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# The Eighth is of the Seven - Number Three

Daniel Two

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

September 17, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- Connection Between Daniel 2 and Revelation 17: The kingdoms described in Daniel 2’s prophecy correspond to their spiritual fulfillment in Revelation 17.
- Imagery of Iron and Miry Clay: The feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s image symbolize the union of churchcraft and statecraft, weakening the churches and heralding evil consequences.
- Historical Transitions: The progression from pagan Rome to papal Rome, as depicted in Daniel’s prophecy, mirrors spiritual transitions in end-time events.
- Christ’s Kingdoms:
- Role of the Latter Rain and Four Winds: The latter rain represents a spiritual revival, while the four winds symbolize the destructive forces of Islam released in end times.
- Millerites’ Interpretation: Their understanding of the fourth kingdom of Rome and Christ’s kingdom was accurate but limited by their historical perspective.
- Symbolism of the Alpha and Omega: The beginning of prophetic history (Daniel 2) typifies the end (Revelation 17), illustrating the consistent pattern of Bible prophecy.

The question we will seek to resolve in this article is how the first mention of the kingdoms of Bible prophecy in Daniel chapter two agrees with the last mention of the kingdoms of Bible prophecy in Revelation seventeen. I intend to raise some questions about what is actually identified in Nebuchadnezzar’s image and the pioneer’s position, that their history represented the point when the rock would strike the feet of the image.

Sister White identifies that we had reached the point where “God’s sacred work is represented by the feet of the image in which the iron was mixed with the miry clay,” which she further describes as the “mingling of churchcraft and statecraft.”

> “We have come to a time when God’s sacred work is represented by the feet of the image in which the iron was mixed with the miry clay. God has a people, a chosen people, whose discernment must be sanctified, who must not become unholy by laying upon the foundation wood, hay, and stubble. Every soul who is loyal to the commandments of God will see that the distinguishing feature of our faith is the seventh-day Sabbath. If the government would honor the Sabbath as God has commanded, it would stand in the strength of God and in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints. But statesmen will uphold the spurious sabbath, and will mingle their religious faith with the observance of this child of the papacy, placing it above the Sabbath which the Lord has sanctified and blessed, setting it apart for man to keep holy, as a sign between Him and His people to a thousand generations. The mingling of churchcraft and statecraft is represented by the iron and the clay. This union is weakening all the power of the churches. This investing the church with the power of the state will bring evil results. Men have almost passed the point of God’s forbearance. They have invested their strength in politics, and have united with the papacy. But the time will come when God will punish those who have made void His law, and their evil work will recoil upon themselves.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 4, 1168.

The time which we have come to when God’s sacred work is mingling churchcraft and statecraft, is a description of a progressive period of time. She says the mingling “is weakening all the power of the churches,” and it “will bring evil results,” and that “the time will come when God will punish those who have made void His law.”

The mingling of church and state that weakens the power of the churches is a description of the church of Pergamos, where the combining of churchcraft and statecraft represented the falling away that precedes the revealing of the man of sin. Pergamos and the emperor that symbolizes the compromise between Christianity and idolatry takes place in the fourth kingdom of Daniel two. That compromise is represented in Daniel two with the use of the word “clay.”

> 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. 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. 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. Daniel 2:31–34.

As Daniel’s interpretation continues it is no longer “clay” but it became dirty or “miry 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. Daniel 2:41.

The pure clay which was the Potter’s clay changes to miry clay. God’s is the divine Potter and his work is never miry.

> But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Isaiah 64:8.

In the history of pagan Rome, the church of Smyrna was pure clay. In the history of Pergamos, which is the fourth kingdom in Daniel two, the clay changes into miry clay. What is first mentioned in the passage as simply “clay”, and thereafter “potter’s clay”, changes into “miry clay”, as the interpretation continues. Pergamos is where that change was accomplished in order to prepare the way for Thyatira, or papal Rome. The change from “clay” into “miry clay” is the falling away that prepares the way for Thyatira, which Paul identifies as the “falling away first” in Second Thessalonians.

