（Dan2）Large Image and theToes that are Half Iron andHalf Clay
Author: YaoLianghong
Daniel's loyalty to God and refusal ofunclean food in the palace of Babylon earned him the qualification as a greatprophet of God, and God also gave Daniel the opportunity to be recognized andappreciated by the king of Babylon. This paved the way for the glory of the onetrue God.
Thischapter describes a dream that God sent to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon,by His divine will. Daniel showed the wisdom God had given him in interpretingthe king's dreams. Dreams are a way for God to reveal his will to man, and Godalso gives the wisdom of dream interpretation to his chosen servants, so thatthey can understand the will of God, and then give warning and advice to theworld. Daniel's interpretation of the dream tells of God's plan in humanhistory: that the power of the nations of the world would be fulfilled in theorder of the parts of the great image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. In otherwords, the history of the nations of the world is planned by God. Though thedays of the Gentiles began like pure gold, they decay like chaff, to bereplaced by the eternal kingdom of God.
Thedream was to tell King Nebuchadnezzar that God had a message for the king ofBabylon, and that the future of the world would be revealed through the Kingsof the Gentiles. There were representativesof God in the Babylonian court,spreading his true knowledge about him. God does not show favoritism toward anyperson or nation. He will save all who want to, regardless of which nation,country or individual they belong to, and they have the privilege of beingsaved. He longed to save the Babylonians just as he longed to save theIsraelites. Today God saved the Gentile Chinese just as he saved theIsraelites, and the final mystery of God is revealed through the true people ofChina.
God showed Nebuchadnezzar hisresponsibility in God's great plan and gave him the opportunity to cooperatewith God's will. The historical lessons God gave Nebuchadnezzar were alsointended to teach nations, languages and peoples, and each nation had a specialplace in his plan.If rulers and people let this chance slip, their glory willfade to dust. In addition to Babylon, there were other empires in human historythat rose to rule the world. It is time for all countries to heed the lessonsof the past and think ahead for the future. The great God of Heaven is sittingon his throne "quietly and patiently doing his will" in the turbulentmarketplace of international diplomacy.When the stone cut without hands falls atthe feet of the image to shatter the nations of the earth, the incorruptiblekingdom established by God himself will come. The stone that is not hewn out byhand is being carved intensively today, for the final smash mud giant of mudfeet to do enough preparation!
[Dan 2:1] In thesecond year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and hisspirit was troubled, and he could not sleep.
Nebuchadnezzarsaid here "in the second year," the king of Babylon, they do notconsider that year, he began to reign, so, of the history of Babylon in thesecond year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar the king was Daniel captivity after 3years (603 BC), Nebuchadnezzar made a dream dreams of the influence of humanfor thousands of years history.Kings in ancient times attached great importanceto dreams. They thought dreams were a revelation from the gods, so theyattached great importance to dreams. So King Nebuchadnezzar decided that hisdream was unusual, a special dream revealed by the gods, and that he had to getto the end of it.
TheBible says,[Amo3:7]"The Lord God will do nothing, except He reveals His secret to Hisservants the prophets.It is true thatGod will warn His servants of the great events that are to take place in thehistory of the world, and God will not allow them to happen without warning.But what Nebuchadnezzar's dream tells us in this chapter is the general outlineof world history, and how the great powers that ruled the world from theBabylonian period to the eve of the Second Advent moved the course of worldhistory in succession. As:
[Isa 46:9-10]Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other.I am God,there is no one like me. Declare the end from the beginning, and from ancienttimes the things that have not yet been done, saying, My purpose shall stand,and I will do all my pleasure.God is the Godwho knows the past, who shows the future, who sees the future in advance andspeaks. There is no one but the Lord our God. The Babylonian idols and godscould not do this. The devil knows only the past and the present, because thedevil has seen it. So, as people always can accurately give people somethinghappened in the past, and people tend to see them so accurately tell the thingof the past, they easily believe they made about the future, such as Saul, helistened to the witch's prophecy, and was at the mercy of the devil. He fellinto the devil’s trick and was destroyed in its trap..
"Disturbed,"which means "uneasy," suggests that the dream made a deep impressionon Nebuchadnezzar and made him restless.This was the most effective way for Godto gain King Nebuchadnezzar's trust and cooperation through dreams. Like allthe ancients, Nebuchadnezzar believed that dreams were one of the ways in whichthe gods revealed their will to people. The wisdom of God always caters to thestandard of man and reveals it in the manner acceptable to man. His methods ofwork are always adapted to the abilities of each individual and to thecircumstances of the time in which they live.
Godhas given us prophecy for its purpose. It is to let us know the power of God,so that we can sincerely repent and trust Him more. Prophecy shows us that Godis in charge of the history of the world, administering judgment or givingrewards. Let people know that the history of the world is not accidental, butin the hands of God. Let people lead their present life with courage andcertainty, and face the future without fear.
WhenBabylon replaced Egypt and Assyria as the world's empire, King Nebuchadnezzarfell asleep worrying about the future of his kingdom and whether the mightyempire he had built would remain invincible forever.Then God gave him a dream.But when God woke him up from his dream, he forgot all about it and could noteven remember the fogginess of it. It was impossible for him to forget thescene of his dream, which had been so terrible that it had disturbed him andkept him awake. Besides, it was in the prime of his youth and strength, and hismemory was strong. But he had completely forgotten. Since he had forgotten thedream, it would have been all right, but he was unnaturally restless andanxious to get to the truth. So:
[Dan 2:2]Thenthe king commanded to call in the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers andthe Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before theking.
Theterm "sorcerers, astrologers, and sorcerers" here refers to wizardsand magicians, the mediums who communicate with the so-called dead, andastrologers, who read divinations according to the positions of thestars.Babylon is the origin of astronomy and astrology, they are very advancedin astronomy and astrology. The Chaldeans in question were real scientists andmathematicians of the time.It is well known that the Babylonians excelled inmathematics. They explain the future through mathematics and science. So theking called all these people together to guess his dream. For these people keepclaiming that they know not only the past but also the future. So KingNebuchadnezzar gathered together this triumphant group of men and commandedthem to tell the dreams he had forgotten and to interpret them.
Butfor the king of such acts, in the Bible is explicitly forbidden.[Deu18:9-12]Whenyou enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate thedetestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughters in thefire,who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens,engages inwitchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consultsthe dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and becauseof these detestable practices, the Lordyour God will drive out those nations before you.
Thesepsychic mediums, divination, and divination are not allowed in the Bible.But becauseNebuchadnezzar did not know God, he thought that the dream he had dreamed wasan oracle from the gods of Babylon, so he called for diviners and astrologersand asked them to explain the dream and its interpretation to him.
[Dan2:3-6]Theking said to them, "I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to knowwhat it means."Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, "Oking, live forever!Tell your servants the dream, and we will shew theinterpretation.
"The kinganswered the Chaldeans, "I have forgotten the dream. If you do not tell methe dream and its interpretation, you will be cut in pieces and your houseswill be made a dunghill.But if you shew me the dream, and the interpretationthereof, you shall receive of me gifts and reward and great honour. Now tell methe dream and its interpretation."
