A Critique of the Preterist Interpretation of Daniel 2 amp 7Joel Richardson

In the second chapter of the Book of the Prophet Daniel we are introduced to King

Nebuchadnezzarrsquos dream of a massive metallic statue

ldquoYou saw O king and behold a great image This image mighty and of exceeding

brightness stood before you and its appearance was frightening The head of this image

was of fine gold its chest and arms of silver its middle and thighs of bronze its legs of iron

its feet partly of iron and partly of clayrdquomdashDaniel 231-33The statue we are then told represents a series of historical kingdoms or empires Daniel

informs the king that the first component of the statue that of gold represents the historical

Babylonian Empire which Nebuchadnezzar ruled over Scholars and commentators are in

general agreement that the next three empires represented by the respective metals of

silver bronze and Iron are the Medo-Persian Greek and Roman empires Though this is

the majority position in my book Mideast Beast I demonstrate that the descriptions of

the kingdom of Iron laid out within the text align perfectly with the historical Islamic

Caliphate and not with the Roman Empire Though this view will likely be met with

skepticism by those who have not yet considered the exegetical and historical arguments in

support of this view what is unarguable is that during the final days of the fourth kingdom of

iron a stone suddenly appears and strikes the feet of the statue causing the entire statue

to shatter

As you looked a stone was cut out by no human hand and it struck the image on its feet of

iron and clay and broke them in pieces mdashDaniel 234Commentators of all persuasions identify the stone as representing the Messianic Kingdom

of God here on the earth As the stone shatters the statue the fragments are seen to blow

away as dry chaff in the Autumn winds The stone however is seen to grow and spread

until it fills the entire earth

Then the iron the clay the bronze the silver and the gold all together were broken in

pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried

them away so that not a trace of them could be found But the stone that struck the image

became a great mountain and filled the whole earth mdashDaniel 235Later in Daniel 7 we are given further details concerning the timing of this victory of the

Kingdom of God over pagan earthly governments There we are told that it will come after

a period of intense persecution even near complete victory by the final empire against the

saints

ldquoI kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until

the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest

One and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdomrdquo mdashDaniel 721-22This is essential to note The timing of the coming of the Messianic Kingdom of God is

placed in the midst of an intense period of great persecution against ldquothe saints of the

Highest Onerdquo It is not until after this period of great tribulation that the saints then come to

possess the Kingdom of God

The Futurist versus the Preterist InterpretationAmong Christian interpreters there exists disagreement concerning the nature and timing

of the stone striking the statue Those who take the Futurist position understand this event

to remain yet in the future The feet of mixed iron and clay represent a secondary distinct

and final manifestation of the empire or ironmdashthe final Antichrist empiremdashwhich will be

utterly destroyed when Jesus returns The stone of course represents the second coming

of Jesus the Messiah whose kingdom will then come to dominate the whole world

Alternately the Preterist interpretation sees the feet of mixed iron and clay to simply be one

with the legs of iron To the preterist there exists no distinction between the legs of iron

and the feet of mixed iron and mixed clay The stone that strikes the feet represents the

first coming of Jesus with his invisible spiritual kingdom Preterists would claim that the

legs and feet represent the historical Roman Empire which was conquered by the coming

of the invisible Kingdom of God Today this spiritual kingdom is spreading throughout the

earth

The purpose of this article is to very briefly discuss some of the more obvious failures of the

Preterist interpretation of Daniel 2 amp 7

The Five Components of the StatueThe first problem with the Preterist view of Daniel 2 is its inability to account for the two-fold

division of the fourth kingdom between the legs and feet Although the passage speaks of

ldquofour kingdomsrdquo when one analyzes the structure of the passage the statue is seen to be

divided into five distinct components There is both a continuity and a division between the

legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay Consider the following structure of the text

translated literally word for word in exact order

The Image Head Fine Gold Breast Arms Silver Belly Thigh Brass Legs Iron Feet Part Iron

Part ClaymdashDaniel 232 33The following chart demonstrates the organization and structure of the passage again with

the words maintaining their exact order

Body Part Element

mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashmdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Head Fine Gold

Breast Arms Silver

Belly Thighs Brass

Legs Iron

Feet Part Iron ndash Part Clay

Because the Preterist position is unable to satisfactorily account for the clear distinction

between the legs of iron and the feet of mixed iron and clay it is forced to argue that the

feet merely represent a particular period within the broader historical Roman Empire Some

argue that the clay intermixed with the iron in the feet represents the mixture of Roman and

Jewish-Herodian rule during the first century This explanation however doesnrsquot represent

the totality of the Roman Empire but merely one very small segment of the broader empire

Nor does this view satisfactorily account for the sharp distinction between the legs and feet

The Futurist view however understands the feet of the statue as describing the broader

final period of the fourth empire as defined by its revival in the last days This latter days

revival of the fourth kingdom is clearly articulated by John the Apostle in the Book of

Revelation There John speaks of the final kingdom as suffering a fatal head wound and

coming back to liferdquo

I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain and his fatal wound was healed And the

whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast mdashRevelation 133Later the apostle also speaks of the same final ldquoseventhrdquo empire as being an empire

which ldquowas and is notrdquo and finally reviving as an ldquoeighthrdquo

The beast which was and is not is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven and he

goes to destruction mdashRevelation 1711And so it is seen that only the Futurist position is able to reconcile Danielrsquos prophecies with

the Book of Revelationrsquos descriptions accounting for both the continuity and the division of

the last empire The Preterist interpretation however offers only a strange and forced

explanation which does not sufficiently explain the distinction nor can it define any period

within the Roman Empire when any could say that it ldquowas and is notrdquo

It should also be noted that the Preterist position here is forced to understand the seven

heads of the Beast to represent specific historical Roman emperors rather than as

historical kingdoms as is consistent with the motif of ldquomountainrdquo as found throughout the

