Revelation 13:1a And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns,

  2a And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:

(John saw one beast come up from the sea, with seven heads, and ten horns.)

Daniel 7:2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.

  3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

  4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.

  5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

  6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

  7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

  8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

(Daniel saw four beasts come up from the sea, with a total of seven heads, and ten horns on one.

He saw a beast like a lion, a beast like a leopard, a beast like a bear, and a terribly strange looking beast.

The one beast that John saw is a composite of the four beasts that Daniel saw.

Daniel also saw another little horn come up among the ten horns on the fourth beast.

However, this horn had eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great things.)

(There are some who think that the four beasts that Daniel saw, line up with the four metals on the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw.

Nebuchadnezzar was given a dream of successive kingdoms, beginning with his, but ending with Jesus bringing his kingdom:)

Daniel 2:31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

  32 This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

  33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

  34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

  35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

  36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.

  37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.

  38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

  39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

  40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

  41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

  42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

  43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

  44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

(History shows that there were four main kingdoms ruling over Israel, while Israel was in the land.

First was Babylon, then Media-Persia, then Greece, and then finally Rome.

Both Babylon and Rome attacked Israel, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, and forced the Jews out of the land.

However, in a lower part of the image, the Greek empire, changes from a single brass torso, to two thighs.

Then the lowest part of the image, Rome, is two legs of iron.

History shows that the Greek empire started with Alexander, but when he died, it went to his four generals.

However, it quickly morphed into two main parts, affecting Israel, the Selucids of the north, and Ptolemies of the south.

History shows that there was both the western and eastern parts of the Roman empire.

The western part covered Europe, while the eastern part covered the Middle East and North Africa.

This eventually was centered in the cities of Rome and Constantinople.

In the western part, the city of Rome fell in 476 AD, and then devolved into the dark ages of Europe, under kings and popes.

The eastern part was conquered and essentially converted by islam, with Constantinople finally falling in 1453 AD.

According to what was told to Nebuchadnezzar, in the latter days, when Jesus returns to establish his kingdom,

there will be some final form or that Roman empire, indicated by the feet and toes that were part iron and part clay,

that may indicate that both the western and eastern parts will be in this weakened final form;

also, feet typically have ten toes, and it was said, “in the days of these kings”,

may connect the ten toes on the image to the ten horns on the beast in chapter 7;

the eastern part is totally islamic, except for Israel, and the western part secular, but increasingly becoming islamic;

the feet and ten toes are what Jesus strikes at his return.)

(But what about people trying to directly connect the four beasts in chapter 7 to the four empires in chapter 2?

They say that the lion must be Babylon, the bear must be Media-Persia, the leopard must be Greece, and the last must be Rome.

That would be a very nice & easy connection to make, except it cannot be so.

Daniel had his chapter 7 vision in the first year of Belshazzar, as seen in line 1 of chapter 7.

Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon, and reigned for only two years, when Media-Persia took the kingdom.

Then in line 16, Daniel asks for interpretation of his vision.

In line 17, he is told that the four beasts are 4 kings “which shall arise”.

There were no more kings of Babylon to arise after Belshazzar, so the first beast, the lion, must be Media-Persia.

The bear then would be Greece, the leopard Rome, and the terrible strange beast must be the end-times final kingdom form:)

Daniel 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.

  16 I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.

  17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

  18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

  19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;

  20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.

  21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;

  22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

  23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

  24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

  25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

  26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

(That horn with eyes and a mouth looks to be a prophecy of the antichrist.

Although Daniel saw the beasts come up from the sea, he is told that they are kings that arise out of the earth.

So, the sea, as seen in Revelation 13:1, is not necessarily a body of water, but shows these kings to be of the Gentiles.

There could still be a connection to the “Mediterranean” area, since the Mediterranean is frequently called the great sea.)