In the first part of this astounding chapter 2 of the book Daniel, we read about King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream which no one understood till God revealed to Daniel the meaning.
Daniel then moved on to the interpretation:
DAN.2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
DAN.2:38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. (Babylon)
The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar. Surely it must have massaged the king’s ego to think that God regarded him so highly as to picture him at the top of the statue and being made of the most precious of metals.
However, it didn’t just represent him, but also his empire, Babylon. Daniel then explained how each other part of the image represented another kingdom or empire which would follow Babylon. He didn’t name them, but the descriptions that he gave amazingly describe the primary empires that occupied that part of the world in the centuries to come.
The Babylonian empire (606-536 BC)
DAN.2:39a And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee (Medo-Persia),
Nebuchadnezzar’s empire was to be followed by an empire inferior to his, at least in the Babylonians’ estimation, just as silver is inferior to gold. This second empire, represented by the two arms and the upper torso of the statue, was at its core a confederation of two peoples, the Medes and Persians.
NOTICE also the remarkable SYMBOLISM in the image. The dual kingdom of Medo-Persia is depicted here by two arms. Persia was the stronger of the two, just as in the body one arm is stronger than the other! Cyrus the Great was to conquer Babylon and large swaths of other territory.
The Medo-Persian empire (536 – 336 BC)
DAN.2:39b …and another third kingdom of brass (Greece), which shall bear rule over all the earth.
Two hundred years later, Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia and hegemon — or leader — of the League of Corinth, which included most of the city states of mainland Greece, led his relatively small army of 40,000 across the Hellespont between Europe and Asia. Within ten years he had conquered all of the Persian Empire and part of India.
His empire, and the Hellenistic successor states that it fractured into after his death, were represented by the belly and thighs of bronze. It is significant that Greek mercenaries were commonly called “brazen men” and fought in the service of many foreign kings, including those of Egypt and Assyria. They earned their name from the distinctive bronze armor that they wore.
The Greek Empire (333-30 BC)
DAN.2:40 And the fourth kingdom (Rome) shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
The fourth empire was depicted as two legs of iron that, just as iron is stronger than bronze, broke in pieces and crushed the Hellenistic successor kingdoms of Alexander’s empire. Beginning with Greece and Macedonia at the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC, the Roman war machine inexorably conquered most of the remnants of Alexander’s territories, ending with the incorporation of Egypt in 30 BC as a Roman province.
The Roman Empire (63 BC- 476 AD)
Rome eventually was to conquer much more land to the west. Significantly, it would divide in two, just as in the two legs of the image. The Western Roman Empire centered at Rome fell in 476 AD, but the Eastern Roman Empire, more commonly called the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), would last, albeit for much of that time as a mere shadow of its former glory, for almost another 1,000 years until 1453.
DAN.2:41 And whereas thou saw the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou saw the iron mixed with miry clay.
DAN.2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
DAN.2:43 And whereas thou saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
The feet were of iron and clay, representing a mixture of strength and weakness. After the demise of the Byzantine Empire, other empires arose in the Middle East and Mediterranean basin, but history also witnessed the rise of independent nation-states, smaller in size than the mighty empires of antiquity. And just as in the symbolism of the image, some were strong and some were weak, a situation that prevails to this day.
So again, the various parts of the image symbolize exactly the course of history.
And at the very bottom extremity of the statue are the ten toes, also made of iron and clay. These represent ten nations — unidentified as of now — but connected to the old Roman/Byzantine Empire which will play a significant role in the very end of this current epoch, or, as Daniel termed it, “the LATTER DAYS.” These ten nations are closely allied to the final world tyrant, a maniacal figure whom the Bible calls the Antichrist. Totally possessed of Satan, the Antichrist will try to set up his empire on earth — the final and worst of man’s empires.
The toes are the ten nations that the stone, cut without hand, crashes into.
**REV.17:12-14, and the ten horns which thou saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful…
**REV. 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts [the 10 kings] to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
**DAN.7:23, 24 Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth (Rome), which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise…
Then the whole image disintegrates and is blown away! The stone is Jesus Christ, and in the days of those ten toes, He will return to earth and set up His kingdom that will never be destroyed, but which will fill the whole world as a great mountain.
This represents the Second Coming of Christ and the beginning of the Millennium
DAN.2:44 And in the days of these (end time) kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
**REV.2:26, 27 And he that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
**REV.11:15 and the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
**REV.19:11-16 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war…and on his head were many crowns… And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God… And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
DAN.2:45 Forasmuch as thou saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
**MAT.21:42, 44 Jesus saith unto them, did ye never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
**ISA.2:2, 3 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
**1PE.2:6 wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. (Acts 4:11)
This image represents all the governments of man. The stone was cut out of another mountain completely separated from the image. It has nothing to do with the image except to crush and destroy it completely! It doesn’t say He melts them in love, but he breaks and destroys them! This world is not going to voluntarily give itself up to the Prince of Peace. It has to be done with force. There will be no more kingdoms rising and falling; no longer shall one nation inherit the remains of another, but His Kingdom "shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."
**PSA.2:8, 9 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Remember, His return was not in the legs (Rome), but in the feet, and particularly the toes, "in the days of these kings" at the very end of man's governments. And besides being the end of the Image, you can't go any further than the toes, it started at the head and ends at the toes. We are getting close to that time!!
We now have the advantage of centuries of hindsight and can see clearly how amazingly this vision has been fulfilled so far. So, there we have one of the most amazing prophetic sections of the entire Bible, a passage that has strengthened the faith of many believers from then till now. Fulfilled prophecy is the watermark of the Bible’s veracity, revealing the imprimatur of God behind its words. Hold a banknote up to the light and you will see an image that is hidden under normal circumstances that attests to its genuineness. Likewise, when held up to the light of history, this passage is one of the most significant authentications of the Bible’s divine inspiration.
DAN.2:46 Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him.
DAN.2:47 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou could reveal this secret.
DAN.2:48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
DAN.2:49 Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed that before the whole court, he fell on his face before Daniel and worshiped him and extolled Daniel’s God who could reveal such secrets as the king’s dream and the interpretation. Verses 46-48 shows the contrast between the king’s order to kill the fake wise men and his worshiping of Daniel. If Daniel was able to tell him his dream, then the King had to accept the interpretation and he then honored the God of Daniel.
You can receive Jesus at this very moment. It is a free gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
If you haven’t done it yet, please pray this simple prayer:
"Dear Jesus, I want to know You personally. Please forgive all my faults. I accept that You are the Son of God and that You died for me. I invite You into my heart and life. Thank you for your gift of eternal life and please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Help me to read and understand Your Word. Amen"
Compiled and edited by Gaetan from multiple sources. gaetan.goye@gmail.com