Empires in Prophecy

From Daniel chapers 2 and 7

This is part of chapter two of free downloadable eBook on Prophecy and End Times

Over six hundred years before Christ, an ancient power was rousing itself in the Middle East. Babylon, the fountain head of idolatrous worship and occult “mystery religions”, with its eyes on Egypt, started pushing west from its base in an area within what we now call Iraq towards the areas now known as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. It was rising up to become a strong empire that ultimately would encompass all the lands from Israel to the eastern parts of Persia (Iran). Pushing first into Assyria and then down into Israel, it was set to fulfill the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning a power that God would raise up against Israel.

Then the LORD said to me:

“Out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says the LORD;

“They shall come and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. (Jer 1:14-15)

By around 606BC the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II, brought Jerusalem into submission by way of a military siege and took captive back to Babylon a number of the finest Hebrew teenagers to be trained for service in his royal court. Amongst these was Daniel who became the author of the book of Daniel.

Daniel and three of his friends were notable for maintaining their Hebrew faith even in the very tempting environment of elite Babylonian society. Because they kept themselves pure and followed God with their whole heart, God used these men as chosen vessels of gold to serve him. To Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego God gave miraculous deliverance from the fiery furnace, which became a testimony to the whole empire (Ch.3). To Daniel God gave wisdom, understanding and visions concerning many events that would take place from his time and into the future. Some of his visions extend even beyond the first coming of Jesus to the last days on earth before the greatest day in biblical prophecy, the day of the Lord, often referred to by Christians as “the second coming of Christ”.

Yet the first prophecies in the book of Daniel were not given to Daniel directly, but through that great king, Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar received the prophecy in a dream, but when he awoke, although he perceived that it had been a prophetic dream it slipped out of his mind and he couldn't remember it. This was how it came about that he gave the incredible command that the wise men of Babylon had to tell him the dream, and explain it to him, or else be put to death. Of course they all complained loudly that no king had ever asked such a thing and that no magician or wise man could know what another person had dreamt. Daniel and his friends also knew that this was outside the power of man, so they set to praying earnestly that God would reveal it to them. God answered their prayers by appearing to Daniel in a night vision, showing him the king’s dream and the interpretation of it.

The dream was of a great statue, exceedingly bright but also terrifying. It's head was of gold, it's chest and arms of silver, it's belly and thighs of brass, it's legs were made of iron and its feet of a mix of iron and clay (perhaps like pottery). In the vision a stone was cut out without hands and struck the great statue on the feet smashing them. Then the whole statue disintegrated into tiny pieces that the wind blew away, and the rock carved out without hands became a great mountain that filled the whole earth. Daniel explained to the king that the statue represented four world empires, of which his empire was the first, the head of gold. He then tells the king that after his empire would come another empire, inferior in some way to the empire of Nebuchadnezzar. This was represented by the chest and arms of silver. This second empire actually comes into being later in the book of Daniel during the time when Nebuchadnezzar's son Belshazzar is on the throne. We read in chapter five of the book of Daniel that Belshazzar threw a great party and decided to use the holy vessels stolen from God's temple in Jerusalem to drink wine out of. But then suddenly, during his party, Belshazzar saw a ghostly hand write on the wall and with his face pale and his knees knocking he called for someone to interpret it. None of his magicians or wise men could, however the queen suggested he call Daniel, for she said that in the time of Belshazzar's father the wisdom of the gods was found in him. Daniel was then called and interprets the writing as saying that God has numbered Belshazzar’s kingdom and finished it, and that Belshazzar himself has been judged and found lacking. The writing also said that his kingdom had been given to the Medes and the Persians. Indeed shortly after this the armies of the Medes and Persians conquered both the city of Babylon and the whole Babylonian empire. The first king of the new (Persian) empire was Darius the Mede, and the second was Cyrus the Persian. Although Daniel said that the empire that came after Babylon would be inferior, it was actually larger in size. The inferiority may therefore have referred to the power of the king. For whereas Nebuchadnezzar had total power, we find out in the story of Daniel and the lion’s den that king Darius could not change his commandment once he had signed it. If you know the story, you may remember that once he realized that his decree meant throwing Daniel to the lions he was very sorry about having made it and wanted to change his mind, yet was unable to do so. We see in this that in the Persian Empire, even the emperor had some restrictions on what he could do due to a form of constitutional law called ‘the law of the Medes and Persians’. So it’s probably in this respect that the power of the latter empire was inferior to the absolute power of Nebuchadnezzar.

The third empire described by Daniel is the one of brass, which from history we know was even bigger again, ruling over the Middle East, most of Europe, the top of Africa and the areas we now call Afghanistan and Pakistan. This was the Grecian empire established by Alexander the Great. Alexander became king of Macedonia when he was only 20 years old and during the following thirteen years conquered the whole Persian Empire and some territories beyond. Shortly after, at only 33 years of age, Alexander died and his kingdom was divided among his top four generals. Thus for most of its history the Grecian empire existed as four separate regions (which often warred one with another).

The next kingdom to arise and conquer the territories belonging first to Babylonia, then Persia then Greece, was the Roman Empire, which was still quite new in its existence when Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the reign of the first Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus. Of this fourth kingdom Daniel says that it would be as strong as iron but that its feet and toes would be iron mixed with clay, suggesting perhaps something hard but weak or brittle in some way. The latter form of the fourth kingdom, represented by the toes made of iron mixed with clay, would appear to be yet future, because it is at the time of this last kingdom that according to the prophetic dream of the king, 'the stone carved out without hands' strikes the statue on the feet and destroys it. Daniel again gives the interpretation, which is that God will destroy the last kingdom of man and establish his own kingdom that will rule over all the earth. One thing that is quite clear is that God has not yet destroyed the corrupt and violent governments of man, nor has he yet established his own government of peace and equity over the earth.

These prophecies, based on the kings vision of the great statue, span from about 600BC to the time of Christ and also a future time represented by the kingdom of iron mixed with clay. It is worth remembering that the Roman Empire was never really defeated. It broke up due to a combination of external attacks and internal rebellions and successions. Although the religious authority of popery became known as "The Holy Roman Empire", this was not really an empire in the true sense as it did not actually govern the lands over which it wielded influence. Today the countries that came out of the Roman empire include the UK to the far west, France, Germany, Italy and most of the other countries of Europe as well as Turkey, most of the middle eastern nations and parts of northern African nations such as Libya and Egypt. Since the disintegration of the Roman Empire there has been no overarching political empire covering all of these parts of the world. However the cultural and spiritual influences of the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian and Roman empires are still very strong, especially in western society.

...continued in free eBook on Prophecy and End Times (of which this is first part of ch2)