Announcer: This presentation is brought to you by the friends of the Amazing Facts ministry. announcer: Coming to you from New York City at the historic Manhattan Center with your host Doug Batchelor. Join this exciting journey of discovery as we learn the truth about Bible prophecy, explore the timeless wisdom of God's Word and see how it relates to our lives today. Stay tuned. Your Amazing Facts adventure begins now.
Doug Batchelor: Hi friends, welcome back. In our last episode, we learned how God gave the ancient King Nebuchadnezzar a fascinating dream of a giant statue that was full of prophetic symbols and imagery. Today, we'll continue this eye-opening study of how God revealed the meaning of the dream through His prophet Daniel. You'll discover how this stunning prophecy was fulfilled in world history. And more importantly, what happens next? Remember, if you'd like to deepen your Bible knowledge, check out our prophecy Odyssey Bible lessons and our free offer. I'll tell you more about how you can get those resources later in the program. Okay, it's time to get into today's presentation.
Doug: This vision is dealing with the empires that occupied God's people that were the guardians of the Word. You realize that the Jewish nation, God gave the oracles of truth to them. The Bible is mostly written by Jews, you know that? You okay with that? And if you, by the way, if you're a Christian, the Bible says you are Abraham's seed. So, this is talking about the preservation of God's Word that would go to the world, the kingdoms that occupied them. And you're going to see all this if you paid any attention at all when you were in elementary school to world history. We know about Babylon, how it was a world empire. Amazing fact, historians say the walls of Babylon were over 200 feet high and 50 feet wide, allowing for four chariots to ride abreast on the top of the walls. And as I said, one historian said they were 15 miles on each side. They had inner and outer walls, and they thought it would never be conquered. Once again, the map that talks about the extent of their domain was massive, controlling the trade between three continents. All that money was pouring in.
How many of you have been to Dubai? Have you been to Dubai? I've been there several times. If you've never been there, it is the richest city in the world, maybe Singapore, Dubai, but Dubai is different. Just this city was built out of the desert. They've got a river of money that flows into that city from oil. And I have been in hotel rooms that had--I didn't stay there, someone showed it to me, that had golden toilet seats. I am not exaggerating. I saw it. I mean, the wealth, the cars there, Bugattis, Lamborghinis, Maseratis everywhere. Car five or six years old, not allowed on the road, too old. The money incredible.
Well, Babylon was like the Dubai back then. Fabulous military power. That was incredible. You are the head of gold. Number seven, would the kingdom of Babylon last forever? That was the king's concern as he slept. He said, "What will happen to my posterity?" Nebuchadnezzar has reigned about 39 years, and he wanted his sons, his successors to have an eternal dynasty. But Daniel said, "No, it's not going to happen that way." "Babylon," he said, "was going to fall."
Now you need to know how it happened historically. It's given a little bit in the Bible, but not all the detail. The Euphrates River ran under the walls of Babylon. And the Euphrates River was much bigger then than it is now. By the way, there's a prophecy in Revelation that said that the Euphrates River will dry up in the sixth plague. Have you read that? Did you know all you have to do is listen to news reports and they say the Euphrates River is drying up. Now I don't think we're in the sixth plague yet. We'll explain the plagues later, but I think it's very interesting.
Well, they had mighty ships that were navigating way up the Euphrates River. Now, man, you can't drab--drag a toad through the river. It's becoming a series of stagnating pools down because Turkey and up higher, they're damming the water and there's been droughts and things have changed. But what happened is after Nebuchadnezzar died, for one year, his son Evil-Merodach was king, and he was assassinated and it ended up--his uncle ended up becoming king. And the uncle was off fighting other battles, and the grandson Belshazzar was in charge of the kingdom. And the Persians and the Medes realized that they did not have the military might, meaning the Babylonians, that the Persians had. Nebuchadnezzar was gone and he was a military genius, and Cyrus the Persian and Darius the Mead, they thought, "We can conquer Babylon." They surrounded the city. They were going to besiege the city. The king, this young whipper snapper, and you find this in Daniel chapter 5. Belshazzar said, "We don't need to be afraid of them. They will never get through our walls. We've got our soldiers. We've got our massive gates. We'll starve them. They--we've got enough food in the city. We got the water running under the walls. They can't sustain their army long enough." And they had a big party in the city of Babylon, and they all got drunk.
