37 NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM IN DANIEL 2

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 605 BC captured the city of Jerusalem and took Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the latter better known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, back to his capital with him. Circa 603 BC, he had a disturbing dream for which the wise men of Babylon, who interpreted dreams, were summoned. The king demanded they tell him the interpretation of the dream, but also the dream. They were stunned. They stated only the gods could do both. Nebuchadnezzar then ordered all the wise men to be executed. Daniel, not yet 20 years of age, was studying to be in the company of the wise men. Hence, his head was also on the chopping block. He asked Nebuchadnezzar for time that he might tell the king the interpretation. The king granted his request, and after a night of seeking God, the secret was revealed in a night vision. He went back to the king who inquired if he could now tell him his dream and its interpretation.

Daniel 2:27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. 28 “But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed were these: 29 “As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. 30 “But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. 31”You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 “This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33”its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 “You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 ”Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 36 “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 “You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 “and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all- you are this head of gold. 39 “But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 “And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 “Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42” And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 “As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 “And 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. 45 “Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold- the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” 46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. 46 The king answered Daniel and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the LORD of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.”

This was basic prophecy, its interpretation known for two millennia. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, and the city of Babylon was noted for its gold. In 539 BC, the Medo-Persian Empire took the city of Babylon. Medo-Persia was represented by the upper torso and two arms of silver. Over time, it became the Persian Empire. The belly and thighs of bronze were representative of Alexander the Great’s Greek empire that completed the three-year destruction of the Persian Empire circa 330 BC. Alexander’s Greek soldiers had bronze body armor. The legs of iron represented the Roman Empire that crushed its enemies, and for a time the Roman Empire was divided into two parts. Rome was founded about 753 BC. Most empires last about two centuries, but Rome was an empire for at least six hundred years with its final destruction being either 410 AD when Alaric and the Visigoths sacked Rome or 476 AD when the last Roman emperor in the east was deposed by a German, Odoacer. The Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, lasted until 1453 AD, when the Ottoman Turks captured its capital, Constantinople, almost another millennium. This prophecy was apparently simple and well known, but lately it has occurred to me, another double prophecy? How would that work in our modern times? Let’s see what we can discover about Babylon in prophecy.

The Babylonian Empire was the head of gold. Babylon will be rebuilt per Zechariah 5:5-11. Other prophecies in Babylon include Isaiah 13 & 14 with Isaiah being a prophet from about 740 to 680 BC. Interesting verses here include 13:13… and the earth will move out of her place in the wrath of the LORD of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger. To me, this means the earth will move out of her orbit. What effect would this have on the rotation of the earth? If the earth did not rotate, one side would be fiery hot and the other half ice cold. Talk about Armageddon. I recall that during the 1960s, the Soviets were making larger and larger nuclear bombs. One day, I read in the newspapers that they were thinking of exploding one of enormous power, which our scientists said was sufficient to potentially break the orbit of the earth around the sun, and then the Soviets ceased blowing up their enormous nuclear weapons.

Isaiah 13:17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them… The Medes and Persians took over the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC. Isaiah 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah 20. It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation…

I remember reading in the 1980s that this had transpired, and Babylon had been deserted for well over a millennium, but later in the 1980s, Saddam Hussein rebuilt part of the walls of Babylon, as well as Nebuchadnezzar’s banquet hall. Hence, this prophecy is thus far unfulfilled.

Jeremiah also prophesied against Babylon in chapters 50 & 51. Jeremiah 50:3 Out of the north, a nation comes up against her, which makes her land desolate. The Medes are the modern-day Kurds, who today reside in northeastern Iraq, northwestern Iran, southeastern Turkey, and northeastern Syria. Like the Cherokee Indians, they like the mountains. According to one source, they are the largest people group without a nation, about 30 million persons. The boundaries of the present Middle East were drawn by Winston Churchill at the end of World War 1 out of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. The Kurds got the short stick. They lived to the north of Babylon and participated in her capture in 539 BC along with the Persians. 50:9 notes God will raise up an assembly of nations from the north country which shall capture Babylon. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; none shall return in vain. The late Dr. Chuck Missler had an interesting take on this. He noted the precise language was not the warrior was an expert, but that the arrow was, i.e., a smart weapon. Of course, such a weapon would have been unknown to the ancient world. It speaks of recent times. It appears the Kurds may unleash this weapon in our times.