Theking was so vexatious that he forgot his dream and forced others to guess andexplain it. What a pity!"Tell us, O king, what you dreamed, and we willinterpret it for you."It's a given. Since the king himself had forgottenthe dream, and others had shown that nothing could be done, the matter was atan end. But the king not only did not understand their answer, but eventhreatened to destroy all the wise men of Babylon with cruel death. Because he feltit was too important a dream to express, he insisted on it stubbornly.
Althoughthe magicians insisted that the king's demands could not be met, Nebuchadnezzarinsisted, "If you do not speak, I will kill you and your family."Itwas a matter of honour for the magicians, and more of their lives.
[Dan 2:7-11]They answered the king a second time, "Tell your servants the dream, andwe will show you the interpretation."The king answered, "I know forsure that you are delaying the dream, because you know that I have forgottenit.But if ye will not tell me the dream, there is but one law for you: for yehave prepared to speak unto me lies and vain words, till the time be changed.Now tell me the dream, for I know that you can make known to me its interpretation."TheChaldeans answered the king, "There is no man on earth who can make knownthe king's request;For no king, great man, or ruler has ever asked such a thingof any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. The king asks a difficult question,and no one can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not withmen."
Themen replied, "Nothing like this, O king.No one had asked such a thingbefore…What you ask, O king, is too rare to be said by a god who does notdwell with men."They also admitted that only the true god, the god whogave dreams, could know, and they honestly admitted this. By implication, theyare admitting that what they believe in is not a true god.
Thesepeople do not know God; they rely on evil spirits, the spirits of the devil. Thenthey seemed to realize that the God they believed in was not the real God. Nowthey are in danger of losing their heads because of their false beliefs. Notonly their own lives, but their families and their wealth will suffer together.
Buton the other hand, it was not unreasonable for Nebuchadnezzar to be so angrywith the men whom he had called. They usually play devil in front of the kingof Nebuchadnezzar, designed to deceive the king and the world with falsesuperstition, and dressed up as a mysterious, can predict evil or propitiousand explain the mystery, cheated the king and the world to their trust andrespect. But when the king of Nebuchadnezzar had a problem in his heart, andwas fully convinced that they had the means to solve it for him, they could notdo anything about it, and of course they could not get the king'sforgiveness.Besides, most of them lack loyalty, duplicity, cunning andduplicitous in their daily lives, as can be seen from the action they took totrap Daniel.
KingNebuchadnezzar, though often deceived by their superstitions and falsehoods,could not have been ignorant of their common ways. At this time, the king beganto suspect some of their words and deeds in the past and their presentbehavior. He thought that they might be up to some kind of intrige orfornication with the enemy. So that they could not tolerate their seeminglywillful refusal to interpret their dreams. As the king had said to them,"If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one law for you.You haveprepared lies and false words to speak to me until the time changes."Infact, the king's suspicion of such people was not unreasonable. About 64 yearslater, in the autumn of 539 BC, the Babylonian kingdom fell into the hands ofthe kingdom of Medes and Persians, because their religious priests and otherswere conspiring with their enemies (Chapter 5).
Thereforeit was their own fault that the Babylonian magicians, astrologers and Chaldeanswere not forgiven by the king and were threatened withdeath.
Inspite of this, God, who is gracious and merciful, and who hates sin and lovessinners, was in charge of the situation wonderfully, and sent Arioch, thecaptain of the bodyguard of the executionist, to find Daniel just before theywere killed. In this way, God magically preserved their lives through Danieland gave them the opportunity to repent and return to the true God with onemore powerful light of truth.
Whatwas especially unreasonable was that not only did King Nebuchadnezzar rageagainst the magicians and wise men whom he had called, but even Daniel and hiscompanions, who were normally completely innocent and had no knowledge of theincident, were in danger of being killed.This shows that the king's temperamentis fierce and cruel.
[Dan 2:12-13] Becauseof this, the king became very angry and very angry, and gave orders to destroyall the wise men of Babylon.And the decree went forth that the wise men shouldbe slain: and they sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.
"Thenthey searched for Daniel and his companions." This explains that Danieland his companions were not present when the king called together the magiciansand wise men to interpret their dreams. This is very puzzling.They were alsosupposed to be "wise men of Babylon," because the king had examinedthem not long before, and had found them ten times better in understanding thanall the magicians and astrologers in all his kingdom.So they were left standingin the king’s presence.But it was strange that they were not called to the kingthis time to interpret the dream. From some of these we know that the originalmeaning of magicians is one who understands the scriptures of his own people.He who by examining the stars foretells good, bad, evil, or fortune. A sorcereris a person who practices sorcery. A Chaldean is a group of wise people whohave learned all kinds of the antiquities in their country. But Daniel and histhree friends, though they had been educated in Babylon for three years, wereconsidered wise and clever men of Babylon, but they did not practice theirvarious superstitions and enchants, and perhaps for that reason the king didnot call them this time. Or perhaps the king did not think that the God of theHebrews whom they served was different from their God and would not help him,so he did not call them. But when the king gave the order to kill the magiciansand others, he remembered Daniel and his three friends, who were among thosekilled. The danger is now imminent!
Becausethe situation had become so urgent and dangerous, and because he had not beenprepared for it, it was a terrible test for Daniel — a terrible test of faith,love, spiritual state, and spiritual experience.So what did Daniel do?
[Daniel 2:14-16]Then Daniel answered with wisdom to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard,who had gone out to slay the wise men of Babylon. He said to Arioch, "Whyis the decree so urgent from the king?"Arioch then told Daniel what hadhappened. Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give himtime, and that he might shew the king the interpretation.
Danielwas remarkably calm when faced with a sudden life-or-death situation. He wasnot in the least frightened or alarmed. From Daniel's calm, humble, andintelligent reply to Arioch, we could see that he was not flustered and did notchange his face.
Daniel'scalm, composed, unafraid, unpanicked manner in the face of death is extremelyvaluable and important. When people suddenly encounter danger or disaster, theyare often prone to fear and panic. This kind of fear, panic is also a weakheart, lack of confidence performance. In such circumstances, people are mostlikely to say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing. Even serious times will makepeople become dizzy, at a loss, or stunned, insanity. This will make thingsworse. However, if a man can be as fearless and calm as Daniel, it shows thathe has a good state of mind and a solid foundation of faith, and he will beable to cope with and overcome any danger, disaster and trial with ease! Eachof us must have the confidence and clout of Daniel before the coming beast, orwe will not pass the exam!
"Why is that?" Daniel calmlyasked, "General Arioch, what is the urgency? Why are you looking forus?" Arioch told him how the king had been troubled by his dream, and howhe had failed to get help from the men in whom he had always placed his fulltrust. When Daniel heard this, he went in at the risk of his life to the kingand begged for a little time to pray to his God that the dream and itsinterpretation might be revealed to him. "I will tell the king the interpretation!" Why can he saythat? Because he believed in God, he realized that the dream was given to theking by God.
