In Daniel 7, the prophet 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." He was given to see the effects of the winds upon the sea. These winds represent God’s providential dealings with the earth — they are "the four winds of heaven." They are currents that are allowed by God to affect the courses of the nations. Policies and public opinions, circumstances, great and apparently trivial, all work out His will. The sea represents the restless moving masses of people who are acted upon by these things. When John, looking ahead, sees these four winds in Revelation 7, they are being held back until a remnant of Israel are sealed before the time of Jacob’s trouble. John speaks of the winds as "the four winds of the earth." The difference between Daniel and John is that the former spoke of the source from which they come, and the latter, the object on which they act.
The Winds Upon the Seas
In Daniel 7 the activity of these winds upon the seas produces the agitation that brings forth great empires, and this commotion has always preceded great changes among the nations. Sometimes seemingly unrelated happenings prove to be but the workings of a divine providence to produce certain complex situations out of which arise great leaders and great nations. Look back through history and see the background from which sprang those great beasts of Daniel 7 — the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires. All came up from the tossing around of the peoples, which were brought about by the providential winds of heaven.
The Winds of Heaven
Then when we come to Revelation 13 we find that the future beast — the great and terrible Roman Empire of the future — will arise out of the sea, no doubt troubled by the winds of heaven acting upon the earth. Surely the last few years have witnessed the blowing of the winds of heaven upon earth, and the changes have been momentous and drastic. Stormy winds have been fulfilling His will, and soon the final actors in this scene of man’s day will come forth ready to fulfill their appointed parts. But let us not forget how the picture of prophecy everywhere closes with the coming and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Daniel says, when contemplating the four Gentile kingdoms, especially the revived Roman Empire, that "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 forever" (Dan. 2:4444And 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. (Daniel 2:44)).
Paul Wilson