King Nebuchadnezzar II ruled Babylon from approximately 605–562 BCE. Daniel was carried captive to Babylon in 605 BC. In the king’s 2nd year (603 BC), Daniel’s 2nd year in captivity, the king had a dream of a statue. He was smart. He told his magicians to tell him what he dreamed and the interpretation and they could not. Imagine me asking you to tell me exactly what I dreamed last night! They went to kill Daniel and his 3 friends who had been elevated to counselor positions after refusing to eat the food in Daniel 1. Daniel asked for time to let God give him the dream and its interpretation. Here is an image of the awesome, giant, radiant statue that the king saw.

Daniel said the statue had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron and clay. He told the king that he, Babylon, was the head of gold. He doesn’t say in chapter 2 who the other 3 successive kingdoms will be after Babylon. A stone would crush the statue. In the days of the 4th iron kingdom, God would set up a 5th kingdom, His kingdom, that would never be destroyed. Daniel 2:⁴⁴ 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.” I want to fill in the blanks on the last 3 kingdoms and God’s kingdom in the simplest way possible.

I. 47 years later in Daniel 7, in the 1st year (556 BC) of King Belshazzar of Babylon (556-539 BC), Daniel saw a dream of 4 beasts. Here is what he saw.

These beasts are the same 4 kingdoms as in the statue in chapter 2. Daniel does not say who the 4 kingdoms are so we still can’t identify the rest of he kingdoms after Babylon. Notice that the 4th beast had “iron” teeeth, 10 horns, and a “little horn” that comes up after the 10 horns. The “iron” part means this is the same kingdom as the 4th iron kingdom of ch 2. We can assume that the 1st lion beast is Babylon.

II. In the 3rd year of Belshazzar (553 BC), Daniel saw a vision that helps us identify the 2nd and 3rd kingdom of the statue (which is the same as the 2nd and 3rd beast in ch 7). Daniel tells us who the 2nd and 3rd kingdoms are:

So the powerful conquering ram would be the 2nd kingdom (the chest and arms of silver of the statue in ch 2 and the 2nd bear beast of ch 7) would be the Medo-Persians who conquered Babylon in 539 BC under Darius (Daniel 5:30) and Cyrus.

The high flying goat that crushes the ram would be the 3rd kingdom (the belly and thighs of bronze of the statue in ch 2 and the 3rd leopard beast in ch 7) would be the Grecian kingdom that conquered the Persians in 330 BC. The goat has a “prominent horn” which would be Alexander the Great who conquered the Persians and spread the Grecian kingdom all the way to India in 10 years (333-323 BC). But soon after that the prominent horn would be broken into 4 smaller horns. That is exactly what happened after Alexander died in 323 BC. HIs kingdom was divided among his 4 generals, creating 4 smaller kingdoms. The most notable of these 4 were the Seleucid Kingdom (Syris) and the Ptolemaic Kingdom (Egypt) who wrestled for control of the Jews and their land for the next 160 years after the death of Alexander until the Maccabean revolt which gained independence for the Jews in 167 BC. This is an amazing detailed prediction of events 200 years in the future. This has led the critics to say that Daniel was written in the 2nd century BC since no one can predict the future like that (but God can). The Romans then took over the Jews in 63 BC and controlled the Jews from then on. The Jews rebelled in 67 BC which led to the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. 

III. So we can identify the first 3 kingdoms of the statue in ch 2 as Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. We still need to identify the 4th iron kingdom of the statue (the 4th iron teeth beast of ch 7). Several keys to filling in the blanks.

1) Mark 1:15 where Jesus said “the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand” (i.e. God’s 5th kingdom of Daniel 2:44-45 that God would set up during the days of the 4th kingdom). Jesus even said that some of those he was speaking to would still be alive to see that kingdom set up: Mark 9:1 And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God when it has come with power.”

2) That kingdom was to be a spiritual kingdom. John 18: world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” God’s kingdom would be a spiritual kingdom, not physcial power based like that of David’s kingdom. That spiritual kingdom would be the church. Matthew 16:¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” For this prediction to come true, Peter had to use those keys to allow people to enter that kingdom of God. Peter did that in Acts 2 when he preached the first gospel sermon that allowed 3,000 to be baptized for the remission of sins and to enter the church kingdom.

3) A little syllogistic reasoning tells us that the 4th iron kingdom of the statue is the Romans Empire. a) the 5th kingdom (Daniel 2:44), God’s kingdom, was to be set up during the days of the 4th kingdom. b) that 5th kingdom (the church kingdom), was at hand, to be established while some listening to Jesus were still alive. c) since Rome was the kingdom ruling when Jesus said that the kingdom was at hand, then Rome must be the 4th kingdom of the statue of Daniel 2.

