The first reading today is the scene in the Book of Daniel when he is asked to interpret a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. In the world of eschatology (the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind) this is one of the passages that fascinates all manner of interpretation

Key verses in the dream are:

• “You are the head of gold.” (Dan 2:38)
• “Another kingdom shall rise after you… then a third… then a fourth kingdom, strong as iron.” (Dan 2:39–40)
• “A stone which a hand had not cut from a mountain struck the iron, the clay…” (Dan 2:34)
• “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.” (Dan 2:44)

Summary Table of Understanding of Key Elements

Tradition	Four Kingdoms	Stone / Mountain
Rabbinic Jewish	Babylon, Media, Persia, Greece	God’s final kingdom / restoration of Israel
Patristic Christian (2nd-5th century AD)	Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome	Christ / Church / eternal kingdom
Modern Critical (Protestant & Reformed)	Babylon, Media, Persia, Greece	God’s intervention after Antiochus IV
Dispensational Futurist (Evangelical etc.)	Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome → revived Roman empire	Christ at Second Coming, millennial kingdom
Catholic	Either traditional (Rome) or historical-critical (Greece)	Christ’s kingdom, both present and future

These verses and its elements form a basis of a “dispensational” view of time. In this context, the “dispensations” are times in history vis-a-vis the Kingdom of God. When considered from an eschatology perspective there are some basic questions, whose answers means that “dispensationalism” is not monolithic. Differences appear when when discerning if the “Kingdom” is now, even if only partially revealed; does the visible Church on earth represent (or even part of) the Kingdom; what are the four empires; what is the relationship of kingdom of the 2nd Coming of Jesus; and the list goes on…

Within Dispensationalism there are distinct schools of interpretation of Daniel 2 (and prophetic texts generally). They agree on certain basics—the four kingdoms end with a revived Roman empire, the stone is Christ at His Second Coming, the Church is not the kingdom of Daniel 2, etc.—but there are real differences.

Dispensational View	Stone = Christ’s Kingdom?	Is It Already Present?	Ten Toes?	Church in Daniel 2?
Classical	Second Coming only	No	Literal 10 kings	No
Revised/Modified	Second Coming	No (or partial)	Literal or symbolic	No
Progressive	Inaugurated now, fulfilled later	Yes (but not fully)	Symbolic for final rulers	No
Apocalyptic Literalist	Dramatic Second Coming	No	Literal 10-nation confederacy	No
Two-Phase Roman Empire	Second Coming	No	Literal or flexible	No

You are likely most familiar with the futurist view sometimes referred  to as the  “Apocalyptic Literalist” view found in popular prophecy books (Late Great Planet Earth, Left Behind series, some televangelists). The view is very and leans heavily into geopolitical interpretations (e.g. ten toes = European Union)  that culminates is a single Antichrist head of the revived Roman Empire.  Interpretations are often a complex web of parallels between Daniel 2, Daniel 7, and Revelation 13 & 17.  As regards the fourth Kingdom, the view is Rome, but with a major difference: the feet of iron and clay (Dan 2:41–43) represent a future revived Roman Empire at the end of time in which the ten toes correspond to ten kings of an end-time confederation.

Often added to the mix are the terms premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial describing when Christ returns in relation to the “millennium”, the thousand year reign of Christ (Rev 20:1–6).  They do not inherently tell you whether someone is dispensational or not. However: all Dispensationalists are Premillennial, but not all Premillennialists are Dispensationalists. Confusing…let me try to explain.

Premillennialism asserts that Christ returns before (pre-) the millennium, a future, literal, 1,000-year reign on earth. And so we have “Dispensational Premillennialism” in which Christ returns before the millennium, the millennium is literal and earthly, Israel has a distinct role in the millennium, the kingdom of Daniel 2 and 7 begins after Christ’s Second Coming, the Church does not replace Israel, and prophecy is interpreted very literally. This is the eschatological (things of the end times) position for all forms of dispensationalism (classical, revised, progressive, etc.). There are some variations that differ by not separating Israel and the Church, not insisting on a pre-tribulation rapture, and seeing the Kingdom already partly present.

And then we have Postmillennialism which asserts Christ returns after (post-) the millennium. Dispensationalism rejects postmillennialism completely. 

That leaves us with Amillennialism. In this view there is no future earthly millennium. The “Millennium” is symbolic of the Church age in which Christ’s reign is already present in heaven. The Second Coming concludes history directly. This is the teaching of the Catholic Church, Orthodox Churches, most mainline Protestants, and most Reformers. Dispensationalism rejects amillennialism absolutely.

Summary of terms

Term	Meaning	Applied to Dispensationalism?
Premillennial	Christ returns before a future earthly millennium (differences whether earthly or heavenly…)	Yes – all dispensationalists
Postmillennial	Christ returns after a Christian golden age	No – incompatible
Amillennial	No future earthly millennium	No – incompatible

Clear? Probably not, but I thought I would “give it shot” given the first reading!

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Image credit: The Great Day of His Wrath | John Martin, 1851 | Tate Gallery, London | PD-US