THE DREAM OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR

DANIEL TWO OUTLINED

I. THE DREAM OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR (2:1-13).

A. Troubled, sleepless.

B.  Magicians, enchanters, advisers called upon to tell and interpret the dream.

C.  Impossible for them to do.  They are threatened with death, Daniel and friends included.

II. DANIEL SEEKS APPOINTMENT WITH THE KING (2:14-16).

III. THE SECRET REVEALED TO DANIEL (2:17-24).

A. Confers with his companions.

B.  Petition is made of God.

C.  God hears his prayer and Daniel thanks, intercedes, praises, and extols God.

IV. DANIEL TELLS NEBUCHADNEZZAR THAT GOD HAS MADE THE THING KNOWN TO HIM (2:25-30).

V. THE DREAM RETOLD (2:31-35).

A. The great image.

1. Head of gold.

2. Breast and arms of silver.

3. Belly and thighs of brass.

4.  Legs of iron, feet part of iron, part of clay.

B.  The stone that broke the image and itself became a great mountain.

VI. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE DREAM (2:36-45).

A.  The image represents four world kingdoms.

1. Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon the head of gold.

2. The second kingdom, inferior to Babylon.

3. The third which would bear rule over all the earth.

4. The fourth exceedingly strong but also weak at its base.

B. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands.

1. It is the Kingdom of God.

2. Established in the days of the fourth kingdom.

3. Broke in pieces and consumed the four kingdoms.

4. It is an eternal kingdom which will never be destroyed.

VII. NEBUCHADNEZZAR PRAISES DANIEL AND HIS GOD; PROMOTES DANIEL AND FRIENDS (2:46-49).
 

 
 
A CORRECT UNDERSTANDING OF DANIEL CHAPTER TWO IS CRITICAL
 TO PROPER BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
 

The second chapter of Daniel is a pivotal chapter of the Bible. Notice how Daniel 2, Isaiah 2, Psalm 2, and Joel 2 converge in Acts 2;  making it, in the words of James D. Bales, “The Hub of the Bible” (See the book by the same name).

This chapter is critical to the understanding of the book of Daniel. It covers in scope the history of God’s people from Babylon to Rome and the Fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, a period of some 670 years. Chapter 2 is expanded further in chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 as it covers prophetically, in great detail, the histories of the third and fourth kingdoms. What is recorded here in the “history” section (1-6) of the book is further elucidated in the “prophetic” section (7-12) showing the one-person authorship and unity of Daniel.

Daniel 2 is critical to the understanding of the entire scheme of redemption as God unfolds it from Genesis to Revelation. It is no wonder that so many men and women, supposedly students of the Bible and Christianity, are wandering about, hopelessly lost in a quagmire of prophetic delusion. While boasting great knowledge of the subject, they have missed the entire scope of the chapter, the book of Daniel, the New Testament, the whole Bible--the entire scheme of redemption! They have fouled up the entire Bible teaching of the Messiah and His Kingdom and thus His promised salvation! This includes those of a liberal persuasion who fail to rightly divide the prophecy in chapter 2, and subsequently those of the following chapters. And it includes especially those of a premillennial persuasion who have devised an entirely different Messiah, Kingdom, and plan of salvation that was not and is not in the mind of God but wholly from their own misguided and deluded minds.  Because of these warped and twisted views of Scripture millions of souls will be lost for eternity.  To miss the point of Daniel two is to miss it all!

Daniel 2 points out that God has not forgotten His people and the covenant that He made with David (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalm 89:3,4, 19-37, 38-52). The Messianic Kingdom seen in the second chapter of Daniel is the pledge and promise of God to Israel that He has not forgotten! Though they are in Captivity in a foreign land, there are better days ahead. All of the visions and dreams of the book of Daniel are designed to carry one through the tumultuous times of the Captivity and the closing of the Old Testament, right on through troubles and trials of the period between the testaments to the advent and work of the Messiah along with the establishment of His Kingdom and the complete end of the Jewish economy.

But it all begins with the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2. This chapter must be thoroughly read, digested, and placed in the correct context of overall Bible teaching about the Kingdom of God, with many Messianic prophecies and the New Covenant in view.
 
FOUR VIEWS OF DANIEL TWO

I. THE IMAGE REPRESENTS THE KINGDOMS OF BABYLON, MEDIA, PERSIA, AND GREECE (AS DEVELOPED BY THE LIBERAL “CRITICAL” SCHOOL OF THOUGHT).

