The Four Kingdoms Before Jesus' Coming
Daniel lays out in perfect high definition the ages of world history from his time to the end of time, as it pertains specifically to Israel.
Daniel is not giving us all of history from Creation forward. He is giving us history as it pertains to World Level affairs, or World Kingdoms. Even more specifically only those world powers which, at one point or another, will have possession of God's People and God's Holy City Jerusalem.
Although the USA and USSR both like to call themselves "World Superpowers", they are not World Kingdoms. They also do not, at this time, have possession of God's Holy City, so they would not be included in God's Recorded Calendar.
Let's look at the text of Daniel Chapter 2 and then break it down.
31 "You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Daniel's Interpretation:
36 "This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all--you are the head of gold. 39 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. 41 And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure."
Babylon: Head Of Gold - Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all--you are the head of gold.
Babylon the Great! The finest richest, and most wide spread of all the kingdoms of earth at the time.
Ancient History Encyclopedia notes "Every ancient writer to make mention of the city of Babylon, outside of those responsible for the stories in the Bible, does so with a tone of awe and reverence."
Wiki: "Nabopolassar was followed by his son Nebuchadnezzar II (605 BC – 562 BC), whose reign of 43 years made Babylon once more the mistress of much of the civilized world..."
What is most interesting, according to
wiki, is that all four kingdoms eventually held Babylon The City at one time during their perspective reigns:
Immediately after Darius seized Persia, Babylonia briefly recovered its independence under a native ruler, Nidinta-Bel, who took the name of Nebuchadnezzar III, and reigned from October 522 BC to August 520 BC, when Darius took the city by storm, during this period Assyria to the north also rebelled. A few years later, probably 514 BC, Babylon again revolted under the Armenian King Arakha; on this occasion, after its capture by the Persians, the walls were partly destroyed. E-Saggila, the great temple of Bel, however, still continued to be kept in repair and to be a center of Babylonian religious feelings.
Alexander the Great conquered Babylon in 333 BC for the Greeks, and died there in 323 BC. Babylonia and Assyria then became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. It has long been maintained that the foundation of Seleucia diverted the population to the new capital of Babylonia, and that the ruins of the old city became a quarry for the builders of the new seat of government, but the recent publication of the Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenistic Period has shown that urban life was still very much the same well into the Parthian age (150 BC to 226 AD). The Parthian king Mithridates conquered the region into the Arsacid Empire in 150 BC, and the region became something of a battleground between Greeks and Parthians.
There was a brief interlude of Roman conquest (Roman Assyria, Roman Mesopotamia; AD 116 to 118) under Trajan, after which the Parthians reasserted control.
Babylon gave rise to human pursuits void of God. Babylon was possibly the most culturally significant of the kingdoms because they significantly solidified the disciplines of Art, Architecture, Astronomy, Medicine (Medical Diagnosis), Literature, Mathematics, and Philosophy. (Wiki)
Persia: Chest and Arms of Silver
39 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you
Also Known As:
Achaemenid Empire or
Medo-Persian Empire
After Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar was turned over to his son, the kingdom fell to Persia. This happened while Daniel was still living, so Daniel actually lived through the transition of the first leg of this prophecy. (It was actually under Persian King Darius that Daniel was thrown into the lions den and rescued by God.) This kingdom was much like Babylon, but inferior not in size but in quality, but only slightly less, as silver is only slightly less inferior to gold but still highly valuable.
Salina Bible Church Notes:
The breast and arms of silver were a fitting representation of the Medo-Persian kingdom because, in ancient times, silver was used as money and was the standard of value and medium of exchange. Medo-Persia became noted for basing its power on money, which was collected through an extensive tax system (Ezra 4:13; Dan. 11:2)7
Daniel stated that Medo-Persia would be inferior to Babylon (2:39). It was not inferior in military strength, for it conquered Babylon. Nor was it inferior in size, for Medo-Persia became a much larger kingdom than Babylon. But it was inferior in one respect: Because it was a partnership kingdom, it lacked tbe absolute unity that Babylon enjoyed.8
Ancient History Enc Notes:
Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Persian Empire eventually became the largest empire in human history up until that point, ruling and administrating over most of the then known world. (http://www.ancient.eu.com/Persia/)
Another Note by Ancient History Enc:
Cyrus the Great created the Cyrus Cylinder, considered to be the first declaration of human rights and was the first king whose name has the suffix "Great". (http://www.ancient.eu.com/Persia/)
This new Persian Kingdom gave rise to more human centered pursuits. Human Rights. Money As Power. Taxes As Power, through control over monetary systems.
