Daniel Chapter 2

Daniel Chapter 2

All scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized King James Bible. Any deviations are not intentional. All underlines, bold and words within brackets are the author's.

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In Daniel chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream but cannot remember it. God then reveals the dream and its interpretation to Daniel. It is important to understand this passage and its meaning because it lays a foundation for understanding other Biblical prophecies. Here is the dream.

Daniel 2:31-35

31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

32 This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Daniel then gives the king the interpretation of the dream. We will look at this interpretation one part at a time.

Daniel 2:37-38 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian kingdom are represented by the head of Gold. But Babylon would not reign forever. After it, another kingdom would arise.

Daniel 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee…

The next kingdom after Babylon is represented by the chest and arms of silver. What kingdom reigned after Babylon? This information is given to us in Daniel chapter 5.

Daniel 5:1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

Daniel 5:4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

Belshazzar, a descendant of king Nebuchadnezzar was now reigning over the kingdom of Babylon. During a drunken feast, he calls for the holy vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple of God to be brought. He then drinks from them and blasphemously praises the gods of Gold and silver, etc.. God responds by causing fingers to appear and write upon the wall. Once again Daniel is sent for to interpret the writing.

Daniel 5:26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

Daniel 5:27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

Daniel 5:28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

His kingdom is taken from him that very night.

Daniel 5:30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

Daniel 5:31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

So the next kingdom after Babylon which was represented by the chest and arms of silver is the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. Here is what we have so far.

1. The head of gold = Babylon

2. The chest and arms of silver = The Medes and the Persians

Daniel chapter 2 then goes on to mention a third kingdom.

Daniel 2:39 … and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

Another third kingdom was to arise after the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. We read about this kingdom in Daniel chapter 8.

Daniel 8:1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.

Daniel 8:3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

Daniel 8:5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

Daniel 8:7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

Daniel has a vision of a ram with two horns which is then defeated by a male goat with one horn. The angel Gabriel is then sent by God to give Daniel the interpretation of these things.

Daniel 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

Daniel 8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia…

The ram represented the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians and the he goat represented the king of Greece (Alexander the Great). So the next kingdom after the Medes and the Persians was the kingdom of Greece. So here are the kingdoms so far.

1. The head of gold = Babylon

2. The chest and arms of silver = The Medes and the Persians

3. The belly and thighs of brass = Greece

Daniel chapter 2 then goes on to speak of a fourth kingdom.

Daniel 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

What is this fourth kingdom which is as strong as iron? The Old Testament ended while the Persians were still reigning. Then during the time between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament (approximately 400 years) Greece game to power just as it was foretold in Daniel chapters 2 and 8. But by the time the New Testament scriptures begin to be written, Greece has fallen and has been replaced by this fourth kingdom. What is that fourth kingdom?

John 11:48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar …

Acts 28:17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

During the time of the New Testament, Rome was in power with a succession of Caesars ruling. Rome is this fourth kingdom which was symbolized by the legs of iron. Here then are the four kingdoms listed together.

1. The head of gold = Babylon

2. The chest and arms of silver = The Medes and the Persians

3. The belly and thighs of brass = Greece

4. The legs of iron = Rome

But the interpretation of the dream is not finished yet.

Daniel 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

Daniel 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

Daniel 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

Rome was not conquered and replaced by another world empire as were these other kingdoms. After its fall in 476 AD, it was divided up into parts and pieces some of which were strong and some of which were weak. This is what is meant by some parts being like iron and other parts being like clay. Many have tried to put together a one world empire again, but have not been successful as we see in verse 43. And there is something really important we learn from this. This same division will continue to exist until the second coming of Christ. There will never again be a single nation to rule over all the earth. We will get into that more in a bit, but first, here are the kingdoms so far.

1. The head of gold = Babylon

2. The chest and arms of silver = The Medes and the Persians

3. The belly and thighs of brass = Greece

4. The legs of iron = Rome

5. The feet and toes, part of iron and part of clay = Divided Government

The dream then goes on to tells us about the destruction of image.

Daniel 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Daniel 2:45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Notice when this destruction will take place, “in the days of these kings”. The 10 kings, represented by the 10 toes will STILL be reigning over the earth at the second coming of Christ. As I said before, this passage teaches us that there will never again, after Rome fell, another single nation to rule over all the earth. There are many today who are teaching that the Roman Empire will be resurrected and rise to power once again. The passage teaches clearly that this is NOT TRUE! The very fact that this stone, which destroys the image, hits it upon its feet with 10 toes (representing divided government) proves this is NOT true.

Daniel 2:34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

The stone to which this passage refers is clearly a reference to Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

1 Peter 2:4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

1 Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

1 Peter 2:7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

1 Peter 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

The Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as a “stone” 4 times in the above passage.

Luke 20:17 And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?

Luke 20:18 Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Jesus is a stone which will fall upon people and grind them to powder. This is very similar language to what which was used in Daniel. When Christ comes He will take power over all the kingdoms of this world.

Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Some have suggested that this passage is speaking about the first coming of Christ rather than the second coming, but this is NOT possible. The stone smites the image upon it feet with 10 toes which represent the divided governments of the world AFTER the fall of Rome. At Christ’s first coming, Rome was still reigning and had not fallen yet. There have been all sorts of mental gymnastics performed by many in order to try and get around this, but the passage is clear. The stone hits the image on its feet with 10 toes, a time in which the governments of the world are divided. This was not true at the first coming of Christ, but it will be true at the second coming of Christ. When He comes, He will reign over His kingdom (mountain) forever.

Here then is the complete list of kingdoms which will reign over all the earth.

1. The head of gold = Babylon

2. The chest and arms of silver = The Medes and the Persians

3. The belly and thighs of brass = Greece

4. The legs of iron = Rome

5. The feet and toes, part of iron and part of clay = Divided Government

6. The stone and mountain = Christ’s second coming where He will reign over His kingdom forever