A
King Dreams... A King Is Confused
DANIEL
2:1-13
Perhaps at some time in your life
you’ve had a dream that was so unnerving and perplexing that it kept you
from sleeping through the rest of the night. You tried to figure out what it
might mean and may have even asked others to help you with an interpretation
that made sense. If this has happened to you and me, we know it’s happened to
people throughout history.
In the year 603 B.C., King
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream so bizarre that he marshaled his wisest men to his
chambers to give him a reasonable interpretation. Not only did the crafty king
want an interpretation of the dream he could understand, but he went one step
further: He demanded a recital of the dream itself. Unreasonable?
Of course. But Nebuchadnezzar was the king, and just
as the gorilla sleeps anywhere it likes in the
jungle, so the king could make up his own rules-which he did with an impish
look in his eye, I’m sure.
Nervous
Coughs and Furtive Looks
Did the king really forget the
content of his dream? I doubt it. I think this was Nebuchadnezzar’s way to test
the wisdom and alleged supernatural powers of his magicians, astrologers, and
sorcerers. Heavy has been the head that has worn the crown throughout history,
and Nebuchadnezzar’s crown must have weighed a ton. Kings come and go; their
enemies are forever nipping at their heels. What if Nebuchadnezzar’s dream were
to portend evil for his realm? Superstitious as he was, he demanded an
interpretation.
But there was a risk that one of the
palace sorcerers might give the king information he didn’t want to hear. So
what does a wizard do? Equivocate? Beat around the bush? Try to buy some time?
After all, the wrong information would produce disastrous results for the wizards-like
being cut to pieces and having their houses made into a dunghill. But if they
could state the dream and give Nebuchadnezzar an interpretation he could live
with, then all manner of blessings would fall on the necromancers. So the stage
was set.
I can almost hear the nervous coughs
and see the furtive looks as one magician after the other would say something
like, "0 King, that’s a marvelous idea, our telling you your dream- not
that it will be easy. Say, would you mind running that dream by your servants
just one more time, and then I’m sure we’ll be able to come up with just the
right interpretation."
Paranoia
Abounds
The king didn’t bite. He knew he had
his magicians and wise men trapped, and he accused them of stalling. Finally,
probably with perspiration pouring from their brows, the wizards and
astrologers came flat out with the truth, saying that such an assignment was
impossible-certainly too great a job for the wisest person in the realm, and
one that could only be accomplished in cooperation with the gods-whose "dwelling
is not with flesh". An interesting comment from
savants who were supposed to be able to predict the future and come up with
detailed-and accurate-answers to life’s most perplexing problems. Yet,
when push came to shove, they figured hearkening to the gods might not be such
a bad idea after all.
But the king didn’t buy their delay
and became furious. In a fit of rage he demanded that all the wise men of
Babylon be rounded up and destroyed-something we’ve seen again and again
throughout secular and religious history. When frustration mounts in the
palace, scapegoats are found, and these innocents are often summarily done away
with. It happened when a paranoid King Herod, intent on finding an alleged
usurper to his throne, put out a decree to kill all Jewish baby boys in the
land.
We saw it with Hitler who, in his
cruel attempt to create his Third Reich, killed six million Jews, burned all
books that threatened his reign, and more than decimated all non-Aryans under
his control. We saw it again just a few years ago, in the mid-to late
1960s, when an equally paranoid Chairman Mao threw all of China into
convulsions with his demented "Cultural Revolution"-a nationwide
witch hunt that was only an official excuse to kill and maim millions of
dissidents, destroy any semblance of ancient tradition that flew in the face of
his hybrid communism, and put China on a crash course with history. Will
tyrants ever learn?
Now, the net was thrown wide
throughout the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar to bring all the men of wisdom to
their knees and ultimately to their collective death. Although it appears that
Daniel and his friends were not in this shouting session with the king, they
were, in fact, to be included in the king’s order. The great irony of the
king’s manifesto as it related to Daniel was that once again God was setting
the stage for a display of His sovereignty over the affairs of men. Meanwhile,
the hunt was on.
