Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
Dan. 2.1 One night during the second year of his reign, [fn1] Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that disturbed him so much that he couldn't sleep. 2 He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers, [fn2] and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed. As they stood before the king, 3 he said, "I have had a dream that troubles me. Tell me what I dreamed, for I must know what it means."
4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, [fn3] "Long live the king! Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means."
5 But the king said to the astrologers, "I am serious about this. If you don't tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be demolished into heaps of rubble! 6 But if you tell me what I dreamed and what the dream means, I will give you many wonderful gifts and honors. Just tell me the dream and what it means!"
7 They said again, "Please, Your Majesty. Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means."
8 The king replied, "I can see through your trick! You are trying to stall for time because you know I am serious about what I said. 9 If you don't tell me the dream, you will be condemned. You have conspired to tell me lies in hopes that something will change. But tell me the dream, and then I will know that you can tell me what it means."
10 The astrologers replied to the king, "There isn't a man alive who can tell Your Majesty his dream! And no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer! 11 This is an impossible thing the king requires. No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they do not live among people."
12 The king was furious when he heard this, and he sent out orders to execute all the wise men of Babylon. 13 And because of the king's decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends. 14 When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. 15 He asked Arioch, "Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?" So Arioch told him all that had happened. 16 Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time so he could tell the king what the dream meant.
17 Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. 18 He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon. 19 That night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven, 20 saying,
"Praise the name of God forever and ever,
for he alone has all wisdom and power.
21
He determines the course of world events;
he removes kings and sets others on the throne.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the scholars.
22
He reveals deep and mysterious things
and knows what lies hidden in darkness,
though he himself is surrounded by light.
23
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors,
for you have given me wisdom and strength.
You have told me what we asked of you
and revealed to us what the king demanded."
Daniel Interprets the Dream
24 Then Daniel went in to see Arioch, who had been ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him, "Don't kill the wise men. Take me to the king, and I will tell him the meaning of his dream."
25 Then Arioch quickly took Daniel to the king and said, "I have found one of the captives from Judah who will tell Your Majesty the meaning of your dream!"
26 The king said to Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar), "Is this true? Can you tell me what my dream was and what it means?"
27 Daniel replied, "There are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune-tellers who can tell the king such things. 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed.
29 "While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events. The revealer of mysteries has shown you what is going to happen. 30 And it is not because I am wiser than any living person that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wanted you to understand what you were thinking about.
31 "Your Majesty, in your vision you saw in front of you a huge and powerful statue of a man, shining brilliantly, frightening and awesome. 32 The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze, 33 its legs were of iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and clay. 34 But as you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain by supernatural means. [fn4] It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. 35 The whole statue collapsed into a heap of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. The pieces were crushed as small as chaff on a threshing floor, and the wind blew them all away without a trace. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.
36 "That was the dream; now I will tell Your Majesty what it means. 37 Your Majesty, you are a king over many kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. 38 He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold.
39 "But after your kingdom comes to an end, another great kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third great kingdom, represented by the bronze belly and thighs, will rise to rule the world. 40 Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth great kingdom, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes. 41 The feet and toes you saw that were a combination of iron and clay show that this kingdom will be divided. 42 Some parts of it will be as strong as iron, and others as weak as clay. 43 This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage. But this will not succeed, just as iron and clay do not mix.
44 "During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed; no one will ever conquer it. It will shatter all these kingdoms into nothingness, but it will stand forever. 45 That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain by supernatural means, crushing to dust the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold.
"The great God has shown Your Majesty what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain."
Nebuchadnezzar Rewards Daniel
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed to the ground before Daniel and worshiped him, and he commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn sweet incense before him. 47 The king said to Daniel, "Truly, your God is the God of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret."
48 Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men. 49 At Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king's court.
Footnotes:2:1
The second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign was 603 B.C.
2:2
Or Chaldeans; also in 2:4, 5, 10.
2:4
The original text from this point through chapter 7 is in Aramaic.
