John Burnett: 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.” God
gave Daniel specific revelation about the dream the king had been
given. This again shows that God is in complete control and He used the
dream of a wicked king to present prophesy on future events. His
Kingdom shall have no end and the awesome thing is that we get to rule
with Him in that Kingdom. I just wish He would hurry up and establish
it.
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Krista Cook: 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.
- This has always been interesting to me. Such a very detailed explanation to help us visualize what is being said.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.
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Allen Michaels: 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.
This is where Daniel gets interesting;
Verses
31-35 With God’s help, Daniel was able to remind the king about the
dream. In the dream, the king had seen a large image. It was in four
parts. The most precious
material, gold, was the head of the image, at the top. Then came
silver. Next came bronze. The least precious was the metal in the feet.
As the king watched, a strange thing happened. A small stone appeared.
It seemed as if someone had cut it from a rock.
But no human hand did it. The stone broke the image into tiny pieces.
The pieces became like powder that the wind blew away. Then the stone
grew larger. It became a large mountain and it filled the earth.
The head of gold represented Nebuchadnezzar ruler of the Babylonian empire. The
sliver chest and two arms represented the Medo-Persian empire, which conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. The belly and thighs of
bronze were Greece and Macedonia under Alexander the Great, who conquered the Medo-Persian empire in 334-330 B.C. The legs of
iron represented Rome, which conquered the Greeks in 63 B.C. The feet of
iron and clay represented the breakup of the Roman empire, when the
territory Rome ruled divided into a mixture of strong and weak nations.
This will be the End Times. The type of metal in each section depicted
the strength of the
political power it represented. The rock cut 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 earthly kingdoms.
Most
Bible scholars agree that the head of gold was the Babylonian empire of
Daniel's day and that the chest and arms of silver were the
Medo-Persian Empire
that followed. Then came the belly and thighs of bronze, the Greek
empire of Alexander the Great and his generals who took over after his
death. After that came the legs of iron, the world rule of Rome. Now
notice that the feet are made of iron and clay. This
is a weak joining of two very dissimilar materials that are not as
strong as the iron legs. In fact, for iron to have strength it must be
purified in the fires of a foundry. It can be made stronger by adding
alloys of other metals, but clay is never used in
these alloys. Clay has nothing in common with metal. Although the
strength of the iron was found in the feet, because the clay was also
present in the mixture, the feet were the weak point in the image.
So
we see, then, that the image becomes weaker and worth less as it goes
downward from the head until it is completely worthless. Clay by itself
has a value
for use in pottery, as iron does for tools, but mixed together they are
of no value. Yet this mixture depicts the final kingdom of man. We
think that the Lord has shown us what this kingdom is.
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.
Daniel
trusted God. He was confident that he had told the king the right dream.
He knew also that God had told him the right meaning of the dream. So
he told the king what the dream meant. The
gold head of the image meant King Nebuchadnezzar himself. He was a very
powerful king. He ruled over a vast area. Daniel also told the king
that God had given him his royal power.
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.
God’s kingdom will never be destroyed. If you are upset by threats of
war and the prosperity of evil leaders,
remember that God, not world leaders, decides the outcome of history.
Under God’s protection, God’s kingdom is indestructible. Those who
believe in God are members of his kingdom and are secure in him.
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.” During
the time of the Roman kingdom, Jesus was born. Not many people knew
about his birth. He is the
little stone. The kingdom of Jesus will grow and grow. It will be
stronger than all the other kingdoms. The image frightened people. The
other kingdoms were powerful. They frightened people too. But they will
disappear. The kingdom of Jesus will never disappear.
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Tomorrow’s reading for Daniel 2:46-49.
46 Then
King Nebuchadnezzar threw himself down 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 greatest 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.
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