Not So Sweet Dreams (Part 2)

Here we are again, in Daniel 2. Last time, we found Nebuchadnezzar in great turmoil because of a dream which God had given him. The supposed wise men were called upon to explain the dream. But first they had to relate what the dream was or retell it. They nearly lost their heads over their inability.

At that point, Daniel came. He gave glory to God for what was about to happen. And as Paul Harvey used to say, And now, the rest of the story.

Translation - 2:24-45

Some of us may not have cared what happened to those false, lying, evil charlatans who thought they had some special divine connection. However, Daniel seemed to have a genuine concern for them. He asked that their executions be stayed: Daniel 2.24 “Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and spoke to him as follows: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me into the king’s presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.”” He needed to be brought before the king so as to reveal what God had shared with him, so he approached Arioch.

Then Arioch hurried in and explained to King Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel would be able to make known the dream. Why Arioch stated that he was the one who had found him is uncertain. Maybe he was hoping for some benefits later. It’s interesting also how it was noted that Daniel was a man among the exiles from Judah. This should have caused the king to recognize that with all the false gods they had, none had provided what he needed. Instead, the king was seeing that this strange people that had been captured, who were supposed to worship only one God, Whom they called the only true God, had insight which nobody else had.

As Daniel revealed the dream, it seemed the crux of it was based on Daniel’s comments in verse 29. In other words, Nebuchadnezzar must have been worried about the future. As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place.

Before Daniel revealed the contents of the dream, please remember that the best and brightest of the land had been incapable of knowing the contents of the dream. Daniel himself could not have known, except for the fact that God in heaven revealed the information. And what the dream contained were events that would take place in the latter days.

Very simply, the dream was as follows: He saw a huge statue of a man: the head was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thigh of copper or bronze (but not brass, which was not known at that time), the legs of iron, and the feet of iron and clay. He also saw a stone come down upon the feet and crush the entire image into powder. Then the stone grew and filled the whole earth like a great mountain.

Then in verses 37 and following, we read Daniel giving the interpretation. Again, this is not something which he is creating, but what God had revealed to him for the benefit of King Nebuchadnezzar.

“You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Each metal represents a different kingdom. The head of gold represented Babylon, the current kingdom. Then the breast and arms of silver would represent the Medo-Persian empire. The belly and thigh of bronze would represent the next kingdom, which would be Greece. The two legs of iron would represent Rome, which would eventually divide up into two separate empires (western and eastern). Then we come to the feet that are a mixture of iron and clay, which is a very brittle mixture. Most conservative scholars suggest that this represents a continuation of the Roman Empire with the ten toes representing ten different kingdoms within it. Ultimately, the stone . . . cut out of the mountain without hands is that of Christ’s Kingdom. And according to Daniel’s interpretation which God gave and cannot lie, this was going to happen.

As an aside, if you look at the metals represented, you can see that the heaviest metals are on top. Not only is this statue incredibly top-heavy, it is resting on some very fragile metals. What a reminder to us today that whatever we come up with and think is indestructible as a society and culture, is going to be destroyed.

Save the planet for our future, indeed! Yes, we take care of the planet; but we cannot entertain the notion that we can preserve the planet for eternity.

Create a utopia on this earth, right! Yes, we can do our best to make this world a better place to live, but as long as sin exists, there will never be a utopia. What God has spoken will be done.

In addition, do you notice the value of the metals becoming less valuable as it goes down the statue? To me, this is very telling. The world thinks we are improving and getting more and more sophisticated and evolved as a society and culture. The reality is that the culture is becoming more uncouth and vulgar and less caring. Humanity is not improving; in fact, there is a decrease in all that is good. The metals show that as history marches onward, civilization is becoming weaker. It should not surprise us that there will come a leader one day who will take over the world and become a worldwide dictator to cause everyone to think that only he is able to help the world to survive. How very similar to the promotion of big government. They want people to believe that we cannot survive without them leading us and telling us what to do. The Antichrist will fit that bill perfectly. That is why there are many even today who suggest various individuals they think may be the Antichrist. The reality is that the Bible says there will be many antichrists before the Antichrist comes.

