Daniel 2: Nebuchadnezzar`s Statue

Daniel 2:
Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue
You, O king, were looking and behold, there
was a single great statue; that statue, which
was large and of extraordinary splendor,
was standing in front of you, and its
appearance was awesome.
—Daniel 2:32
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver
and the gold were crushed all at the same
time and became like chaff from the
summer threshing floors; and the wind
carried them away so that not a trace of
them was found But the stone that struck
the statue became a great mountain and
filled the whole earth.
—Daniel 2:33-34
"The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its
breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs
of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and
partly of clay. You continued looking until a stone
was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue
on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.
—Daniel 2:35
Traditional View of the Four
Kingdoms
The predominant position throughout history has been
that this dream portrays the following four empires:
Babylonian Empire
Medo-Persian Empire
Grecian Empire
Roman Empire
Context and Subject Matter
of the Dream:
You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven
has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory... But
after you shall arise another kingdom…then another, a third
kingdom… And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as
iron… and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in
pieces and crush all the others.
—Daniel 2:37-40
Fourth Kingdom:
The nature of its rise:
And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as
iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces
and shatters everything; and like iron that
crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces
and crush all the others.
—Daniel 2:40
Fourth Kingdom:
The nature of its demise
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.
—Daniel 2:34,35
The Mixed Kingdom
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.
—Daniel 2:43
Aramaic Word-Play:
And just as you saw the iron mixed
(arab) with baked clay, so the people
will be Arab and will not remain
united, any more than iron mixes
(arab) with clay.
—Daniel 2:43
Peres = Paras = Persians
“Peres (divided): Your kingdom will be given
to the Medes and the Persians (paras)
—Daniel 5: 25-28
The Divided Kingdom
In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of
potter's clay and partly of iron it will be a
divided kingdom.
—Daniel 2:41
The Sunni Shi’a Division
Internal division of the
Antichrist’s armies:
"I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains,"
declares the Lord GOD. "Every man's sword will be against
his brother.”
—Ezekiel 38:21
On that day men will be stricken by the LORD with great panic.
Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack
each other.
— Zechariah 14:13
The Ancient Biblical
Origins
of the Conflict
The angel of the LORD also said to her:
"You are now with child and you will
have a son. You shall name him
Ishmael (The Lord hears), for the LORD
has heard of your misery. He will be a
wild donkey of a man; his hand will be
against everyone and everyone's hand
against him, and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers."
—Genesis
16:11-12
Roman View Problem #4:
Failure To “Crush”
More than Mere Military Brutality
To Conquer Geographically: Borders
To Conquer Culturally
To Conquer Religiously
To Crush and Replace Languages
The Crushing Empire
“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.
—Daniel 7:7
The Roman Empire added:
Infrastructure, Law, Order, Roads, Aqueducts, etc.
Allowed its conquered subjects to maintain their language,
religion and culture.
Demanded taxes and acknowledgment of Caesar
Much of Roman Empire was overwhelmed by Greek Culture
Herod’s Temple Prospered during
Roman days
The
Islamic Empire
The Early Muslim Conquests:
Within 4 years, 333,000 Christians were killed.
The next ten years 1,000,000 Christians were killed.
They would besiege a city, kill all resistors, distribute the
booty, and march 30 to 50 thousand woman back to
Mecca.
In less than one generation, the ancient heart of
Christiandom was crushed by Islam.
And within 100 years, 50% of global Christianity had
come under Islamic subjugation and rule .
Bamiyah Buddhist Statues
The Forth Kingdom:
The Islamic Caliphate