And in the peak of the revelry, this blasphemous young king, he knew that his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had been turned to Jehovah from Daniel. And he--really they resented that and he said, "This God of the Jews, He has no power and we're going to prove it. Bring me the vessels we captured from Jerusalem, we're going to praise our idols." And they took the holy vessels from the temple of God. And all of the Babylonian lords and leaders began to drink and to mock the gods of heaven--the God of heaven, Jehovah.
And in the middle of this blasphemous drunken revelry, all of a sudden, over against the plaster on the wall a bloodless giant hand appeared. Kind of like Thing in "The Addams Family." And it began to write the words, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin." You've ever heard the expression the handwriting on the wall? And when the king looked up and everybody saw this, they dropped their cups and their knees began--the Bible says his knees were smiting together. And he said, "What does it say?" Nobody knew. "Bring in the wise men." They didn't know. They didn't know any more than they knew 39 years earlier when Nebuchadnezzar called them. And finally, the queen mother said, "You know, if you want to understand a vision, you need to call in a Jew. And there is a man in your kingdom," gives me goosebumps whenever I say that. She said, "There is a man." God still has some people. "There is a man who is close to the Lord, he understands God. He'll tell you what this will say."
Daniel is brought in. The king said, "Tell me what the writing says, and I'll give you a golden necklace," like he cared, you know? "And a special garment and make you third ruler in the kingdom." The reason he said you'll be third ruler is because Belshazzar was only second ruler. And Daniel said, "Keep your rewards because I know what it says and you're not going to be in any position to give anybody anything pretty soon." He said, "It says, 'Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.' You are weighed in the balances and found wanting. You are being judged, and the kingdom is being divided and given to the Medes and the Persians."
And at that very moment, that mighty General Cyrus had diverted the Euphrates River way upstream into a dry lake bed. The water level where it went underneath the walls of Babylon dropped precipitously during the night. The soldiers of Babylon inside the city were drunk because they thought there was no attack. They left the inner gates unlocked because they thought, "Well, they haven't gotten to the outer gates yet, no problem." Just like Trojan soldiers, a contingent of Persian army went underneath the walls. They came up, they opened the gates. The Persians and the Medes swarmed into the city, and in one night Babylon fell, that mighty city. And it is foretold in the Bible in incredible accuracy long before it happened. Isaiah lived long before Daniel.
Do you have a Bible? You can go to, let me see which one. You go to Jeremiah actually, we'll start there. Go to Jeremiah chapter 50. By the way, why is this important? If you want to understand Revelation, Revelation 18 talks about the fall of Babylon. Jeremiah chapter 15 and 51 talk about the fall of Babylon. Isaiah chapter 13 talks about the fall of Babylon. Not only was there a Babylon in the Old Testament, there is a Babylon today.
The Bible tells us in the last days there's a Babylon and God's people are being called out of Babylon. You need to know what you're supposed to come out of. So, we need to understand the subject of Babylon. But here you can just look in Jeremiah chapter 50. He discusses the fall of Babylon, the utter destruction of Babylon. "Thus says the LORD," this is 51, "'Behold, I'll raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Leb Kamai, a destroying wind.'" It says that the soldiers will be afraid. Let me see here. "The king of Babylon has heard a report," verse 43 of chapter 50, "and his hands grow feeble; and anguish has taken hold of him, as pangs of a woman with childbirth." And it goes on to say, "The gates will be left open." And it says, "Their soldiers have become like women. They cannot fight. The city fell in one night." And in Isaiah it says, "The rivers would be dried up in ancient Babylon."
