Daniel 2 & 7, parallels, pt. 2 - Fall of the Church

Study:

Recall the 4th and 5th kingdoms, the last earthly kingdom and God's heavenly kingdom:

Vision of Daniel 2
(An idol made of 4 metals)
Interpretation
(5 Kingdoms)
Vision of Daniel 7
(4 unclean beasts)
gold, silver,
& brass
 
First 3 Earthly Kingdoms
 
lion, bear,
& leopard
 
 
 
 
 
iron
legs
feet + 10 toes
 
clay
united
4th Earthly
Kingdom
divided
 
eyes of a man & a mouth speaking
no horns
10 + 1 little
non-descript beast with iron teeth
 
mountain & stone
5th Heavenly Kingdom
Ancient of Days & Son of Man
 
Metals / State
Non-Metals / Church
 
Human / Church
Beast / State

Is it certain that "clay" and "eyes of a man and a mouth speaking" symbolize the church? How can we be sure?

"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

So clay is a symbol of God's people/his church! What of the eyes and mouth? 

"(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)" 1 Samuel 9:9

"And he [Aaron] shall be thy [Moses'] spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God." Exodus 4:16

"And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet." Exodus 7:1

So a prophet is eyes and a prophet is a mouth. A prophet is to see what is coming and speak for God and warn the people. But this is what God has called his church to do for the world... for the lost. One example of this is Jonah who was called of God to warn Ninevah of coming destruction. But there is more...

"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

Notice that Daniel here describes a transformation of the clay:

potter's clay + iron => iron mixed with miry clay

Potter's clay is clay used to make pottery. It is something useful! But what is miry clay?

"I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." Psalm 40:1,2

This verse talks of David being in an horrible pit, in the miry clay, and that God came and took him out and set his feet upon a rock (Christ?). This verse would seem to indicate that miry clay is a place that God would not have us be thus indicating that it is not a good thing. Miry clay might best be described as dirty clay... dirty to the point that it has become mud. Miry clay is so contaminated that it is no longer any good for making pottery but only mudpies.

Because of the parallel nature of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, even though we are not told that such a transformation happened, we can be certain it did:

 
horn(s)
 
 
+
 
eyes of a man and
a mouth speaking
for God
 
=>
 
a little horn
 
with
 
eyes of a man and
a mouth speaking
against God

Notice: "potter's clay"/"eyes of a man and a mouth speaking for God" are changed into "miry clay"/"eyes of a man and a mouth speaking against God" and yet the iron/horn remain unchanged! What is causing the change?

Now to anchor the prophecy in history for the power of prophecy is that it does foretell the future and thus prove the God of the Bible to be the one and only true God.

Vision of Daniel 2
Vision of Daniel 7
In History (& Daniel)
gold
lion
Neo-Babylonian Empire (626-539 bc)
(Babylon: Dan. 2:37,38)
silver
bear
Achaemenid Empire (539-333 bc)
(Medo-Persians: Dan. 8:20; 11:2)
brass
leopard
Emp. of Alexander & Succ. (333-63 bc)
(Greece: Dan. 8:21; 11:2)
 
iron
 
 
+ clay
 
non-descript beast
w/o horns
 
 
w. 10 horns
+ little horn w.
eyes & mouth
Roman Republic/Empire (63 bc-476 ad)
(united or pagan Rome)
Kingdoms/Nations of Europe (476 ad--)
(divided or papal Rome)

Papal Rome? How can this be? We have shown that clay is God's people or the church, thus...

clay + iron = church + Rome or the Roman church!

But actually, it says,

miry clay mixed w. iron = the Roman church, a corrupt, fallen church

Note: metal symbolizes the state! What church is a mix of church and state? There is only one, the Roman Catholic church which is both a church and a state, the Vatican state! The Catholic church is not only a church-state at present. In the past, the church ruled the Papal States in Italy. This changed at the end of the 18th century and in the 19th century when first the French under Napolean took the Pope captive in 1798 setting up a Republic and then later on with the unification of Italy (1814-1861) under Giuseppi Garibaldi and others, ending in the formation of the kingdom of Italy.

To be continued...

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