From Daniel 11:
“And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron [Rome]…as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise…the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay [hybrid humans and immortal spirits]…
Based on the premise of this post, and the previous foundational posts describing how demon possession as hybridization is a very real phenomena, the last demonstration of the fourth and last kingdom does not require genetic hybridization., although it is this author’s conviction that in our current era this is being scientifically developed.
“And in the end of years…”
The “end of years” can only be the end of Daniel’s prophetic 70 weeks determined upon Israel, i.e. the decades coming up to the birth of Jesus the Christ.
“they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north”
With the benefit of hindsight we know that the southern ruler was the famous Pharaoh Cleopatra VII from the Greek Ptolemaic Dynasty who sought to strengthen her weakening hold on the family legacy by forging an alliance with the rising star Julius Caesar of Rome.
Like Helen of Troy, Cleo was a prize for any aspiring ruler grooming personal relationships with the gods, the product of generational incest harboring and maximizing the traits / genes of the Egyptian version of the same gods from whom the Julian clan proudly claimed descent. Cleo bore Caesar his only begotten (i.e. acknowledged heir) son in 47 BC, anticipating he would grow up to become sole ruler of the now conjoined Eastern and Western Empires into one.
Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC did not end Cleo’s plans. She succeeded in winning the support of Marc Antony, who, as Julius Caesar’s favorite general in the civil war, was Caesar’s most likely heir. With his considerable support in the Senate and the Army, and with Cleo’s substantial financial support from wealthy Egypt he would certainly make himself Caesar’s successor. Marc used his political connections to declare Cleo’s son as Julius Caesar’s legitimate heir and King of Kings. Adding insult to injury, despite being married to Octavian’s sister and the illegality of Roman marriages to non-Romans, Marc contracted an Egyptian marriage with Cleo, even fathering three children with her.
You got to admit there is more drama in ancient history than in modern soap operas.
Certainly the inexperienced 19 year old Octavian was no rival, but in the end it depends on God’s backing in the game.
World war waged for the next ten years until the Battle of Actium marked a seismic shift in the history of the Ancient Mediterranean. The ships of Mark Antony and Cleopatra outnumbered Octavian’s fleet…[but] Before the battle, Antony had to burn many of his warships due to a deadly disease decimating his crews.
The “inexperienced young” Roman conqueror of the Greek empire, Octavian, nearly doubled the size of the empire, adding territories in Europe and Asia Minor and securing alliances that gave him effective rule from Britain to India. He spent much of his time outside of Rome, consolidating power in the provinces and instituting a new system of taxation, classic ID of the Assyrian.
As a final flourish, Republican Octavian assumed the title / attribute Augustus, which means “divine”. He and his successors to this title were claiming to be god incarnate.
In 31 BCE, King Herod allied his kingdom of Judea with Rome. Its geographical port to the wealth of the Middle East and assistance in defending the Western frontier against the Mesopotamian nations benefitted Rome’s ambitions and in return the Roman Empire’s support enabled Herod to maintain Judea’s autonomy against hostile neighbors.
This should be a recognizable geopolitical alliance – as well as its ultimate end.
“a stone was cut out without hands [unlike the metal images which had to be made by a higher order being], which smote the image…Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold [all four empires, obviously still in existence in some shape] broken to pieces together…and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them:
and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain [joining heaven to earth], and filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:37-45)
This is obviously one of Jesus’ supporting scriptures as Daniel’s 70 Weeks came to an end and Jesus was prepared to take over.
“the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
“Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures?”
Now that’s downright snarky. Jesus is being provocative, picking a fight with these arrogant academics.
“The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become [replacing] the head [the Babylonian].
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits [of God’s Spirit] thereof.
And whosoever shall
- [instead of joining this stone to be built up with it]
- fall on this stone [the same as ‘fall on his sword’] shall be broken [he’s warning that resistance is suicide]
- but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Jesus is simply repeating Daniel’s prophecy and extrapolating to them the inevitable crushing of each kingdom’s rulers who stopped carrying out God’s will for the earth.
“And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.” (Matthew 21:23-46)
Because instead of opposing Rome, they had collaborated.
The kingdoms Daniel predicted would come into being are still in play. Doesn’t it just make sense to take seriously his prophecies, study them out and connect them to current world history?
The United States has a “special relationship” with the state of Israel, characterized by sending Israel $3.8 billion in aid and an additional $8 billion in loan guarantees every year because Israel has played an invaluable role in helping the United States dominate the Middle East.
In response, the fragmented and fractious Islamic nations have gathered together under a leader who can unify them as a renewed Empire.
“Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek…And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land…thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.” (Micah 5)
