Day 04 of Journey Through Daniel | THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD VERSUS THE KINGDOM OF GOD

COMMENTARY Yesterday we read about Nebuchadnezzar’s search for someone who could tell him his dream and its meaning. Today, we finally learn about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its meaning. Daniel reveals that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a colossal statue that was composed of four different metals: a head of gold, a chest and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron. This sequence of metals, which declines in value from top to bottom, corresponds to an ancient way of organizing history. Some ancient historians, like the Greek poet Hesiod, thought of human history as devolving from an original golden race into generations of silver, bronze, and iron. The reasoning behind this sequence was that things became worse and worse over time. Daniel reveals in his interpretation of the dream that the metals of this statue also relate to the progression of history. The four metals represent four successive kingdoms. We are told that the first metal, the head of gold, represents Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire. Unfortunately, we are not told what kingdoms the other metals represent. This omission has led to much debate. Some interpret the four kingdoms as a sequence that culminates with the Greek Empire. Others interpret it as a sequence that ends with the Roman Empire. Still others think that the entire sequence is symbolic. In Nebuchadnezzar’s culture, the number four symbolized the whole universe, so perhaps the four metals symbolized all the kings and kingdoms of this world. Though this is an interesting debate, we shouldn’t get sidetracked by it because that would distract us from the most important part of the dream: one day a stone of divine origins would crush this statue of empires built by human hands and grow into a kingdom unlike any the world has seen. For Nebuchadnezzar and merciless leaders like him, this dream served as a prophetic critique. It revealed that the empires of man inevitably fall. God will not allow them to last, so we should resist aligning ourselves too closely with them. However, for those who are oppressed, this dream carries a hope-filled promise. God has brought, and is still bringing, an unparalleled kingdom where justice is the rule and God reigns as King. SCRIPTURE Daniel 2:31–49 31 “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. 36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. 39 “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. 44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.” 46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. 49 Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court. QUESTIONS 1. Put yourself in the shoes of Jews like Daniel who lived under the oppressive authority of the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Why would the message of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream give you hope? 2. What man-made “empires” do you suppose God would confront in our world today? Why?