articlesforchristians

The times of the Gentiles

• Nations continue to rise and fall.
• No story tells it better than the prophetic dream of Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream (Daniel 2:31-45)

• Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.
• He reigned during the fall and captivity of the nation of Israel.
• One night he had a dream that would foretell events over centuries.
• Mighty Kingdoms would be represented by this dream.
• Israel was in Babylonian captivity as a result of sin.
• God revealed who would rule over Israel.
• Daniel, a prophet of God, was called to interpret the dream.
• The Dream:
  • Daniel 2:31-36
    • Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
    • This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
    • His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
    • Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
    • Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
    • This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
      • A giant statue:
        • The head was gold
        • the breast and arms were silver
        • the belly and thighs were made of brass
        • the legs were made of iron
        • the feet were part iron and clay
      • A stone struck the feet and broke them into pieces.
      • The statue was destroyed and became like chaff.
      • The stone then became a great mountain and filled the earth.

The Head of Gold (Babylon)

• Ruled the Jews and the Middle East at the time of the dream.
• This kingdom lasted from 606 B.C. to 538 B.C.
• The Babylonians were known for their wealth in gold.
• The Babylonians destroyed the temple and took the Jews captive.

The Chest and arms of silver (Medo- Persia)

• In 538 B.C. Babylon fell to the Medes and the Persians. Darius was the king of the Medes.
• The Persians eventually became the dominant.
• This kingdom was portrayed by two arms because it was made up of two reigns that joined together as one unit.
• It lasted until 330 B.C.
• Silver was important to the Persians. Taxes were paid in silver.
• Cyrus later became king, and he allowed the Jews to return and rebuild.

The Belly and the Thighs of brass (Greece)

• Alexander the Great came out of the west with conquest on his mind. He conquered the Persian Empire in 330 B.C. and established an empire based on the Greek language and culture. After Alexander’s death in 323 B.C. the empire was divided into four parts.
• The Grecian empire lasted until 160 B.C. when the Romans conquered it.
  • Daniel 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
• The Jewish temple was defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes.
• The armies of the Greeks used brass helmets and weaponry in their conflicts.

The Legs of Iron (Roman Empire)

• The legs represented the Roman Empire, which lasted for many centuries.
  • Daniel 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
• Iron has a twofold meaning:
  • it was the metal the Romans used to make their chariots and weapons.
  • it typified the Romans’s method of war and fighting.
    • they were violent and unmerciful in wartime.
      • This can be seen in their treatment:
        • of the Jews before the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
        • of the Christians for 3 centuries following the birth of Christianity.
• The two iron legs on the metallic image clearly represented and predicted the two-division split that would occur in the Imperial Roman Empire. This begins in 395 AD.
  • The Roman Empire was divided into the East and West (the two legs)
• The fall of the Roman Empire
  • the west fell to ten Germanic tribes
    • And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
    • The Roman Church arose to replace imperial Roman power with the influence of the popes.
      • They maintained dominion through much of the Western Europe.
  • the east became the Byzantine Empire.
    • The Byzantines ruled out of Constantinople (Turkey).
    • They constructed Churches in Palestine.
      • marking many of the Holy Sites
    • The Byzantines exercised influence over much of the east including Palestine and Jerusalem until it fell to the Muslim Turks

The Stone (Jesus Christ)

• Jesus is identified as a stone.
  • Matthew 21:42
    • Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
  • 1 Peter 2:6-8
    • Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
    • Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
    • And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
• The coming of Jesus Christ at the battle of Armageddon will destroy all the kingdoms of this world system. God will set up a new kingdom over all the earth for a thousand years.
• This is the millennium (which means a thousand years in Latin).
  • Revelation 20:1-6
    • And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
    • And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
    • And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
    • And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
    • But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
    • Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.