Support for this view hangs on the understanding of Daniel 5:28-31--that the kingdom of the Medes is an independent kingdom, thus the second kingdom, with the Persian kingdom being the third and the Greek kingdom being the fourth.  This allows them to hold to the dating of the book in the time of Antiochus IV (Epiphanes; 169-164 B.C.). This view must be rejected on the following grounds:

A. It rejects the inspiration of Scriptures--that Daniel is not predictive prophecy, but rather history--written after the fact.

B. It does not deal fairly with textual interpretation.  That the Medes and Persians constitute one kingdom is seen from 6:8,12,15.

C. It does not take into account the book of Acts and the establishment of the kingdom.  The Kingdom was established in the days of the Roman kingdom and not the Greek kingdom at the time of the Maccabees.

D. This liberal view with its late date does not solve all their problems, for Jesus quoted Daniel (Matthew 24:15) and applied it to the future (A.D. 70).  Thus, even with their late dating, they have to admit to predictive prophecy.

II. THE IMAGE REPRESENTS THE KINGDOMS OF BABYLON, MEDO-PERSIA, GREECE (UNDER ALEXANDER THE GREAT), AND GREECE (AS DIVIDED AMONG HIS GENERALS).

This was the view of some commentators in the 19th century.  It has the same weaknesses as the Liberal view.

A. Daniel gives no indication whatever that the Greek kingdom is to be viewed as two independent kingdoms, one under Alexander and another under his four generals.

B.  From 7:6 and 8:5-8,21-23, Daniel sees both phases of the Greek kingdoms as one kingdom.  The leopard in 7:6 is one animal with four heads.  In chapter 8 the he-goat is one animal with 4 horns.  Thus they are simply describing one kingdom with different phases or extensions of their character.

C.  This view must be rejected in toto. 

III. THE IMAGE REPRESENTS THE KINGDOMS OF BABYLON, MEDO-PERSIA, GREECE AND ROME (PREMILLENNIAL VIEW).

While they have the right kingdoms, they divide Rome into (1) ancient historical Rome of the first centuries and (2) a revived Roman empire of the 20th (or 21st) century.

A. Premillennialism is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible.  Since, in this view, many of the O.T. prophecies have not been literally fulfilled, they must be future.

B.  They identify the ten toes of the image (chapter 2) with the ten horns of the beast in chapter 7. 

 
1.  They associate the toes and horns with the European Common Market as being 10 kingdoms of the modern restored Roman Empire.

2. However, the nations of the Common Market are not (1) kingdoms [also the horns of the beast are not kingdoms, but “kings”], and (2) there is no Roman kingdom in the 20th century, and (3) if the “toes” of the beast are still around in the 20th century, the “toes” are three times as long as the original image!  Daniel’s prophecy was given about 600 years before Christ, but the Premillennialists now have it older than 26 centuries and not finished yet!  Who can believe it!?

C. Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, Repent ye and believe the gospel” in the first century (Mark 1:14,15).

D.  The Premillennialists say “the time is fulfilled in the twentieth century.”  Whom shall we believe!?

IV. THE IMAGE REPRESENTS THE KINGDOMS OF BABYLON, MEDO-PERSIA, GREECE AND ROME (SCRIPTURAL VIEW).

A. “Thou, O King, art the head of gold” - Babylonian Kingdom (610-539 B.C.).

1. It is fitting that Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon should be the head of gold for it was known as “the city of gold” (Isaiah 14:4).  Gold was used profusely to decorate and embellish the temples and buildings of Babylon. 

2. Also, the concept of world empire originated with the Babylonians.  “The policies which were formulated in Babylon continued to control succeeding empires even as the head controls the body” (James Smith, The Major Prophets, p.540).

B. “Another kingdom inferior to thee” (silver) - Medes and Persians (539-333 B.C.).

1. The two arms fittingly represent the two nations that composed the second empire, the Medes and the Persians.

2. “The silver here may be intended to portray the more commercial spirit of this empire” (Smith).

C. “Third kingdom of brass” - Grecian Kingdom (333-67 B.C.).
 
 1. Again the symbolism is appropriate since bronze (brass) was the primary metal in instruments of war.  Alexander’s army was noted for its military prowess.

2. Also, what began as a unit (the abdomen) divided itself into two separate parts which were never reunited.  This may point to Syria and Egypt, the two great Hellenistic kingdoms which grew out of the empire of Alexander (Smith).

D. “Fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron...mixed with miry clay” - Roman Kingdom (67 B.C.- A.D. 476).

