Nebuchadnezzar has a dream (v.31-35):

³¹ “Your Majesty, as you were watching, suddenly a colossal statue appeared. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying. ³² The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its stomach and thighs were bronze, ³³ its legs were iron, and its feet were partly iron and partly fired clay. ³⁴ As you were watching, a stone broke off without a hand touching it, struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were shattered and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Daniel provides the interpretation (v26-45):

³⁶ “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷ Your Majesty, you are king of kings. The God of the heavens has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and glory. ³⁸ Wherever people live—or wild animals, or birds of the sky—he has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.

³⁹ “After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth. ⁴⁰ A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others. ⁴¹ You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter’s fired clay and partly of iron—it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay, ⁴² and that the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay—part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle. ⁴³ You saw the iron mixed with clay—the peoples will mix with one another but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay.

⁴⁴ “In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it, and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold. The great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain, and its interpretation reliable.”

Most typically argue there are 4 kingdoms mentioned + a 5th which is the stone. However, careful reading actually depicts several stages of the 4th kingdom, arguably making up to 6 kingdoms. We proceed on this basis.

There are 6 main kingdoms mentioned and are typically divided like this:

1. Golden head – Nebuchadnezzar’s/Babylonian kingdom
2. its chest and arms were silver – Persian Empire
3. its stomach and thighs were bronze – Greek Empire
4. its legs were iron – Roman and Byzantine Empires;
5. its feet were partly iron and partly fired clay –
6. God’s kingdom that will never be destroyed.

The following is a brief discussion on the implications and meaning of the prophecy. For a short primer on how the kingdoms are identified, see https://endtim.es/daniel-2-the-kingdoms-unmasked

Kingdom 1 – Golden head

Nebuchadnezzar is the golden head. While God said that he was lord over the whole world, in reality the Mede/Persian empire that eventually defeated the Babylonians was far larger, and the Egyptian empire wasn’t anything to laugh about either. Nebuchadnezzar had defeated the Assyrians and captured Jerusalem in about 609 BC.

The Babylonian Empire’s demise is recorded in Daniel 5 which demonstrates the Mede/Persian empire’s ascension.

Kingdom 2 – silver chest and arms

The Mede/Persian Empire was considered weaker and inferior to the Babylonian empire despite being significantly larger and actually conqured the Babylonian empire.

King Cyrus (Achaemenid dynasty) ordered the rebuilding of the Temple and Artaxerxes ordered the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Some have argued that the Mede/Persian kingdom was an extension of the Babylonian kingdom and should be regarded as such. This is generally not supported by historians and only by theologians desiring to change the empires and the corresponding descriptions in Daniel 2.

Kingdom 3 – bronze stomach and thighs

This was the largest empire in the history of the world up until now. The map below depicts Greek empire and its subsequent division into 4 larger kingdoms at the death of Alexander the Great (d. 323 BC). The empire as a cohesive whole was short lived. Alexander the Great defeated the Mede/Persian empire. After his death, one of Alexander the Great’s generals Seleucus I Nicator, founded the Seleucid Empire, an area extending from northern Palestine to the Indus River; and Ptolemy ruled over Egypt and central and southern Palestine.

Greek rule of Israel ended in 143 BC. It was during the Greek rule that the Maccabean revolt occured 166-160BC, which had been sparked by Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) had desecrated the temple by slaughtering a pig.

Why is the Greek Empire not considered the divided empire of iron? Mostly because it is very much the empire that destroyed the Mede/Persian empire and there is no substitute.