Greece: Belly and Thighs of Bronze
39... and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
Also known as: The Seleucid Empire (Or Hellenists)
The Seleucid Empire was a major center of Hellenistic culture that maintained the preeminence of Greek customs where a Greek-Macedonian political elite dominated, mostly in the urban areas
Greece takes Persia and Babylons lead and expands the kingdom further, both in size and culture.
The Cultural Shift of Greece was that this empire is now the largest of the three so far. But due to it's sheer size new changes to human pursuit had to be implemented.
The immense size of the empire, followed by its encompassing nature, made the Seleucid rulers have a governing interest in implementing a policy of racial unity initiated by Alexander. (Wiki)
Under Greece the shift is one of "Tolerance" and "Acceptance" of other ideas. It's simultaneously attempting to absorb all peoples into "One Culture" and yet through that process must also adapt and adopt parts of that culture.
As two pieces of paper, once glued, cannot be separated without taking pieces of each other with them, so would be any culture that had been adopted into Greece. They are the
Borg, "We will assimilate you, resistance is futile."
This worked fine for them until they ran into cultures that refused to be changed, namely Israel.
Synthesizing Hellenic and indigenous cultural, religious, and philosophical ideas met with varying degrees of success — resulting in times of simultaneous peace and rebellion in various parts of the empire. Such was the case with the Jewish population of the Seleucid empire because the Jews posed a significant problem which eventually led to war. Contrary to the accepting nature of the Ptolemaic empire towards native religions and customs, the Seleucids gradually tried to force Hellenization upon the Jewish people in their territory by outlawing Judaism. This eventually led to the revolt of the Jews under Seleucid control, which would later lead to the Jews achieving independence. (Wiki)
So this then becomes a problem for the Greeks. They have found a culture that believes so strongly in their God, and his Law, that they cannot be easily assimilated.
Does this sound familiar? A subset of a larger culture that wants "all religions and philosophies to be equal" that refuses to conform?
*This is part of the reason that The Church of Jesus must be removed before Anti Christ can come on the scene.
So then Greece, a much larger empire, as a result a much more fractured empire, must introduce the concepts of acceptance, tolerance, inclusion and resistance against anyone who refuses to do this, in order to run an effective one world government.
Rome (Old, Middle, New): Legs and Feet of Iron (But Feet of Part Iron and Part Clay)
40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. 41 And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
Rome is, in many ways, an extension and continuation of Greece, yet a heavier handed version. Unlike the artistic, scientific, philosophical pursuits of previous incarnations this government now takes the role of heavy handed government rulers. They rule with an iron fist.
This is now the final and largest of all the World Kingdoms.
Roman Society is one of Class Segregation (Servants, Lower Class, Upper Class, etc). Family was structured, yet marriage was often a financial or political arrangement and not for love. Formal schools were developed for children. Most spoke Greek, but the educated would also learn Latin.
By the time the empire took over there was no real voting body, things were ruled by the emperor and his hand selected advisory board. Rule was passed down to sub-rulers to manage the kingdom. Roman Empire instituted many laws that governed the land and kept order.
The
Roman Roads were a central part of how they expanded so heavily. By establishing a single language (Greek) and roads to carry on trade throughout it's vast land coverage, Rome was able to move the masses from barter to currency. This made it easier for people to trade for what they wanted in centralized market places. It also made it easier to control people through taxation.
The Roman military was the most feared of any military. These were no longer land owners fighting for home, these were paid professional military men. They were hired into the military as a
profession. Much of the military of today is based on these advancements from Rome.
Roman Culture was that of a people who pursued the arts, music, and literature. The official language was Latin, but most spoke Greek as the "Street Language". They were a poly-theistic society, with fervent worship of many gods.