Jeremiah 50:13 Because of the wrath of the LORD she (Babylon) shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate. But remember Zechariah 5:5-11, that Babylon must be rebuilt first. Zechariah began his ministry circa 520 BC after the Babylonian Empire had been replaced by the Medo-Persian.

Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified and hiss at all her plagues. 40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” says the LORD, “So no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was so severe that archeologists are still not sure where they were located. The location of ancient Babylon has been well known from antiquity. In Jeremiah 51:11 God again relates He will bring the Medes (the modern-day Kurds) against Babylon to destroy her. 25 “…and make you a burnt mountain. 26 They shall not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for a foundation, but you shall be desolate forever,” says the LORD. Verses 27 & 28 again relate a company of nations from the north to include the Medes (the modern-day Kurds) will destroy Babylon. Verse 37 notes Babylon shall have no inhabitant. Verse 58 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken…” This emphasizes 50:15 … Her (Babylon’s) walls are thrown down... Ancient Babylon at the time of Nebuchadnezzar was huge, 14 miles by 14 miles, or about 200 square miles, the size of modern Chicago. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote the walls were 235 feet high with towers going up another 100 feet. Some wrote the walls were 150 feet; others 75 feet high. The walls were 32 to 85 feet wide with a four horse chariot able to turn completely around on the wall. Chariot races were held on the tops of the walls. Why would anyone destroy these enormous walls? This occurred when Julian the Apostate, emperor of Rome from 361 -363 BC, tried unsuccessfully to bring back the old pagan gods. He destroyed the enormous walls of Babylon, which the Persians were using for refuge while attacking the Romans.

Jeremiah 50:38 “A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. In October of 539 BC, the Persian Cyrus the Great took Babylon by damming up the Euphrates River over the horizon above Babylon and diverting its flow into a swamp. The Euphrates River flowed through the city of Babylon. There were bridges across the river from one side of the city to the other that were taken up at night. When the river diminished sufficiently, the Medes and Persians walked in the river bed into the city. The gates inside the city were unlocked, and the soldiers gained immediate entrance. That night is also remembered in the fifth chapter of Daniel when the prince of Babylon threw a New Year’s Eve party with the utensils from the YHWH’s Jerusalem Temple, and the handwriting appeared on the wall of the banquet hall.

Isaiah was a prophet from about 740 to 680 BC. His prophecies were given at least 140 years before the Medo-Persians took Babylon in 539 BC. Isaiah 44:27 Who (God) says to the deep, ‘Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’; 28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd; and he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,’ and to the temple, “your foundation shall be laid.”’ 45:1 “Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held- ‘to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, (See Daniel 5:6 where the joints of the prince’s hips were loosened, i.e., he soiled himself, after seeing a disembodied hand writing on his banquet hall wall), to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut 2 ‘I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, am the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob My servant’s sake and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. 5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting, that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD , and there is no other; 7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’

Josephus, the famous Jewish author at the end of the first century AD, noted Daniel showed these prophecies to Cyrus after he had taken Babylon. No doubt this had much to do with his sending the Jews home to Jerusalem to rebuild His temple.

Jeremiah was a prophet to Judah until about 586 BC when the Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem. He was taken to Egypt thereafter and vanished from the historical record, though the Irish tell ancient stories of his coming there.

Jeremiah 51:57 “And I (God) will make drunk her princes and wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,’ says the King, Whose name is the LORD of hosts. Likely the upper echelon of Babylonian leaders plus most of the army was drunk when the Medes and Persians took the city on New Year’s Eve in 539 BC. In verse 30, the king was slain that very night, though actually it was the crown prince Belshazzar, as the king of Babylon was in Arabia at the time.

Babylon is also noted in Revelation 17 & 18, and also 16:19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.

