Daniel 2 begins to identify the Beast of Revelation.

The man of Daniel 2

The vision in Daniel 2, received 2600 years ago, gave a brief but amazingly accurate outline of history. It gave an overview of world kingdoms, from the time of the ancient Babylonian Empire, 600 years before Christ, until Christ’s return. It even describes what the world will be like after Christ’s return. In God’s everlasting kingdom, nothing of the current world order will remain.

To Identify the Beast of Revelation

This article series will also show that the prophecies of Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8, and 11 are parallel. They describe the same events but use different symbols and emphasize different aspects. For example, both Daniel 2 and 7 describe the eternal kingdom (Dan 2:44; 7:14). Show More

Specifically, this article series will show that Daniel 7 describes the same four empires as in Daniel 2. While Daniel 2, for that purpose, uses the four metal parts of a statue of a man, Daniel 7 uses four animals: a Lion, a Bear, a Leopard, and a Dragon-like animal.

Furthermore, Revelation 13:1-2 uses the same four animals as in Daniel 7 to describe the Beast from the Sea. It looks like a leopard, has the feet of a bear, the mouth of a lion, and receives its authority from a dragon (Rev 13:1-2). In other words, Revelation’s Beast is a continuation of the empires in Daniel 2 and 7.

The ultimate purpose of this article series is to identify that Beast and the Mark of the Beast. However, the Book of Revelation alone cannot identify the Beast. One of the articles in this series will show that the Evil 11th Horn of Daniel 7 is the same power as the Beast of Revelation. Consequently, the Beast of Revelation is identified mainly from Daniel’s prophecies.

Daniel 2, therefore, is important. It is the basis for interpreting Daniel’s later prophecies and, eventually, for identifying the Beast of Revelation.

Divides history into six ages.

In a dream, God gave King Nebuchadnezzar a vision of the statue of a man consisting of different metal parts (Dan 2:32-33), dividing history into six consecutive ages:

1. Head of Gold

The statue’s Head of Gold represented the first age. Daniel identifies it as Nebuchadnezzar himself. However, Daniel adds that the Head of Gold will be followed by “another kingdom” (Dan 2:37-39). In other words, the Head of Gold symbolizes the entire Babylonian Empire. Nebopolassar founded the Neo-Babylonian empire in 626 BC. Nebuchadnezzar, his son, inherited it in 605. It ended when the Persians captured Babylon in 539. Show More

Silver and Bronze

The second empire is represented by the Breast and Arms of Silver. It is described as another but inferior kingdom that would follow the Babylonian Empire (Dan 2:39).

The third empire is signified as the Belly and Thighs of Bronze. It is described as “another third kingdom” that would “rule over all the earth” (Dan 2:32, 39).

These empires are called kingdoms and are described as ruling consecutively over all the earth. However, Daniel 2 does not identify them (Dan 2:32, 39).

Note that, according to the prophecy, these kingdoms were worldwide, but we know they were not. These prophecies were given to Israel. These kingdoms dominated the part of the world in which Israel existed. Show More

Legs of Iron

The statue’s Legs of Iron symbolize the fourth empire. It would be as strong as iron and would crush and break its predecessors into pieces (Dan 2:40).

Divided Empire

The statue’s feet symbolized the fifth age. The feet are partly of iron and partly of clay. Since the fourth kingdom is an iron kingdom, the iron parts in the fifth age signify that, in some way, the fifth age is a continuation of the fourth.

Daniel calls the fifth age “a divided kingdom” (Dan 2:33, 41). During each of the first four empires, a single supreme king would rule, but during the fifth, multiple kingdoms would exist concurrently, ruling different parts of the known world. For example, Daniel said that these kings would attempt to combine their kingdoms through intermarriage, but fail (Dan 2:43). In other words, the divided kingdom is a continuation of the fourth, but in a fragmented form.