Wiki Expounds:
As contact with the Greeks increased, the old Roman gods became increasingly associated with Greek gods.[209] Thus, Jupiter was perceived to be the same deity as Zeus, Marsbecame associated with Ares, and Neptune with Poseidon. The Roman gods also assumed the attributes and mythologies of these Greek gods. Under the Empire, the Romans absorbed the mythologies of their conquered subjects, often leading to situations in which the temples and priests of traditional Italian deities existed side by side with those of foreign gods.[210]
Beginning with Emperor Nero in the 1st century AD, Roman official policy towards Christianity was negative, and at some points, simply being a Christian could be punishable by death. Under Emperor Diocletian, the persecution of Christians reached its peak. However, it became an officially supported religion in the Roman state under Diocletian's successor,Constantine I, with the signing of the Edict of Milan in 313, and quickly became dominant. All religions except Christianity were prohibited in 391 AD by an edict of Emperor Theodosius I.[211]
Besides all these cultural advancements, the Roman Kingdom (Empire) was a brutal place. Killing people for fun in their games, or paying people to harm opponents. This culture of violence is what gave way to killing Christians as a sport in later years.
What we do know is that during the final kingdom of Iron the Stone without hands is to come.
Jesus The Rock King
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure."
So it is into this last Kingdom that Jesus is born. Jesus lived in Israel, under Roman Rule. Rome was known as a kingdom of Iron that ruled with an Iron fist.
In
Matthew 21:42,
1 Peter 2:6, and
Isaiah 28:16; we see Jesus is referred to, or typified, as the Corner Stone. So it's an obvious statement referring to Jesus. Jesus told us that the Kingdom of God was present even then as He walked the earth. It was His Kingdom, the Church, that eventually destroyed (or re-shaped for now) the Roman Empire.
Jesus came preaching and teaching what? What did He come preaching and teaching? We like to over simplify his teaching in modern-western-watered down Christianity by saying that Jesus came to save sinners so that they could go to heaven. And that is absolutely true! No debate there. But is that what He preached?
Jesus Preached the Kingdom of God, he sent his 12 disciples out to preach the Kingdom of God, he sent the 120 out to preach The Kingdom of God. A quick search for "
Kingdom of God" produces 65 results, primarily in the Gospels. A search for "
Kingdom of Heaven" which is just Matthews' way of saying the same thing produces an additional 31 results.
So we see that rock landed in that Roman world. We see Jesus, the Rock, through His Church, growing his kingdom as it continues to spread throughout the whole world. It's still growing. But although it has some aspects that most definitely affect real world kingdoms and governments, the ultimate physical reign of Jesus as King of a Physical Government is yet to come during Jesus Coming Part II.
For now Jesus has left a Spiritual Kingdom, which is more powerful than a natural one, and that Spiritual Kingdom is affecting all the natural kingdoms.
So where does that leave us? Isn't Rome dead and gone?
We see in early church history that the Church grew and grew until eventually the whole system was "
Christianized" in 313 AD (CE).
But that was not the collapse of the Roman Empire. In fact, in some ways Rome lives on today in all "Western Civilization".
The Age Of The Gentiles - The Church Age - Mixed Clay and Iron
35
But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
41 And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
I see two strikingly clear things out of this passage as a New Testament Believer.
- "Became a great mountain and filled the earth" speaks directly back to the Great Commission. Mark 16 and Matthew 28.
- Potters Clay. We, All God's People, are as Clay in God's hands. He is the Potter and I am the Clay. Isaiah 64:8
So as Iron and Clay do not mix so there are TWO kingdoms struggling for the same space and time. The legs of Iron indicate that the Iron Kingdom started as predominate. But the mixed feet indicate a growing divide.
As time goes on, and this Rock Kingdom grows the clay (the Rocks People) and the Iron (the World) will not mix but grow ever more and more divided. So in the last days we will see a "line in the sand" drawn between the two kingdoms. Every day that goes by you will see both kingdoms become clear. Both kingdoms will co-exist until the Rock at last crushes and wipes away all memory of the Iron, Gold, Silver and Bronze Kingdoms.
We are now living in the last days of the Age of the Gentiles (
Luke 21). That age started winding down on
May 14th 1948 when Israel again took possession of her land. Then again the clay and iron started thrashing about.
There are two kids mixed kingdoms. Clay Israel fighting the Iron World. Clay Church fighting Iron Enemy (Satan).
It's this very mix that brings us to a modern USA that is more divided than ever, and it will remain that way.
