v 24-26 Daniel goes to Arioch, who was sent to kill the wise men of Babylon. Daniel tells him not to kill any more, and to take him to the king. Arioch quickly took Daniel the Jew to the king, and told him that he could make known what the king dreamed. The king asked Daniel, called Belteshazzar, if he could do so.
We are set for the revelation of one of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible! It has streamed and reverberated down through history since that time, and its fulfillment is not far off; certainly a lot closer than at the time of the dream!
v 27-30 Daniel tells the king that no false religionist can reveal the dream that the king asked his wise men to do. But there is a God in Heaven who can reveal secrets, and has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the future, in the latter days (the days following his, and, most importantly, the in the last days of this age). Daniel humbly says that God did not reveal this secret to him because he has more wisdom than anyone else, but in order to make known to the king what was in his heart.
Again, we see that Daniel wisely and with tact speaks to this most powerful ruler of the country and kingdom where Daniel is a captive taken in war. Nebuchadnezzar had obviously been considering his legacy – as leaders tend to do — and was considering how great and powerful he might become, and what would be after him. The God of Israel was going to show him that He knew exactly what would be of both these thoughts in his head. For us as believers in Yeshua, we know that the true holy God knows the thoughts and intentions of every person’s heart, and will give an account to Him in “that Day”.
v 31-35 Daniel begins telling the king that he had seen a great and splendid image. The head of the image was gold; its chest and arms of silver; its belly and thighs bronze; its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. The king watched while a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, came from the skies and struck the image at its feet of iron and clay (amputated the feet), and broke the whole image in pieces, which was blown away by the wind, never to be found. The stone which struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole Earth.
v 36-39 Here Daniel gives the king what he wanted to know: the interpretation/solution to the dream that so troubled his soul. King Nebuchadezzar is told that he is a king of kings. This from the God of Heaven (the King of kings), who has given the king a kingdom, power, strength, and glory, rule over men, beasts of the field, and birds of the skies. He is the head of gold. After Nebuchadnezzar another kingdom shall arise, inferior to his kingdom; then another third kingdom of bronze, which would rule over all that region of the Earth.
Now we come to the key verses of this prophecy:
v 40-45 A fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, as it breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, this kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Yet the kingdom is divided and weakened because of the iron feet, and the mixed iron-clay feet, a mixture with the seed of mortal man. THE WHOLE IMAGE IS STILL STANDING UNTIL THE STONE FROM HEAVEN COMES TO KNOCK THE WHOLE REPRESENTATION OF WORLDLY GENTILE KINGDOMS DOWN TO DESTRUCTION, NEVER TO CONTINUE OR REBUILD AGAIN.
This stone is undervalued! (Ps 118:22-26; Mt 21:42-44) Stone is also of less intrinsic value than even ceramic, but this Stone from Heaven is going to not only utterly vanquish all of the kingdoms of this world, but It/He will rule over the entire Earth and Creation that He created and made!
Who/What is this Stone?
The great God has let the King know what will come after him, and until the coming of the Stone from Heaven – the Stone of Israel, who is our Rock (Gen 49:24; Is 30:29) – to establish an everlasting kingdom (‘mountain’) that will never pass away. Hallelu-Yah! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
v 46-49 The King responds to Daniel’s supernatural ability, and glorifies the true God in Heaven. Nebuchadnezzar, the man whom Daniel’s God acknowledged as a king of kings, confessed that Daniel’s God “is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets”. He then made Daniel, and his three friends, rulers and ministers over his kingdom, and over the wise men.
There have been other examples in the Bible when God has placed certain of His people in places and situations that have brought them to the attention of the rulers in a manner grants to them honor and positions of great authority: Joseph in Egypt; Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther in Persia; Daniel and his three friends in Babylon. None of these sought such positions. It was of YHVH. And in all of these cases, the “locals”, the “natives”, became jealous and envious, and told lies, either against them, and/or against their people, and/or even against their God. The LORD would intervene to vindicate them in their trust-worthiness against what is called antisemitism. This trend continues until today.
–Daniel 2 shows us a complete history of the Middle East from Daniel’s time until the Millennial Kingdom;
–All of these four Gentile kingdoms are Middle Eastern;
–Each succeeding worldly Gentile kingdom is weaker than the previous one in a qualitative way, but each controls more territory/land/earth (ar’a in Aramaic; eretz in Hebrew in v 39); (also Laodicea, which is synonymous with democracy, among the seven churches is actually the least in quality, but boasts of its superiority and is widely promoted, at the coming of the Lord: Jesus is not even inside, except in a remnant of individuals. Also Israel will be at the end of her natural strength at the time of Messiah’s glorious return. (Dan 12:7-13)). This is all part of the truth of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, when energy changes from one form to another form, or matter moves freely, entropy (disorder) in a closed system increases; and also a proof against the Darwinian theory of evolution (better described as “devolution”, the descent or degeneration to a lower or worse state).
–The last kingdom precedes and leads to the coming of the Messiah and of His kingdom. The entire image remains standing and intact until the Stone from Heaven comes to destroy it totally and forever at the end of the age;
–YHVH displays Himself through Daniel as the revealer of secrets and as the Lord of history and times: His dominion is forever;
–God is convincing Nebuchadnezzar that the God of Daniel and the Jews is the true God; and the whole kingdom was informed through the appointment of Daniel, Shadrach (Hananiah), Meshach (Mishael), and Abed-Nego (Azariah) to high positions of honor and authority over Babylon. We are His witnesses in every place to make Him known. (Acts 1:8)
–Who/What is the fourth king and kingdom of iron legs and feet, and part iron-part clay toes? (Part 3 to come)
