In particular, Daniel 2:31-45.

The Dream

Daniel 2:31-35

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.

This was the substance of the dream of the king.  Some of the major points of what the king saw are:

• A large statue.  Enormous, Dazzling, Awesome
• Head of pure gold
• Chest and arms of silver
• Belly and thighs of bronze
• Legs of iron, feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay

The entire statue exists at the time of Nebuchadnezzar seeing it.  It has four parts, and they all comprise the same statue.

Now, the active part of the vision, “While you were watching”.  This concerns the rock.

• It was cut out
• Without hands
• It struck the statue on the feet of iron and clay
• It smashed them (“broke them small”)

And, the results from the striking.

• All the materials were broken to pieces (“broken small”)
• Broken at the same time (“together”)
• They became like chaff, small particles susceptible to the wind
• The wind swept them away
• No place was left for them (YLT)
• The rock became a huge mountain
• The rock filled the land

Nebuchadnezzar’s Kingdom

Daniel 2:36-38

This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

Nebuchadnezzar is called the “head of gold” (compare to Song 5:11).  He was also called by the title later attributed to Jesus, King of Kings.  Obviously, Jesus is the true King of Kings, but Nebuchadnezzar, in his day, is the world ruler over all kingdoms in his time.  It does not equate the titles by any means, as Zion and Babylon are always at odds, but the parallels are strikingly similar.  God has given him this dominion, and it extends even upon the creation itself.  He rules over the entire earth, mankind, beasts, and birds.  It is the nature of this statue to rule over the entire Earth.  It is all in this man’s hands.

The Second and Third Kingdoms

Daniel 2:39-43

After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.

These are mentioned in passing.  Of note is “inferior” and “third”.  The materials are, of course, silver and bronze respectively.  Again, the reference is “will rule over the whole earth”.  This is the nature of the entire statue.  While historically, the transitions between the materials has been conflict (aka, war and overthrow), the entire statue stands as one at the end, for the rock breaks all four at once.  This is of note, because while we think of the rock destroying the statue violently, what we see as violence on the Earth was merely a transition of elements.   Whatever the violence of smashing the statue is, it may or may not look like war in the natural, but it will absolute destruction in the spiritual realm.  It is a primarily spiritual overthrow, not a physical one, that results in the removal of what is standing.

The Fourth Kingdom

Daniel 2:40-43

Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

This is practially, the only place of contention and debate, the full identity of the fourth Kingdom.  Most agree it starts with Rome, and some say it continues.  Of note are some details.  Assuming Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 parallel each other, there are exactly four kingdoms, and no conjecture could be made for five in light of Daniel 7:17.  Second, people point out that since there are two legs, this Kingdom will divide, and in this, they see the eastern and western portions of the Roman Empire.  Unfortunately, this does not follow, because the division happens in the “bronze portion”, as you read the bronze is the “waist and thighs” of bronze.  The iron actually starts somewhere around the knee, apparently, already in division.  If there is significance to the iron being in two parts, legs, it is not directly scriptural, although it’s truth could still be in contest.  Suffice to say that it is not given in scripture that the two legs are two parts to this kingdom, but whatever it is, it must be in its basic form from its inception, since it starts around mid-leg.  It may in fact be an accurate interpretation, but it is not given in black and white for us, and this must be noted.

Further, the feet and toes are part of it, and not a separate kingdom.  How exactly this plays out is not the immediate focus, but, again, from Daniel 7:17,  we know “these beasts, which are four, are four kingdoms”, not five.

As stated, there were hostile events in each of the transition points in the statue.  It would stand to reason that, even as the four elements were added to and existed together, if the fourth was overthrown and a new one was to be replacing it, as a continuation, or even as a resurgence (revitalized Roman empire), this would be a fifth Kingdom, which does not fit the vision.  Obviously, the iron and clay do not mix, and there is division as stated in the text.  This we can be sure of absolutely.  This fits with what we see of the Roman empire.

Finally, the toes, while conjecture is made as to the toes being kings, this is, again, conjecture and not obviously scripture (which doesn’t make it wrong, it is merely noted that it is by interpretation, and not by the text).

