The last empire we discussed was represented on the statue as the legs, feet and ten toes and is the Roman empire. I was curious about the Roman empire, so I did a little research and it turns out the Roman empire was never dominated. It wasn’t taken away by another kingdom, it literally just sort of phased out. It lasted for 1,000 years, which is significant. God promises blessings and mercy to 1,000 generations to those who love Him, a thousand will fall at your side. A thousand years is equal to one day in heaven. Satan will be imprisoned for a thousand years. The Lord will rule the earth for a thousand years. The number 1000 is significant.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Their massive military became increasingly expensive, causing a hardship and slowly sections of the empire began to fall away. More and more people began to lose faith in their emperor and turned to Christianity. Can someone say “Jesus”. The empire basically became too big for its own good making it hard to govern. The ending of Rome lead into what we know as the dark ages.
Its also interesting that from the time of the Roman Empire until now, the Bible doesn’t address this “in between” time period. This part is a mystery as far as the Bible is concerned. The old testament talks about Jesus’ first coming and his second coming, but not this period we are in.
Acts sort of address’ our time. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams, even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. Acts. 2:17-19
What I get from that is we are in “those days”. We are in the days just before Christ returns. That takes us to the next section of the King’s dream
Read Daniel 2:44-49
Verse 44 begins “In the time of those kings”, he is talking about the ten kingdoms that we don’t currently know about. These ten kingdoms are represented on the statue as ten toes. Ten kings will rise before Jesus returns. The Antichrist will lead this coalition of kingdoms.
We don’t yet know who the antichrist is, we don’t know yet what ten kings are joining forces to create a world empire, and it does not take much searching on Google to realize we are close to finding out who they are. Possibly a United Nations Coalition, could be European Union, agenda 21 has ten regions marked off on their plan, they set the year 2030 as a deadline for completion date for some of their major goals. This is a very real reality for our generation.
This group of ten nations will be a mixture of strong nations and weak nations. They will rise up together but won’t be completely unified like Babylon was.
When we see all this happening it says God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. This kingdom will not be ruled by other people, instead it will break the earth as we know it into pieces and all the kingdoms will never have a chance to be revived because they will be consumed by the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God will stand forever.
Back in verse 34 Daniel described this part of the last part of the dream, he said, “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.” He went on to describe the various metal parts of the statue were crushed so much that the debris could be blown away without a leaving a single trace.
Now don’t mistakenly picture a gentle breeze blowing away earthly kingdoms, this wind will not be gentle, the removal of these kingdoms will not be gentle, it will be destructive, complete annihilation. Picture a whirlwind of epic proportions causing a funnel cloud, practically the size of the earth blowing away the debris. I imagine the kings dream being more like this. Remember this dream caused him to live in agony.
Verse 45 gives the meaning of this part of the dream, and that is that this is what is going to happen, he can count on it, it is the truth and it comes from a reliable source. Jesus will return to set up his kingdom here on this earth, that’s a fact Jack.
The rock comes and crushes the feet. It crushes the current ten kingdom rule, because that is going to be the active one at that time.
Who does the Bible say is the rock, or a cornerstone? Jesus is the stone the builders rejected, but he becomes the head of the corner. Isaiah 28:16, “I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation stone.”
This stone is not cut out with hands. A human did not cut it out, just like Jesus was born of a virgin, he wasn’t from “seed” of a man.
Stones are used to destroy, but they are also used to restore and to build. Verse 35 finishes with, “But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.” Jesus the rock will destroy everything humans built and ruled over and then he will immediately turn around and build a new kingdom.
It says here the rock became a great mountain and covered the earth. Amazing especially because the god that Neb worshipped, was Bel-Merodach who had a special nickname, Shadu-Rabu, which means great mountain. The king may have thought his fake god was the big mountain in this vision, however Daniel points out and makes it crystal clear that the rock that is cut out is the big mountain. The rock that strikes the statue is the big mountain. Heaven will fill the whole earth.
Then king Neb fell on his face and worshipped Daniel. The king does not know Daniel’s God, so he falls on his before Daniel, offering him worship, honor. He immediately orders his servants to get an offering and incense and give it to Daniel. Remember the king promised in vs. 6, “but if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor”. He is keeping his word and Daniel is now the benefactor. The offering most likely included gold, as that was the king’s metal of choice. Incense was offered up as a sign of sacrificial offering. The king would have had his servants burn this incense before Daniel to show honor.
The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets.” He was completely overwhelmed with the power God displayed through Daniel. He admits that God is the one true God and is the Great Mountain.
He expresses his gratitude by making Daniel a great man in the province of Babylon. Daniel ruled over the entire province and he had placed him as chief of the governors who were over the wise men. No longer would he be required to learn from ungodly men, he would now rule them.
Daniel was so far down the totem pole that he wasn’t even invited to the original meeting with the other wise men, but now he is first in charge. Now that is favor of God, that is supernatural promotion.
Finally, Daniel did make one request to the king. Why not, he was in the perfect position to get whatever he wanted. What Daniel wanted wasn’t for himself. The night before his three friends prayed all through the night with Daniel. They were key prayer partners in this whole situation and Daniel relied heavily on them to join with him. Daniel did not forget the people who helped him get to where he was. He remembered them and requested the king make them administrators over Babylon, and he did. They were also given places of honor. They were strategically put into key places of power and God could use them.