Revelation 17:1 Then one of the 7 angels who had the 7 bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgement of the great harlot who sits on many waters (nations), 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.’ 3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having 7 heads and 10 horns. Most of the commentaries I have read on this believe this refers to the Catholic Church, the medieval church, the church of Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-26, which dated from about 600 AD to the present, and immediately preceded the church of Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6), the church of the Protestant Reformation (Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans) that began around 1517 with Martin Luther. This was followed by the church of Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13), the missionary church (Baptists, Methodists, etc.), followed by the final church of Laodicea, the lukewarm church which encompasses many of today’s churches. All four of these churches endure to the end, though to the Philadelphia church in verse 3:10, (Christ says) “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.“ Obviously, this is a reference to the rapture, which will, disproportionately, affect this church.

The scarlet beast represents the nation of the anti-Christ. Apparently, his empire has a religious component to his political control. The Catholic Church is trying to bring Islam and other religions under its tent. If the Catholic Church is the great harlot, they will succeed, yet ultimately be destroyed by the beast. In most Christian churches, Christ is the mediator between God and man. However, in the Catholic Church, the mediatrix is Mary. After the death of the first world dictator- Nimrod (Genesis 10:8,9), his wife- Semiramis introduced a cult of mother and child, which migrated from Babylon after it was taken by the Medes and Persians in 539 BC, to Pergamos, the second church of Revelation 2:12-17. In verse 2:13 Christ notes Pergamos is where Satan’s throne is, an enormous altar to Zeus. This altar was taken by archeologists to Berlin. Hitler liked to visit it. From Pergamos, the pagan religion of Babylon migrated to Rome, and many of the things that we relate to modern Christianity actually come from Babylon. For example, what do bunnies and eggs, fertility symbols, have to do with Easter? The Yule log was burned in Babylon at the end of the year and a trimmed tree was put in its place the next day. Likely this is where the Christmas tree came from. Mistletoe was also a pagan Babylonian custom. The history of the world is the contest between the city of man, Babylon, and the city of God, Jerusalem. It appears that the city of man migrated from Babylon to Pergamos to Rome. Has it gone on to another city? I wonder what would represent it today?

Continuing Revelation 17:4 The woman (riding the beast) was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication 5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus (In the Roman Empire, there were 10 great persecutions of Christians. Subsequently, the Roman Catholic Church persecuted and martyred many Christians who would not be Catholic, to include the Waldenses or French Vaudois, the Albigenses, and the Huguenots. There was also the Inquisition. A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days, 1994, Dave Hunt) And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her which has the 7 heads and the 10 horns. 8 “The beast that you saw was and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom ; The 7 heads are 7 mountains on which the woman sits. (The beast is supported by 7 heads or kings, and Rome was noted for being located on 7 hills, another double prophecy?) 10 “There are also 7 kings. 5 have fallen, 1 is , and the other has not yet come. (There were 5 great empires of antiquity- Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek with the Roman Empire in power at the time this was written. The anti-Christ’s kingdom yet to come. At the time this was given, the first 5 had fallen. At that time, Babylon existed as a city, and the others were nations with the exception of Assyria, which had been so destroyed in 612 BC by the Medes and Babylonians, that in the 19th century it was considered a myth only, until the remnants of its capital Nineveh were discovered in the late 1840s. The anti-Christ is referred to as the Assyrian in Isaiah 14:25, & Hosea 11:5, and Micah 5:5-6. The first two verses may be double prophecies as they have already occurred once, but note Micah 5:5 …When the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princely men 6 They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land and when he treads within our borders. This event is not recorded in the Bible, i.e., Israel wasting Assyria. Hence, it is future. Remember, per Zechariah 14:1-3, the last event before the LORD comes to reign is the gathering of the nations before Jerusalem and their taking the city. However, Revelation 11:2 states the Gentiles will control the holy city for 42 months. Therefore, they must lose Jerusalem, gather all the nations, and conquer it again. The cited verses in Micah appear to refer to an interval between these two events.).

