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dom was destroyed. Daniel had
something quite different to state.
The story in the book of Daniel is
both intriguing and little under–
stood.
lt
begins with Nebuchadnez–
zar's plan to have Daniel and all the
sages of the Babylonian Empire ex–
ecuted. The reason was that none of
the Babylonians had been able to
reveal the content and interpret the
detai1s of a certain dream Nebu–
chadnezzar had had. Daniel ap–
proaches his God in prayer and asks
that the content and meaning of the
dream be revealed. God answers
Daniel. Daniel, in turn, comes be–
fore Nebuchadnezzar and tells him
what his dream represented: "You
saw, O king, and behold, a great
image .. .. The head of this image
was of fine
gold,
its breas t and arms
of
si/ver,
its belly and thighs of
bronze,
its legs of
iron,
its feet partly
of iron and partly of clay."
Daniel goes on to tell the king,
"As you looked, a stone was cut out
by no human hand, and it smote the
image on its feet of iron and clay,
and broke them in pieces" (Daniel
2:31-34, RSV).
Daniel points out to Nebucbad–
nezzar the pan in this visionary
drama that the king played: "You
are the head of gold," he tells the
king, and "after you sball arise an–
other kingdom inferior to you, and
yet a third kingdom of bronze,
which shall rule over all the earth.
And tbere shall be a fourth king–
dom, strong as iron ..." (Daniel
2:3.8-40, RSV).
In the days of the last kingdom.
Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar, "sball
the God of heaven set up a king–
dom, which shall never be de–
stroyed: and the kingdom shaU not
be left to other people, but it shall
break in pieces and consume all
these kingdoms , and it shall stand
for ever" (Daniel 2:44).
The Four Great Kingdoms
We must, therefore, look for four
important empires in order to piece
together which ones Daniel is refer–
ring to. In tbis case, it is rather
simple to understand, since Daniel
24
tells us which ones they are. He has
already made it clear that Nebu–
chadnezzar and the Babylonian Em–
pire represented the tirst kingdom -
the head of gold.
What is the second kingdom, the
one of silver?
A number of years later, a de–
scendant of Nebuchadnezzar is on
the throne. His name is Belshazzar.
Daniel has a message from his God
to Belshazzar; it is the famous
"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin"
propbecy. Daniel tells Belshazzar,
"Your kingdom is divided and given
to the
Medes and Persians"
(Daniel
5:28, RSV). That very night, Bel–
shazzar is killed and Darius the
Mede takes the kingdom. The
strong and clear implication, tben,
points to the Medo-Persian Empire
as the second empire of Daniel's vi–
sions - the kingdoms of the silver
breast and arms.
Wbat, then, is the third kingdom
of bronze, sometimes translated
" brass"?
Daniel tells us this also. In the
eighth cbapter of Daniel, another of
his visions is recorded. He sees a
ram which has two homs. This ram
is pushing westward, northward and
southward. Then suddenly, a "he–
goal carne from tbe west across the
face of the whole earth ... the goat
had a conspicuous horn between his
eyes" (Daniel 8:5, RSV). This he–
goat smashes the ram and shatters
his two horns (verses 6-7).
In the same chapter, Daniel gives
us the meaning of all this: "As for
the ram which you saw with the two
horns , these are the kings of Media
and Persia. And the be-goat is the
king of Greece;
and the great horn
between his eyes is the first king"
(verses 20-21 ). The empire of
Greece, then, according to Daniel ,
succeeds the Medo-Persian Empire.
The explanation is unmistakable.
Greece is the third kingdom, the
empire of the bronze belly and
thighs. The great born represents
Alexander the Great. When Alexan–
der was at the pinnacle of power, he
died and his empire was divided
among bis generals. Daniel says,
" ... when he was strong, the great
horn was broken, and instead of it
carne up four conspicuous homs
toward the four winds of heaven"
(Daniel 8:8).
And Now
...
t he Roman
Empire
Years after the fragmentation of
the Greek Empire, the Roman Em–
pire begins to emerge, the kingdom
THE GREAT PLAGUE
devastated medieval Europe; tens of thousands died.
The people saw itas the approach ofAntichrist. Many believed the next thou–
sand years would be a reign of terror, with the world consumed by fire.
~~~~~~~~~~
2
o
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...
j
PLAIN TRUTH May 1974