“And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters all things; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.” Daniel 2:40.
The first part of Daniel chapter 2 was covered in the post, History’s Dead End, Daniel 2:1-39 published on 12-13-23.
In that post, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron with feet partly of iron and clay.
The different metals represented four different world empires to come before the end. Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom was the head of gold, the Medes and the Persians followed, and Greece of Alexander the Great were next.
This post picks up at the legs of iron, the Roman Empire.
The iron legs, the fourth kingdom, which followed Greece is Rome. The city itself was founded around 758 to 728 B.C. This was about 400 years before Alexander the Great was born (July 356 B.C.), but Rome did not begin to expand into an empire until about 242 B.C. when it conquered Sicily.
It is felt that even at that the Roman Empire did not become such until Julius Caesar was named perpetual dictator in January, 44 B.C. Caesar’s assassination took place on March 15, 44 B.C.
Another thought is that the empire began after the battle of Actium September 2, 31 B.C. between Octavian, Caesar’s adopted son who became Caesar Augustus after the battle, and Marc Antony, who was allied with Queen Cleopatra; Octavian being the victor.
Like iron, while the previous three kingdoms could be cruel and oppressive as Rome was, none were as long lived or as expansive; Rome lasted for about a thousand years before she fell apart, iron then is a good analogy.
The Roman Empire is also described as follows.
“And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters all things; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.” Daniel 2:40.
Due in part to its longevity, Rome conquered many nations; and at its greatest extent about 117 A.D. the empire surrounded the Mediterranean Sea which has been referred to as a Roman lake.
Places now known as Britain, France, Spain, parts of Germany, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, to name a few, were within the Roman Empire.
Destroyed are Babylon, the Medes and the Persians, and the Grecian Empire; there is only Rome with its strength, power, duration, and cruelty.
Rome was stern in its discipline of those who would set themselves against her. Rome conquered Jerusalem in 63 B.C. and the last of several Jewish rebellions against Rome was put down with an iron fist.
Titus and the Roman legions crushed Jerusalem, killing an estimated one million inhabitants, destroyed the temple, and sold so many Jews as slaves, they glutted the market.
Not an easy thing to do since 25% of those in the Roman Empire were slaves, the city itself having as many as 400,000 slaves.
Many thousands were crucified, and tens, if not hundreds of thousands of innocents were sent to their death in the arena in many vicious and cruel ways.
As an example of crucifixion, the failed slave rebellion led by Spartacus saw 6000 slaves crucified along the Apian way from Capua to Rome in 71 B.C. A little over 124 miles.
Ironically what is called the Pax Romana, a two-hundred-year period of relative peace, facilitated the spread of the gospel in the Greek language that Alexander the Great made almost universal.
As for the two iron legs, the Roman Empire was finally divided between east and west in 395 A.D. The western empire fell apart about 500 A.D. depending on whose dates you accept, and the eastern empire fell a thousand years later.
Rome was never really conquered, and many have attempted to put Humpty Dumpty together again, to no avail; but it is coming.
“Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.” Daniel 2:41-42.
These ten toes are one reason you hear references to a revived Roman Empire, which is commonly considered to be composed of ten nations united. Speculation has gone on for years as to what this ten-nation thing consists of, and the identity of the Antichrist.
The latter question is an act of futility, as names like, Napoleon, Hitler, and Mussolini, have been considered and found wanting; the question of the ten toes has also met with failure, and the answer may not be here either, however you may find a surprise or two.
The original League of Nations was one consideration, until its failure to maintain peace, its replacement, the United Nations was another, however it has done nothing more than back communist countries, encourage third world dictatorships, and continually chastise Israel.
One need only look at the Rwandan and Darfur genocides and the handling of the Haitian earthquake disaster to see that the U.N. is nothing more than a gigantic money toilet that has no concern for human life.
The ten-nation idea then took root in the European Common Market, and many watched this expectantly, the European Union was later created eventually becoming a union of some 27 countries as of 2007.
The union is like the United States insofar as the individual countries have brought themselves under a single governing body, with free trade, free movement throughout member countries, a single currency, and passport, to name a few things.
In a very loose sense, we have a revived Roman Empire. While these events are telling, I would not advise putting all your eggs in one prophetic basket.
It does, however, show the mentality of a one world government which Europe is steeped in, and has captured the imagination of many Americans, particularly in government circles.