2:34
Aramaic not by human hands; also in 2:45.
New Living Translation Life Application Study Bible comments on Daniel 2.31ff:
The head of gold on the statue in the dream represents Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the Babylonian Empire. The silver chest and two arms represents the Medo-Persian Empire, which conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. The belly and the thighs of bronze were Greece and Macedonian under Alexander the Great, who conquered the Medo-Persian Empire (334-330 B.C.). The legs of iron represented Rome, which conquered the Greeks in 63 B.C. The feet of clay and iron represent the breakup of the Roman Empire, when the territory of Rome ruled divided into a mixture of strong and weak nations. The type of metal in each part depicted the strength of the political power it represented. The rock cult out of the mountain depicted God's Kingdom, which would be ruled eternally by the Messiah, the King of kings. The dream revealed Daniel's God as the power behind all the earthly kingdoms.
The Apologetics Study Bible (TASB) reads on Dan. 2.31-43:
The different materials of the statue represent four world empires. Interpreters who view Daniel as taking a long-range view have usually identified these kingsomds as the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman. Critical scholars who view Daniel as a work from the second century B.C. generally consider the empires to be Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece-the empire of Alexander the Great of Macedonia, whose far-flung empire was divided into four major parts (cp. "a divided kingdom," v.41) after his death in 323 B.C. On this view the final kingdom, to be crushed and repalced by God's eternal kingdom, would be the regime of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes. By this argument these critics assign the writing of Daniel to the period of Antiochus's persecution. To make the Greek Empire the last in the eries, they claim that Daniel's author artificially partitioned the Medo-Persian Empire into two consecutive world empires, the Median and the Persian. The traditional interpretation (Babylonian, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome) conforms to the texst of Daniel, which considers the Medo-Persian as one (e.g., "law of the Medes and Persians" in 6.8,12,15; cp. 8.20). It is supported by other OT testmony (2 Chron. 36.22-23; Ezra 1.1-4), the historical record, and more than two millennia of Jewish (Talmud, medieval Jewish commentators, etc.) an Christian (Church fathers, Jerome, etc.) interpretation.
On Daniel 2.44, TASB reads:
2.44 According to some critics, the author of Daniel predicted that God's kingdom "that will never be destroyed" would appear with the collapse of the Seleucid dynasty. As the record of history showed that did not occur, therefore these commentators assert that this prophecy was in error. But if the fourth kingdom referred to Rome, not Greece, the difficulty disappears. Jesus Christ sets up His spiritual kingdom (e.g., John 18.36-37) in the Roman period and will establish a direct rule at His second coming (which some suggest will involve a later form of the Roman Empire).
Look how well Watchman Nee ties all of Scripture together on this matter:
Third Division of "Revelation" Concurs with the Other Bible Prophecies
We earlier saw that the human image in Daniel’s writing symbolizes the time of the Gentile rule. From this image we recognized Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome as signified by the golden head, the silver breast, the brass belly, and the iron legs. But we know from history that these have all passed away; only the image’s ten toes—partly of iron and partly of clay—have yet to be revealed in human history. These ten toes symbolically represent the future confederacy of the revived Roman Empire that is to arise. But at the fullness of time, a stone from heaven (which stone, as we saw, points to the Lord Jesus) will break them to pieces and will itself fill the whole earth. Likewise, in Revelation we are told of ten horns (13.1) which stand for ten kings (17.12), representing the last powers of the Gentiles. But "these shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings" (17.14). What agreement we find here with Daniel!
In the vision of the beasts in Daniel 7, it is recorded that a little horn came up among the ten horns, and this little horn "shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High [the Jews]; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time" (v.25). In reading Revelation, we learn of a beast (Daniel’s little horn) who is greater than the ten horns (17.12,13) and who speaks blasphemies (13.5) and makes war with the Jews (v.7). He speaks blasphemies against God (v.6) and has authority for forty-two months (v.5). Once again we see the perfect harmony.
