September 9 – Daniel 2:1-3, 27-29, 36-44 – Feeling Anxious About the Future   Daniel 2:1 – Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. God holds all of space and time in His hands and works according to His will in history and prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king with pagan fears and sinful frailties. 2:2 – This was King Nebuchadnezzar’s "cabinet" – The magicians were scribes with expertise in legal and historical areas. The astrologers were conjurers and exorcists, as royal advisors. The sorcerers were experts in the occultic arts. The Chaldeans were the priestly caste. 2:3 – He believed that there was a message in this peculiar dream, and he wanted to know its interpretation. 2:4b-7:28 is in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. This revelation of God’s Word focused on Gentile nations rather than Israel, so the international language of Aramaic rather than Hebrew was used. 2:27-28 – Daniel was noting a contrast between these pagan prognosticators and "prophets" with the true God. "The Latter Days" focused ultimately on the end of the ages, the future Day of the Lord, at Christ’s Second Coming. 2:29 – The dream was a prophecy of the ages and the end of the ages. History The Present| In the Future Nation Babylon Medo-Persian Greece Hellenistic Empire Roman Empire Church Age Revived Roman Empire Christ’s Kingdom Leader Nebuchad-nezzar Darius Alexander Cassander (Macedonia) Lysimachus (Trace/Asia) Seleucus (Syria) Ptolemy I (Egypt) Caesars (Unre-vealed to Daniel) The Beast of Rev. 13 Jesus Christ, as The King of Kings and Lord of Lords Dates in history 605-562 BC 539-333 BC 336-323 BC 323-146 BC 146 BC – 30 AD (Unre-vealed) 7 years 1,000 years Ch. 2 603 BC Head of Gold (v. 36-38) Breast & Arms of Silver (v. 39a) Belly & Thighs of Bronze (v. 39b) Belly & Thighs of Bronze (v. 39b) Legs of Iron (v. 40) (Unre-vealed) Feet part iron & part clay The Stone - A Great Mountain that filled the earth Ch. 7 553 BC Lion (v.4) Bear (v.5) Leopard (v.6) Leopard (v.6) Terrifying Beast of 10 horns (v. 7) (Unre-vealed) 10 Horns (v. 7-8)   Ch. 8 551 BC Fulfilled in 604 BC Ram (v. 1-7, 20) He-Goat (v. 5-8, 21-22) 4 Horns and a Little Horn   (Unre-vealed)     Ch. 10 536 BC Fulfilled in 604 BC Kings of Persia (v. 13-20) The prince of Greece (v. 20b)     (Unre-vealed)     Ch. 9 539 BC   The 69 prophetic weeks of years were fulfilled from 445 BC to 30 AD. (Unre-vealed) The 70th Week of years Everlasting Righteous-ness (v. 24) Ch. 11 539 BC Fulfilled in 604 BC Fulfilled in 539 BC A Mighty King (v. 3) The 4 Winds of Heaven (v. 4, 6-13)   (Unre-vealed) The willful king of vv. 36-45)   Ch. 12           (Unre-vealed) A time of trouble   Daniel and Revelation are companion prophecy-books in the Bible. 2:36-38 – Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was the greatest of ancient kings. 2:39 – This "inferior" empire, The Medo-Persian empire, came in Ch. 5 under Darius the Mede, the title for Gubara, the viceroy of Cyrus. The Greek Empire ruled over all the known earth of the Middle East from Greece to India. 2:40 – This is the Roman Empire, the greatest of all ancient empires. [Our present Church Age from 30 AD to the present to the Rapture or Harpage occurs here, but it was a "mystery" not revealed to Daniel.] 2:41 – This prophecy is future – still to be fulfilled. After the Age of the Church, there will be some kind of Revived Roman Empire that will not be as great and strong, as the first one, that is described as clay mixed with the iron. It will be covering the same geographic area. 2:42 – It will be made up of some 10 national entities (the 10 toes), as being the 10 kingdoms of Rev. 17:12. 2:43 – This "confederacy" will not be, as strong, as it was in the ancient Roman Empire. It will be a union of religious and political powers under the Beast of Rev. 13 and his False Prophet, but it will not work. 2:44-45 – At the Second Coming, at the end of the Jewish 7-year Tribulation, Jesus Christ will defeat these "kings" at The Battle of Armageddon and set up His Millennial Kingdom that will not be inherited by any other people (Rev. 20). Why do the innocent suffer? Why do the wicked prosper? It is at this Battle of Armageddon that Jesus Christ will "set the record straight" for all the unjust suffering for all the ages. Questions to consider: If God knows and can order the history of world empires, can He know and set plans for my life? Has God really given to us a blueprint of His future plans for the world in these prophecies? With the sins and heartache of millennia, will God finally "set the record straight," when He sends Jesus back to earth for His long awaited Golden Age of rule? If you are worried about the future, what does the end of The Book say? Who wins?