Onething to understand is why did God let Nebuchadnezzar have a dream and thenforget about it? The reason?If King Nebuchadnezzar had remembered his dream andtold it to the magicians and wise men, then they would have been able tointerpret it with fancy words. They would make up false stories to misleadNebuchadnezzar and the people. Therefore, God told the king to forget hisdream, so that the interpretation of the dream was left to Daniel, the servantof God. Only in this way can people get the correct revelation, but notmisleading people.
Danielwas further tested when he learned from Arioch the details of the king'sintention to kill all the wise men of Babylon. It seemed impossible to meet theking's demands. Seek God's sign, and will God show him the dream? If Daniel hadlacked confidence or doubts, he would not have had the courage or strength togo to Neanderthals and try to recoup the matter, and he would have had to waitand die like other wise men.
Butwe see how great and lively Daniel's faith was at that time. He was sure thatGod would reveal the contents and interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. SoDaniel went in and asked the king to give him a few days so that he could tellthe king the interpretation. True faith is never sighted; it focuses on God'sRevelations, promises, and will (2 Co 5:7).True faith does not regard anycircumstances as dead. It enables us to see hope in despair, light in darkness,life in death, and possibility in impossibility. True faith is so strangelydynamic (2 Co 4:7-9).
[Dan2:17-18]Daniel returned to his house and told his companions Hananiah, Mishaeland Azariah that they might pray to the God of heaven for mercy and reveal thismystery, so that Daniel and his companions would not perish with the rest ofthe wise men of Babylon.
Notonly did Daniel personally pray urgently before God, but he also asked histhree companions to join him in entreating God. To encourage one another andstrengthen prayer; When prayer is granted and God saves us, we can also offerThanksgiving together. When Daniel and his three companions prayed with one accord,they were heard and accepted by God, just as the Lord had promised, "I say unto you again, that if two ofyou on earth agree in any thing that they ask, my Father who is in heaven willdo it for them" (Matt. 18:19).Thenthe mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.
[Dan2:19-23]Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Danielblessed the God of heaven.Daniel said, "Praise be to the name of God forever and ever, wisdom and power are his.He changes times and seasons; he removesand sets up Kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.He reveals the deep and secret things: he knows what is in darkness, and thelight dwells with him. I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers, for youhave given me wisdom and power; you have made known to me what we asked of youand have made known to us the king's matter."
Throughthe earnest prayer of Daniel and his three friends, God also told Daniel thedream that had been given to King Nebuchadnezzar, and showed him how tointerpret it. What an amazing thing! So Daniel and his three friends praisedGod!
"Abandonthe king, and set up the king", here reveals the true philosophy of humanhistory.All Kings and rulers are ultimately guided and controlled by an omnipotentLord, and the change and fall of the Kings of the world are arranged byGod.These are profound things that human beings cannot understand without therevelation of God. And God's way of revealing secrets is to "give wisdomto the wise." God is willing to give wisdom to those who make good use ofit.He did this to Daniel. Now he wants to do the same for everyone who trustsin him completely. Those who lack wisdom can pray by faith and receive wisdomfrom its true source (Jas 1:5).The Babylonians' boast of the wisdom andknowledge of their gods was proved completely false. The pagan gods continuallydisappoint their worshippers.
IfGod's people could realize the omnipotence and omniscience of God as Daniel didand realize that all people and things in the world and their changes arecompletely under the control and foreknowledge of God and realize that the fate of God's people is in God'shands, we shall not in all our trials be distracted by panic, but continually trust,obey, and praise God.
[Dan2:24]ThenDaniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men ofBabylon. He said to him, "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring mein before the king, and I will make known to the king the interpretation."
Daniel'sfirst thought was to intercession on behalf of the magicians and wise men ofBabylon in order to have their death sentences lifted. Even if they have donenothing to make themselves forgiven, there is often a righteous man among thewicked who keeps them safe. It happens all the time. The righteous are the saltof the earth; they are preservative.Because Paul was in the ship, the sailorsand all on board were saved (Act 27:24).God would have destroyed the earth withsuch a corrupted world were it not for the 144,000 people(in the process ofchoosing) who remain in the world today.God prolongs the period of grace forthe righteous, by which the wicked are blessed. The wicked do not know how muchthey owe the righteous, but the wicked often laugh at and persecute those whom theyshould thank for their lives.
Youcan see how good Daniel's behavior was toward these wise men. We may imaginehow the wise men of Babylon envied him! How bitter they were when they saw howmuch favor the Hebrews had received from the king! They even tried to plotagainst him, and they did! But Daniel never paid them back, but begged the kingin his distress not to destroy them. What a beautiful behavior! This is thebehavior of Jesus! Daniel had wisdom from heaven because he had the heart toforgive his enemies. On the cross Jesus prayed, "Father,forgive them!For what they do they donot know "(Luke 23:34).Didn'tStephen say the same?"Lord, do not hold this sin againstthem" (Acts 7:60).Isn't that howGod's true servants behave?
"Bringme before the king," Daniel begged Arioch to bring him to the king'spresentation, to show Daniel's humility and to please Arioch, who had the powerto execute the death penalty.Through Arioch's report and guidance, Daniel cannot only show greater respect to the king, but also win the favor of Arioch,which is more helpful to the solution of the problem. It was evident thatArioch favored Daniel and helped him in this loving and intelligent way.
[Daniel 2:25-26]Arioch brought Daniel in to the king in haste and said, "I have found aman from the exiles of Judah who will make known to the king theinterpretation."The king asked Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar,"Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and itsinterpretation?"
Arioch,too, rejoiced at the solution to the riddle. He could now dispense with thebloody task of executing all the sages, which he clearly did not want to do.Arioch says, "I have found a man among the exiles of Judah," and inhis tone Arioch seems to be giving himself undeserved credit.His words impliedthat he had struggled to find someone who could interpret the king's dream. Heannounced his discovery in such a tone that he wanted to show off his politicalcredit. Such is the character of the man who has no truth. The King, too, wasevidently anxious to know the dream and its interpretation.
[Dan 2:27-30]Daniel answered before the king, "The secret which the king has askedcannot be revealed to the king by the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians,or the soothsayers. There is only a God in heaven who reveals the secret, andhe has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latterdays.This was your dream and the vision of your head on your bed: While youwere on your bed, you remembered what was to come, O king, and the revealer ofsecrets made known to you what is to come. As for me, this mystery has beenrevealed to me, not because I have any wisdom more than any living person, butso that you, O king, may know theinterpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. "
Danielseized the opportunity before the king and gave a good testimony about God fromthe beginning. He proclaimed to the king, "There is only one God inheaven," the only true God in the universe.He alone is omniscient,omnipotent, foreseeing and ruling. He alone reveals mysteries, reveals thingsto come, and his love for the world was boundless. Even for a man like KingNebuchadnezzar who did not know, did not serve, did not worship God, and evenfought against God in many things, God showed him what was going to happen inthe days to come. He saved him by care, mercy, and light. As for all the godsworshiped by the other Babylonian wise men and others, they were false gods whocould not make their secret known to the king.