Bible While virtually all Preterists attempt to identify the final seventh heads mountain of

Revelation 13 and 17 as referring to some series of historical Roman emperors it seems

as though no two Preterists can agree as to which seven these might be Virtually every

Preterist seems to have a different list of which Roman emperors they believe ldquofitrdquo the

criteria of the prophecy Futurists however share general agreement that the seven heads

of the beast represent a series of pan-historical pan-Biblical pagan empires beginning with

Egypt each which at one time tried to destroy the Hebrew people and her connection to

the promised land

The Nature of the Destruction of the StatueSome further insurmountable problems with the Preterist interpretation of Daniel 2 is that

the text portrays the final kingdom in fact the whole statue as being destroyed suddenly

immediately and completely No sooner does the Messianic rock strike the feet of the

statue that it is shattered and its residue is blown away The Messianic Kingdom of God

fills the whole world leaving no trace of the previous pagan kingdoms All four of the

kingdoms are destroyed ldquoat the same timerdquo (Dan 240 44 ) When one compares

the descriptions given concerning the end of this final pagan kingdom in both Daniel 2 and

7 it is clear that the text emphasizes the finality and totality of the transition from pagan to

Messianic rule First the establishment of the Kingdom of God is expressly placed within a

particular timeframe It is established ldquoin the days of those kingsrdquo a reference to the final

period of the fourth kingdom

ldquoAnd in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be

destroyed nor shall the kingdom be left to another people It shall break in pieces all these

kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand foreverrdquo mdashDaniel 244An essential portion of the above verse is often overlooked We are informed that unlike

the other kingdoms mentioned within the passage the Kingdom of God will not be left to

others This same theme is later expressed again in Daniel 7

ldquoThen I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was

speaking I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body was destroyed and given to

the burning fire ldquoAs for the rest of the beasts their dominion was taken away but an

extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time mdashDaniel 711-12

Many have misinterpreted this verse to mean that the other kingdoms in Daniel 7 are

essentially contemporary empires or kingdoms that exist in their fullness during the time

when the fourth kingdom is destroyed This is not the meaning of this verse however

Instead its point is to contrast the nature of the destruction of these previous empires The

other empires unlike the final empire were given to other peoples with much of their

culture languages and peoples having lived on in those empires that conquered them This

is not the case however with the fourth kingdom It would first suffer an apparent death

Then after having come back to life will suffer a final devastating immediate and ultimate

blow This is also seen to contrast sharply with the Messianic Kingdom of God which will

never be given to another people but will last forever

lsquoThen the sovereignty the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole

heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One His kingdom will be an

everlasting kingdom and all the dominions will serve and obey Himrsquo mdashDaniel 727Yet history informs us quite clearly that the Roman Empire never met such a fate In fact

the fate of the Roman Empire was precisely the exact opposite of the descriptions given

within Danielrsquos prophecy Instead of meeting an immediate and decisive blow the Roman

Empire continued to exist and even grow for many years after the coming of Jesus in the

first century The Roman Empire suffering from internal decay and external attacks

sputtered and crept along for another 1400 years after the coming of the Messiah History

informs us that it was not the influence of the Church that destroyed the Roman Empire but

moral decay within and pagan forces from without And all of this over a very long and

drawn out time-frame at various times in various places long after the coming of Jesus

Christo-paganism Who Assumed WhoAdditionally it can also be argued that instead of being entirely overwhelmed by the gospel

instead the Roman Empire essentially incorporated and assumed Christianity into itself

resulting in a significant Roman-pagan influence within the culture practices traditions and

even to some measure the liturgy and doctrines of Christianity Though I reject the radical

views on these matters as argued by Alexander Hislop and many after him it must be

admitted that the exchange between Roman and Christian culture was certainly not entirely

one-way

In keeping with the language of the passage the Futurist interpretation looks forward to the

time when Jesus will return to genuinely shatter the pagan governments and ungodly

systems of this world resulting in the complete and utter victory of the very real and

substantial Messianic Kingdom of God filling the whole earth leaving no remnant of the

former pagan influences

The Timing of the Coming of the Kingdom During Great PersecutionEarlier we showed that the timing of the coming Messianic Kingdom is said to occur

specifically during a time of unparalleled persecution by the final empire against the ldquosaints

of the Highest Onerdquo

ldquoI kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until

the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest

One and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdomrdquo mdashDaniel 721-22The Preterist interpretation of these chapters cannot account for this clear statement

concerning the timing of the coming of the Messianic Kingdom of God When Jesus came

the first time it was not during a time of unparalleled persecution by the Romans against

the Jewish peoples nor did the Kingdom come later during Roman persecution against the

Church The Futurist position on the other hand in faithfulness to the text looks forward to

the time when the Messiah will deliver his people from out of a period of overwhelming

persecution under the Antichrist perhaps even in the near future

Who Struck WhoAnother point that few Preterists seem to acknowledge is that unlike the descriptions of the

prophecy the Romans struck and killed Jesus not the other way around It will not be until

Jesus returns that his victorious judgments will be executed against the pagan

governments of the earth

True Messianic HopeIn the perpetual cycle of increasingly frustrating and even outright depressing seasons of

political elections it is heartening to take note of the fact that when the Messiah comes all

corrupt pagan and ungodly politicians governments and unrighteous leaders throughout

the earth will be utterly completely and finally judged and removed Unlike the vague

partial and perpetually drawn-out hope that is held-out by the Preterist vision of history

(and the future) only Futurism provides us with a vision of the days to come that truly

encourages our hearts with the incorruptible hope of a soon coming transition to truly

righteous humble and godly leadership throughout the whole earth Maranatha