The Kingdom of God

Daniel 2:44-45

In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.”

This is the end of the matter.  Concerning the result:

• “In the time of those kings”
• The God of Heaven will set up a Kingdom
• It will never be destroyed
• Nor will it be left to another people
• It will crush all those other kingdoms  (“beateth small and endeth these kingdoms” YLT)
• It will bring them to an end.
• This is what the rock is (that is, the Kingdom)

The four Kingdoms all comprise the same statue, and hence are all of the same identity.  It is in this manner that is was right to call the city of Rome “Babylon”, for all four kingdoms derived from the same head, namely Nebuchadnezzar.  From the vision, they actually all co-existed at the end, with all of the power of Babylon being rolled into the next kingdom (still being inferior, of course), until finally, Rome existed with all four at the same time.

Each of these kingdoms was a “world-ruler”.  There was no world-ruler before Babylon, and, for the approximately 1000 years from Nebuchadnezzar’s beginning of reigning to the breaking up and scattering of the Roman Empire, there was one identifiable, obvious world-ruling power, and it was described completely by this statue as seen by the king and Daniel.  Continuing from kingdom to kingdom, there was a one world government for the entire duration.  This is the context of both the Daniel 2 dream of the statue and the Daniel 7 vision of the Beasts.

Of note, of course, is the “Kingdom” that will be “set up”.  “In the time of those kings” for some means the ten toes of the feet of the statue, but, again, that is by interpretation of the toes, which is not strictly scripture.  The reference could simply refer to the kings of the four kingdoms combined, somewhere within the reign of all of “those kings”, or, more specifically, it could refer to “those kings” of the fourth, Roman Empire.  While my tendancy would be towards the latter, it is indicated that it is in the reign of some of these kings that a Kingdom will be established.

This leaves exactly two options.  Either ‘set up’ refers to Jesus’ first coming, and the statue is broken, or ‘set up’ refers to something else, such as the Millennial Reign and/or His second coming, and the statue somehow remains.

But, let us review again.  The statue description from the dream itself offers little direct clues.  It merely mentions to four elements.  The rock is described as “cut out” and “without hands”.  Broke small, scattered, and no place found for them are the images given for the elements mentioned.  The rock, on the other hand, became a mountain (grew is conjecture again by translation.  Other versions simply transition.  Considering this is a dream, it may have just been a shift in scenes).  It filled the land.  Notice that Jesus was born not of human descent, nor of a human decision, nor of a husband’s will (John 1:13), but born of God, hence, “without hands”.

Now, considering the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign to be around 605BC or so, and the decline of Rome terminating by at least 476 AD, we see a one-world government consistently for roughly 1000 years.  This is followed by what is called The Dark Ages.  The Roman Empire, other than the Eastern half which continued in some fashion, but not as a world-ruling power, had ceased.

Again, looking at the statue, unless the Roman Empire continued in some form or another, it would seem fair to expect there to have been a fifth element to the statue, but there was not.

Further, we also notice from Daniel 7, assuming the parallel which seems to be a given, that at the destruction of the fourth beast, which is cast into the fire immediately, the other three beasts were allowed to continue to live for a time, although they had their dominion stripped from them (Daniel 7:12).

Realistically, from the decline of the Roman Empire, until approximately 1000 years later, there was little in the way of cohesive governmental structure.  The only conjecture for a continuation of the statue would be what many have enlisted, which would be to implicate the Roman Catholic Church as being the continuation of the Roman government, and hence, the continued legs and feet of iron.

But, again, let us focus on the 1000 years of no government called the Dark Ages.  There were many bad things about this period, but one thing was certain, there was no great beast ruling over the nations of the Earth as there had been for the previous 1000 years.  Even today, we do not see any government (yet) that rules over the entire Earth.  Some have tried, especially in the last century, but none have succeeded.  We remain as distinct nations, independent.

And what changed this?  The introduction of a Kingdom coming in.

Looking at the decline of the Roman Empire, many do not understand its dispersion.  It simply seemed to break up and fall apart.  Yet, when the ruling spiritual power (the beast of Daniel 7) is removed, there is no more “glue” to keep the statue together.  Without the strength of the demonic leadership, the institution could not maintain itself.