Look at Isaiah chapter 45. Now I've switched from Jeremiah to Isaiah. Isaiah wrote this about 700 A.D., hundreds of years before King Cyrus was born. "Thus says the LORD to His anointed," the dead sea scrolls have the entire book of Isaiah. We know this was written--it's ancient prophecy. "Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him, to loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, So the gates will not be shut: 'I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron.'" Just read all of this. It foretells what happened. And that's why when you get to Revelation, it talks about the Euphrates drying up, you understand the spiritual significance of the Euphrates drying up, it preceded the fall of Babylon in the ancient history, you understand?
So, did Babylon last forever? No, it fell. Another little interesting tidbit of history here is some of you know that Saddam Hussein a few years ago, you know, he invaded Kuwait, and you had the two Gulf Wars. One of our sons was in the Marines and he fought in one of those wars. And Saddam Hussein had plans to rebuild ancient Babylon because the prophecy in Isaiah and Jeremiah said Babylon would never be rebuilt. And if you want it, it's Isaiah chapter 13. It says, "Babylon will fall, it will become ruins, it will become heaps, it will never be inhabited, it will never be rebuilt."
Someone told that to Saddam Hussein, Nebuchadnezzar was his hero. Saddam Hussein said, "I am the reincarnation." He wanted to be the leader of the Arab world. That's why he attacked Iran. And he started to try to rebuild Babylon. It got stopped during the first Gulf War. Then there was a brief pause. He tried to renew construction. It got stopped again. He was trying to overthrow the Hebrew prophecy. You cannot overthrow--heaven and earth will pass away; God's Word will not pass away. Ancient Babylon is still heaps today. Isn't that interesting? And Saddam is gone. Says, "Another kingdom will arise after you."
Now we're going from gold to what metal? To silver. This is the Persian kingdom. Started out as the Medo-Persian kingdom. It ended up where the Persians became the dominant kingdom under Cyrus the Great. I've been there, friends. You go to the British Museum. Here is the Cyrus cylinder that was excavated near ancient Babylon. In the cylinder, it says that he was--he conquered Babylon, and he let the captives of the Babylonians go back to their native lands. God foretold in the book of Jeremiah. It's also you find it in the end of 2 Chronicles that the children of Israel would be captives in Babylon for 70 years and after 70 years, they would be allowed to go back, and they did.
You know, if for no other reason, if you're going to believe the Bible, believe it because the Jews are an unusual people. There is no other people in the world that has been dispossessed from their land three times. In the days of Jacob, they went down to Egypt, but they got it back after the Exodus. Then they were carried off to Babylon, but they got it back during the time of Cyrus. Then they were scattered by the Romans for 1900 years, and they got it back and they remained a distinct people. Every other nation that was conquered, intermarried, disappeared, lost their identity. Try and find someone that speaks Comanche today. They used to occupy the Great Plains. But the Jews, God said they would come back, they'd remain distinct. It's incredible. Prophecy comes true. And then yeah, silver was the principal currency in ancient Persia. It is a silver kingdom. Here's the expanse of Persia. It gets bigger, you'll notice. The kingdoms are getting bigger, but it would not last. He said, "You'd have silver, but the silver would transition."
Number eight, what metal would represent the kingdom that followed Medo-Persia? And another third kingdom of what? Bronze. Some of your Bibles will say brass. Technically it's not brass because they didn't use brass back then. Brass also has tin in it, makes it a little shinier. This is really bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. Again, they're talking about it's going to be an empire that's going to spread everywhere.
The brass kingdom of Greece came into power with Alexander the Great, 331 B.C. when he conquered the Persians, and it lasted till about 168. Alexander the Great marched his armies approximately 11,000 miles in mostly ten years. They didn't march the whole time. He conquered the world. He was, you know, taught by Aristotle, very bright military genius, very brave. And he spread the Greek culture, they call it Hellenization. Even at the time of Christ, Greek was the language of learning. And even governments of the world, the Roman governments, were influenced by the Greeks and these great philosophers of Greek. One historian, Aryan said, "I am persuaded that there is no nation, city or people then in being where his name did not reach, for which reason, whatever origin he might boast or claim to himself, there seems to have been some divine hand presiding over his birth and his actions. But even this kingdom would not last."