The Millerites could see no further than the fourth kingdom of Rome and expected the Second Coming of Christ to be the next prophetic event, for the stone that smites the image’s feet represents the Second Coming. But did Christ set up a kingdom in 1798? He did come into the Most Holy Place on October 22, 1844, to receive a kingdom, but was it set up at that time?

The answer to the first of those two questions is that Christ did not set up His everlasting kingdom in 1798. The second question whether or not Christ set up His everlasting kingdom on October 22, 1844 is also no.

Was there a kingdom set up in the time of pagan Rome? I ask this for the pioneers understood the fourth kingdom to be both pagan and papal Rome which identifies 1798 as the conclusion of the fourth kingdom when Christ would set up an everlasting kingdom. But the book of Revelation identifies four kingdoms that follow pagan Rome.

If the fourth kingdom of iron in Daniel two is simply representing pagan Rome where the compromise of Constantine is represented by the clay being turned into miry clay, did Christ setup a kingdom in that history? The answer is yes. At the cross, which is the history of Pergamos, not Thyatira, Christ established His kingdom of “grace.” There was an everlasting kingdom set up at the cross, and the throne of that kingdom typifies a throne that gets set up during the latter rain. That latter rain throne represents His kingdom of “glory.”

> “The announcement which had been made by the disciples in the name of the Lord was in every particular correct, and the events to which it pointed were even then taking place. ‘The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand,’ had been their message. At the expiration of ‘the time’—the sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 9, which were to extend to the Messiah, ‘the Anointed One’—Christ had received the anointing of the Spirit after His baptism by John in Jordan. And the ‘kingdom of God’ which they had declared to be at hand was established by the death of Christ. This kingdom was not, as they had been taught to believe, an earthly empire. Nor was it that future, immortal kingdom which shall be set up when ‘the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High;’ that everlasting kingdom, in which ‘all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’ Daniel 7:27. As used in the Bible, the expression ‘kingdom of God’ is employed to designate both the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. The kingdom of grace is brought to view by Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews. After pointing to Christ, the compassionate intercessor who is ‘touched with the feeling of our infirmities,’ the apostle says: ‘Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace.’ Hebrews 4:15, 16. The throne of grace represents the kingdom of grace; for the existence of a throne implies the existence of a kingdom. In many of His parables Christ uses the expression ‘the kingdom of heaven’ to designate the work of divine grace upon the hearts of men.

> “So the throne of glory represents the kingdom of glory; and this kingdom is referred to in the Saviour’s words: ‘When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations.’ Matthew 25:31, 32. This kingdom is yet future. It is not to be set up until the second advent of Christ.

> “The kingdom of grace was instituted immediately after the fall of man, when a plan was devised for the redemption of the guilty race. It then existed in the purpose and by the promise of God; and through faith, men could become its subjects. Yet it was not actually established until the death of Christ. Even after entering upon His earthly mission, the Saviour, wearied with the stubbornness and ingratitude of men, might have drawn back from the sacrifice of Calvary. In Gethsemane the cup of woe trembled in His hand. He might even then have wiped the blood-sweat from His brow and have left the guilty race to perish in their iniquity. Had He done this, there could have been no redemption for fallen men. But when the Saviour yielded up His life, and with His expiring breath cried out, ‘It is finished,’ then the fulfillment of the plan of redemption was assured. The promise of salvation made to the sinful pair in Eden was ratified. The kingdom of grace, which had before existed by the promise of God, was then established.” The Great Controversy, 347.

Christ did set up an everlasting kingdom in the prophetic history of pagan Rome, not at the end of papal Rome. He also sets up His kingdom of glory at His Second Coming which includes the history of the latter rain, when the four winds of Islam are released.

> “The latter rain is coming on those that are pure—all then will receive it as formerly.

> “When the four angels let go, Christ will set up His kingdom. None receive the latter rain but those who are doing all they can. Christ would help us. All could be overcomers by the grace of God, through the blood of Jesus. All heaven is interested in the work. Angels are interested.” Spalding and Magan, 3.

