A rude awakening is coming *sigh*.
Daniel wrote in 550 B.C. And yet God said that no one would be able to understand these prophecies until the time of the end. (Daniel 12:9). Most commentaries teach that the Four Beasts of Daniel’s dream are the same four successive empires represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. However, all four of Daniel’s Beasts are in existence when Jesus returns. In Daniel 7:12, Daniel saw that the other beasts “had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.” It is clear that the fourth beast is still in power when Jesus comes, because “little horn” on that beast, “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.” (Daniel 7:21-22)
We can identify the modern nations represented by the Russian bear, the German leopard with wings of a fowl, the French Rooster, and Daniel’s dreadful Fourth Beast, the last superpower on earth.
In modern times, the lion, the first Beast, is most clearly associated with Great Britain. The British Lion is universally recognized in the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom and several national emblems, flags and British coins.