Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. So the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans(?) to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said to them, "I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream." (Daniel 2:1-3 NKJV)
Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation." The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, "My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation." (Daniel 2:4-6 NKJV)
Where is Daniel while all this is going on?
Obviously, Daniel was not a part of any of these groups. Because of their attempts to save their lives, as they did not have answers for the king, everyone, including Daniel and the other three Hebrews with him, are under a death threat from a king that has demonstrated how serious he is about his decrees.
Daniel goes before the king, buys a little time, and comes back with the dream and what it means.
Daniel answered the king, saying: “The mystery about which the king inquired is such that neither wise men, astrologers, magicians, or sorcerers can disclose it to the king. But, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar the things that will happen in the latter days. The dream and the visions that went through your head as you lay on your bed are these." (Daniel 2:27-28 TLV)
Daniel tells the king what the dream was.
“You looked, O king, and behold, there before you stood a huge statue—an enormous and dazzling image whose appearance was awesome. The head of that statue was of pure gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly iron and partly clay. While you were watching, a stone was cut out, but not by 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 crushed together and became like chaff from summer threshing floors that the wind blows away. Not a trace of them could be found. Then the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." (Daniel 2:31-35 TLV)
"Wherever mankind, beasts of the field, and fowls of the heaven dwell, He has given them into your hand and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold. “Now, after you, another kingdom will arise, one inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over all the earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron shatters and breaks everything—and just as iron smashes everything, so will it shatter and crush all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly potter’s clay and partly iron, so this will be a divided kingdom. It will have some of the strength of the iron, for you saw the iron mixed with clay. As the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle." (Daniel 2:38-42 TLV)
Now, after you, another kingdom will arise, one inferior to yours. The second kingdom in this equation is The empire of the Medes and Persians, whose union was denoted by the breast and two arms of silver, and which was established on the ruins of that of the
Chaldeans on the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, B.C. 538.
The third kingdom. The kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. The UCRT dictionary tells us that "The empire
of the Macedonians, or "brazen-coated Greeks," aptly
denoted by the belly and thighs of brass, founded by Alexander the
Great, who terminated the Persian monarchy by the overthrow of
Darius Codomanus at Arbela, B.C. 331" To put this plainly, the Grecian Empire. This is not a quiz, but do you know who the remaining two generals were and what regions they controlled?
Seleucid in the North and Ptolemy in the South.
The fourth and what seems to be the final kingdom, represented as iron, which many believe to be the Roman Empire, does not show up until almost 255 years after the remains of the Grecian Empire. Considering the closeness of all the others in terms of time, bringing the Roman Empire into this dream seems odd at best. Biblically we are told about the
Babylonian, the Medo-Persians, and finally, the Macedonians or
Grecians, but nothing is said about the Roman Empire. Do you know what Empire causes the most grief and plays a role in affecting both the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires? The
Assyrians. Do you realize that one of the names of the
Antichrist is the Assyrian? Yeah, we seem to ignore that aspect when we are ranting about how the Roman Empire will rise up again in the last moments of time. And, since the Assyrians have been so influenced by Islam, we ignore their potential through
Jihad, of bringing as many as possible under the influence of Islam;
hence, a global religion.
Note: there is no mention of who makes up these toes of iron and clay, but it is obvious that there is an attempt at integration, which clearly fails. Do Sunnis and Shiites get along? Have paid attention to what
Isis, coming from Afghanistan, is preparing to do to Iran as of
5/29/2023? They have threatened war over water, and they are backing it up with army tanks and heavy equipment.
Daniel
2:43
KJV And whereas thou saw 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 is not mixed with clay.
Notice
how "they
shall mingle themselves with the seed of men."
Mingle
means
to mix or
combine.
The word mingle and
the word mixed
are
the same Aramaic
(Strong's
concordance calls this language Chaldean)
word ărab.
H6151
‛ărab,
enunciation: ar-ab'.
(Chaldee);
corresponding to H6148;
to
commingle:
- mingle
(self), mix.
Total
KJV occurrences: 4.
Seed:
-
zera‛:
An
Aramaic
noun meaning seed
or offspring.
This word is used only once in Dan_2:43
in the idiomatic phrase "with the seed of men" (KJV).
The
question is, offspring of whom?
The
Word Study Dictionary tells you this “This
mixing of people with the seed of men is a reference to other people
groups joining a community or nation.”
The implication is that they are trying to join themselves to Israel,
but that is not the case, and we see it going all the way back to
Ishmael and Esau.
Just
a short heritage listing from Ishmael begins to show you the
beginnings of the nations.
Isn't
it fascinating that Abraham was able to produce nations
of Gentiles and then Jews?
Just for the fun of it, here are the names of the twelve princes that
came from Ishmael. Many have associated regions to go along with
their names.
“These
were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns
and their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations.”
(Genesis
25:13-16
NKJV)
The
firstborn of Ishmael,
Nebajoth,
and or Nebaioth.
From
Nebajoth sprang the Nabatheans, who inhabited Arabia Petraea (Petra.)
