18th of April, 2024
Daniel chapter 2 relates the story of Nebuchadnezzar, and a dream he had in which he saw a statue made of five metals.
The metals were gold, silver, bronze, iron, and then a mix of iron and clay.
The metals represent five kingdoms, for we’re told the head of gold was the kingdom of Babylon (v. 38) and afterwards there would come other kingdoms (v. 39 & 40).
But the metals also represent the “seed of men”, as verse 43 shows: As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men.
The metals in the statue exhibit a progression from precious to common. They also exhibit a progression from soft and malleable to hard and brittle.
Daniel 2:42And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile [brittle].
The type of clay is important. In verse 41 and 43 it’s called potter’s clay, or ceramic clay.
The same word (at least, the Hebrew equivalent of the Aramaic) is used in passages like Isaiah 41:25 where it says, as the potter treads clay.
The metaphor of potter and clay is used to refer to the process of God forming man. In Genesis 2:7 it even says that God formed man of the dust of the ground.
Although clay is used as a metaphor, we’re not actually made of clay, which is primarily composed of silicon. We’re made of carbon.
Thus potter’s clay, in the sense of the foundational element of organic life, actually refers to carbon, and that puts a completely different spin on the mixture of iron and clay.
Because iron mixed with carbon is called steel.
Steel has the strength of iron, but it’s brittle. The more carbon, the harder it is, but the more brittle it gets. Too much carbon results in a very brittle alloy called pig iron.
The kingdom of iron and clay, where they will mingle with the seed of men, will be a kingdom comprised of men of steel.
Super-men.
Men the Bible calls mighty men, men of renown, giants, or nephilim.
Genesis 6:1-4 shows that these people will be a mixture of the daughters of men and the sons of God, as happened in the days before the flood.
This is the kingdom that will exist in the last days, before God destroys them and sets up His kingdom on the earth, as per Daniel 2:35.
Revelation shows that the kingdom of God is established at the 7th trumpet.
Revelation 11:15Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
If this final kingdom of steel is destroyed when the 7th trumpet sounds, it must be the kingdom that is present at the time of the 6th trumpet.
These super-men, these men of steel, must therefore be the army seen at the 6th trumpet. The super-natural sounding army that will result in one-third of the world’s population being killed.
The army with with breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow (Revelation 9:17).
That S is the serpent, representing the serpent seed, the one with whom the seed of men will be mingled in the last days.
They’ll think they’re invincible, but unbeknownst to themselves, they’ll be God’s army, carrying out His bidding.
And they will all be effortlessly destroyed at Armageddon by the Word that comes out of His mouth (Revelation 19:21).
See Also: