Chapter 14: Reorganizing the Kingdom

Daniel 6 is the last of the historical chapters. While Daniel 5 tells us of the fall of Babylon, Daniel 6 tells us how Darius the Mede reorganized the old world order into the new order of the kingdom. So just as Daniel 5 prophesies of the collapse of Mystery Babylon in our own time, Daniel 6 prophesies of the emergence of the Kingdom of God.

Recall that Daniel 2 prophesies of the four “metal” empires, followed by the “stone” kingdom which was to be the Kingdom of heaven. Daniel 7 speaks of these empires in greater detail but pictures them as “beasts.” Likewise, Isaiah 44 and 45 show that King Cyrus was a type of “messiah” in his overthrow of Babylon, and this tells us that when Mystery Babylon is overthrown by the kings of the east, we should expect to see the Kingdom of heaven—the stone kingdom—emerge.

The kings of the east in Daniel’s time were Cyrus the Persian and Darius the Mede. Cyrus was called a “messiah,” but Darius the Mede was the center of attention in Daniel 6. Darius acted under Cyrus’ authority, so this does not change the fact that Cyrus’ kingdom was a prophetic type of the stone kingdom.

In Daniel’s time, it was too early to establish the stone kingdom, because there were yet more beast nations that had to arise, and their full 2,520-year allotment to hold the Dominion Mandate had barely begun. So the Medo-Persian empire was only a dim reflection of the stone kingdom, but yet we are able to see patterns that prophesied of things to come at the end of the age.

Medo-Persia’s Dual Role in Prophecy

Prophetically speaking, Medo-Persia must be viewed on two levels. The dominant view is that it is the arms of silver in Dan. 2:32. Dan. 7:5 pictures it as a bear, the second beast empire. Because it was literally the second beast empire in the series, it could not be the Kingdom of God in a literal sense. Its representation as the Kingdom was secondary and recessive.

However, in our time, this situation is reversed as it reappears under the name of the kings of the east (Rev. 16:12). Today, the kings of the east are again picturing two sides of prophecy: the beast (or earthly nations/powers) and the Kingdom of God. As earthly nations, these “beasts” have been raised up by God to overthrow Babylon and grind the image to powder, but in the end they will assume the more positive role of helping the saints of the Most High and funding the building of the Kingdom of God.

The prophetic pattern for this is seen clearly when Persia funded the building of the temple and of Jerusalem itself. In Ezra 1:2 we read,

² Thus says Cyrus the king of Persia, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”

This temple was completed on March 15, 515 B.C. The people built houses in Jerusalem but did not repair the walls until Nehemiah was sent by King Artaxerxes to do that project in 445 B.C. His decree is found in Ezra 6:11-26, and it included full funding to complete the work. Thus the prophecy in Isaiah 44:28 was fulfilled, saying,

²⁸ It is I who says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire,” and he declares of Jerusalem, “She will be built,” and of the temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”

Hence, even in ancient times, Persia was not only the silver arms on the image and the “bear” among the beast nations; it was also a type of the Kingdom at the end of the age. This is because Babylon was to appear twice on the scene, first as a nation and later as a world-wide system of financial oppression. God used Cyrus as a messiah type to overthrow Babylon and to fund the building of the Kingdom. But because Persia’s role as a “bear” was its dominant characteristic, in the long term, it could only serve as one of the beast nations.

However, in our time, we see a change in the overthrow of Mystery Babylon at the hands of the kings of the east. God is still using the “bear” to overthrow Mystery Babylon, but its role as a builder and financier of the Kingdom is more predominant.

The four beast nations have now run their course and have fulfilled their 2,520-year contract to hold the Dominion Mandate. It appears that the end of this contract releases the kings of the east from the necessity of acting as beast nations. They no longer need to act with self-interest, using people as food (“grass”). Their seven times of eating grass like a beast has been completed. We have now come to the time when the nations’ reason returns to them (Dan. 4:34). The insanity of selfish beast government is coming to a close.

Hence, we are now witnessing the collapse of Mystery Babylon at the hands of the kings of the east (Russia and China). It is a banking war more than anything, expressed in many proxy wars as Mystery Babylon tries to retain its hegemony over the nations. Babylon’s big mistake was to try to retain Russia and China as vassal states. This was and is a losing battle. Russia is too big, and China is too strong financially, and an alliance between those two nations, bolstered by India, assures Babylon’s defeat, as prophesied.

Dominion Given to the Saints

Daniel 6:1-3 says,

¹ It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they should be in charge of the whole kingdom, ² and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss. ³ Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commis-sioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.

During the time of Babylonian rule under Belshazzar, Daniel seems to have been forgotten. But once Darius took Babylon, it was necessary to incorporate the territory of Babylon into the Persian Empire, and this also involved redistricting the Empire into 120 satrapies, or states, each governed by a satrap. A satrap was a subordinate ruler whose title meant, “protector of the country.”

