l, what does it mean?” What does it mean not only to Nebuchadnezzar but to you and me? Daniel continued: “You, O King, . . . are this head of GOLD.” Daniel 2:37-38. The Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar (which made more lavish use of gold than any kingdom since) was secure as the dominant world power from 605 B.C. to 539 B.C., but he was to be overthrown by a kingdom repre-sented in Daniel 2:32 as “the breast and arms of SILVER.” Just a few pages ahead in your Bible, Daniel 5:28, the next world ruling power is named: the joint empire of the Medes and the Persians. Again, a fitting symbol: the two arms joined at the chest to show two kingdoms—Medes and Persians. They ruled the world for two centuries, from 538 B.C. to 331 B.C., but they too were overthrown by a third kingdom.This third kingdom, depicted in verse 32 as the “belly and thighs of BRONZE,” was the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great. And what did Alexander’s men wear into battle? Bronze— bronze breastplates, bronze helmets, bronze shields, bronze swords. Once again, God chose a fitting symbol to describe the kingdom that would rule the world from 331 B.C. to 169 B.C. But history doesn’t end with this third kingdom. Greece did not rule the world forever, for there was a fourth metal after the gold of Babylon, the silver of the Medes and Persians, the bronze of Greece. The next kingdom is represented by IRON. Daniel 2:40 says, “The fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron.” The iron monarchy of Rome was the last world kingdom, which in 168 B.C. overthrew the Greeks. Just as legs form the longest part of the body, Rome had the longest reign of any other of the world powers. For more than 500 years, half a millennium, Rome was invincible. But what did the Bible predict would happen next? Daniel 2:41-43 says, “Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of clay and partly of iron, so thi...