Kingdom 4 – iron legs

The Roman Empire is the most famously divided empire in history. Rome conquered Israel in 63 BC, under General Pompey. Herod the Great was appointed as king in 40 BC. It started off as a single empire, but in AD.285 Augustus Diocletian created two administrative regions with sub-emperors. Constantine the Great (r. 306–337), the first Christian emperor, moved the imperial seat from Rome to Byzantium in AD.330, and renamed it Constantinople. Jerome says the iron kingdom is clearly the Roman Empire

It becomes a Christian Empire

Although Constantine was a Christian, his successors were not. However, Christianity was a growing influence and fifteen years before the empire split into two separate empires, in AD.380 Augustus Theodosius I, issued the Edict of Thessalonica threatening both divine punishment and imperial retribution for those who rejected the Nicene creed of AD.325. Thus, the Roman Empire was officially Christian. Theodosius began to persecute non-Christians. In AD.381 he convened a council of bishops at the First Council of Constantinople.

The Two Legs Emerge

Now officially Christian, the Roman Empires were officially divided in AD.395 and became the two legs of Daniel’s image: the Western Roman Empire ruled by Theodosius I’s son Honorius, and the Eastern Roman Empire (later Byzantine) ruled by his other son Arcadius. The Romans considered this a single empire with two different administrative regions. Just as Daniel foretold, these two empires mixed, but did not hold together.

It is commonly held that the Western Roman Empire lasted as a cohesive empire until AD 476 when the last Roman emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the Germanic chieftain Odoace. It should be noted that while the deposition of Emperor Romulus Augustulus is the most commonly cited end date for the Western Roman Empire, the last Western Roman emperor Julius Nepos, was assassinated in AD.480, when the title and notion of a separate Western Empire were abolished. Another suggested end date is the reorganization of the Italian peninsula and abolition of separate Western Roman administrative institutions under Emperor Justinian¹ (ruled AD.527-565). This is the emergence of the 10 kingdoms (more on this below).

Between the collapse of the the Western and Eastern Empires, the schism of AD.1054 between the churches of Rome and Constantinople removed any authority the emperor in Constantinople could hope to exert in the West.

Islam defeated the Byzantine Empire was defeated in AD.1453.

This prophecy is a significant challenge to the legitimacy of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, are practically synonymous with the Western and Eastern legs of the Roman Empire. And they claim that heritage for themselves. A series of ecumenical councils convened by successive Roman emperors met during the 4th and the 5th centuries to decide on various theological matters. Justinian I, who became emperor in AD.527, claimed (over the recognised patriarchs of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem) “the right and duty of regulating by his laws the minutest details of worship and discipline, and also of dictating the theological opinions to be held in the Church“.²

After Byzantine Emperor Justinian I reunified the Italian peninsular, he appointed the next three popes, beginning the practice of Roman Popes seeking the approval of the Byzantine Emperors. Pope Gregory III (731–741) was the last Bishop of Rome to ask the Byzantine ruler to ratify his election.³ From there, Pope Nicholas I created that Papacy. He astounded the Greeks by his consummate audacity (AD.860) in the matter of the disputed succession in Constantinople.⁴ “It is our will,” he says, “that Ignatius should appear before our envoys,” etc. He declares it the rule of the Fathers, that, “without the consent of the Roman See and the Roman pontiff, nothing should be decided.”⁵

In AD.732, Emperor Leo III’s iconoclast policies were resisted by Pope Gregory III. The Emperor reacted by transferring to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Constantinople in 740 the territories in Greece, Illyria, Sicily and Calabria that had been under Rome, leaving the bishop of Rome with only a minute part of the lands over which the Eastern Roman Empire still had control in Italy.⁶ By then the Patriarch of Constantinople had already adopted the title of “ecumenical patriarch”, indicating what he saw as his position in the oikoumene, the Christian world ideally headed by the emperor and the patriarch of the emperor’s capital.⁷ Also under the influence of the imperial model of governance of the state church, in which “the emperor becomes the actual executive organ of the universal Church”,⁸ the pentarchy model of governance of the state church regressed to a monarchy of the Patriarch of Constantinople.⁹

The practice of seeking imperial approval for the position of patriarch, established much earlier, whereby the patriarchs sought ratification of their election from the Byzantine Emperor demonstrates how little light there was between the Empire and the church. The Oriental Orthodox who had seceded centuries earlier called these patriarchs “Melkites” – meaning those who are loyal to the emperor and willing to accept imperial religious policies. Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day, AD.800 marking the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire (not to be confused with the Roman Empire but a Roman Empire version 2.0) and making the split between the Eastern and Western churches almost inevitable. Then in AD.962, the Holy Roman Emperor assumed control over papal elections and the appointment of bishops, reinforcing imperial authority over the Church. The last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by a Pope was Charles V crowned by Pope Clement VII in AD.1530.

