The Prophecy Project:
Session 20
WELCOME… To session number twenty of the prophecy project. Last session I went through the beast of Revelation chapter 13 and ended the session by giving one man’s story, the story of Asshur the Assyrian.
But now I want to start looking into the final kingdom of man that will exist before the end of the age. The ten horns in revelation 17, is that kingdom, and is seen in association with the Daughter of Babylon. The Beast is in an alliance with the ten horns , they give their power and authority to the beast for the purpose of burning the woman (Babylon) with fire. We will come back to Revelation 17 later, but for now let’s go to Daniel chapter 2
I want to read most of Daniel 2 because I want to you meet the man Daniel and situation around the dream.
(1) And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchnezzar Nebuchnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. (2)Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. (3) And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. (4) Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack (Aramaic), O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation. (5) The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. (6) But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
It is obvious that the king seems to think that his request is well within the capabilities of the Chaldeans, if they want to. He has certainly made it well worth their time to comply.
(7) They answered again and said, let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it. (8) The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
At this point the Chaldeans are stalling for time, and the king knows it.
Dreams have two sources, one is the heart, or man’s subconscious, and the second is spiritual, the spirit realm. If a dream comes from a man’s heart and he forgets it, It will be difficult to retrieve because only the Lord know the heart of man. Pagan spirits and gods can speak to a man’s heart, but cannot discern man’s thoughts. They must get some hints from words or actions. But if the source is spiritual they must search, seek in the spirit realm for the source, and then negotiate a price to obtain it, and the meaning. The problem lies in the source, if you can’t find it then you’re in trouble. The Chaldeans are stalling for time to find the source, but not finding it. They must resort to talking their way out.
(9)But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof. (10) The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: Therefore there is no king, lord nor ruler, that asketh such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. (11) And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
It is obvious that their spiritual contacts were not the source of the dream, and they tell the king that he is being unreasonable to expect or make such a request.
(12) For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. (13) And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. (14) Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon (15) He answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
Daniel and his friends had not been included in the original request of the king, he knew nothing about the dream or the request of the king. But now that he knows, he needs to take action to save himself and his fellows from the mistakes of the Chaldeans.
(16) Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.
Daniel did not tell the king what he couldn’t do, but rather that he would get and shew the king what the king wanted to know. He answered with counsel and wisdom.
(17) Then Daniel went into his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, And Azariah, his companions: (18) That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
The key to what Daniel was doing is seek the proper source for the dream, The Chaldeans had no relationship with the God of heaven, their spiritual sources were inferior, and had no answers.
(19) Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. (20) Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: (21) And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: (22) He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. (23) I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hath given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the kings matter.
Daniel does not have any doubt that what he has been told and shown is right, he knows that the answer is from God, the God that is able to change times. Daniel now can go into the king and save the lives of himself and the other children of Israel.
(24) Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will shew the king the interpretation. (25) Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation.
Just giving the interpretation is not what the king wants, he wants to know the dream as well, so that he can have confidence in the interpretation.
(26) The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? (27) Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; ( a jab at the pagans, and their spiritual sources, but yet he saves their lives) (28) But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh know to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
(29) As for thee O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. (30) But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
Daniel is making it clear, that it is for the sakes of those who would have died, that God choose to reveal the dream to Daniel, not because Daniel was anything other than a man. But it’s clear to us that Daniel is actually a very special man, he could have taken advantage of the situation to claim special privileges, and exalt himself, but he did not.
(31) Thou, O king sawest, and behold a great image. this great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form was terrible (imposing). (32) This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, (33) His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. (34) Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out with hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. (35) Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold , broken to pieces together, and became like chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. (36) This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
It is no wonder that the king was troubled having seen this vision, the violence of the fall of the great image got his attention. also God did not want the Chaldeans bringing a false interpretation to the king, so God hid the matter from everyone else, save Daniel and his friends. The interpretation follows:
(37) Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. (38) And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he (the God of heaven) given into thine hand, and made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
Neo Babylon, classical Babylon is the golden head of the vision.
(39) And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee (Babylon) (silver), and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. (40) And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
At this point the descriptions are made down to the ankes. This image represents a sequence of empires which will rule the middle east. Each of these empires have their own characteristics, and each empire is inferior to the last, just as the metals they are made of, are less valuable.
A simple study of history shows us the sequence of empires by name. After Babylon, came the Medes and the Persians, Two empires and two kings, but united into one, (two arms and one chest, or breast) very strong but inferior to Babylon. The next empire historically is Alexander the Great, the Greek empire, the he goat with the great horn. After the Greek empire, (thru his generals) the next empire to come was the Roman empire, the Roman empire was divided into two separate but joined empires, the eastern and the western empire, this is seen in the two legs of the image. The symbolic hallmark of the Roman empire was its military might and how they could break the enemy when needed (this is the iron). This brings us to the feet.
The feet are a very interesting subject. there are several different views of who and what is represented in the image.

..Stop here..
I need to close this session at this point, but next session I want to cover the two feet and the ten toes, which are the final ten kings of the final kingdom. I want to cover it well, in detail.
Thank you.