The prophecy found in the second chapter of the Book of Daniel is perhaps one of the most dramatic in the Bible. It presents a unique and compelling vision of world empires, both past and future. This prophecy, which spans from ancient times to our present day and beyond, describes the rise and fall of five world empires\u2014four of which have already come to pass, while the fifth is yet to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are curious whether the next world empire will be Russia, China, or the United States, this prophecy, bearing the stamp of divine authenticity, will captivate you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To fully appreciate this prophecy, let us return in our imagination to that distant day when it all began\u2014in Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s bedroom. It is morning, and the young king awakens with a troubled look on his face. He has had a disturbing dream that he cannot recall. Summoning his counselors\u2014astrologers, magicians, and sorcerers, all claiming knowledge of the occult\u2014he demands their assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nebuchadnezzar issues a perplexing command to these “wise men of Babylon”: \u201cTell me what I dreamed last night!\u201d None of them can comply. Some offer to interpret the dream but insist they must first know what it was. This angers the king greatly. \u201cIf you cannot tell me my dream,\u201d he cries, \u201cI will have you put to death!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When none can fulfill his demand, the king, growing increasingly furious, orders their immediate execution. As the royal guards arrest the wise men of Babylon, they come upon Daniel, a young Hebrew captive whose keen intellect and sterling character have already secured him a place among this select group. He seeks an audience with the king, pleading for time and promising that the dream will be revealed to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His request is granted, and Daniel, along with his friends, seeks God in earnest prayer. In a vision, God reveals to Daniel the same dream that had so troubled Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel is then brought before the greatest ruler of ancient times. The king, perhaps skeptical and regretting his hasty decree, is nonetheless eager to hear what Daniel has to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel speaks: \u201cThe secret which the king has demanded cannot be shown to the king by wise men, astrologers, magicians, or soothsayers. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days\u201d (Daniel 2:27-28).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conviction in Daniel\u2019s voice stirs the king. Nebuchadnezzar leans forward eagerly to catch Daniel\u2019s next words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs for you, O king, your thoughts came to you on your bed about what would come to pass hereafter; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will come to pass\u201d (Daniel 2:29). Daniel then recounts the dream:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou, O king, saw a great image. This image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you, and its form was awesome. The image\u2019s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away, so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth\u201d (Daniel 2:31-35).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The king is astonished\u2014it is the very dream he had seen and forgotten! Every detail is perfectly recalled. His deepest thoughts have been read by another! This is miraculous!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Breathlessly, Nebuchadnezzar waits for the promised interpretation. \u201cThis is the dream,\u201d Daniel says, \u201cand we will tell its interpretation before the king.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of Heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. Wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all\u2014you are this head of gold\u201d (Daniel 2:36-38).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A smile of satisfaction crosses the king\u2019s face, which quickly turns to a frown as Daniel continues: \u201cAnd after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. And as you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed\u201d (Daniel 2:39-44).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In these few prophetic words, Daniel outlines the course of empire for centuries to come. There will be, he asserts, four world powers and no more. Then there will come a period of division and conflict, culminating in divine intervention and the establishment of God\u2019s eternal kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
History has answered this bold prediction. The first world power was Babylon, which Daniel identifies when he tells Nebuchadnezzar, \u201cYou are this head of gold.\u201d Nebuchadnezzar personified the might of Babylon, the greatest empire of the ancient world, which held sway from 605 B.C., when it broke Assyria\u2019s power, until its overthrow less than seventy years later by the combined forces of Media and Persia, vividly described in the fifth chapter of Daniel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Persia became the second universal empire, reigning for approximately two hundred years. Early in the fourth century B.C., Greece rose to prominence, with Alexander the Great swiftly conquering the known world. With incredible determination, he defeated the forces of Darius in battles such as Granicus, Issus, and finally Arbela in 331 B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greece\u2019s dominance lasted another century and a half, but it became increasingly aware of the growing power of Rome. On June 22, 168 B.C., at the Battle of Pydna, Rome emerged victorious, marking the end of Alexander\u2019s empire 144 years after his death. Rome, the fourth universal empire, dominated for the next several centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite Rome\u2019s might, it eventually fell, as predicted. Barbarian tribes harassed its borders, leading to its decline. By A.D. 476, Rome fell to Odoacer, king of the Heruli. The fourth empire ended, succeeded not by another universal power but by a fragmented collection of kingdoms\u2014a mix of strength and weakness, of \u201ciron\u201d and \u201cclay,\u201d which continues to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This prophecy, delivered through Daniel, is indeed marvelous. It clearly foretold the division of the fourth kingdom into ten separate entities, a fact repeated in three distinct expressions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potter\u2019s clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it some of the strength of the iron, for as much as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd as the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay\u201d (Daniel 2:41-43).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the Roman Empire fell due to internal corruption and barbarian invasions, it was divided into ten kingdoms, which formed the basis of modern Europe: the Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Alamanni, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Burgundians, Vandals, Suevi, and Heruli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
THE ONE WHO NOW HOLDS IT BACK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Apostle Paul\u2019s reference to \u201cthe one who now holds it back\u201d (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7) refers to the restraint on the revelation of the man of lawlessness, or the Antichrist. Throughout history, various events could have led to the rise of such a figure, but they were restrained by the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the ninth century A.D., Charlemagne attempted to unite Europe, even allowing himself to be crowned emperor at Rome. However, the iron and clay, which he tried to blend, quickly fell apart after his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the sixteenth century, Charles V ruled most of Europe and aspired to complete its conquest. Yet, in 1555, failing health forced him to abdicate and divide his vast empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Louis XIV of France, in the seventeenth century, sought to extend his dominance across Europe, but opposing forces eventually dismantled his grand ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two centuries later, Napoleon emerged as one of the most determined conquerors. After declaring himself emperor in 1804, he sought to establish a united Europe. However, his ambitions were ultimately thwarted by defeats at Trafalgar, Moscow, Leipzig, and finally at Waterloo in 1815.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm attempted a similar feat, but his forces were ultimately defeated. In 1939, Hitler came close to achieving his vision of a unified Europe. However, the tide turned with the intervention of the United States, leading to his demise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These historical attempts to unite Europe reflect the ongoing struggle foretold in Daniel\u2019s prophecy. The man of lawlessness is the next prophesied ruler, as described by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The prophecy found in the second chapter of the Book of Daniel is perhaps one of the most dramatic in the Bible. It presents a unique and compelling vision of world empires, both past and future. This prophecy, which spans from ancient times to our present day and beyond, describes the rise and fall of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-end-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2412,"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409\/revisions\/2412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegroommagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}