The greatest monarch in the world at this time, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, had a dream. Though he couldn’t remember what it was, it disturbed him so much that he asked the royal court’s “think tank,” – astrologers, magicians, sorcerers and the like, to tell him his dream and its interpretation.
They were members of an occult fraternal who claimed to be able to read minds, interpret dreams and foretell the future. The king called them in to solve the problem of his forgotten dream. Notice their reply in Daniel 2:7.
“Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.”
Well, Nebuchadnezzar didn’t become the greatest ruler of the ancient world by being naive. You don’t need to be a genius to give some kind of “interpretation” of a dream, do you? I mean you can make up anything you like. Nebuchadnezzar knew that.
He also knew that if they could tell him the dream, which he himself forgot — then he could trust their interpretation. Well, of course, they were unable to tell the king his dream. The wise men of Babylon were totally discredited. Not one of them could reach inside the king’s head and extract the information he demanded.
They claimed to have special supernatural power, but they were shown to be frauds. And this made King Nebuchadnezzar very angry. He was accustomed to getting what he wanted. In fact, he got so angry he ordered all the wise men of his court to be killed.
Now, this included the four Hebrew captives, Daniel and his three companions even though they weren’t present when this happened. However, Daniel pled for time, and assured the king that he could provide the information he wanted about his dream.
How? How do you tell someone their own dream when they don’t even remember it themselves? Well, these four young Hebrew men at the Royal court went to the one Source they knew had the answer to the king’s dream.
They prayed to the God of heaven. And when their prayers were answered, Daniel went before Nebuchadnezzar and gave him what he had asked for. He actually told him what he’d dreamed.
The king, he said, dreamed of a giant statue. Its head was gold, its arms and chest silver, its belly and thighs brass, its legs iron, and its feet iron and clay. Then a rock smashed the statue into pieces, and a “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.” (Daniel 2:35).
Daniel then interpreted the dream, telling the king that the head of gold represented Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. The silver in the arms and chest represented the next kingdom; the brass belly another one; and the iron legs a forth kingdom, and the iron in the feet and toes the latter stage of that fourth empire. Until, finally, all were replaced by God’s eternal kingdom, which will last forever.
And — world history has unfolded exactly like this! Babylon – the gold, was replaced by Media-Persia – the silver, which was replaced by Greece – the bronze, which was replaced by Rome – the iron. Amazingly, God foretold that there would be these four world empires and no more.
The iron and clay in the feet represented the breakup of the Roman empire into the nations of modern Europe. And, fascinatingly enough, Daniel said that the iron and the clay would not mix together, which meant that these nations of Europe would be not be united. Here’s what he said in Daniel 2:43.
“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.”
That is, to put it simply, the nations of modern Europe would never become a single entity. They’d never be united. And that’s exactly the situation in modern Europe today. And this was written 2600 years ago! God knows in advance what’s going to happen. He’s clearly in control of human events.
When Daniel finished, “King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel.” (Daniel 2:46). Just imagine! The greatest and most powerful king in the world, falling on his face before a foreign captive! Not a common occurrence, to say the least.
But imagine that you had a dream, and then you forget the details of the dream. And then someone tells you the dream exactly, and you realize that he is right! No wonder the king was so impressed. And we should be, too.
Looking back, we can see that history unfolded just as predicted in the prophecy. All the kingdoms did exactly as Daniel, interpreting the dream, said that they would. The only kingdom that hasn’t come yet, is God’s eternal and final kingdom.
And so, if Daniel was right on all the ones before, why not trust him on the last one as well? And if He is in full control of earthly events, why not let him have control of your life as well?
