Cosmic Collision Course
The Coming New World Order
JESUS wanted us to know that HE IS THE TRUE GOD, who not only CREATED the world and the HEAVENS, but WHO also KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE. JESUS often used PROPHETIC SYMBOLS to teach us about the future. Our lesson today will help us to UNDERSTAND, (a word we will read many times today), how GOD sets up KINGDOMS. Most of the PROPHECY we will look at in this lesson has already been FULFILLED, but, the last part is the best and IS STILL TO BE FULFILLED.
PROPHECY is one of the keys to UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE, and THE FUTURE. We are going to learn together, about a remarkable dream that Nebuchadnezzar (a heathen king) had; and then forgot. This king then called his wise men to tell him his dream and what it meant. GOD had engineered this situation so that the king would learn to not trust in his wise men, but TO TRUST IN THE LIVING GOD. Sound interesting? I hope so.
2 Pet 1:16-19“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the POWER AND COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, but were eyewitnesses of HIS MAJESTY. ... This is MY BELOVED SON, in whom I am well pleased...... We have also A MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY; whereunto ye do well that YE TAKE HEED, as unto a LIGHT that shineth in a DARK place, until THE DAY DAWN, and THE DAY STAR arise in your hearts”.
Peter tells how he was an EYEWITNESS at the time THE FATHER commended HIS SON JESUS. Then he describes GOD'S PROPHECY as “MORE SURE”, and advises us to TAKE HEED OF PROPHECY. Peter describes PROPHECY as a “LIGHT” that shines in this DARK world until JESUS, (THE DAY STAR), COMES AGAIN to this sinful world.
Matt 24:15“When ye therefore shall see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, spoken of by Daniel the PROPHET, [see Dan 9:25,26] stand in THE HOLY PLACE, [Jerusalem], (whoso readeth, let him UNDERSTAND”):
This verse tells us that JESUS BELIEVES IN and APPROVES OF what Daniel the PROPHET wrote, and that JESUS wants us to UNDERSTAND what Daniel wrote about the “ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION”, STANDING IN THE HOLY PLACE. If you read Dan 9:26,27, and know ancient history, you will understand that this is a prophecy about the Roman Empire, which was under the leadership of General Titus, (who was also a “prince” because he was the son of Emperor Vespasian), at that time, when they destroyed the city of Jerusalem (THE HOLY PLACE), in 70 A.D.
Now that we have seen that JESUS approves of the PROPHET Daniel, we will look at the dream of king Nebuchadnezzar that I mentioned earlier. But first-
I have always found it best to give a bit of background information so that one can better understand what led up to this dream in chapter 2. In chapter 1, the story unfolds of the king of the nation of Babylon, and four Hebrew youths who had been captured in Jerusalem (GOD'S CITY) and taken to Babylon (a heathen city), by the army of Nebuchadnezzar.
In ancient times, if one nation conquered another, the conquerors believed that their god was more powerful than the god of the vanquished, so king Nebuchadnezzar considered himself, and his god, to be more powerful than THE GOD of the Israelites. It was the practice of this wise king to train young men from the countries he had conquered, so that they could be sent back to their countries as rulers. They would then rule their own countrymen in the way the king had trained them, and the king felt sure that such a country would never revolt against him. The king fed and clothed them, and provided them with all they needed.
These four Hebrews mentioned, refused to eat the king's food because it was not food approved of by THE TRUE GOD, Dan1:8. Daniel was able to persuade the man who was in charge of them, to allow the four of them to eat the food of their choice. Verses 17-20, tell us that these Hebrew boys were ten times better informed than any of the king's own wise men.
As you can imagine this did not fit in with the king's thinking, so it appears that he worried about this and wanted to establish that his wise men were, in the long run, the wisest. Thus begins what is clearly a contest between king Nebuchadnezzar and THE GOD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, which is discussed from chapter 1 to the end of chapter 4. Remember that round one went to THE GOD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, because Daniel's GOD, (See verse17). “..... Gave them KNOWLEDGE and SKILL in all LEARNING and WISDOM: and Daniel had UNDER-STANDING in all VISIONS and DREAMS”. The last part is very important because we are going to see that Daniel is going to need those skills for round two of the challenge.
Dan 2:1-35. Please read these verses slowly, and underline the word INTERPRETATION, each time you encounter it. I will give a brief account of these 35 verses. Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the greatest world-ruling nation, had an amazing dream, which he forgot (GOD made him forget). Naturally, the king wanted to know what the dream was all about, (I'm sure you would as well), so the king sent for his advisers, (not Daniel and his friends whom the king had found to be wiser). He asked them to tell him what he had dreamed, and what his dream meant. These worldly wise men asked the king to tell them the dream they would be able to show him the INTERPRETATION.
