When are the last days? (7) Daniel 2:24-30

Here is another answer to this question as to what will happen in the latter days.  It is quite profound given the context.

·        Daniel 2:28: Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon had a dream, a dream given to him by God, a dream of world empires.  These are not all the great empires of history, but it records those that will be in existence during what the Bible calls the times of the Gentiles.  These are the world empires to which Israel will submit during what they call the diaspora.  

o   In the dream the king saw an image of different kinds of metal.  In the interpretation the head of gold stood for the Babylonian Empire of which Nebuchadnezzar was the head (2:36-38).  That kingdom will be followed by an inferior kingdom, the two-armed torso of silver, the Medo-Persian empire (2:39a). That in turn will be followed by the bronze empire of the Greeks and Alexander (2:39b) which will be succeeded by the empire of iron, the Roman Empire (2:40).  At some point the fourth empire will be divided, causing it to be weakened (2:41-43).  Then, in the days of these kings God will established a world kingdom that will never be destroyed, a kingdom that will destroyed all the others (2:44).  That kingdom will be established through a stone cut out of the mountains without hands (2:45, i.e. it will be established supernaturally).  

o   When this prophecy is laid aside the rest of Scripture it is clear that the final kingdom that destroys all the others is the Messianic Kingdom.  It is interesting that Revelation 13:2 indicates that the last world empire before Christ returns is that of the beast (antichrist) and that it will be a conglomeration of all the others.  The Revelation speaks of that kingdom as being like a leopard, bear and lion, images used in Daniel 7:3-7.  The antichrists kingdom is connected to Rome and the succeeding divided kingdom by its ten horns and crowns (Rev. 13:1).  So when Dan. 2:44 says the Kingdom of Christ will consume all these kingdoms, it is true, even though they appear in succession culminating in that of the antichrist.

o   You might think that this passage is telling us that the latter days are the entire time of these kingdoms, from Babylon to the return of Christ.  But it makes more sense that the phrase points powerfully to the end of that time.  As we have been seeing, the latter days revolve around the return of Christ and all that leads up to that event.  Certainly those days refer, not only to past history, but to His-Story yet to come!

o   One final note.  Daniel says that this dream, given to the Babylonian king, was given to him for the sake of Israel (Dan. 2:30).  What was left of the nation has been deported to Babylon.  It is a hopeless situation.  But there, God gives them hope, the hope bound up in their Messiah.  God has ordered even the course of world government to accomplish His purpose.