PROPHECY OF DANIEL 2 PROPHECISES ISLAM

 

Daniel 2:36-45:

“This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

“After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.


The prophecy symbolized by a massive statue in King Nebuchadnezzar's dream which Daniel himself interprets by the help of God. 

The statue consists of five distinct parts or elements each representing a powerful Kingdom that will rise in succession:
1. The head of the statue is made of gold and that symbolizes the first Kingdom
2. The chest and arms are made of silver that represents the second Kingdom
3. The belly and thighs are of bronze and that represents the Third Kingdom
4. The legs are iron depicting the fourth Kingdom
5. The feet of that same kingdom are made partly of iron and partly of clay this symbolized is the divided nature of the fourth Kingdom as Daniel himself says.

But then a rock comes and destroys the statue. This rock is described as not being cut by human hands and this represents the fifth kingdom of God which God himself establishes.

Let's identify the 4 kingdoms:
1. First Kingdom - Babylon (Daniel 2:44)
2. Second Kingdom - Medo-Persian (Daniel 8:20, Jeremiah 51:11)
3. Third Kingdom - Greece (Daniel 8:20)
4. Fourth Kingdom - Rome (according to tradition interpretation listed below)

Hippolytus of Rome: 

The golden head of the image and the lioness denoted the Babylonians; the shoulders and arms of silver, and the bear, represented the Persians and Medes; the belly and thighs of brass, and the leopard, meant the Greeks, who held the sovereignty from Alexander's time; the legs of iron, and the beast dreadful and terrible, expressed the Romans - On Christ and Antichrist, 28

Cyril of Jerusalem:

The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall surpass all kingdoms. And that this kingdom is that of the Romans, has been the tradition of the Church's interpreters. - Catechetical Lectures, Lecture 15, 13. 

Irenaeus:

In a still clearer light has John, in the Apocalypse, indicated to the Lord's disciples what shall happen in the last times, and concerning the ten kings who shall then arise, among whom the empire which now rules [the earth] shall be partitioned. - Against Heresies, Book V, 1 
[Irenaeus lived during the Roman Empire]

Let's talk about the Fifth Kingdom:
1. It will come during the reign of Rome (Daniel 2:44)
2. It will come after the division of Rome (Daniel 2:41) 
3. It will crush, destroy and bring Rome and the other kingdoms to an end (Daniel 2:40)

Christians say that this Fifth Kingdom of God is Christ, let us debunk this:

1. The first condition of the Fifth Kingdom is that it must've come after the division of Rome. Rome Divided in 395 AD. Therefore, the Fifth Kingdom must come after 395 AD. However, Christ comes before 33 AD. Therefore, the Fifth Kingdom cannot be Christ.

2. The Fifth Kingdom is supposed to destroy Rome. Christ or Christians after him didn't destroy Rome and didn't control a single inch of land rather the Romans persecuted and crucified Christ, according to the Christian paradigm.

If the Fifth Kingdom of God isn't Christ, then who is it?

We have the division of Rome in 395 AD and the fall of Rome in 1453 AD. The Fifth Kingdom must arise between that time period and what Kingdom fulfills that criteria? None other than the Islamic Empire, which rose to power after 395 AD, in 622 AD, destroyed Rome in 1453 AD under the Ottomans, conquers the lands of the Babylonians, of the Medo-Persians, Greeks and destroys and captures Roman land up until 1453 AD when it destroys Rome by conquering their capitol of Constantinople. 

Let us refute some common objections:

1. The Fifth Kingdom is supposed to last forever according to Daniel, so did Islam last forever?

First, the "Olam" in Hebrew and "Alam" in Aramaic actually means very long time according to Strongs Concordance. We find an example of this in Jeremiah 25:9 where Jeremiah pronounces judgment against Israel that they will go into Exile and their land will be desolate forever. In Jeremiah 29:12, Jeremiah says that this Exile will only last for 70 years, obviously he didn't mean forever as in eternity because he clearly says that only lasts 70 years.

Second, even if we take the word forever to be literal, we wouldn't have an issue. In Matthew 21:43, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees, who have no kingdom and no land and are powerless. Jesus says to them the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to another people which means even though they were subjugated even though they were under Roman control and even though they were divided they still had the kingdom of God.

2. Daniel describes the Fifth Kingdom as one Kingdom, while the Islamic Kingdom was many Empires and many Caliphates.

Daniel chapter 2 calls the Fourth Kingdom the Kingdom of Rome although it was divided into two, he calls it one Kingdom. In Daniel chapter 8 he calls the Greek Kingdom one Kingdom although it divided into four power blocks. 

Therefore, the Fifth Kingdom is the Kingdom of Islam