Now the kingdom of Greece, guess what they used his armor? Bronze. They were known as the brazen soldiers because they use bronze swords and bronze shields and bronze helmets. There's an example of one that was recovered that you see there on your screen. And here is a map of the extent of Alexander's kingdom. He marched his armies all the way to the borders of India, where they were fighting elephants. And extended up to Egypt and Damascus and Greece.
I want you to notice something that's happening here with these different kingdoms, and they all occupied Jerusalem. The Greeks were a little better at first, Alexander was. Some of the later Greek leaders like Antius, Epiphanes, and others were very brutal to the Jewish nation, but each kingdom is lasting longer, but the metal is less valuable than the one before. Babylonians about 70 years. And then you get the Persians, which lasts longer, but it's silver, not worth as much as gold. Then you got the bronze, which isn't worth as much as silver, but it's harder. Each one is harder than the one before it. They last longer and they're harder. And watch what happens next.
Number nine, what metal represents the fourth kingdom? You read here, Daniel chapter 2, verse 40, "And the fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron." The Romans had mastered the forging of iron weapons, and that's one reason they were able to conquer. Now, I just want you to think about this. Are you aware in the book of Daniel that he foretells later in Daniel, the Greek Empire by name, calls it Grecia. The chances of the Greeks ruling the world when Daniel said that, no offense to anybody out there right now. I hope I don't offend anybody, but if I were to tell you, in 100 years, the world's going to be ruled by Uruguay. Who here would predict that? No, I mean anything's possible, but who would predict that? The likelihood of the Greeks and the Romans ruling the world when Daniel made that prophecy was ludicrous. They just--they saw no way that would happen. But he foretold it and he even foretold the Greeks by name in Daniel chapter 8.
Now he says this fourth kingdom, a kingdom of iron. The Romans had mastered an iron. They were getting the iron from the forges and the mines in northern or in southern Spain. A place called Tarshish. The iron monarchy conquered the Greeks in 168 at the Battle of Arbela. And you think about it, with an iron sword, you can literally cut a bronze sword in two. So, the weapons made a big difference. That's why the medieval knights, they had this armor mail, and in the Bible you can read how the soldiers of Israel, they couldn't get any iron from the Philistines, and the Philistines were able to subdue them because the Philistines had the iron and only David and Saul and Jonathan had actually iron swords. And so, that was like, you know, having nuclear weapons back then if you had the iron. It was iron nails that pierced Jesus's hands. And an iron spear that pierced his side and iron swords killed the babies in Bethlehem. And the Romans ruled with an iron fist, and they lasted longer than the Greeks.
They had, you know, for a while there, there was what they called the Pax Romana. There was the Roman peace, and it was during the time of the Roman Empire, God saw fit for the incarnation. God came into the world during that time for a good reason. There was a period of time during the time of Augustus Caesar for 40 years where there was a degree of peace. They built roads everywhere.
So, when Christ came and the knowledge of the gospel and Pentecost was poured out and Jews from all over the Roman Empire heard about Jesus, they scattered all around the world and the gospel spread, and Jesus said something outrageous. This carpenter said, "My teachings will go to all of the world," and it did. And the Romans influenced the government of every world, the world today. You know, we're still--why do we have a month called July? Julius Caesar. Why do we have a month called August? Augustus Caesar. Why is February short? Because Augustus Caesar wanted a month that was just as long as July, so he had to take some days off of February to put it on August. Why do we have a day of the week called Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We got it from the Romans. Sun worship, moon worship, Saturn worship, Odin worship, Thor worship. It all kind of came from the background of the Roman power.
What would happen after the fall of the Roman Empire? The kingdom will be divided as the toes and the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile. The Roman Empire began to crumble about 476 B.C. It didn't happen any one particular day, but because they were so preoccupied with entertainment. And the family fell apart. You know, Augustus Caesar, he believed in marriage. He, in spite of his problems, he supported the strength of the family. Then you got people like Nero and Diocletian and these guys were despicable. And the kingdom became weak and the soldiers became weak. And the barbarians and the Aryans, they came in from the north and the kingdom fragmented into ten parts just like the ten toes on the image that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about. "Until now you've moved from the iron to the iron mixed with clay." But it says later in Daniel, not just clay, it says miry clay.
