b. Daniel Reveals the Dream to Nebuchadnezzar (2:24-49)
ii The Information (2:31-35)
First Daniel told the king what he had seen in his dream and then he explained the meaning.
(1) The Statue (2:31-33)
Nebuchadnezzar was a king who had subdued all his foes. He had built a virtually impregnable fortress-city on the Euphrates. Even though he was at rest at this time, he knew that other empires had risen and fallen. The one most fresh in his mind would have been the Assyrian Empire. He would no doubt have wondered what would happen to his own empire.
Could any other empire possibly be better than his?
Verse 31
Daniel tells the king exactly what he saw in his dream. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form therof was terrible. During his sleep Nebuchadnezzar sees an image in human form. Its appearance was terrible and it glowed with a brightness all of its own.
Verse 32-33
The statue was made almost entirely of gleaming metal.
(2) The Stone (2:34-35)
The king was contemplating this image with wonder and awe, when he saw a stone, cut without hands suddenly appear and smashed the feet of the statue so that the image was completely shattered and became like chaff that was blown away..
This stone then became a huge mountain that filled the earth. Upon hearing this accurate description, the king knew that Daniel was telling the truth and that he could be trusted. Only the God of heaven who sent the dream could have helped His servant know and interpret the dream.
iii The Interpretation (2:36-45)
(1) Of the Statue (2:36-43)
Verse 36
Notice the kind of confidence Daniel has in God. He doesn’t say, “This is what I think your dream means.” He has so much faith in God that the first words out of his mouth are – “This is the dream” I wonder what Nebuchadnezzar thought about this young Hebrew? I wonder if he was awe struck by Daniel.
What do people think of us as Christians?
Daniel, through God, had achieved something that the wisest men in the kingdom had declared impossible. Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Daniel doesn’t even wait for the king to say anything.. He doesn’t prolong the moment for any dramatic effect, he goes straight to the point and says, and we will tell the interpretation therof before the king.
Verse 38
God intended Israel to “Rule the World” that right has now moved to Nebuchadnezzar, he was “a king of kings” an emperor.
Verses 39-40
Even though this image gleamed and glowed in the eyes of this astonished Gentile emperor, the problem was that it was top heavy. Gold has a specific gravity of 19.3, silver has a specific gravity of 10.51, brass has a specific gravity of 8.5, iron has a specific gravity of 7.6, and clay has a specific gravity of 1.9.
Right from the start you can see that the image is doomed. So even though God allowed Gentile world empires to rule and dominate the earth, He never intended this innovation, made necessary by Israel’s sin, to be permanent. In the end the image would collapse of its own instability. God, however, had decided on a far more spectacular end to Gentile world domination.
Again you can see something quite interesting – Verse 38-40 Daniel concentrates on the head and feet of the image, that is on the beginning and the ending of the Gentile world rule. Daniel remained silent on the in-between stages as they became the subject of later visions given by God.
We see the kingdoms deteriorate by moving from head to the breast and arms, from the breast and arms to the belly and thighs, from the belly and thighs to the legs and finally to the feet. We also see the decline in the value of metals.
The successive world kingdoms of prophecy were not marked by a decline in the vastness of their territory, but rather by the amount of power the head of state had.
• The Head of Gold – Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian kingdom. It lasted fr0m 636 BC to 539 BC Jeremiah 51:7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand
The head is the most important single member of the body, and gold is the most precious of all metals. This dual symbolism spoke of an absolute monarch.
• The breast and arms of silver – The Medo-Persian kingdom (539 BC – 330 BC) Darius the Mede conquered Babylon (Daniel 5:30-31)
The government OF Medo-Persia was a government by law. The king could not change edicts once they were read into law (6:1, 14)
• The Belly and thighs of brass – The Grecian Empire (330BC – 63 BC) Alexander the Great established what was probably the largest empire in ancient times. He died in 323BC
The Greek empire was irresistible in the days of Alexander although even he, as brilliant and successful as he was, was curbed by his generals. They wasted no time in carving up the empire amongst themselves once their leader was dead.
• The legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay – The Roman Empire (63 – 475 AD) Iron represents strength, clay represents weakness. Rome was strong in law, organisation, and military might; but the empire included so many different peoples that this created weakness – Dan 2:43
The legs formed the longest portion of the image, an indication that the duration of the fourth empire would far exceed that of the preceding empires. Rome was as strong as iron. Rome ruled the world of its day with a rod of iron, it showed no mercy to rebels, just look at what happened to Jerusalem in 70AD.
In the final phase of the empire, the iron was mixed with clay (Dan 2:42) The clay represents the democratic element that was prominent in the Roman Empire. Efforts to weld the two, dictatorship and democracy would fail, just as efforts to weld iron to clay will fail.
The final focus on the world Gentile powers is on the ten toes. The significance of these is seen in Daniels later vision of the wild beasts, the last of which had ten horns. The ten toes are described as kings Dan 2:44. The Roman Empire will re-emerge on the stage of history as a ten nation European coalition dominated, as we see from later prophecies, by the dictator known as Antichrist.
(2) Of the Stone (2:44-45)
How many times in Scripture is Christ referred to as a stone / rock?
Psalm 118:22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
Acts 4:11-12 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The image is seen standing in all of its glory when the stone strikes. The final phase of Gentile World Empire will embrace all of the features of the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman Empires and the ten kings will dominate all of the territory once held by these empires. The Antichrist, for a brief period, will control the whole world.
Destruction will overwhelm the final Gentile Empire. Christ’s Kingdom will come, not by evolution, not by a gradual leavening of mankind by the gospel, but by divine intervention. It will be imposed on the world by God. Christ the stone cut out without hands will crush all His foes. He will raise up a kingdom that will embrace the whole world.
iv The Elevation (2:46-49)
What the king did and said announced to everyone in the kings court that Daniel was superior to his advisors and that Daniel’s God was superior to the Babylonian gods.
Daniel is promoted and at his request, Daniel’s three friends are also elevated to positions of authority in the kingdom.
Conclusion
This dream reveals several things. First of all it shows that God is in control of history. He knows the future because He plans the future. This doesn’t mean that God is to blame for the evil things that leaders and nations do, but that He can overrule even their wickedness to accomplish His divine purpose.
The God of heaven gave Nebuchadnezzar his throne and enabled him to defeat his enemies and expand his empire (Jeremiah 27) but the God who gave him his authority could also take it away, and He did (Jeremiah 51-52) Babylon was conquered by what Daniel called an “inferior kingdom” (Daniel 2:39)
Secondly the dream reveals that human enterprises decline as time goes on. This massive image not only changed in value from head to foot – from gold to clay – but it also changed in strength. As we survey history, on one level we see progress and improvement but when we look deeper we see decay and decline.
Finally the dream reveals that Christ will return one day, destroy His enemies and set up His Kingdom.
In giving this dream and enabling Daniel to know and explain it, God displayed His wisdom and power. God has the wisdom to plan the ages and the power to execute His plan. Nebuchadnezzar ruled for 43 years but Christ will reign forever and ever, Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven , saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