In the Eastern Roman Empire, in AD.1393, only 60 years before the fall of the capital, Patriarch Antony IV of Constantinople wrote to Basil I of Muscovy defending the liturgical commemoration in Russian churches of the Byzantine emperor on the grounds that he was “emperor (βασιλεύς) and autokrator of the Romans, that is of all Christians“.¹⁰ According to Patriarch Antony, “it is not possible among Christians to have a Church and not to have an emperor. For the empire and the Church have great unity and commonality, and it is not possible to separate them“,¹¹ and “the holy emperor is not like the rulers and governors of other regions”.¹² …Even when persecuted by the emperor, the Eastern Church, George Pachymeres said, “counted the days until they should be rid not of their emperor (for they could no more live without an emperor than a body without a heart), but of their current misfortunes“.¹³ The church had come to merge psychologically in the minds of the Eastern bishops with the empire to such an extent that they had difficulty in thinking of Christianity without an emperor.¹⁴

Pope Pius XII said in his 1943 Encyclical¹⁵ “… we would define and describe this true church of Jesus Christ – which is the One, Holy, Apostolic and Roman Church…“¹⁶. He later says in Humani Generis (1950)¹⁷ condemning those who claim they are not bound by the same Encyclical to believe that the true church is the Roman Church, “Some say they are not bound by the doctrine, explained in Our Encyclical Letter of a few years ago, and based on the sources of revelation, which teaches that the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing…These and like errors, it is clear, have crept in among certain of Our sons who are deceived by imprudent zeal for souls or by false science. To them We are compelled with grief to repeat once again truths already well known, and to point out with solicitude clear errors and dangers of error.”

Perhaps the clearest indicator of the intertwining of the Roman Church and imperial power is that “Pope” Boniface III was able to obtain an imperial proclamation declaring Rome as “the head of all the churches” (reaffirming Justinian I’s naming the pope “the first among all the priests”), a decree Phocas (Byzantine emperor AD.602-610) intended as much to humiliate the Patriarch of Constantinople as exalt the pope.¹⁸ But why should the church care, or even seek approval from, the government?

Or perhaps the title ‘Pontifex maximus’ demonstrates this even better. It was the title of the chief high priest of the pagan Roman Religion which became with Caesar Augustus, part of the title and responsibility of the Roman Emperor¹⁹ until it was relinquished as a title by Gratian (c. AD.383). Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 220 AD) sarcastically called the bishop of Rome, Callixtus I, ‘Pontifex Maximus’ over his willingness to admit repentant serial adulterers and fornicators back into fellowship.²⁰ The Latin text of the Edict of Thessolonica (AD.381) gave the title of summus pontifex to the patriarch of Rome as well as other patriarchs. After the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire and the death of the final Roman emperor Constantine XI in 1453, Pontifex maximus became part of the papacy’s official titulature of the Bishop of Rome.²¹

The Pope²² now continues the office of the title of the emperor of the Roman Empire and its pagan high priest. Even today, Roman Catholics understand that the Roman Catholic Church is the continuation of Imperial Rome. “The Roman Empire is not yet utterly destroyed. Even to-day in Rome there still sits upon his throne a direct successor to the Roman Emperor — the Pope. He bears the very title, Pontifex Maximus, with which the Emperors were once accustomed to adorn their names. He is the head of that spiritual and religious empire into which the material and political structure of the Roman Empire was transmuted at the downfall of ancient civilization.“²³ It is therefore an impossible task to the separate the Iron Kingdom from Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

It should be understood that there was so little light between the Roman Church and the Byzantine church and the Empire, that they are seen as religious empires, by their own testimony. These are the two legs, that are smashed by the stone.