Daniel’s
Strategy
We’ve now begun to see the sterling
character of Daniel. Though still young, he was wise beyond his years; though
relatively inexperienced in the affairs of life, he demonstrated how God can
use a servant who gives his absolute loyalty to the Father. Now, it was again
Daniel’s turn to settle uncontrollable waters. Here’s where we as believers
need to take careful note of Daniel’s spiritual strategy.
Third-and how often we fail to do
this-Daniel went back to his quarters and held an impromptu prayer
meeting/counseling session with his companions Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah.
Proverbs 15:22 reminds us, "Without counsel purposes are disappointed:
but in the multitude of counsellors they are established." Daniel knew
the importance of feedback from his companions-an awareness that runs
throughout the entire book.
Daniel’s
"Model Prayer"
Now I want you to pay special
attention to Daniel’s prayer- just one of the many prayers of this great man of
God we will discover in the pages of this amazing prophecy. Remember, Daniel
already believed that God would give him the answer he’d need when he would
soon stand before the king. He’d already conferred with his friends and
received their counsel. But Daniel knew that unless he prayed earnestly to his
God for divine insight and wisdom, he would never be prepared for his daunting
assignment with a paranoid king.
For years, I’ve felt this prayer of
Daniel should be a model for our own time with God-a prayer that moves me anew
as I read it again, perhaps for the thousandth time. Daniel blesses God for His
wisdom. He acknowledges that earthly kings are just that-as common as dirt-and
that God alone sets up rulers and brings them crashing down from their man-made
thrones. He recognizes that only His God-not Marduk, or any other
Babylonian idol-gives wisdom to the wise and has the necessary resources to
bring light to that which is shrouded in darkness.
Then, in a final burst of praise,
Daniel thanks God for the wisdom and might He’s given to His servant. Daniel
thanks God - giving no credit to himself - for the
answers he now has to King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Can’t you just hear Daniel’s
prayer build with confidence as he moves toward his final crescendo-his
glorious amen to his God?
Ready
to Meet the King
Daniel has done his homework. He’s
been patient. He’s prayed. Now he’s ready with an exuberance and confidence
that can only come to a believer in the one true God. Only after this serious,
pre-audience preparation does Daniel finally say to Arioch, "All right,
now’s the time. I’m ready to enter the presence of the king . . . and by the
way, make sure that the king spares the lives of the wise men of Babylon.
There’s now no reason for them to die." Daniel, a young man with limited
life experience, is now used by God to shape the destiny of an entire kingdom.
The apostle Paul, hundreds of years
later, would say to another young man, Timothy, "Let no man despise thy
youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in
charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). In God’s
eyes, age has little significance when it comes to being a wise servant. Just
as He did then, all God demands from His people is obedience. This spirit would
be the hallmark of the man Daniel to the end of his days.
Details of
the king's dream.
Daniel
2:25 - 30
Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in
haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah,
that will make known unto the king the interpretation.
The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name
was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me
the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?
Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and
said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot
the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the sooth sayers,
show unto the king;
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh
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;
As for thee, 0 king, thy
thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what Should come to pass hereafter:
and he that revealeth secrets maketh
known to thee what shall come to pass.
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 mightest
know the thoughts of thy heart.
Glory
to God Alone
Daniel now had the king’s attention.
He also continued to remind the king that the wisdom he was sharing was from
the one true God and not from his own knowledge. What integrity! Daniel could
have made this a public relations spectacular for himself by taking all the
credit, comparing himself to the other wise men (who failed to speak the dream
or interpret it), saying, "Hey, King, look at me. I’m the man. You can
always count on me for the answers to your tough questions."
But that is not the Daniel of this
book. He took no glory for himself, but instead insisted that only God in
heaven could do what the king had requested. I can almost see King Nebuchadnezzar’s
mouth begin to drop as Daniel set him up.
Nebuchadnezzar was probably saying
something like, "Come on, Daniel, enough of this ‘My God’ stuff. What’s my
dream? More importantly, what does it mean? And why are you making me wait?" But Daniel was not to be rushed. He was in
control of this particular discussion and, once again, the king was compelled
to wait for the time when this young Jew would come forth with his secrets,
which he finally shared when he said:
Daniel 2: 31 - 35
Thou, 0 king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose
brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and
his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
His legs of iron, his feet
part of iron and part of clay.
