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DANIEL 2 A TIMELINE OF METALS
by Wade Nye Daniel 2 Timeline of Metal God has given his people very sophisticated timelines.In these we are given a foundation within the Bible to glean what the workings of Christ's kingdom are. These gleanings hold many glimpses into what is to come in the future.Very clear pictures of past events become clearer. One timeline is in Daniel 2 it is represented by a large statue. This statue tells of the destruction of satan's reign by default of the kingdom of sin. It shows satan losing his high place and his authoritarian control by the power of sin. In these scriptures we see the destruction of satan's earthen kingdom. In any battle in order for a king to be defeated first you must fight and defeat his kingdom.This statue shows the slow degrading of his rule. It also show's it's eventual destruction. Daniel 2:29 "As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place. Here we see that a timeline is being shown to the king Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon.We will discuss later why God would use such an unbeliever as a prophetic vessel. Daniel 2:30 "But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man, but, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind. The information that was given to King Nebuchadnezzer was absolutely useless to him.It was a complete mystery.Not only was it useless but he was mentally unable to even retain it.He was surrounded by so many false prophets and was blinded to the true God. No true prophet would have been believed or been taken seriously. The king had to of been an active participant in the prophecy. Daniel 2:31 "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 it's appearance was awesome. We see that God had set forth a timeline of super kingdoms.There were I am sure other powerful kingdoms in existence during these time periods.The common thread that held these together was Israel.Israel was a component in every one of these kingdoms. This entire statue was made of metal. Even today metal castings are poured into earthen molds such as sand and clays. Any person who is familiar with metal casting will tell you that the worse enemy of any of these castings are grains of sand. Even one piece of sand can lead to a weak casting one hit can shatter it into pieces. As we know the children of Abraham are represented by sand.(Genesis 22:17,32:12,Hosea 1:10,Romans 9:27,Hebrews 11:12) The disobedient nation of Israel is represented by earthen or clay vessel(Jeremiah 19:1). We see that this structure is described as awesome and of "extraordinary splendor". This echoes the description of the kingdoms of the earth as viewed by Christ in Matthew 4:8 they were described as in "glory". Daniel 2:32-33 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. We see the clearest picture of the timeline but without the interpretation it is useless. Notice the slow degrading nature in the value of the metals in this statue. It is a graven image like an idol. In Israel it was considered a sin of the highest nature in God's eyes for a king to serve as a priest. That was a role to be assumed only by Christ. But the sin in these kingdoms was taken a step further. The kings were worshiped as gods. In many cases the gods of these kingdoms was the kingdoms themselves. Hence the kingdoms were shaped like a graven idolatrous image.We see in this that patriotism should never be combined with or replace our devotion to Christ. Daniel 2:34 "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. Notice that the progression of satan's kingdom is downward ending at the feet. Notice that in order to be effective towards satan's kingdom a heavenly kingdom had to fall to the ground and die. John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. We see similarities in the creation of Israel. Both Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all were heavenly bodies according to the Bible. But all died (All of these died in faith) and were planted in the land of the promise like symbolic seeds. They never saw actual Israel but only from a distance. Christ was a similar seed. His falling to earth like seed brought us life and swallowed up sin. This rock must be a heavenly body that has been shot at the feet of satan's kingdom crushing it. All of the objects that are decried here are collective. All describe actual kingdoms. This is not the death of Christ.Otherwise it would have occurred in the time of the iron legs of Rome. This is not the return of Christ because. Christ will not have to ever fall earthward again.He will not come back to destroy satan at the feet of his lifeless kingdom. Christ is returning to destroy satan's life at the head. The rock was carved out by Christ. It was allowed to fall to the earth in order to destroy satan's stronghold on the earth. As a rock it bears the image of Christ because it is a people conformed to Christ's image.They hold the testimony of Jesus echoed in Revelation 19:10. Daniel 2:35 "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. Here we see the partial fulfillment of Isaiah 9: 6 (part) a son will be given to us;And the government will rest upon his shoulders; Here is shown the creation of Christ's government one the earth with him not yet ruling in person. How would a Christ like government look? We would have to look at Israel prior to it's first king of flesh. It would be rule with out earthly king.It would be rule without the leaders having authority over the Body of Christ. It would be rule without marriage of