Daniel 7:1-3 “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. 2 Daniel spoke 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.” In the first year of Belshazzar... - It was in the first year of king Belshazzar that Daniel had a vision and wrote down all that he saw, with the interpretation. Four winds of heaven - It is quite obvious as we go down through this prophecy that the Bible uses a number of symbols to describe what is taking place. Only the Bible can be used to interpret these symbols. In Jeremiah 25:31-33 we see that when a great whirlwind is raised up it wreaks death and destruction upon those it comes against. Also in Jeremiah 4:13 we find that the chariots that spoiled the people, (this being a prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem by the hand of Babylon Vs 5, 6), were likened unto a whirlwind. So it is easily seen that winds are a symbol of war, strife, bloodshed, and trouble. Four being from the four quarters of the earth or the four points of the compass Jeremiah 49:36. Strove upon the great sea - Seas are a symbol of multitudes, nations, tongues, and peoples. (Revelation 17:15, Isaiah 17:12) Four great beasts came up from the sea - A beast is a symbol of a king or kingdom, so too is a horn. (Daniel 7:17; 23-24) Already we are seeing a picture of what Daniel is being shown. Strife, war and bloodshed is upon the nations as kingdom conquers kingdom to rise to world supremacy. Notice how the beasts rose up out of the sea, thus showing that each kingdom rose out of a densely populated area. We are looking at world events as it comes from all directions, all encompassing. Diverse one from another - The people in each controlling nation were different, the laws and customs were different, and even the administration of the kingdoms was different.