Kedar.
From
Kedar, the Cedreans, who dwelt near the Nabatheans. The name means
darkness or dark-skinned.
Adbeel,
Disciplined
of God.
Mibsam,
A fragrant,
sweet odor.
Mishma,
A
report, a hearing.
Dumah,
Silence.
A town of Judah ten miles southwest of Hebron.
Massa,
Gift;
burden, a prophecy; enduring.
Hadar.
More
than 300 Manuscripts and printed editions read Hadad,
as in 1 Chronicles 1:30.
Tema,
South
desert; Southerner.
Jetur.
An enclosure; defense. The Itureans, who inhabited a small tract of
country east of Jordan, which afterward belonged to Manasseh
Naphish,
Refreshed;
recreation; taking breath. :Note: These are evidently the same people
mentioned in 1Ch_5:19,
who, with the Itureans, assisted the Hagarenes against the
Israelites, but were overcome by the two tribes of Reuben and Gad,
and the half-tribe of Manasseh.” 1Ch_1:31;
1Ch_5:19.
The
Ultimate Cross-Reference Treasury
Kedemah.
Eastward.
But
they shall not cleave to each other.
As you can see from the Amplified version below, they will not hold
together.
Cleave
is the Aramaic verb meaning
to
cling to, stay together, to adhere together.
"And
as you saw the iron mixed with miry and earthen clay, so they shall
mingle themselves in the seed of men [in
marriage bonds];
but they will not hold together [for two such elements or ideologies
can never harmonize], even as iron does not mingle itself with clay."
(Daniel
2:43
AMP)
As
you can see, the Amplified Bible implied that their mingling could be
seen in marriages. This idea of marriage should have a familiar ring
to it, as Balaam told Balak, the king of Moab, how to defeat Israel.
Dr. J Vernon McGee points out that Balaam is mentioned three
times in the NT.
"Balaam
is mentioned three times in the closing books of the New Testament.
In 2 Peter it is the way of Balaam. In Jude it is the error of
Balaam. And it is the doctrine of Balaam in the Book of Revelation."
The
Old Testament also helps to define what Balaam did.
"And
Moses said to them: "Have you kept all the women alive? Look,
these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of
Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor..."
(Numbers 31:15-16 NKJV)
In
spite of God's clear admonition that Balaam should NOT speak a word
against Israel, he did so by telling Balak how to destroy them subtly
by bringing in foreign women, and they would cause the children
of Israel to collapse from the inside out.
In
relation to these people who mingle with the great sea of people are
words from Ecclesiastes.
"And
I discovered (something)
more bitter than death, the woman whose heart is snares and nets,
whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from
her, but the sinner will be captured by her." (Ecclesiastes 7:26
NASB)
This
takes us back to Daniel, where the mixed have but one intention, to
destroy from the inside out.
What does that mean to us?
They start
with small demands, then they get themselves voted onto your
governing bodies - like school boards and city councils. They then
begin to change the rules and laws to suit their ideological
teachings. Some call this a religion. All of this is Jihad to the
group of people I refer to, the Islamic religion.
Did you know that the followers of Islam,
under the guise of the Ottoman
Empire, almost overtook the world?
Thankfully, the British were able to
squelch and, in
a sense,
deliver a mortal wound to the Ottoman Empire in 1924 by forcing them
to disband and making the empire illegal by international agreement.
While the "civilized" world began rebuilding after WW1 and
enjoying the Roaring 20's, the Ottoman Empire, shortly thereafter,
began reorganizing under the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Did you not
notice that Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan
of
Turkey has, on several occasions, espoused that he would resurrect
the Ottoman Empire?
(AMP)
“And as you saw the iron mixed with miry and earthen clay, so they
shall mingle themselves in the seed of men [in
marriage bonds];
but they will not hold together [for
two such elements or ideologies can never harmonize],
even as iron does not mingle itself with clay.”
All
this should have a familiar ring to it if you have read about God's
promise to Abram/Abraham. Abraham, in an attempt to move God's plan
along, at the prodding of his wife, produces a child, Ishmael.
“ And
as for Ishmael,
I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him
fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve
princes, and I will make him a great nation.” Genesis
17:20
Does
anybody want to venture a guess as to who that nation is?
If you said the Arab nation(s) are descendants of Ishmael, then you
would be right.
I
can hear the religious as they say, how
dare you speak in that manner?
Look
at what the Strong's concordance says about the simple word “nation.”
Nation
is the Hebrew word gôy
or gôyim.
It is a
masculine noun meaning nation,
people,
Gentiles.
a
foreign nation; hence a Gentile. This noun is also used to describe anyone
other than Israel,
whether
they be pagan, Gentile, or heathen.
The
term Goiim, to my understanding, is a very negative word applied to
outsiders.
My
thoughts.
Daniel
was given the interpretation and perhaps the understanding; that
alone should move the context into an Israeli, or at the least a
Middle Eastern one. Regardless, you should never read the Bible
without considering the context of God's
people and the promised land.
