Fast Forward.

Jehoiachin was the last king of the kingdom of Judah. He was only three months on the throne when he surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar (of Hanging Gardens of Babylon fame), the Emperor of the Babylonian empire, and was carried to Babylon around BC 597. He died after being there as a prisoner for thirty-seven years. Nebuchadnezzar also destroyed Jerusalem and took the Jews captive to Babylon. It was then that a huge population of Israelites got scattered again all over the world. (The first time was when the Assyrian emperor Sargon captured Israel around BC 722 and carried them as captives during the reign of Hoshea, the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel). The prophecies of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and the last chapters of Kings and Chronicles were recorded during this time in His-story.

God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream that troubled him so much that he was desperate to know its meaning. He gathered all the astrologers and magicians of his empire and commanded them to repeat the dream and then interpret it. None could. Providentially, God had His man Daniel.

Daniel in His-story

Daniel was a young lad when he was taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. He was taken there with three of his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, all Jewish lads. Daniel was a God-fearing man who purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. – Dan 1: 8. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. – Dan 1:17. (Daniel was also a mighty prophet who was used by God to prophesy the future. His dreams also encompass our time.) Daniel sought the Lord who revealed to him both the dream and its interpretation. Daniel thanked God saying, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: for wisdom and might are His: and he changes the times and the seasons: He removes kings, and sets up kings: He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He reveals the deep and secret things: He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him”. – Dan 2:20-22.

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, “There is a God in heaven that reveals secrets and makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and He that reveals secrets makes known to thee what shall come to pass. – Dan 2:28, 29.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

You, O king, saw, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. You saw till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. – Dan 2:31-35.

The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

You, O king, are a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom (Babylonian Empire), power, and strength, and glory …and hath made thee ruler over them all. You (Nebuchadnezzar) are this head of gold. And after you shall arise another kingdom (Medio-Persian Empire – Xerxes, Darius, Cyrus) inferior to you, and another third kingdom (Greek Empire – Alexander, Seleucus, etc.) of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom (Roman Empire – Caesars) shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided (the current legacy of the Roman empire spread across the globe through imperialism (including India, as we follow the British instituted constitution, culture, and Latin law largely); but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. 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 (brittle?). And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another (living among them while not mingling with them like the power-hungry Jewish Aryans?), even as iron is not mixed with clay.

And in the days of these kings (Romans who later became the European Colonizers viz. British, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Danes) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom (heavenly – His Church – which happened on the day of Pentecost two thousand years ago), which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people (will be owned by Him, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it), but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms (pervade all people of the earth and become a world-wide Kingdom), and it shall stand forever (Ps 45:6). Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands (Living stone Jesus and His Church), and that it broke 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. The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. – Dan 2:36-45.

The dream is certain! The interpretation sure!

No. The Devil can’t let this happen! Oh, the Stone cut without hands! Even the mention of it sends jitters through Satan’s nerves. The efforts of centuries going to dust in one strike on the feet resulting in no place for him? Oh, the thought of it!