Daniel 2
According to Daniel 2:1, this vision occurs "in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar" (BC 603). In this chapter, Daniel interprets a dream for King Nebuchadnezzar. It's important to note that Daniel had apparently had the same dream or vision, because he first tells the king the contents of the dream.
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 interprets the dream.
36. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation
thereof before the king.
37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of
heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength,
and glory.
38. 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.
39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior
to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which
shall bear rule over all the earth.
Another kingdom inferior to thee This refers to the Medes and the Persians.
Another third kingdom of brass This refers to the conquest of the world by Alexander the Great.
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.
The fourth kingdom The successors of Alexander, the kings of Syria and Egypt, arose after Alexander's untimely death. This includes the entire Greco-Roman period including the Roman Empire. Up until the time of the birth of Christ, the Roman Empire was plagued by numerous civil wars. Scholars disagree here. The fourth kingdom includes the entire time from Alexander until the rule of the ten kings, the Roman Emperors, who brought Pax Romana ("peace") to the Empire.
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.
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.
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.
Iron mixed with miry clay This refers to the military might of the Roman Empire which brought a forced union of all the nations of the world including the nations of Judea and Samaria.
The seed of men The Jews at the time of the Roman Empire who were mixed with the iron military might of the Empire, but did not come fully under the dominion of Caesar.
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.
And in the days of these kings Simply put, in the days of the Roman Empire. At that time, the kingdom of God will be brought to earth by Jesus Christ shall never be destroyed but it shall war against the kingdoms of this world and they shall become part of the kingdom of God and of His Christ (Rev 11:15) .
The question answered by this verse is when God will set up a kingdom on earth. He will set up His kingdom "in the days of these kings." Luke begins his Gospel with an account of Jesus birth: "And it came to pass that in those days ... [of] Caesar Augustus" (Lk 2:1). The beginning of Christ's ministry began "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar" (Lk 3:1). When will Christ and the kingdom of God come on earth? "In the days of these kings."
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.
A stone made without hands This does not refer to Jesus the Messiah himself as many futurists have imagined. But it is stated plainly that the stone is the kingdom of God. This kingdom appeared in the days of the Roman Empire at the coming of Christ.
Daniel was rewarded for correctly telling the dream and giving the interpretation. Like Joseph in captivity in Egypt, Daniel was rewarded. The king made Daniel the ruler over Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego became rulers over the provinces of Babylon.
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The Real Jesus: Who is the Real Jesus? Ever since the dawn of modern rationalism, skeptics have sought to use textual criticism, archaeology and historical reconstructions to uncover the "historical Jesus" -- a wise teacher who said many wonderful things, but fulfilled no prophecies, performed no miracles and certainly did not rise from the dead in triumph over sin. Over the past 100 years, however, startling discoveries in biblical archaeology and scholarship have all but vanquished the faulty assumptions of these doubting modernists. Regretably, these discoveries have often been ignored by the skeptics as well as by the popular media. As a result, the liberal view still holds sway in universities and impacts the culture and even much of the church.
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