Daniel’s Empires — The Image and the Beasts
One prophecy, told twice: Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold, silver, brass, and iron (Daniel 2), and Daniel’s four beasts (Daniel 7) — the kingdoms of men, and the kingdom that shall never be destroyed.
Babylon — the head of gold
Nebuchadnezzar’s empire: “thou art this head of gold.” Daniel’s beast: a lion with eagle’s wings — swift, royal, and humbled until it is given a man’s heart.
Medo-Persia — the breast and arms of silver
Cyrus takes Babylon in a night (Daniel 5). The beast: a bear raised on one side, devouring much flesh. The ram of Daniel 8 with two horns — Media and Persia.
Greece — the belly and thighs of brass
Alexander the Great shatters Persia and rules “over all the earth”; at his death the kingdom splits four ways. The beast: a leopard with four wings and four heads. Daniel 8’s he-goat with the notable horn broken, and four in its place.
Rome — the legs of iron
“Strong as iron” — Rome breaks in pieces and subdues all things. In this empire’s days Christ is born at Bethlehem (Luke 2:1). Daniel’s fourth beast: dreadful and terrible, with great iron teeth and ten horns.
The divided feet — iron and clay
Ten toes of iron mixed with miry clay: “they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another.” Daniel 7’s ten horns — kings arising from the fourth kingdom, and the little horn among them.
The Stone — the Kingdom of God
“A stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image… and became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” In the days of these kings the God of heaven sets up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed — the Ancient of days gives it to the Son of man, and the saints possess it for ever.
Reading photograph: “Colosseum in Rome, Italy - April 2007” — the Colosseum at dusk — by Diliff, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons — resized.
