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An Ancient King's Dream: Part 2

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Samuel Smith
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LESSON 2

AN ANCIENT KING'S DREAM: PART 2

You are welcome to another edition of Insights from God's Word, a Bible Study Programme that is committed to sharing God's Word by allowing the Bible to speak for itself.

In this edition, we continue with our series on The Final Events of Bible Prophecy. The topic for this study is: An Ancient King's Dream: Part 2. The following footnotes have been gleaned from our Bible study reference of Daniel 2:

1. Because king Nebuchadnezzar had forgotten the dream he had, it became important for Daniel to recount the dream to him first, before giving him the interpretation.

2. According to Daniel, the king in his dream saw a great image whose brightness was excellent, and the form thereof very terrible.

3. This great image had a head of fine gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and his feet made of part of iron and part of clay.

4. Daniel reveals that as the king was beholding this image in his dream, a stone that was cut out without hand smote the great image upon his feet and broke the image into pieces. The various segments of this image became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away. Now, the stone which gave the deadly blow to this image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

5. Undoubtedly, king Nebuchadnezzar became impressed about this revelation from Daniel, and waited with rapt attention to find out what this incredible dream meant.

6. Daniel did not keep the king in suspense, but went right ahead to deliver the important interpretation to this incredible dream. According to Daniel's interpretation, this great image of mud and metal represented the great empires that were to bear rule over all the earth.

7. Daniel revealed to king Nebuchadnezzar that he was the head of gold. But then after him shall arise another kingdom which will be inferior to his own. Then, there will be a third kingdom of brass and a fourth kingdom of iron. Daniel then recounts that as the king saw the feet and toes of the image made up of part iron and part clay, the fourth kingdom shall be divided. There shall be in the divided kingdom the strength of the iron and the weakness of clay. In other words, the divided kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. Moreover, as the king saw iron mixed with miry clay, the people in the divided kingdom shall try to intermarry among themselves yet they shall not cleave one to another. Daniel then recounts that in the days of this divided kingdom shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.

8. The interpretation to the king's dream is not a difficult task especially if one has a basic knowledge of history. From the account of Daniel's interpretation, the various segments of the metallic image represented various empires that were to bear rule over the whole world.



9. From Daniel’s interpretation, the golden head of the image represented Babylon, the first superpower of the ancient world. The empire of Babylon was built with the mindset of making it impregnable to any military force. The walls that Nebuchadnezzar had built around the city were so thick and tall that they served as an effective barrier to any army that wanted to overtake Babylon. Moreover, beneath the impregnable walls, just below the massive gates to the city, flowed the great river Euphrates which served as the lifeline of the kingdom of Babylon. The Babylonians obtained fresh water from the Euphrates for all their domestic needs. Thus, they could survive without any difficulties the siege of any army on earth. However, God’s word had gone out against the proud empire of Babylon, saying: "And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee" (Daniel 2:39). And friends, this Word of God that was spoken against the golden empire of Babylon was more powerful than all the protection that Babylon could devise for herself. And so in 539 B.C., the combined forces of the Medes and Persians invaded the city and overthrew it. You may ask; how did they do it? Popular tradition has it that the Medo-Persian army diverted the course of the river Euphrates, and marched down the river bed into the city. Several years before this event took place, the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, described the strategy through which the kingdom of Babylon would be overthrown and even named the leader who would accomplish this feat 150 years before this leader was born. In fact, we read from Isaiah 44:27, 28 - Isaiah 45:1 the following: "44:27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

45:1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;"

(Isaiah 44:27, 28 - Isaiah 45:1)
And so Babylon flourished from 605 B.C. and came to an end in October 13, 539 B.C. just as God’s Word has said concerning it. As you can clearly see from the history, after Babylon came the Medes and the Persians who were represented by the breast and arms of silver. The Medo-Persians controlled the entire ancient world from 539 B.C. to 331 B. C. After the Medo-Persian empire came the Grecian empire which was symbolized by the belly and thighs of brass. Led by Alexander the great, the Grecian army defeated Persia's Darius III at the battle of Arbela in 331 B.C. Greece ruled from 331 B.C. to 168 B. C. After Greece came the iron empire of Rome. Rome became the fourth superpower of the world after defeating the Grecian empire on June 22, 168 B. C., at the battle of Pydna. The Roman Empire ruled the longest from 168 B. C. to A. D. 476.

10. As the prophecy predicted, after the Roman Empire, there was nothing like a fifth world empire. Due to a high level of corruption, greed and moral decay, the Roman empire became easy prey for Barbarian tribes to the point that by 476 A. D., the empire had disintegrated into ten distinct segments. These ten nations comprising Alemanni (Germany), Franks (French), Anglo Saxons (English), Visigoths (Spanish), Burgundians (Swiss), Lombards (Italians), Suevi (Portuguese); and Heruli, Vandals and Ostrogoths (Now extinct) became the progenitors of modern day Europe. As the prophecy predicted, the fourth world empire was actually divided into various independent nations.

11. The prophecy also predicted that these divided nations will mingle themselves through inter-marriages (i.e. with the seed of men), yet they will not adhere one to another. Several rulers in Europe tried to unite the empire through inter-marriages, but that always crumbled under the crucible of war. Strong - willed men such as Charlemagne, Charles V, Louis XIV, Napoleon Bonaparte, Kaiser Wilhelm and even Hitler all tried to weld the fragmented nations of Europe together but failed. The following seven words of prophecy have always stood between these people and their common goal: "they shall not cleave one to another" (Daniel 2:43 ). Beloved, it is clear from these historical facts that Bible prophecy has always stood fast.

12. The last event in the ancient king's dream is the unleashing of the stone that was cut out without hands. This is the only part of the prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled. Now, considering the amazing precision with which the other parts of the ancient king's dream have been fulfilled, there is no doubt that the next event is soon on the way? But what does this stone represent? Beloved, the Bible often uses the term Stone or Rock to refer to our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4; Isaiah 28:16; Romans 9:33). From Mathew 21:42, 44 we read the following concerning Christ: "42 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 marvellous in our eyes? 44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder". From the apostle Peter, we also read the following in relation to Christ: "Coming to Him as to a LIVING STONE, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious" (1 Peter 2:4, NKJV; Capital Emphasis Added).

13. According to Gerhard Pfandl, the fact that the stone hits the feet and toes of the image (see Daniel 2:34), and not its head, body, or legs, indicates that the smiting represents Jesus’ second advent at the end of time (Daniel: The Seer of Babylon, page 29). Friends, the power that will attend Christ’s second coming will crush all earthly kingdoms (Revelation 6:12-17; Revelation 16:17-21), and usher us into the everlasting kingdom of God. With an understanding of Daniel’s prophetic outline, we do not have to worry about the future of our world because the Bible clearly tells us that in the days of the divided nations of Europe will the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed. Beloved, the signs all around us indicate to us that something unsurpassed in the history of our world is about to happen. Jesus is coming soon! But the most important question that concerns you in the ancient's king’s dream is this: Are you ready for the coming Stone? Are you ready to commit your life to Jesus today and enjoy the rich treasures of eternity with Him or risk been grounded to powder at His coming because you ignored so great a salvation? Oh! How I wish you will make the same choice I made some years ago. I chose to give all my heart to Jesus. And I have never regretted I did.

Exhortation: "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" (Isaiah 46:9-10).

In our next study, we will consider the topic: The Great Controversy: The Battle over Worship. The Bible study references for our next study are found in Ezekiel 28:12-19 and Isaiah 14:12-20. Please do well to go through these study references before the next study is released.

NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, all Scriptural References are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Stay blessed and keep shining for King Jesus.

Maranatha!

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