Paragraph # 3 Study # 1
October 16, 2022
Broadlands, Louisiana
(Download Audio)
Thesis: God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar the course of human history from his day to the day of the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Introduction: We have been considering the details of the threat that the promise of God would fail, and we have seen how Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah handled the threat.
This evening we are going to look into the king's dream and its meaning and significance.
- I. Verses 24-30.
- A. The man of Judea who will make known unto the king the interpretation.
- 1. Either Daniel gave Arioch a preview of the dream and its meaning...
- 2. Or Arioch accepted Daniel's claim on another basis.
- B. This is the solution to the "danger" of the promise of God "failing".
- 1. Daniel's disclaimer: "...there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets and makes known to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, what shall be in the latter days".
- 2. Daniel's explanation for the dream.
- a. It is critical that Daniel distance himself from the idea that he came up with the vision and its significance.
- b. It is, however, also critical for the king to become aware of both the meaning and the significance of the dream.
- II. Verses 31-45.
- A. The overview of the dream: 31-36.
- 1. It begins with an image of a man whose brightness and visage caused the king to shrink back from it.
- 2. It was a composite image of five elements: gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay.
- 3. It was totally destroyed so that it was like fine dust that blows away in the wind.
- 4. The "Destroyer" was a stone, quarried without hands, that became a mountain so great that it filled the earth.
- B. The interpretation: 37-45.
- 1. Nebuchadnezzar was identified as 'the head of gold".
- a. He was made a "king of kings" by "The God of Heaven".
- b. His glory as this "king" was exceedingly great and he "was made the ruler over all -- men, beasts, and birds.
- 2. The "silver" represented a subsequent kingdom that would be "inferior" to him.
- 3. The "brass" represented a third, subsequent kingdom that would "bear rule over all the earth".
- 4. The "iron" represented a fourth, subsequent kingdom that would be exceedingly strong like iron that can break all of the "gold, silver, and brass" kingdoms.
- a. But this fourth kingdom had feet and toes that were a blend of clay and iron.
- b. This "composite" kingdom would be divided so that it had the strength of iron, but the "toes of the feet" were a mixture of clay and iron (strong, but brittle) and this mixture did not adhere so that it became a kingdom with great divisions.
- 5. The "stone" was a "kingdom" that would be set up "in the days of the kings" that were part of iron and part of clay, that would never be destroyed and would stand forever.
- a. In the vision the king saw the "stone, cut out of the mountain without hands".
- b. He saw it pulverize the gold, silver, brass, and iron, and iron mixed with clay.
- 6. Nebuchadnezzar was, thus, informed by God of the entire future of human history from Babylon to the Kingdom of Heaven.
