The book of Daniel of the Old Testament gives a very descriptive narrative of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, who was the king of the Chaldean Empire some six centuries before the first advent of Jesus Christ. The prophetic book reveals the succession of world empires which will culminate in the setting up of God's government on earth at the Second Coming of Christ. Besides, it also reveals what is to happen in the times of the end which we are living in.
God gave Daniel, a young Jewish man serving as a cupbearer to king Nebuchadnezzar, the wisdom of understanding dreams and visions. With his solid faith in God and true humility, he took no credit upon himself but gave the glory to God Who alone is able to interpret dreams (Daniel 2:28). All his wise men were unable to narrate his dream as was required by him.
In his dream, Nebuchadnezzar saw an image whose head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay (Daniel 2:32-33). Verse 38 gives God's interpretation through prophet Daniel that the gold represents the Chaldean Empire. History tells us that that was followed by the Medo-Persian Empire (Silver), the the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great (Bronze) and then the Roman Empire with the eastern capital at Constantinople and the western capital at Rome (two legs of iron). The Roman Empire attained world domination for over 500 years from 30 B.C. till their fall in A.D. 476.
But how does this fit into the overall scheme of things since A.D. 476, with the fall of the mighty Roman Empire, up until now? To get the full picture, we need to look at Daniel 2 and 7, Revelation 13 and 17 to have a full understanding of what is to follow in the latter days. In Daniel 7, the four Empires are represented by four beasts. The first was like a lion, the second was like a bear, the third was like a leopard (with four wings and four heads representing the split up of Alexander's Empire after his untimely death to his four generals), and the fourth beast representing the Roman Empire has ten horns on its head (Daniel 7:7-8).
What is so unique about this fourth beast is that ten kings or ten kingdoms shall arise from this (7:23-24). After the fall of the Roman Empire in A.D. 476, ten succeeding governments were to grow out of it. The current government is the ninth with the final one yet to come before the Second Coming of Christ! What is so intriguing was that a little horn - symbolizing the great false church - will grow out among them (7:8). Out of the ten, the first three horns were plucked out by the roots (7:8a). There were three barbarian kingdoms that ruled the territories of the Roman Empire but were eradicated by Justinian who restored the Roman Empire in A.D. 554. That left seven horns representing seven resurrections of this empire to be dominated by the liitle horn to become the Holy Roman Empire!
Revelation 17 specifically identifies the seven-headed beast as the seven resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire. Since A.D. 554, six resurrections have materialised and the last one to come is currently in the forming stage awaiting prophetic fulfillment! Note that the ten toes with mixture of iron and clay (Daniel 2:41-43) represents a fragile union of ten governments within a united Europe.
However, in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever (2:44). Revelation 11:15 tells us that the kingdoms of this world shall become Christ's and it shall reign forever and ever. Daniel 2:35 says that the kingdoms represented by iron ,clay, bronze, silver and gold were crushed, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. All the kingdoms of this world will finally disappear -gone with the wind - to make way for the kingdom of God to come upon earth. Daniel assures us that the God of heaven has made these things known. The dream is certain and its interpretation is sure (2:45).
When Nebuchadnezzar heard these, he fell forward on his face, prostrate before Daniel (2:46). It is worthy to note that whenever someone encounters God or His faithful servant, he always fell forward, never backward. God never acts on anything without letting His people know first through His faithful servants (Amos 3:7). These prophecies were sealed till the time of the end - which is now! (Daniel 12:9). And the prophetic clock is ticking towards the midnight hour!
The seventh and last of the resurrected Roman Empire will soon take place albeit a short-lived one. For it will be smashed to make way for the coming kingdom of God - the supergovernment of God on earth to be administered by His Family. The God Family will be the immortal God-like beings of the first resurrection (a better resurrection - Hebrews 11:35) who are all the true sons of God throughout the church age. They will be the firstfruits of the church that were called and chosen. Their tasks will be to help Christ in saving, teaching and governing the rest of mankind who had ever lived during the Millennial Age.
Some who survived the Great Tribulation as humans will be first to know the truth, followed by all the dead to be resurrected in the second resurrection as flesh and blood human beings again. For there will be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15). The pre-believers have not being judged yet in this present age, thus they are neither saved nor condemned. Only the called and chosen are judged in this present age. The resurrected pre-believers in their physical form will be given the truth, a chance for repentance and forgiveness based on the shed blood of Jesus Christ and resurrected to become spirit God-like beings - albeit of a lower hierarchy - to become children of God. They too will enter to inherit the kingdom of God. Christ will become the King of kings (the resurrected immortal sons of the royal God Family) and the Lord of lords (the resurrectd immortal children of God). All these truths are hidden in God's Holy Days and the Festivals that celebrate each of these events!
Why are so many Christians ignorant of such truth? Simply because the pulpit of modern Christianity covers only about 5 to 10% of the whole Scriptures. Often, sermons were quoted out of context to be preached around the Bible instead of through the Bible. The end result is that much of the sermons that are preached are nothing more than 'social gospels' that feeds the ego and pampers on feelings and emotions. Hence, the full truth is not preached, the mind is not fed and God's Spirit has insufficient or only substandard 'clay' to work on for the disciple to be enlightened. Perhaps some of them are wasting their time and energy in unfruitful practices and rituals babbling away!
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