http://adventistsermons.blogspot.co.uk/ Learn about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2 and its interpretation from Lonnie Melashenko of Voice of Prophecy.
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream recorded in Daniel 2 was of a statue, world history symbolized in sculpture (Dan. 2:31-45). The common interpretation of the gold head (Babylon), the silver arms and breast (Media-Persia), the brass belly and thighs (Greece), the iron legs (pagan Rome), the iron-and-clay feet and toes (the divided nations of Europe) is not uniquely Adventist. Millions of Christians and Jews have interpreted the chapter this way for centuries, including most of the great Protestant Reformers.
Unlike the first three kingdoms, whose metals cease with their demise, the iron of the fourth kingdom remains until the end of the world, even if in the feet and toes the iron is mixed with “miry clay” (Dan. 2:43). The fourth kingdom, arising after Greece (and though changing form), extends its influence to the end of the world (Dan. 2:33, 34, 40-44). This fact helps identify it, for only one world power arising after Greece extends its influence to the end of time—Rome.
The identification of Rome with the fourth kingdom and beyond is strengthened in the parallel chapters of Daniel 7 and 8, which not only repeat the historical scenario established in Daniel 2 but express elements not stressed in it. In Daniel 7 the fourth kingdom, the one that arises after Greece, though changing form, continues to the end of the world (Dan. 7:19-28). In Daniel 8 the same thing occurs: the final power in the chapter, the power that arises after Greece, though changing some characteristics (symbolic of the transition from pagan Rome to papal Rome), endures to the end as well (Dan. 8:22-25).
In all three chapters—Daniel 2, 7, and 8—the power that arises after Greece’s fall in the centuries before Christ remains until the end of time. What power could that be but, again, Rome?
This identification becomes important because today many shy away from such a “politically incorrect” interpretation. Others, blinded by current events, have reinterpreted the chapters in light of these events, regardless of how those reinterpretations contradict the texts themselves. More than 20 years ago, during Cold War tensions, some Adventists—losing sight of the big picture—argued that the prophecies we always interpreted as Rome were to be fulfilled by (believe it or not!) Soviet Communism. Today, falling into a similar trap, others are arguing that Islam, not Rome, is the focus of these prophecies.
Yet the texts point to neither Islam nor Soviet Communism, for neither movement arose immediately after the downfall of ancient Greece. The texts point, inescapably, to Rome.
