Islam has a will of iron and simply refuses to mix with clay or coexist with people. I'm Dr. Fred, you're listening to another episode of Study, Grow, Know. Welcome to Study, Grow, Know, where we discuss theology, prophecy, and current political issues from a conservative biblical perspective. Here's your host, Dr. Fred DeRuvo. As I mentioned at the top of the hour of the introduction, Islam has a will of iron and it is unable to, it refuses to, it cannot mix with clay. It cannot mix. or coexist with other human beings. In fact, it can't mix with anything else because of the very nature of Islam. And this was clearly seen during parts of the Ottoman Empire and it continues today as Islam itself continues. The end of the Ottoman Empire did not spell the end for Islam. In fact, Islam does just fine without its own country. It just simply moves into other areas of the world and begins to take over. I'm Dr. Fred, you're listening to another episode of Study Grown-O, and we are talking about Islam as it connects to a book I wrote called Rome Rising, and that book's available on Amazon.com if you prefer to buy that. You don't have to, of course, but there's more information in the book than what you're receiving here. through these audio series. More information, more text, more charts, illustrations than what we're covering here. And we've been talking about Islam for a little bit now because we're basically down or toward the bottom of the statue of Daniel 2. But we'll be going over this stuff again in different ways so that we can learn even more about them. But the problem with Islam is that as the clay and the iron of the feet and toes of the statue didn't mix. And by mixing, we mean mixing to become one. That's why you take two separate ingredients, you mix them together, and they become a new ingredient, thoroughly mixed. Islam has no capacity to do that. And we're seeing that throughout the world. We're starting to see it in America with the recent beheading in Oklahoma. I mean, Islam is growing. It's on the rise. And it is going to be leading us or trying to take control and lead us into being controlled by Islam. in the next few decades. It's just obviously our administration is doing nothing. Many leaders of the world are doing nothing. And that's a planned symptom that's not happening by accident. It's planned when all of these people, all these leaders, continue to give Islam a free pass. Now, today, Islam is moving stalwartly toward another caliphate. That's what they want. It's happening in the Middle East through ISIS, or as President Obama likes to say, ISIL. Their militancy is apparent on every level. They wish to rule the world again, and they believe that they are having that opportunity where they will be able to go to that final extreme to have the final caliphate, through which the last or final Mahdi, M-A-H-D-I, will be introduced to this world. For the Christian, this Mahdi is actually the Antichrist, but that's not, of course, the way they see it. Well, we're going to have more to cover, and what we want to do here is look more intently at Daniel 2 and then Revelation 13 and Revelation 7. We also want to get Daniel 7 in the mix. And it's very important to understanding all the symbolism used in Scripture. All of it points to something specific. and means only one thing. Each area of symbolism, each symbol means one thing, and we have to figure out what that is. It's not that difficult because more times than not, the explanation for the symbolism used in Scripture is often given. The definition, the meaning is provided in that text or some other text in Scripture. And remember, God wrote the whole book. He simply used 40 human beings, roughly, over a period of approximately 1600 years. But God wrote the whole thing. So, when we're all done with this series, by the way, it's my hope that you will have a better understanding of exactly what all of this means. and what it means for today. Are we living in the time that Daniel saw hundreds and hundreds of years ago? I believe we are. And because of that, Daniel's visions are more important for us than they were then. Now, that's not to minimize the impact of scripture on Daniel's life. It's to emphasize that Daniel was told to seal up the vision until such a time when the visions were applicable for the world. And you can read that in Daniel 12. That would be toward the end of the age in which we're living. And I've said this before. I don't know if I've said it in this series or not, but as far as the old Jewish Sages were concerned, there are only two ages in this world. The age we are now living and the age when Messiah reigns. So this whole age will end according to Jewish rabbis when the Messiah comes to earth. Christians, it's the second coming. But let's take a minute to look at Daniel chapter 2 again. Daniel 2 is the first chapter in which we learn about Nebuchadnezzar's dream that robbed him of sleep. Now, as we noted, it included the image of a very large statue made up of various materials, each section of the image representing a different empire or kingdom. We know that because it's explained in the text. We don't have to sit there and ponder and try to figure out what it means. It's all there. Ultimately, through God's revelation to Daniel, we learned what the dream was and what it meant. We also noted that beginning with Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom of Babylon, something called the times of the Gentiles had begun as far as Israel is concerned. Now Paul alludes to this also in Romans 11.25 as he notes another aspect of this period of time, when the emphasis will not be on Israel, but on what God is doing through Gentiles and calling them to become part of his church. Several passages in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, are marked out because they also allude to this time. And besides this Daniel 2 passage, Ezekiel 30 verses 2 and 3 seems to align with it. It says this, Alas for the day, and that whale is W-A-I-L, cry