Now, as to the striking of the statue.  Many of the preterist viewpoint would point to the year 70 AD.  But, whether it was at 33 AD at the institution of the Kingdom (the release of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost), the destruction of the city at 70 AD, the final revolt and banishment in 135AD, the conversion of Constantine and his reforms in 313 AD, or the later breaking up and dispersion of Rome up to 476 AD, the pieces had been broken small, they had been blown away, and there was no place left for them.  Today, we do not see Rome any more.  Again, unless you point to the Vatican and the Catholic church, you would have to logically conclude that Rome is dead.

And, what do we have left?  Many people would argue over the meaning of the word “Kingdom” that God would set up.  Some would say that it was predicted as a physical rule.  That may yet come, in some form (Acts 1:6).  Yet, what Jesus brought cannot be denied as bringing the Kingdom of God or the Kindgom of Heaven, for by His own mouth, if He drove out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom had come upon those there then (Luke 11:20).  It was one of the defining marks of the Kingdom, which differentiated it from all the Old Testament prophets who had done most of his major works in some form or another, including raise the dead.  Further, since His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, even if the thousand years pointed to it, the physical could never possibly be the full summation of the Kingdom in the mind of Heaven.  Heaven and Earth will pass away, but the Kingdom is forever.  Even if there is to be a physical reign on the Earth as many depict, and a literal throne of David, this cannot be the total fulfillment of the prophesy because the world is not Eternal, while His reign is.

While there are other schools of thought, and I am in no way saying that all scripture is fulfilled, on the basis of Daniel 2 alone, there would be very little reason for me not to conclude that the entirety of the chapter was fulfilled, as well as Daniel 7, with a study from it.

The statue portrayed at least a 1000 year period of four kingdoms, displaced and destroyed by the coming of a stone cut out without hands (obviously Jesus, but the question is When?).  While many equate portions of Daniel 2 with end-time events yet to come, and the patterns and parallels may be informative, it would appear that the entirety this chapter was concluded with the life and ministry of Jesus, and the subsequent fall of Rome a few centuries later.

In terms of Kingdoms, God only has one to bring.  If it was here at Jesus’ time, then it would still be here now, and, in fact, for many, it is.  The fact that it is a Kingdom in the realm of the spirit is not the same as allegorizing this passage, but rather identifying the true nature of it, as being not of this world (John 18:36).  This is the same realm in which brought the miraculous, and so to say that the Kingdom is spiritual is not minimizing or belittling it any more than saying that the wisdom in which Jesus operated was a spiritual wisdom.  To say such simply reveals a lack of understanding of the greater reality of the invisible over the visible, and at the worst end, belies a spirit of unbelief about the nature of the Spirit.

From this chapter alone, leaving place to study out the rest of to book and the scriptures, there is little reason to conclude that Daniel 2 was not an apt description of the Kingdom that has come and is among us now.  For, even as we do see parts of old governmental system existing in some form or another, the first three beasts were allowed to continue to live, albeit with their dominion stripped.

Whether or not this has any direct bearing on other matters of eschatalogical debate, however, is also conjecture.  Whether or not all the direct connections assumed between certain passages that commentators have made is correct is a matter of interpretation, and, while it is good to be informed and to have an opinion and to be expectant, let us not forget that the original prophesies of Messiah came in many places, many forms, difficult to connect, and, in the end, impossible to predict.  From the scriptures alone, without a knowledge of the life of Jesus, could you have predicted that He would be born in Bethlehem, flee to Egypt, be called out back, live in Nazareth, minister in Galilee, and die in Jerusalem, just to name a few?  Yet, this is what he did, and it was God’s plan.  True to every word, but hidden from those who could not see with their heart.  Those who thought they were wise were proven fools, while those who wanted to know Him, did, and He called them His own.  It should never prevent study, but we should hold a distinction between what is written, and what is speculated.  If we have the pieces, however, if at some point we have missed it, at least we will then have the pieces to put together when He arrives, and not just be left empty handed, with Him saying, why aren’t you expecting me.