The king's dream depicted a great and excellent (exceeding)
and terrible (formidable) image (Daniel 2:31)
of a man whose body parts were described by 4 different metals in 5 different parts (Daniel 2:32-33)
The biblical concept of an image concerns the issue of
authority which goes back to God's purpose for the creation of man - to have authority (dominion) over the "works
of His hands" (Psalms 8:4-6), i.e. the earth and all that is contained therein (Genesis 1:26-28 cf. Genesis 9:4-6)
The image is top-heavy with the metallic body parts described
in a downward direction - the body parts described proceed from the most prominent part (the head) to the least
visible (the feet) and their corresponding metals begin with the most precious (gold) and end with the most common
(iron)
The predicted course of the "Times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24)
follows the SAME DOWNWARD TREND as their PAST HISTORY when they likened the "glory of the uncorruptible God"
to an "image made like unto corruptible man" and then to "birds" which
they can hold and then to "four-footed beasts" which they can control and finally to "creeping things"
which they can step on (Romans 1:23)
The end result in both cases was and will be the same
- "believing (the) Lie" (II Thessalonians 2:11), i.e. "to worship and serve the creature more than the Creator"
(Romans 1:25),
which reaches its climax in the world's worship of the Beast (Revelation 13:2-4), i.e. " the Man of Sin" and "the Son of Perdition"
(II Thessalonians 2:3-4 cf. John 6:70;
John 17:12)
The "Stone cut without hands", i.e. the Lord's
"foundation Stone" (Isaiah 28:16) will smite theimage on its vulnerable part
(the feet consisting of part iron and clay) causing the whole image to be toppled (Daniel 2:34)
at the return of Israel's Messiah (Acts 13:33
cf. Psalms 2:7-9)
Then shall "Heaven's King" sweep away these
kingdoms like the wind sweeping away the summer chaff and His kingdom ("the great mountain") will "fill
the whole earth" (Daniel 2:35
cf. (Revelation 11:15-19)
Daniel having told the king his dream (Daniel 2:36 cf. Daniel 2:31-35)
now proceeds to give its interpretation for which he and his three friends beseeched the "God of Heaven"
and so acknowledges his prayer warriors by the "we" in the "telling" ofthe
interpretation (Daniel 2:36
cf. Daniel 2:17-18)
Nebuchadnezzar is personally and uniquely identified by
name as the "head of gold" (Daniel 2:37-38)
This is significant because God calls Nebuchadnezzar "My
servant" giving him the sovereigntyover the earth (Jeremiah 27:5-7) just as He gave it to Adam at his creation (Genesis 1:26-28)
This prophecy was given at the beginning of Jehoiakim's
reign over Judah (Jeremiah 27:1)
In the very year that king Jehoiakim "cuts out"
the words of the Lord with his pen knife and "burns" the roll in the fire - the Lord "cuts off"
Jehoiakim's seed from the "throne of David" and confirmed His Word via Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Jeremiah 36:9-11,22-24,27-31 cf.Jeremiah 25:1; Jeremiah 36:1-3; Daniel 2:1)
The "inferior" kingdom to arise after Babylon
and identified as the "breast and arms of silver" (Daniel 2:39
cf. Daniel 2:32)
is the kingdom of Media-Persia (Daniel 5:24-26,30-31; Daniel 6:1,28) and is also pictured as the "ram with two horns" (Daniel 8:20)
in Daniel's vision given to him during the reign of Babylon's last king (Daniel 8:1-2)
The "third kingdom of brass" (Daniel 2:39 cf. Daniel 2:32)
"which shall bear rule over all the earth" is the Grecian kingdom pictured as the "rough goat"
(Daniel 8:21),
which "came from the west on the face of the whole earth" (Daniel 8:5)
and "smote the ram" and "cast him to the ground" (Daniel 8:7)
The Grecian kingdom was divided among Alexander the Great's
four generals, i.e. "the four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven" (Daniel 8:8; Daniel 11:4)
from which two kingdoms prevail - the "king of the north" and the "king of the south" (Daniel 11:5-6)
The "toes" are an extension of the "feet"
(Daniel 2:41)
and are said to be "part iron andpart clay" (Daniel 2:42),
