Europe’s Future Revealed
Delve into a remarkable prophecy about the rise and fall of kingdoms. What does the future hold for Europe?
How does the story start?
And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.
The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof. They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.
The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
Who then appeared before the king? What did he request?
And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. … Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.
Daniel and his friends were also under the death sentence that the king had pronounced on the wise men, so when he heard about it, he quickly went to the king to ask for more time.
What did Daniel do next?
Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.
Daniel asked his friends to join him in prayer, seeking God to reveal the dream, and their request was granted when God revealed it to Daniel. This underscores the important role that prayer plays in the life of a Christian.
Who did Daniel give credit to?
Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.
God saved their lives by revealing the king’s dream and its interpretation, and Daniel gave God all the credit.
What was the purpose of the dream?
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.
As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
The dream was God’s answer to the king’s wondering about what the future would hold for his kingdom.
What did the king see in his dream?
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
What did it look like?
This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
What happened to it?
Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
Who was represented by the head of gold?
This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
Aptly symbolized by a head of gold, Babylon was one of the most extravagant kingdoms of antiquity. It ruled supreme from 612 BC onward, after conquering the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. The city’s walls were nearly 200 feet high and wide enough for two chariots to ride side by side, while the Hanging Gardens were one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Would his kingdom last?
And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
What kingdom did the chest of silver represent?
PERES: Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
Babylon was conquered by Cyrus in 539 BC, making the Medo-Persian Empire the next dominant power. Under its reign, all taxes were required to be paid in silver.
Did the Bible predict how Babylon would fall?
That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut.
In one of the most astoundingly detailed prophecies, God not only explicitly named Cyrus through His prophet Isaiah but also predicted the manner in which he would conquer Babylon—more than 150 years before it happened! According to the ancient historian Herodotus, when Cyrus surrounded Babylon, his armies diverted the Euphrates River that flowed through the city, allowing them to pass under the city’s walls by walking on the riverbed. Babylon also had street gates that controlled access to the river, but that night, the gates were left open!
What kingdom would come next?
And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
After the silver kingdom symbolizing Medo-Persia, a third kingdom—represented by bronze—would arise. Notably, each succeeding metal in the statue is less valuable but more enduring than the one before it.
According to Daniel 8, what kingdom is this?
The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
After a series of campaigns, Alexander the Great delivered a decisive blow to the Persian Empire at the Battle of Arbela in 331 BC, making the kingdom of Greece the next dominant world power. Notably, the armor of Greek soldiers was made entirely of bronze.
How is the fourth kingdom described?
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
The iron monarchy of Rome conquered the Greeks in 168 BC and was the world power when Jesus was born. The legs of iron are a fitting symbol, as Rome’s long reign—lasting over 600 years—brought great persecution to God’s people.
What is represented by the feet of iron and clay?
And whereas thou sawest 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. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Unlike the head, chest, thighs, and legs—each made of a single metal—the feet and toes are composed of a mixture of iron and clay. This indicates that the kingdom they represent will be fundamentally different from the ones before it. The iron is described as strong, while the clay—the only non-metal element in the statue—is called “broken” (fragile). Because clay is not a metal, it cannot represent a civil power like the metals that came before it. Jeremiah 18:6 tells us that clay represents God’s people—His church—because of its apparent fragility, especially when contrasted with the strength of civil power, which holds the authority to enforce law and order.
When the Christian church started apostatizing, it sought to regain the power of the apostolic church by uniting with civil government to enforce its laws against heretics. The Edict of Milan in 313 AD opened the door for the union of church and state that, in God’s eyes, cannot be legitimately joined (Daniel 2:43). Because this union is unlawful, it will disintegrate at Christ’s second coming, symbolized by the stone cut without hands that crushes the image to powder (Daniel 2:34).[1] The only legitimate union of God’s church is with Jesus Christ, who is described as her Husband (Ephesians 5:25) and the Rock upon which she is built (Ephesians 2:19-22; Matthew 7:24-25). With such a sure Foundation, she has no need for protection or support from civil power to ensure her survival.
What else is significant about the iron and clay mixture?
The iron-clay mixture in the feet forms the base upon which the entire image stands. This suggests that the blending of religion and government is, unfortunately, a fundamental feature throughout history, and that the union of apostate Christianity with civil power, specifically, is the culmination toward which history has been trending.[2] Under the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires, religion was deeply intertwined with the state, so much so that it became a civic duty rather than merely a personal matter. What is notable about the iron-clay mixture in the feet is that it represents a power claiming to be God’s church—one that ought to know better, especially since Jesus Himself said that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), and that a clear separation between one’s duties to God and to the state must always be maintained (Luke 20:25).[3]
In the pagan empires mentioned above, the state was supreme over religion, using religion to support its authority. However, under the papal government symbolized by the feet, this pattern was reversed: religion was elevated above the state, using the state for its support. Thus, the mingling of religion and government in the pagan empires served as a precursor to the ultimate form of this union under the papacy.
Although Constantine began blending church and state in 313 AD with the Edict of Milan,[4] the church did not gain total supremacy over the state until 538 AD, when the last barbarian tribe opposing the papacy—the Ostrogoths—was overthrown. With this achieved, Justinian’s decree of 533 AD, which elevated the pope to headship over all churches and appointed him the corrector of all heresies, could be fully enforced.
