Builders of Faith

Builders of Faith Explorer II:  Exploring End-Time Prophecy

Lesson 4—History Before It Happened

1.    Who had a dream in Daniel 2, and who explained what he saw in his dream?

“Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams….”  Daniel 2:1.  “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon….”  Daniel 1:1.  “Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, ‘I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation.’”  Daniel 2:25.

Answer:   Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had a dream that Daniel, a Jewish prophet, both told the dream and then interpreted it.


2.    What did the king see in his dream?

“‘You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image!  This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.  This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.  You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found.  And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.’”  Daniel 2:31-35.

Answer:  Nebuchadnezzar saw an image of a man composed of different metals and materials.  Then a stone came and hit the image on the feet, and the whole image was crushed and blown away by the wind.  Finally, the stone turned into a mountain and filled the entire earth.


3.    What was the focal point of the king’s dream?

“…God…has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days….”  Daniel 2:28.

Answer:  The major focus of the dream was on the “latter days”, which include the destruction of the whole image and the enlargement of the stone on the earth.


4.    Of what metal was the head made, and what did it represent?

“‘You, O king, are a king of kings.  For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory…—you are this head of gold.’”  Daniel 2:37-38.

Answer:  The head was made of gold, and it represented King Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom of Babylon.  Babylon, or technically Neo-Babylon, defeated the Assyrians in 612 B.C. and ruled in Mesopotamia and beyond from 612 B.C. to 539 B.C.  Gold was an appropriate metal to associate with Babylon.  The Scriptures identify Babylon as the “golden city” (Isaiah 14:4) and a “golden cup” (Jeremiah 51:7).  Secular history records that Babylon was very rich in gold.


5.    Of what metal was the chest and arms made, and what did it represent?

“…its chest and arms of silver….”  Daniel 2:32.  “But after you [Babylon] shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours….”  Daniel 2:39.

Answer:  The chest and arms were made of silver, and it represented the dominant empire or kingdom that followed Babylon.  The use of the word for kingdom confirms that when Nebuchadnezzar himself was called the head of gold, it was really the kingdom he ruled, which was Babylon.  The kingdom or empire that followed Babylon in history was the Medo-Persian Empire.  Its beginning date was 539 B.C., when under Cyrus the Great, the Medes and Persians conquered the city of Babylon by diverting the water of the Euphrates River north of the city.  Just as silver follows gold among the precious metals, so the Medo-Persian Empire was second to Babylon in greatness.  Persian soldiers adorned themselves with silver, and the empire was known for its treasures of silver.  This combined group of Medes and Persians, at first led by the Medes, was dominated by the Persians after their defeat of the Medes in 550 B.C.


6.    Of what metal was the belly and thighs made, and what kingdom did it represent?

“…its belly and thighs of bronze….”  Daniel 2:32.  “…then another, a third kingdom of bronze….”  Daniel 2:39.

Answer:  The belly and thighs were made of bronze and represented the major kingdom or empire that followed Medo-Persia—the Greeks.  Alexander the Great defeated the Medo-Persians in the Battle of Arbela in 331 B.C., thus launching the official beginning of the Greek Empire in that part of the world.  After conquering all the way to the edge of India in the east, Alexander soon died at an early age.  The Greek Empire was initially divided into four parts among four of his generals, until it settled into three divisions after about twenty years.  The Greek poet Homer and other ancient writers record that the Greeks were experts in molding bronze.  Greek soldiers were well-known for wearing bronze breastplates and using bronze shields and even bronze swords.  True to the prophecy, as bronze was inferior to silver, the Greek Empire was inferior to the Medo-Persians.


7.    Of what metal were the legs made, and what kingdom did it represent?

“…its legs of iron….”  Daniel 2:33.  “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.

Answer:  The legs were made of iron and emphasized the powerful military force of the Roman Empire, which followed the Greeks.  In 168 B.C., the Romans defeated the divided Greek Empire in the Battle of Pydna, thereby officially replacing Greece as the dominant political power in the region.  Iron was clearly the most fitting metallic symbol of ancient Rome, as testified by historians as “the iron monarchy of Rome”.