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 brake them to pieces.
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.
I imagine the king was startled, and
dumbfounded, probably exclaiming something like, "I can’t believe this,
Daniel. You’re a genius! You’ve done what my most seasoned astrologers and
magicians could not do. You’re amazing. . . and you’re
still so young!"
Daniel just stood there and listened
politely, continuing to assert that God gave him the dream. He probably
reminded the king of what he’d already told him, "But there is a God in
heaven that revealeth secrets"(2:28).
Wouldn’t you like to have seen Nebuchadnezzar’s face as Daniel spoke the dream
one scene at a time? The king’s heart rate must have increased as Daniel talked
about an image so large and brilliant that it was virtually impossible to look
at for any length of time. His blood pressure must have climbed as Daniel
described the statue from head to foot-the head of gold; breast and arms of
silver; belly and thighs of brass; legs of iron; and feet and toes of an
unstable mixture of iron and clay.
The
Dream Interpreted
Then, thundering from a distance came a stone cut out without hands-that is, not of human
origin-crashing into the statue with such meteoric force that it dissolved the
image into chaff, blowing away any semblance of the statue. Where the image had
stood-this is what had to give King Nebuchadnezzar pause-the stone, now a large
mountain, "filled the whole earth" (2:35).
If you were a superstitious
Babylonian king constantly looking over your shoulder at the slightest movement
of your enemies-or wondering if inside-the-palace intrigue might one day do you
in-what would you think if you had a dream like this? Without waiting for the
king’s response-or perhaps because Nebuchadnezzar was too dumbfounded to
respond-Daniel proceeded with the interpretation of his dream.
Daniel 2: 36 - 45
This is the dream; and we will tell the
interpretation thereof before the king.
Thou, 0 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 o
the iron, foras much 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
bath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is
certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
Not
So Fast, O King
Daniel was anything but timid, for
God had removed any spirit of fear from his heart as he stood eye-to-eye with
Nebuchadnezzar, giving him the message from God. Nebuchadnezzar undoubtedly saw
himself as a self-made king-powerful, in control, able to make heads roll at a
snap of his finger. Yet Daniel says, "Wait a minute, King. Not so fast.
You are only where you are because my God has given you dominion, power, and
glory. Yes, you’re a mighty and powerful king, but your reign simply cannot
last." Daniel consistently gives God the credit in the preface of all his
prayers and speeches.
The king would probably rather not
have to sit there and listen to these extended preambles, but this was young
Daniel’s moment. And Nebuchadnezzar would have to be patient.
Daniel’s description of Babylon’s
place in world history is fully in sync with other historical references.
Babylon was the greatest power of the day. It had always been a superlative
empire, with its great beauty, economic position as a center of commerce, and
fabled hanging gardens-one of the exquisite wonders of the ancient world. But
even all these accomplishments, Daniel would argue, were not Nebuchadnezzar’s
doing-but God’s.
Although Nebuchadnezzar was the
"gold head" in his dream, the inference was that he would not be in
charge of his kingdom in perpetuity: Daniel’s message was that God was in
control, and that his heavenly Father would have the final say as to who
would and who would not occupy all earthly thrones-including Nebuchadnezzar’s.
Kingdoms
Come... Kingdoms Go
Marduk, Babylon’s chief god, was also called the "god of
gold"-something that surely did not escape the king’s notice. In fact, the
precious metal gold was almost synonymous with the nation of Babylon. There was
gold everywhere-in the ornate palaces, the worship places, and the ubiquitous
shrines. Even the walls were overlaid with what was then the most precious
substance in existence. Now King Nebuchadnezzar was told that all this gold
would one day be swept away by a second kingdom, the kingdom of Medo-Persia.
This later became a historic fact
when the two disparate cultures-the Medes and the Persians-united in 550 B.C.
under one king to form a great world power. This was the "silver"
part of the statue and a proper representation of the Medo-Persian
empire since the Medes and Persians based their
partnership on the power of money collected through an elaborate system of
taxation. Nebuchadnezzar must have been relieved to hear Daniel prophesy that
this "silver" kingdom would be inferior to his own, probably because
as a partnership nation,
Medo-Persia did not have the political and military unity of
Babylon. But despite this weakness, Medo-Persia would
one day break the "head of gold." Because God’s Word speaks only the
truth, we should not be surprised to note that Daniel’s prophecy became reality
when Medo-Persia brought Babylon to its knees in
military defeat in 539 B.C.
