Dan 2:37-40 | KingComments | STEP | Daniel has accurately described the dream. The first condition of Nebuchadnezzar is thus met. Now he can rest assured about the explanation. Daniel begins with the golden head. With due respect he addresses Nebuchadnezzar. Then he says that the ruler has seen in the dream Who has given him his power. He owes everything he is and owns only to God. Daniel leaves no doubt as to who represents the golden head. He says to Nebuchadnezzar: “You are the head of gold”. God announces, through the explanation given by Daniel, that He has transferred the rule to Nebuchadnezzar as the head of the nations. With the appointment of Nebuchadnezzar as head of the nations, “the times of the Gentiles” ( ) have begun. Israel is no longer in the land, God no longer lives there, the temple is empty. Israel is no longer the center of the earth and history from the moment that the glory of the LORD has left the temple and the land. A whole new period has begun in which the people have become “Lo-ammi”, which means “not My people” ( ). God then gave His authority to the head of the nations. God will count history according to the heads of the peoples. The realm of Nebuchadnezzar is the first great world empire after Israel has been set aside. The big difference from the time that Assyria and Egypt were world empires, is that Israel in that time is still recognized by God as His people. But although God can no longer recognize Israel as His people, He is still in touch with a remnant. The first characteristic of this remnant is faithfulness. And whoever is faithful gets insight into the thoughts of God, in His mystery. Only with those who want to live by the Word of God can knowledge of God’s thoughts be found. The light they possess is not their own, but is given to them by God. The world can only find God’s thoughts in those who hold faithfully to His Word. Through the dream God makes clear through Daniel’s explanation how the history of the world will play out after Israel is set aside.

‏ Daniel 2:37-40

The First Empire

Daniel has accurately described the dream. The first condition of Nebuchadnezzar is thus met. Now he can rest assured about the explanation. Daniel begins with the golden head. With due respect he addresses Nebuchadnezzar. Then he says that the ruler has seen in the dream Who has given him his power. He owes everything he is and owns only to God.

Daniel leaves no doubt as to who represents the golden head. He says to Nebuchadnezzar: “You are the head of gold”. God announces, through the explanation given by Daniel, that He has transferred the rule to Nebuchadnezzar as the head of the nations.

With the appointment of Nebuchadnezzar as head of the nations, “the times of the Gentiles” (Lk 21:24) have begun. Israel is no longer in the land, God no longer lives there, the temple is empty. Israel is no longer the center of the earth and history from the moment that the glory of the LORD has left the temple and the land. A whole new period has begun in which the people have become “Lo-ammi”, which means “not My people” (Hos 1:9).

God then gave His authority to the head of the nations. God will count history according to the heads of the peoples. The realm of Nebuchadnezzar is the first great world empire after Israel has been set aside. The big difference from the time that Assyria and Egypt were world empires, is that Israel in that time is still recognized by God as His people.

But although God can no longer recognize Israel as His people, He is still in touch with a remnant. The first characteristic of this remnant is faithfulness. And whoever is faithful gets insight into the thoughts of God, in His mystery. Only with those who want to live by the Word of God can knowledge of God’s thoughts be found.

The light they possess is not their own, but is given to them by God. The world can only find God’s thoughts in those who hold faithfully to His Word. Through the dream God makes clear through Daniel’s explanation how the history of the world will play out after Israel is set aside.

The Second and Third Empires

Nebuchadnezzar is also told that his power is only valid for a certain period of time. Jeremiah determines the duration of his kingdom: three generations will reign (Jer 27:7). Then his kingdom will be succeeded by other kingdoms. Those other empires will also come to an end. Only the last empire, the fifth one, will be an eternal empire. That is a very special empire.

So, the first empire is Babylon, represented in Nebuchadnezzar. But there will follow still three empires. If Nebuchadnezzar has already flattered himself with the thought that his kingdom will last forever, something that every ruler has within him, then his dream will burst his bubble. His kingdom will be succeeded by a kingdom “inferior to” his, like silver has a lower value than gold. The silver refers to the Medo-Persian empire (Dan 5:28). It is a double realm, which is reflected in the two arms.

But the Medo-Persian empire will also come to an end. There will rise a third world power that will overpower the second world power. The battle between these two empires is described in Daniel 8. There we also read that this third empire is the kingdom of Greece (Dan 8:21). In just a few years Alexander the Great conquered the huge previous empire and more. From this third empire it is additionally mentioned that it is an empire “which will rule over all the earth”. Alexander must have complained that there is no other world to conquer. When he is thirty-three years old, he dies. After that his four generals divided the kingdom among themselves.

The decrease in the value of the metals symbolizes the decrease in power of the successive kings. This state of affairs is not in line with what man claims. According to man, things are getting better and better. But Scripture says that there is decline. This decline, as has been said, is not in the size of the empires, but in the power that will be exercised by the rulers of those empires:

1. Nebuchadnezzar is an absolute dictator. He is ruler over everything (Dan 2:38; Jer 28:14 ; Jer 27:5-6).

2. In the case of the Medes and Persians, the authority of the king is not absolute. The rulers themselves are bound by the laws of that empire (Dan 6:9 ; 15).

3. In the third empire, the ruler’s authority is even less. Alexander is dependent on the support of his generals.

4. The fourth empire, the Roman empire, is the least absolute in its rule. The emperors rule by the grace of the people. How important the voice of the people is, we see in Pilate’s fear that the people are threatening to charge him before the emperor (Jn 19:12-13).