church and state. It would be rule without worship of graven images. It would be rule with the government declaring itself to be under God's authority. When we see the growth of the stone mountain which grew from the seed of rock.The mountain increases and fills the whole earth. The government of Christ grows and spreads to the whole earth.We see further partial fufillment of the prophecies of Isaiah. Notice the slow degrading of satan's lifeless kingdom.See how the rock is full of life and increases to fill the whole earth. We see that with the fall of the rock to the ground. Satan's stronghold of sin is forever broken on the kingdoms of the earth. The statue is forever broken.No longer will satan rule by default he will have to fight personally to gain any ground. Daniel 2:36 This was the dream; now we shall tell its interpretation before the king. Again telling Nebuchadnezzers dream is useless without interpretation. Daniel 2:37-38 "You O King, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. (The head of that statue was made of fine gold) Such authority given to one man and a gentile pagan king at that. Such Christ like terms!! "King of Kings" "Kingdom of power strength and glory" "Ruler of the Sons of Men" "Head of Gold" "Ruler of all". With titles such as this we are going to have to bow to the fact that at least at this stage that as Melchizedek was a prototype of Christ. This Babylon is a prototype of the earthly kingdom of Christ. It becomes clear why God continually told the Judean kings to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. The Kings of Judah were trying to defend God's temple and what they thought of as the Lord's kingdom.But God told them to stop fighting the king of Babylon. Jeremiah 27:6 Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. It was vital to God's purpose and the future of Israel that the Judean remnant have a presence within the golden head. Babylon could not be judged if they were not given a powerful knowledge of who the true God was. Such authority would be given to Babylon that powerful signs would need to be performed within the head those signs would be performed if the Lord's people were present. By the mention of beasts of the field and birds of the air that Nebuchadnezzer was given unexplained authority over demonic entities. It is doubtful that actual beasts and birds were meant. I do not think that the Lord was speaking figuratively. Babylon was given resistance from the destructive effects of satan's kingdom.This would be needed so that no undue harm would come to the Lord's Judean remnant. The birds are robbers of the truth. The beasts cause devouring of others emotionally or physically. Clear and strong was the mind of Babylon. The king was not given to devouring emotions or blindness to truth. This gave him an authoritative edge over other men. Daniel 2:39 (In part)"And after you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you,(its breast and its arms of silver) All Bible scholars agree the silver breast and arms are the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. Notice that this is the kingdom which allowed the Judean remnant to return. They also provided the financial means to rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. This is represented by the arms that the hand of God used to deliver his people. Silver symbolizes redemption. Medo-Persia under Cyrus redeemed Israel and allowed them to rebuild the temple. Cyrus even paid for the temple and it's walls. Daniel 2:39 (in part) then another third kingdom of bronze. (its belly and its thighs of bronze) Most agree that this is the Greece of Alexander the great. The torso area on a man is related to reproduction. This is an important note because Greek was made the common language in the world including Israel. So much so that the New Testament was written in Greek. Also of note Christ(the word come to life) in his own words called himself the "Alpha and Omega" meaning the first and last. It is an interesting note that these are the first and last letters in Greek alphabet. Daniel 2:40 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. The Roman empire is the iron legs.Rome truly conquered the world. All of the earth's empires fell to Rome. Rome was not only good at conquering But was able to maintain its iron grip by excellent military/political management of it's conquests.Anything that stood in its way was smashed. God allowed Rome to control Israel at the time of Christ. Only the resurrection power of Christ could break satan's iron grip of sin upon the earth. Satan had an iron grip on the old covenant. The worship of God and his law were being perverted. The priests, scribes and Pharisee's were pawns in satan's hands. They controlled the worship of the true God. They sought the marriage of religious and political power. By doing this they committed the sin of lusting after their father's (God) wife (Jerusalem). Things seemed very bad for the kingdom of God. Satan's confidence must have been very high. Even if God did bring forth the Messiah he had enough power in Israel and Rome that he felt he could contain any uprising of faith. It was during these years of satan's strength and power that God sent his son as a living sacrifice. What satan must of been blind to was he was offering a sin sacrifice. Satan entered Judas. Judas offered a valuable perfect lamb to the high priests for sacrifice. He was the one who who offered the lamb without blemish. With this one act the old covenant was a death sentence for the kingdom of sin. After Pentecost it