The king was obviously upset because he threatened them with a horrible death, on the other hand, if they could tell him, then they would be rewarded. These so-called wise men repeated their request, only to be told by the king that he realised that they had deceived him for many years, so the only end for them was death. They, in turn, accused the king of asking them to do something only the gods could do. The king pronounced the death sentence on ALL his wise men. He was fully aware now, that they had deceived him in the past. - However, “ALL” the wise men included Daniel and his companions. Now the plot changes, because Daniel asked why he was to be killed. He had not been invited to this particular meeting, so he didn't know what it was all about. When he understood, he asked for time so that he could tell the king his dream and the INTERPRETATION.
Daniel didn't act on his own initiative, but he called his three friends, and then they prayed to their GOD. GOD gave Daniel the answer, and Daniel gave the credit to GOD. Then Daniel asked Arioch, (who had been told to destroy all the wise men,) to ask for an audience for Daniel with the king. The king asked Daniel if he could tell him the dream and the INTERPRETATION. Daniel wisely and humbly told the king that he knew that HIS WISE MEN COULDN'T.
But THE GOD IN HEAVEN COULD, and that GOD was trying to tell the king about the future of his kingdom. Then Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar the DREAM and the INTERPRETATION.
Daniel told the king that he had seen a huge image, or statue of a man, which had a head of GOLD, a chest and arms of SILVER, a belly and thighs of BRASS, and legs of IRON, with feet part of IRON, and part of CLAY. As he had watched, a stone smashed the image into pieces and the stone grew in size until it engulfed the world.
Can you imagine the scene? Daniel didn't take any of the credit to himself but gave all the credit to GOD. He told the king the DREAM; then he carried on to tell him the INTERPRETATION.
Verses 36-40.
“Thou O king, art a king of kings: for THE GOD OF HEAVEN hath given thee a kingdom and power...... THOU ART THIS HEAD OF GOLD”.
The part about the king being “THE HEAD OF GOLD”, would have suited the king no doubt, because in chapter 4:30. We read, “.... Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of MY power, and for the honour of MY majesty”? With those thoughts in his mind, I don't think that he would have liked the part that it was “THE GOD OF HEAVEN, who had given him the kingdom and power”.
“And after thee shall arise another kingdom INFERIOR TO THEE, and another THIRD kingdom of BRASS, which shall RULE OVER ALL THE EARTH. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as IRON: ...... ”. Now we know what this dream is all about, GOD was telling the king a brief future history of the world. It was about POWER. GOD would allow some men to hold POWER for a while, and then that POWER would be taken from them and given to another.
What a situation, Daniel is in the presence of the most powerful man on earth, and GOD has given him the job of telling him the HISTORY OF THE WORLD, and GOD'S PART IN THAT HISTORY. Like we said earlier, this was virtually a contest, (initiated by the king this time), between himself and GOD. The proud king would not have liked the part that he was going to be conquered, especially by a kingdom that was INFERIOR to himself. Daniel was a brave man.
Notice that the metals mentioned, GOLD, SILVER, BRASS and IRON are decreasing in value. GOLD was the most common metal of Babylon, apparently it was everywhere, archaeologists have found statues of golden lions, and golden ornamentations on the walls, historians refer to Babylon as the “Golden kingdom of Babylon”.
Does THE BIBLE and history tell us who the other kingdoms were? YES! I'm glad they do, and in exact detail. Do you know that some churches say that “the book of Daniel is a closed book, and can't be UNDERSTOOD”? Yet we are letting THE BIBLE INTERPRET itself, and we are finding that it isn't closed at all, but can be understood, if we have the right keys.
Dan.5:28-31.
".... Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the MEDES AND PERSIANS. ... and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, (a royal colour) ... that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. …. in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) slain. And DARIUS the MEDIAN took the kingdom, …...”.
Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, was having a drunken feast, (the feasts in those days could last for very long times, in fact in the book of Esther 1:4,5. you can read of one feast that lasted 180 days, which was followed by another that went on for a week, totalling over six months.) At Belshazzar’s feast, which we read about in Dan 5:1-4, we learn that the drunken king sent for the golden vessels that had been taken from THE TEMPLE OF GOD in Jerusalem, by his Grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. And Belshazzar and his friends, (using GOD'S temple vessels), “toasted” the gods of silver and gold that they foolishly worshipped.
This was another challenge to GOD. So GOD had the MEDES and PERSIANS conquer them that night. This is how the historian Herodotus informs us that it came about.