Warren Wiersbe explains the various forms of government in the following comments: Each of these kingdoms had a different form of government. Babylon was ruled by an absolute monarch, a dictator (see 5:19). The Medo-Persian empire had a king, but he worked through princes and established laws (see 6:1–3—and remember the “law of the Medes and the Persians” in Esther 1:19). Greece operated through a king and an army, and Rome was supposed to be a republic, but it was actually a rule of the military through laws. When you come to the iron and clay, you have our present governments: the iron represents law and justice, the clay represents mankind, and together they make up democracy. What is the strength of democracy? Law. What is its weakness? Human nature. We are seeing today that lawlessness comes when human nature refuses to be controlled by God’s order and laws.

Nebuchadnezzar saw that his own kingdom would fall one day and be replaced by the Medes and Persians. This happened in 538 B.C. (Dan. 5:30–31). The Medes and Persians would be conquered by the Greeks about 330 B.C.; and Greece would give way to Rome. The Roman Empire outwardly would disappear, but its laws, philosophies, and institutions would continue until this very day, taking us down to the “feet of clay.”

Even in the midst of turmoil, we can always turn to God for help. Daniel has seen this so powerfully as he went from being on the list of those to be killed to being the one who related and translated the king’s dream.

Promotion - 2:46-49

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. And Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s court.

Here, in verse 47, we see something that is highly unusual for anyone from Babylon to do in relation to the Jewish people, in particular, the king. After he heard Daniel’s revelation, an untold dream being retold from one who didn’t dream it, all the way to the interpretation, it became obvious at that point that Daniel served the One True God. Basically, the king told Daniel that his God was the best of the best and there was none like Him. Obviously, as we look back at verse 46, we see the king behaving as a pagan would behave, though he was trying to honor Daniel. From what we heard Daniel say earlier, this was not at all what Daniel would have wanted. He would have wanted the king to recognize that it was God alone who should be worshipped.

Then, in verse 48, we see that Daniel is promoted above everyone else. He was in charge of the province of Babylon, itself. Plus, he was the head of all the wise men of the kingdom. While this was being put in place, Daniel requested specifically that his three friends would be in charge of all the administration of the province of Babylon. Daniel wanted to spread the honor amongst his companions.

You and I have to understand that if Daniel had compromised earlier, trying to do things his own way, that there would be no way God would have blessed him in this manner. Yet, I am convinced that because Daniel chose to do things the way God wanted them done, and because Daniel recognized his own need for God and sought after God, that God used him and would continue to use him in a mighty way.

Even in the midst of turmoil, we can always turn to God for help. Daniel and his companions are continuing to find this to be true, as God honors them by having them put into high positions of government.

Application

As we review this chapter, we can see that Satan was incredibly active as the liar and murderer that he is. What better way to destroy hope by hiding information and killing those who are servants of God. Wipe out God’s people and the world turns to what appears to be the greatest power; even if it means selling out your soul to Satan.

But God is sovereign; He is in charge. When we recognize that and refuse to take any glory for what He does, then He continues to reveal Himself. If we will give God all the glory and take time to praise Him at all times, there is no telling what God will do in us and through us.

We recognize that this world does not have a genuine offer of hope to anyone. The only hope is found in Jesus. And we’ve seen in this chapter that Jesus will one day destroy all that humanity thought was their hope and establish His kingdom which will never end.

We also see that the unsaved world, the world that refused to acknowledge God, will see God when He chooses to reveal Himself through His children. We cannot influence the world by becoming like the world. The only influence we can have on the world is if we are wholeheartedly serving God. Then they will see God.

Keep this chapter in mind as we continue onward in our study of Daniel. In particular, when we reach Daniel 7, you will see many similarities. These same kingdoms will be seen again, but in a different manner. There they will be seen as beasts, instead of metals on a statue.

With all the information which had been revealed to Daniel by God, he could still be full of peace, knowing that he belonged to God. He could have peace knowing God’s promises, as well as total confidence in understanding that God was and will always be in control.

For those of us who are Christians, we should have the same peace and confidence. Even in the midst of turmoil, we can always turn to God for help. Regardless of what is happening in the world around us or to us, if we know the Bible and have confidence and trust in it, because it is the Word of God, we too, can have peace. We don’t have to fret or worry. God is still on the throne. And one day, He will establish His Kingdom and nothing will be able to stand against Him. God, indeed, is our all in all.