must of dawned on satan that he had made a big mistake. But the full effects were I am sure were not realized until later. The old covenant was to be fufilled.The husk on a growing seed. Satan readily swallowed it up. Much earthly nutrition power and promise was in the old covenant. Like a ravenous wolf coming upon ripe flesh it was consumed. But it was a poison would later smash his earthly kingdom.It would also lead to his being cast down to earth for good. The legalistic old covenant swallowed up.Satan slowly watched the hedge of protection die that surrounded Jerusalem.Satan had control of the temple. Curiously he saw that true Christian's had a tremendous spiritual hedge but were physically vulnerable. Jews began slaughtering Christians. Righteous Jews like Saul(Paul) roamed the countryside in search of Christians to be handed to the High Priest for slaughter. Unknowingly by holding the old covenant satan was destroying his own kingdom by slaughtering Christians. The people were washed by the blood of Christ making them somehow symbolic perfect sin sacrifices. To compound judgment of the Jews and satan's kingdom they were being done in disobedience to the provisions that the old covenant provided. By disobeying the law that satan's kingdom readily swallowed up he was bringing disaster upon the city that he treasured. Jerusalem soundly judged by God Rome was sent to destroy it. Daniel 2:41 "And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potters clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, in as much as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. Jeremiah 18:6 "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?' Declares the Lord. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, Oh house of Israel. Romans 2:6 (part) For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. Here is a picture of what came after the Roman empire. With the scattering of the Jews after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. Many Jews came to Rome. But that is not enough to justify the large percentage of clay in the feet. No these were another type of Jew. These were Jews grafted on and cast down to earthly matters. These were Legalistic Christians, Christians enslaved to the world and Judisers. As we have stated earlier hardened clay symbolizes nations who call themselves the people of God and have his word yet choose to follow the world and idols. Iron symbolizes people who have been given authority by God. They can be obedient and faithful or blind and disobedient.God will still use them as vessel's of God's earthly dominion. Daniel 2:42 "And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. This is a picture of the European monarchies. The Catholic church attempting bring together under one kingdom. Vessel's of God's earthly dominion (iron) and people called by God's holy name yet living in idolatry(hardened clay). Notice at this late stage the clay is described as brittle.It has been hardened and is ready for breaking. This is a picture of the Holy Roman Empire and to some extent other European Church State countries no longer operating as disobedient people of God but actually working as enemies of God. This is a picture of the Red-Dragon of Revelation 12. The government of satan.With the seven heads & diadems and ten horns. Daniel 2:43(part) "And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; Because the clay in this passage is described as mixed and common. It has not become hardened yet. God still has his people in the potter's hand.Bringing down and building up kingdoms to make his people in his image. But man is resistant even when God showed his word that we are not saved by works but by grace. Even when God showed that no earthly king or any man can rule the church of Christ. Even when the word of God clearly showed the Catholic church not to worship graven images they made the same mistake the Israelites did as represented by clay. Man still wanted to combine church and state.Man still wanted to combine vessel's of wrath and objects of wrath together. Daniel 2:43(part) but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. Europe was never at complete peace conflict always erupted. How hard it is to mix iron and clay.But men continuously try to mix it up. Daniel 2:44 Daniel And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Pilgrims left for Plymouth during the days of "Those kings" the church state system was in full prosperity. But how did these rag tag United States conquer the world and crush the kingdoms of the earth? How by liberty and justice for all.A nation for the people by the people. Freedoms like these spread around the world like wildfire. Christ allowed his people to self rule by election. We were the "Great Experiment". But actually we were the "Sure Thing" Many patriotic fanatics might glory at the promises of God for America . 1.Eternal endurance 2.Crush and rule the world. These are wonderful promises.But to me they are fearful words.They put a very big responsibility on us as a people.So far we have done little to live up to that responsibility. Before we even existed another nation and another people were given many promises. They were also given the option of having God to be king over them. Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. The period of the Israelites self ruling themselves brought wrath, confusion, civil war and rebellion. It was a sad period in Israel's history. W.M. Nye Sunday School Teacher & son of Missionary/Pastor [email protected] Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |