Daniel Chapter 2, Part 2

Nebuchadnezzar's dream

22^nd February 2007

As we saw last week, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that was so important to him that he couldn't sleep. He demanded that his "wise men" tell him both what the dream was and what it meant. But they couldn't - of course. Daniel asked him for time, while he and his friends prayed for revelation from God. The story continues:

Daniel 2:24-30
Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, "Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him."
Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means."
The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?"
Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these: As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind."

Now that God had shown Daniel both the dream and its interpretation, Daniel went to the king. He could have boasted as if it was his own ability - not a gift from God - that gave him the revelation. But he chose to glorify God. If you want to continue to be used effectively in God's service, it's vital not to take His glory for yourself. Daniel said there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. God gives us so much - and He gives wisdom and insight to those who ask Him. God wants us to have understanding.

We notice that the dream was a response to what was on Nebuchadnezzar's mind. What we dream is often a reflection, or outworking, of something that concerns us - or it's a way our subconscious processes what's on our mind. But it's often very different from the reality that we're focussed on. Nebuchadnezzar wasn't thinking about statues - he was thinking about the future. But God and his subconscious worked together to frame these concerns in that pictorial way. Most of us have had similar (but private) experiences.

How much our dreams are purely natural phenomena, and how much they're God speaking to us is hard to say. As in our waking Christian lives, the human and the divine are mixed up together. But this is one example of God definitely speaking through a dream:

Daniel 2:31-35
"You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue - an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing-floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth."

The dream was awesome - no wonder Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by it. And, I think you'll agree, its interpretation is not obvious - he needed God's help. But God showed him what was going to happen in the future, through this dream.

We should pay more attention to our own dreams. Some are natural and understanding them helps us to understand ourselves and our situations. Some are spiritual - God is speaking to us, giving us revelation. Do you have recurring dreams? Or have you had a single dream that seemed to be extra vivid, or specially important? It would be wise to pray about that dream, to find out what significance it has for you.

Daniel 2:36-45
"This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.
You, O king, 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 mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron - for iron breaks and smashes everything - and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure for ever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands - a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."

Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Kings; He was the most important ruler of his age - he ruled a massive empire, and many other kings were subject to him. But it was The God of heaven who gave him "dominion and power and might and glory".

Nebuchadnezzars's kingdom wouldn't last for ever; it would be followed by "another kingdom... inferior". If we read ahead, we can see this happening in Chapter 5 verses 30-31, where the Medes and Persians invade Babylon. It's a useful corrective to human pride and ambition to remember that even Nebuchadnezzar couldn't build something that would last.

The second kingdom - the kingdom of the Medes and Persians - would also fall. A third kingdom replaced it and ruled over "the whole earth" (we need to understand that this phrase "the whole earth" was not intended to mean what we would mean today - firstly, the word "earth" can equally validly mean "land" - secondly, the whole earth meant at most the known world at that time). It's a matter of historical record that this third kingdom was the Greek empire, set up by Alexander the Great. This was less cohesive that its predecessors; after the death of Alexander, it was split into four parts. In this sense, it was inferior to the first two.

The Greek empire also fell - it was overwhelmed by the Romans. The Roman empire - the fourth kingdom - is described here as being "strong as iron", crushing the others. It is also described as "a divided kingdom". Again, it's a matter of historical record that the Roman empire was divided in two - the Eastern and Western empires.

A number of books have been published explaining in more detail how this prophecy was fulfilled in detail, but we don't have space for that here. But here are two of the most important aspects of this dream:

• It shows that God is in control of history. He planned in advance the geopolitical events that Nebuchadnezzar dreamt about.
• It speaks of another kingdom - one that will never be destroyed.

God set up this eternal kingdom "In the time of those kings" - that is, during the time of the Roman Empire. It is, of course, The Kingdom of God inaugurated by Jesus Christ, who was born during the reign of Emperor Augustus (Luke 2:21) and preached, died and rose again during the reign of Emperor Tiberius (see Luke 3:4). His kingdom is described in the dream as "a rock was cut out, but not by human hand" (that is, heavenly, not human) and in the interpretation as "endur[ing] for ever".

It's endured for 2000 years so far. And it always will, regardless of the attempts of various governments to legislate or persecute it away:

Isaiah 9:6-7
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Next week, more on the kingdom of God and why understanding it is so important to how we live our lives.