Daniel 2
Bible Passage: Daniel 2
During the second year of his reign in the late seventh century B.C., King Nebuchadnezzar gave a daunting task to all the officials of every provinces to interpret and describe his forgotten dream, which occurred during his first year of reign (Daniel 2:1-9). Unfortunately, in verses 10 to 12, no one and not even one of Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men was able to tell the king exactly what his dream was.
However, God revealed the king’s dream through Daniel the Prophet. The Great Image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was a revelation of crucial events that have yet to happen right after the reign of Nebuchadnezzar over the Israelites (Daniel 2:31).
According to Daniel’s interpretation of the Great Image, Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom of Babylon was represented by the golden head within the dream.
God revealed that the kingdom of Babylon will later be replaced by the more powerful Persian kingdom, which will emerge, after its conquest of the Median Confederation, formed the Persian Empire (Daniel 2:32). As Daniel spoke, all these happened in less than two centuries into the future.
The bronze belly refer to the empire of Greece which emerge after its victory over Persia (Daniel 2:32).
The iron legs refer to the Roman Empire (Daniel 2:33). It was mentioned in verse 40 that this kingdom that birth forth (the Roman Empire), will be the strongest amongst all four that were mentioned and that it will conquer and crush other kingdoms. Later, the Roman Empire will be divided into two separate kingdoms, hence it was symbolised by the two legs. The West will rule the world until A.D.476, while the East will continue its dominance until A.D.1453.
The feet that were partly iron and partly clay symbolise all existing nations that exist after the Roman Empire (Daniel 2:41). These nations continue to divide and conquer, and they were unable to stay united (Daniel 2:42-43).
Finally, as time draws near, a stone cut out by no man’s hand struck and broke the Great Image into pieces (Daniel 2:34, 44-45). This refers to Christ’s second coming on judgment day to destroy the world to establish His heavenly kingdom on earth (Daniel 2:32-35; 2Peter 3:10-13).
What can we learn from Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream?
- During the process of interpreting the king’s dream, Daniel attributed all wisdom, power, and glory to the Lord (Daniel 2:27-30). We can also do the same by trusting the Lord and glorifying Him in His name.
- Christ is coming soon, the world will come to an end, and the heavenly kingdom will appear soon (2Peter 3:10-13).
- The fate of all nations rests in God’s hands (1Samuel 2:6-7; Job 12:23). This includes the fate of all mankind.
Therefore, we ought to trust the Lord in all things and give thanks always, and may all glory and praise be given to the Lord! Amen.