According to Scripture the stone that smashes the kingdoms comes after the divided empire and after the division of the 10 toes and after the clay is mixed with iron and smashes them altogether. If the Iron kingdom cannot be separated from its religion, then Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are part of the kingdoms that the stone destroys. The Iron Kingdom cannot simultaneously be the Iron Kingdom and the stone that destroys the Iron Kingdom.

If, in attempting to posit that the Roman Empire becoming Christian before the east/west division and then the later 10 toes with iron and clay mix, is in fact the stone that destroyed the empire, one must satisfactorily explain how the stone is simultaneously synonymous with the iron kingdom and how the conversion to Papal Christianity, prior to its division into the legs and subsequent kingdoms and mixing with clay, with the intertwining of imperial authority and the church, is the stone smashing the Iron kingdom.

Kingdom/Era 5 – mixed iron and clay feet

Some argue that the mixture of iron and clay represents a mixture of Christian and non-Christian, while others hold that this is merely 10 Roman kingdoms that don’t unify. We must dismiss the idea this depicts Christian and non-Christians. Firstly because these refer to parts of the kingdom being strong and being brittle – seeing Christianity was introduced, that would make Christians the brittle clay and not the Stone that smashes. Secondly, because the stone smashes this kingdom of iron and clay – thus if clay are the Christians, the Christians are likewise destroyed.

The mixture of iron and clay depicts a weakening of the Roman Empire. There are several theories regarding the kingdom of mix iron and clay feet. Many believe Daniel 7 and the 4 kingdoms mentioned there are assumed to be identical as the 4 kingdoms of Daniel 2. However Daniel 2 does not require this. These should not be considered equal with the 10 horns of Daniel 7; the criteria and description for each are described differently. However, many consider these equivalent even though Daniel 2 does not discuss the eleventh kingdom.

Scripture makes no mention of Islam, and yet, Islam is a kingdom that both defeated the Byzantine Empire and ransacked Rome numerous times. We know that Islam is not that kingdom foretold. Protestantism on the other hand has destroyed the remaining vestiges of the Roman Empire. So looking more closely at the feet/toes is important.

There are three ways of looking at the division of the Roman Empire into 10 kingdoms.

1. European-centric
2. Jerusalem-centric
3. Islam-centric

European-centric 10 kingdoms

While not entirely historically accurate, it is generally held that the Western Roman Empire was split into 10 kingdoms although there is significant disagreement as to how they should be counted. Sir Isaac Newton lists the 10 kingdoms in his commentary on Daniel and Revelation (chapter 6). His list includes: the kingdom of the Vandals and Alans in Spain and Africa; Suevians in Spain; Visigoths; Alans in Gallia; Burgundians; Franks; Britains; Hunns; Lombards; and Ravenna. He concludes, “Some of these kingdoms at length fell, and new ones arose: but whatever was their number afterwards, they are still called the Ten Kings from their first number.“²⁴

Wikipedia²⁵ lists different kingdoms: Kingdom of Italy; Roman Dalmatia; Soissons; Moors and Romans; Visigoths; Burgundians; Suebi; Armorica; Alamannia; Sub-Roman Britain. Others list them differently again. It seems that every other scholar has a different list of kingdoms. In my view, this disagreement on how these 10 kingdoms (or even that there are 10 kingdoms) are counted is a fatal flaw in a European-centric interpretation. However, we should continue to evaluate this position.

The challenge here is that all these empires ended by AD.530 and were only part of the Western Empire (only one of the legs) even though the statue’s toes are on both feet.

