Daniel 2:1 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep broke from him.
The Magicians and Astrologers Called
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had a dream that troubled him greatly. He required his magicians and his astrologers to reveal the dream and to declare its interpretation, they could not. The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter… (verse 10).
Daniel is Called
Daniel 2:16 Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation.
God reveals the Mystery to Daniel
Daniel 2:19-23 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then
Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: For
wisdom and might are His.
21 And He changes the times and the seasons: He removes kings, and sets up
kings: He gives wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know
understanding.
22 He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and
the light dwells with Him.
23 I thank Thee, and praise Thee, O Thou God of my fathers, who has given me
wisdom and might, and have made known unto me now what we desired of Thee: for
Thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.
Daniel returns to the King
Daniel 2:27-30 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret
which the king has demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians,
the soothsayers, show unto the king;
28 But there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, and makes known to the
king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions
of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what
should come to pass hereafter: and He that reveals secrets makes known to thee
what shall come to pass.
30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have
more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the
interpretation to the king, and that thou might know the thoughts of thy heart.
The Dream Revealed
Daniel 2:31-36 Thou, O king, sawest and behold a great image. This great image,
whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was
terrible.
32 This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his
belly and his thighs of brass,
33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the
image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces.
35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to
pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and
the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that
smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the
king.
The Interpretation
Daniel 2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven has given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom of Babylon are represented by the head of gold.
Daniel 2:39a And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee…
This kingdom is represented by the breast and arms of silver. It is the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. The account of the Medo-Persian Empire displacing the Babylonian Empire is given in the fifth chapter of Daniel
Daniel 2:39b ...and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
This kingdom represented by the belly and thighs of brass is the Grecian Empire led by Alexander the Great.
Daniel 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
The fourth kingdom represented by the legs of iron of Nebuchadnezzar’s image is the Roman Empire.
Daniel 2:41-43 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s 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.
42 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.
43 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.
You will notice, of course, that Nebuchadnezzar’s image is the great image of man. Within this great man-image are pictured four great empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. These are the four great influences upon mankind. Mankind is the result of the input that has come down from these four empires, and each of them had its beginnings long before they became recognized as empires. Babylon’s beginnings, for example, stretch back to the tower of Babel and before. See Genesis 10.
You may find it of interest that there are four major rivers of influence. In Genesis chapter two there is the river that goes out of Eden to water the garden. It divides into four heads: Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and the Euphrates (Genesis 2:10-14). In like manner, Christ and His Gospel are presented by the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The water of Life flows from Christ and then parts into the four rivers of the four Gospels. Thus, we have the four great channels of Christ’s influence upon man.
Satan is the ape of God. God has Christ, so Satan has an antichrist. God has four rivers to water His Garden, so Satan has four rivers of influence to hold man in bondage to his sinful nature: Babylon, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman. Though each of these empires has ceased to exist outwardly, their influence has amalgamated in mankind. Also, though it was the Roman Empire that crucified Jesus Christ, the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, and Grecian Empires have their part in it, too. You will also notice that the Lord wars against these empirical influences in the Book of Revelation. He comes forth in man and wars against them.
The Kingdom of God Revealed
Daniel 2:44 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.
As we saw, “the days of these kings” or kingdom influences go back to the land of Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 10:31). It was at that time that God called Abram and told him to leave the land of Babel influence. That was the beginning of a setting up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed, but shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms.
We have covered a lot of ground. Let’s reread verses 34 and 35 again before we read verse 45.
Verses 34-35 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands (this means
it is not of man’s doings), which smote the image upon his feet that were of
iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to
pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and
the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that
smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
The stone speaks of Jesus Christ. He is the Rock upon which His Church is built (Matthew 16:18), and the gates of hell through which the influences of those kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar’s image pour forth their antichrist influences shall not prevail against it. Every vestige of its influence is wiped away, not even a scent will be left. Now let’s read verse 45.
Daniel 2:45 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.
None of those empires – Babylon, Medes and Persians, Grecian, or Rome – remain today as a kingdom or empire. But what they were has infiltrated down into the very nature of man. Man has become a conglomeration of all that those empires were. That being the case, how is the Lord going to rid man of what they have become? The Stone cut out of the mountain without hands hits the image in the feet. It attacks the very foundation of man of all that he is. That is, the Lord comes forth within us and cleans house. And you shall experience wars taking place in you: See that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass (in you), but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of birthpangs. Matthew 24:6-8. This is the Lord rooting out those kingdoms from you and establishing His rule and reign in you. Nebuchadnezzar’s image is being broken in pieces and swept out of you.
Copyright © 2008 by Henry DuBose