013 and brought Iran to their knees.  Then, Iran was given the opportunity to be “lifted from the ground”, by getting relief from the sanctions, and “stood on two feet like a man”, during the nuclear negotiations, which were the basis of Daniel 11:23.  The “heart of a man” represents Iran’s President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif, who are ‘moderates’.  They changed Iran’s persona to the West  and made the nuclear agreement possible.    Of course, the nuclear agreement was a big catalyst for change because it allowed Iran to unfreeze their bank accounts and restore their oil trade.  (One big step in that process was accomplished during the UN General Assembly, Sept-2016, which was part of Daniel 11:28.)  Sanctions relief, which actually began with the interim agreement, in Nov-2013, allowed them to provide more support for Shia militias, in Syria and Iraq, when ISIS invaded in June-2014, which was the basis of Daniel 11:24.  That, in turn, gave them more influence in the Middle East, which is the primary factor that distinguishes the “king of the north” in Daniel 11.    Note: By mentioning the verses of Daniel 11, I’m just illustrating how the two timelines run parallel, even though Daniel 7 is less detailed.  The “Bear” is ‘Russia’  (2nd beast) Daniel 7:5 “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.  It was told, 'Get up and eat your fill of flesh!'”   Russia has long been symbolized by the bear, as shown on Putin’s party banner. (left)  Russia increased its presence in Syria, to help Assad, in Sept-2015.  This verse starts with a set-back, similar to the previous verse, and then illustrates how things are different now.   Russia was “raised up on one of its sides” (so to speak) when a passenger airliner was brought down, while returning from Egypt, October 31, 2015. (Halloween)  Three weeks later, a Russian jet was downed by Turkey, while it was defending Assad in northern-Syria, November 24, 2015.  That was Turkey’s attempt to sabotage a meeting between France and Russia (East and West), to increase cooperation in Syria, following the Paris attacks, November 13, 2015.  That plan didn’t work, because the meeting went on as planned, but it gave Russia a very good excuse to bring in sophisticated aircraft and missile defense systems.  I’m not sure which countries or terrorist groups represented the “3 ribs” but Russia increased their capabilities until they could hold all the surrounding countries “between their teeth.”  Russia was not exactly working with the West, but after the terrorist attacks in France and around the world increased, they were essentially told, “eat your fill of flesh.” (no restrictions)   March 14, 2016, Putin announced that their main goals in Syria had been fulfilled because the situation had reversed so that Assad was not losing territory but actually winning again.  From that point on, it seemed like Russia was trying to figure out their end game, by conducting peace talks with various parties.  That took a while but I think they’ve finally transitioned into the 3rd beast.   The Leopard with ‘four heads’ is a mixture  (3rd beast) Daniel 7:6 “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.”   The leopard with four heads is a mixture of countries, most likely “four.”  One interesting aspect of this verse is the fact that they are “given” authority to rule.   Two thoughts: It could be talking about God’s authority that they are granted, but it could also be talking about human interaction such as Trump’s pull-out from northern Syria, which allowed Turkey to move in and confront the Kurds.  A secondary result was that Assad was allowed to move north and reclaim some land that the Kurds had been keeping.  The big loser is the Kurds, who were hoping to rule autonomously in Syria, like the Kurds in Iraq.  Russia has already said that they won’t allow Turkey and Assad to fight.  Therefore, it looks like Trump’s move is allowing the ‘four headed beast’ the authority to take over and rule.    I’m still not positive who the four heads are but I would guess Iran, Russia, and Turkey, who have had several presidential meetings concerning Syria, and then Assad’s forces.  One clear winner in Trump’s move is Iran, who commands the Shia militias in Iraq and Syria, because the Kurds are no longer available as a ground force for the US, against the militias or Iran.  The US and Israel can still bomb away, but that can only get you so far, without a ground force.    The development of the four-headed beast is irrelevant of rapture timing because the abomination is not mentioned in Daniel 7.  All we can deduce is that the rapture happens before the 4^th beast because the 10-horned beast is the post-rapture beast in Revelation 13.  Thus, the abomination and rapture could happen at any time, either before or during the 4-headed beast.  The above developments just confirm that God’s various timelines and prophecies are moving forward.  Don’t worry: God still has plans for the Kurds because I think they are the ones who get their revenge on ‘Babylon’, when the 6th Bowl dries up the Euphrates River, near the end of tribulation.   The 4^th “terrifying and frightening” beast is the ‘post-rapture’ beast Daniel 7:7 “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast- terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.”    The most distinguishing characteristic of the 4^th beast is that it has “10-horns”, which matches the post-rapture beast in Revelation 13.  Therefore, the abomination and rapture must happen before this verse, to correspond with the multitude in Revelation 7.    In Daniel 7:7, Russia evolves from the ‘bear with teeth’ to the “large iron teeth,” which is crucial to the 4th “terrifying and frightening” beast.  In other words, Russia plays a significant role in the 4^th beast, but it ultimately consists of much more than just Russia.  In fact, the “terrifying and frightening” beast has 10-horns, which matches the post-rapture beast of Revelation 13:1.  