Daniel 2:36-38
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.
Why is Nebuchadnezzar given a title that belongs to Jesus?
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Nebuchadnezzar is given a title in the interpretation of the dream…O king, art a king of kings. Who does this title belong to? Jesus.
Nebuchadnezzar was also identified as a king of kings from the north as we learned earlier in our studies.
Nebuchadnezzar was the king of kings and it was the God of heaven that gave the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory to him. God uses circumstances and situations for His higher purpose.
Nebuchadnezzar thought well of himself, as we will see in chapter three. God works with the hardest of hearts, remember what God did with the Pharaoh of Egypt. In his case, he never gave himself over to God. God’s ultimate plan is to save as many as are willing to be saved. Eventually, Nebuchadnezzar finally learned that he was king of kings because the King of Kings of Kings had given him the kingdom. God’s ways are not our way, but everything that He purposes is in love and for good (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Who is the head of gold and what is the name of his kingdom?
________________________________ KING
________________________________ KINGDOM
In verse 38, we are also told that Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold. The head of gold not only refers to him but also his kingdom, Babylon. We will remember this when we get to chapter three. God let him know that He placed him as ruler over those things.
Daniel 2:39-43
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. Note: The Bible will clarify this for us as we continue our studies: Medo-Persia and Greece.
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. Note: The Bible will clarify this for us as we continue our studies: Rome.
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. Note: The Bible will clarify this for us as we continue our studies: Divided Kingdoms of Rome after its fall.
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. Note: This ‘mingling’ of iron and clay; more specifically ‘miry clay’ v.41), is very significant in end time prophetic picture, much more on this in later studies.
Name each kingdom:
Head of gold:_________________________________________
Arms/Chest of silver:__________________________________
Belly/thighs of brass:__________________________________
Legs of iron:___________________________________________
Feet/toes of iron and miry clay:_______________________
The Skeptic
The skeptic says that Daniel was written in the first century BC, so whoever wrote this knew the history and surmised that Rome (legs of iron) was on the verge of overthrowing Greece.
Now, the skeptic who says that Daniel was written in the first century B.C. really does not carry much weight because Daniel said that the fourth kingdom (Rome/legs of iron) was going to be broken down into pieces (Divided Kingdoms/feet and toes of iron mingled with miry clay). Even if we gave the skeptic the first century B.C., how did Daniel accurately predict that Rome would not be overthrown by a fifth kingdom but broken into pieces? This is another 500 years of prophecy that Daniel prophesied about. The Plain Word stands on the side of truth; therefore, we take the position that Daniel wrote about these things in his day.
Feet/Toes, Partly Iron and Partly Clay
We will jump ahead in the next verses briefly here. Daniel zooms in the feet and toes which is a mixture of iron and miry clay. We must notice that iron is still present, but it is broken or better said ‘divided’ AND is mixed with miry clay. So, this tells us there is a change in the fourth kingdom when the new element (miry clay) is added.
This ‘mingling’ has a long history of perverting the word of God and and perverting the picture of who God is. It becomes so diabolical that the ‘stone cut without hand’ comes and smashes it causing the entire image to fall. We will come to know that the ‘stone’ is Jesus and his second coming at which time the kingdoms of men will be destroyed.
Clay is representative of God’s people. Miry clay is God’s people who have apostatized.
Iron is symbolic of the Roman Empire, a civil power.
So, at some point the iron mixes with the clay, meaning that there was a union between church and state. History confirms this prophetic occurrence when the church was endowed with civil power, which we know to be the papacy. This church/state union led to persecution known as the Dark Ages.
Toward the end of the Dark Ages, the pot that was boiling finally spilled over, and with it came the dawn of ‘reason’ and Enlightenment. In 1798, during the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte sent troops to Rome and captured Pope Pius VI – taking him as a prisoner to France where he later died (1799). This is the ‘deadly wound’ that Revelation 13 speaks of. The French Revolution catapulted atheism as a movement in the forefront.
A preview to Revelation 13. The Bible tells us that this ‘deadly wound’ would heal, and another entity will establish a union of church and state who will make it function on a global basis through miraculous means. This entity will ‘make an image’ to the papacy, causing all to worship under the threat of death. This entire prophetic scenario will be unpacked more fully as we continue our study of Daniel and Revelation. It will be said here, that history will repeat itself.
Seed of Men
‘They will mingle themselves with the seed of men”’ is a strange term. The Bible does not leave us without an answer. Genesis 6 provides us with the answer. In Genesis 6:1-2, the reason that the flood occurred in Genesis 6 is because the sons of God mingled with the daughters of men. The question is who are the sons of God? They were not angels. The sons of God are those that are actually supposed to be godly. While the sons of men would represent those who were ungodly, who rejected God. The mingling with the seed of men idea comes from Genesis 6, where you supposedly have righteous mingling with those who are not righteous.
John 1:12 talks about the sons of men and the sons of God, it gives a verse that clarifies this further. Who are the sons of God? Those that believe on His name. Verse 13, those which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God. Then those of the flesh and who are of the will of man would be the children of men.
So, when we take this idea back into Daniel 2, what we are seeing is this mingling with the ‘seed of men’ represent those who are supposed to be godly (the clay) mingling with those who are rejecting God…those who are secular…those who have no desire to follow God.
“They” mingle with the seed of men…who is the ‘they’? ______________________________
How are they mingling? _______________________________________________________________
We know that something is going on with the seed of men, and we know it is not the seed of women. So, then it is indicating that whoever this ‘they’ is – God is speaking about this ‘they’ as if it is a woman or women. Since we know this it not the seed of women but men, why does God seem to be referencing this ‘they’ as female?
In Bible prophecy women are a symbol for a church. There are two types of women is prophecy, the pure and the harlot. So, we have the pure church who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 12:7); and we have a harlot sitting on a beast which depicts apostate church(es). In Revelation 17, we read about this woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, the beast has seven heads and ten horns. This woman’s name is Mystery Babylon, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Why? Because she has committed fornication with the kings of the earth.
There will be much more on this ‘mother of harlots’ as we continue our study.
Note: If this woman is a mother, then she must have daughters. So, it is not just one church that has gone astray, but many have fallen into apostacy.
The Mountain
Daniel 2 is telling us that Babylon is going to take rule over everything. How can that be if it falls to another kingdom? The Bible tells us Daniel 7:12, “As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.” This tells us that the practices, culture, customs, traditions, religion, and life is prolonged for a season of time through the final power of the fourth kingdom divided. So, since it cannot be literal Babylon; then it is the spirit of Babylon or in other words – spiritual Babylon. This is what the stone destroys. Where is the stone cut out? A mountain without hands. Christ is coming from this mountain. What is this mountain? The Bible say that God has laid a precious stone in Zion, a cornerstone, that stone is Jesus…but the question is where is Mount Zion?
Psalm 48:1-2, tells us Mount Zion is on the sides of the north. Who is the true King of the North? God is and when Jesus Christ returns from Mt Zion as the true King of the North, who is he coming against? The counterfeit ‘king of the north’ – who calls himself the king of kings. As this picture develops, we can see why Michael stands up because there is a counterfeit posing as God on Earth who is deceiving people. See post titled: Is Michael Another Name for Jesus?
We will have a deep study about the ‘king of the south’ and ‘the king of the north’ who are at war. The ‘king of the north’ defeats the ‘king of the south’. This ‘king of the north’ is a counterfeit. How do we know? Because he turns his attention towards God’s people to destroy them, that is how we know. We will also come to know that the same power is behind both the ‘king of the south’ and the ‘king of the north’…the greatest deception on planet Earth. Stay tuned, you will not want to miss out on this life saving information.