The Fourth Empire

The fourth empire is the Roman empire

The proof that the fourth empire is the Roman empire is found especially in Revelation 17. We will discuss this in more detail in a moment. First, we must draw attention to another proof. That proof lies in the relationship between the world empires and Israel. Remarkably enough, each of the three world empires mentioned so far has ruled over Israel. That is actually why they are mentioned. A people only have a place in the Bible if it is somehow related to the history of God’s people.

Scripture confirms that the fourth empire, the Roman empire, also ruled over Israel. We read about the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus about Judea (Lk 2:1) and about the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius (Lk 3:1). Other places in the Gospels also prove Rome’s rule over the land of Israel (Lk 20:22-24; Jn 11:48 ; Jn 19:10 ; 11 ; 15). It should not surprise us that we find this back in history. In the year 63 BC Pompey conquered Judea which then became a Roman province.

The three preceding empires are described relatively briefly. In comparison, the description of the Roman empire is comprehensive.. This description with the explanation gives some details that show that this very empire is extraordinarily interesting. And when we see that the history of Europe is given to us in this empire, the data interests us all the more.

Two phases

In the development of the Roman empire, two phases can be distinguished that are related to the division of the empire into an eastern and a western part. The Western Roman empire ceases to exist when Rome is destroyed in the year 476. It was not until 1453 that the Eastern Roman empire comes to an end, when the Turks conquer it. Of these two empires, the Western Roman empire falls within the framework of prophecy.

This leads us to the discussion of a problem that we first have to deal with, before we continue: How can the stone hit the statue at the feet, i.e. the Roman empire, when it no longer exists? As a solution to this problem, it has been thought that the stone represents Christendom, which originated through Christ. Then, with the advent of Christendom, the dream of Nebuchadnezzar must have been fulfilled.

But the coming of Christ, and with Him Christendom, did not destroy the empire. As for Christ, the opposite is true. That empire has killed Christ. So Christendom cannot be the fulfilment either. The dream shows the crushing of the statue as a sudden thing, after which the stone fills all the earth. Who would dare to state that Christendom suddenly attacked the Roman empire and then gained general rule over the world?

The fourth empire is still to come

This means that this fourth empire still is to come. But how is that possible? It existed before and now it no longer exists, doesn’t it? The solution to this problem is found in Revelation 17, already mentioned. There we read of the beast representing the Roman empire (Dan 7:7-8; Rev 13:1-11): “It was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss” (Rev 17:8). Not only is the empire itself divided into two parts, east and west, but the history of the empire also consists of two parts, that is, two phases. The first phase of the empire is past, it “was”. And at present the empire does not exist, “and is not”. The second phase is still in the future, “and is about to come up out of the abyss”.

It is clear that for the prophecy to be fulfilled, the once disappeared Western Roman empire must be restored. This restoration is still future, but this future is very close! During the course of history several people have tried to restore this empire to its former glory. Powerful rulers such as Napoleon and Hitler all tried to revive this empire by force. It did not work. The empire will therefore not be established by force and conquest, but by ten kings who will voluntarily give their power to an autocrat (Rev 17:12-13).

The legs, the feet and the toes

These ten kings are already symbolically indicated in the statue. If we look for a moment at the part of the statue representing the Roman empire, the legs and the feet, we can see in the two legs and the two feet with the ten toes the two phases of the Roman empire. The two legs are a picture of the two parts of the former Roman empire, that is the Western Roman empire and the Eastern Roman empire. The ten toes represent the division of the empire in the future.

It points out that in its final phase this kingdom will be composed of ten kingdoms, according to the ten toes (cf. Dan 7:24). The future empire will consist of ten parts, each with a king, a situation that the empire never knew in its former existence. If these ten parts of Europe voluntarily join together, that empire will be destroyed by the coming of Christ, for He, and no one else, is represented in the stone that rolls off the mountain.

The toes are not only made of iron, but of iron and clay. This indicates a binding of something hard like iron with something brittle like clay. Iron and clay are two elements that by their nature cannot be mixed. They both maintain their own characteristics. It is a hard and at the same time a brittle kingdom. The constitution is hard, but it is not a compact unit. We can think of the democratic principle that is incompatible with authoritarian state power that wants to act with military force. These things are reflected in the current drive towards one Europe.

Clay also represents man, where we can think of individualism, self-interest, personal freedom and participation. We see those also clearly present in Europe. We see the power of the great whole on the one hand, and the maintenance of national interests on the other.

History

Incidentally, the decline and finally the fall of the once mighty Roman empire has been a subject of study for many historians. Their amazement is at a different level than that of John. We have already talked about one of the suggested causes of the fall of the Roman empire, Christendom. Some other causes are mentioned in a booklet edited by Donald Kagan, ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Why Did it Collapse?’. In it a number of historians have their say. Everyone comes to their own conclusion after research. And these conclusions are very diverse.

The one blames the downfall to a class struggle, a struggle of the slaves against the ruling class. Another believes that climatic conditions were the cause. As a result, there would have been no rain for a certain period of time, resulting in crop failures and population displacement. That would have had an effect on the strength of the army, because the growth of recruits would have been halted by the withdrawal of the population. Yet another considers it possible that racial mixing caused the decay. (Hitler may have wanted to defend himself against this last aspect when considering his measures for the maintenance and promotion of a purely Germanic or Aryan race. The idea of growing a super breed came from Heinrich Himmler, a close employee of Hitler.)

All these historians are wrong with their assumptions. Scripture is the only reliable source for history. Scripture also describes history when everything has yet to happen. That is because Scripture is the speaking of God (Rom 9:17) and God declares the end from the beginning (Isa 46:10).