In each blog, I often reference many different topics that I've already covered (or will soon cover), and maybe you've missed. Please review my blogs to read more...
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Daniel chapter 2 brings us the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the statue which he saw.
Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon and he conquered Jerusalem and carried off Daniel and other Israelites to serve him in his court. Nebuchadnezzar even trained Daniel and his friends:
Dan 1:17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
During Daniel's time of study, Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream. He called all of his wise men to interpret the dream or suffer the penalty of death. None were able to interpret the dream.
Daniel prayed, and God showed Daniel the dream and the interpretation.
Daniel saved the lives of those mentioned in Daniel 2:2 through this Divine Revelation from God.
Daniel chapter 2 describes the dream of a statue of four metals and some clay. This dream was God's communication to Nebuchadnezzar and now us.
This dream indirectly points to the seven heads of the Beast. Note that Egypt and Assyria are not included in the statue because they existed previously to the reign of Babylon and king Nebuchadnezzar. The dream starts with Babylon and pertains to it, and the kingdoms which follow.
The fifth kingdom (the feet) of Nebuchadnezzar's statue is representative of the Beast of Revelation.
The head was of gold (Babylon), arms and chest were silver (Media), waist of brass/bronze (Persia), and the legs of iron (Greece).
Those who study Daniel are all over the place in their interpretations of the above. Their problem starts in the same place as those in the early church. When the Stone cut without hands didn't smash Greece, they decided "oh, well... Rome (the next successive kingdom in history) must be the iron legs". When Rome wasn't smashed by the uncut Stone, others decided "oh, well... the legs must be the Ottoman Empire".
CLICK HERE! for an index to previous blogs.
Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon and he conquered Jerusalem and carried off Daniel and other Israelites to serve him in his court. Nebuchadnezzar even trained Daniel and his friends:
Dan 1:17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
During Daniel's time of study, Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream. He called all of his wise men to interpret the dream or suffer the penalty of death. None were able to interpret the dream.
Daniel prayed, and God showed Daniel the dream and the interpretation.
Daniel saved the lives of those mentioned in Daniel 2:2 through this Divine Revelation from God.
Daniel chapter 2 describes the dream of a statue of four metals and some clay. This dream was God's communication to Nebuchadnezzar and now us.
This dream indirectly points to the seven heads of the Beast. Note that Egypt and Assyria are not included in the statue because they existed previously to the reign of Babylon and king Nebuchadnezzar. The dream starts with Babylon and pertains to it, and the kingdoms which follow.
The fifth kingdom (the feet) of Nebuchadnezzar's statue is representative of the Beast of Revelation.
[Dan 2:41 LSB] “Now in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron; it will be a divided kingdom [a fifth kingdom]; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay.
Those who study Daniel are all over the place in their interpretations of the above. Their problem starts in the same place as those in the early church. When the Stone cut without hands didn't smash Greece, they decided "oh, well... Rome (the next successive kingdom in history) must be the iron legs". When Rome wasn't smashed by the uncut Stone, others decided "oh, well... the legs must be the Ottoman Empire".
We don't need to speculate - Daniel tells us exactly who these kingdoms are in the text. If interpreters ruled out any "reading into the text" (eisegesis - newspaper journalism) they wouldn't have an issue. Daniel clearly tells us who the kingdoms are and I've listed them above.
I believe a revived Islamic Caliphate is coming as the fifth kingdom, but for different reasons than others. My views still point to Greece (the iron legs continuing into the feet) and it's original text word yavan (modern day Turkey).
I believe a revived Islamic Caliphate is coming as the fifth kingdom, but for different reasons than others. My views still point to Greece (the iron legs continuing into the feet) and it's original text word yavan (modern day Turkey).
We know modern day Turkey is where the throne of Satan resides:
Daniel Chapter 2 will bring out the Antichrist and his ten nation empire (represented by the ten toes in the statue). These ten nations are also referenced in:
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
These ten toes (nations) will come from the legs of iron, which stem from the waist of brass, and so on...
The Islamic Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire satisfies all of Daniel's requirements perfectly!
There are many examples of how the Islamic Empire is, and has been, a divided kingdom. This divided kingdom is the eighth kingdom of Revelation 17 and the final Beast Empire that will conquer Jerusalem.
Shortly after Muhammad died, a division broke out between the Shia, (the minority sect), who felt that the successorship belonged to Muhammad’s relatives, and the Sunnis, (the majority sect), who felt the successorship belonged to Muhammad’s companions, or the Sahabah.
This division has defined Islam from its earliest days to modern times. For years, as the war in Iraq unfolded, we were treated to daily reports of "sectarian violence" with Sunnis killing Shia, and vice versa. Today this term is simply used with reference to the intra-Islamic violence that has been so common throughout Islamic history. This is further proof that the Islamic Empire meets the Dan 2:41 standard perfectly.