As mentioned in the previous section, the toes are unmentioned in Daniel 2, and so some import the 10 kingdoms into this prophecy despite the various inconsistencies. In Daniel 2, there is no explicit statement of an 11th kingdom that arises and uproots 3 kingdoms – so caution should be advised when importing Daniel 7 into the text. As a side note: commentators generally don’t agree on which 3 kingdoms were uprooted by the 11th kingdom, mostly because they don’t agree on which 10 kingdoms exist.

The iron kingdom is now mixed with an entirely other material: clay. In my view, this is not merely strong and weak parts of the same kingdom, but a whole new element/kingdom is introduced, the 5th kingdom/era. Since the Papacy and Eastern Orthodox are essentially an extension of the Roman Empire who had already been persecuting the saints, it seems unlikely that the Papacy is the eleventh kingdom of Daniel 7 that rises up out of an already Christian kingdom – which would make Christianity one of the kingdoms of Daniel 2 and not the Stone. Instead, I contend that if we are to import Daniel 7 into Daniel 2, Islam is that clay element introduced, the 11th Kingdom of Daniel 7. It is unnecessary to refer to Daniel 11 to understand this prophecy, but if we insist: Islam absolutely conquered three Roman kingdoms: the Eastern Romans (Byzantines), the Vandals (Northern Africa), and Visigoths (Spain).

Jerusalem-centric 10 kingdoms

Prophecy is mostly very Jerusalem-centric. While there is some justification to make a European-centric interpretation given the Roman Catholic Church’s claim that the centre of God’s active work in the world moved to Rome, end-times prophecy heavily features Jerusalem, so it is possibly more reasonable to consider these 10 kingdoms and how they ruled Jerusalem.

There were 10 kingdoms that ruled Jerusalem after the Roman/Byzantine defeat in AD 632, interspersed with Roman/Byzantine empires. Are these are the iron and clay that don’t mix? While they mix, they do not hold to one another.

Kingdom	Feet/Toes	Time Period
1.	Byzantine Empire (“Roman”)	63BC – AD.638
2.	Rashidun Caliphate	AD.638–661 AD
3.	Umayyad Caliphate	AD.661–750 AD
4.	Abbasid Caliphate	AD.750–969 AD
5.	Fatimid Caliphate	AD.969–1070 AD
6.	Seljuk Empire	AD.1070–1099 AD
7.	Kingdom of Jerusalem (“Roman”)	AD.1099-1187 AD
8.	Ayyubid Sultanate	AD.1187–1250 AD
9.	Mamluk Sultanate	AD.1250–1517 AD
10	Ottoman Empire	AD.1517–1917 AD

This gives remarkable symmetry. There are two “big toes” of the iron kingdoms (east and west) and eight clay toes of Islam mixed in. But what of the time after 1917? Please note that the Roman Empire continues as does the clay – they are not utterly destroyed – yet. The British mandate of Palestine (AD.1917-1948) and Israel (AD.1948+) is the foretaste of the small stone that will eventually become a mountain that destroys them all.

Islam-centric 10 kingdoms

Some instead have argued that they are all Islamic empires (1. Mohammad, 2. Rashidun, 3. Umayyad, 4. Abbasid, 5. Mamluk, 6. Fatimid, 7. Seljuk, 8. Ayyubid, 9. Ottoman Empire, and 10. Hashemite), however, I think the description of the toes as kingdoms and also iron and clay, requires that they are mixed with the iron ‘Roman’ kingdoms.

Before we look at the uncut stone, a pause is worthwhile.

Some have suggested that the Greco-Roman Empires were the ‘stomach and thighs’ of the statue, and Islam is the iron kingdom. In either case, it does not solve the fundamental issue that the Papacy and Eastern Orthodoxy are synonymous with the divided Roman Kingdom that is destroyed by the stone.

Kingdom 6 – the uncut stone that becomes a Mountain

Many will want to argue that the kingdom of the stone, Christ’s kingdom, started at Christ’s incarnation. While this is attractive, it does not fit with the prophecies of Daniel 2, 7 and 12 which show that Christ returns before smashing the nations.

