The prophets spoke in symbols the faithful take as literal and miss
the entire point.
Really?? The reference below seems to be quite straight forward except for dating when it happens. Dreams are symbolic, the explanation is literal, there are several examples if this one doesn't convince you.
De:4:26-31:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day,
that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it;
ye shall not prolong your days upon it,
but shall utterly be destroyed.
And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations,
and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen,
whither the LORD shall lead you.
And there ye shall serve gods,
the work of men's hands,
wood and stone,
which neither see,
nor hear,
nor eat,
nor smell.
But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God,
thou shalt find him,
if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
When thou art in tribulation,
and all these things are come upon thee,
even in the latter days,
if thou turn to the LORD thy God,
and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God
he will not forsake thee,
neither destroy thee,
nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
Da:2:36-45:
This is the dream;
and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
Thou,
O king,
art a king of kings:
for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom,
power,
and strength,
and glory.
And wheresoever the children of men dwell,
the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand,
and hath made thee ruler over them all.
Thou art this head of gold.
And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee,
and another third kingdom of brass,
which shall bear rule over all the earth.
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron:
forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things:
and as iron that breaketh all these,
shall it break in pieces and bruise.
And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes,
part of potters' clay,
and part of iron,
the kingdom shall be divided;
but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron,
forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
And as the toes of the feet were part of iron,
and part of clay,
so the kingdom shall be partly strong,
and partly broken.
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay,
they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men:
but they shall not cleave one to another,
even as iron is not mixed with clay.
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed:
and the kingdom shall not be left to other people,
but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,
and it shall stand for ever.
Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands,
and that it brake in pieces the iron,
the brass,
the clay,
the silver,
and the gold;
the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter:
and the dream is certain,
and the interpretation thereof sure.