by Ron Graff and Lambert Dolphin
Fulfillment of the visions of Daniel
"You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue--an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.
While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:31-35)
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had terrifying dreams and did not know what they meant. His magicians, astrologers and fortunetellers could not help him interpret them. Daniel was of the captives whom Nebuchadnezzar's forces had carried off from Israel to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar called for Daniel to see if he could explain the dreams to him.
First God showed Daniel what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed. Then He showed Daniel what the dreams meant.
Since Nebuchadnezzar was the head of the Babylonian empire (which virtually ruled the then-known world), he was the head of gold. But the prophecy meant that another empire would arise that would overtake them. Every ruler would like to think that he will never be defeated, but that does not happen. Historically, there was another world empire which came after Babylon. That empire was Medo-Persia. There were of scores scores of other, minor kingdoms. Some of them were small empires over a certain number of countries for a period of time. But what Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream were world empires. From the time of Nebuchadnezzar until now there were to be only four of them, including his Babylon. The second empire was silver, meaning that it was inferior to the first in some ways, and it had two parts, like two arms: the Medes and the Persians. Then there was another empire (refer to Harmony of Prophecy chart).
The Babylonians gave way to the Medo-Persians, and the Medo-Persians gave way to the Greeks, and the Greeks gave way to the Romans. It was the Romans who were in power at the time of Christ. There had been almost an unbroken succession of world empires from Nebuchadnezzar until the time of Christ. Nebuchadnezzar's dream indicated that one empire would be replaced by another. The iron legs, feet and toes of the statue represented the future empire of Rome.
Since the Roman Empire ceased to exist as a real empire, how many world empires have existed? Can you think of any? Not really. There have been some serious attempts. Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler, tried to conquer their world. None of them succeeded. The Bible says there are only four of these world empires, and then a final form of the fourth one--feet made partly of iron and partly of clay.
What would the iron and clay mean? It is a Revived Roman Empire--partly of the old iron of the ancient Roman empire, and partly of clay, something weaker and brittle. It would include some of the old areas, but it would not be as strong and monolithic as the old Roman Empire. When the stone comes out of Heaven and lands on these feet they will break. The stone from Heaven represents the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as King of Kings to destroy Antichrist's empire and to set up the Millennial Kingdom.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.
Daniel said: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it.
And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, 'Get up and eat your fill of flesh!'
After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.
After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast--terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.
While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. (Daniel 7:1-9)
In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. I watched the ram as he charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and none could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.
As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage. I saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him; the goat knocked him to the ground and trampled on him, and none could rescue the ram from his power.
The goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low. Because of rebellion, the host and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground. (Daniel 8:1-12)Daniel had one dream and one vision. They were about four kinds of creatures that represented these same four empires of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream. When we compare them we see many similarities. These dreams were given to confirm what Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream: that there would be a succession of four empires, and that they would become successively more fierce. In Daniel's visions there is also an element of a personal power--an individual who is extremely powerful, who comes on the scene at the end. This is Antichrist. The first specific teachings about Antichrist are from Daniel, chapters 7 to 9. Chapter 9 gives details of Antichrist's treaty with Israel which he breaks in the middle. He will then set up a statue of himself to be worshiped in the Temple.
The interesting thing to notice here is that, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, there are ten toes on the feet, and in Daniel's dream, the final form of a world government had ten horns. So the number ten is very significant in the last form of world governments which is still future.
We are looking for another empire that will come out of ten nations and then become a world power.
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:8-11)What business does the Devil have offering Jesus, God the Son, the Creator of the World, these kingdoms? Was that nonsense? Or was it a legitimate offer? Satan is called "The god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), "The prince of this world" (John 12:31), and "The prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). Because of the fall of man and the corruption that resulted from the fall, the Devil does have control of the kingdoms of the world today. That is not to say that every single nation is corrupt.
There was a time in our country that we were not influenced much by the Devil. Godly people came here to begin a nation under God with religious freedom. In those days, before we had a federal government, there were states, like William Penn's "Holy Experiment" in Pennsylvania, that were almost theocracies. A theocracy is a government where God rules literally. But, for the most part, nations become ungodly. The people forget their blessings from God. Leaders become corrupt, and even a good nation like ours drifts, until they no longer seek and receive God's blessing.
In terms of world empires, there have only been, since Nebuchadnezzar, four world empires, and all of them have been dominated by evil. Your history teachers have probably told you this is true even if they were not Christians. These evil empires tolerated immorality and became corrupt. They were brutal. And they collapsed internally because of their sin and corruption.
The Devil had a right to offer these kingdoms to Jesus. But why would Jesus want those corrupted kingdoms? Jesus is going to come back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to set things up as they ought to be. He doesn't need the Devil's help, and He doesn't need the Devil's kingdoms.
He would never have accepted that offer, but the Devil thought that was his "best card." Unfortunately, Satan does have control over the corrupt kingdoms of the world today.
The New World Order is the emerging final form of the world's political structure. Now the secret societies have controlled wealth and power from behind the scenes, and the sinister religious connections with these secret societies. Some have referred to this power behind the scenes as the Invisible Government.
Matthew 24:37 - As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11 - 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 - While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Note: The implication in this section that there is a conspiracy to produce a universal government is accepted by many prophecy scholars, but rejected by others. There is no doubt that there will be a One-World Government, but there are differing views on the processes that lead to it. Some have called this an "open conspiracy," meaning one that is not totally hidden, but is more of a one-world agenda by the rich and powerful. This elite group publish their ideas, but the public is never made aware of their ultimate plans.
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