Revelation 17:10 (continued) And when he comes, he must continue a short time. 11 “The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the 8th and is of the 7, and is going to perdition. 12 “The 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for 1 hour as kings with the beast. 13 “These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 “These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is LORD of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.’ 15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, nations, and tongues (This would also be compatible with the Catholic Church which is the religion of many nations and peoples and different languages.). 16 “And the 10 horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 “For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 “And the woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.” (It is interesting to note that the church of Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-29 is representative of the Roman Catholic Church.) Revelation 2:20 “Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” Two verses later, Christ says if they do not repent, He will cast her into great tribulation unless she repents, and this is one of the four churches that continues till the end. It should also be noted that Christ has many good things to say about the Catholic Church in Revelation 2:19, and I believe many Catholics will be raptured. At the time of Christ, Rome represented Babylon per 1 Peter 5:13 She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you, and so does Mark my son. Commentaries say this is a reference to Rome, the main nation whose system of man was taking on the LORD at the time. Could that apply to another nation in our time?)

Revelation 18:1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 3 “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” 4 And I heard another voice coming from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 “Render to her just as she rendered to you and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. 7 “In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ 8 “Therefore her plagues will come in one day- death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, (Is this by BLM, other rioters, earthquakes, meteor strike, volcanic eruption, nuclear attack, etc.?) for strong is the LORD God who judges her. 9 “The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, 10 “standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ 11 And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore: 12 “merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; 13 “and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. 14 “The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all 15 “The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 “and saying,; ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! 17 ‘For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ (The underlined notes a catastrophic event, beyond riots.) Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance 18 “and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?’ 19 ”’They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth? For in one hour she is made desolate.' 20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and great prophets, for God has avenged you on her?” 21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “’Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore. 22 “The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. 23 “’The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. 24 “And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slain on the earth.”

Babylon at present likely has only portions of the wall rebuilt, the banqueting hall, and perhaps a few other buildings. Clearly, from Zechariah 5:5-11, Babylon will be rebuilt for God to eternally destroy it. The Shia Muslims in Iraq wish to rebuild it to replace Baghdad, but I suspect there are only a few years left to do so, though at least three and a half when the anti-Christ reigns. When America invaded Iraq circa 2003, we sent in geologists who studied a dam on the Tigris River above Mosul, which was just across the river from the ruins of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, and further downstream was Baghdad. Their evaluation was the dam should never have been built as the land was too unstable for it. The Shia Muslims, 60% of Iraq’s population want to rebuild Babylon. Perhaps God will take a hand, perhaps by earthquake, and breach the dam flooding both cities, and causing Babylon to be rebuilt. It is curious to note that the minor prophet Nahum between about 664 and 640 BC had predicted the destruction of Assyria in an overflowing flood in 1:8 and in 2:6 that the gates of the rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved. Many are aware that the Assyrian capital Nineveh was taken by the Babylonians and the Medes in 612 BC, but this only occurred after a flood destroyed part of Nineveh’s wall granting them entrance. I have read they discovered that there were Assyrian palaces across the river from ancient Nineveh in the second largest city in Iraq- Mosul. Perhaps, the verses cited in Nahum are also a double prophecy. We shall see.

Babylon was a code-word for Rome at the time of Christ and also now. Could there be another Babylon elsewhere in the world- a great pagan city? If so, where? If my memory serves, the late Biblical scholar Grant Jeffrey wrote that he believed the statue of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2 also foretold the future, that the head of gold, the torso and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, and the legs of iron, and feet of clay and iron would all be destroyed by God in relatively the same time, i.e., Daniel’s final week. Now how could that come about? First, there must be a head of gold. Originally, that represented Babylon, and Babylon is to be rebuilt per Zechariah 5:5-11, and it will likely be one of the anti-Christ’s capitals, but it is not likely to be the head of gold because this will occur during the period when the iron legs of the statue are ascendant. Let’s come back to the head of gold. The other parts seem easier to me, and less painful.