Atthe same time, Daniel wasted no time before the king in defending theBabylonian wise men and magicians. Because you in Babylon do not worship theone true God, they cannot take dreams and interpretations for granted, and theking misunderstands and suspects them. So now Daniel said the first words, forthey made the best defense: " the wise men of Babylon, with spells,warlock, divination could not tell the mysteries the king asked. " Forthis dream was given to king Nebuchadnezzar by the one true God of Judah. Thewarlocks, and the wise men don't have the ability to explain, so that it caneliminate the king to their misunderstanding and anger. In this way, the king’sforgiveness can be obtained for them. Here again the love of Daniel was shown,as he sought to save the lives of all the wise men of Babylon.
Danielwent on to explain to the king what was going on in his mind and thebackground, and the reason for his dream. He said to the king, "This isthe dream that you had and the visions that came to your head on your bed. Asyou were thinking of the future, O king, the revealer of secrets showed youwhat is to come." That is to say, the secret that the king was thinking ofon his bed was nothing more than the future of the empire of Babylon and thefinal fate of the world.Because that's what the king cares about!
"As for me, this mystery has beenrevealed to me not because I have any more understanding than any livingperson, but so that the king may know the interpretation and the thoughts of yourheart." Here Daniel again hid himself for this purpose, showing hishumility. At the same time, it also shows God's love, care, light and salvationfor the king.
Danielwas very humble. If this were the case for ordinary people, how showy and arrogant it would be, but Daniel relied onGod and only allowed God to be honored. So, Daniel humbly said, "This iswhat God made me do, not what I did myself." Daniel humbly hid himselffrom directly answering the king's question, but instead exalted and honoredGod's holy name.Daniel described the artistic conception and meaning of thedream in detail.
[Dan 2:31-35]"You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue-anenormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of this statue wasmade of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and loin of bronze,its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. Whileyou were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck thestatue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them to pieces. The gold, thesilver, the bronze, the iron and the clay were crushed together, and becamelike the chaff of the summer threshingfloors. The wind swept them away and theywere found no more.The stone that smashed the statue became a great mountainand filled the whole earth."
Itwas most appropriate and meaningful to Nebuchadnezzar that God represented theBabylonian empire and the subsequent great empires in the dream, with a tallstatue and large body parts.For such symbols can best attract his attention,fit for his comprehension, and have a lesson for him.
KingNebuchadnezzar was a Gentile king who served false gods and worshiped idols. Inhis conception, the glory, the power, the majesty, the wealth, the throne of aworld empire, were as venerable, as awesome, as admirable, as lofty idols. Soin the dream God prefigured these earthly empires in tall metal figures toattract his attention. But it was not meant to echo or appeal to his idolatry.It was, on the contrary, to discourage it. The statue in the dream, though inhis own eyes it was tall, splendid, and very terrible, but in the eyes of Godand God’s people, was a statue built on feet of half iron and half clay,degraded from gold and silver to bronze and clay,which is a generation worsethan the generation of top-heavy giants of clay, strong in the outside and dryin the middle.Its foundation is not solid and its prospects are not optimistic.Eventually it will be overthrown, and replaced by the kingdom of God forever.Therefore, it is nothing to be feared, nothing to be envied.
Ofcourse, it was impossible for King Nebuchadnezzar to feel so deeply for awhile. But he could see from Daniel's explanation that earthly empires andworldly glory and wealth, even the life of man in the flesh, were very fleetingand unreliable. And especially as for the idols which people go to worship,they shall be completely exposed as a worthless heap of gold, silver, bronze,iron and clay!
Wealso see in dreams the arrangement and order of evolution of the differentmetals in the body, which is also very meaningful. First of all, the parts ofthe body have evolved from gold, silver, copper, iron, and clay, and theirvalue, brightness, extension, and strength have gradually diminished,indicating that the prophesies of nations will be inferior in terms of wealth,glory, and consolidation. Secondly, the hardness of the metals in each partincreases gradually, indicating that in terms of the modern military attackforce and the destruction of war, each country will be stronger than the othercountry and each generation will be stronger than the next. But just as theirstiffness increases, so does their fragility. This shows that the predictednations will be more divided than one. Moreover, the proportion of metals andother materials in each part gradually decreases from top to bottom, whichshows that the great nations like those projected are built on shakyfoundations and are "top-heavy" and will eventually be overthrown atthe return of Christ and replaced by the eternal kingdom of the Lord.And thisgiant will be broken by a stone not hewn by hand. The ashes fly and smokedissipates. Much of what is said in the foregoing has been true, and the restwill be fulfilled soon!
Whatan amazing piece of information!After listening to Daniel's interpretation, theking must have been amazed. "You are right! You're so right! It's amazingto me. That's what I had. What does it mean? Is this what God does?"ThenDaniel began to interpret the dream, and look how he explained it…
[Dan 2:36-38]This is the dream, and we will interpret it before the king.You, O king, are aking of Kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strengthand honor; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field andthe birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all.You are the golden head.
Danielexplained the dream by saying, "You, O king, are the golden head." Inthe dream, God represented the Babylonian empire with the golden head.Babylondates from about 605 to 539 BC.Why should Babylon be the head here? Does it notbegin with Egypt or Assyria? This is God's code to explain the seven heads andten horns of the Book of Revelation, in order to echo the beginning and end ofthe Great Babylon, beginning with the ancient Babylon, and also ending with theGreat Babylon, to interpret the long history of human beings. To put itbluntly, let's know how to explain the seven heads and ten horns, where thehead starts. Because God knew that the last Adventist church would have countedthe first of the seven heads and ten horns from Egypt, which was wrong.Therefore God let the last wise men earnestly study, and knowledge shallincrease unto the understanding of mysteries. Those who reject the light ofmodern truth will not understand!
AncientBabylon was once a famous and powerful empire that dominated the whole world inhistory. It was built on the Euphrates River, and the city had 20- year supplyof grain. It was a great city with high walls and was impregnable. Some ancient Babylon walls unearthed insouthern Iran show that Babylon was a country that used a lot of gold at thattime. Even temples, gods, altars and sacrificial tables were all made of gold,which shows its wealth. So, Babylon is symbolized by gold, the "goldenhead."
Goldis the most valuable, the brightest and the strongest of the major metals. SoGod used the golden head to symbolize the riches, glory and power of theBabylonian empire. And so it is recorded in history:
"Babylonwas the wonder of the ancient world, the cradle of mankind, near the Garden ofEden, built around the site of the Tower of Babel, the Kyoto of the Babylonianempire.The Kings of Babylon, Assyria, and Persia all liked to live here, andAlexander the Great was no exception, the chief city of the world before themillennium. At the time of Daniel, under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, atthe height of Davillon…In the city is the great temple of Madak, which isconnected to the Tower of Babel and is the most famous temple in the valley ofthe Perath. It contains a golden statue of Bael and a golden table, whichweighs no less than fifty thousand pounds.On the top of the temple was a goldenimage of Baer and Ishthah, two golden lions, a gold table and an all-gold imageeighteen cubits high. The city of Babylon is indeed a city of gold…The palaceof Nebuchadnezzar was one of the greatest in the world…The Hanging Gardens ofBabylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.Ancient OrientalHistory.
