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Have Faith in the Kingdom!The Watchtower—1981 | May 15
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We are interested particularly in the “fourth kingdom,” concerning which Daniel said:
“As for the fourth kingdom, it will prove to be strong like iron. Forasmuch as iron is crushing and grinding everything else, so, like iron that shatters, it will crush and shatter even all these.”—Dan. 2:40.
7. What is this “fourth kingdom”?
7 Which kingdom does this ironlike one prove to be? In Bible history, the “fourth kingdom,” or world power, counting down from Babylon, is the Roman Empire, with Medo-Persia and Greece in between.
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Have Faith in the Kingdom!The Watchtower—1981 | May 15
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8, 9. What similarities are there between Daniel 2:40 and Daniel 7:7?
8 However, with regard to that “fourth kingdom”—in its original identity as the Roman Empire—Daniel tells us in another of his prophecies:
“After this I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there! a fourth beast, fearsome and terrible and unusually strong. And it had teeth of iron, big ones. It was devouring and crushing, and what was left it was treading down with its feet. And it was something different from all the other beasts that were prior to it, and it had ten horns.”—Dan. 7:7.
9 In examining Daniel chapter seven, it will be noted that the prophet is outlining the same four kingdoms, or world powers, as those presented in Da chapter two. But instead of describing such powers as parts of an image, starting with the head of gold, he describes them as beasts. In the seventh chapter, he starts with a lion (Babylon) and concludes with the unusually strong fourth beast having iron teeth. It is no coincidence, then, that Daniel 7:7 corresponds very closely with Daniel 2:40. In both these texts, grinding, crushing and fearsome ironlike strength are clearly associated with this kingdom of Rome.
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