I believe, as most do, that the 10-horns are 10-nations that will emerge as a powerful alliance in the post-rapture.  Of course, we are not there yet, which is why we are not seeing the 10-horns, yet.  However, it is becoming more evident with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which countries are aligning with Iran and Russia, as opposed to the West.  Therefore, I see Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an important step in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, since their style of fighting consists of ‘crushing, devouring, and trampling’ their victims.  I mean, the level of destruction seen in Ukraine has not been witnessed since WWII.  Therefore, we are getting a preview of the “large iron teeth,” but I think the prophecy of Daniel 7:7 is talking about the Middle East.  In other words, I think we will see much more crushing, devouring, and trampling during the 6^th Trumpet War, when the 10-horned beast is fully formed.  The “little horn” is the antichrist Daniel 7:8 “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.”   The antichrist will rise up to become leader of the forth beast, even replacing three other leaders.  One distinguishing characteristic of the little horn is that it has a “mouth that spoke boastfully”, which matches the “mouth that utters proud words and blasphemies”, which is the antichrist in Revelation 13:5.  Daniel 7:21 also states, “this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them”, which matches Revelation 13:7 saying, “he was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.”    One reason I think the antichrist will come from Iran is the riddle of seven kings, which says, “There are also seven kings.  Five have fallen, one is, the other has yet to come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while.  The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eight king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.” (Revelation 17:10-11)  Well, I won’t pretend to understand the whole riddle but Iran has had seven presidents, since they became a nation in 1979, and they seem to be Israel’s arch enemy.  Since the 7th king “remains for a little while”, it would seem that the rapture takes place during the 7th president and the beast becomes an 8^th but “belongs to the seven” or belongs to Iran. Thus, the ‘mouth of the beast’, or little horn, or antichrist, would also come from Iran.   The rest of Daniel 7 goes back and forth, from heaven to earth, as Daniel witnessed.  Daniel 7:9-10 9 "As I looked, "thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. 10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.   The above verse is just a description of the Father getting ready for judgement.  Notice that there’s a difference between the ones who “attended Him”, which are the angels, and the ones who “stood before Him”, which would be the raptured multitude from Revelation 7.  Daniel 7:11-12 11 "Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)   The above verse skips to Armageddon (7^th Bowl - end of 2300-day tribulation) because that’s where the beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of burning sulfur. (Rev. 19:20)  Daniel 7:13-14 13 "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.   The above verse is after Jesus has defeated the beast.  Note: Daniel’s reference to a “son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven” sounds similar to the rapture but it has to be something different.  It sounds like Jesus’ reward ceremony for defeating the beast, before He begins His 1000-year reign on earth, where he will rule the nations with an iron scepter and His kingdom will never be destroyed.    I’ll skip the rest, except for verse 25 below, because Daniel’s questions are repetitive, and the answers remain pretty vague.  Daniel 7:25 “He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.”    The above verse speaks again of the little horn (or antichrist), where he is given power to conquer the saints, which is Israel, after the two witnesses have finished prophesying.  It’s interesting that he will “try to change the set times”, obviously failing, but it shows again that the rapture has already happened because only then will the set times be known.  I mean, the rapture will come as a surprise, but once that happens; the times are given in definite terms, such as 1260-days, 1290, 1335, and 2300-days.  That’s done because God no longer needs to keep anything secret.  In other words, there’s nothing Satan or the antichrist can do to change God’s plan, even when it’s out in the open. Daniel 2: 40-43 The 4^th Kingdom of “iron & clay” in Daniel 2   (one of my first discoveries - basically matches the 1^st and 2^nd beasts above)     In 2010, I was trying to lengthen my original book on Daniel 11 because I was told it was too short to publish.  I was spending long-hours on research and organization so I decided to take a break on the 4th of July.  In the spirit of the holiday, I began watching a documentary on the History Channel about the United States.  It just so happens that they were up to WWII.  They explained how America developed the atomic bomb and how Russia stole the technology a few years later.  Then, America developed a more-powerful hydrogen bomb but Russia stole that technology too.  To make a long story short, the Cold War struggle between the United States and Russia, which lasted 40+ years, reminded me of Solomon’s struggles, when God vowed to split the kingdom but not in Solomon’s lifetime.  Even though God vowed to wait, He still planned ahead and raised three adversaries to Solomon, one of which inherited the northern kingdom years later.  Likewise, if the United States was going to lose influence in the Middle East, as verse 22 implied, then someone was going to have to pick up the slack.  Given Russia’s long history as America’s adversary, they seemed to be the logical choice.      The notion stayed on my mind so I checked the Middle Eastern news, that evening, as I usually did, and Russia was in the headlines.  