December 19, 2021

Nebuchanezzar's Dream - Daniel 2

A Prophecy of the World Empires revealed by God of the Great Image

by Raphael Paz

 

In a comprehensive review of world history, a prophecy found in the book of Daniel, reveals the rise and fall of Gentile Kingdoms in advance culminating with the second coming of Christ and the coming of God’s kingdom on earth replacing all of these past Kingdoms.

More than 2,600 years ago, an ancient King of Babylon had conquered Judah and Jerusalem. In his 2nd year reign, he dreamed a dream wherewith he was troubled. When his wise men and astrologers could not declare nor decipher his dream, a Hebrew captive named Daniel stepped forward and by prayer and supplications with his companions, God answered their prayer. Through God’s help, he unraveled the king’s dream, which provided a detailed overview of successive kingdoms that are to come after his kingdom down to the coming of a kingdom which have no end.

Chapter 2 of the Book of Daniel tells how Daniel interpreted a dream of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. In his dream the king saw a giant image made of multi-minerals. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, it’s belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As he watched, a stone not cut by human hands destroyed the statue and became a mountain filling the whole earth. Daniel explained to the king that the statue represented four successive kingdoms beginning with Babylon, while the stone and mountain signified a kingdom established by God which would never be destroyed nor will have an end.

King Nebuchadnezzar listened in awe as the young Jewish captive whose name is Daniel unfolded the dream of a multi-mineral giant image of a man. This young prophet was given insight by God into explaining the meaning of the dream:

Scripture reading:

Daniel reveals the dream:
Daniel 2:31-35
31 “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

Daniel interprets the dream:
Daniel 2:36-43
36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

39 “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so 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. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 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.

Conclusion of the interpretation:
Daniel 2:44-45
44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

History:
Daniel then revealed that the head of gold on the statue represented the Empire of Babylon, which reigned from 496 B.C. to 426 B.C. – Here ends the Babylonian Empire.

Next, History confirms that the chest and arms of silver symbolized the Medo-Persian Empire, which overran Babylon and reigned from 426 B.C. to 331 B.C.

Next, the belly and thighs of brass symbolizes Greece. Alexander the Great conquered the Persians, paving the way for the Grecian Empire which reigned from 331 B.C. (Battle of Arbela) to 31 B.C. (Battle of Actium).

Next, the legs of iron symbolized the iron Empire of Rome, which conquered the Greeks in 31 B.C. and dominated the world until 636 A.D. Later, the empire is divided into the Western leg (comprises western provinces of the Roman Empire = Europe) and Eastern leg (continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces = Byzantine Empire or Turkey) – This is the end of the Roman Empire.

Next, when the Roman Empire began to crumble, it was not overtaken nor replaced by another empire or world power. Rather, the great image’s feet of iron mixed with clay represented the successive Germanic invaders who divided the Roman territory into what is now modern-day Europe. (E.U. or Davos WEF?). Here will rise the Ten Kings. (cp. Dan. 7:23-25)

Though many have tried to unite Europe including Charlemagne, Napoleon, and even Adolf Hitler, in an attempt to resurrect the original Imperial Rome, none has been successful. The vile person (Dan. 11:21) or the Antichrist will be able to successfully revive this empire (the beast). Ten Kings will rise to assist the beast (Rev. 17:12).

Rev. 13:5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]

Rev. 17: 12“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour (at the same time) will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

How did Nebuchadnezzar’s dream end?

Daniel 2:34, 35
34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

Key:
Not by human hands = no human instrumentality in the destruction of all these human empires because it was God who had judged all these empires.

Who is the stone “cut out without hands” that demolished the feet of the image with enormous force?

It is our Lord Jesus Christ, the “Rock of Ages”
Isa. 26:4 “Trust [confidently] in the LORD forever [He is your fortress, your shield, your banner], For the LORD GOD is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].

All of history moves toward the grand finale when the Son of God returns to the earth with power. History confirms that we are living in the toes of this grand symbolic figure. Kingdoms have risen and fallen just as God revealed to Daniel.

The last scene in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream before the coming of God’s kingdom is the “feet partly of iron and partly of clay” in which period we are already living in right now. Bible prophecy has proven itself trustworthy and we can know with certainty that we are living in the end times or the last days just before the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (Col. 3:4)

Colossians 3:1-4 NIV
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Finally, I want to end the study with the following:
Colossians 1:9-14
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[c] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[d] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

And Ephesians 2:24-26
…24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another. 26“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,…

Note:
The image below is taken from page 41 of the book titled “The Testimony of Daniel or The Time of the End” by Charles H. Welch

Please click here to view the PDF version.