A Dream Revealed by God

Daniel 2:24-49 

24 Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation."

25 Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, "I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation."

26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?"

27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, "The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: 29 As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. 30 But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

31 "You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."

46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. 47 The king answered Daniel, and said, "Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret." 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Also Daniel petitioned the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

The dream of Nebuchadnezzar was revealed to Daniel and now he explained what God showed him to the bewildered king.  Much has been said and many interpretations of this prophetic vision and its explanation have been ventured.  Like other such passages, it has meaning of the immediate future of that time while indicating more to come much later.  These far reaching meanings are less certain than the immediate of this king of Babylon and his empire which play out in the history of this book.  Daniel learned the necessary meaning from God and approached the executioner of the failed wisemen and asked to be taken to the king because he could provide the answers that were impossible for mortal men to give.  The king asked Daniel if he truly could make known the dream which he had seen and its interpretation.  Daniel answered truthfully that there is a God in heaven who alone is able to reveal secrets, and He is the one who has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days of his reign.  It was not Daniel or Belteshazzar as he was renamed, nor was it any other conjuror or ungodly wise man who seemed to practice divination with false gods.  No, only the true and living God Almighty had this wisdom and power to uncover and explain secrets such as those in dreams.  Daniel made it abundantly clear that he was not shown this secret due to his own wisdom but so that the king would know and understand what God had been telling him to prepare them all for the rise and fall of kingdoms.  The vision shown to Daniel described as a statue, “This image's head was of fine 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 clay.” and, “You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.”  Daniel then gave the meaning to the king.  God had given Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, power, strength, and glory to rule them well and wisely, but that kingdom would eventually be overtaken by four others.  They also would not last.  However, eventually a kingdom would come which would never be destroyed.  That kingdom would break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it stand forever.  Clearly this points to God’s kingdom to come which Jesus Christ and His apostles spoke of in the scriptures.  God through Nebuchadnezzar was showing us all what kingdoms would come and fall away as well as the eternal kingdom surpassing all those of mortal men.  As Daniel said, “The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”. God’s word and predetermined plan of history has been established from the beginning and He chooses to show us the parts and in the details we need to know.  When Daniel revealed the dream and its implications, the king honored him and his friends by promoting them in his temporal kingdom while giving the glory to the God who alone can reveal these things to men.  It is God who rules the kingdoms of this world and beyond and who honors those who tell others these things according to His word.  May we also be so faithful to reveal the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) and His kingdom we pray to come (Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:2) and indeed is within us already (Luke 17:21).  Let us not bog ourselves down in pursuing prophetic history not revealed with speculative teachings, but speak of and live for that which has been given us to know and teach and to pursue what is certain and its interpretation sure that we may be consumed by Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1-2).