Daniel's Scope of Prophecy Does Not Include Rome! The Book of Daniel was written over 2600 years ago by a Godly Prophet named Daniel. Daniel is only one of two men in the Bible that nothing negative is ever said about; the other being Joseph. Because of Daniel's impeccable character, and the prophetic nature of this book, the book of Daniel has been under attack from Satan from it's inception. It has been said the Book of Daniel is the key that unlocks the prophetic teachings being taught to the modern day Christian Church. Because of the strategic importance of the Book of Daniel for understanding prophecy as well as the Book of Revelation, Satan has misdirected certain end time teachings that are widely taught today. For example, one incorrect teaching is the forth Beast/Antichrist Kingdom in the Book of Daniel is Rome. Therefore The Book of Daniel's primary purpose in the Old Testament is to reveal the soon coming Antichrist to the Nation of Israel, similar to the Book of Revelation's purpose in the New Testament to reveal the soon coming Christ to the world!
As the Book of Daniel focuses toward chapters 11 and 12, Daniel's field field of view narrows to an area just north of Israel in modern Syria, Lebanon, Southern Turkey, and Northern Iraq. In Daniel Chapters 1 and 2, this broad territory around the Middle East is represented by the dream of a huge metal man image that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon dreamed and Daniel interpreted, whose head was of gold, chest and arms of silver, stomach and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay. Then as we move toward the end of the book in chapter 8, this field of view narrows to focus in on Alexander the Greats Grecian Kingdom which is wants to conquer the Media-Persian Kingdom. Then when we arrive at the end of the Book of Daniel in chapters 11 and 12, we discover this area really magnifys the focus on the king of the north and king of the south: areas out of the Grecian Empire from General Seleucid's kingdom (Syria) and General Ptolemy's Kingdom (Egypt), that make war against each other, with Israel being caught in the middle.
This huge metal man image in Daniel Chapter 2 actually represents The Times of the Gentiles from 606 B.C. until sometime after 2008 A.D..This image represents the broad time span when no Godly appointed king out of the line of David will rule Jerusalem and Judea. The head of gold on this statue represent the Babylonian Empire ruled by Nebuchadnezzar, which today would be called Iraq. Then the chest and arms of silver represent the Media-Persian Empire, today we would call Iran. After that the belly and thighs of brass represent the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great, today we would call the Middle East. Then the two legs which are merely extensions of the thighs represent two of the four generals which this vast territory was divided up between at the death of Alexander the Great (Daniel 8:21-22). General Ptolemy to the south took over an area around Egypt, and General Seleucid in the north took over an area we would call Syria today, and of course Israel was a land bridge between the two. Then the feet, which are merely extensions of the Grecian legs, represent the future Antichrist Empire; which is the focus of the entire Book of Daniel in the first place. Read carefully now the anatomy of this metal man image as it is dissected into each of it's parts by the Authorized King James Bible in Daniel 2:32-33 : This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 33) His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
Lets read again the description of the third Grecian Kingdom: The text says...his belly and his thighs of brass. It doesn't say his belly and his hips of brass, or it doesn't say his belly and loins of brass; IT SAYS HIS BELLY AND HIS THIGHS OF BRASS. Now we know from our own body, the thigh ends just above the knee, and the legs are extensions of the thigh; in other words as that Ole song goes the FOOT BONES connected to the...leg BONE: the LEG BONES connected to the...thigh BONE etc. So the legs and feet are merely extensions out of Alexander the Greats Grecian Empire; therefore making it impossible the Antichrist Kingdom in the feet will come out of the Roman Empire/E.U.! This is where the kings of the North and kings of the South in Daniel Chapter 11 come from: extensions of the Grecian Empire.
Now read carefully what the Word of God has to say about the feet of this great metal man image in Daniel 2:41-43: 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 iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42.)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. 43.) And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Now I want to focus more on those toes in the metal man image in Daniel 2:42. These toes represent modern time in 2008 A.D in the 21st Century, where we have Islamic countries surrounding Israel, being threatened by Democracy; both of which had their roots in the former territory of the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great. You can look up the word Democracy in a dictionary as I did, and you will find it is a word translated from a Greek word which means government ruled by the people ; therefore Democracy had it's roots in the Grecian Empire.
As we progress toward the end of the Book of Daniel, we arrive at Chapter 7, which speaks of four beast empires, which are the same empires as the nations found in the metal man image of Daniel Chapter 2. Whereas Daniel 2 sets THE COURSE of Gentile Nations that rule Jerusalem during The Times of The Gentiles; Daniel Chapter 7 represents THE CHARACTER of these same nations in the metal man image of Daniel Chapter 2! Then when we get to Daniel Chapter 8, we see Daniel's focus concentrates on two specific empires: the Media-Persian Empire represented by the character of a ram with two horns, and the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great represented by the character of a rough goat (he goat) with one horn. Now read what the Bible says about these two kingdoms in Daniel 8:20-23: In 330 B.C., Alexander the Great (goat in 8:21) conquered the Media-Persian Empire(ram in 8:20), and in 323 B.C. died at the young age of 33 (horn was broken in 8:22). Since Alexander had no biological heirs to his vast empire, the territory at his death was divide up between his four trusted Generals (four horns in 8:22): Gassanger took Macedonia and the western part, Lysimachus took Thrace and the Northern part, Seleucus took Syria and the Eastern part, and Plolemy took Egypt and the southern part.
These are the Legs of that great metal man image found in Daniel Chapter 2. The legs of Iron are the kingdoms of General Seleucus King of the North, and General Ptolemy King of the South: both extensions out of the Grecian Empire AND NOT OUT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AS TRADITIONALLY TAUGHT! The FEET and TOES of the metal man image of Daniel 2 will come into ultimate focus at some future time (after 2008) where a King of the South (Egypt or Israel Government who now rules Jerusalem) will put pressure on a future ruler of Syria/Lebanon (King of the North) according to Daniel 11:40...And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind...
In Conclusion, the Book of Daniel unquestionably focuses our attention on a small area just north of Israel around the Syria/Lebanon/Southern Turkey/Northern Iraq area of the Middle East, as the location the future Antichrist, called the Mahdi of Islam, will come out of. This Islamic Messiah will set up an Islamic Caliphate that will stretch from Europe to India, and North Africa to Russia. So please get your eyes off the traditional teaching that says Europe will be the origin of the coming Antichrist Kingdom, and get your focus on the Middle East that is Scriptural! In His Service, Dave Watchman www.thewatchmanstime.com or see my video on GodTube: http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=14c84742eba20c523f0c