Alternatively, some posit that the Roman church is the small stone that destroys these kingdoms, however the Roman church did not destroy the Roman Empires having become the empire even before its division and became synonymous with the Roman Empire; nor did the Roman church (including the Eastern Orthodox) destroy the Islamic Empire.

Scriptures describes that the uncut stone that becomes a mountain arrives after the Roman iron kingdom is divided and after the iron is mixed with the clay. The stone smashes then them all²⁶. The iron kingdom cannot simultaneously be the iron kingdom and the stone that destroys the iron kingdom. The stone is cut without human hands can therefore only have two other possible interpretations: either the stone is the Protestant Reformation, or it is the return of Christ.

But before we consider those, let’s first look at whether Roman Catholicism could be the very stone.

Roman Catholicism

The Roman Church will argue that it is the stone that smashed the kingdoms. However, the Scriptures also says that the Iron Kingdom will smash other nations in Daniel 2:40 “A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others.” Given their own position is that they are the living embodiment of the Roman Empire today, it seems an improbable claim that they are also the stone. As evidence, they will cite the Conquistadors who stopped the Aztec human sacrifices proves they are the stone advancing Christ’s kingdom. But two fundamental issues arise: a) Roman Catholicism/Orthodoxy is still synonymous with the empire having become it before the division, not destroying it after it divides into legs, feet and toes of clay. and b) Islam likewise stopped the murder of female children. Doing good, does not prove you are the stone of Christ. This leaves the question whether the smashing was done by the Iron Kingdom or the uncut stone.

Indisputably Roman Catholicism became the arm, body and soul, and possessor of Imperial Rome, with the same being true of Eastern Orthodoxy and the Byzantine Empire, which thoroughly disproves the idea that it is the stone that smashes the iron legs, or feet of iron and clay mixed. The Roman Catholic church does not claim to have conquered Rome, but rather be the rightful heir of Rome. Through is adoption of titles, symbols, motifs etc, and frequent intercession by Imperial Rome in Papal affairs, and its ardent support of the Emperor by crowning emperors, Papal Rome cannot be said to have conquered Imperial Rome, and is therefore not the stone.

If the desire to produce a “spiritual” sense of this prophecy to argue that Papal Christianity destroyed the Roman Empire, it is in direct contrast to the evidence that the Papal authority and Imperial authority were often indistinguishable and is contradicted by the claim that the Pope is the successor to the Roman Emperor. If Papal Rome is to be the stone, surely it is effectively defeated, which cannot be if it is the stone. According to this idea, the church is to be the stone, not stones, one must explain the division of Papal Rome with Eastern Orthodoxy. It is a significant challenge to posit that Christianity in the form of the Papacy and Eastern Orthodoxy is a stone that destroyed these kingdoms and become a mountain that will never be destroyed.

Protestant Reformation

I am hesitant and reluctant in even making this suggestion, partly because the state of what is called Protestantism in some ways is not inspiring and partly because it seems prideful, almost denying Christ’s millennial kingdom (which in no way should it be understood in this light). However, in other respects the protestant church is stronger and larger than ever: evangelism remains a key part of the church, so much so that it is often synonymous with ‘evangelical’ the desire to see all the world converted to Christ, not to a particular brand. The errors of many so-called ‘evangelical’ or mainline ‘protestant churches’ should simply be seen as the heresies that have plagued the church since its inception and not accepted as a built on the fundamentals of the protestant reformation.

How is Protestantism built “without human hands”? The Protestant Reformation is built solely on the premise that doctrines not in Scripture, are human traditions, and are not to have authority in the Church. Protestantism is very much built on a rejection of human traditions (human hands in the metaphor of the prophecy). Many other more competent writers have documented the myriad of traditions and dogmas of the Roman Church and Eastern Orthodoxy that are not even hinted in Scripture. Protestant churches emphatically want to be built by God’s hand alone. This is why Sola Scriptura²⁷ and Sola Fide are the heart of Protestantism.

