Daniel #4

God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of glory, may your name be hallowed. We look forward to the kingdom of God the Father that will be fulfilled in heaven and on earth and in the New Jerusalem, and we want to put our hope in the Word. Help us, Lord, to see your glory in the Word by giving us wisdom and understanding through the Holy Spirit. Please help all the members of this church to wear the full armor of the Word and not be deceived while living on earth and overcome the spiritual battles, so that they can all stand out as soldiers of the cross. Like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, help us to overcome the world by fully trusting only the Lord. We give thanks and pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

            (Daniel 2:31-43 KJV) ¶ Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

The head is gold, Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian empire. The Babylonian king reigned for about 70 years, from 606 to 536 BC. When Daniel said Thou art this head of gold, this also describes Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. However verse 39 says there will rise another inferior kingdom to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, trickling down all the way to the fourth kingdom. So in other words, the king and the kingdom are described as same at the same time. Daniel 7:17 is a scene where four beasts rise out of the sea. Concerning these beasts, the Bible says that these four great beasts are four kings who will arise from the earth. In Daniel 7:21 , the fourth beast will become the fourth kingdom on earth. We’ll come back to this later. The image’s chest and arms are silver. These are the kingdoms of Medes and Persia. Historically it was the Medean King Darius and King Cyrus of Persia. Iran is the descendants of the Persians. Modern Iranians are attempting to bring back the old Persian empire through their nuclear programs. They are delusional at best. The Persian empire came and went as their glory now only remains as ruins. All these kingdoms were once lead by dictators. They were all ruled by kings. Ultimately the Medo-Persian empire also fell to Alexander the Great of Greece. It was destroyed 330 years before the arrival of our Lord.

            Then verse 32 says the belly and thighs of the image are brass. Earlier, Medes and Persia were silver, but now this kingdom is brass. Daniel in verse 39 states that another third kingdom of brass will arise and rule the world. As prophesied, Alexander the Great rose to powers, as he was more of a military minister than a dictator. He became the monarch as the military minister, ruling over a province. Alexander started in Macedonia and traveled around the world as a dictator of world dominance, but he did not rule the entire world. So, just like that, brass is inferior to silver. Alexander was no match to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was called king of kings. But our Lord is the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Not only did God allow Nebuchadnezzar to wield enough power back then to be called the king of kings, but God also utilized the king and the Babylonian empire for his purpose. Again, Alexander, Darius and Cyrus are nothing compared to Nebuchadnezzar. However, Babylon the Great reappears during the Great Tribulation. That’s why in Revelation John wondered with great admiration. He marveled at the mysterious reappearing of Babylon the Great. Although  kingdom of Greece lasted about 100 years, Alexander himself died at a very young age. After his death, the kingdom was divided into four. We will study this again later. Verse 33 shows the iron legs of the great image. Showing that the fourth kingdom will be as powerful as iron, breaking everything into pieces and conquers in its path.

            This is Rome. We know through history that the Roman empire rose up as world power 100 years before the arrival of Lord Jesus Christ. Rome never had a successful dictator or military dictatorship, but rather Republican Monarchy. Again, even Caesar is nothing compared to Nebuchadnezzar. With the introduction of Senate, even the mighty Caesar had to heed to the advice of the Roman Senators, thus weakening his authority. So these two legs represent iron Rome which eventually split into East and West. In verse 33, the image’s feet are now part iron, and part clay. Representing the final kingdom and the end of the world. As for what kingdom this is, verse 41 tells us And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. (Daniel 2:41 KJV) And just like that Rome is now divided. What happened after the Roman Empire dissolved? They blended into Europe. Even the ancestors of United States, migrated from Europe. After all, America is also a nation of clay and iron just as Europe is. Some European nations are powerful, while some are weak. Countries like France & Germany are powerful. However countries like Greece and Spain are not far from becoming a third-world nation. Take a look at USA. Some call it a melting pot. A nation of iron and clay. Contrary to it’s name, people within the United States cannot be combined with each other. Whites, Asians, Hispanics and blacks all live together, but truth be told, they don’t really mingle or mix together that well. They are like grains of sand. It’s just like the Bible says. Through this you can see that we live in the era of the ten toes. All kinds of people live together. What a troublesome and chaotic nation the United States has become. That’s not all. Every nation around the world have integration of many races due to millions of immigrants blending in causing many problems. Therefore, it is better to recognize the kingdoms corresponding to these ten toes as ten kings rather than as kingdoms.

            The Book of Revelation tells us about the ten kings. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 17:3 KJV) Ten horns are the ten kings. Connecting to the ten kings of Daniel. (Revelation 13:1 KJV) ¶ And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. This beast is the Antichrist. It has ten horns. Ten crowns upon his ten horns. First ten kings are established. However, the Antichrist later pulls out three of them and becomes the full-on dictator. (Revelation 17:11-12 KJV) And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.  There were 7, the 8^th will rise among the 10 horns. They’ll rule for a short time, an hour, and then the antichrist will appear like little horn, and he will take control. Therefore, in the book of Revelation, the ten horns are ten kings, and they are waiting to receive authority the kingdoms. And these kings appear to who have a close relationship with one beast, the antichrist. So, upon seeing that we have arrived to the era of the ten toes of iron and clay, you can realize we are near the end. In (Revelation 13:1 KJV) we see a beast; a man representing a kingdom, rising out of the sea. This sea is the Mediterranean.