Final Countdown: Prophesy fulfilled! The image.
Chapter 7, the Image:
Daniel had been in captivity some three years when called in by Nebuchadnezzar to reveal to him his dream, and the meaning of it, the year, 603 B.C.
Dan.2:28, Daniel reveals to the king, “There is a God in heaven that reveals secrets (hidden things), and makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.”
The book of Isaiah was written between 740 B.C. and 699 B.C. during the Assyrian captivity. He writes,
Isa.2:2, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain (Kingdom) of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains (the Holy City of Jerusalem), and shall be exalted above the hills; and all (Gentile) nations shall flow unto it.”
The prophetic perfect tense in which Isaiah writes, implies that he sees some 100 Years into the future as though it had already happened.
The “Last days” refers to the end of this present age when the Lord returns to set up His kingdom. Back to Daniel: He interprets the kings dream:
Dan.2:31, “You, O king, saw and beheld a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and the form was terrible (awesome.) This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass (bronze, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them
(the feet and toes) to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and become like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain (Kingdom) and filled the whole earth.”
Daniel went into captivity in 606 B.C. One year later, in 605 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar came to the throne. Daniel begins to interpret the dream beginning with the head of Gold. He tells the king, Dan.2:36, “You are this head of gold.”
Nebuchadnezzar went on to reign over Babylon for 42 years, he died in 563 B.C. Twenty-five years would pass when the Babylonian empire would fall under the rule of king Belshazzar. He would be defeated by Cyrus the Great on October 12th 539 B.C.
Cyrus the Great would rule as the king of the Medes and Persians. This kingdom is represented by the breast and arms of silver. The two arms, one representing the Medes, the other representing the Persians, both joined as one at the chest. The Medio Persian kings that would follow Cyrus were;
King Darius from 550 B.C., to 486 B.C. He was followed by king Ahasuerus or Xerxes who ruled from 486 B.C. to 465 B.C. Then came Artaxerxes 1st of Persia who ruled from 465 B.C. to 424 B.C. Others of this family linage were Artaxerxes 5th who was the last reigning king of the empire. He was defeated by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.
Alexander’s conquest were the belly and thighs of bronze. Alexander would represent the belly. He invaded the Persians in 334 B.C. defeated them in 331 B.C. and died in 323 B.C.
After his untimely death, his conquered territories were taken over by his four Generals: The generals and the territories they ruled over, were;
Cassander, would reign over Macedonia and Greece;
Lysimachus ruled eastward in Thrace and Asia Minor;
Ptolemy in Egypt, Cyprus and nearby Asia Minor; the fourth was Seleucus all the way to the Indus river.
Eventually Cassander and Lysimachus would fall, leaving Ptolemy, king in the South who ruled from Egypt; and Seleucus who ruled in the North from a city founded by him called Seleucia on the Tigris. This was a major Mesopotamian city which stood on the west bank of the Tigris River.
In the early months of the year 281 B.C. king Seleucus would consolidate the whole of Alexander’s conquest and continued the Hellenization of many areas of his conquered territories, including Israel and the Jewish people. And because of this Hellenization, we have the common people of Israel speaking various dialects of the Greek language. Also, it resulted in our New Testament being written in the Greek language.
In the latter part of the year 281 B.C. king Seleucus was murdered. He would be followed by the infamous family of Antiochus. The king’s son, Antiochus 1st Soter, was followed by his son, and on and on. The family of Antiochus’s is represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s image as the little horn that waxed (grew) great, read in Dan.8:9.
Antiochus 1st Soter, died in 261 B.C. Others in the family were Antiochus the 3ed, Antiochus the 4th who was the bad boy that set up an idol in the Jewish Temple. In their pride, some of these kings took on for themselves the title of Theo, meaning God. In 63 B.C. we see the last of the Antiochus reign. The Greeks were pushed back by the Romans to their original island nation, ending the Greek dynasty.
Now, the two thighs of bronze would give way to the two legs of iron. As a knee is a joint of transition between the upper thigh and the lower leg, so also does it appear the Greeks gave way to Rome, more because of their exhaustion in manpower, wealth and resources resulting from 300 years of war.
Greece’s demise was nothing like Babylonian’s being totally defeated by the Medes and Persians, or the Persian being destroyed by Alexander. After a little research it appears to have been more of a time of transition: history calls it the Greco-Roman world.
The term Greco-Roman refers to a geographical region, and countries that historically and culturally were directly and in the long-term influenced by the language, the culture, government and religion of the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is termed as the “Mediterranean world,” the extensive tracts of land centered on the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins. The populations were one in cultural perceptions and ideas. Both the Romans and Greeks during this period responded to the people’ will and needs.