Now what happened? Notice, up to this point, these kingdoms are occupied around Israel during the time of the iron Rome. But during the time of Christ, when the Romans ruled, the gospel and God's people then spread. And even the Jews were conquered and the great dysphoria, they spread everywhere. So, now it's not just restricted to the Middle East. Now we've got the ten divisions of the Roman Empire that end up spreading around the world.
I think it's very interesting. It says, "But there shall be in it the strength of the iron for as much as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay." Who would like to guess what is the number one building material in the world today by far? It's called reinforced concrete. Which is what? Iron mixed with miry clay.
Number 11, would these kingdoms ever succeed in uniting? What did the prophecy say? Daniel 2:43, "They'll mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they will not adhere one to another, as iron does not mix with clay." You know, they all tried. They all tried to get back the power of the Caesars. You've heard of Kaiser Wilhelm. You know how you—what, what does the word Kaiser mean? It's German for czar. I mean German for Caesar. And what does the word "czar" mean? It's Russian for Caesar. And Hitler wanted the Third Reich. He wanted to be the Caesar. They wanted to reunite it. And the English tried to do it through marriage. Queen Victoria was called the grandmother of Europe because her kids and grandkids were married into every family in Europe.
Who will set up the final kingdom? Praise God. The Bible says there is a stone. There is a rock of ages cut without man's hands because He came in the image of God. And in the days of these kings, friends, we are living in the days of the final empire. "The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed." All the other kingdoms passed away, but there's a kingdom that will never be destroyed, amen?
Quickly review. Go back and I'm going to put it on the stage. You see it again, and you call out the answers with me. All right, let's see if we can get our statue back up here. So, you've got the gold. What kingdom is the gold? Babylon. Followed by silver which represented Medo-Persia 539 to 331. Followed by what kingdom? Greece, 331 to 168. Followed by the iron of what kingdom? Rome. And then you get the iron and clay which is the divided kingdom from the ten nations of Europe that you have the Alamani and the Franks and the Saxons, the Burgundians, the Swevi, and I'll list them for you another night.
What does the stone do to the other world kingdoms? "You watched while the stone was cut out without hands, it struck the image on its feet of iron, and clay and broke them in pieces. And the stone that struck them, the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." The Bible says, "Blessed are the meek," What's the answer? They will fulfill--they will fill the earth, friends. I want to be one of those that will be in that kingdom. Do you know the spiritual kingdom came when Jesus came? Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." What did the king say when he heard this vision? After hearing Daniel's clear interpretation of the dream, Nebuchadnezzar said, "Truly your God is a God of Gods and a Lord of kings since you could reveal this secret."
Now how many of you think that God can tell the future? If everything else in this vision has happened right on schedule, why would we doubt the last thing is going to happen? Friends, we are living on the very cusp of eternity now. The next thing is for Jesus to come.
Doug: You know, Jesus came into our world for three reasons. First of all, He came as our example to live a life that we might follow his steps. He came to show us the Father. He said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." And then He came as our sacrifice. He died on the cross as a substitute for all our sins, but we must come to him. We repent of our sins. We confess. He'll receive us with loving arms. Why don't you ask him now?
Doug: Hi friends, I trust you being blessed by what you're watching. If you want to be doubly blessed, then you're going to want to get the Prophecy Odyssey study guides that go along with these presentations. There's 15 study guides. They're beautifully illustrated, and they will greatly enhance your Bible comprehension. So, if you'd like to get them, simply follow the instructions that you see on the screen. You will be glad you did.
Doug: If you'd like to learn more about the most powerful prophecies in the Bible, you will want to take note of this incredible free offer. It's the "Amazing Facts" magazine, "Daniel and Revelation Secrets of Bible Prophecy." These two Bible books of Daniel and Revelation, work together to reveal fascinating truths that are unfolding right now in these last days. To get your free copy, simply follow the instructions on your screen. You'll be glad you did.
Announcer: This presentation was brought to you by the friends of the Amazing Facts ministry.