Here is another thing to consider: noted that every prophecy of Daniel concludes with Jesus arriving in God’s Kingdom? The only prophecy that does not is in chapter 9, which concludes with the arrival of the Messiah who is the King of God’s Kingdom.
Daniel chapter 2: “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite”
Daniel chapter 7: “And the kingdom and the ruler ship and the grandeur of the kingdoms under all the heavens were given to the people who are the holy ones of the Supreme One. Their kingdom is an indefinitely lasting kingdom, and all the ruler ships will serve and obey even them.”
Daniel chapter 8: “And against the Prince of princes he will stand up, but it will be without hand that he will be broken.”
Daniel chapter 12: “And during that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people.”
What about Daniel 4? Does it also conclude with God’s Kingdom? Daniel 4:17 says, “By the decree of watchers the thing is, and by the saying of holy ones the request is, to the intent that people living may know that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind and that to the one whom he wants to, he gives it and he sets up over it even the lowliest one of mankind.”
Here is something else to consider. Since one of Daniel’s prophecies foretold the arrival of Jesus Christ on earth, wouldn't it be expected (or at least not surprising) that it would also tell about his heavenly arrival as king? Daniel 4 accomplishes that very purpose.
Does it make sense that all the prophecies of Daniel point to the Messiah/King either coming on earth (once) or ruling in heaven (the rest), but that this one prophecy in Daniel 4 does not have anything to do with the Messiah/King but only Nebuchadnezzar?
The Watchtower put it well when it said the following:
“...examination of the entire book of Daniel reveals that the element of time is everywhere prominent in the visions and prophecies it presents; and the world powers and events described in each such vision are shown, not as isolated or as occurring at random with the time element left ambiguous, but, rather, as fitting into a historical setting or time sequence. Additionally, the book repeatedly points toward the conclusion that forms the theme of its prophecies: the establishment of a universal and eternal Kingdom of God exercised through the rulership of the 'son of man.'
“In view of the above, it does not seem logical to evaluate the vision of the symbolic 'tree' and its reference to 'seven times' as having no other application than to the seven years of madness and subsequent recovery and return to power experienced by one Babylonian ruler... The time at which the vision was given: at the critical point in history when God, the Universal Sovereign, had allowed the very kingdom that he had established among his covenant people to be overthrown; the person to whom the vision was revealed: the very ruler who served as the divine instrument in such overthrow and who thereby became the recipient of world domination by divine permission, that is, without interference by any representative kingdom of Jehovah God; and the whole theme of the vision, namely: ‘that people living may know that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind and that to the one whom he wants to, he gives it and he sets up over it even the lowliest one of mankind’ (Daniel 4:17) all of this gives strong reason for believing that the lengthy vision and its interpretation were included in the book of Daniel because of their revealing the duration of ‘the appointed times of the nations’ and the time for the establishment of God’s Kingdom by his Christ.
The fact is evident that the key point of the vision is Jehovah God’s exercise of irresistible sovereignty in ‘the kingdom of mankind,’ and this provides the guide to the full meaning of the vision.
“The tree is shown to have an application to Nebuchadnezzar, who at that point in history was the head of the dominant World Power, Babylon. Yet, prior to Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem, the typical kingdom of God ruling out of that city was the agency by which Jehovah expressed his rightful sovereignty toward the earth. It thus constituted a divine block or impediment for Nebuchadnezzar in attaining his goal of world domination. By allowing that typical kingdom at Jerusalem to be overthrown, Jehovah permitted his own visible expression of sovereignty through the Davidic dynasty of kings to be cut down. The expression and exercise of world domination in the ‘kingdom of mankind,’ unhindered by any representative kingdom of God, now passed into the hands of the Gentile nations. —Lamentations 1:5; 2:2, 16, 17
“In the light of these facts the tree is seen to represent, beyond and above its application to Nebuchadnezzar, world sovereignty or domination by God’s arrangement.”
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