Greek became the language of the intellectual culture and commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and Latin was the language spoken for most public management and forensic advocacy, especially in the Western Mediterranean area.
In its early years, the mighty Roman empire was ruled by Augustus Caesar, born Gaius Octavious on September 23, 63 B.C. He died in 14 A.D. The Roman dynasty would last for some 450 years.
The two legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s image would represent two capitals. The first was the Western portion of the empire ruled from Rome; and the other leg of iron, the Eastern portion ruled from Constantinople. As a side note, both cities were built on seven hills.
It was prophesied that Rome, the 4th beast would break in pieces, and subdue all things. Rome grew in authority and power, conquering vast areas of land in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
During Roman rule in Israel, on October of 4 B.C. between the 15thand 30th was born the King of the Jews, Jesus, the Son of God.
Matt.1:23, “They shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
During this period of Jesus childhood, Rome was at peace, giving him the opportunity to grow into adulthood. In 26 A.D. at the age of 30, Jesus would be baptized by John the Baptist and by the Holy Spirit at the river Jordon. He would then be led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and tempted of the devil.
On April 3rd or 4th of 30 A.D. Jesus was turned over by Pontius Pilate to the Jewish crowd who called for him to be crucified. He was taken outside the city walls of Jerusalem, and nailed to a cross.
Three years after the cross Saul of Tarsus would become Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. Three years later about 37 A.D., Paul would begin his ministry to the Jews first, but then to the Gentiles.
As the years past, Constantine the Great came to rule over Rome. He was born in the year 272 A.D., died in 337 A.D. He brought Christian’s from the murderous hands of men like Nero, Tiberius, Hadrian, Nero Caligula and many others to a time of safety.
The empire grew in size, so a second capital was needed. Rome would rule in the West, and Constantinople in the East. Constantinople took on its new name in May of 330 A.D.
Another historical note, Constantine in the year 325 would call the Council of Nice, bringing together 318 bishops. Here is where the doctrine of Bishop Arius was put down. Arius taught that Jesus was not God, but only a god. Does that sound familiar? Every time a Jehovah Witness or Mormon comes knocking at your door that’s exactly the spiritual poison they teach; shame on them!
We will now enter into the period represented by the legs of iron and clay mix.
The Goths, would sack Rome in 410 A.D., soon to follow were the Vandals in 455 A.D. And because the leaders of these barbarians had long admired Roman culture, subsequently they became civilized. They adopted Roman laws, culture, its monetary system and also embraced a form of Christianity through the Catholic church let by the Popes of Rome.
Upon their victories, the Roman spoils were divided between the Franks in Gaul, (French); Visigoths in Spain; Angles, Saxons and jutes, Ostrogoths in Britain; and the Lombard’s in Italy.
Like secular Rome, the Popes would come to rule over the vast empire with unchallenged power, authority and brutality.
In the year 570 A.D., Mohammed was born. Because of his hatred for the Jews and for Christian’s, Mohammed began the religion of Islam. He took the Jewish Old Testament, taking the blessing God gave Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and rewrote parts of the Old Testament and inserted Ishmael for Isaac. Mohammed claimed to be of the linage of Ishmael, therefore claiming to be a prophet of God. Mohammed acknowledged Jesus as a great prophet, but not greater then himself. Islam has taken Jesus mother Mary and assigned to her as do the Catholics the top position among all women.
He brought in a religion of intolerance, a religion ruled by men who shed the blood of any who dared defy them. Today, Islam claims over a billion and a half worshippers. It has spread it’s hate and intolerance for Democracy to America, Israel and to every Jew and Christian around the world.
Eventually Islam would conquer Constantinople and in August of 2010, Constantinople would be change to Istanbul.
In the year, 691 A.D. the Muslims would build on God’s Holy mountain, Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem, the abomination of desolation that Daniel spoke of, the Dome of the Rock. It would be finished in the year 692 A.D. It stands today only by the will of God as a memorial for the sins of the Jews against their Messiah. Their Temple, the ancient place where they used to worship God, now can be seen in the heaps of rubble that lie below in the streets.
Today in the year 2018, Nebuchadnezzar’s image stands on its feet and toes of iron and miry clay. Both the Catholic and Arab nations possess a great deal of wealth, power and influence. Islam has its sights set on the total extermination of the Jew, and all Christian believers. If it were not for the hand of God, Israel would be no more.
So, that’s the history of the king’s image of a man. The image overlays some 2600 years of history, and in these last days, moving into their final countdown.
From my studies, I understand there are prophesies in Daniel and elsewhere in scripture that may help us to pinpoint the return of Jesus Christ. These things could not be fully understood, until the Jews returned to their homeland in May of 1948. I believe God is wiping away the cloudiness from the prophetic mirror, so that the last mysteries of end time prophesy can be studied and understood.