Daniel’s vision (Daniel 2:19) of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream has intrigued many succeeding generations with its image-coded prophetic meaning. What does the stature with its four parts mean for today, if anything? Does this ancient dream give clues to the final course of the nations? We would say yes but with caution.

For many years, I was convinced that the fourth beast, the one most relevant to our final age, was identified with the Roman Empire. Along with the acceptance of that belief came another one: that of a possibly revived Roman Empire. But in the last years, I have been introduced to another interpretation (by Joel Richardson and others) that revealed the holes of assuming the fourth beast was the Roman Empire.

After attending numerous prophecy conferences and reading many books on the end times, I never considered another empire that could fulfill the spot for the fourth kingdom. I concluded that neither did the many famous speakers and authors I listened to or read. My aim here is to simply alert you that an Islamic Caliphate fits the description of the fourth section (legs and feet) much more accurately than the Roman Empire.

Have I studied it in depth yet? No, but due to the urgency of our international situation, I wanted to ensure that at least we allow this interpretation of the Muslims fitting that role to be rightly analyzed along with other interpretations.

The Muslims unabashedly deny Jesus Christ as the Son of God and certainly have much more ‘crushing’ power as has been seen in the destruction of the historical Christian church throughout North Africa.

“Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:22-23).

Today, we see a growing remnant again mercilessly hurting those around them and eager to destroy important artifacts and people today, extinguishing any former identity of the people.

Daniel 2:40-45

40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.
41 And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.
43 And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
45 Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy. (Daniel 2:40-45 NASB)

Daniel 2 Bible Study Questions

1. Why do people assume the fourth kingdom of this dream in Daniel 2 is the Roman Empire?

2. Where were the Islamic Caliphate centered compared to the Roman Empire?

3. Which empire stood over the land of Babylonia, the original receiver of the dream?

4. Which empire was more fierce?

5. Which explanation of the special feet is best explained by the two possible empires (Daniel 2:43)?