out, alas for the day, for the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. And Jesus also references the conclusion of this period of time in his Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. This time is a very important time in God's timetable. But Daniel 2 is the chapter that provides details and clues that we need to address and understand, and in so doing, we'll have a greater grasp of God's plan of redemption and how things are moving as we approach the end of the age, just prior to the time of Jesus' physical return. Now, we've gone over Daniel 2 some. there are a few more things we should take time to consider. Verses 31 through 35 provide a summary of the entire dream as told to Daniel. And here it is, quote, You, O king, were looking, and he's talking to Nebuchadnezzar here, and behold, there was a single great statue. That statue was standing was large and of extraordinary splendor was standing right in front of you and its appearance was awesome. The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of clay and partly of iron. You continued looking until a stone was cut out with hands, without hands, pardon me, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found, but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." Again, that's Daniel 2 verses 31 through 35. Now again, we see the statue the order in which the materials change going from top to bottom. There's gold, silver, bronze, iron, and finally iron mixed with clay that connects to the feet. As we've noted, each new material represents a different empire. Gold represents Babylon, silver is Medo-Persia, bronze is Alexander's Grecian Empire, and iron, down to and including the iron mixed with clay, is the Roman Empire or a derivative of it. Now, please notice that the stone cut out without hands completely crushes everything that came before it when it hits the feet of the statue. Not only that, but it fills the whole earth, meaning it becomes a global kingdom. Now the stone, of course, represents the messianic kingdom of Jesus, who will physically reign for 1,000 years following the coming tribulation slash great tribulation. His kingdom will utterly destroy every man-made kingdom that came before him. there will be nothing left. And the fact that these previous kingdoms become like chaff and are carried away by the wind so that not even the smallest trace is left tells us that there will be no memory of them. All eyes will be on Jesus at that point. Now Daniel 2 provides us with a brief summary of the kingdoms, what they are, their value, their strength, Note that the metals decrease in value going from the top of the statue down to the feet, and they also increase in strength going from the head to the feet. This is why when we come to the Roman Empire, the legs of iron, the feet of clay, and iron, there's tremendous strength or staying power, ability to crush in that fourth empire, but there's not much value in the material itself when compared to the head of gold. Steel is not worth anywhere near as much as gold is. This is partly why the fourth beast, the Roman Empire, is so terrifying to Daniel, as we'll see in upcoming verses. Once Daniel tells the king what his dream consisted of, he then provides the interpretation for Nebuchadnezzar as well as us. This is what he says in verses 36 through 38 of Daniel chapter 2. This was the dream. Now we will tell you its interpretation before the king. You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory. And wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, he has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold." First of all, Daniel affirms to King Nebuchadnezzar that he or his kingdom is represented by the head of gold. He says, you are the head of gold. Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom. That's our starting point, and we can't dispute that. People have tried, but it goes nowhere. Now, notice Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that he was given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory, obviously by God himself. Nebuchadnezzar also had the power and ability to expand his kingdom to whatever size he wanted, wherever the sons of men dwell. That's what the scripture says. But apparently, Nebuchadnezzar didn't choose to do that. He could have. He was free to do it. But he didn't. Nebuchadnezzar was specifically chosen by God to rule at that period of time and have the kingdom that God gave him. Now this, of course, confirms to us that God himself sets up and removes people who are in positions of authority and rulership. It also should prove to us that God sets up kingdoms and kings and rulers who are evil as well. And at the very least, we can say that God allows these individuals to rule, and he does so for his unique purposes, regardless of how it looks to us. We can assume from this and other areas of scripture that God is in charge, period. He has plans. His will is going to be fulfilled. His plans will be performed. This isn't to say that Nebuchadnezzar was evil, though it's clear he had a temper and understood his authority to take life or give it. It's also clear that he changed over time. We need to remember, though, that at first, Nebuchadnezzar did not recognize the authority of Daniel's God and still viewed himself as being a type of God, giving himself credit for all the things he had accomplished. And eventually God shows Nebuchadnezzar who's in charge and Nebuchadnezzar is humbled and becomes a better king because of it. We're going to continue this next time. Thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate you doing that. You've got other things you could be doing. and we'll continue with our next episode. But until that time, I pray that God will open your eyes to show you how blessed you are. You've been listening to Study, Grow, Know with Dr. Fred DeRubo. Please join us each week for new broadcasts that deal with theology, prophecy, and political issues from a biblical, conservative perspective.