8.    Of what materials were the feet and toes made, and what did they represent?

“Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile.  As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.”  Daniel 2:41-43.

Answer:  The feet and toes were made partly of ceramic clay and partly of iron, indicating that the kingdom would be divided, part of it weak and part of it strong.  In A.D. 476, the Germanic General Odoacer overthrew the last western Roman emperor and named himself ruler of Italy.  Most historians cite this date as the official end of the Roman Empire in the West.  True to the prophecy, Western Europe has remained divided ever since then, with a mixture of strong nations and weak nations.  Notice that part of verse 43 that declares, “…they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another….”  Nineteenth-century English Queen Victoria, known as the “Grandmother of Europe”, began a systematic policy of intermarrying princes and princesses so that all of the royal families would be related to each other.  But just as the prophecy predicted, this attempt failed miserably as the two world wars followed soon after the death of Queen Victoria.  Notable among earlier attempts at European unity was the effort of Napoleon in the early 19th century, which also failed.


9.    Will Europe ever be united again?

Answer:  Daniel 2:43 is quite clear that Europe will never be united after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in A.D. 476.  The European Union is the latest attempt to unite Europe economically, but that is in nearly constant economic turmoil.  As we shall learn in Lesson #9, there will be a temporary world unity revolving around the mark of the beast.  But that unity will be short-lived, for God’s wrath will shortly thereafter be poured out on the wicked, and Jesus will return in glory to rescue His people!


10.    What are the two major controversies over the four empires among some Christian scholars and liberal critics of Christianity?

Answer:  First, critics point to the statement in Daniel 2:39 that these kingdoms or empires “…shall rule over all the earth.”  These critics either say this statement is simply a lie—that none of the kingdoms ruled over the whole planet—or that it represents a pro-Western Judeao-Christian bias that ignores the rest of the world.  Second, critics deny the possibility that anyone can know history before it happens.  Therefore, Daniel must have been written by some later author around the 2nd-century B.C. when Greece was dominant.  In order to draw this conclusion, they divide the Medo-Persian Empire into the Median Empire and the Persian Empire, as follows:  (1) Babylon, (2) Media, (3) Persia, and (4) Greece.  Our response to each of these criticisms follows, respectively:

A.    The Bible does not attempt to document the history of all peoples on earth.  Instead, it focuses only on those regions of the world where God’s professed people were found in significant numbers during Bible times.  This doesn’t mean that God is hostile to the peoples in other regions; it simply reflects the fact that the Bible is a book primarily written about and to those who profess to be His people.  This means that it deals with nations only so far as they interact with His professed people.  When viewed in this context, the reference to the four kingdoms in Daniel 2 as world kingdoms must be interpreted as referring to the world in which God’s professed people lived.

B.    The book of Daniel makes it very clear that the critics are wrong.  For example, in Daniel 5:28, Daniel tells Babylonian King Belshazzar, “Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”  In addition, Daniel 8:20 declares, “The ram which you saw, having the two horns—they are the kings of Media and Persia.


11.    Would Jesus believe the book of Daniel or its modern critics?

“Therefore, when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet….”  Matthew 24:15.

Answer:  These are the words of Jesus Himself, who refers positively to something that Daniel wrote about.  Since Jesus clearly accepted the Old Testament Scriptures, and the book of Daniel was part of those Scriptures, then Jesus believed that the book of Daniel was written by the prophet Daniel in the 6th-century B.C.  For those critics of Daniel who call themselves Christians, one can legitimately ask why they are Christians at all if they’re not going to believe something as basic as God being able to tell the future.


12.    What is the Stone that crushes the entire image?

“You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces….  And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth….  And in the days of these kings [feet and toes] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”  Daniel 2:34-35, 44.

Answer:  The stone represents God’s Kingdom, which will last forever.