The church is the 5th kingdom of God set up during the days of the Roman Empires. We read of the establishment of the church in Acts 2.

So now we can present this image of the statue of Daniel 2, combining the 4 beasts of Daniel 7:

We can combine that image with the ram and goat of Daniel 8:

We can even add this image that fully explains (in fine print) the 5th kingdom of God, the church:

So now we realize that Daniel’s predictions in chapter 2 extend over 600 years into the future. Only a prophet of God can predict the future so accurately. Imagine someone trying to predict the superpowers that will come about in the next 600 years in our future. On a final note, the Roman Empire fell in 476 AD so the 5th kingdom, God’s kingdom, had to be established before 476 BC or else Daniel and Jesus are false prophets. Those who expect Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom must come up with some explanation if the 5th kingdom was not set up before 476 AD. So they say that Jesus postponed setting up that earthly kingdom b/c the Jews rejected him, left the church as a substitute, and will come back in our future (going on 2000 years now since Jesus’ predictions) to set up an earthly kingdom in some kind of a “revived Roman Empire” (some world government). Hebrews 10:37 refutes the idea of a delayed 2nd coming to set up Jesus’ kingdom: “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.” Also, if Jesus did not come in his kingdom while some who were listening to him were still alive, then he is a false prophet. There are no scriptures that teach a delayed 2nd coming or a delayed establishment of the kingdom. If people will acknowledge that the kingdom of God is the church, a spiritual kingdom not physical, then the predictions of Daniel and Jesus are accurately fulfilled in the 1st century. There is no physical kingdom to be set up in our future, period. Those who still expect Jesus to come and set up an earthly kingdom are making the same mistake that the Jews who rejected Jesus made when they rejected him as the Messiah b/c they expected a physical, conquering Messiah who would set up a restored physical Jewish kingdom that would defeat the Romans. At least they are not making the same mistake of rejecting Jesus as the Messiah!

On a side note, the sea beast of Revelation 13 has the same lion, leopard, and bear imagery as Daniel 7 and therefore must be he Roman Empire. He also had 7 heads and 10 horns. 

The 10 horns of the 4th iron teeth beast in Daniel 7 and of the sea beast in Revelation 13 would be the first 10 emperors of Rome beginning with Julius Caesar (the Jewish historian Josephus living in the first century AD said that Julius was the first king and Augustus was the 2nd).

The “little horn” that came up after the 10 horns in Daniel 7 is the same as the “small horn” that came up after the ram and goat in Daniel 8. That little horn in Daniel 7 would utter great boasts and wage war against the saints (the Jews). The small horn in Daniel 8 would come out of one of the 4 smaller kingdoms that the goat’s prominent horn would be broken into (the 4 smaller kingdoms when Alexander died) and would claim to be equal to God and would destroy the sanctuary (the temple) at the “time of the end” (Daniel 8:¹⁹ And he said, “Behold, I am going to inform you of what will occur at the final period of the indignation, because it pertains to the appointed time of the end.”) The “time of the end” in Daniel 12 refers to the end of the Jewish Age in 70 AD, not to the end of the world. That small horn would even oppose the Prince of princes which must be Jesus (Daniel 8:25), so the small horn can’t be Antiochus Epiphanes who polluted the temple in the 2nd century BC as many think. It must be someone after Jesus. All this fits the 11th emperor Titus. Titus, the son of the 10th emperor Vespasian, was not an emperor yet when he led the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD, but he would later become the 11th emperor in 79 AD, so you can see why he is called the little horn or small horn. He is also the “man of sin” of 2 Thessalonians 2:⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” That could only be Titus who actually entered the temple when he destroyed it and defiled the temple with sacrifices to the Roman gods. Many think that Nero was the man of sin but Nero never entered the temple. Many think that the man of sin, the little horn, the Anti-Christ will be someone in our future, but Paul said that mystery of lawlessness was “already at work” when he wrote 2 Thessalonians, not in the distant future, and there is no temple for the man of sin to “take his seat in” today. 

That also tells us when the book of Revelation was written. It was written during the days of the 6th emperor, Nero who died in 68 AD. Revelation 17:⁹ This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; ¹⁰ they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.” At the time of writing Revelation, 5 emperors had already died (Julius through Claudius), the 6th (Nero) “is” (i.e. reigning at the time of writing. Since he died in 68 AD, Revelation had to be written while he was alive and before 68 AD. 

I hope this has been pretty simple, logical, and most importantly, accurate.