Does Daniel 2 Spell the Doom of the European Union?
by Reinder Bruinsma | 23 May 2024 |
From June 6 to June 9, people in 27 European countries will vote for the 720 seats in the European Union (EU) parliament. Once every five years they cast votes for one of the national parties in their countries that take part in these European elections. In the parliament the representatives of these national parties are grouped in seven different political families. The number of people each country can elect is mostly related to size: from 96 in Germany, down to just six in Malta.
Not all Europeans use their democratic right to vote, but I will certainly go to the voting station some 300 meters from my home and be part of the process to elect the 31 men and women who represent the Netherlands in Brussels.
The EU is a big thing
A visitor to Brussels, the Belgian capital city, will soon discover that a major part of the city adjacent to central Brussels—the so-called European Quarter—is occupied by the massive European Union headquarters. I got a good impression of the size of the EU headquarters building when a few years ago my wife and I were given a tour of the offices by an EU advisor to the Finnish ambassador.
It is a city in itself. But this is not so surprising when we realize that the EU is an organization that represents as many as 448 million people in 27 member states, with a range of other countries aspiring to join it. It conducts its business in 24 official languages. This huge transnational body has a budget for the 2021-2027 period of 1.074 billion euros (US$1150 billion).
The EU is an expansion of the European Economic Community (EEC) which was established in 1957, when Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Rome. An important step in European integration was reached in 1985 with the Schengen Agreement, which did away with border checks between 25 EU countries and 4 non-EU countries. Upon the formation of the European Union in 1993, the EEC was incorporated and renamed the European Union. Twenty countries have adopted the euro as their common currency.
Throughout the countries that constitute the EU there is some opposition to the idea of European unity and—strangely enough—some of the parties that participate in the coming elections want to abolish the EU. But according to the “Euro-barometer,” only 12 percent of the population in the member-states is hostile to the concept of the EU, while about two-thirds are pro-European in various degrees. The current war in Ukraine has not only increased popular support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but also for the EU.
The EU is now the largest economy in the world, with a GDP per capita of €25,000 (US$27,000). It is the top trading partner for 80 countries. By comparison, the United States is the top trading partner in about 20 countries. The countries of the EU account for over 16 percent of all imports and exports in the world.
What about Daniel 2?
Will the success of the European Union continue? The traditional Adventist answer to that question has been a resounding “no.”
From the very beginning of our church, the second chapter of Daniel—King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue composed of different metals—has interpreted our prophetic timeline. Millerites and Adventists followed the majority of Christian exegetes of that period in pointing to Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome as the four powers that would rule a major part of the world. Some commentators, such as Ephraim Huit—the first systematic commentator on Daniel in colonial North America—identified the ten toes as Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Africa, Asia, Greece, Syria, and Egypt.
Other commentators interpreted the ten toes as the powers that arose in the territory of the Roman Empire. They did not always agree on the exact list. Uriah Smith, the most prestigious early Adventist interpreter of apocalyptic prophecy, simply adopted a list from the Italian diplomat-politician-historian Machiavelli (1469-1529). Not all subsequent Adventist interpreters agreed with Smith’s list, and some even saw the number ten as symbolic.
The mixed clay and iron feet and toes of the otherwise-metal image was indicative of a weak foundation, and indeed, Daniel’s interpretation of the king’s dream foretold their failure:
“This will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay” (Daniel 2:41-43).
Most Adventist commentaries have emphasized that Europe has always remained divided, just as the prophecy indicated: Charlemagne, Charles V, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Adolf Hitler all tried to create a united Europe but in the end none succeeded.
Adventists have continued to argue, in evangelistic campaigns and denominational journals, that the European Union project is bound to fail eventually, and Brexit was hailed by some Adventists as the beginning of the end of the ten toes.
This negative view didn’t stop the church from establishing an ADRA-EU office at a prestigious address: in the Rue Beliard, close to the European Quarter in Brussels. The head of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department of the Inter-European Division of the Adventist Church has an office at the same address, because in his position Brussels is the place to be.
In God’s hands
In an article in the Adventist Review, Dr. Frank M. Hasel, associate director of the Biblical Research Institute at the denomination’s Silver Spring headquarters, asks the question: “Have we rightly understood Europe’s role in Daniel 2?” He begins by stating that the European Union “appears as strong and cohesive as never before.” But then he asks:
“Can we really maintain that our interpretation of Daniel 2 is still valid? And must we not admit that perhaps our interpretation of the biblical prophetic message is too strongly Eurocentric?”
But Hasel then pivots to the weakening of the EU through the Brexit drama, and argues that the EU is not as strong as it may appear!
Eric J. Nasution, emeritus professor at the Adventist University in the Philippines (AIIAS), comments in an erudite article on the strengths and weaknesses of the European project. He stresses that the EU is an alliance between strong and weak nations and considers this a striking fulfillment of the iron and clay mixture in the prophecy of Daniel 2.
I agree with Hasel that we must focus on the rock that is cut from the mountain “without hands” that crushes the statue and that then fills the entire earth. But, as Dr. Hasel says, the truth we must take away from our reading of Daniel 2 is that the rock does not just put an end to a divided Europe, at whatever stage in its history, but it puts an end to
“all the metals and materials that are mentioned in Daniel 2. They represent influential political and religious authorities throughout history that threaten God’s people. God tells us that He will put an end to these human powers and establish His kingdom that ‘shall never be destroyed.'”
That is to say, “the history of this earth is in God’s hands.”
What about the elections?
A lot is at stake in the upcoming elections for the EU parliament. Right-wing extremist nationalism is showing its ugly head in many places in Europe. Democratic values, the defense of human rights, and the principle of constitutional government are at stake. I hope that the percentage of people who will vote, which usually is around 50 percent, will be higher than in previous elections.
And I hope that many people will remember that the origin and basis of the EU is linked with Christian values that must be treasured. Most experts in economics and political science agree that the EU has been good for the member countries. It has brought many economic advantages. The free movement of persons and goods has been a blessing. (Indeed, in some countries it has filled Adventist churches that were becoming so empty they would have closed without EU immigrants.)
And the European project has been an important factor in giving Europe such a long period of peace, and has, I believe, a further peace-potential for the future.
As a Seventh-day Adventist I am well acquainted with the traditional interpretation of Daniel 2, but it has not made me a Eurosceptic. I understand the concerns of those who wonder whether Brussels has not absorbed too many of the decision-making powers of the national states. I also often wonder whether the ever-growing bureaucracy of the EU is not in need of a serious trimming down. And I feel that some changes in the functioning of the EU are overdue, and that the veto-power of individual countries has created major hurdles that must be removed.
But as someone who holds democracy in high esteem and wants to support Christian values, my main worries are not about the precise fulfillment of Daniel 2:41-43. My overall concern is that, as long as history continues and the “rock” is not yet rolling down, I want to side with those who are intent on protecting the fundamental human and Christian values in the world in which I live.
That desire will determine how I vote on June 6.
Reinder Bruinsma lives in the Netherlands with his wife, Aafje. He has served the Adventist Church in various assignments in publishing, education, and church administration on three continents. He still maintains a busy schedule of preaching, teaching, and writing. He blogs at http://reinderbruinsma.com/.
