#1 – Daniel 2 / Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
Daniel 2:31-45
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.”
October, 1962, the president / National Security Council, and other key advisors. Cuban Missile Crisis.
Perhaps not far fetched.
2500 years ago.
Prophesized the rise and fall of powers.
2 Dreams, Daniel 2 and Daniel 7
Review the captivity of Israel by the Assyrians
Review the captivity of Judah by the Babylonians
Review the first part of Chapter 2
The Dream– Daniel 2: 27 Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these: 29 “As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
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.
Head of Gold
Chest and Arms of Silver
Belly and Thighs were of Bronze
Legs of Iron
Feet Partly Iron and Partly Clay
While watching a Rock was cut out and smashed into the feet of iron and clay and smashed them.
In vs. 45, Daniel tells the King, ““The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
v. 21, “He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.”
Head of Gold – Babylonian (612bc to 539bc) 73 years
Belshazzar – writing on the wall. Daniel interprets.
25 “This is the inscription that was written:
mene, mene, tekel, peres
26 “Here is what these words mean:
Mene[e]: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
27 Tekel[f]: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
28 Peres[g]: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Cyrus the Great was associated with Persia, and Darius with the Medes.)
Arms and Chest Silver – Medo-Persian (Medes and Persians) (539bc – 331bc) 238 yrs.
Belly and Thigh of Bronze – Grecian (Greeks) (Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great) – (331bc – 27bc) 163 yrs.
Legs of Iron – Roman (27bc-476ad) 503 yrs.
Feet of Iron and Clay? The most important part of the Statue.
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.
According to this prophecy, there will be a time when the Roman Empire will be divided into 10 sections. As yet, in history, this has never happened. The Roman Empire just faded away around 476 AD. It destroyed itself from within.
This prophecy tells us that the Roman Empire will be in power when Jesus returns to the Earth to set up His Kingdom.
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.
These 10 toes on the statue, represents 10 kings.
In a 1946 speech at the University of Zurich, Winston Churchill famously declared that the “tragedy of Europe” could only be resolved if the deeply rooted concept of national sovereignty and ancient nationalisms were replaced by a broader sense of European unity, essentially advocating for a “United States of Europe” as the solution to prevent future conflicts on the continent.
In 1948 a conference was held in Brussels, Belgium where the foundation of the European Economic Community was laid. Attended at that time by only 3 small countries; Netherlands, Luxemburg, and Belgium. They came together because they saw unity as the only means of survival.
March 25, 1957, a treaty was signed. It was called, the “Treaty of Rome.” This treaty brought together Italy, France, and Germany, and they joined the Netherlands, Luxemburg, and Belgium in the European Economic Community and it is called the Common Market.
1973, England, Ireland, and Denmark joined the EEC.
1981, Greece, joined it, making it a 10 nation confederation.
I remember hearing preachers preaching on this at the time saying, “this is it, we’ve got the ten nations, Jesus is coming back right now.”
The prophecy doesn’t say, “10 nations. It says 10 leaders, 10 people of influence, 10 kings.”
1986, Spain and Portugal is added.
1992 The borders separating the European Economic Community were removed. You could now travel from one country to another without presenting a passport.
1995, Austria, Finland and Sweden were added to the Union.
In 2002, 80 billion coins were produced to be used between the nations. It is now what we refer to as the EuroDollar.
May, 2004, the Berlin Wall is down, the Soviet Republic has been dismantled. Joining the Union is Cypress, the Chez Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lafia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slavonia.
Now a total of 25 Nations. Population 450 million; passing the population of the United States of America becoming the worlds biggest economic zone.
Three things to remember.
1. This is a consolidation of world power.
Look at Daniel 7 in how it mirrors Chapter 2. Daniels dream.
look at Daniel 7:23-24 – 23 “He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. 24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings.”
2. This speaks of the coming of 1 world leader.
Daniel 7:25, 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.
Paul-Henri Spaak, the first president of the UN General Assembly, made a speech in which he said, “We do not need another committee. We have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man and be he god or devil, we will receive him.”
That is a prophecy set in motion. The antichrist.
3. A treaty with Israel. Daniel 9:29
27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’[h] In the middle of the ‘seven’[i] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple[j] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
In the middle of the 7 years, the treaty will be broken and the countdown to Armageddon has begun.
Romans 13:11, tells us to wake up out of our sleep, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
We don’t know the day, or the hour, but we are in the season.
Are you ready if the beginning of the end begins today?
Today is the day of salvation. Don’t wait. Now is the time.
The rapture of the church is upon us.
Do you want to spend eternity in heaven or hell?