Introduction | The First Conflict | Jesus, The Big Deal | Big Deal 2
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream | Dream of 4 Beasts

The Book of Daniel is filled with prophetic insights that will help us grow in our walk with God and give us a deeper understanding of the book of Revelation. It is with this purpose in mind that we will begin looking into the book of Daniel. Although our major focus will be to unlock the mysteries of Revelation, we may gleam many truths from Daniel. Therefore, we here at RevelationSpeaks.org have decided to cover Daniel first.

Daniel was an Israelite living approximately 600 years before Christ. He had grown up in Judah and had a love for His God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, during his early teenage years, Judah had been attacked by the Babylonian army and he and many other Isrealites were taken captive. This was a result of Israel's disobedience to Yahwah (God). Daniel was then put into the school of Babylon in preparation to serve in the king's palace.

During the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the king was awakened by a terrible dream. Although he was unable to remember what he dreamed, he was troubled and unable to sleep the rest of the evening. Almost in a panic, the king decided to call in all of his astrologers, magicians, sorcerers, and enchanters to interpret his dream. However, there was one big problem. The king could not remember what the dream was about. This meant double trouble for the magicians, astrologers, enchanters, and sorcerers because Nebuchadnezzar demanded not only the interpretation of the dream, but also the contents of the dream. This alone would have been enough to discourage anyone in their right mind, for who can know what is in the mind of another? To make matters worse, if they were unable to grant the kings request, he was going to have all of the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and enchanters , including their families, put to death.

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Wearing Daniel's shoes

Now, picture yourself in Daniel's shoes for just a few minutes. You have been taken from your parents at a young age, dragged into the school of a foreign nation, made to speak their language, learn their customs, religions, creeds, etc. and now, to make matters worse, you have just been given a death sentence because of a dream. Think about it. How would you feel? What would you do? Who would you turn to? Daniel knew just where to go. First of all, he got together with his Hebrew friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego and talked about the problem with them. Then they got on their knees and had a prayer meeting, seeking the Lord with all of their hearts.

How earnestly they must have prayed! It wasn't long either before their request was granted. That night, God blessed Daniel with the very same dream that He had given Nebuchadnezzar. But God didn't stop there. He also gave Daniel the explanation. If we will seek God today over matters that challenge and perplex us, Jehovah will just as readily answer our petitions. God has a very special care for His children. After all, He gave the world the greatest gift of all in His son, Jesus Christ.

Daniel before the King

I can just imagine the excitement of Daniel as he awakened the next morning, ready to face the king. As Daniel enters the throne room, the king declares, "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?", Daniel 2:26

Here comes Daniel's chance, not only to save himself and his three friends, but also to glorify his Heavenly Father, the King of the Universe. "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these" ibid 2:27,28.

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"As you were laying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind" ibid 2:29,30.

"You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue-an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth" ibid 2:31-35.

Daniel explains the Dream

"This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold" ibid 2:36-38.

"After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. . ." ibid 2:39. We know from history and the Bible that the kingdom which conquered Babylon, also known as the Chaldeans, was the Medes, led by Darius. You can read about this in Isaiah 13:1,17-20 and Daniel 5:30. Isaiah was written before the end of the Babylonian reign, another confirmation that the Bible is what it claims to be. The Medes actually ruled jointly with another kingdom, the Persian empire. You will see how everything fits together in later studies.

"Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth" ibid 2:39. Alexander the Great was perhaps the greatest general this world has ever seen, building the Grecian empire in just 12 years. He was the general that conquered the Medes and the Persians as well as many other areas. The Greeks also ruled over the Isrealites, God's chosen people.

"Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron- for iron breaks and smashes everything- and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others", ibid 2:40. The Roman Empire is clearly represented here by the legs of Iron. Just as the Greeks used bronze to make their weapons of war, so the Romans used Iron to make their weapons and many other things. Rome was a very powerful empire. It ruled longer than any Empire previously mentioned and heavily influenced Europe and America even to this day. Rome was the empire that reigned during the time Christ walked this earth. In fact, it was Roman soldiers that killed all the baby boys in Bethlehem just after Christ was born, a Roman governor handed Christ into the hands of the Jewish leaders to be executed, Roman soldiers pierced the hands and feet of Jesus on a Roman cross, and Roman soldiers unsuccessfully guarded the tomb of Christ after his death. The official language of Rome was Latin, which was the official language of the Catholic Church for centuries and is still studied by scholars today. We will cover these points and many others in more detail later.

"Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay" ibid 2:41-43. We will study more into the divisions of the Roman empire in future studies.

"In the 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 those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands- a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces".
"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy" ibid 2:44,45.

The King honors Daniel and praises the God of Heaven

"Then king Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, 'Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery' " ibid 2:46,47.

"Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court" ibid 2:48,49.

What we may learn from Daniel

There are many practical lessons here for us, but for this study let us just focus on two things. First, here is an example of childlike faith, just as the Word of God asks of us. Daniel and his friends didn't panic. Instead, during the time of crisis, they had the ability to reason and the faith in God to trust He could deliver them. The second lesson that we will mention is as follows. This dream was not only given to Daniel and to Nebuchadnezzar, but to us. It is a prophetic outline that reaches all the way down to the end of earth's history. It also gives us the necessary foundation to continue our study of the books of Daniel and Revelation. This is the first vision in a chain of visions given to Daniel and John. Each vision is interlinked and builds upon the previous vision(s). Therefore, we will go through them in a logical order, building our understanding of what has taken place before, is happening now, and is promised to take place in the near future.

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A review of the vision

Now, let's take another look at the meaning of the vision in outline form.

Daniel 2/The Image		Daniel 7/ Four Beasts		Daniel 8/Ram, Goat, etc.
The Head of Gold	Kingdom of Babylon
Arms/Chest of Silver	Next Kingdom, Identified Later as Medo-Persia
Belly/Thighs of Bronze	Third Kingdom, Identified later as Greece
Legs of Iron	Fourth Kingdom, Identified Later
Feet Partly Iron, Partly Clay	Divided Kingdom(s)
Stone cut without Human Hands	Everlasting Kingdom of God

All texts quoted are from the New International Version (NIV).

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