The vision in Daniel 2 is an amazingly accurate outline of history, an overview of world kingdoms, from the time of the ancient Babylonian Empire, 600 years before Christ, until the End, when Christ will return.
It even describes what the world would be like after Christ’s return. In God’s everlasting kingdom, nothing of the current world order will remain.
Begins to identify the Beast.
Before we analyze the vision itself, we can comment on its importance.
This article series will show that Daniel 7 describes the same four empires as in Daniel 2. While Daniel 2 uses the four metal parts of a statue of a man for that purpose, Daniel 7 uses four animals: a Lion, a Bear, a Leopard, and a Dragon-like animal.
It is then important to note that Revelation 13 uses the same four animals, the lion, bear, leopard, and dragon, to describe the Beast of Revelation. The Beast 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). This means that the Beast of Revelation is somehow related to the empires described in Daniel 2 and 7.
Furthermore, this article series will also show that the prophecies of Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8, and 11 describe the same events, but use different symbols and emphasize different aspects. For example, Daniel 2 and 7 both describe the kingdom that “will never be destroyed” (Dan 2:44; 7:14).
Daniel 2, therefore, serves as the framework for interpreting Daniel’s later prophecies and, eventually, for identifying Revelation’s Beast. The Beast cannot be identified from the Book of Revelation alone.
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), symbolizing six consecutive ages of history.
Head of Gold
The first age is represented by the statue’s Head of Gold. Daniel identifies it as Nebuchadnezzar. However, Daniel added 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. Nabopolassar founded the Neo-Babylonian empire in 626 BC. Nebuchadnezzar the Great inherited this empire in 605. It ended when the Persians captured Babylon in 539.
Silver and Bronze
The next two empires are symbolized by the silver and bronze parts of the statue. They are called kingdoms and are described as ruling one after the other over all the earth, but 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. From their perspective, these kingdoms were worldwide.
Legs of Iron
The fourth empire, symbolized by the statue’s Legs of Iron, would be as strong as iron. It would crush and break its predecessors into pieces (Dan 2:40).
Divided Empire
The fifth age is symbolized by the statue’s feet. While the legs are of iron, the feet consist of iron and clay parts, implying that this fifth age is, in some way, 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 the fifth divided kingdom would be a period when 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 they would fail (Dan 2:43). 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, the prophecy says that iron symbolizes strength, that some parts will be strong, but other parts will be brittle (Dan 2:40-42). Therefore, the iron and clay parts probably symbolize strong and weak kingdoms, respectively.
End of the World
A stone was cut out without hands (Dan 2:34), meaning supernaturally.
It struck the statue on its feet (Dan 2:34), meaning the very last part of the kingdoms of this world.
It simultaneously crushed the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold (Dan 2:34-35). In other words, although the four empires dominate one after the other, remnants of each of them remain until Christ returns. They are only 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 Eternal Kingdom
The stone would become a great mountain that will 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).
It will fill the whole earth (Daniel 2:35). God’s eternal kingdom 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 no longer exist. Since none of these are true today, that stone-kingdom lies in our future.
Identity of the Empires
This article does not identify the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th kingdoms. 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 of the four 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 future 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 a framework for interpreting Daniel’s later prophecies and, therefore, eventually, for identifying the Antichrist.
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