Daniel 9 tells us of seventy sevens, of which sixty-nine sevens have already passed but the seventieth seven is yet to come. As the last seven arrives, Antichrist will make a covenant with the children of Israel; but after three and a half years he will break the covenant and set up the idol image which is "the abomination of desolation." The last two chapters of Daniel repeat the mentioning of the setting up of this abomination (11.31 and 12.11). As we have seen, the Lord Jesus himself referred to this matter too, and so did Paul. And when we come to Revelation, we find the same thing: it records how the second beast entices people to make the image of the first beast and to worship it (13.14,15,4,8).
Daniel 9 observes how the Antichrist will break his covenant in the midst of the last seven, which leaves another three years and a half remaining. This coincides with the three and a half years alluded to in Revelation chapter 7 and mentioned directly in Revelation chapter 12, during which time the Antichrist will be in power.
The time of the Antichrist is altogether forty-two months (Rev. 13.5), which is three and a half years’ time. During that period the wicked cruelty of the beast and the related idolatry shall be rampant upon the earth. It is then that Jerusalem will be trodden under foot again, that the two men clothed in sackcloth will bear witness, that the persecuted saints will flee to the wilderness to be under the protection of God, and also that the Gentiles shall have dominion on the earth. All these will happen within the three years and a half. Within a very short time afterwards, the Messiah will come to reign.
We have thus seen how the prophecies found in the book of Revelation agree with Daniel’s prophecies found in the Old Testament. Now, though, let us learn how they concur with the prophecies of the Lord Jesus.
According to Matthew’s record of Jesus’ words, the signs of the end are (1) false Christs (24.5; cf. also v.24); (2) wars (vv.6,7); (3) famines (v.7); (4) pestilences (v.7 AV; cf. also Luke 21.11); (5) martyrs (v.9); and (6) signs in the sun, moon and stars (v.29). By comparing what Matthew’s record of Jesus’ words says with the six seals spoken of in Revelation, we can readily see the similarities. Even the order of them are the same. Moreover, Jesus in Matthew’s account speaks of the "abomination of desolation . . . standing in the holy place" (v.15), but so also does Revelation (13.14,15). In Matthew, our Lord warns the Jews that as soon as they see the idol being set up, they should flee; Revelation too describes how they run (12.6). Matthew records that Jesus says that for the sake of the elect that day will be shortened (24.22); Revelation states: "the devil . . . knowing that he hath but a short time" (12.12). Jesus in Matthew’s account states how the false christs and the false prophets shall show great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect (24.24); and a similar statement is given in Revelation: "he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs" (13.14). In Matthew Jesus tells how people will look for an earthly Christ (24.26); Revelation shows how they follow an earthly beast (13.3). Finally, Matthew indicates how the Lord will come from heaven; and Revelation describes how the Lord with His army shall come out of heaven in glory and power (19.11-16).
We should also notice the harmony between Revelation and the Thessalonian prophecy of Paul. Paul mentions the revealing of the man of sin, the son of perdition; Revelation tells of the appearing of the Antichrist (13.1). Paul says the man of sin will oppose the Lord; Revelation records how he blasphemes God (13.6). Paul foretells how that man of sin will exalt himself as God to be worshipped; Revelation describes how he has his image made to receive homage (13.14,15). Paul describes that his coming is according to the working of Satan; Revelation narrates how he receives power from the dragon (that is to say, from Satan) (12.9, 13.4). Paul predicts he will perform signs and lying wonders; Revelation observes that "his death-stroke [will be] healed" (13.3; cf. also v.14). Paul concludes that he will be destroyed by the glory of the coming of the Lord Jesus; Revelation depicts him as being seized at the coming of the Lord and then being "cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone" (19.20).
Can we not now see how the prophecies in Revelation correspond so intimately with all the other prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments? How truly one is the word of the Lord! Even as the prophecies quoted above from the New Testament as well as the Old await their fulfillment in the coming days, so also do the corresponding words in Revelation await their future realizations too.
