Read Daniel 2 in your Holy Bible. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has a dream. Chapter 2 is about Daniel; he interprets the dream. We are about the dream here. Daniel 2:28, “But actually the great God in the heavens is revealing secrets, and he makes them known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what it is that there shall be in the latter of the days, this dream of yours and the visions of your head upon your bed are these.” Notice our Abba Father put the dream in Nebuchadnezzar’s mind. And he revealed it to Daniel. First, notice our Abba Father working, then see the details with Daniel. That strengthens our faith. Too many let the elements overshadow our Abba Father.
The figure in the king’s dream symbolizes the region’s successive conquests and the world’s future. The statue has a head of gold, a breast and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and then feet of both iron and clay. Notice how the element’s value decreases. It starts with Babylon and goes to our time and beyond. ELB keeps us from seeing anything after 70 AD, which we will change in later verses.
The gold head is Babylon, the starting conquest of Israel. The silver chest and arms are the Persia-Media empire; the bronze is the Macedonian Greek empire, the iron is the Roman Empire, and the feet of a mix of clay and iron are the nations of the world after the Roman Empire ended, up to now and through to the end of time. The entire statue symbolizes the earth, destroyed at the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and the kingdom of our Abba Father comes.
The “feet” are understated compared to the four great nations, but the feet’s toes turn out to be the history of the world up to us and the end. The feet of iron and clay takes us well beyond the first century covered by the New Testament and into the 20th century. Iron and clay do not mix, which means there is a lot of division between the nations until the end. Iron is also more substantial, and the iron nations wield power.
Also note that the conquests listed are the work of our Abba Father implementing his plan for our redemption, each having its purpose. Persia rebuilt Jerusalem, and Greece brought a common language and culture to the region. Rome crucified Jesus and persecuted believers, highlighting the enemy at war with our Abba Father. The feet of iron and clay are the territory of our world after Jesus. It starts in the Middle East and spreads to Europe and beyond.
An example of Daniel 2, v2:39-40, “Then in your place there shall arise another kingdom, one earthward from you, and a third kingdom, that of the bronze, that one shall have authority in all of the earth. And the fourth kingdom, this shall be mighty as iron, forasmuch as the iron will shatter and overcome all things but just as the iron that will smash all of these, it shall be shattered and shall be smashed.”
Daniel lived through Babylon and the early Persian conquests; the rest is prophecy confirmed precisely by history. Babylon’s reign was 605-539 BC, Persia-Media was 539-331 BC, Greece was 331-166 BC, and Rome was 63 BC-476 AD. Confirmation is so precise many believe Daniel was written much later, but the case for Daniel is strong. Also, notice no one conquered the Roman Empire; no more world conquests came after it; the world transformed to the end of time.
“Feet of iron and clay” is from 476 AD to the time of the end. Most of Persia-Media’s and all Greek rule occurred between Malachi and Mathew, the Intertestamental Period. The Roman Empire, the iron, also appeared then and continued to the 5th century AD, after which it became the Holy Roman Empire (the church-state) and the feet of iron of clay. The feet get discounted by scholars in ELB.
Let’s step into the weeds. Daniel 2:42, “And the toes of the feet, being of iron and of clay, so also the kingdom shall be mighty and it shall also be frail.” Many see the clay as Israel and the Jews. Isaiah 64:8, “And now great Lord our father, we are the clay and you are the one forming us and all of us the work of your hand.” Isaiah talks about the clay and the potter, our Abba Father. The clay in the statue appeared after Jesus. You can decide if clay is used differently in the Scripture, Once for moldability and Jews, another for weak nations. Take scholar’s utterings as suggestions and think for yourself with the Holy Spirit. Make the answers yours. What is also interesting in the prophecy is the missing gap I put between 166 BC Greece and 63 BC Rome. It is the Hasmonean period during which Judah and Israel, with the Maccabee family, “sort of” gained independence from the successor Greek generals. We pick that up in later verses; scholars rarely teach it.
The Stone
We need to separate Daniel 2:34-35 from the conquest history. It jumps to the end times, “This you were perceiving until that stone cut without hands, and this collided into the image, into the feet of it, that of iron and that of clay, and it shattered them. And then they were shattered as one, the iron the clay the bronze the silver and the gold, and they became as the chaff from the threshing place of the summer and he lifted them up to the wind and not any of place there was found for them and the stone that collided into image, this became as a vast mountain range and it filled the entire earth.”
Two verses end the world. The “stone” (the NIV says “rock”) is Jesus, who “became as a vast mountain range and it filled the entire earth.” World history as prophecy starts with the gold head and works its way down to the feet and toes. The stone as Jesus hits at the end, or there would be no toes. Many scholars in ELB state the stone hit during the Iron Roman period when Jesus arrived, and the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. Shattered is not a long-term event. I also don’t see Jesus “became as a vast mountain range . . .” in our time.
We bring to life our Abba Father’s work to build our faith. You are in charge of yourself; make your own choice. Look at Isaiah 2:2. “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.” Now look at 1 Peter 2:4-5, “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.“
Peter wrote between Jesus’ first coming and 70 AD and referred to Jesus as a stone. That does not make what the stone did then what the stone did in Daniel’s dream. The stone has always been. Daniel’s stone establishes the new Jerusalem and the new earth. Daniel’s stone is the Messiah, which the Jews learned from Daniel. The Messiah is coming to save the world. Precisely who he is remained a secret.
Daniel 2:41-45
Daniel 2:41-43 has an important message that sets a specific time in the modern world. “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay.”
The kingdom referred to above is the kingdom of believers spread through the “toes,” the world’s nations. Here is the critical passage, Daniel 2:44-45, “And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.“
This is the key verse, “And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom.” That kingdom is in heaven. And “the days of those kings” are the kings of Europe, the last kings in the mid-1800s. The French Revolution, 1789-1799, was the beginning of the end of the king’s power in Europe, and most were gone after WWI. Also, we see first the world kingdom, then Jesus, and then the heavenly kingdom presented in Daniel 2. Future chapters expand on that
John 18:36-38, “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. Jesus had to ascend back to heaven to receive his kingdom. Daniel’s future visions flesh that out. We must start in heaven, the spirit world.