The line has been drawn and people must choose a side.
Fall and Rise And Fall And Rise of Rome
This article from "
The Right Scoop" makes a great point that technically Rome as we know it did not "crush and break all these" as it says it would in
verse 40. Rome did not crush the firs three in that Rome never took control of ALL the land the first three had, including Babylon.
Walid Shoebat is a former Muslim Terrorist who is now a Christian Prophecy Teacher. He gives a wonderful explanation of how the words translated into numbers in English are actually Greek Symbols that are also used in Arabic. These symbols in Arabic actually mean "In the name of Allah".
There was a nation who did rise and crush the others, this was the
Ottoman Empire. This empire rose out of the ashes of the "
East Roman Empire" which it effectively absorbed. East Roman Empire was also called the
Byzantine Empire. So one could effectively say that the Ottoman Empire (Islam) is just an extension of the Roman Empire (The World)
My contention is that we are to this day living in a society based on Roman Cultural Influence. The "Roman Catholic Church" still controls much of the world's religion. If you allow for the Ottoman Empire to be a continuation of that same Roman Empire it makes for interesting prophecy research.
Babylonian Systems Of Government
Daniel Chapter 2 outlines four world kingdoms that would rule earth. Prior to to these there were no world wide kingdoms. There were many nations and kingdoms, even Israel was a well establish nation and kingdom before these nations rose to power. But there were not World Kingdoms.
When we use the term "World Kingdom" we are saying that they ruled the known inhabited world in their part of earth as documented in world history, not that they actually ruled the entirety of planet earth, that's important to keep in mind for study in end times prophecy. Even the Anti Christ won't have control over all of planet earth, as he ends up in a war with "the people of the east" (China) before the end.
Mankind (and Satan through mankind) has tried to create one-world systems of government for a long time. It was this first attempt by men that caused God to confuse their language in "Babel", which later became the first world kingdom of Babylon. And thus men trying to live without God has always culminated in the concept of a world government void of God or God's ways or laws.
It's this very "Babylonian System" (a system of government and world order without God) that has been trying to resurface over and over. It comes in many forms. Communism (USSR Communist Russia and also China) and Fascism (Hitler's Germany) and Islam (The Current Threat to World Peace) all have the same root.
It also rears it's head in any system, of any size, that results in a God-Void. Capitalism, without God, is a system that steals, kills, destroys. Socialism, without God, is a system that steals, kills, destroys. Etc.
This is why you will always find "birds of a feather flocking together". The people that support Atheism, must eventually support abortion, and other like causes. Systems without God will produce laws and thinking without the Love of God, which steal, kill, destroy. Kill Innocent Babies becomes "Mothers Right To Choose To Kill Innocent Babies". You have no right to tell her what she can or can't do.
Babylonian Systems are Anti God-Of-Abraham-Isaac-and Jacob, Anti Jesus, Anti Israel, Anti Christian, Anti Bible. The god of Communists and Fascists was Darwinian Atheism, the god of Islam is a god named Allah, which calls for a war of death on those who refuse to convert. This so called god, which ever form he comes in, is always a militant God of Death: Satan.
When the result (the fruit) is "Kill, Steal, Destroy, Death, Fear", you know Satan is at work. He's never changed his tactics, only his terminologies and decorations.
This is why all such "world governments", like the UN, will be dens of lies, deceit, trickery, "tolerance" of everything but God/Christian/Israel.
So There You Have It.
There are the kingdoms of Daniel 2 as I see them today. I'll come back and edit and update as time, and new understanding, allows.
Thanks for studying with me.
By
DarrellWolfe
DiscerningTheTime
http://discerningthetime.blogspot.com
(Affiliate Link)
![Attribution: "Emperor Trajan at Tower Hill" by [Duncan]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil5vYI019OFrFGGS0acIFUrmj1T1wuxgWHcXF-v6Tx2MvTwDKA_bxMhhFw_2JKCjc_Gje8XBoiTkE8BuYBE7NdSsWgFHN4s5W2gWZW7pt_1SxC3xb-fsWMtYFepwj060S11fnqhPMGVjn9/s1600/Emperor+Trajan+at+Tower+Hill+by+%5BDuncan%5D.jpg "Attribution: \"Emperor Trajan at Tower Hill\" by [Duncan]")