But what
about the third kingdom, the belly and thighs of brass? The element bronze later became a characterization of the
Greek empire, primarily because the Greeks used it extensively as the material
for their weapons of war. Daniel foresaw that Greece would one day "bear
rule over all the earth" (2:3 9). History shows that Greece did dominate
the world of its day. The kingdom of Alexander the Great encompassed much more
of the known world than Babylon or Medo-Persia ever
did. Again, a prophecy of Daniel was fulfilled in world history.
The
Renewal of the Roman Empire
Imagine how Nebuchadnezzar must have
reacted to the news from this young prophet. His was probably a mixture of fear
and disbelief. But we must also note that Daniel wasn’t finished yet, and the
king did not interrupt Daniel’s interpretation.
After the world-dominating empire of
bronze another empire would arise-a fourth kingdom composed of two legs of
iron. This kingdom would be Rome with its "two legs" representing the
expansive empires of the Western Roman Empire, headquartered in Rome, and the
Eastern Roman Empire, with the cosmopolitan city of Constantinople as its
capital. This empire also would fall. The great historian Edward Gibbon
powerfully describes it in his work entitled The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. However, just before Christ
returns, this empire will revive as the iron mixed with clay begins to wiggle
in the form of ten toes.
Only God could have given Daniel the
wisdom to know what is now becoming reality for us who live in the beginning
days of the twenty-first century. According to Daniel, the final revival of the
Roman Empire would be comprised of a confederation of ten nations, which would
finally lead to a new world order encompassing the globe .
Why would they come together? For monetary and military security and
strength-something we’re already seeing as the European Union moves ahead with
such plans at break-neck speed. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar’s image with ten toes
pictured the revival and conclusion of the Roman Empire.
Note the gradual deterioration of
the metals in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: from gold to silver to bronze to iron to
clay, a clear demonstration that as history marches on, men and their cultures
become increasingly corrupt. Tregelles is a scholar
who has called attention to the decreasing "specific gravity" of each
of these metals: For example, the specific gravity of gold is 19; silver, 11;
brass, 8.5; cast iron, 7.8; mixture of iron and clay, 1.93.
The world in which you and I
live-the world of the fourth and revived fifth kingdom as prophesied by
Daniel-is going to get worse up to the moment that the great stone breaks the
feet of the image. That stone is Jesus Christ, who becomes a mountain and fills
the entire earth.
"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" (2:44).
The
Ten Toes Begin to Wiggle
The entire end-time message is
predicted here in the Book of Daniel thousands of years, in some instances,
before the actual historical events occurred-just as Rabbi Shvili
in 1935 suggested in his book, Reckonings of Redemption. How
could Daniel know this? Because God, historically, has chosen
to reveal His secrets through spirit-anointed prophets.
Let’s bring Daniel’s prophecy even
closer to home. There was a long interval between the time when Rome’s power
began to wane and fall-around 476 A.D.-and the year 1947 when the "ten
toes" ; of the statue began to wiggle. First of all, Benelux met in that
year-Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg- creating the first three members
of the confederation. In 1957, three additional nations met with the countries
of Benelux- Italy, France, and Germany-for a total of six, ratified by the
Treaty of Rome.
Little by little, in our daily
newspapers, we see a revival of the Roman Empire just as Daniel predicted. In
1973, England, Ireland, and Denmark joined the confederation, making it a
total of nine members. Then, on New Year’s Day, 1981, Greece became number ten.
The time that Daniel prophesied is here. We are living in the latter days, and
Jesus is coming soon.
Jesus
Is Our Rock
One of the most profound messages of
these verses is that you and I don’t have to worry about straightening out our
world. We have almighty God, Adonai, who is in charge of the affairs of earth.
Jesus is the rock, that stone, on which the true church is built. You’ll
remember in Matthew that Jesus asked the apostle Peter, "Whom do men say that I am?" Peter
answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of God." And Jesus said,
"On this rock I will build my church" (see 16:13-18). Christ was
that rock (1 Corinthians 10:4).
