FROM THE FLOOD TO THE SECOND COMING This post is…

FROM THE FLOOD TO THE SECOND COMING

This post is titled “From the Flood to the Second Coming” because this grand, foundational prophecy of Daniel chapter two, is a timeline of world history. This timeline was given in advance to King Nebuchadnezzar in a dream. In his dream he saw an image of a statue-like man made up of gold, silver, bronze, and iron.

If you want to be protected from fanciful interpretations, you cannot ignore how God has laid down this huge 4500 year prophecy as a foundation. When you think about it, all that is not covered here is the 1500 years from Adam and Eve to the Flood.

This is not a science lesson, but before we begin let’s say a few words about the Flood. Every reputable scientist knows that this earth suffered an enormous catastrophe. This is mainly because of all the rapidly buried animals and vegetation…some causing extinctions. What is ignored by worldly views is that this was most definitely a “water-based” catastrophe. Long flat lines between layers of sediment seen on every mountain range and continent speaks of gravitational leveling. This only happens with water.

As well, massive amounts of buried animals and vegetation are what formed into seems of coal, oil and even diamonds. Today scientists can add heat and pressure to carbon-based organisms and create coal, oil, or synthetic diamonds in a matter of months. This proves that the greater heat and pressure of the earth would certainly not need millions of years to create these things. God did not hide the results of the flood…the evidence is everywhere if you are not fooled by “non-flood” interpretations.

Now after the Flood, the first attempt at a great empire was the Tower of Babel. Although God scattered the nations from here, the empire of Babylon did develop in this area, and is symbolic of rebellion against God. And so a great timeline of empires revealed in the metal man prophecy, begins with this first power (Babylon) arising after the Flood.

This would be a good time to stop, open your Bible, and read Daniel chapter 2. The prophecy is so clear that basically all Christians agree that a succession of four empires was foretold. They are Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, represented by the four metals of the image.

Amazingly, the break-up of the Roman Empire was accurately foretold over a thousand years in advance like so,

“Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided” (Daniel 2:41)

Not only this, but the many attempts to re-unite these individual powers was foretold as well,

“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 2:43)

If you do a quick study of the history of the royal families of Europe you will see all of the intermarriage that took place. In fact, there was so much inbreeding that many genetic defects are known to have plagued these royals. And so through marriage, alliances, and treaties, men have vainly attempted to reunite the European continent. All throughout history, leaders such as Charlemagne, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Mussolini, and Hitler have fought to build a new European empire but these words of Scripture, “they will not adhere to one another”, have stopped every single would-be world ruler.

Why is this prophecy so important? Because it shows how precisely God speaks of the real people and powers that arise on this earth. There can be no mistake that the symbolic gold head represented Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom of Babylon…“you are this head of gold.” (Daniel 2:38)

Likewise, the next two kingdoms are identified later on in the book of Daniel as Persia and Greece (see Daniel 8:20,21). Finally, it is common knowledge that the fourth and final kingdom was the Roman Empire.

The succession of these four kingdoms took about a thousand years. Then everything changed. A great era of the divided nations that formed into the nations of Europe followed. This brings us down through time to the great “Stone” that smashes the metal man to pieces. This is when Jesus Christ returns to earth. He will completely consume all the kingdoms of earth and establish the everlasting kingdom of Daniel 2:44. All history is moving toward this climactic conclusion, when the Son of God shall return in majesty to bring in the kingdom of everlasting righteousness. We are now living at the very bottom of this statue timeline.

I say that this prophecy is foundational because other prophecies that we will look at in future posts are rooted in this prophecy. For example, a great anti-Christ power is depicted in many symbolic ways in various books of the Bible. But we will see that this earthly power (that causes a short end-time uniting of the nations of the earth) is connected to the four great empires revealed in Daniel chapter 2. For now, the more you commit all the details of this metal man prophecy to memory, the better prepared you will be to understand other end-time prophecies.

Here are some notes to aid your study of the chapter.

Gold = Babylon

The head of gold represented Babylon, which was the ruling world power from 612-539 B.C.

Silver = Medo-Persia

The chest of silver represented Medo-Persia, the ruling world empire from 539-331 B.C.

Bronze = Greece

The thighs of bronze represented Greece, the dominant world ruler from 331-168 B.C.

Iron = Rome

The legs of iron represented Rome, which enjoyed world supremacy from 168 B.C.-A.D. 476.

Iron and Clay = the Divided Empire

The feet that were partly iron and partly clay represented a divided empire that would not cleave together.

Stone = Christ’s Eternal Kingdom.

Happy Bible studying everyone! God’s Word is truly amazing.

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