| |
Roman
Empire. The fourth kingdom is symbolized by iron. History tells
us that this is the Roman Empire. It conquered Greece. In this
verse we are told this kingdom is strong since iron “crushes
and shatters all things.” The point God is making is that this
kingdom is the strongest of the four kingdoms. Each kingdom is made
of stronger metals but God says each one is also inferior than the
proceeding one. Strength and greatness are not the same as far as
God is concerned.
| |
And
in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay
and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will
have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron
mixed with common clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly
of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be
strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the
iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another
in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another,
even as iron does not combine with pottery. (NASB) Dan. 2:41-43 |
Revived
Roman Empire. When we come to the feet, the focus is on the ten
toes. We will see later that the feet represent a kingdom and the
ten toes are ten kings. Since the feet are iron and the toes are made
of both iron, and clay, this is a continuation of the last kingdom
- the Roman Empire.
The Spirit of God said the iron and clay
will combine in the seed of men but not adhere to one another. What
is being described is a group of different nations, kings, or peoples
(for example English, French, Spanish, German, American, Italian,
etc.) coming together and acting as one power. Today we would call
this an alliance or a coalition. The United Nations is a coalition
and the coalition formed after September 11, 2001 is another example.
We will learn more about this kingdom later
in Daniel. For now, we should remember that this kingdom is a return
of the old Roman Empire in a different form.
| |
And
in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be
left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all
these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch
as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without
hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the
silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king
what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and
its interpretation is trustworthy.” (NASB) Dan. 2:44-45 |
Final
Kingdom.
The stone represents the last kingdom. It is God’s kingdom. Daniel
has been describing real, earthly, literal kingdoms which conquer
each other. We will see later this kingdom is also a real, earthly,
literal kingdom.
|
|
