Daniel Interpret Nebuchadnezzar Dream: Daniel 2 v 36 - 45

Daniel 2:36 "This [is] the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king."

All that had been said before was in the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. Now, Daniel will start his interpretation of that dream.

Daniel 2:37 "Thou, O king, [art] a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory."

This is spoken to Nebuchadnezzar. Notice, he is a king of kings, and not the King of kings. God made Nebuchadnezzar king. His power, and strength, and glory all came from God. We see from the following Scripture that a king is king, because God made him king.

Proverbs 8:15 "By me kings reign, and princes decree justice."

Daniel 2:38 "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."

Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful king. The Babylonian rule was over all the nations they conquered. The men, women, and children were subject to him.

Even the animals became his to command. It seemed, during the greatness of this empire, that even the animals and birds were his to command.

He was the head of gold. He was like a god to these people.

Daniel 2:39 "And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth."

Gold is a more precious metal than silver, and silver is more precious than bronze. The position on the body of the image, also, showed their value. The gold was higher up the body than the silver, and the bronze was below the silver.

This kingdom that the silver represents is the Persian Empire. The bronze represents the Greek empire. Alexander the great did almost conquer the known world at that time.

Daniel 2:40 "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."

This 4th kingdom is speaking of the Roman Empire. I prefer to say both sides of the Roman Empire. They were an empire that ruled with an iron hand. It was actually officials of that Roman Empire who were involved in the crucifixion of Jesus.

This metal fittingly represents the Roman Empire which would be characterized by the description predicted. It did nave armies in iron armor know as the iron Legions of Rome, and it had strength and invincibility.

Daniel 2:41 "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."

The iron in the 10 toes (kings) represents the Roman Empire in its revived form, prior to the second coming of Christ, as having iron like strength for conquest. But the clay mixed in depicts that the union (federation) of kings and nations would have fatal flaws of human weakness, so that it is inherently vulnerable.

We said earlier, how the clay spoke of their worldliness. They were a people of poor morals. Their armies were strong, but true strength comes from moral fiber.

Daniel 2:42 "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."

This empire will rise again in the end times. We read a little about it in the following verse.

Daniel 7:7 "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it [was] diverse from all the beasts that [were] before it; and it had ten horns."

We will deal with this more fully in the 7th chapter.

Daniel 2:43 "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."

In all the lands the Romans conquered, they really did mingle with the people of the foreign lands. They brought heavy taxes upon those they conquered.

The Jews really hated them. Even though the Jews were the ones in captivity, they still looked down at the Romans as immoral people.

Daniel 2:44 "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, [but] it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever."

This kingdom is of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. God’s kingdom ruled by Messiah is the final rule, never to be replaced. All the gates of hell cannot prevail against this kingdom. The subjects are the people of all nations, who are followers of, and believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 1:33 "And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

When Jesus was on the earth as our Savior, His kingdom was spiritual. There is a time coming, when He will set up a physical kingdom, and reign upon this earth.

Revelation 20:6 "Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."

He will reign even longer than the thousand years, as we see in the next verse.

Revelation 11:15 "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."

Daniel 2:45 "Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream [is] certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."

The stone being cut out of the mountain without hands speaks of the deity of Christ. The stone is Messiah. The mountain pictures God’s all transcending government that looms over weak earthly powers. Messiah is “cut out” of this sovereign realm by God, which accords with the Son of Man coming; “without hands” denotes that the Messiah comes from God and is not of human origin or power.

Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth;"

Nebuchadnezzar knows the dream is true. He will believe the prophecy, because the dream was true. Daniel has no hesitation. He knows the prophecy is true.