Some propose that the clay parts of the divided kingdom represent spiritual authority, while the iron represents civil kingdoms. However, according to the prophecy, iron symbolizes strength, and while some parts will be strong, others will be brittle (Dan 2:40-42). Therefore, the iron and clay parts probably symbolize strong and weak kingdoms, respectively.

Christ’s Return

A stone was cut out without hands (Dan 2:34), meaning supernaturally. Similarly, in Daniel 8, the evil horn “will be broken without human agency” (Dan 8:25).

The stone struck the statue at its feet (Dan 2:34), meaning during the divided kingdom. The last verse of Daniel calls this the end of the days (Dan 12:13).

The stone simultaneously crushed the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold (Dan 2:34-35). In other words, although the four empires would dominate consecutively, remnants of each of them would remain until Christ returns. They would only be fully and finally destroyed when the eternal kingdom is set up.

The iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. Nothing will remain of the current world order. As God promised: “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev 21:5).

The stone may symbolize Jesus Christ. However, from Revelation, we know that God is delaying the end-time crisis until His people are sealed (Rev 7:3). God is preparing the world for the final war between good and evil. Jesus will physically return only when that war is won. Perhaps the stone includes the massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will precede Christ’s physical return.

The Eternal Kingdom

The stone would become a great mountain that would never be destroyed (Dan 2:44). In other words, it represents God’s eternal kingdom. The parallel vision in Daniel 7 refers to it as the “everlasting kingdom” (Dan 7:18, 27).

This great mountain would fill the whole earth (Daniel 2:35), implying that God’s eternal kingdom for people will be on this earth.

In the parallel vision in Daniel 7, “the Ancient of Days” will give the eternal kingdoms to “One like a Son of Man.” Then, all the peoples, nations, and men of every language will serve Him (Dan 7:13-14). In other words, Jesus Christ will rule God’s eternal kingdom.

Some argue that this eternal kingdom does not refer to a physical kingdom but to “the kingdom of God” that Jesus often mentioned (e.g., Matt 12:18; cf. Luke 17:20-21), and which refers to a spiritual reality that always exists, even today. However, once the stone has crushed the statue, all traces of the previous age have been obliterated. All people will serve Christ. The Antichrist will be no longer. Since none of these are true today, that stone-kingdom lies in our future.

Identity of the Empires

Daniel 2 explicitly identifies the first kingdom as the Babylonian Empire, but none of the others. Daniel 7, which describes the same six ages as Daniel 2, also does not identify any empire by name. However, Daniel 8 uses two animals, a ram and a goat, to symbolize two empires. The important point is that Daniel 8 explicitly names these two empires as Media-Persia and Greece (Dan 8:20-21). Consequently, one of the later articles in this series identifies the four kingdoms by comparing the animals in Daniel 7 to those in Daniel 8.

The Antichrist

The Antichrist is prominent in the later visions in Daniel. The main purpose of these visions is to identify the Antichrist, but Daniel 2 does not mention it. On the other hand, the broad outline of history in Daniel 2 serves as the basis for interpreting Daniel’s later prophecies and, therefore, eventually, for identifying the Antichrist.

God knows the future.

Wikipedia’s page on Daniel 2 describes this prophecy as fiction. That reflects the academic consensus. Critical scholars do not accept the possibility of miracles, such as knowledge of future events. Therefore, academics argue that Daniel was written AFTER the events predicted in Daniel that can be verified from secular history. Specifically, since Daniel explicitly mentions the Greek Empire, academics say that Daniel was composed after the Greek Empire already existed.

However, the Book of Daniel accurately foretells events ÁFTER the time academics say the book was written. For example:

As discussed, Daniel 7 accurately predicted HOW the Roman Empire would fall in the fifth century after Christ, namely, while the previous kingdoms fell when conquered by the next great empire, Rome fell by fragmentation. 🔗

Furthermore, Daniel 9 accurately predicted the coming of the Messiah in the first century, two centuries after the Critics say Daniel was written. 🔗 These facts give great assurance that God knows the future.