The toes are weak, divided, and trying to cling together... trying to even cling to the legs, but are failing. We see evidence of this today with all the unrest in the Middle East. Not to mention, those forces do not resemble the power of the united Ottoman Empire in any form.
Also see Gen 16:10-12 referring to God's promise that Ishmael's seed would always be divided.
Gen 16:10-12 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
The Scriptures tell us that those people who will comprise the Antichrist’s empire will be a divided people. And even beyond this, other passages also inform us that even at the final hour, while in the land of Israel, the soldiers of the Antichrist will attack and kill each other:
Eze 38:21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord GOD. Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
Zec 14:13 Each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other.
The only unity they will have is found in their hatred for the Jews and their desire to destroy Israel and to reign globally under sharia law.
Also note that these 10 toes are representative of 10 kings who briefly reign. They will soon give their authority to the Antichrist.
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
I found another interesting example in the book Daniel Revisited, by Mark Davidson:
The splintering of the Islamic Realm into many states is a fulfillment of the words “will not remain united” in Dan 2:41-43. Additionally, there seems to be a play on words in the original Aramaic text of Dan 2:43. It involves the Aramaic word arab (Strong’s H6151, pronounced ar-ab’). Our English word “arab” comes from the Hebrew/ Aramaic word “arab”— which is a person of Semitic origin living in or near Arabia. But the Hebrew / Aramaic word “arab” also means to comingle, to mix. So our currently translated phrase “the people will be a mixture” can also be rendered in English as “the people will be Arab.” This is probably not what is directly intended in the translation, but the play on words is interesting to me.
In the ancient Middle East, the Arabs were viewed as the mixed desert peoples. In Hebrew, the word is ereb.
Because the descendants of Ishmael and Esau had so intermarried among the various desert pagan tribes, they had essentially become known collectively as "the mixed ones". The first reference to the Eastern desert peoples as the "mixed ones" is found in the book of Nehemiah.
After the Book of the Law had been rediscovered in the Temple, all Israel gathered together to hear the scroll read publicly:
Neh 13:1-3 On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God... So it was, when they had heard the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude [ereb] from Israel.
After reading the Law, the Jews realized that it was forbidden for them to take wives from the mixed pagan peoples of the desert. Specifically mentioned are the Ammonites and the Moabites, who lived in what is today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Essentially, the verse is saying that when the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of "arab" descent.
Again, in the ancient Near East, the words mixed and "arab" were synonymous. The very name Arab in its etymological origins refers to the mixed people that lived primarily to the east of Israel.
A literal transliteration of Dan 2:43 would look like this:
"As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will be Arab; and will thus not remain united, just as iron does not mix with clay."
Dan 2:44-45
Above, from Dan 2:34-35 we touched on the uncut Stone. This Stone strikes the feet of the statue and the rest of it comes crumbling down. The Stone becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth.
This Stone represents Yeshua's physical return to earth and the setting up of the Millennial Kingdom. It is also representative of the Kingdom of God which was first established during Yeshua's first earthly ministry.
The symbolism of this Stone growing into a mighty mountain is shown to us in another parable:
Mat 13:31-33 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES." He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened."
It is clear in several passage throughout Scripture that this stone will grow into a mountain:
Isa 2:2-4 Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.
The falling of this statue, and the "dust in the wind" aspect represents the dissolution of any and all earthly kingdoms. When Yeshua returns, His Kingdom will reign exclusively.
For more information on Daniel 2 see my blog:
Nebuchadnezzar - The Great Statue
Some of these excerpts are from my personal notes copied from 30+ years of studying... some of these notes are direct copies of various sources - I do not claim to have authored every word of this... it's just a mass collection I've tucked away over the years for my own personal studies... I didn't consider a bibliography at the time I directly copied small excerpts from various authors. Also, any emphasis (underlines, bold text, all CAPS, etc.) noted above was only meant to capture my personal attention as I studied...
[Rev 2:13 LSB] ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
This is referring to Pergamum, one of the seven churches in Asia Minor. This is where Antipas was martyred. Modern day location: Near the present-day city of Bergama, in Izmir Province, western Turkey.
More on this, and the word yavan, is coming in another blog.
Daniel Chapter 2 will bring out the Antichrist and his ten nation empire (represented by the ten toes in the statue). These ten nations are also referenced in:
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
These ten toes (nations) will come from the legs of iron, which stem from the waist of brass, and so on...
The Islamic Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire satisfies all of Daniel's requirements perfectly!
