Codes for Christian Living

A Continuation of Rome...

The statue of the image of a man in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream reveals to us the entire scope of history for the past twenty-six hundred years. Rome is the last real world empire, but the modern Western world—represented in the feet and toes of this awesome image—is a continuation of Rome in many ways. The past has seen the likes of Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler, and the more modern Islamic Caliphate set their sights on world domination. And they left millions dead in their attempts to do so. But, in the end, they all failed.

The question arises as to why the last two thousand years seem to be omitted from the message of this image. This matter brings us to our third question: When is the timeline here in play? The image and interpretation seem to pass over the time between Roman dominion when Christ first came to earth and the time when the stone strikes the statue in its feet, representing the second coming of Christ and the eventual end of the age. Bible scholars do not find it surprising that there is silence here. The Old Testament never foresaw the church age: it was hidden. Paul himself wrote in Greek that it was a musterion, that is, a sacred secret, a mystery. But in the last days, a confederation of nations will arise out of the old Roman Empire. Daniel said that these nations were the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image. The apostle John, the Revelator, referred to them as the ten kings in Revelation 17. Before Christ returns, a coalition of nations, arising out of the old Roman Empire, will emerge with talk of a one-world government. Out of them will arise an electrifying world leader who will promise to free the entire world of economic problems and bring about a lasting peace. In Scripture he is called the Antichrist.

Some people have been quick to point to the European Common Market as the coalition mentioned in Daniel’s prophecies. After all, we saw a divided Europe unite virtually overnight with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. Today, Europe has a common currency, and Israel is back in her own land, controlling the city of Jerusalem for the first time since the days of Nebuchadnezzar. The stage is being set and the props are being put into place for the climactic event of human history: the visible return of Jesus Christ to planet Earth, an event revealed over two and a half millennia ago.

Now, it is interesting and significant to note that this statue’s structure weakens as it moves from head to toe. Look at it carefully. The statue is obviously top-heavy and then weak in its feet. We see here the downward spiral of human existence. Note also the deteriorating elements, from gold to silver to bronze to iron to mud and finally to clay. This, too, strongly suggests the degeneration of the human race through the ages. This appears diametrically opposed to evolutionist thought and its interpretation of human history. We are not getting better. Oh, we may have more sophisticated conveniences than the ancients did, but we are getting worse morally, not better. Darwinian thought suggests we are ascending and improving, but God says—and history actually shows—just the opposite. The “when” of Daniel’s prophecy is laid out plain and clear: God has a plan. History is unfolding on His time schedule. And He revealed the scope of that history with a statue thousands of years ago.

Content drawn from The Daniel Code: Living Out Truth in a Culture That Is Losing Its Way.