When the four winds are released, Christ sets up His kingdom. Both the latter rain and the releasing of the four winds represent progressive events, and neither represent a point in time. The four winds represent Islam.

> “Angels are holding the four winds, represented as an angry horse seeking to break loose and rush over the face of the whole earth, bearing destruction and death in its path.

> “Shall we sleep on the very verge of the eternal world? Shall we be dull and cold and dead? Oh, that we might have in our churches the Spirit and breath of God breathed into His people, that they might stand upon their feet and live. We need to see that the way is narrow, and the gate strait. But as we pass through the strait gate, its wideness is without limit.” Manuscript Releases, volume 20, 217.

The angels are holding the angry horse of Islam that is seeking to break loose bearing death and destruction in its path, in the time period when the Spirit of God is breathed upon God’s people. They then stand upon their feet and live. Prior to the Spirit being breathed upon them, God’s people are dead, for the breath of the Spirit causes them to stand up and live. When Sister White says we have now come to a time when the feet of the image that is mixed with iron and miry clay represents the combination of church and state, the outpouring of the latter rain was still in the future.

> “The latter rain is to fall upon the people of God. A mighty angel is to come down from heaven, and the whole earth is to be lighted with his glory.” Review and Herald, April 21, 1891.

There are two voices in Revelation eighteen.

> “When Jesus began His public ministry, He cleansed the Temple from its sacrilegious profanation. Among the last acts of His ministry was the second cleansing of the Temple. So in the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches.” Selected Messages, book 2, 118.

The first voice is a wake-up call for God’s people, the second voice is the wake-up call for God’s other children that are still in Babylon.

> “There is a world lying in wickedness, in deception, and delusion, in the very shadow of death,—asleep, asleep. Who are feeling travail of soul to awaken them? What voice can reach them? My mind is carried to the future when the signal will be given, ‘Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.’ But some will have delayed to obtain the oil for replenishing their lamps, and too late they will find that character, which is represented by the oil, is not transferable.” Bible Echo, May 4, 1896.

In the passage two questions were asked. Who are feeling travail of soul to awaken them? What voice can reach them?

The “voice” that awakens the world is the second voice of Revelation eighteen that calls God’s other flock out of Babylon. Both God’s people and the world need to be awakened by the Midnight Cry, which is simply another symbol of the latter rain.

Were the Millerites correct in identifying that in the days of the fourth kingdom Christ would set up an everlasting kingdom? Yes.

He established His kingdom of “grace” at the cross, which was during the history of the fourth kingdom of Bible prophecy. That kingdom being pagan Rome. In Daniel two, is the falling away that precedes the church of Thyatira represented? Yes, for the clay which represents God’s people changed from clay unto miry clay. So where is Thyatira in the image? Or is it even in the image? It is represented in the image, and Nebuchadnezzar sheds light on that fact when he reaches the height of his proud arrogance in chapter four of Daniel.

> The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? Daniel 4:30.

Just prior to Nebuchadnezzar’s judgment of twenty-five hundred and twenty days of living like a beast of the field, he exhibited his pride by asking the question of whether or not he built the kingdom that is Babylon the great? The whore of Revelation seventeen has written on her forehead, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” The Roman church, as Sister White calls her is Babylon the Great. The head of gold in the image represents literal Babylon and it also represents spiritual Babylon, the fifth kingdom of Bible prophecy that has the singular characteristic as being the power who received a deadly wound. In Isaiah twenty-three the papal power represented as Tyre, would be forgotten for seventy years as the days of one king. Literal Babylon represented by Nebuchadnezzar also received a deadly wound that was healed when Nebuchadnezzar was banished from his kingdom for twenty-five hundred and twenty days. Literal Babylon the great typified spiritual Babylon the great and both had their kingdoms temporarily removed, and thereafter restored. The whore of Revelation seventeen did not have a silver cup in her hand, nor a brass or iron cup, she had a golden cup.

> And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. Revelation 17:4.