Yes, the rock in Nebuchadnezzar’s
dream that eventually engulfs the entire world, a rock that will hit the feet,
not the head-Babylon; not the chest and arms of silver- the Medes and the
Persians; not the stomach and thighs of brass-Greece; not the legs of
iron-Rome. They went out of existence. Instead, the rock strikes that group
that revives at the time of the end-the ten toes, the restored Roman Empire.
Thus, on January 1, 1981, when Greece became number ten, pictured by the ten
toes on the image, we were given the clearest signal yet that we were headed
toward the end times and would soon be ushered into an environment that would
be ready for the return of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
God’s
Sovereignty
We can therefore reasonably conclude
that the dream of Daniel chapter two reveals that the Kingdom of God will soon
be established in connection with the second coming of our Savior. Daniel 2:44 states, and I repeat this for the sake of emphasis,
"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."
It’s all starting to happen. Just as
the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream contained metals that degraded as they
descended from gold to iron and clay, so will the world in which you and I live
become increasingly apostate and the more our society at large will be governed
by outright militarism as its only vehicle to control the violence that is
present and that is yet to come.
What was the actual purpose of
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream? To show God’s sovereign rule over the affairs of men,
leading to the future Gentile world domination and its ultimate destruction, to
be replaced by a Kingdom and a King who would reign forever on earth (Matthew
6:10).
One of the reasons the Book of
Daniel is so important is that it provides us with a complete scenario for the
end times. And it all begins to wind down with the current revival of the Roman
Empire, which I believe is the present-day European Union. After this episode
is completed, there is no more. This will be the last empire, and it will
continue into the latter days, with the Antichrist as the primary figure taking
over the resurrected Roman Empire (Revelation 17:10). He will be a dictator of
world proportions and will rule the world of his day just as King Nebuchadnezzar
ruled his world as leader of Babylon.
But for those of us who know the
whole story, we need not fear the perilous times yet to come because "the
stone [which] was cut out of the mountain without hands" (2:45) is
none other than the person of Jesus Christ, God’s anointed, our Savior, the
Rock of our salvation. When He returns to gather His own, God will establish
His Kingdom which will prevail in our world, and for a thousand years all
beings on earth will be tremendously blessed under the personal reign of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Daniel 2: 46 - 49
Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face,
and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and
sweet odours unto him.
The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord
of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest
reveal this secret.
Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave
him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of
Babylon.
Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon:
but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
Daniel’s
God Is Greatest!
Nebuchadnezzar’s subjects often fell
on their faces before their leader, but for the king to subject himself to such
a humble posture meant that Daniel had indeed gotten through to him. It also
appeared that Nebuchadnezzar may have been making some spiritual progress, revealed
by his act of contrition, admitting that Daniel’s God was the greatest god of
all. The king made good on his promise that he would reward the wise one who
met the demands of speaking and interpreting his dream, and Daniel was
subsequently exalted throughout the realm.
But Daniel, always a man of
integrity, did not forget his friends, and requested that the king give them
key positions as well. His wish was granted. Daniel continued to be a person of
great influence in the king’s court by being allowed to sit in the gate of the
king-a position of judge, the equivalent of a Supreme Court justice and
confidant of the king. Yet Daniel never compromised his standards in that
foreign land.
Through it all, Daniel remained
faithful to his God, continuing to speak the truth fearlessly, always serving
notice to Nebuchadnezzar that God alone, not earthly kings, has the real power.
God does not tremble at the sight of monarchs. If anything, He laughs at their
rebellion, and in Psalm 2:1-4-a passage that pictures the battle of
Armageddon-we read:
"Why
do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain
thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel
together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break
their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have
them in derision."
But kings will be kings. Seemingly a
victim of short-term memory, Nebuchadnezzar goes on yet another rampage. During
his recurring paranoia he commands that his servants turn up the heat in the
palace furnace seven times hotter. It’s a futile attempt to destroy three
Hebrew teenagers-surely one of the most fascinating and familiar stories in all
the Bible, and a dramatic preview of the real wrath that is yet to come during
the Tribulation hour-another mystery which we will see unsealed.