In Daniel's 2nd chapter, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream [a vision] that turns out to be a "parable" and a "prophecy"... and a "revealing" to him by God, regarding THE GOSPEL OF THE COMING KINGDOM OF GOD.
God grants Daniel the privilege and honor to "interpret" the vision to him.
The king's dream is of a colossus... a huge image of a "metallic man" composed from the head, down, of four different "metals": gold, silver, bronze and iron - mixed with clay. This "metallic man" existed for a time, before being smashed to pieces by a "mysterious MOUNTAIN" whereby the pieces were crushed to powder and blown away by the wind... whereupon, the Great Mountain [the Kingdom of God] grew and filled the whole earth.
Each of these metals is revealed by God through Daniel to be [at that time in world history] "future world-ruling kingdoms" [THE GOVERNMENTS OF MAN]-- of whom King Nebuchadnezzar was the "kingdom of gold;" BABYLON.
"Your Majesty, you are a king over many kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength and honor... You are this head ofgold. But after your kingdom comes to an end, another great kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise and take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third great kingdom, represented by the BRONZE belly and thighs, will rise to rule the world." (Dan.2:37-39 NLT New Living Translation)
World history reveals that the "silver" kingdom that followed Babylon was the Persian Empire... after which came the "BRONZE" kingdom: the Greco-Macedonian Empire. And this, of course, was followed by the "iron" kingdom; the Roman Empire.
It's these four great world-ruling empires [symbolized by decreasingly valuable metals with the passing of time; the "value" in the eyes of God representing their decreasing lack of spiritual awareness and faith: King Nebuchadnezzar even has his own chapter in Daniel 4], that formed the combined nucleus and pattern for the system of man's government that rules the world to this day.
Daniel, too, had a dream or "vision" of these same four kingdoms... only in his dream, they were "BEASTS" -- which gives us an idea of how God views man's governments. Instead of "metal," the descending "value" in Daniel's dream was of the decreasing power and strength of the first three kingdoms: A Lion - Babylon; a Bear - Persia; and a Leopard - Greece. These first three "beastly kingdoms" were actual beasts, creatures, found among God's creation. But, the fourth beast, Rome, was like nothing in God's creation. It defied a description of anything "natural" in creation. It was "perverse":
"...I saw the fourth beast, terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled what was left beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns." (Dan.7:7 NLT)
The biblical prophecies for the time of the end [of God's 6000 year plan of Salvation for mankind] reveal that the combined traits of these four world-ruling kingdoms [their customs and traditions, religious influences, philosophies, etc] are still influencing and governing the world, today.
"...I [John] saw a Beast rising up out of the sea [of humanity on the earth]... This Beast looked like a leopard, but it had bear's feet and a lion's mouth! And the Dragon [Satan - see Rev.12:9] gave him his own power and throne and great authority." (Rev.13:1-2 NLT)
The study is deep... and it's a continuing one, that will conclude with the return of Jesus Christ and the "Mountain Kingdom" that will smash all of man's errant government rule on the earth; which The Bible calls "GOSPEL" or "Good News" [see Mark 1:14-15].
But, it was the influence of the "bronze" kingdom, Greece, that gave the world its modern, convoluted, philosophical views that are still being taught in the schools and universities of higher-learning in the world, today. That's what "bronze" represents in the Bible.
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