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all the earth (Daniel 2:39).
Here Daniel revealed the secret that Nebuchadnezzar s dream
was really a prophecy of the rise and fall of nations. After you shall
arise another kingdom inferior to yours. So it was. In 538 B.C., Baby-
lonia fell to Persia a nation represented by the breast and silver arms
of the image in Nebuchadnezzar s dream. Historically, Persia was
known for its silver. It used silver coins for commerce. Then another,
a third kingdom of bronze& shall rule over all the earth. In 331 B.C.,
at the battle of Arbela, Alexander the Great mercilessly crushed Persia s
army in the name of Greece, even though his troops were outnumbered
20 to 1. Providence was on his side. Prophecy must be fulfilled. The
Greeks were known for their brass, fighting their battles with brass
swords and shields.
And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch
as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron
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Hou r of the Witch
that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all
the others (Daniel 2:40).
History confirms perfectly that the fourth kingdom after Babylon,
Persia, and Greece, was Rome, the mightiest of them all. The famed
historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), in his classic, History of the
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, even used the exact language
of biblical prophecy when he wrote about the iron monarchy of
Rome :
The arms of the [Roman] Republic, sometimes vanquished in
battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid steps to
the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the ocean; and the
images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to repre-
sent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by
4
the iron monarchy of Rome.
Roman Caesars ruled the civilized world from 168 B.C. to A.D.
476, until the imperial government finally crumbled under the vicious
assaults of barbarian invaders from the wild territories of northern Ger-
many. From A.D. 476 onward even to this day Europe has remained
divided, exactly as Nebuchadnezzar s dream predicted.
Daniel told the trembling king:
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 (Daniel 2:41).
True to the prophecy, between A.D. 351 and A.D. 476, Rome s
kingdom was divided into ten smaller nations Alamani, Burgundians,
Anglo-Saxons, Suevi, Visagoths, Lombards, Franks, Vandals, Heruli
5
and Ostrogoths most of which eventually became the nations of Eu-
rope we see today. That one prophetic word, divided, accurately de-
scribes the state of Europe from the fifth century until now.
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THE BATTLE: Prophecies in Conflict
And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of
clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly frag-
ile (Daniel 2:42).
How true this prophecy is! Some European nations are strong,
some are weak. Some are like iron, some are like clay. It s been this
way for 1,500 years. Sometimes the toes get along, sometimes they
don t. Daniel revealed more precise details:
As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle
with the seed of men& (Daniel 2:43).
Mingling with the seed of men is a prediction of intermarriage
among the toes, that is, between various royal houses throughout Eu-
rope. The purpose of such mingling was to create alliances so that one
toe could finally become the big toe with the goal in mind of a fully
reunited Europe under one government. Simply study European histo-
ry with its royal weddings, incest, in-laws, and out-laws. It s all predict-
ed in God s Word. Yet for 1,500 years, complete unity has eluded the
contestants, for it is written:
& but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does
not mix with clay (Daniel 2:43).
So it has been; so it is now. Throughout European history various
kings, generals, and dictators have tried to unite Europe under their
rule, but they all failed. Charlemagne tried it. Charles V tried it. So did
Louis XIV, Kaiser Wilhelm, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler. Yet
Europe remains splintered because God s prophecy predicts, they will
not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
Napoleon knew about the prophecy in Daniel 2. When the Little
Corporal was finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, he purported-
ly said, God Almighty is too much for me! During the rise of the
Third Reich, Adolf Hitler became ill. While lying upon his sickbed, his
attending nurse showed him Nebuchadnezzar s dream. It doesn t fit
into my plans! the dictator shouted, throwing the Bible against the
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Hou r of the Witch
wall. But Hitler s cruelty didn t fit into God s plans, and a bullet from
his own gun finally ended his miserable life.
King Nebuchadnezzar couldn t possibly have foreseen all this, but
the One who revealed His secret to Daniel surely did. In the hearing of
the awestruck king, the Jewish prophet swiftly approached his climax:
And in the days of these kings 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 2:44).
After the rise and fall of Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome,
after centuries of European intermarriage and division, and after all ef-
forts for complete unity have miserably failed, the God of heaven will
set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. This Kingdom won t
have a beginning and ending date to be recorded in some history book.
Neither will it take its place beside any human government in some sort
of cooperative, legal relationship. No. It shall break in pieces and con-
sume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
The metal man in Nebuchadnezzar s dream represents the king-
doms of men. At the end of his dream, the golden head, silver arms,
bronze belly, iron legs, and divided toes are consumed and obliterated
entirely. God s kingdom alone will remain. It shall stand forever.
Looking the Babylonian monarch squarely in the eyes (which
were probably quite wide by now), the Jewish prophet concluded:
Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the
mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron,
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