Protestant nations indisputably destroyed the Islamic Ottoman Empire and divided it by spoils. Protestant nations, especially the British Empire via the Palestinian mandate indisputably established the state of Israel because of the Scripture that stated that they (Israel) would be hardened until the time of the Gentiles (treading down the temple mount) comes to and end – looking forward to the return of Christ’s millennial kingdom. The majority of Christians are looking forward to the time when Christ will return and begin to reign on earth (Revelation 11:17) – the stone that becomes a mountain and fill the whole earth.

The Protestant Reformation destroyed the power of the Papal supremacy with its acceptance of Scripture but the rejection of human traditions not established in Scripture and critique on its claim to universal ecclesiastical authority. This lead to the rise of powerful Protestant nations in Western and Eastern Europe including Scandinavia. These states often persued policies that were hostile to the Papal church and by extension Eastern Orthodoxy. The fragmentation of Western Christendom via rejection of traditions not established in Scripture was a direct challenge to patriarchal authority leading to significant changes in the political landscape.

Return of Christ

If we have seen that the first advent occurs after the Iron Kingdom divides and become mixed with clay, we should pause and consider the following.

It is uncut by human hands. Daniel explains in Daniel 2:45 “You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it“. John Calvin argues that this shows that the stone firstly comes from the mountain – the kingdom of God in Heaven, before becoming a mountain again as described in verse 35, “But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Here Calvin argues that this is a reference to Christ’s first incarnation. However, two things should be noted: (a) the stone does not go back to the mountain but rather stays on the earth and fills the whole earth and (b) it can apply equally to Christ’s return and establishment of a millennial reign. I confess the latter is the more likely correct interpretation for it fits with the sequence in Daniel that the Iron Kingdom is divided into 2 and then into 10 and mixed with clay before the stone smashes the kingdoms.

Daniel’s description of the accomplishment of the stone stands in direct contrast to the Roman Catholic Church.

³⁴ As you were watching, a stone broke off without a hand touching it, struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were shattered and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

The stone strikes the iron/clay feet. It does not strike before the Iron Kingdom is divided, nor before the 10 kingdoms emerge, it strikes AFTER the iron/clay feet come into being. Those kingdoms will become like chaff carried away by the wind and no trace of them will be found. Given how frequently men think about and research the Roman Empire²⁸ and the Roman Catholic Church’s claim to be the living embodiment of the Roman Empire (including insistence at being called ‘Roman’) it seems implausible that the first advent/church is the fulfilment of this.

Moreover, we know from Daniel’s other prophecies and Revelation etc, that the saints will be given over to the Antichrist’s kingdom to be trampled. Thus, the kingdom, rather than growing and filling the whole earth until its glorious resurrection, will in fact suffer until Christ’s return. Then Christ will descend, establish and rule his kingdom with his saints (Revelation 2:27; Revelation 11:15-18; Revelation 19:15; Daniel 7:21-22, 27 etc).

²¹ As I was watching, this horn waged war against the holy ones and was prevailing over them ²² until the Ancient of Days arrived and a judgement was given in favour of the holy ones of the Most High, for the time had come, and the holy ones took possession of the kingdom….²⁷ The kingdom, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the holy ones of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey him.’

Conclusion

Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus! Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!

1. The legal rights of Roman citizens under Justinian were increasingly determined by their degree of conformity to his theology. – https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2024/10/03/roman-emperor-justinian-i-prolific-law-giver/?slreturn=2024102820031 ↩︎
2. Ayer (1913), p. 553 ↩︎
3. Granfield (2000), p. 325 ↩︎
4. For the Ultramontane side, consult the Histoire de Photius, etc., par M. l’Abbé Jager, p. 41, ed. Paris, 1854. For the Greeks, La Papauté Schismatique, etc., par M. l’Abbé Guettée (pp. 286, 288, etc.), Paris, 1863. ↩︎
5. Quote from Phillip Schaff ‘Church History, Ante-Nicene Fathers’, Vol. 5, p.421 – https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf05.iv.v.xiii.html ↩︎
6. Treadgold. History of the Byzantine State, pp. 354–355. ↩︎
7. John Meyendorff, The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press 1982 ISBN 978-0-913836-90-3), p. 20
   