13.    What specific events are represented by (1) the coming of the Stone and (2) the filling of the whole earth?

Answer:  Some have taught that the coming of the Stone Kingdom occurred with the First Coming of Jesus, when He established His spiritual kingdom of grace through the Church.  These scholars then teach that the filling of the whole earth represents the growing influence of the gospel throughout the Church Age, ending with the literal Second Coming of Jesus and the establishment of His literal, glorious kingdom on the earth.  However, others teach that the coming of the Stone Kingdom represents the Second Coming of Jesus, which destroys all earthly kingdoms.  Then Jesus either immediately creates His literal, glorious kingdom on the earth (the filling), or He establishes His literal, glorious kingdom on earth at the end of the millennium (the filling).

A.    First, we notice that the Stone strikes the image “on its feet of iron and clay…” (Daniel 2:34).  This event must happen after A.D. 476, which is when the Roman Empire in the West was officially ended.  But by then, the Christian Church was already well established, and Jesus’ First Coming had happened almost 500 years earlier.  Therefore, the coming of the Stone Kingdom represents the Second Coming of Jesus, which also better fits the destruction of all earthly kingdoms.

B.    Second, as we learned in Explorer I, Lesson #22 and #23, Jesus won’t even touch the ground at His Second Coming.  But He will establish His literal, glorious Kingdom on the earth at the end of the 1,000 years (called the millennium).  Therefore, that latter time is symbolized by the filling of the whole earth.

 

Quiz for Lesson 4—History Before It Happened

 

1.  What did King Nebuchadnezzar see in his dream in Daniel 2? (2)

  He saw the image of a man.

  This man had different metals making up different parts of his image.

  He saw a gigantic mountain strike the image in its head.

  He saw a rock fill the whole world.

 

2.  The major focus of the dream was on the “latter days”. (1)

  True

  False

 

3.  Of what metal was the head of the image made, and what kingdom or empire did it represent? (1)

  Silver—Babylon

  Bronze—Medo-Persia

  Gold—Babylon (or Neo-Babylon)

  Iron—Greece

 

4.  Which of the following statements about Medo-Persia are true? (3)

  It was represented by the chest and arms of bronze.

  Cyrus the Great diverted the Euphrates River, which enabled his soldiers to conquer Babylon.

  It was represented by the chest and arms of silver.

  At first the Medes were dominant over the Persians, but then the Persians became the dominant power over the Medes.

 

5.  Which of the following statements about Greece are true? (3)

  It was represented by the belly and thighs of silver.

  Alexander the Great defeated Medo-Persia in 331 B.C.

  After Alexander’s death, eventually his empire was divided into 3 parts.

  The Greeks were well-known for using bronze shields and swords.

 

6.  Which of the following statements about Rome are true? (3)

  It was represented by powerful legs.

  The legs of Rome were made of iron.

  It was the fifth kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

  Rome crushed the Greeks and everyone else in their path.

 

7.  Which of the following statements does the Bible teach about the feet and toes on the image? (3)

  They consisted partly of iron and partly of clay.

  The feet and toes represent the division of the Roman Empire.

  Queen Victoria was known as the “Grandmother of Europe”.

  Eventually, the clay and iron will stick together in permanent unity.

 

8.  What do critics of the book of Daniel have to say about it? (3)

  The book lies when it refers to the 4 kingdoms as ruling over the whole earth.

  No one can know history before it happens, so the book must have been written in the 2nd-century B.C.

  The book of Daniel is pure fiction.

  The book’s 4 kingdoms are as follows:  Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece.

 

9.  What do Christian supporters of the book of Daniel say in answer to its critics? (4)

  The Bible does not attempt to document the history of all peoples on earth.

  The Bible concerns itself with God’s nation and with the nations that have had an impact on His nation.

  The book of Daniel itself clearly teaches that the 4 kingdoms represented are as follows:  Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

  Daniel may not always be accurate, but its spiritual message is always timely for God’s people.

  Jesus clearly believed the book of Daniel was written by the prophet Daniel.

 

10.  What does the Stone represent, and when will it become a mountain that fills the whole earth? (2)

  The Stone represents the Church’s eventual triumph over evil on the earth.

  The Stone represents the Second Coming of Jesus that destroys all earthly kingdoms.

  The Stone represents the Antichrist, who will strike down earthly kingdoms in order to rule over all the earth.

  The Stone becomes God’s mountain (kingdom) that fills the whole earth after the millennium.