Daniel 2:

Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue

You, O king, were looking and behold, there

was a single great statue; that statue, which

was large and of extraordinary splendor,

was standing in front of you, and its

appearance was awesome.

—Daniel 2:32

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver

and the gold were crushed all at the same

time and became like chaff from the

summer threshing floors; and the wind

carried them away so that not a trace of

them was found But the stone that struck

the statue became a great mountain and

filled the whole earth.

—Daniel 2:33-34

"The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its

breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs

of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and

partly of clay. You continued looking until a stone

was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue

on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

—Daniel 2:35

Traditional View of the Four

Kingdoms

The predominant position throughout history has been

that this dream portrays the following four empires:

Babylonian Empire

Medo-Persian Empire

Grecian Empire

Roman Empire

Context and Subject Matter

of the Dream:

You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven

has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory... But

after you shall arise another kingdom…then another, a third

kingdom… And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as

iron… and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in

pieces and crush all the others.

—Daniel 2:37-40

Fourth Kingdom:

The nature of its rise:

And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as

iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces

and shatters everything; and like iron that

crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces

and crush all the others.

—Daniel 2:40

Fourth Kingdom:

The nature of its demise

While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by

human 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 broken to pieces at the

same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the

summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a

trace.

—Daniel 2:34,35

The Mixed Kingdom

And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked

clay, so the people will be a mixture and will

not remain united, any more than iron mixes

with clay.

—Daniel 2:43

Aramaic Word-Play:

And just as you saw the iron mixed

(arab) with baked clay, so the people

will be Arab and will not remain

united, any more than iron mixes

(arab) with clay.

—Daniel 2:43

Peres = Paras = Persians

“Peres (divided): Your kingdom will be given

to the Medes and the Persians (paras)

—Daniel 5: 25-28

The Divided Kingdom

In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of

potter's clay and partly of iron it will be a

divided kingdom.

—Daniel 2:41

The Sunni Shi’a Division

Internal division of the

Antichrist’s armies:

"I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains,"

declares the Lord GOD. "Every man's sword will be against

his brother.”

—Ezekiel 38:21

On that day men will be stricken by the LORD with great panic.

Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack

each other.

— Zechariah 14:13

The Ancient Biblical

Origins

of the Conflict

The angel of the LORD also said to her:

"You are now with child and you will

have a son. You shall name him

Ishmael (The Lord hears), for the LORD

has heard of your misery. He will be a

wild donkey of a man; his hand will be

against everyone and everyone's hand

against him, and he will live in hostility

toward all his brothers." —Genesis

16:11-12

Roman View Problem #4:

Failure To “Crush”

More than Mere Military Brutality

To Conquer Geographically: Borders

To Conquer Culturally

To Conquer Religiously

To Crush and Replace Languages

“After that, in my vision at night I looked, and

there before me was a fourth beast—

terrifying and frightening and very powerful.

It had large iron teeth; it crushed and

devoured its victims and trampled

underfoot whatever was left.

—Daniel 7:7

The Crushing Empire

The Roman Empire added:

Infrastructure, Law, Order, Roads, Aqueducts, etc.

Allowed its conquered subjects to maintain their language,

religion and culture.

Demanded taxes and acknowledgment of Caesar

Much of Roman Empire was overwhelmed by Greek Culture

Herod’s Temple Prospered during

Roman days

The

Islamic Empire

Within 4 years, 333,000 Christians were killed.

The next ten years 1,000,000 Christians were killed.

They would besiege a city, kill all resistors, distribute the

booty, and march 30 to 50 thousand woman back to

Mecca.

In less than one generation, the ancient heart of

Christiandom was crushed by Islam.

And within 100 years, 50% of global Christianity had

come under Islamic subjugation and rule .

The Early Muslim Conquests:

Bamiyah Buddhist Statues

The Forth Kingdom:

The Islamic Caliphate