Accordingto archaeological excavations, Babylon was surrounded by three walls, one ofwhich was 7 meters thick, another was 7.8 meters thick, and the third was 3.3meters thick. Outside the last wall, there was a fort trench.One of the wallswas guarded by a tower 8.36 meters wide…It is conceivable that there weremore than three hundred such towers along the whole wall. A complex set ofhydro-engineering structures could flood the land around Babylonia should theenemy appear. In this connection, the Selected Sources of the General Historyof the World also notes that Nebuchadnezzar made great efforts to strengthenthe defences of the region, turning the city of Babylon into a fortress sostrong that it was almost impossible, with the military technology of the time,to take it by force.
Willthe golden head of Babylon, so rich, so glorious, so strong, and so secure,last forever?
[Dan2:39]Afteryou another nation inferior to you will arise. And there shall be a thirdkingdom of brass, which shall rule over all the earth.
Thefirst empire was the kingdom of Babylon, represented by the Golden Head. It sayshere that after Babylon came another kingdom, the Medes and Persians. The Medesand Persians were a powerful state from 539-331 BC and a second empire. Whenthe Medes and Persians were allied, didn't the statue show two silver armsfolded? It refers to the combination of the Medes and Persians to conquer andreplace Babylon.
Whilethe Babylonian empire was at the height of its power, the prophecy predictedthat it would fall, and that it would be destroyed by a much weaker nation.Though not as good as it, yet destroy it. From this seemingly perverseprophecy, it is further proved that God is the God who abolished Kings andestablished kingdoms. "Prophecynever came from the will of man, but the words of God were spoken by men asthey were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet 1:21). Afterwards, history was also as expected sowonderful fulfilled.
Thesecond empire, represented by the silver chest and arms, was the Medes andPersians, which had destroyed the Babylonian empire in October 539 BC andexisted between 539 and 331 BC.Just as silver is no better than gold, so theempire of the Medes and Persians was no better than Babylon in the wealth ofits states, in the construction of its cities, or in the strength of itskingship. The empire of the Medes and Persians, for example, did nothingremarkable in terms of state or city construction, though it replaced Babylonas ruler for 207 years. The king of Medes and Persia was not as powerful as theking of Babylon, nor even had the power to change his own wrong laws anddecrees, which he had signed (Dan 6:8,14-16;Est 1:19, 8:3-14).And because itwas a united power, formed by the force of Cyrus, the Persian king, of the samelanguage and race, the Medes and Persians. It tended to be more divided thanthe single Babylonian empire. World history also mentioned: 550 BC, the Persianking Cyrus (namely King Cyrus) conquered the Medes, and the use of power toimplement the union of the two countries.It is evident that there will be someinternal contradictions in the united powers, and that their unity will not beas strong and forbearing as the Babylonian empire of a single Chaldean.
TheProphecy about the conquest of Babylon by Medes and Persians, in the history ofchapter 5 later, says that on the night of the destruction of the kingdom ofBabylon, Belshazzar king was in for a great feast to one thousand of his lords,and drank wine before the one thousand, and even the king and his nobles, hiswives, concubines, went presumptuous and drank wine out of the gold and silvervessels which had been plundered from the temple of God and praised the godsmade of gold, silver, copper, iron, wood, stone. And suddenly there appeared onthe wall mystical fingers writing, proclaiming the destruction of the kingdomof Babylon and its giving to the Medes and Persians. That same night Belshazzarking of the Chaldeans was slain, and Darius the Mede took the kingdom, being sixty-twoyears old. According to archaeological records, it was on the night of October12, 539 BC.
TheProphets also spoke of the capture of the city of Babylon. As it was night,they prepared a feast, kept watch, and ate and drank (Isa. 21:5-9).All her princes,her wise men, her governors, her rulers, and her mighty men were drunk withwine (Jer. 51:39-40,57), when suddenly the water of the great river Euphrates,which runs through the great city of Babylon, dried up (Isa. 44:27-28 Jer.51:36;50:38).And the gates of the river were opened on both sides (Isa.45:1-2).Then the army of the Medes entered the city secretly along the bed ofthe great river Euphrates, which was waterless. The four corners of the citywere captured, the ferries were taken, the reeds were set on fire, and thesoldiers were terrified (Jer. 51:31-32).Thus, unexpectedly, the city of Babylonfell and was destroyed (Jer. 51:8).These are prophesies for the destruction ofancient Babylon, but also hint at the destruction of the last Babylon.
TheBabylonian empire, represented by the golden head, as prophesied, was destroyedin 539 BC by the empire of the Medes and Persians, symbolized by the silverbreast and arms.And what of the future of the Medes? Will it last forever? Ofcourse not. As Daniel pointed out according to the prophecy of the statue:“There shall be also a third kingdom, copper, which shall rule over all theearth.”This prophecy, too, has been strangely fulfilled. The third empire issymbolized by copper, the Greek Empire of 331-168 BC. We all know that thefounder of Greece was the famous King Alexander. This empire conquered theworld as fast as it could, and was famous for making copper weapons, and wasthe first country to make wagons out of copper.Greek soldiers were famous fortheir bronze armor. Their helmets, shields and battle-axes were all made ofcopper. So, copper is used to symbolize the country.
Butthe prefiguration of copper is not the main significance. Copper is not sovaluable, not so bright, not so ductile as gold or silver, but it is harderthan gold or silver. This shows that Alexander's army, in a war, had a greaterpower of attack and destruction than those of the previous two countries, thusmaking them invincible wherever they went. The most obvious example is the factthat Alexander, with only thirty thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry,was able in three years to defeat hundreds of thousands or even millions oftroops of the vast Persian empire. But copper also has a big weakness. It ismore brittle than gold and silver. As the hardness of copper increases, so doesits fragility. This suggests that Alexander's Greek empire was more dividedthan the previous two empires, and indeed it was. Babylon, for example, was asingle empire, and the Medes and Persians were united powers, apparently moredivided than a single state. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, his fourgenerals, after twenty years of fighting against each other, broke up the GreekEmpire into four parts in 301 BC.
Themost prominent feature of the Third Empire in the prophecy was that a thirdkingdom, copper, would rule over thewhole world. This feature is very obvious in the history of the Greek Empire.This was first manifested in the unprecedented expanse of the Greek empire:"Alexander's empire was much larger than the Persian empire in terms ofscale, for it included all of Greece and the newly conquered eastern regions,as far as the borders of India.The empire stretched from the foothills of theHimalayas and the northeastern border of India to Italy. The capital of the newempire was founded in Babylon, one of the oldest cities in the ancient world.Babylon was right in the center of the new empire. Such a vast unifiedterritory was unprecedented in the ancient world ". (Ancient GreekHistory)
TheGreek Empire ruled the world, not only in its unprecedented territory, but alsoin the series of policies it adopted in order to rule the world forever. Suchas military conquest in order to gain dominion over peoples; To recruit armiesfrom all countries to replenish their expeditionary forces; Take the lead inholding wedding celebration ceremony, encourage Eurasian race intermarriage,accept exemption from taxes; Implementing immigration policies andtransplanting plants from East to West; Spreading the Greek language andculture in an attempt to make all countries in the world Hellenized; All thiswas to unite the conquered nations under the influence of Hellenization, and torule the world for ever.