   Jonathan Harris, Byzantium and the Crusades (Continuum International 2006 ISBN 978-1-85285-501-7), p. 44 ↩︎
8. XVI. (Papst), Benedikt; Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal (1 January 2008). Church, Ecumenism, and Politics: New Endeavors in Ecclesiology. Ignatius Press. ISBN 978-1-58617-217-6 – via Google Books. ↩︎
9. “Milton V. Anastos – 21. The theory of the pentarchy and Byzantine arguments against the Roman primacy”. www.myriobiblos.gr.
   
   Cardini (2001), p. 9. ↩︎
10. Meyendorff, John (1996). Rome, Constantinople, Moscow: Historical and Theological Studies. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. ↩︎
11. Borys Andrij Gudziak (1992). Crisis and Reform: The Kievan Metropolitanate, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Genesis of the Union of Brest. Harvard University. p. 17.
    
    Michael Angold; Frances Margaret Young; K. Scott Bowie; Margaret Mary Mitchell; Augustine Casiday; Frederick W. Norris; Thomas F. X. Noble; Stewart J. Brown; Julia M. H. Smith; Miri Rubin; Roberta A. Baranowski; R. Po-chia Hsia; Timothy Tackett; Sheridan Gilley; Walter Simons; Hugh McLeod; Brian Stanley (2006). The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 5, Eastern Christianity. Cambridge University Press. p. 31.
    
    Dimitri Obolensky (1969). The Byzantine Inheritance of Eastern Europe. Variorum Reprints. p. 339
    ↩︎
12. Dimitri Obolensky (1969). The Byzantine Inheritance of Eastern Europe. Variorum Reprints. p. 339
    
    Joan Mervyn Hussey; Jean Chrysostome (1988). Kathēgētria. Porphyrogenitus. p. 516.
    ↩︎
13. Donald M. Nicol (1993). The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453. Cambridge University Press. pp. 78–79. ↩︎
14. Schadé (2006), art. “Byzantine Church” ↩︎
15. https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061943_mystici-corporis-christi.html ↩︎
16. Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi (On the Mystical Body of Christ), 1943 ↩︎
17. https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis.html ↩︎
18. Ekonomou, Andrew J. (2007). Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes: Eastern Influences on Rome and the Papacy from Gregory the Great to Zacharias, A.D. 590–752. Lexington Books. ↩︎
19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_emperor ↩︎
20. Tertullian, On Modesty, Chapter I ↩︎
21. Nicholson, Oliver; Gwynn, David (2018), Nicholson, Oliver (ed.), “Pontifex Maximus”, The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Oxford University Press, ↩︎
22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope ↩︎
23. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1911/07/pontifex-maximus/644161/ ↩︎
24. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/newton_isaac/prophecies/daniel06.cfm ↩︎
25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire ↩︎
26. The Roman Church will argue that it is the stone that smashed the kingdoms. However, the Scriptures says that the Iron Kingdom will smash other nations in Daniel 2:40 “A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others.“. Thus Rome has not proved that it is any different than the Roman Kingdom. They will argue that the Conquistadors who stopped the Aztec human sacrifices proves they are the stone. But two fundamental issues arise: a) Roman Catholicism/Orthodoxy is still synonymous with the empire having become it before the division, not destroying it after it divides into legs, feet and toes of clay. and b) Islam likewise stopped the murder of female children. Doing good, does not prove you are the stone of Christ. ↩︎
27. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-does-sola-scriptura-mean
    https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/GTY139/sola-scriptura-what-it-means-and-why-it-matters
    https://www.reformationbiblecollege.org/blog/the-five-solas ↩︎
28. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-01/why-do-men-think-about-the-roman-empire-experts-answer/102921984 ↩︎