Daniel Unlocked #17. One of the Bibles Most Astounding Prophecies.
Spanning the 70 years of his captivity, the book of Daniel follows a consistent pattern through 4 cycles of prophecy, (Chapters 2, 7, 8-9, and 10-11) each one enlarging and complimenting the other. The focus of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is on what will happen in the “latter days” (Dan.2:28). Daniel 2 is a miniature of what is to come in the rest of Daniel. It sets the stage and establishes the pattern. It is a prophetic panorama of the history of the world and a staggering glimpse into the future of the world. As a prophetic chapter it proves the existence of a divine Father who rules and over rules. It demonstrates that the Bible is the only reliable word of God. It shows us that the Bible is the only source that can explain the past and foretell the future. It unfolds the creators’ secrets regarding how His people should live. It shows us that our world is a ship under the control of its captain and He knows where it is going.
Bible prophecy is meant to be a mirror for every Christian – a mirror revealing our own destiny.
Daniel 2 answers a question about how God chooses to reveal Himself in a context where those who worship claim contradictory things about Him. Are these contradictions just different paths to the same God as I once believed concerning eastern Religions. Is one claim right and all the others wrong? How can the issue of the true God be settled?
Remember, Nebuchadnezzar was Babylonian, not a Jew, yet against all probability, this pagan king acknowledged (in writing and verbally) the God of the Hebrews as the one true God. How did the king become convinced that Daniel’s God is the true God? His cultural, scientific, and religious training would say the opposite. A study of Daniel 2 will show us how this was possible.
This SMS space does not allow me room to paste the whole chapter (45 verses) so it would be good if you could read it. In Summary, the king has a dream and none of the court’s wise men could interpret it. They were expected to tell the king the dream first, because he had either forgotten it, or was testing them. This of course puts the story into the realm of the impossible. There was no human solution to this enigma.
The most important thing for the king to know was the interpretation. The wise men could neither reveal the dream or its interpretation. They were therefore sentenced to death for fraud. Daniel who was not present at this session, upon hearing of the death decree (which involved him) declared to the king’s guard that His God could reveal and interpret the dream. Daniel prayed and God intervened. I don’t know how Daniel managed to sleep with a death decree hanging over him, but he did, and God revealed to him Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation.
Daniel made it clear to the king that this dream and interpretation was not a matter of human devising. He explained that there was only one source from which he could obtain the information: “Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So, Daniel blessed the God of heaven.” (vs17-19). Daniel did not attribute this knowledge to his own brilliance to gain some high position, he attributed the knowledge of the dream and its interpretation to God alone.
Although Daniel was about to unroll 2600 years of history to King Nebuchadnezzar, we also need to notice that Daniel was also addressing our time.
The focal point of the prophecy, as the verse says, will happen in the latter days. This dream is also significant for us because of how the Lord revealed Himself in an environment in which people believed false things about Him. Separated by millennia, the strategy still works.
A Giant man made of 4 different metals – what does it all mean?
i believe you can’t study Daniel without also studying Revelation because they go hand in hand so i hope at a later date after we finish this study we,ll look at how Revelation goes hand in hand with Daniel thank you for taking the time to prepare this study i,m enjoying it so much God bless you for your commitment to teach us the importance of Daniel