“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, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 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: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear.” - (Re 13:1-9)KJV
“Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake:
I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
….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. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. 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; 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. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 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.
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. 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. 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. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. (Da 7:1-13,16-27)
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We have taken the liberty of reproducing two sections of scripture in their entirety so that you may be able to follow the exposition with greater ease. That said, once you read these two texts side by side, and follow along with the interpretation (kindly given to Daniel) you will see that there is not much we need to say to explain this! 
:-) Truly, the Bible is its own interpreter. We also highly recommend reading Daniel 2 and Daniel 8 ( we can’t reproduce all those texts here ) once before reading below.
1. The Sea. The Apostle is standing upon the sand of the sea, and sees a beast rising out of it. The Daniel vision begins with the 4 winds of Heaven striving upon the sea and 4 beasts rising out of it. Do you recall the 4 winds of Heaven being restrained by Angels in Revelation 7:1 (check it out!) - A very interesting connection and similarity indeed. There are spiritual forces at work upon the planet that we have no clue about!This is a clue to us, that the sea is not a literal sea, but rather, it represents humanity.
In the interpretation given to Daniel, it is clearly stated – “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth” (Daniel 7:17). 4 kings, and by extension 4 kingdoms rising out of the “sea” of the people of earth. We see this same imagery again later in the book where we are told of false religion – “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. (Re 17:15). Isn’t it amazing? Daniel in Babylon so long ago, and the Apostle John on Patmos – seeing the same things! Figures emerging from the sea of humanity.
2. The beasts themselves. Daniel sees a Lion, Leopard, Bear and a 4th terrible beast – all we are told of the 4th one by him is that it has iron teeth, bronze/brass nails, and 10 horns. The Apostle John sees the 4th beast in a little more detail, but it is highly interesting that the one he sees (which is Daniels #4) has all the attributes of the ones Daniel saw. Leopard like appearance, feet of a bear, mouth like a lion, and ten horns. We are also given some additional details. The Apostle sees 7 heads, with one as if it had been mortally wounded. Daniel sees 10 horns, and then an 11th before which 3 horns are uprooted, and this 11th horn has eyes and a really really big mouth! This little horn of Daniel (and the whole beast seen by the Apostle) perform the same activities – dominate the whole earth, make war with the saints, and blaspheme God.
Now we can put this together. The kingdoms (/beasts) of Daniel are :-
a. Lion- Babylon ( when you think Assyrian/Mesopotamian symbols do you remember a lion with wings – Shedu or lamassu in Sumerian, Akkadian, and Persian mythology was depicted as a winged lion.). This is the head of the vision in Daniel 2.
b. Bear – Medo-Persia (Two arms of silver in Daniel 2, Ram with 2 horns in Daniel 8)
c. Leopard – Greece (Swift conquest of Alexander, Thighs of Brass in Daniel 2, He-Goat in Daniel 8). Alexanders kingdom was later divided into 4 parts going to his generals.
d. Beast 4 – Starts as Rome (Legs of Iron in Daniel 2), goes through a period of Iron mixed with clay, but ends up as 10 toes (aka 10 horns). The Roman empire is alive and kicking about in various forms today! Amazing how it all fits together!!!!
e. The 10 horns/kings (10 toes of Daniel 2) are the last human empire before Christ (stone cut out without hands in Daniel 2) comes and possesses the kingdom, as Daniel 2, 7 and 8 says.
We have highlighted one passage in our texts above by making it a separate paragraph. “I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.”
This is amazing in that Daniel and the Apostle(Rev 19:20) both see the last beast sent to the lake of fire, but the –rest of the beasts live for –a season and a time--. Daniel is seeing the Millennium here!!! The human systems of government will not have dominion (Christ will rule) but their concepts and ideas will lie dormant in humanity till Satan comes out of the bottomless pit one last time to whip those embers into a blaze! Daniel was not a- or pre-millennial – he saw the millennium as occurring AFTER the beasts reign was done! Absolutely amazing!
What have we learned so far? In very simple terms, the beasts represent kings (as we have been told) – but not just kings – all that they imply –kingdoms, empires, systems of government, policies and ideologies. Literal kings (people) show up as horns.
You can see it in the visions of Daniel. The beast is the kingdom or empire that dominates the whole earth, stamps, and breaks – the little horn of the beast is the one with the big mouth that wars against the saints – a person that represents and exercises the power of the beast/empire.
That is where the 7 heads come from. A copy of the dragon (who has 7 heads too), but 7 kinds of empires. Babylon, Media, Persia, Greece, Rome, weak Democracies (Clay of Daniel 2) & the last world empire ruled by 10 nations. The wounded head could signify a type of empire gone into decline, but resurrected in the last days (e.g. the ideology of Rome – has vestiges in the republic of the US, Constantine’s empire – has vestiges in the EU etc.).
The book of Revelation confirms the vision of Daniel. The Apostle John is seeing exactly what the prophet Daniel saw so long ago in Babylon. A world empire, 10 kings, and a king that will make war against the saints of the earth, but will finally be overcome! The two movies line up exactly.
One last sobering thought. ”And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear.” We have often said that the doctrine of election – God sovereignly choosing to save those He has compassion on, according to His Good Will – is a doctrine that is taught throughout the whole Bible. We have discussed it to some extent in our “Are You Saved” video available on this page. Here is further confirmation that it is God Himself, who reaches out and prevents His saints from committing the terrible mistake of worshipping a false God. We will not say any more, the text is clear enough, and emphasized with a warning to pay attention to it!
We hope this discussion cleared up some confusion, and we thank God Almighty for His inspiration to His prophets, and His illumination of His Word for our benefit. Hallelujah!