Gold represented literal Babylon and it also represents spiritual Babylon, the fifth kingdom of Bible prophecy that received a deadly wound in 1798, when the sixth kingdom of Bible prophecy took the throne. Literal Babylon in the image was followed by a silver kingdom that consisted of two powers, the Medes and the Persians, and the Persian horn in Daniel eight came up last and higher. Darius the Mede was the first horn and his general, Cyrus was a Persian that would ultimately come into power after the Median king Darius.

Cyrus was a type of Christ who was going to begin the process of freeing God’s people from captivity. The Medo-Persian empire represents the sixth kingdom of Bible prophecy which is the United States. The United States has two horns representing Republicanism and Protestantism. Darius represents the Republican horn of the United States and Cyrus represents the horn of Protestantism. As Cyrus began the process of freeing God’s people to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, the United States was the land which was raised up to free the captives of spiritual Babylon’s captivity in order to erect the spiritual temple, of which the Millerites laid the foundation. The literal captivity in Babylon being seventy years typified the captivity in spiritual Babylon for twelve hundred and sixty years. The United States is the shoulders of silver in Nebuchadnezzar’s image.

The third kingdom of brass was Greece that represents a worldwide kingdom. That kingdom is the United Nations, that in Revelation seventeen was the kingdom that in 1798 had not yet came. The ten kings of Revelation seventeen agree to give their kingdom unto the papacy, the eighth kingdom, that is of the seven. They make this agreement because they are forced to by the United States, and because the world is being destroyed by the “four winds” of Islam, that are released during the time of the latter rain, which begins to be fully poured out at the Sunday law in the United States.

At the Sunday law in the United States, God establishes His kingdom of “glory” as He lifts up His people as an ensign to call God’s other children out of Babylon. Thus, the horn of Protestantism comes up last and is higher than the first in agreement with the two horns of Medo-Persia. Once the United Nations agrees to turn the control of the world over to the papacy, the four winds of Islam are released and the worldwide kingdom is confronted by the warfare that followed the death of Greece’s first horn that was broken and produced four horns.

When the image reaches the feet of iron (statecraft) and miry clay (churchcraft) and the ten toes (ten kings), the stone that has been cut out of the mountain without hands strikes the feet of the image. The Millerites were accurate to Daniel’s image, as much as they could be accurate from their vantage point in prophetic history. But the Alpha and Omega always illustrates the end with the beginning and the four kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar’s image represent four literal kingdoms that typify their spiritual counterparts at the end of the world.

With the kingdoms of history Rome comes up eighth and is of the seven. In Daniel seven Rome comes up eighth and is of the seven. In Daniel eight Rome comes up eighth and is of the seven. In Revelation seventeen Rome comes up eighth and is of the seven. In Daniel two, which represents the first mention of the kingdoms of Bible prophecy, modern spiritual Rome comes up eighth and is of the seven. The first (Alpha) illustration of the kingdoms of Bible prophecy identifies the last (Omega).

> “We have come to a time when God’s sacred work is represented by the feet of the image in which the iron was mixed with the miry clay. God has a people, a chosen people, whose discernment must be sanctified, who must not become unholy by laying upon the foundation wood, hay, and stubble. Every soul who is loyal to the commandments of God will see that the distinguishing feature of our faith is the seventh-day Sabbath. If the government would honor the Sabbath as God has commanded, it would stand in the strength of God and in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints. But statesmen will uphold the spurious sabbath, and will mingle their religious faith with the observance of this child of the papacy, placing it above the Sabbath which the Lord has sanctified and blessed, setting it apart for man to keep holy, as a sign between Him and His people to a thousand generations. The mingling of churchcraft and statecraft is represented by the iron and the clay. This union is weakening all the power of the churches. This investing the church with the power of the state will bring evil results. Men have almost passed the point of God’s forbearance. They have invested their strength in politics, and have united with the papacy. But the time will come when God will punish those who have made void His law, and their evil work will recoil upon themselves.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 4, 1168.

The Alpha and Omega has made the correct pioneer understanding of Daniel two “new.”

> And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Revelation 21:5, 6.

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