There are many examples of how the Islamic Empire is, and has been, a divided kingdom. This divided kingdom is the eighth kingdom of Revelation 17 and the final Beast Empire that will conquer Jerusalem.
Shortly after Muhammad died, a division broke out between the Shia, (the minority sect), who felt that the successorship belonged to Muhammad’s relatives, and the Sunnis, (the majority sect), who felt the successorship belonged to Muhammad’s companions, or the Sahabah.
This division has defined Islam from its earliest days to modern times. For years, as the war in Iraq unfolded, we were treated to daily reports of "sectarian violence" with Sunnis killing Shia, and vice versa. Today this term is simply used with reference to the intra-Islamic violence that has been so common throughout Islamic history. This is further proof that the Islamic Empire meets the Dan 2:41 standard perfectly.
The toes are weak, divided, and trying to cling together... trying to even cling to the legs, but are failing. We see evidence of this today with all the unrest in the Middle East. Not to mention, those forces do not resemble the power of the united Ottoman Empire in any form.
Also see Gen 16:10-12 referring to God's promise that Ishmael's seed would always be divided.
Gen 16:10-12 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
The Scriptures tell us that those people who will comprise the Antichrist’s empire will be a divided people. And even beyond this, other passages also inform us that even at the final hour, while in the land of Israel, the soldiers of the Antichrist will attack and kill each other:
Eze 38:21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord GOD. Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
Zec 14:13 Each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other.
The only unity they will have is found in their hatred for the Jews and their desire to destroy Israel and to reign globally under sharia law.
Also note that these 10 toes are representative of 10 kings who briefly reign. They will soon give their authority to the Antichrist.
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
I found another interesting example in the book Daniel Revisited, by Mark Davidson:
The splintering of the Islamic Realm into many states is a fulfillment of the words “will not remain united” in Dan 2:41-43. Additionally, there seems to be a play on words in the original Aramaic text of Dan 2:43. It involves the Aramaic word arab (Strong’s H6151, pronounced ar-ab’). Our English word “arab” comes from the Hebrew/ Aramaic word “arab”— which is a person of Semitic origin living in or near Arabia. But the Hebrew / Aramaic word “arab” also means to comingle, to mix. So our currently translated phrase “the people will be a mixture” can also be rendered in English as “the people will be Arab.” This is probably not what is directly intended in the translation, but the play on words is interesting to me.
In the ancient Middle East, the Arabs were viewed as the mixed desert peoples. In Hebrew, the word is ereb.
Because the descendants of Ishmael and Esau had so intermarried among the various desert pagan tribes, they had essentially become known collectively as "the mixed ones". The first reference to the Eastern desert peoples as the "mixed ones" is found in the book of Nehemiah.
After the Book of the Law had been rediscovered in the Temple, all Israel gathered together to hear the scroll read publicly:
Neh 13:1-3 On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God... So it was, when they had heard the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude [ereb] from Israel.
After reading the Law, the Jews realized that it was forbidden for them to take wives from the mixed pagan peoples of the desert. Specifically mentioned are the Ammonites and the Moabites, who lived in what is today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Essentially, the verse is saying that when the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of "arab" descent.
Again, in the ancient Near East, the words mixed and "arab" were synonymous. The very name Arab in its etymological origins refers to the mixed people that lived primarily to the east of Israel.
A literal transliteration of Dan 2:43 would look like this:
"As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will be Arab; and will thus not remain united, just as iron does not mix with clay."
Dan 2:44-45
Above, from Dan 2:34-35 we touched on the uncut Stone. This Stone strikes the feet of the statue and the rest of it comes crumbling down. The Stone becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth.
This Stone represents Yeshua's physical return to earth and the setting up of the Millennial Kingdom. It is also representative of the Kingdom of God which was first established during Yeshua's first earthly ministry.
The symbolism of this Stone growing into a mighty mountain is shown to us in another parable:
Mat 13:31-33 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES." He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened."
It is clear in several passage throughout Scripture that this stone will grow into a mountain:
Isa 2:2-4 Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.
The falling of this statue, and the "dust in the wind" aspect represents the dissolution of any and all earthly kingdoms. When Yeshua returns, His Kingdom will reign exclusively.
For more information on Daniel 2 see my blog:
Nebuchadnezzar - The Great Statue
Some of these excerpts are from my personal notes copied from 30+ years of studying... some of these notes are direct copies of various sources - I do not claim to have authored every word of this... it's just a mass collection I've tucked away over the years for my own personal studies... I didn't consider a bibliography at the time I directly copied small excerpts from various authors. Also, any emphasis (underlines, bold text, all CAPS, etc.) noted above was only meant to capture my personal attention as I studied...
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