Revelation Study Week 13: Daniel 2 & 7.

To understand Revelation you must understand the history of the Israelites. Revelation is about the end of the age of the gentiles, so what is the age of the gentiles?

24 they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Lk 21:24.

The age of the gentiles is denoted by gentiles having an advantage over the jewish people. First gentile will persecute and rule over the jewish people, second the Gentiles will trample the city of Jerusalem (or the Israelites will not have control of the city).

We can know when this began...

After God had given the promise land to his chosen people, they did not remain faithful to him and so they were expelled from the land by God through the hands of Babylon. This was the start of the age of the Gentiles...

The New Revised Standard Version (Daniel Interprets the Dream)

31 “You were looking, O king, and lo! there was a great statue. This statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked on, a stone was cut out, not by human hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, were all broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.36 “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, the king of kings—to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory, 38 into whose hand he has given human beings, wherever they live, the wild animals of the field, and the birds of the air, and whom he has established as ruler over them all—you are the head of gold. 39 After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. 40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; just as iron crushes and smashes everything, it shall crush and shatter all these. 41 As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but some of the strength of iron shall be in it, as you saw the iron mixed with the clay. 42 As the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so will they mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever; 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has informed the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation trustworthy.”

The statue consist of 4 parts.

Head of Gold was Nebuchadnessar… he had ultimate rule and captured Jerusalem in 600 BC

Chest and arms of silver…Medo-Persians who replaced Babylom in 550 BC

Middle and thighs of Bronze---Hellenistic Empire of Alexander the great conquered the Persians in 330 BC. Four years into his reign he died and the kingdom was divided into 4 parts given to his four generals. ultimately turning into east and wast.

Legs of Iron and feet of iron and clay…The Roman empire began this and it hasn’t ended yet. Rome was able to conquer by merging not overthrowing…as we know the roman empire didn’t last forever, but it’s method did. today we see alliances made and broken and new alliances made then Broken, and this has gone on from the time of the Roman empire began.

Today we still live in the age of the gentiles, Jews are still being persecuted, although they have been given part of their land back, but they still don’t have control of Jerusalem and even the temple mount.