@WalterandDebbie ….I loved studying the book of Daniel.
Ch 2 is intriguing because it features the divinely inspired dream that Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had, and his efforts to find the meaning of it, as it had greatly disturbed him.
All the priests and conjurers were summoned but none could tell the king his dream or it’s interpretation…The death penalty awaited the wise men of Babylon if they could not do as the Kings requested. Daniel and his companions were also about to lose their lives when he asked the King for time to ask his God Jehovah for the meaning of his dream. This was granted by the King and that night Daniel had an answer for him.
Verses 26-28…
”The king said to Daniel, whose name was Bel·te·shazʹzar: “Can you really make known to me the dream that I saw, and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel replied to the king: “None of the wise men, conjurers, magic-practicing priests, or astrologers are able to tell the king the secret that he is asking. 28 But there is a God in the heavens who is a Revealer of secrets, and he has made known to King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar what is to happen in the final part of the days.”
Daniel went on to relate what the King saw….
“You, O king, were watching, and you saw an immense image. That image, which was huge and extremely bright, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying. 32 The head of that image was of fine gold, its chest and its arms were of silver, its abdomen and its thighs were of copper, 33 its legs were of iron, and its feet were partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You looked on until a stone was cut out, not by hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and of clay and crushed them. 35 At that time the iron, the clay, the copper, the silver, and the gold were, all together, crushed and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a large mountain, and it filled the whole earth.” (V 31-35)
What did this image represent and what do the body parts of metal in descending order signify?
Daniel said to the King….
“you yourself are the head of gold.”…….Representing the Babylonian world power.
39 “But after you another kingdom will rise, inferior to you; then another kingdom, a third one, of copper, that will rule over the whole earth.”
Two more kingdoms would rise after Babylon which were Medo-Persia, who conquered mighty Babylon in one night just as Daniel prophesied, with the Persian King Cyrus releasing a remnant of the Jews to return home to their God-given land and re-establish God’s worship and to rebuild the Temple.
The next world power was Greece under Alexander the Great…..but Alexander died and his territory was divided up and four of his Generals ruled each territory. Who then took over world rulership?
“40 “As for the fourth kingdom, it will be strong like iron. For just as iron crushes and pulverizes everything else, yes, like iron that shatters, it will crush and shatter all of these.”
The next world power was Rome, crushing like iron all their enemies….these ruled when Jesus walked the earth as Daniel foretold. But two more were to follow.
41 “And just as you saw the feet and the toes to be partly of clay of a potter and partly of iron, the kingdom will be divided, but some of the hardness of iron will be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 Just as you saw iron mixed with soft clay, they will be mixed with the people; but they will not stick together, one to the other, just as iron does not mix with clay.”
Rome was never conquered, but fell due to its own decadence, and out of the ashes of Rome rose Britannia, who would later be joined by her estranged daughter in “the final part of the days”. American adopted democracy (as did her allies) which proved to be just as the prophesy indicated….the power of the government was undermined by the power given to the people….like iron and clay never quite mixing together and as separated today as they ever were.
So the dream was a march of world powers having a connection to God’s people and the last ruling kings in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream were the Anglo-American dual world power and their democratically ruled allies. It is in the days of those kings (the ones ruling now) when God will bring in the rulership of his Kingdom….by force.
Dan 2:44….
“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. And this kingdom will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it alone will stand forever”.
So, God’s Kingdom will “crush and put an end“ to all corrupt human governments, taking them out of existence and replacing them as the world’s only truly theocratic rulership. Our first incorruptible and righteous government in the capable hands of God’s own son.
Daniel goes on to say…
”just as you saw that out of the mountain a stone was cut not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the copper, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The Grand God has made known to the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
We are living in that “future” time right now…..and so all the world will come to know who is the Most High God of the Bible. (Psalm 83:18)
“They will have to know that I am Jehovah”! (Ezekiel 39:6-7)
God will restore all that he purposed in Genesis for redeemed mankind to enjoy his earth and all its living things as we were suppose to in the beginning…..(Isa 55:11; Rev 21:2-3)
www.bing.com