The 120 satrapies were divided into three sections, with each section ruled by its own governor, or commissioner, directly responsible to the king himself. Hence, each commissioner ruled over 40 satraps. Furthermore, Daniel was the president of this triumvirate.

In the broader prophecy, Daniel himself was a type of overcomer living in Babylon. For him to be appointed the top commissioner, then, foreshadows the authority that is given to the overcomers in the stone kingdom after the fall of Babylon. This, of course, is prophesied in Dan. 7:21, 22,

²¹ I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them ²² 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 kingdom.

This is restated in a different way and broadened in Dan. 7:27,

²⁷ Then 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 Him.

In verse 22 the saints take possession of the kingdom, but in verse 27 we see that “all the dominions will serve and obey Him.” In other words, the Kingdom of heaven will have dominion over all the other kingdoms and dominions on earth. Dan. 2:35 says that the stone kingdom “became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” A single kingdom will have dominion over all other kingdoms.

Therefore, when the Persian Empire incorporated Babylon, it established the prophetic pattern for our own time. The fall of Mystery Babylon will bring about the stone kingdom, ruled by Christ and the overcomers, and this kingdom will then grow until it fills the whole earth. As with Daniel, the saints of the Most High will rule that kingdom in the Age to come.

The 120 Satraps

The number 120 is biblically associated with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The fact that Darius saw fit to divide the kingdom into 120 regions suggests an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our own time.

There were 120 priests blowing trumpets in harmony with the singers when the Spirit of God was poured out upon Solomon’s temple (2 Chron. 5:12). This occurred on the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles. Likewise, there were 120 in the upper room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:15) when the Spirit was poured out upon them (2:1).

There were also 120,000 people of Nineveh when the city was converted (Jonah 4:11). This, of course, is a type of the outpouring of the Spirit upon the world during the second work of Christ.

The timing for this work of the Holy Spirit is established by Moses himself, whose ministry ended when he was 120 years old. It was at that age that he commissioned Joshua (or Yeshua) to lead the people into the Kingdom (Canaan). Moses’ life naturally subdivides into three sections of 40 years each, for a total of 120 (Deut. 34:7). He was prince of Egypt for his first 40 years; he spent the next 40 years in the wilderness (Deut. 2:7); and then he led Israel in the wilderness for his final 40 years.

We see here a close parallel between the 120 years of Moses’ life and the 120 satraps, as both were subdivided into 3 x 40. Likewise, biblical history is divided in the same way into 3 x 40 Jubilee cycles. The first 40 Jubilees (40 x 49 = 1960 years) brings us to Abraham. The next 40 Jubilees brings us to Christ, who was like Moses (Acts 3:22), leading us out of the house of bondage at Passover of 33 A.D. The final 40 Jubilees brings us to 1993, at which time God began a 21-year cycle of transferring authority to the overcomers, ending in late 2014.

In other words, biblical history has run its course in 120 Jubilees, subdivided into three sections of forty Jubilees each.

This suggests that we are now in the general time where we can expect to see (1) an outpouring of the Spirit; (2) the transfer of authority from Babylon to the stone kingdom; (3) the shift from Moses-Christ to Joshua-Christ; (4) the entry into the Kingdom under the anointing of Tabernacles.

The Opposition

The problem is that two of the commissioners appointed by Darius were jealous of Daniel. As typical ambitious politicians, they were concerned with their own power and influence, rather than the good of the kingdom. They could not compete with Daniel’s godly wisdom and revelation, so they sought to find some occasion against him by which they might bring about his downfall. Dan. 6:4 says,

⁴ Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to govern-ment affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him.

A government official who is not corrupt is rare in every country, especially in a Babylonian government where corruption is a require-ment for promotion. No doubt it was Daniel’s very integrity that had prevented him from rising to prominence during the reign of Belshazzar.

In today’s world, no one is allowed to rise to a position of power unless the intelligence agencies know of some corruption that they can use to overthrow him if he deviates from their political agenda.

The rest of Daniel 6 shows us how Daniel emerged victorious over his jealous, corrupt co-commissioners. It is a story that prophesies of what we too should expect shortly. It appears that as the overcomers are given authority in the emerging Kingdom, there will be a transition from beast nations to the Kingdom of God. How long that transition will take is unknown, but the story shows that non-overcomers (politicians) will challenge the overcomers for influence and authority.

Daniel’s story tells us of the showdown as it occurred in his time. I believe the story prophesies of our own future in the next few years. The outcome will be good for the overcomers, of course, but yet we should prepare ourselves for opposition and persecution.

Heb. 11:33 tells us that Daniel’s faith “shut the mouths of lions.” Faith, then, in all of its aspects, will prove to be the important factor in overcoming the Babylonian lions in our day. Faith comes by hearing the word (Rom. 10:17). Therefore, if we hear the word in Daniel 6, our faith will be strengthened for the time of trial, and we will be able to rest in Him, knowing that our victory is assured.