Babylon was a large city for its day and there were very high walls around it, so there was no possibility of scaling ladders being used to climb the wall. They considered the walls were too thick to batter down. Should anyone be able to breech the wall, there was another wall inside that one, and wild animals were kept between these walls to attack anyone who may have broken through. They had enough food to last 20 years stored in the city. The river Euphrates ran through the city, so there was no shortage of water. Either side of the river there were fences with gates, which were customarily kept shut at night.
The ladies used these gates to get to the river to do their laundry, and also to get their water for the household. In short, the people inside the city felt very secure. THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD SAVE THEMSELVES, WITHOUT THE HELP OF GOD.
The Medes and the Persians decided to divert the river into a low area of open land above Babylon, and marched into the city via the bed of the river through the gates that GOD had said would be left open. Isa 45:1. “Thus saith THE LORD to HIS anointed, to CYRUS, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the TWO LEAVED GATES: and the GATES SHALL NOT BE SHUT”. The city was conquered, because everyone was too drunk to know what was going on, and also too drunk to resist the conquering army.
The major metal of the Medes was SILVER, just as GOD had signified in the image. It had a chest and arms of silver (See Dan 2:32 “.... Breast and arms of silver, ....”, and Isa 13:17. "Behold I will stir up the MEDES against them, which shall not REGARD SILVER; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it”). History tells how the Medes had so much silver that they made their armour out of that metal. Ask yourself what part of the body of the infantryman was mainly protected by armour? The chest and arms, true? So the symbol was very apt.
Dan 8:20,21
“The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of MEDIA and PERSIA. And the rough goat is the king of GRECIA: ...... ”.
This is another vision that Daniel had, (we will go into this one in detail another day), but for now we will notice that GOD described the RAM as being the kings of MEDIA and PERSIA, and the GOAT, HE described as GREECE; so the kingdom that followed the MEDES and PERSIANS was GREECE. History again bears this out, and of course the major metal of GREECE was BRONZE or BRASS. THE BIBLE is full of details that help us to better UNDERSTAND what is being DISCUSSED.
Dan 8:23-25“And in the latter time of their kingdom, (the Grecian kingdom) ..... a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, SHALL STAND up. And his power shall be mighty, .... and shall DESTROY the mighty and the holy people. (GOD'S people). .... he shall MAGNIFY HIMSELF in his heart, and by PEACE shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against THE PRINCE OF PRINCES: but he shall BE BROKEN without hand”.
This is certainly about the next kingdom, but there is only a brief indication of which nation is being referred to here, this nation would stand up against JESUS, THE PRINCE of princes. Can we find out from THE BIBLE and history, just who this would be? Of course! GOD would not leave us in any doubt on something so important.
Lk 2:1-4“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed...... And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; ....”.
Which nation was ruled over by the Caesars? Which nation ruled the world in the days of JESUS? Both THE BIBLE and history tell us that ROME was the world ruler then. What was their major metal? - IRON, and historians often refer to ROME as “the IRON MONARCHY OF ROME”. So THE BIBLE is right on target again. If we let THE BIBLE INTERPRET itself, we will learn what GOD wants to reveal to us.
At this stage we UNDERSTAND that the king's dream was about the history of the FOUR (and there has only been four) WORLD-ruling kingdoms. (1) BABYLON. (Represented in the dream as GOLD) 605 BC - 539 BC And then, (2) MEDO PERSIA. (SILVER) 539 BC - 331 BC followed by 3. GREECE. (BRASS) 331 BC - 168 BC And finally (4) ROME. (IRON) 168 BC - 476 AD.
But what about the rest of the dream, what does it teach?
Dan 2:41-42“And whereas thou sawest the FEET and TOES, part of POTTER'S CLAY, and part of IRON, the kingdom shall be DIVIDED; .... And as the TOES of the FEET were part of IRON, and part of CLAY, so the kingdom shall be PARTLY STRONG, and PARTLY BROKEN”.
Just as there are TEN TOES on our feet, the Western Division of ROME was divided into TEN NATIONS. Roughly we know them today as, The ANGLO-SAXONS, (BRITAIN). The FRANKS, (FRANCE) ALEMANNI, (GERMANY), The LOMBARDS, (ITALIANS) The BERGUNDIANS, (SWISS) The SUEVI, (PORTUGUESE) The VISIGOTHS, (SPANISH) The HERULI, The VANDALS, and The OSTRAGOTHS. These do not present a “UNITED FRONT”), neither can they be presented as a “UNITED KINGDOM”. THE BIBLE says that these nations are PARTLY STRONG AND PARTLY BROKEN. Then what?