The Final Revelation--The Body: We enter now into the body of the last main revelation of the book of Daniel. There has been some progression in the visions of the book from a more general scope, encompassing larger blocks of history, to a more narrow focus on shorter periods of time. So, for example, Daniel 2 spans four and a half centuries by outlining the four human empires of Babylonia, Media, Persia, and Greece, which are swept away by the fifth—the eternal kingdom of God. Aside from the fact that the fourth empire will have two phases (a stronger, “iron” phase [2:33, 40], corresponding to the rule of Alexander, and a relatively weaker, “iron and clay” phase [2:33, 41–43], corresponding to the divided kingdoms of the Diadochi), there is little detail. Daniel 7 sets out the same four e…