which correspond to the "ten horns" of Daniel's non-descript beast and also said to be "ten kings"
as part of the fourth kingdom concerning Daniel's inquiry (Daniel 7:19-20,23-24)
Daniel's non-descript beast is described in the Book of
Revelation (Revelation 13:1-2) as a combination of Daniel's first three beasts and more (Daniel 7:3-7)
The "toes" (kings) are a mixture (mingling)
of "part iron and part clay", which is interpreted as they would mix (mingle) with the "seed of
men", butNOT "cleave together" (Daniel 2:43)
The "cleaving together" is a reference to the
transgression of the marriage relationship (Genesis 2:24) by the "sons of God" (angels) in cohabiting with the "daughters
of men", which brought the Divine judgment of the Flood (Genesis 6:4
cf. II Peter 2:4-5; Jude 6)
The kingdom will be "partly strong (iron) and partly
broken (fragile or brittle clay)"(Daniel 2:42-43)
The "iron" refers to the angelic heavenly princes
who control the human earthly monarchs (Daniel 10:12-13,19-20)
ALL the angelic heavenly princes with the EXCEPTION of
two rebelled with Satan (Daniel 10:21)
Leviathan, the "piercing and crooked serpent"
who will be punishedin the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 27:1)
is an allusion to Satan being bound in the Bottomless Pit at the coming of the Lord (Revelation 20:1-2)
Leviathan (Job 41:1)
is said to "esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood" (Job 41:27)
and he is called a "king over ALL the children of pride" (Job 41:34)
God as the "Potter" refers to His people
as "molded clay" in His hands (Jeremiah 18:6; Romans 9:21,23), but the "burnt clay" in the image (Daniel 2:43)
is the unmolded breakable clay that is associated with the rebellious "vessels fitted for destruction"
(Romans 9:22)
The fourth kingdom will become one Gentile demonic superstructure
oppressing God's people (Daniel 7:25
cf. Revelation 13:5-7)
comprised of the Antichrist, the "seed of the serpent" (Genesis 3:14-15), who will be indwelt by Satan (Revelation 12:3,9; Revelation 13:1,3-4) along with the ten kings who will be indwelt by Satan's ten heavenly
princes "who have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast ... and shall
give their power and strength unto the beast" (Revelation 17:12-13)
"In the days of these kings" (Daniel 2:44),
i.e. in the time of the "ten toes" ("ten kings") of the fourth kingdom (Daniel 2:40-43 cf. Daniel 7:19-20,23-24),
the "God of heaven" will "set up a kingdom" - the "kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 4:17),
"which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people" (Daniel 2:44),
i.e. it will be Messiah's "everlasting kingdom" and it shall be "given to the people of the saints
ofthe Most High" (Daniel 7:27
cf. Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1:32-33)
These ten kings will reign over ten nations comprising
the SAME territory God promised to Abraham and his seed, i.e. Israel (Genesis 15:18-21) and these ten kings will seek todestroy Israel (Psalms 83:4-8)
Messiah's kingdom will consume the kingdoms described
in the metallic image (Daniel 2:44)
crushing them ALL TOGETHER at the SAME TIME and sweeping them ALL away as the wind sweeps away the "chaff
of the summer threshingfloors" (Daniel 2:35)
- "the seventh angel sounded ... saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and
of His Christ" (Revelation 11:15)
The "mountain" from which the "Stone was
hewn" (Daniel 2:45)
is Mount Zion to where Messiah will return to His people (Isaiah 59:20)
The "mountain" that "fills the whole earth"
(Daniel 2:45)
will be Messiah's kingdom whose throne (seat of authority) in Mount Zion will extend to the "uttermost parts
of the earth" (Psalms 2:6-8 cf. Isaiah 2:2-3; Isaiah 11:9)
"The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof
is sure" (Daniel 2:45),
i.e. this "sure word of prophecy" (II Peter 1:19) "shall come to pass" (Daniel 2:45),
because He Who "framed (prepared) the worlds (ages)" (Hebrews 11:3), is the same One Who "revealed this secret (mystery)" to
Daniel (Daniel 2:18-19 cf. Revelation 10:7)