The Four World Empires of the Book of Daniel

Table of Contents

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon successfully besieges Jerusalem and carries off some of the treasure from the temple of God to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also captures some young men of the royal family with him to serve him in his court (Da 1:3). Daniel is one of them (1:6)

King Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream in Daniel 2

31 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.
32 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.
34 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.
35 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 threshingfloors; 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.

The First Kingdom: Babylon 605 BC led by Nebuchadnezzar II. Ended in 539 BC, capital city in Iraq

37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38 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.

So according to God’s Word, the great kingdom of Babylon, the “golden city” of ancient times (Is.14:4), with its great King Nebuchadnezzar, was undeniably the head of gold, or the beginning of this great image.

Isaiah 14:4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

Daniel 7:4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.

THIS IS THE SAME AS THE HEAD OF GOLD IN THE IMAGE AND IT REPRESENTS BABYLON. Its wings being plucked represent Nebuchadnezzar’s abasement as a beast for 7 years (Dan.4:29-33), and “a man’s heart…given to it” his subsequent salvation. (Dan.4:34-37)

The Second Kingdom: Medo-Persia founded 550 BC by Cyrus the Great. Ended in 330 BC, capital city in Iran

Daniel 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee,…

According to world history, the dual kingdom of Medo-Persia followed Babylon; therefore we know what the kingdom of silver was without its even being named in the interpretation here. It is named, however, in a later chapter, the “MENE MENE” handwriting on the wall vision of Daniel 5:18-31, as being the kingdom that did conquer Babylon.

Daniel 5:28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Notice also the remarkable symbolism in the image. The dual kingdom of Medo-Persia is depicted here by two arms. Persia was the stronger of the two, just as in the body one arm is stronger than the other!

The second kingdom, the Medo-Persian empire is called a bear in Daniel chapter 7!

Daniel 7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

Notice that the bear is a little higher on one side than the other because the Persians were a little more powerful than the Medes. The Medes conquered Babylon, but it was Cyrus, the Persian king, who actually ruled. This symbolism is also borne out in the vision of Daniel 8 which pictures “a ram which had two horns… but one was higher than the other.” (Dan.8:3) It then says, “The ram… having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.” (Dan.8:20) The 3 ribs the bear devoured were the 3 nations which were conquered by the Medo-Persians. The primary nations were, of course, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon.

Also in Daniel chapter 8 the Medo-Persian empire was represented by a ram!

Daniel 8:3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. (The Medes conquered Babylon and the Persians ruled the empire.)
4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.
Daniel 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

The Third Kingdom: Greece. Alexander the Great of Macedon succeeded his father Philip II to the throne in 336 BC and conquerored the civilized world in 10 years

Daniel 2:32b …his belly and his thighs of brass…
Daniel 2:39b… and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

We know from history that this third kingdom, the one to follow Persia, was the Grecian Empire. In a later chapter Daniel specifically prophesies that Greece will be the conqueror of Medo-Persia. (Dan.8:21,22) This was fulfilled over three hundred years after the prophecy was given!

Daniel 8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn (Alexander the Great) that is between his eyes is the first king.

The empire of Alexander the Great was not necessarily the most powerful, but it was the most extensive. It extended almost to Italy, all the way to India, and all the way from southern Russia down into Africa, bearing rule over or dominating the world of his day. In just 10 years Alexander conquered the known civilized Western world, the fastest world conquest in history!

The Greeks were also interested in philosophy and religion or spiritual things. And it is held by the Greeks and by almost all religions that the seat of the spirit is in the BELLY. As Jesus said, “Out of his BELLY shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit.)” (Jn.7:38,39)

In Daniel 7 Alexander was likened to a leopard!

Daniel 7:6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

The four heads represents Alexander’s four generals. As Alexander said on his deathbed when his generals asked, “Well, which one of us is to inherit the kingdom?” He said, “To the strongest!” But they were smart! They decided it wasn’t smart to fight it out until they found out who was strongest & one man take over the whole thing. They said, “Well, let’s just make peace now & divvy it up & you take that & I’ll take this & you can take that etc.” So it was divided up into four areas which each general ruling one area.

In Daniel 8 Alexander is likened to a he goat!

Daniel 8:5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. (Alexander)
6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. (Conquered Medo-Persia)
7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.

The fourth Kingdom: Rome

Daniel 2:40 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.
41 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.
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.
44 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.
Daniel 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

This fourth kingdom was rome. Rome, the tough, iron-fisted kingdom which clamped down with IRON MILITARY RULE over the entire known world in the days before Christ, was one of the longest-reigning empires the world has ever known. It so “subdued all things” that for nearly one hundred years there were no major wars, no one even being able to muster a force against the Roman rule.

Here again, it is very interesting to note how similar this particular part of the image is to the actual fulfilment of the Roman Empire. Two legs of iron: Was Rome ever divided into two parts? Yes! In its decline it was divided into an Eastern and Western Empire. The Western Empire was ruled by Rome, and the Eastern Empire, ruled by Constantinople, was called the Byzantine Empire. So EVEN THE PARTS OF THE IMAGE ITSELF SYMBOLISE THE KINGDOMS OF MAN, AND THIS BECOMES EXTREMELY SIGNIFICANT AS WE GO ON TO THE FEET.

The city of Rome is in Italy, and the country of Italy on a world map looks something like a boot! “Boots on the ground” is an expression for foreign infantry or military presence in a country.

Most Bible believing scholars teach that the last and 4th kingdom of the interpretation of the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had in Daniel chapter 2 is the Roman Empire. Is therefore the Roman Empire ruling the earth today? Most people don’t seem to think so. But Daniel 2 teaches the fourth kingdom continues till the “stone cut without hands” — Jesus Christ — comes and destroys it.

Daniel 2:45 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 Roman Empire, therefore, must be covertly ruling the earth till this very day! We are living in the time of the “feet” and the “toes” of the image depicted in Daniel chapter 2.