Butwill it rule the world forever? Must not be. For though the kingdom of brass isharder than the kingdom of gold and silver, yet iron kingdoms harder still willarise. As:
[Dan2:40]And thefourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: for iron breakes and subdues allthings, – and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break allthe others.
Thefourth kingdom prefigured by Iron Legs is the Roman Empire. Iron Leg Romeexisted from 168 BC to 476 AD. In 168 BC, Rome overthrew Macedonia, the home ofAlexander's empire, and replaced Greece as its ruler. After the destruction ofMacedonia, Greece, though nominally free, lost the last vestiges ofindependence. In Greece, the Romans redrew the boundaries of the city-statesand openly called their former Allies to their orders. (General World History)
Theprophecy of iron as a symbol of the Roman Empire is apt. Iron is the strongestof the four metals, and the prophecies predicted that the Roman Empire would beas strong as iron. The iron strength of the Roman Empire was first manifestedin its military power of foreign aggression and expansion. As the history says,"Rome's armaments were expanded like no other country in the Mediterraneanworld before…In the discipline of their armies, the Romans were superior toall other peoples of antiquity. Rome, with its well-organized and well-armedarmy, has often been shown to be the victor in military struggles.(The secondvolume of ancient western history )
Theiron power of the Roman Empire was also manifested in the iron and bloodtyranny of government institutions and policies and decrees over the vast areasconquered and exploited by slaves. The iron and blood rule of the Romangovernment, the merciless repression, the torture of the prison, the blood andtears of the cross, the screams of the Colosseum, as well as the extremelycruel Roman provincial policy and slavery, are the cruel performance of theiron and blood politics of Rome. Christ was cruelly crucified by the RomanEmpire.
Inthis way, Rome, with its powerful state machinery, carried out the most atrociousRoman provincial policy and slavery in the unprecedented expanse of territoryunder its control, and exploited and oppressed the vast masses of the conqueredlabors so cruely that the whole Roman Empire seemed to be an iron prison. Ashistorian Edward Gibbon put it in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,"The Roman Empire was a world in which one man had been at the helm.Rebellion against Caesar was as impossible as it was impossible to escape. Forhis enemies, the world became a grim prison…The army of the Roman Empire wasinvincible and invincible. It made rapid conquests along the Euphrates, theDanube and the Rhine. The empires of iron replaced the nations symbolized bygold, silver, and bronze, and broke and crushed them miserably…Resistance isdeath; flight is impossible." But although iron is the hardest andstrongest of the four, it is also the most brittle of them all. Because thebrittleness of a metal increases with its hardness. As we have seen, IronlegRome split in two, culminating in the division of Western Rome, whichrepresented the original Rome, into ten countries (the countries of modernEurope).
Thefourth empire, represented by the "iron legs" of Rome, was laterdivided into two Roman kingdoms, east and west, like two thighs of a largestatue. For a long period of about five hundred years, this glorious and mightycountry was a military power like iron, capable of attacking and trampling asmuch as possible. Jesus was also nailed to the cross by Roman nails. This is thefourth empire, the Iron Empire, which was the Roman Empire from 168 BC to 476AD.
Howamazing is the wisdom of the Lord! The Bible Outlines these amazing historiesin detail and succinctly through prophecy. God lays out the history of theworld with the clarity and simplicity of a cartoon.
TheRoman Empire, at the height of its power, seemed on the surface to lastforever. The original name of Rome also means "forever." But could itlast? Of course not. Will it be destroyed by a fifth great empire?
[Dan2:41]Just asyou saw that the feet and toes of the image were part of potters' clay and partof iron, so the kingdom shall be divided. There will be the strength of iron init, because you saw iron mixed with clay.
Thereis no obvious fifth empire, but a period of feet and toes after iron legs. Whatabout the Feet and Toe Age?
"Halfof the potter's clay, and half of the iron," why is it called half ironand half clay? See "Ellen's commentaries" :【Iron and clay, state and religion union- God's holy work has come to besymbolized by the feet of the statue……Halfiron and half clay, symbolizing theocracy.This union will weaken the power of the church. The union of church and statepower must bring bad results. Human will exceed the limits of God’s tolerance.They allied their political power with Roman church. But the time is coming,God will punish those who have cancelled his law and combined with Rome church.They will receive their evil retribution."
Itis clear here that half iron and half clay is theocracy. Ellen G. White saidthat the holy work of God has come of age to be symbolized by half iron andhalf clay, indicating that this half iron and half clay is specially used todescribe the events that will happen in the last generation. As we have alreadylearned, when the prophecy expired on 1260 in 1798, humanity began to enter thelast generation.
Afterthe fall of the Iron Leg, the Roman Empire (especially the Western Empire), thefoot represented the Dark Rule of 1260 (AD 538 — 1798), during which the Popebegan to rise. The Pope has always collaborated with the most powerfulcountries in the world (European countries) to persecute the true children ofGod. In the Dark Ages, Pope Rome was the power of theocracy!
But"that nation too shall be divided," which is to say, after the splitof the Iron Leg Roman Empire, the formation of East and West Rome. When theWestern Roman Empire fell in 476 AD, its territories were invaded and dividedby barbarians, forming ten kingdoms (the countries of today's Europe).Theirnames and locations are as follows:
(1)the Anglo-Saxon (UK), (2) Frank (France), (3) Alemanni (Germany), (4) theLombardy (Austria), (5) the Burgundy (Switzerland), (6) the Soviet union (Portugal),(7) west gothic (Spain), (8) east gothic( northeast of Italy), (9) black as lai(Italian), (10) Vandal (north Africa).But the last three kingdoms (8, 9, 10)were removed by the lesser horn (papacy) (See chapter7).In chapter 7, ten Kingsare said to arise out of the fourth kingdom, referring to these ten kingdoms.But these ten kingdoms are not toes of half iron and half clay of the statue.The toes of the ten kingdoms refer to the last ten Kings in Revelation 17.Twoten kingdoms do not represent the same object!
"Ifyou see iron mixed with clay, there will also be the strength of iron in thatcountry." Because of the collusion between the Roman Catholic Church andthe state in the Middle Ages, the Pope of Rome has been colluding with the mostpowerful country in the contemporary world for generations to serve hisreligious coercion, so it has an iron-hard ability to destroy. In 1260, Popeused his political authority to persecute and kill more than 50 millionChristians, which is the interpretation of the spirit of iron! And who are thetoes?
[Dan 2:42-43] Asthe toes were partly iron and partly clay, this kingdom will be partly strongand partly weak. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so thepeople will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixeswith clay.
"Thetoes are half iron and half mud, and the country must also be half strong andhalf weak." The medieval papacy deduced the history of the feet, and theremaining toes are obviously the world power forces of the last political andtheocracy. Combining the features of gold, silver, copper, and iron, we findthat the nations under these metal prefigures were the most powerful pagannations in the world in each dynasty, and that the true children of God livedin such nations at that time. Can the half-iron and half-mud of today still beregarded as Roman Europe? Where do God's true people live today? Where do theKings from the land of the rising sun — 144,000 people live? It is undoubtedlythe most powerful pagan country in the world today — China.
