Daniel #4
C. Paul Willis
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream II
Daniel 2:27 - 45 (NKJV) 27Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. 28But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: 29As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. 30But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. 31“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and £thighs of bronze, 33its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of £clay. 34You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 36“This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 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. 39But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 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. 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. 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. 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.”
I. The Colossal Image v. 31
A. The Image was “great.” It was a colossal, astonishing, gigantic image.
B. The image was “terrible.” Its brightness, the brilliance of the metal and the form, was terrible or frightening.
C. The image was awesomely impressive
D. The entire image represented the “times of the Gentiles”
Luke 21:24 (NKJV) 24And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Daniel 2:36 - 39 (NKJV) 36“This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 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. 39But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
E. Israel had been purposed to be the administrative ruler of all the governments of the world.
Deuteronomy 32:7 - 9 (NKJV) 7 “Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you: 8 When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. 9 For the Lord’S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.
F. God purposed that His Son would rule from Jerusalem
Psalms 2:1 - 12 (NKJV) 1 Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: 6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” 7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall £break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” 10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. 12 £Kiss the Son, lest £He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
Israel failed and God gave the kingdom over to the Gentiles!
II. Nebuchadnezzar was the Golden head of the Gentile Kingdoms
The Babylonia Kingdom lasted from 605 to 536BC
Daniel 4:29 - 30 (NKJV) 29At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. 30The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”
What Nebuchadnezzar did not recognize was that his city of gold was only a golden schoolhouse in which God’s captive people were taught lessons they have never forgotten – it was a prison of gold in which God chastened His people and when God’s holy purpose had been accomplished Babylon passed away!
III. Next came the two-armed silver kingdom of the Medes and Persians
The Medo-Persian Kingdom lasted from 536/539 to 330BC (Remember that Daniel saw it before it happened)
Silver was the name for the method of taxation invented by the Mede/Persians
Daniel 11:1 - 2 (NKJV) 1“Also in the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood up to confirm and strengthen him.) 2And now I will tell you the truth: Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.
IV. The Brass Kingdom was Greece
The Geek Kingdom lasted from 330BC through Alexander and the Ptolemies through the Maccabees and Hasmoeans Jewish revolt in 167 BC to 63BC.
The Greek soldier wore a helmet of brass, a breastplate of brass, a shield of brass and a sword of brass.
V. The Iron Legions of Rome
The Roman Empire lasted from 63BC until the fall of the Eastern Empire in 1453AD when Constantinople fell to the Ottomans (Islamic) and the Western Empire has continued through Europe to this present day.
VI. Daniel saw a declension in the nature of western word history.
A. Deterioration in quality (from Gold to Iron & Clay)
B. Deterioration in cohesion (from Solid Gold to Iron & Clay that will not stick together
C. Deterioration in beauty (Gold is certainly more beautiful than Iron & Clay)
D. Deterioration in strength (Gold to Clay)
E. Different forms of Government
- Babylon ruled by an absolute monarch (dictator)
- Medo-Person ruled by a king but worked through princes and absolute law (Esther 1:19)
- Greece ruled by king and army
- Rome ruled by republic and law
VI. Feet of Iron and “miry clay”
A. Could refer to government structure – if so “Iron” would represent government of dictatorship and “clay” mankind or democracy and the two will not fit together (the area of the middle east today)
B. Could refer to culture – if so “iron” would represent the western culture, Europe and U.S., “clay” could be “sticky sand” or eastern culture i.e. Islam
C. Could refer to a ten nation European government i.e. European Federation & a ten nation Islamic government, i.e. OPEC. The “sticky sand” could be desert and oil!
Conclusion: The “Stone not made with hands” cannot be the church it grows but the “stone” falls – it has to be the second coming!
