@Jerry Huerta ..
(Dan 2:40) The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, because iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things; and as iron that crushes all these, shall it break in pieces and crush.
(Dan 2:41) Then you saw the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, that shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, because you saw the iron mixed with miry clay.
(Dan 2:42) As the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
(Dan 2:43) Whereas you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cling to one another, even as iron does not mingle with clay.
(Dan 2:44) In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; it shall crush to powder and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
(Dan 2:45) As you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what shall happen hereafter: and the dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.
The base or feet of the iron 2-legged kingdom - 4th Beast, is the Roman Empire. This 'last' kingdom eventually stood and fell (began its decline) based on 10 kings and their given resources in terms of manpower and weaponry, of the last of the Caesar dynasties and rulers of Rome until Christ establishes his Kingdom in heaven and on the earth.
This was all completed by 70 AD.
The kings or Caesars during that time were a mixture of weak and strong leaders with more and more conscripts for war and unwilling forces of slaves.
And these ten leaders of the Roman Kingdom were:
The red beast of the Roman empire had 7 heads and 10 horns. These heads of the beast represent the 10 emperors or Caesars since Julius. The 7 heads are also the 7 hills where Roman is seated.
1 – Julius – 44 BC (the 1st head of the red Beast)
2- Augustus – 27 BC
3 – Tiberius – 14 AD
4 – Caligula – 37 AD
5 – Claudius – 41 AD
6 – Nero – 54 AD
7 – Galba – 68 AD
8 – Otho – 68 AD
9 – Vitellius – 68 AD
10 – Vespasian – 69 AD
11 – Titus – 79 AD
12 – Domitian – 81 AD to 96 AD
The 1st 6 Emperors are of the Caesar Dynasty.
In Rev 13:3, the 6th Emperor or one of the heads of the red beast had a fatal wound and caused the Beast to become dead in the process. Nero commits suicide and there was no designated hand-off ruler, so chaos ensued. The next 3 Emperors (7th 8th and 9th) came to power in the midst of this civil war in Rome and the Beast Kingdom was now fighting for its life. Each of them only lasted in power for months as temporary rulers.
The mortal wound caused by Nero that affected the life of the Beast was healed with the 10th Caesar, Vespasian. Rome as the red Beast was revived to life.
Out of Nero’s deadhead, emerged two new 2 heads in his place, of the Flavian Dynasty – Vespasian and Titus his son. See Rev 13.....
Again, Iron is a strong material used extensively in the Roman armies. The Roman Empire after the fall of its Republic was a military conqueror first. Then eventually since Julius Caesar, as a byproduct of their conquests, they increasingly built their Empire of and with clay.
Iron and the clay intermingled represented the condition of the Roman Empire’s underpinning. Its footing or foundation of the Roman Empire was based on both strength and weakness of leadership of the 10 Roman Caesars and the fragility of human slave labor. On one hand it had invincible armies wearing and using modern technologies with commanders of strength and boldness. On the other hand it was reliant on slaves for the maintenance of their influence and widespread geographical power. It was a slave- based society composed of many cultures and ethnic groups, used in all capacities as tools for their industry and livelihood, used in both civilian and military life. At the height of the Roman Empire at the turn of the 2nd century there was estimates that between 30 – 40 percent of the people living in Rome were slaves and another 10-20 percent within their conquered territories.
When Christ ascended to heaven, he established the Kingdom of his Father and caused the feet of the image to break and fall to cause it to topple, and to become as chaff and be blown away; to disappear for good. The Kingdom that brought the gospel travelled far and wide and became a large mountain indeed, surpassing in power all the human kingdoms of the past.
The power of God established his new Kingdom in heaven and within his believers on the earth. This was the cause and reason of the Son of God, of his creation, ministry of sin repentance, his death and resurrection to new life.
The Kingdom initially spread out from Jerusalem and Judea and consumed all the nations of the then-known world by the end of 1st century, where all these four Kingdoms (Beasts) rules at one time.
Ever since this heavenly Kingdom was established in the generation between 30 - 70 AD, this last earthly 4th Kingdom of the Roman Empire began to slowly decrease in power and influence although it zenith was not until around 117 AD.
The Kingdom of God continued to spread upon the earth since that time and is immovable by anyone, regardless of the number of new converts in Christ, in each future generation.
--------------------------------------