Nebuchadnezzar’s dream explained by Daniel.
A little bit of history tied to the Bible is always fascinating. Before the Babylonian empire came into power, the Assyrian empire ruled the Middle East from 900 BC to 607 BC. Nebuchadnezzar came to power in 605 BC and ruled the Middle East until 539 BC.
In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he saw a statue of a man that had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and legs and feet made of a mixture of iron and clay. A rock came out of the mountain, not made by human hands, i.e., God, and crushed the statue. This greatly upset the king, and he called all his wise men to tell him this very dream and interpret it, an impossible task. As you have read, Daniel prays, and the Lord reveals the dream and its meaning to him. He then goes to the king, tells him his dream, and interprets it, saving all the wise men in the kingdom from death. The king falls down and worships Daniel and puts him in control of all of Babylon, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are put in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon. Daniel stays in the king’s court and is the head of all the wise men.
Here is the history. Just like Daniel explains, the statue represents four future kingdoms. The head of gold represents Babylon and its reign from 605 BC to 539 BC. The chest and arms of silver represent the Medo-Persian empire, which ruled the Middle East from 539 BC to 330 BC. The belly and thighs of bronze represent Greece and its power from 330 BC to 146 BC. Finally, the legs and feet of iron and clay represent Rome and its reign of power from 146 BC to AD 476.
The next part of the dream is about a rock from the mountain coming and striking the feet of iron and clay, and the whole statue comes crumbling down. The wind blows away the dust of the statue so that nothing remains. The rock becomes a great mountain that covers the whole earth. Daniel explains that the Lord will raise up a kingdom that will have no end, and will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness and stand forever.
Here is the history. The empire of Rome will witness the birth of Christ, who will grow up in Nazareth. Jesus will not start his public ministry until he is 30 years old. Three years later, he will die on a Roman cross and, in the world’s eyes, never to be remembered. Jesus would rise on the third day, and during the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come down from heaven and fill the hearts of men who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. This kingdom that will never end and never be defeated started with Christ. He was the perfect sacrifice for God’s creation, and His reign as Lord of Lords and King of Kings will never end. This is not an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom, and the ones who believe in Jesus as the Christ are a part of this kingdom. The Bible tells us that we are in the world, but we are not of the world. We have been bought with a price, that price was the cross. The very cross that the world thought would get rid of Jesus was the very plan of God Himself to save the world, restoring what Satan took from God’s creation back in the Garden of Eden.
We have to learn from history, or we are bound to repeat its failures. The world and its attempts to create what God had in the Garden will always fail. Anything, anywhere, any person who is controlled by Satan will ultimately end up in the same spot as all those other kingdoms, destroyed. Jesus Himself told us that Satan only comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but He came so that we may have life, through the Holy Spirit, and have it more abundantly.
Today, make the choice to follow Christ. Daniel prophesied about it before it even came to pass. God had a plan, are you in it?
Let It Go 
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