"Halfiron and half clay” from literal meaning can be seen: in today's China definingcharacteristic is the extensive use of reinforced concrete building housing(external). China's real estate feat has become a wonderful scenery in theworld. The prophet Isaiah predicted" the great houses will become desolateand uninhabited "is fulfilled in today's China. Just as the Babyloniansused gold to build their temples and the Medes used silver to build theirweapons, the Chinese today use steel (iron) and clay to build their houses in away that fulfills the prophecies of Daniel.
"Thetoes are half iron and half mud," which, of course, means that the humanrace has entered the last generation, where there is no way back, and where itappears from head to toe. As we enter the end of the world, the half-iron,half-mud force takes the stage to perform the final act of history. As I saidbefore, half iron and half mud is theocracy. The ten toes are clearly the unionof the ten Kings in Revelation 17.The precondition for the union of the lastten Kings was the submission of the greatest pagan power, China. Revelation 13tells us, "…And all the earth was amazed after thebeast. Worship the dragon (Pagan China) because it gave its authority to thebeast (Pope)…From theapocalyptic description, it is clear that China, the center of gravity ofpaganism in the end, will eventually give power to the beast — the papacy, andsubmit to the rule of the Vatican. When the Vatican and China establisheddiplomatic relations, it meant that pagan China- half iron and half mud willlead the rest of the world into a "new world order" (the formation often Kings) and obeying the authority of the beast.
Whyis "half iron and half mud" "half strong and half weak"?Theterm "semi-strong and semi-weak" refers to the country'scomprehensive strength. This means that China has a mixture of bravado andweakness. From the political point of view, since the reform and opening up,China has developed rapidly and its international status has been risingcontinuously. It is a political force that no country in the world can ignoreor have to pay attention to. The "Global Communist Party Congress"made the American imperialism scared. In terms of economy, China has become theworld's largest exporter and its status as “the world's factory” isunchallenged. One Belt And One Road" has gathered in nearly 100 countriesin the world, making a historical precedent; In terms of military, China is thefirst military power in Asia and second to none in the world. The most advancedmodern weapons — laser weapon, J-20, electromagnetic gun and hypersonic weaponare known as the four modern inventions of China's military. At first glance,the advantage is obvious!
However,due to the cultural aggression of the United States in recent decades, theoverwhelming network of drugs for the Chinese people have a deep corruption,money first, entertainment to death, selfish, greedy and afraid ofdeath…There was a general degenerate in religious and morality of people. Thepeople's ideology was completely corroded by hedonism, and the collectiveplayfulness lost their mind, and the self-preservation selfishism thought couldnot withstand a major war under the erosive environment. Before facing waveafter wave of American aggression, they showed a state of fear and inability torespond to the war. The unrest in Hong Kong was a sign of cowardice and fear,although it was in name of foresight and long-term planning. Just as Jeremiahsaid: [Jer46:17] Therethey cried out, saying, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise (just a sound orlost). He has missed the appointedtime. Half iron andhalf mud is actually outwardly strong and inwardly weak, and a bluff!
"Yousaw the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with all kindsof people, but they shall not cleave one to another". What is described here is the migration wave ofChina’s reform and opening up, which promotes the mass migration of population.Now, as long as there are people, there are Chinese people. In every country,in various remote areas there are hard-working Chinese people in businessactivities. At the same time, China has also exported Chinese culture to theworld. Hundreds of overseas Confucius Institutes around the world arenon-profit organizations dedicated to teaching Chinese to foreigners. The"Confucius Institute" and the "Chinese Bridge" have sparkeda worldwide craze for learning Chinese. International matchmaking agencies arespringing up to encourage intermarriage and immigration. Transplanting Chinesecrops to undeveloped countries, leading African people to be self-sufficient,spreading Chinese culture, these are all attempts to make the whole world Chinese.This is exactly the same as the policy of the Greek Empire at that time, hopingto be integrated under the influence of Hellenization, hoping to be able tocontrol the world forever. China today seems to be doing the same thing as theGreek Empire without even realizing it!
"Butthey cannot fit in with each other." This shows that the current world,intentionally or unintentionally, under the leadership of China, cannot achieveunity. China's kindness is to promote the international grand coalition and thepeople of all countries friendly unity, to exchange between the two countries,to eliminate war, and to let the world peace. It is a good intention, but itdoes not come from the alliance of Christ; God says it is in vain. As describedby the Great Controversy:
[The prophecydoes not, however, claim that there will be no temporary military or politicalunion between nations. It just says, if try to establish such an alliance amongmember states could not organically unifies in together. They will continue tomutual suspicion and unfriendly. Based on this alliance is doomed to collapse.So some dictators or countries temporarily are successful, which cannot provethat Daniel prophecy has failed. Finally Satan will really unite the nationsfor a while. (Rev17:12-18; 16:14). But the union will be very short. Allmembers will soon be infighting. 】
Whatan amazing prediction! This is the fulfillment of Revelation 17:10 that theking should agree to give authority to the beast, but only for a moment(unabiding), and their alliance would be broken in a moment. This historicalthread is already laid out in the Bible. There is never a time when God'sprophecies are unfulfilled. The Lord's prophecies are unmistakable. How clearand accurate is the prophecy here. That is to say, the attempt of the kings ofthe world to unite the world, the attempt of one master to dominate the worldwill never succeed. History has seen many ambitious emperors and chiefs who setout to dominate Europe and made great progress, but they all failed. Becauseaccording to the biblical prophecy, they can never succeed. France, forinstance, Sally Mann emperor (800-814 AD), Charles of Spain fifth (1519-1556),, Louis xiv of France (1643-1775) and napoleon (1796-1821), Germany's secondWilliam( who started the first world war in 1914) and Hitler (who launched thesecond world war ii (1939), etc. They were all ambitious people who had beenarrogant and wanted to dominate Europe, but ended up in failure.
Today,the United States is trying to do this, hoping to achieve the blueprint of world hegemony. But when the United States did what theirpredecessors did — Alexander, Napoleon, Hitler, and others — it provedimpossible and provoked outrage.Therefore, the wise and kind Chinese peoplehave seen the business opportunity and carried out their conciliatory policy tothe extreme, even if they tighten their belts, they are willing to give alltheir money to help those third world countries that the United States hastrampled on. The people of the world have finally discovered that the real"savior" is not the United States, but China. Therise of China amid manycalls and expectations threatens America's dominance. However, the third party benefits from the tussle. The true hegemon, the Pope, had foresightto predict that the great power far to the east of the earth was the ultimateobject of his great goal. As a result, the olive branch continues to extendacross the ocean to the Chinese people.The visit of the China PhilharmonicOrchestra to the Vatican in May 2008 gave us a signal of this, and thesubsequent appointment of bishops in China was another indication of theprogress in Sino-Vatican relations.Now that's it, you know what's going tohappen.
