Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

Daniel 2 describes Nebuchadnezzar's dream and Daniel's interpretation. I'll do a fuller explanation on Sunday (I keep adding things to what I plan on discussing...), but I cobbled this explanation from both my NIV Study Bible and a book I purchased when researching the Revelation Bible Study that Jerome Nathan and I led in 2004 titled "Charting the End Times" by Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice. 

Daniel 2:31-35 describes the dream (an impressive feat given that Daniel hadn't been told what the dream was) and verses 36-45 are the interpretation. The dream works in this order:

1. A head made of gold--this represented the current kingdom of Babylon

2. Chest and arms of silver--the Medo-Persian kingdom led by Cyrus that would overthrow Babylon in 539 BC

3. Belly and thighs of bronze--the Greek kingdom that would conquer the known world by 330 BC

4. Legs of iron--the Roman empire that would fully realize its power in approximately 60 BC

5. Feet partly of clay and partly of iron

6. A rock strikes the statue and becomes an entire mountain that fills the entire earth

The way the metals progress speaks of two things--the metals lessen in value to represent the decreased power and grandeur of the successive kingdoms, from complete despotism of Babylon to the relative democracy of the Roman empire. They also get tougher, representing that each kingdom would last longer than the previous one. The feet of clay and iron represent a world that was both strong and brittle at the same time.

The rock represents God striking down the sinful empires of the earth, both then and in the future when he returns in the Second Coming. Beyond that, I'm not willing to opine, because I simply don't know, but a quick Google search will probably show a wide variety of people who will tell you EXACTLY what this dream means for us today--more power to them.

As always, the only thing we truly need to concern ourselves with is being prepared for when the "rock" will strike the statue--it already has for the four kingdoms referenced above, and we're just marking time until the rock strikes the statue for the final time. We don't know when it will happen, but we know for certain THAT it will happen. Be prepared.

Scott