It is remarkable that, instead of clean break between the metals, the iron found in the legs continues into the feet and toes, extending all the way to the end of time. When the Roman Empire crumbled, a new power rose in its place, led by the pope, who claimed the title Pontifex Maximus adopted by the Caesars. Consequently, the Roman element, symbolized by iron, shifted from the civil authority of the Roman Empire to that of the Roman Catholic Church, which claimed this right, in part, based on the forged Donation of Constantine. Pagan Rome had become papal Rome.
Under this new arrangement, the pope not only assumed the imperial title of the Caesars but also claimed the religious title Vicar of Christ, asserting himself as the successor of Peter and the head of all churches. Thus, the Roman Catholic Church is a union of church and state, symbolized by the iron and clay, with the state subservient to the church—a complete reversal of the pattern seen in the previous empires.
What is represented by the toes?
And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
The prophecy of Daniel 2 is expanded in Daniel 7: just as the image in Daniel 2 has ten toes, so the fourth beast in Daniel 7 has ten horns. Eighteen distinct tribes played a role in the destruction of the Western Roman Empire,[5] but exactly ten—no more, no less—remained when the Empire finally collapsed in AD 476, just as the Bible had predicted by the ten toes. Three of the ten were destroyed, but the seven remaining would give rise to the modern nations of Europe: Visigoths (Spain), Franks (France), Alemanni (Germany), Suevi (Portugal), Anglo-Saxons (England), Burgundians (Switzerland), Lombards (Italy), Heruli (destroyed in 493 AD), Vandals (destroyed in 534 AD), and Ostrogoths (destroyed in 538 AD).
Will national divisions ever be abolished?
Since the toes are the final portion of the image, the national divisions they symbolize will remain until the Second Coming of Christ, despite numerous attempts throughout history to reunite them. Leaders such as Charlemagne, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Hitler all tried and failed to restore a fully unified empire. Even modern efforts, like the European Union, will not succeed. No power will ever rise again to unite all nations under a single empire, as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome once did.[6]
What happens next?
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
The stone cut without hands represents Christ’s eternal kingdom, which will replace all earthly kingdoms at His return. Some have misapplied the symbolism of the stone to represent an earthly millennial kingdom established by His Church, but this cannot be the case, as the Bible teaches that the earth will be completely destroyed at His Second Coming and that the saved will be caught up to heaven. The stone, by the way, strikes the image at its feet, which indicates that Jesus will return during the time of the divided nations.
Are there other Bible references to Christ’s kingdom?
Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
In Psalm 2, David, under divine inspiration, foreshadowed the prophecy of Daniel 2:34—centuries before it was revealed. Jesus also compared Himself to the Stone that would grind to powder those upon whom it falls—a reference to those who reject His mercy. In contrast, those who fall on the Stone of their own accord will be broken; that is, when they encounter the reality of His love, they are humbled and choose to surrender their pride and self-righteousness to Him (Matthew 5:5).
What hope does the Bible give us?
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Daniel 2 teaches that God knows the end from the beginning and is Sovereign over all of history (Isaiah 46:9-10; Proverbs 21:1; Daniel 2:21). He has granted every empire ample time and opportunity to come to know Him, but when His mercies are resisted and His truth rejected, the guilty empire falls, and another rises in its place (Acts 17:26-27). This pattern is evident in the rise and fall of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, and it will continue until history reaches its climactic point: the return of Christ in the clouds to establish His eternal kingdom, free from sin and all the sorrow it brings. The Bible assures us that this present world of pain, suffering, and evil will not endure forever. Soon, it will be replaced by Christ’s glorious new kingdom, where righteousness dwells.
The mingling of church and state that began in the Roman Empire in 313 AD brought ruin upon the empire in the following century through the invasions of barbarian tribes. This church-state union was then reestablished under the papacy’s ecclesiastical empire in Europe, which lasted from 538 AD until 1798, when Napoleon Bonaparte’s general took Pope Pius VI captive. Although God’s judgment took longer to manifest than it did in the Roman Empire, it still came. A third and final installment of this union will occur just prior to Christ’s Second Coming—this time in the United States—and will then be imitated by the rest of the world. National and global ruin will once again be the inevitable result (Daniel 2:34). ↩︎
The United States was the first nation to break this trend because of its Constitution; however, even this would prove to be only temporary, as prophecy predicts a future union of church and state in the United States prior to the Second Coming of Christ. This will not be the first occurrence either, as the Supreme Court’s landmark 1892 decision in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States declared the United States a Christian nation. Moreover, that same year, Congress passed legislation to close the World’s Columbian Exposition on Sundays in honor of Sunday observance, which was also approved by President Benjamin Harrison. As a result, only 101 years after the ratification of the First Amendment, which established the separation of church and state, all three branches of the United States government had repudiated it. ↩︎
The state has no right to dictate anything in the realm of worship, which belongs exclusively to God, and in which the individual’s right of conscience reigns supreme. ↩︎
The Edict of Milan ordered that church property confiscated under the edicts of Diocletian be restored to Christians, which sparked controversy over which groups of believers qualified as Christians. A year after the Edict of Milan, Constantine convened the Council of Arles to address the issue, and the council affirmed the Catholic Church as the representative of orthodox Christianity. ↩︎
The eighteen tribes were the Alemanni, Alans, Angles, Burgundians, Franks, Gepids, Heruli, Huns, Jutes, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Rugians, Saxons, Sciri, Suevi, Thuringians, Vandals, and Visigoths. ↩︎
Revelation predicts that just before Christ’s return, all the nations of the world will unite to destroy God’s people, but God will intervene before their plans are carried out. ↩︎