Does God through Daniel interpret a prophetic dream of five successive kingdoms, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome and a final kingdom without end? Let’s begin in Daniel 2.
How did Nebuchadnezzar handle his vivid and troubling dream?
Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king said to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. Then the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: (Dan 2:1-4a LSB)
From halfway through verse 4 did the language shift from Hebrew to Babylonian Aramaic? Does Nebuchadnezzar demand that the wisest men in the kingdom both interpret his dream, and tell him what it was? Does this expose human wisdom at the highest levels of human governments as helpless?
“O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be turned into a rubbish heap. But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” (Dan 2:4b-6 NASB)
Does the king accuse them of stalling and deception? Is this still common in human government? Who alone reveals divine truth?
Once more they replied, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” Then the king answered, “I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me.” (Dan 2:7-9 NIV)
Do the royal advisors finally confess that it is humanly impossible to reveal the content of his dream?
The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” (Dan 2:10-11 NKJV)
In a rage, did the king want to execute every royal advisor in Babylon, including Daniel and his friends?
The king was furious when he heard this, and he ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be executed. And because of the king’s decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends. (Dan 2:12-13 NLT)
Did Daniel answer the matter with calm wisdom and bold faith?
Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He answered Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree so urgent from the king?” Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would appoint him a time, and he would show the king the interpretation. (Dan 2:14-16 WEB)
Did Daniel and his friends respond to the crisis by turning to God in prayer?
Then Daniel went to his house and explained the situation to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah so that they would ask the God of heaven for help about this mystery, in hopes that Daniel and his friends wouldn’t die with the rest of Babylon’s sages. Then, in a vision by night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel! Daniel praised the God of heaven: (Dan 2:17-19 CEB)
Does Daniel acknowledge God as revealer of the king’s dream and its meaning?
Our God, your name will be praised forever and forever. You are all-powerful, and you know everything. You control human events—you give rulers their power and take it away, and you are the source of wisdom and knowledge.
You explain deep mysteries, because even the dark is light to you. You are the God who was worshiped by my ancestors. Now I thank you and praise you for making me wise and telling me the king's dream, together with its meaning. (Dan 2:20-23 CEV)
Did Daniel then request an audience with the king to explain what God had revealed?
Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.” (Dan 2:24 ESV)
Did Arioch, the king’s official, take personal credit for finding the solution rather than acknowledging God's providence?
Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said to him, “I have found a man among the Judean exiles who can let the king know the interpretation.” The king said in reply to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me the dream I had and its interpretation?” (Dan 2:25-26 HCSB)
The exact opposite of Arioch, did Daniel acknowledge God as the one who reveals secrets?
By way of answer, Daniel addressed the king: “None of the advisors, enchanters, diviners, or astrologers can explain the secret that the king has requested to be made known. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he is making known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. (Dan 2:27-28a ISV)
Humbly, did Daniel acknowledge his inability to know dreams, but by God alone?
Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O 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. (Dan 2:28b-30 KJV)
Does Daniel begin revealing the dream was of a large statue?
You, O king, were looking, and behold, there was a single great image; that image, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was rising up in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. The head of that image was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. (Dan 2:31-33 LSB)
What happened to a mysterious stone that struck the feet of the massive statue?
You continued watching until a stone was broken off without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed to pieces all at the same time, and they were like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the entire earth. (Dan 2:34-35 NASB)
Who was the head of gold on the statue in the king’s dream?
This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 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. (Dan 2:36-38 NIV)
What about the rest of the statue, what did it reveal about future kingdoms?
But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And 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.
Whereas 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. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As 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. (Dan 2:39-43 NKJV)
Will God then establish an everlasting kingdom that ends all human empires?
During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain. (Dan 2:44-45 NLT)
Did Nebuchadnezzar then acknowledge God as the God of gods?
Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, worshiped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an offering and sweet odors to him. The king answered to Daniel, and said, “Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.” (Dan 2:46-47 WEB)
Did God then give the four young men high offices in the land?
Then the king exalted Daniel and lavished gifts on him, making him ruler over all the province of Babylon and chief minister over all Babylon’s sages. At Daniel’s urging, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to administer the province of Babylon, but Daniel himself remained at the royal court. (Dan 2:48-49 CEB)
Had Gabriel announced to Mary that Jesus will reign over a kingdom without end?
He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. The Lord God will make him king, as his ancestor David was. He will rule the people of Israel forever, and his kingdom will never end. (Luke 1:32–33 CEV)
Does God through Daniel interpret a prophetic dream of five successive kingdoms, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome and a final kingdom without end? You decide!