The Medo-Persian Empire became the Persian Empire and reigned after Babylon. They were the torso and arms of silver. At present, the Shia Iranians wish to reinvent the Persian Empire. The Sunni Turks wish to bring back the Ottoman Turkish Empire that World War 1 destroyed. The Turkish leader Erdogan hates the Kurds, the modern name for the Medes. He regards them as terrorists. The Kurds have been our friends. With our backing, they destroyed ISIS, but the Kurds are landlocked. They have no port. They live in the mountains. To send them aid, America must invade some nation’s airspace. The Turks were upset at their destroying ISIS, therefore becoming more powerful on Turkey’s southeastern border. We abandoned the Kurds at the end of the Trump administration. The Kurds are moderates that like America. At least they did before we abandoned them. Could they be driven into the arms of the Persians in Iran because of Turkish assaults? Since Biden took power, the Iranians appear ready to begin another ascent, especially if we remove our sanctions. They have a ready market for their oil through China and India. They have built a Shia crescent through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. They are also supporting the Houthis in Yemen, who are the enemies of the Saudi Arabians. If the Houthis win in Yemen, they will control the entrance to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal through which oil goes to Europe and America (President Trump made America independent of Middle Eastern oil through fracking, but President Biden has curtailed fracking and canceled the Keystone Pipeline, which was to bring oil from Canada, who gives us 48% of our oil. Now a Canadian pipeline may go to the Pacific Ocean and send that oil to China.). The Iranians are also supporting the Sunnis in the Gaza Strip. They have made treaties with Russia. Like the two-horned ram of Daniel 8:4, they have gone westward, northward, and southward. Reportedly, they are close to a nuclear bomb. Israel has sworn not to allow this. There have been recent reports that Israeli planes are turning off their locators, perhaps meaning they are in training to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Iranian proxies to the north of Israel have 200,000 missiles to fire at the Jews. Amos 1:1 -2:3 relates the nations surrounding Israel will one day attack the Jews. This would include the nation of Syria (Isaiah 17:1 Damascus is likely destined for an atomic bomb making it a heap of rubble). Lebanon (at least the southern part), Jordan, and the Gaza Strip (the latter two also noted in Ezekiel 25) will cease to exist as nations, likely by neutron bombs, which kill living things, but leave buildings intact, and produce no long-lived radiation, so they can provide living space for the lost tribes and the rest of the Jews dispersed throughout the world on their return. The so-called Palestinian state will also likely be involved in the assault on Israel and likely cease to exist.

But Israel will be heavily damaged. They will require extensive aid from America, but I believe America and England were populated by Ephraim and Manasseh, the lost Israeli tribes of Joseph, who had the blessing of God. The US will be extensively damaged at the same time, per Amos 2:6- 16 and Isaiah 17:1,3, and in no position to aid Israel. Hence, Israel will seek aid from Europe, home of the anti-Christ. I believe the sanctuary and the host of the nation of Israel will be trampled underfoot for 2300 days per Daniel 8:14, with the Gentiles controlling Jerusalem per Revelation 11:2 when the Gentiles tread down the holy city for 42 months or 1260 days, beginning the 2300-day period. The last part of the 2300 will be the Great Tribulation of 1260 days, meaning they overlap for 220 days. On the 1041st day after the Europeans take over Jerusalem, the abomination of desolation will go up in the rebuilt Jerusalem Temple. During the first 830 days of this 1040 day period, Turkey, and likely Pakistan, Egypt, and the anti-Christ's European league will attack Iran to destroy its nuclear capability. Thereafter Turkey and Egypt will attack the anti-Christ in Jerusalem and be defeated (Daniel 11:40,41) and, subsequently, God will destroy the Russo-Islamic invasion (Ezekiel 38 & 39) Himself, all within this 830 -day span. Then the Israelis will bury the bodies for at least 210 days per Ezekiel 30:14 before the abomination of desolation is set up in the Hebrew Temple on the 1041st day of the 1260-day period of Revelation 11:2. This will begin the 1260- day Great Tribulation.