1. The fourth kingdom represents the Roman Empire which, with its iron strength, crushed and broke “all these in pieces.” 

2. Each kingdom embodied the elements of the previous kingdom.  So when Rome crushed the Hellenistic kingdoms (Syria and Egypt), it in effect crushed all the previous kingdoms (Smith).

3. However, the Roman Empire had a mixture of firmness (iron) and weakness (clay).  The Roman Empire fell not so much by being conquered as by crumbling from within.

 
E. “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. 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” (2:44,45).

“In the days of these kings...a stone cut out of the mountain without hands.”

1. The days of the Roman kings who were alive when Jesus the Messiah came to set up his kingdom, the church (Luke 3:1,2; Matthew 16:18,19).

a. Jesus gave Peter the “keys of the kingdom.” Did he use them or not?

b. Yes he did, when he opened the doors of the church to Jew (Acts 2:47) and Gentile (Acts 10).

c. How foolish to by-pass all the Scriptures that teach the establishment of the kingdom and wait for a rebirth of that ancient Roman kingdom, the rebuilding of the temple, the regressing to the Old Testament priesthood and animal sacrifices, et cetera, in the 20th (or 21st) century when all of this has already been taken care of in the first century when Jesus came the first time!

2. It is that kingdom which John the Baptist, Jesus, the Apostles, and the Seventy preached as being “at hand” (Matthew 3:1,2; Mark 1:14,15; Matthew 10; Luke 10).
  
a. Eighty-four preachers declared the kingdom to be at hand.

b. “Any view that denies this is incorrect” (Jim McGuiggan, Daniel, p.49).

3. It is that kingdom which Jesus said would be established in the lifetime of some of those to whom He spoke while He walked on this earth (Mark 9:1).

a. The apostles were to wait in Jerusalem for power from on high (Luke 24:49).

b. They were to receive power from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:6-8).

c. The power came when the kingdom came (Acts 2:1-21).

4. The church\kingdom was established on the day of Pentecost in A.D. 30 (Acts 2:1-47).

a. John (Revelation 1:9); Peter (1 Peter 2:9-10); and Paul (Colossians 1:13,14) were in it; the saved are in it now (Revelation 1:5,6).

b. It is what the church preached as being present and active (Acts 17:7; 28:23,30,31).

c. Men then, and now, may enter the kingdom by the new birth (John 3:3-5).

5. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands is the church\kingdom of God in the world. Notice that it smote the image in the feet.  This helps us to identify which kingdom was meant and when God’s kingdom would be established.

a. It is the kingdom of Isaiah’s prophecy (2:2,3): “And it shall come to pass that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say let us go up to the mountain of the Lord...”  This is the stone that became a great mountain and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:35).

b. Christ is the stone which the builders rejected.  The same became the head of the corner (Isaiah 28:16; Acts 4:11).

c. Christ is the One who is “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” (1 Peter 2:7,8).

 
d. It is the kingdom of Christ that broke in pieces these four kingdoms of the world, never to rise again, and it is this kingdom over which He rules and reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim 6:15).

e. It is this kingdom over which He reigns (Daniel 7:13,14; Acts 1:9-11; 2:29-36) and which He will deliver to the Father when He comes the second time (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

6. Any view of Daniel chapter two that relegates the establishment of the kingdom of God to a time other than the first century and the days of the fourth kingdom is a false view based on a faulty interpretation of the Scriptures and is to be rejected.

7. God’s kingdom is a kingdom that would never be destroyed or left to others.

a. Jesus said “the gates of hell” would not keep it from being established.  Satan killed Jesus (Genesis 3:15), but Jesus raised from the dead, triumphed over death, hell, and the grave to build His church.  HE DID NOT FAIL!

b. Paul wrote: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28).

b. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome have come and gone, but the kingdom of heaven remains. Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Ghengis Khan, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin--all of them and their kingdoms and empires are gone! Only Christ and His kingdom remain.
CONCLUSION

Wendell Winkler sums up the Messianic Kingdom described by Daniel as:

A.  Divine in Origin–“Shall the God of Heaven Set Up.”

B.  First Century in Establishment–“In the Days of These Kings.”

C. Universal in Scope–“Consume All These Nations.”

D. Monarchical in Government–“Set Up A Kingdom.”

E. Indestructible In Nature–“Which Shall Never Be Destroyed...Shall Stand Forever” (Spiritual Sword, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 45-48).

Emanuel B. Daugherty
P. O. Box 785
Moundsville, WV  26041