Some
may say that the dream was meant for Nebuchadnezzar exclusively and,
therefore, should be seen as one that is primarily a Babylonian
context. The problem with that thinking is how quickly the story
moves off Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians and onto the
Medo-Persian Empires and then the Grecian, and that the Babylonian
empire, though a conquering one, was also one that protected and
helped to develop God's people.
In
trying to convince you that the narrative is about global rule, many
have tried to argue that the statue shows us the Roman Empire. In
pushing that argument, they ignore that the Grecian empire, during the
time in which they conquered the Holy Land, was under the command of
Alexander (one man) the Great. Sadly, he died, and the kingdom was
divided four ways (between four Generals). That did not last long and
ended with two Generals ruling a somewhat divided kingdom, with
Seleucid in the North and Ptolemy in the South (Egypt.) I can easily
see then how the thighs of bronze and legs of iron would continue to
represent the Grecian empire to a degree.
But
what happens when I get to the feet of this statue?
Historians
tell us that the two remaining Grecian generals clashed with each
other for control. In the North, the Assyrians - the
same violent people group that gave us the Ninevehites,
that Jonah was sent to with a message of destruction. The
Assyrians, also known as Chaldeans, were part of the Babylonian and
Medo-Persian Empires; they also joined with the Egyptians in the
South to fight against Israel. The
Assyrians,
descendants of Ishmael and Esau, are
an integral part of the events we are seeing in the Middle East and
news related to Israel today.
See
how that sort of ended there, and it worked without including the
Roman Empire, which also had two branches or legs to it. If you must
insist that the Roman Empire is glued to Daniel's explanation of the
statue because of Daniel 9:26, then I suggest that you pay attention
to the role that recorded history plays in this belief.
Josephus,
(the Jewish historian
that worked for the Romans),
told us that Assyrian
conscript troops, with an open and violent hatred of the Jews, even
though they knew that their punishment would probably mean their
death, disregarded commands from Titus to cease their actions and
destroyed Herod's temple primarily to obtain the gold that was
melting and running between the cracks. They did not know that
they were fulfilling prophecy and showing us what was to come.
But
what do we do?
We
follow religious traditions and loudmouth teachers who tell us that
because Daniel 9:26 was fulfilled in 70 A.D., while Jerusalem was
under the control of Roman soldiers, tells us that, “the
people of the prince that is come Shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary”
are going to be a part of the Roman empire, once again. These teachers will convey
to you that they don't need to pay attention to Josephus or Tacitus
(a Roman historian) because these "people"
were doing all this damage under the Roman flag, and the coming
actions of the followers of the Antichrist can be blindly attributed
to the Roman Empire and, therefore, indicative of the Antichrist and
the followers of his global religion.
I
added global religion as the scripture tells us that they “worship”
the beast – the antichrist;
and, because of this term “worship,” that there will be a global,
unifying religion.
Worship
means nothing close to my grateful, heartfelt love for the Father
because of what He has done for me through Jesus' death and
resurrection.
Thayer's
concordance gives us this.
"Worship
is to
kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence. Among
the Orientals, especially the Persians, to fall upon the knees and
touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound
reverence. And, in the NT (worship is shown) by kneeling or
prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order
to express respect or to make supplication. And finally it is used of
homage shown to men and beings of superior rank."
In
many of these instances, the alternative is often death for
non-compliance.
The
understanding that I apply to the Roman empire, unlike the others, is
that it is NEVER specifically mentioned in the narrative about the
giant statue, and this is a narrative that effectively takes us all
the way out to the catching away of the church and the entrance of
the antichrist - a leader that will have an influence on the Islamic
nations.
"Just
as you saw that the feet and toes were partly potter’s clay and
partly iron, so
this will be a divided kingdom.
It will have some of the strength of the iron, for you saw the iron
mixed with clay." (Daniel
2:41 TLV)
"A
kingdom, undefined by previous pattern. The word kingdom
in the Hebrew is malku and means a rule
or dominion.”
WSD
What
do we have that looks like that?
Islam.
They
have had, in the past, a caliphate; a central leadership - ruling
authority, and many are desperately trying to reestablish the
caliphate that rules over the world with Sharia law.
So, you may have picked up on a problem.
We have two groups of people trying to control the world; the filthy rich and followers of Islam.
Seeing as the rich have already demonstrated their desire and ability to control and kill off much of humanity, you might think that they will win. Not quite so fast. It is obvious, from scripture, that they will quickly kill off 1/4 of humanity with their vaccines and contagions, but at the three-and-one-half-year mark, the false prophet will switch teams and align himself with Islam, the beast, and Sharia law. Jesus told us, about this time, that the killing will be so great that if God does not stop it, no one will be alive on earth.
I hope you can understand that the best time to pledge your allegiance to Christ is now, before the catching away of the Church. Scripture tells us that the antichrist will be revealed very shortly after the church is gone. If you are here at this point, you can still come to Jesus. Just know that just about everyone not on your side will be trying to kill you.
