End Times Series
Daniel Chapter Two
By Liaf
During this upcoming Easter Season, and later during Christmas, I love to delve into end time subjects. "Why now?" you may ask. Needless to say, Christmas is traditionally the celebration of Christ’s First Coming, and during the Easter Season is traditionally when Christ’s death and resurrection launched the "Church Age". This is the age of the New Covenant. The time of the end deals with Christ’s Second Coming, and the theme is very similar. Whenever one speaks of "end times", that conjures up images in the book of Revelation. To be certain, Revelation is the book that most directly deals with the time of the end. However, other prophetic books are needed as a key to understanding Revelation. Revelation is the "pattern" that must be deciphered in the light of other books. The idea is similar to a computer program. When one writes a computer program (analogous to Revelation) one assumes that at the language is understood beforehand. The entire convention of the language was settled long before any program was written.
One of the "translators" (and an important one at that) of Revelation is the prophetic book of Daniel. So if you will, turn to Daniel chapter two. And before I go on, I hope you all have King James Bibles. Most modern ones are corrupt. Is the King James perfect? No, not by a long shot. However, it seems that most of the modern translators have a certain ax to grind depending on their background. If you really have a hard time understanding the King James, then I suggest the New King James Version. Although it is not as good, I really believe that the translation is of the same spirit as the old King James and the English is much easier to comprehend--- although I am making a marginal assertion here regarding this text. I don’t even recommend that this translation should stand by itself. I will cite one very important example between the King James and the "Living" translation. If we look at the King James translation for II Samuel 7:10, we read: "Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime". If we look at the "Living" translation, we see it says: "I have selected a homeland for my people from which they will never have to move. It will be their own land where heathen nations won’t bother them…". Do you see the difference? One is future tense, the other is past tense---- a BIG difference. Israel was already in their homeland when this was said to David. If it’s future tense, then this implied another homeland and supports the "Lost Tribes" theology. However, since some folks scoff and rebel at the idea of "Lost Tribes" they go along with the past tense translation. The problem here is that the statements that follow make absolutely no sense in light of the fact that there was the Assyrian invasion, the Babylonian invasion, not to mention other occupations in the land. I guess it’s hoped that most readers are too dense to pick that up. Most people are adequately supplied intellectually if they put their minds to something (at least I believe that). On that note, is it any wonder that intelligent and thinking people lose interest in the things of God? With translations as this, it’s not too hard to see problems.
Back to Daniel chapter two. Daniel was a captive prophet in Babylon, albeit a well respected one who earned his reputation during incidents such as these.
Daniel 2:1-6: And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.
Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.
The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
In a nutshell, King Nebuchadnezzar had a bad dream that troubled him, and he called all the wise people to interpret it. Today, he might call the psychic hotline. On the other hand, he might call a therapist if he wanted a more scientific approach. Back then, these fellows were the religious and "scientific" brains of the day. They were the prophets as well. There was only one little problem. The king not only demanded the interpretation of the scary dream (which the magicians, sorcerers, etc. were more than willing to do), but he forgot what the dream was about to begin with! If they failed to reveal and interpret the dream, he warned, they would be cut to pieces and their houses made into…. well, shall we say in today’s terms "waste treatment facilities"? On the other hand, the rewards were great if they passed the test. This King is definitely a black and white kind of person. Let’s read on:
Daniel 2:7-11: They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.
The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
In essence, they all said to the King, "Tell us what the dream was." He replied back, "No, I don’t remember. You’re stalling for time." They replied it could not be done. Notice I have the words "not a man upon the earth" in bold because they really believed that. "You’re being unreasonable.", they effectively said. Also notice the second set of bold words "except the gods". They were right about that, at least the true God would know, because God gave Nebuchadnezzar this prophetic dream. Let’s read on:
Daniel 2:12-19: For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:
He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.
Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
The King was angry enough to slay all the wise men, although Daniel wanted a "crack at" the interpretation. He had a "night vision", i.e., a revelation by a dream from God (who he gave glory to in the verses after these). Let’s skip a little to the part where Daniel is brought in to the King (I inserted numbers in brackets to categorize the image):
Daniel 2:26-35: The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?
Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
This image's [1] head was of fine gold, his [2] breast and his arms of silver,[3] his belly and his thighs of brass,
[4] His legs of iron, [5] his feet part of iron and part of clay.
Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: [6] and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
The King had a dream about a large image. Some call it a statue made of various metals. If we continue our reading of Daniel chapter two, we see that Daniel gave the interpretation of the dream:
Daniel 2:36-39: This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
There is no sense making this more complicated than this has to be. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image was a prophetic forerunner of all the major kingdoms (empires) that arose (or will arise) to world power that have direct bearing on Israel. "Thou art the head of gold.", he said to Nebuchadnezzar which represented the Babylonian empire. We can now look back in time and know what other world empires arose to power that they did not know about back then. After the Babylonian Empire came the Medo-Persian Empire (breast and his arms of silver). After that empire came the Grecian Empire (his belly and his thighs of brass) that climaxed under Alexander the Great. Notice with the arms there is a dualistic theme here. The same can be said of the image’s thighs. We shall see a dualistic theme later in the Grecian Empire as well. However, we must be cautious regarding the word "thigh". The connotation in Hebrew sometimes involves (as Monty Python would say) one’s "naughty bits". It’s these amazing predictions that make some theologians doubt that this prophecy could have been known back in Daniel’s time, and thus claim that these writings came later. Let’s continue reading this fascinating interpretation:
Daniel:2:40: And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
Nobody doubts what this "iron" kingdom is. This kingdom represented the coming Roman Empire. But notice the last "funny" body part of this image:
Daniel 2:41-43: And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; 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 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.
The essence of this kingdom is a mixed kingdom. A loose confederacy of nations will again form that has both strengths and weaknesses. Notice that the metallic element is still iron which suggests of a future revived Roman Empire. One must read between the lines. I underlined the "clues" for you (latter days & feet and toes). Assuming this was not some monster or alien image, but rather human form, we can assume that the image had ten toes. This suggests that the number "ten" plays a part in this empire. Jumping ahead a little, this empire represents the end time revived Roman Empire. We shall see this number mentioned several times in the book of Revelation. One such example is found in Revelation 13:1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. Without getting into excessive detail now, we shall see that Antichrist will play a role in this ten-nation confederacy in end times. For now, I want you to understand that this "image" dream gave a broad picture of future empires that God had in his plans. As we study later chapters in Daniel, we shall see that the prophecies "focus in" a little more in detail and they will even give us a clue as to where Antichrist will come from. What happened to this "ten-toed" kingdom? Let’s read the conclusion of the chapter.
Daniel:2:44-45: And in the days of these kings [i.e. the days of the "ten-toed" kingdom] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Forasmuch as thou sawest that the 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.
The last kingdom, represented by the stone that "was cut out without hands" and "smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay" is God’s Kingdom here on Earth when Christ victoriously returns with his saints. The "stone that was cut out without hands" represents a solid power and foundation that is not fashioned by man. This is a supernatural reference and one can find an example in the Bible where the altar was not to be made of hewn stone (Exodus 20:25). Only a kingdom fashioned by the Lord God himself can fit such a description.
I will stop here to let you digest this chapter for awhile. However, we will see that this lays a fascinating groundwork for understanding the book of Revelation.