Daniel 2:36 45 (NKJV)36 This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king.

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1 Introduction The second chapter of Daniel we learn of King Nebuchadnezzar s fantastic dream. The king calls a conference and insists that the wise men of Babylon reveal the dream and its interpretation (untie the dream). When the so called wise-men are unable to reveal the dream and its meaning Daniel and his friends are placed in peril (vv.1-13). As the chapter unfolds we see Daniel s prayer to God to reveal the dream and its meaning and Daniel s praise to God when the God of heaven in fact reveals mysteries (vv.14-23). Daniel communicates the substance of the dream (vv.24-35) and now will reveal the significance of the dream (vv.36-45). Daniel honored God in the first chapter and now God will honor Daniel in this second chapter (vv.46-49). Along the way we have learned many lessons. There is a God in heaven. When we are in what seems like an impossible predicament we are still called to trust God completely. There is great value in prayer and praise to God. When God works he does not like to share his glory with anyone. The Lord both desires and demands credit for your gifts. But now we learn something else. Human kingdoms will come and go. The kingdoms of men have a predictable cycle; it begins with domination; the kingdom then is marked by either catastrophic or incremental deterioration; which eventually leads to disintegration. But God has a plan and God insists that human kingdoms will come to a close and not just any close. God s kingdom is at hand. There is a Stone that will come and crush the prophesied governments of men. This dream provides the Biblical backbone of prophecy and the rise and fall of Gentile kingdoms. The events are for the most part past but there is still a significant portion of the prophecy that remains unfulfilled. The kingdom of God will come; as John Phillips puts it;...not by evolution, not by the gradual leavening of mankind by the gospel, but by divine intervention. It will be imposed sovereignly on the world by God. The returning Christ of God, the stone cut out...without hands, will crush all of His foes. He will raise up a kingdom that will embrace the whole world: the glorious millennial kingdom heralded by Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets (see Exploring the Book of Daniel; p.56). The Meaning Of The Statue (vv.36-43) Daniel 2:36 45 (NKJV)36 This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. The substance of the dream has been revealed (vv.24-33). Note Daniel s words;...we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. Why we? Are Daniel s friends present? There is no indication the friends of Daniel are present. He is certainly not speaking of the Chaldeans, the wise-men, astrologers and magicians. Daniel must be speaking of the Lord God and that Daniel is the the Lord s servant. Once agains Daniel distances himself as the supernatural source but rather points the king to the God of Heaven who reveals secrets. The revelation of the dream 1

2 was a major accomplishment. But the interpretation is of no small matter. What is the meaning of the word interpretation? It means to untie or untangle the meaning of the dream. The king saw a massive statue with a head of gold and body of silver and bronze with legs and feet of iron and clay. 37You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all you are this head of gold. The Lord gives power and dominion to this king. The dominion extends over the children of men wherever they dwell. And to the beasts and the birds of the heaven. God created men to have dominion over the animals (Genesis 1:26). It would appear that the dream and the metaphor the head and gold speak of an absolute monarchy. We quickly learn these are successive kingdoms. Clearly there were massive empires before Babylon in Egypt and Assyria and China. Why does the narrative begin here? It would appear these are the kingdoms that have been designated by God in relationship to the people of Israel. Daniel gives the interpretation as a revelation of the near future and far future. The vision in quick order describes four future kingdoms; Babylon, the Medo-Persians; Greece and Rome. The same kingdoms will be described in Chapter 7 but there from God s perspective; as a series of raging wild animals; a lion, a bear, a leopard and a monster. The Lord God of heaven gave Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, power strength and glory. It would appear that God authorized a universal dominion that was never quite achieved. But the presence of Babylon remains with human beings even now. Much could be said about Babylon but let me give a brief summary. The old kingdom of Babylon began in Genesis 10:8-10. Nimrod was the great-grandson of Noah. The area survived a series of conflicts and became a city of wealth, influence and luxury. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus said the city was was surrounded by a wall 350 feet high and eighty seven feet across. The walls foundation was sunk some 35 feet below the surface to discourage tunnels. It was said that you could drive six chariots abreast on the top of the wall. Babylon in the time of Nebuchadnezzar was not only the capital but was renovated and expanded. The city wall formed a square nine miles long and nine miles wide; occupying some 200 square miles about the size of New York City today. Around the wall there were 250 watchtowers placed in strategic locations. Within the wall there were one hundred gates of brass. Inside the city Nebuchadnezzar built the fabulous hanging gardens; a wonder of the world. It was a man made mountain; 400 feet square; and then raised in perfectly cut terraces one above 2