In brief, the former President, Medvedev, decided to ‘halt’ weapon sells to Iran because a forth round of sanctions had just passed the U.N. on 6-9-2010.  Further research revealed that Russia had been selling weapons to Iran since 2001, starting just 3-weeks after the World Trade Center attack.  (It seems that neither Iran nor Russia was very happy about the United States being in Afghanistan.)  That made me remember another article that I had printed out concerning Russia’s vote on the sanctions.  In that article, one Russian expert defended Russia’s “yes” vote by saying that Russia had never trusted Iran.  That struck me as strange, since they had been selling weapons to Iran for nine years, but never trusted them?  That reminded me of the “empire of iron and clay”, from Daniel 2, because the two countries were “different” but “together”.   Daniel 2: 40-43  “Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.  Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay.  As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.  And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.”        The NIV study notes were totally different because they said that the forth kingdom was the Romans but that doesn’t explain the clay, nor does it explain the last kingdom either.    The next verse goes on to say, “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed nor will it be left to another people.  It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end but it will, itself, endure forever.” (Daniel 2:44)    Obviously, that is speaking of Jesus’ kingdom but supporters of the Roman theory would say that it represents a spiritual kingdom, not physical.  I disagree because the Romans were not “crushed” or “brought to an end” by the spiritual kingdom.   A more logical explanation is that Jesus will crush the forth kingdom (literally with hailstones), at Armageddon, and set up His own kingdom for a thousand years. (Rev. 20)    Over the past seven years, since that discovery came to me, Iran and Russia has made enormous strides in relations, and kept the Shiites in power in Syria, which is vitally important to the “king of the north” (or final empire) in Daniel 11.  In other words, the “iron and clay” in Daniel 2 was critical to the north/south division in Daniel 11.  In a nut shell, God is juggling multiple timelines from the Bible, with different starting points and different events, but they all fit together and all the prophecies will come true.   Note: Russia is a Christian  nation, very different from Islam.  Nevertheless, they will stay together, at least until after the rapture.    I’m not sure how long they will stay together after that, especially when the antichrist takes over. Current Events from Daniel 11 (matching the Middle East) The Abomination (Daniel 11:31) done Recent Events ISIS - Saudi - Turkey (Daniel 11: 24-27) Final Events to the Abomination (Daniel 11: 28-30) Shiites re-take Persia + America’s Role Begins (Daniel 11: 21-23) soon done done Daniel 7’s Timeline Explained Introduction    Some time ago, it became obvious that Daniel 7 was another timeline of end times, beginning with the final empire in Daniel 11:21, which is Iran.  In general, God has multiple timelines, happening simultaneously, with different starting points and events.   By far, the most complete timeline is Daniel 11 because it’s God’s “Book of Truth” (Daniel 10:21) and it contains the ‘abomination that causes desolation’, which Jesus referred to in Matthew 24:15.  In contrast, Daniel 7 does not contain the abomination, so it doesn’t give any new insight into the timing of the rapture, but it does verify that events in the Middle East are proceeding as God prophesied.  I don’t think it’s any accident that Daniel 7 starts with Iran because it ends up talking about the antichrist, who is most likely from Iran.  Of course, the antichrist takes over after the rapture so it’s nothing to worry about.    It’s not so unusual for Persia (Iran) to have a central role in God’s plan for end times because God has used them before on important events in the Bible.  The name of Persia’s founder, Cyrus the Great, was prophesied by Isaiah 3-times! (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; 45:13)   It was foretold that Cyrus would be both powerful and righteous, and allow the Israelites to ‘re-build’ Jerusalem and their Temple.  It’s doubly amazing because, not only did God give the exact name, the prophecies were made long before Jerusalem and the Temple was ever destroyed and needed rebuilding.  Yet, centuries later, Cyrus came to power, defeated the Babylonians, and allowed the Israelites to return and rebuild their Temple. (Ezra 1)  The Parthian Empire, which was an Iranian dynasty of the Persians, was one of the four-winds  (Daniel 11:4), who stopped the Romans from spreading farther east.  It’s also conceivable that the “wise men from the East” came from the Parthian Empire, who was obviously better informed than the Jewish “chief priests and teachers of the law.” (Matthew 2:1-12)  Therefore, Christians should not fear Iran, who is one of God’s instruments of choice, to hasten the return of Jesus, which is going to happen one way or another, as the Bible says.    Notice below that Daniel 7 has ‘four distinct beasts’ but only the last one is “terrifying and frightening”, which is the ‘post-rapture beast’ because the ten-horns match Revelation 13.  Christians will be long gone (raptured) before the 4^th beast because the multitude from every nation is in heaven in Revelation 7.  Therefore, Iran and Russia are not to be hated or feared, before the rapture, because they are actually protecting Christians, in Syria and Iraq, from Sunni terrorists such as ISIS.  Whether they know it or not, Iran and Russia are fulfilling God’s prophecies (as shown below), which is a great thing for Christians.  click to enlarge current symbol of Putin’s United Russia Party Past flags of Iran click to enlarge Updated: 10-20-2019 - section on “Iron and Clay”