The Four Future/Past Kingdoms

Daniel 2: 36-43

Daniel has described the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has dreamed of. 

(36) This was the dream; now we will tell its interpretation before the king. 

Now we'll find out why it's so important. 

(37) 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; 
(38) 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. 

Daniel has told Nebuchadnezzar that he is the finest king in the world. The finest king that will be in the world. But he is still under God, who gave him this authority over all the people and animals, and the power to rule over them. For a despot like Nebuchadnezzar, his government was the ideal type and was therefore esteemed as highly as gold. Nebuchadnezzar ruling over Babylon is the head of gold.

(39) After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, 

From Nebuchadnezzar's standpoint, the restriction on the monarch's authority to annul a law once he had made it (6: 12, "the law of the Medes and the Persians") was inferior to his own unfettered power. This silver empire is Medo-Persia, which started with Cyrus the Great, who conquered Babylon in 539. This silver empire was supreme in the Near and Middle East for about two centuries.

then another third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the Earth. 

The third, bronze, empire was even less desirable from Nebuchadnezzar's standpoint, even though Greece was to "rule over all the Earth," it's government being more republican than dictatorial. This was the Greco-Macedonian Empire established by Alexander the Great, the largest empire of ancient times. The bronze kingdom lasted for about 300 years, when it was supplanted by the fourth kingdom.

(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. 

From a despotic standpoint, the Roman Republic was of far less value than gold, silver, or bronze; yet iron was most suited to crush opposing powers. Iron connotes toughness and ruthlessness, which describes the Roman Empire. 

(41) In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 

This outgrowth from the fourth power, the feet and toes, looks more like a federation than a powerful single realm. The iron denotes the influence of the Old Roman culture and tradition, and the pottery shows the inherent weakness in a socialist society based on relativism in morals and philosophy.

(42) 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. 

Out of this mixture of iron and clay come weakness and confusion, pointing to the approaching day of doom.

(43) In that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. 

The scope of this verse includes disunity, class struggle, even civil war, resulting from the failure of a hopelessly divided society. The iron and clay may be able to co-exist, but they cannot combine into a strong, integrated, and durable world-order. 

This describes the political world as we see it today. World history shows us that we've only been going downhill as the centuries pass, more rebellious and individualistic and self-centered. The ten toes are still separate entities, and cannot unite to bring world peace. 

That will only come with the arrival of our King over all kings. 

O my Father, You gave this picture to this ancient king so long ago, and the subsequent history that has been unfolding since then has borne out the accuracy of the prophecy. You know how You have planned out the process of Time from beginning to end. And You use all of our choices and decisions, both good and bad, to further on the journey. And Time will continue to march on, 24 hours in every day, until the minutes run out. 

We see already that this Earth is groaning in its process of birthing each next age, and is apparently ready for the turn in Time into the next epoch. 

Send out Your children, Father, into all the world, to cast broadly the seed of Your Word. Let every living being hear with their ears, and understand with their minds, and receive into their hearts Your Truth of how much You Love each one of us. You have already done everything possible and impossible to meet our needs and draw us all into Your family. And no one will have any excuse for turning away from You. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!