Shia Islam is about 15% of Islam. Sunni Islam is about 85%. The Shias regard the Sunnis as apostates and vice-versa, but the Shias are mostly in Iran, a majority in Iraq and Syria, and lesser numbers in Lebanon, Yemen, and elsewhere. But Iran is building nuclear weapons. Jeremiah 49:34-39 suggests they will be attacked from the four quarters of heaven. I believe they will be attacked by the Sunni powers of Turkey and Pakistan to make sure they get no nuclear weapons, though Israel may attack Iran first. Recently, Turkey and Pakistan have made a treaty. Likely, the other major Sunni power of Egypt will be involved, though Turkey and Egypt are supporting opposite sides in Libya at present. Daniel 8:5 notes a one horned goat from the west will strike the two horned ram of Persia and utterly defeat it. The one horned goat was the symbol of Macedonia and represented Alexander the Great’s Greece that destroyed the power of Persia circa 330 BC. However, Greek colonies surrounded the Aegean or Goat Sea. They were also on the west coast of Turkey, meaning Turkey could be considered in the role of Greece. I suspect Erdogan of Turkey will put together a coalition of powers to destroy the nuclear capability of Iran. Included will be the anti-Christ’s minions now controlling Jerusalem per Daniel 8:8,9. They will take care of Iran’s nuclear capability, but enough Iranians must be left to be the major component of the Islamic portion of the Russo-Islamic invasion of Israel in Ezekiel 38 & 39, specifically 38:5.

With the destruction of the nuclear capability of Iran, the coalition will break up, and Turkey and Egypt will attack the anti-Christ in Israel per Daniel 11:40-43. The anti-Christ will defeat them and occupy Egypt per Daniel 11:42-43. Per Daniel 8:9. The little horn will grow great toward the south (Egypt) and the east (Iraq, to begin or complete the rebuilding of Babylon), as well as the glorious land (Israel). Then will come the Russo-Islamic invasion of Ezekiel 38 & 39 which God Himself will destroy, leaving the anti-Christ in charge of the nations, as America, Russia, and all Islam have been neutralized.

Back to Daniel’s statue. The silver arms and torso represent Iran, and likely the Kurds, forced into a coalition by the Turks. The bronze belly and thighs represent Sunni Islam. Islam’s destruction is completed by God in Ezekiel 38 & 39, the Russo-Islamic invasion of Israel. The iron legs are the anti-Christ’s European Empire. Why two? The feet of clay and iron will come forth when the flying saucers land and the fallen angels and giant Nephilim, the product of the fallen angels mating with earthly women, arrive. Per Daniel 2, they will mingle with the seed of men (meaning they must be something other than men), but they will not adhere to one another. (See also Genesis 6:1,2, 4 and 3:15 where God refers to your [Satan’s] seed and her Seed [Christ, the Seed of women]. Satan has seed- offspring? Remember Matthew 24:37 [Christ speaking] “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of man be.” Jude 6,7 is also of interest.) The fallen angels and Nephilim represent the iron; mankind, the clay.

For my analogy to work, there must be a head of gold to begin this final week of Daniel, or certainly near its beginning to represent Babylon. I believe religious Babylon is also the Roman Catholic Church which will ride the beast, but there must also be a political Babylon. It must be a great empire, likely the greatest empire of all time or at minimum, its time. I believe America is that nation. God gave her and Great Britain His great blessings, the blessings of Jacob to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim (Great Britain) and America (Manasseh), the greatest blessings ever given to nations thus far in the history of the world in Genesis 48:19,20 and 49:22-26 and in Deuteronomy 33:13-17. Also recall Genesis 48:19 where Jacob said Ephraim would be a multitude of nations as in England, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. In Genesis 48:20 Jacob set Ephraim before Manasseh, i.e., Ephraim, the British Empire would come forth first, followed by Manasseh, the USA. In Deuteronomy 33:17 Moses said Joseph would go to the ends of the earth. Where did the British Empire go?

Remember Babylon in Revelation 18:4 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive her plagues.” This could also refer to a nation in which there is a substantial number of true believers in Christ, who will be removed by the rapture, though perhaps earlier. This would leave the rest of the lost tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and perhaps others to go back to Israel by God’s mercy. Denmark means Dan’s mark, and they peopled Norway and Sweden. They may have been from the tribe of Dan. There are likely in the world and the US other lost tribes of Israel also involved as well, who must return to Israel per Ezekiel 37:15-28. Intermarriage among ethnic groups is rampant in America. Must you be 100% of the lost tribes and/or the Jews, or 51%, or would 1% qualify to return to Israel? I have no idea. At minimum, there are still the Jews. According to the internet in 2012, America had the largest number of Jews in the world after Israel with 5,700,000 in the US, 1.1 million Jews in New York City alone, and 2 million in the state of New York. If political Babylon were Rome, all of Italy only has about 30,000 Jews, or not many to come out. Many others will be saved by Jesus after the rapture of the church, though they are not of the tribes of Israel.