3 the other until it soared to a height of 350 feet. Viewers could make their way to the top by means of stairways ten feet wide. It was an amazing sight. The great temple of Marduk was joined to the tower of Babel the most impressive temple site in the Euphrates Valley. The hanging gardens were build by Nebuchadnezzar to comfort his wife Ametis a princess of Media who longed for the mountains of her native land. Babylon contained a golden image of Bel and a golden table which according to middle-eastern authorities weighed some 50,000 pounds. At the top were golden images of Bel and Istar two golden lions. This golden table was 40 feet long and 15 feet wide. On the table was a human figure of solid gold, 18 feet high. Babylon was literally a city of gold. The city had 53 temples and 180 altars to the goddess Ishtar. Isaiah 14:14;...take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: How the oppressor has ceased, The golden city ceased! The context of the Isaiah passage is that Israel will outlast her enemies her conquerers. Israel will leave Babylon and return to her land. And then this taunting song is sung against the king and the king s treasures; hell is pictured welcoming the king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:9). Babylon powerful, beautiful, temporal. Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B.C. There were brief reigns by weak men. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son-in-law Nabonidus who married the king s daughter. He ruled from B.C. Nabonidus grew weary of the crown and left Babylon in the control of his son Belshazzar and retired to the east becoming history s first archeologist digging up his ancestors past. On October 13, 539 B.C. the city of Babylon was taken by the allied forces of the Medes and Persians and Belshazzar was slain and the new Babylonian kingdom was no more (see Daniel chapter 5). We learn that these kings and their kingdoms are Gentile nations who are given rule over God s people Israel. But this is only a temporary arrangement. God s kingdom is coming. It is even at hand. 39But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. Daniel in short order gives the world wind prophecy another kingdom will arise inferior to yours. In that simple statement the Lord also reminds Nebuchadnezzar s rule is temporary. Like all men his power and influence will one day cease. 3

4 In what way was the Kingdom of the Medes and Persians inferior? In length and breath and power and longevity the kingdom of the Medes and Persians seemed to excel Babylon. Daniel by the Holy Spirit seems to say something different. The materials decrease in weight and volume. Each of the kingdoms had different governments. In Babylon the king s word was law. The king was an absolute monarch a dictator (see Daniel 5:19). The Persians had a king, but the king worked through princes (presidents) and established laws (see chapter 6:1-3 and remember the law of the Medes and Persians in Esther 1:19). Greece ruled with a king and an army. Rome began with a king continued as republic and then eventually became a dictatorship. The Greek empire comes on the scene with the appearance of Alexander the Great ( B.C.). 40And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. The statue had legs of iron (v.33) and feet partly of clay and partly iron. 41Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. This fourth kingdom is divided. Scholars are deeply divided over whether these verses in part refer to the Roman empire of old or a revived Roman Empire in the future. 42And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. What is Daniel telling us about these successive kingdoms? Three are past. One is both past and present and future. Yet in many ways the past kingdoms are still present. The fourth kingdom presents the most interpretive problems. Clearly the kingdom is Rome. But then we see Rome breaking into nation states. 4

5 Some Bible teachers believe the iron represents the philosophical principles or the rule of law and justice. The baked clay are human beings fragile but the combination of these elements; jurisprudence and human beings make up the present political circumstances. What is the strength of human government? Law. What is the weakness of human governments? People. We are given clues to the dream in Daniel 7: In the whole chapter Daniel receives a vision of four beasts and the ancient of days. This fourth kingdom is different from all the other kingdoms and according to the vision and Daniel devours the whole earth. Ten kings are described that seem to mirror the ten toes talked about here in chapter 2:41. Daniel then describes the Antichrist s march to power. There is a final world power a confederation of nations who appear to arise simultaneously in the days of Tribulation. Prophecy scholars point out that the ten toes of chapter 2 and the ten kings of chapter 7 bear no resemblance to events in the past during the Roman Empire. John Walvoord describes it this way; According to Daniel s prophecy, the kingdoms represented by the ten toes existed side by side and were destroyed by one sudden catastrophic blow. Nothing like this has yet occurred in history. Prophecy scholars like Ron Rhodes believes this event will occur in history future as a final revived Roman Empire is shattered at the second coming of Jesus Christ in glory (see 40 Days Through Daniel; pp ). The Meaning Of The Stone (vv.44-45) 44And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure. In verse 44 we find a most remarkable statement; And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. The God of Heaven will set up a kingdom. This kingdom will overthrow all earthly kingdoms. Nebuchadnezzar witnessed a stone cut out of the mountain without hands that means this stone does not owe its origin or destiny to human beings. The stone is divine. The stone or rock crushes the kingdoms of men. Whatever power or authority or abilities that human beings possess will one day be destroyed by the stone. The rock or the stone is repeatedly used to describe God s Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ. 5

6 Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 8:14; 28:16. 1 Peter 2:6-8; Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes in Him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone, and A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. We are immediately drawn to the temporary nature of human governance and the permanent nature of God s Kingdom. God was at work in the past and is still at work in the present. But there is a final human kingdom a final time of human governance that will be replaced by God s kingdom. It is not a human kingdom. It is a divine kingdom. It is a permanent kingdom. All the prophesies of the fourth and final kingdom have not been fulfilled. Daniel reminds the king that the interpretation is certain (v.45). It means it must happen. The source of the interpretation (untying the dream) is God Himself. This is the God who is in Heaven. This is the God who reveals secrets (see vv.19,23,28,30). What do we know? The four kingdoms represent Gentile powers. In the days of the final Gentile power the God of Heaven will shatter all earthly kingdoms through His Rock (the Lord Jesus Christ) and set up an eternal kingdom. Conclusion 6