Thatis, everything was done to bring about the Great Alliance of the Worlds — theNew World Order (the Ten Kings), which the Bible calls the "Great City ofBabylon" — the Last Great Tower of Babel.But will they succeed?
[Dan 2:44-45] Inthe 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 thosekingdoms and bring themto an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of therock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands- a rock that broke the gold,the silver, the bronze, the iron and the clay to pieces.“The great God hasshown the king what will take place in the future. This must bethe dream, and the interpretation is certain.
Thatis to say, all the attempts made by these politicians to create a world unionof nations that could successfully dictate to the people of the world in orderto control every person on the planet have failed and have been disappointing.
Whycan't they build the millennium Kyoto with the wisdom, money, power andpopularity of the whole world?"Since you saw a stone cut out of themountain without human hands, breaking the gold, silver, copper, iron and clay." Itturned out that this seemingly tall, strong, shining giant was smashed topieces in the half-iron and half-clay age by a stone cut out without humanhands, and waslike chaff, ashes flyaway.Why does this rock have such great power? So let's see who the rock is.
Whatdoes "the rocknot cut byhand" mean?Stone is often used as a metaphor for truth or Christ. Forexample, the Bible calls Christ (Jesus) a stone rejected by the builders (Luke20:17), so this means that the kingdom was not created by men, not by the skillof human hands, but by the Lord Jesus, the truth.The Big Rock is made up of amillion little rocks — 144,000 people.
"Outof the mountain came a stone." The word "mountain" stands forthe church in the Bible.In the words of Isaiah the prophet concerning theestablishment of the kingdom of Christ in the last days: In the last days the mountain of the houseof the Lord shall be established as the chief of the mountains, and shall beexalted above the hills.All the nationswill flow to it (Isa. 2:2).Ezekiel'sdescription of the emergence of the last true church is also expressed in termsof the highest mountain: In a vision ofGod he brought me into the land of Israel and set me on a high mountain.On the south side of the mountain was whatlooked like a city (Eze. 40:2).This mountain is the LastRevivalof the church of 144,000 people, carved out of the stone of truth, the words ofJesus, the Book of the Proprophets.And this truth will be sought by men fromevery people, every language, and every nation, and the truth of this churchwill transcend the churches of the world, and all nations will flow to it, andthe church of the children of truth will be a stone cut out without hands,which will crush and destroy this giant that is half iron and half clay.This isthe coming of Jesus, the realization of the kingdom of God!
Thisis to tell us: the desire of the world Kings is to do everything possible toestablish a powerful country on the earth and maintain the eternity of theworld empire. From the ancient Babylonian times to now, it has taken more than2,600 years, and after countless heroes and mighty men, the results have provedto be useless and failed.It is the kingdom of truth established by the goldenwords of Christ that endures and stands!
WhenDaniel had explained his dream and his doubts, Nebuchadnezzar was so convincedthat he fell on his knees and worshipped, ans did believewho was the King of Kings and the Lord oflords.
[Dan 2:46-47]Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, andcommanded that they should offer an oblation and fragrant odors unto him.Theking said to Daniel, "Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord ofKings, and a revealer of secrets, since you were able to reveal this secret.
Whenthe king heard the dream and its interpretation, he was greatly moved andamazed. "Your God is great!"He recognized and acknowledged that theLord, the God of Daniel, the God of Israel, and the God of the Hebrews, was thetrue God, God. Then, in the eyes of all the civil and military officials, theemperor bowed down to the young Daniel and gave him many offerings and fragrantofferings.
Whowon?Did King Nebuchadnezzar the Conqueror win? Or the conquered Daniel? Itlooked like Nebuchadnezzar had won, but the real winner was Daniel, a young manwho believed in God, who had won over King Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest empireof the time. This is the Lord's way, and this is God's triumph!
Godshowed the king that the ruler of the world was not the king of the world, butGod."Stone cut out without hands" is not the kingdom of men, butJesus is coming again, the kingdom of God is coming.Then King Nebuchadnezzarsaid, "Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of lords, and arevealer of secrets."Thus he came to know and understand God. God gavethis prophecy to King Nebuchadnezzar and made the emperor a believer in Christ.Eventually Nebuchadnezzar became a God-fearing man, a believer in the God ofIsrael.
[Daniel 2:48-49]Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts. He madehim ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors overall the wise men of Babylon.Then Daniel asked the king, and he set Shadrach,Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon, but Daniel wasat the king's court.
Danielbecame minister of state in this mighty empire.After that, it's not hard toimagine how much influence he exerted on the world. So in Daniel's time,because of Daniel and his three friends, the truth of God was spread all overthe world. On the other hand, because of the fear of the entry of the Jewishreligion, the nations began to try to establish their own religion, which ledto the emergence of various paganism.
That Daniel waslifted up is also aprefiguration of the true church that correctly explains the last prophecies –and the LastRevival will continue to be lifted up untilit is in the middle of the king's service, and the LastRevivalwill be 144,000 people who will stand before Christ.The administration of theprovince of Babylon by the three friends of Daniel also prefigured that thethree ecclesiastical officesof the Eleventh Hour ended with the prefect.Officesare no longer promoted to the highestauthority (the court),– thehighest mountain, –Zion.
Thevision of the image in this chapter shows that this world is the world of theGentiles, that is, the kingdom of Satan.Satan is the king of this world today(John 12:31, 14:30), the ruler of the dark world (Eph 6:12), and all theunbelievers lie under the hand of the evil one (1John:5:19).The age of the Gentiles will continue until the eve of the SecondAdvent. At the end of that day (Luke 21:24) Jesus would take away his authorityfrom Satan.The world of gold, silver, copper and iron is about to crumble.
Godsent such a revelation to the king of Babylon. In turn, King Nebuchadnezzar, asa representative,spokeGod's truth tothe world. What an effective preaching! The great event, concerning the lifeand death of mankind, which had shaken the kingdom and the nations, was causedby KingNebuchadnezzar’s dream about a forgotten statue,and was finally calmed by the miraculous interpretation of Daniel, so that theholy name of God was exalted and honored before the Kings and nations of thelands. The wisdom and work of God!
Froma prophetic point of view, the vision of the Great Image and its interpretationrecorded in this chapter formally prophesiesto us the outline and final outcome of the history of the world from theBabylonian Empire to the Second Coming.
The powerof the earth is like this great image, declining from head to foot in gold,silver, bronze, iron and clay until it is completely shattered. It was truethat the state of the Medes and Persians was inferior to Babylon: Greece,though it expanded its territory, was inferior to the Medes and Persians; andwhen it came to the Roman Empire, the state was more divided and disorderly.Just as iron and clay do not mix. Inthe late era of China, the power ofthe world is actually at the end of its life and cannot be integrated.When they unite by means of power, when they are successfully builtthe tower of Babel, the kingdom of truth will crush Satan deceitful lies.The millenniumof peaceon earth is like a dream, faded.Andthe eternal kingdomof Christ will come and will be established and will getvictory. It will completelyreplace the kingdom of the people.Today the task of breaking thegold, silver, bronze and iron is in your hands and mine. May the children oftruth have their share in breaking the kingdom of Satan!
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