How does Daniel's vision of the empires compare with Nebuchadnezzar's image?
Daniel's vision parallels Nebuchadnezzar's image in the same unfolding of empires, but Daniel presents them as bestial rather than metallic. Where Nebuchadnezzar saw Babylon as the head of gold, Daniel saw it as a lion with eagles' wings. The empires come out of the mass of humanity.
Les explains that God chose the word beast because these great empires are bestial in their behavior, greed, and treatment of subjects. Daniel sees these empires come out of the mass of humanity, bestial in their makeup, and he sees them in the same unfolding as Nebuchadnezzar did. The first was like a lion, which is Babylon; instead of the head of gold, Daniel sees him as a lion, and he had eagles' wings.