While the European Union is a good base for a one world government, the real danger is likely coming from a group called The Club of Rome.
I am not a conspiracy theorist; I prefer solid policy statements to someone’s best guess, so for your own information, look it up, just type in The Club of Rome, there is a lot of information on them, including their own goals shown on their website.
Basically, their desire is to unite the world under ten different regulatory regions. The question is how to bring that about considering the many issues that divide countries from one another, issues that even keep them at war with each other?
The answer is simple, at least to them; create a new common enemy, famine, pollution, global warming, or climate change. The last three are considered a hoax by many, including many scientists.
Fear sells, and it is a good tool for governments to inflame the rabble for change by giving government more power over individual liberties. The losers will be the people, as governments become bigger, greedier and more controlling.
The best example of course is the two years of covid-19, masks and fear mongering. The money and power they have garnered to themselves over this period is breathtaking. Unless the populace does something, none of our lost freedoms are coming back.
“And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.” Daniel 2:42.
Though the Antichrist will be absolute ruler during the last three and a half years of the tribulation it seems that this strange mixture of clay and iron will create some severe weaknesses within his world empire.
Daniel chapter 7 describes a beast with ten horns, and the ten horns are revealed to be ten kings. This beast also represents Rome and corresponds with our ten toes, meaning that they are ten kings.
So before and during the rule of Antichrist there will be kings over an earth divided into ten different areas.
During the second half of the tribulation, these kings will follow the Antichrist slavishly. However, the clay either prevents them from carrying out his every whim; or it prevents them from ruling as well as they would like.
“As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.” Daniel 2:43.
The answer to this may well lie in this puzzling verse. All along we have been examining a statue made up of metals which have all had a meaning; the iron has the inflexibility and power of Rome, but the clay has no character at all.
This lack of character defines the age we are living in now; demanding their rights, moral laxity, and desire for a socialist nanny state to feed and care for everyone.
These also have a politically correct belief in egalitarianism, making everyone acceptable to them no matter how sick, perverse or evil they are. Try governing that.
Another possibility becomes apparent if you look at the Club of Rome’s proposed division of some of these nations; all central and south America are one block, most of Africa is another, Russia and what appears to be most of Eastern Europe, India and Southeast Asia, make up two more regions, most of the European Union, is another, while the U.S. and Canada make up another.
Governing Third World countries is going to be much different than the industrially advanced ones, which will be a can of worms in itself.
Riches and greed are not going to cease just because men reshuffle the world and its leadership. The powerful then, are going to continue to take what they want from the subjugated masses.
The Christian will not be on earth when this happens; that is if a person accepts Jesus Christ while He can be found.
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23.
If you are here after the rapture when Antichrist is revealed, you may, or may not be blinded by a strong delusion which will come upon all the earth from Satan and allowed by God.
“The coming of the lawless one [Antichrist] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie [the lie of Antichrist], that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.
After the rapture folks will still accept Christ as their Savior, but life on earth will have become a living hell far worse than the preview we are getting now.
“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold – the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” Daniel 2:44-45.
” …in the days of these kings…” meaning these last ten kings, the times of the Gentiles will be over, and God will set up His eternal kingdom once and for all.
The supernatural stone is none other than Jesus Christ Himself at the battle of Armageddon. He will then set up His kingdom on earth, which will last for a thousand years, the millennium so often spoken of.
The reason it is called an eternal kingdom is that at the end of the millennium men will rebel one last time and this will be terminated by fire coming down from heaven, consuming the rebels.
“Now when the thousand years [millennium] have expired, Satan will be released from his prison [in the abyss, Revelation 20:1-3] and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city [Jerusalem]. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10.
The earth will then be burned up and on Judgment Day (see Revelation 20:11-15) the ungodly of all time will be condemned to spend eternity in the lake of fire with Satan and his fallen angels.
After Judgment Day will come a new heaven and a new earth and Christ will continue to rule. It is because He never ceases to rule during and after these events that it can be said that His kingdom is an eternal one.
All who have accepted Christ as their Savior will see these events with their own eyes.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God [Jesus Christ].” John 3:16-18.
History’s Dead End, Daniel 2:40-45 taken from godisrevealed.com updated on 9-6-18, reposted on 12-16-23.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.