“And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.” Daniel 2:40
Daniel continues with the interpretation from God of Neuchadnezzar’s dream. As the king listens to Daniel he can
remember what Daniel is describing. He had been laying on his bed
pondering the future of his kingdom when God sent this exact dream to him.
And there shall be a fourth kingdom Daniel states that a fourth world kingdom will follow. Nebuchadnezzar’s mind turns to the statue’s legs of iron.
Strong as iron This is the feature that God uses to distinguish the fourth kingdom. This kingdom flows out of the thighs of brass or bronze and quickly separates into two legs. The word strong is
translated mighty in Ezra 4:10. Scientists tells us that iron is one of the components of steel, and it is the most common metal for tool and weapon makers throughout the age. Iron is one of the world’s strongest and hardest metals. This fourth kingdom will reflect strength and hardness.
As we go through the dreams and prophecies of Daniel we find that each of these kingdoms is a worldwide human government, opposed to God. This fourth kingdom will last to the end. First it will appear in Christ’s time as Rome) but then it will exist in the end time when the anti-God world-wide empire of the Antichrist arises.
Because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things Daniel uses the analogy of the iron composition of the legs to describe the nature and character of this kingdom.
And like iron that crushes During the Babylonian empire, iron was the strongest metal available. God uses that fact to show Nebuchadnezzar (and us) this fourth kingdom has the strength to crush everything in its path. There is no beauty, only harshness.
It shall break and crush all these Daniel’s comments focus on the strength and cruelty of this kingdom. It talks about this kingdom breaking, shattering, crushing all things before it. The commentator Leupold writes, “The Roman legions were noted for their ability to crush resistance with an iron heel.” The kingdom of the Antichrist will be even more harsh and brutal.
What can we learn? It is in the fourth world kingdom that God spends time to describe its nature. It is what evil will evolve into.
There are many lessons we can learn from this image but for now we want to focus on the dream as King Nebuchadnezzar hears
it from Daniel. The first three kingdoms are passed over fairly quickly. Why does God spend so much time on the fourth kingdom?
Because the coming of Messiah’s kingdom on earth follows this kingdom. The Messiah will destroy the harshest, strongest, cruelest kingdom man can create. Nebuchadnezzar must know that for he has to realize that God is above all, greater than all and will defeat all. (Hopefully we remember that too.)
As we look at Daniel’s interpretation from God of this dream we see he is describing the “times of the Gentiles”. Israel rebelled against God and was sent into captivity. The time of the Gentiles begins with the Babylonian empire and it stretches through this fourth strong and harsh kingdom. But there is more. God shows us how it ends – an eternal kingdom is coming that will be different than all others.