Political Babylon must be a great trading nation as the people who mourn for it in Revelation 18 are the kings of the earth (verse 9), the merchants of the earth (verse 11), and shipmasters and sailors (verse 17), who carry its trade. Certainly, the US qualifies. Political Babylon must be an ungodly nation. There have been over 60 million abortions, or child sacrifices since the early 1970s in the USA. America after World War 2 was horrified that the Nazis practiced abortion, yet less than three decades later, the Supreme Court of the United States legalized it. Political Babylon must also be a very corrupt nation in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. It must also be an immoral nation promoting practices that God forbids in the Scriptures. Early American history which clearly promoted Christianity must no longer be taught.

In Revelation 18:21 underlined earlier, a mighty angel took a great stone and threw it into the sea. Babylon was thrown down and found no more. It is interesting to note that there is a volcano in the Canary Islands west of the northern coast of Africa and Spain. A third of the volcano on the side toward the Americas is sliding into the sea. If this fell rapidly into the sea, as could happen during a volcanic eruption, this would send a mega-tsunami racing toward the Americas at the speed of a jet plane. It could be hundreds of feet high. It could wipe out most of the cities on America’s eastern seaboard, including New York City whose population is 13% Jewish. It is the capital for abortion in the US and also a great trading city. I recall that Jonathan Cahn, in the last 2 to 3 years, sent me a Sapphires, his monthly newsletter, noting an arch to Baal, the ancient god of the enemies of Old Testament Israel had been recently dedicated in New York City. The ceremony had been attended by an official from the mayor’s office. Could this be modern political Babylon? Revelation 8:8 Then the second angel sounded (his trumpet): And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. Could the underlined above be a volcano? Perhaps in the Canary Islands? However, one is Revelation 8:8 and the other Revelation 18:21. I would bet one of these is a reference to the Canary Island volcano, perhaps both.

Slavery appears to be a particular sin localized to America instead of something that was worldwide for most of the earth’s history. Christianity seems to get little credit for ending slavery. The US ended slavery after the Civil War ended in 1865. The Christian God sent William Wilberforce to end the slave trade in Britain in 1787, finally accomplished about 1806. He was told slavery within the British Empire was also ended on his death bed circa 1833. Wilberforce also made Britain a truly Christian nation (Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, 2007, by Eric Metaxas. His book was made into an excellent movie later.). Most people seem to believe that slavery was something only whites did to blacks, whereas the Islamic Barbary Pirates of North Africa enslaved over a million white Europeans from the end of the 1500s to about 1810. The Ottoman Turks probably enslaved more in the Balkans during that time and before and after.

Decades after the British ended slavery, their intellectuals began to supplant the God of the Bible with evolution, which Darwin refined with the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859. Their greatest enemy in World Wars 1 & 2 were true believers in evolution, which the British elites had promoted over the Bible. Fortunately, Christian America came to their aid in both wars. Then America had to face the Soviets who were also great believers in evolution. The Soviets fell, but by this time, the modern temples, the universities espousing evolution and the vast ages and denigrating the Scriptures, had come forth in America, whose people also like the Brits forgot the Author of all good things. Abe Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.” And the temples promote evolution! They call it “science.” Can Daniel’s 70th week be far?

- Gentry www.RevelationsExplained.com

Addendum: Jews in New York City comprise 13% of the population or 1.1 million persons with a total of 2 million in the state of New York.

Jews in the World in 2012: 1. Israel 6,153,500, 2. USA 5,700,000, 3. France 453,000, 4. Canada 395,000, 5. UK 290,000, 6. Argentina 180,300, 7. Russia 172,000, 8. Germany 116,000, 9. Australia 113,400, 10. Brazil 93,200, Italy 30,000