Monthly Archive for February, 2002

 ²⁴ Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”

Nebuchadnezzar sees something astonishing.  He wanted to check with others in case he saw an illusion.  “Did we not cast three men…?” 

²⁵ “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

The king sees an additional person in the furnace.  That fourth person was like “the Son of God.”  We should translate this “like a son of the gods.”  To Nebuchadnezzar it looked like something in the pantheon but it was the preincarnate Christ.  Nebuchadnezzar did not understand this fourth figure as “the Son of God.”  This is a theophany (a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God).

 ¹⁸ “But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.

Should their God not deliver them, they would still refuse to bow before the image.  They did not presume on God’s will for their case – “if not.”  They recognized the sovereignty of God in their situation.  God has a purpose for what He does.  They did not have a quid pro quo relationship with God. 

The trio was not in the business of trying to coerce God’s sovereignty.  They did not try to make a trade with God.  They simply accepted God’s sovereign prerogative to do with them as He pleases.

¹ Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

Daniel chapter three opens with a great drama.  Nebuchadnezzar made an awesome image of himself.  It was awesome because of its height and because it was made of gold.  The image was 90 ft. high and 9 ft. wide.  The “gold” of Daniel’s dream motivated this image made of gold. 

² And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Nebuchadnezzar convened eight categories of officials to dedicate his image.  “Satraps” were the highest political officials of the king.  “Prefects” (princes) were military commanders.  “Governors” were civil administrators.  “Advisors” were high ranking judges.  “Treasurers” administered the treasury of the kingdom.  “Judges” administrated the law established by the “advisors.”  “Magistrates” issued judgments of the law. 

³ So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

This was a massive demonstration of loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar. 

⁴ Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,

The command of Nebuchadnezzar covered all the national entities, people groups and languages under his rule.  This was a summit representing many nations. 

⁵ “that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up;

Nebuchadnezzar commanded public demonstration of loyalty to his rule.  He made elaborate arrangements for this event.  The orchestra incorporated wind instruments (horn, pipes), a reed instrument (flute) and stringed instruments (zither, lyre, harp). 

⁶ “and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace

The purpose of the erection of this image was to consolidate Nebuchadnezzar’s authority.  The image was to be the central symbol of his reign.  The addition of “worship” indicates that this event had religious as well as political implications.  Nebuchadnezzar’s subjects were to recognize both his political and religious authority.  Failure to comply meant death – turn or burn. 

⁷ So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

This may be another attempt at forming a one world government and religion.  Worship here is forced worship.  We can find no individual volition here. 

Ceramic clay and iron do not adhere well together.  Weakness is introduced into this kingdom, so this empire does not last as a world order. 

This prophecy passes over the present age and goes to the Revived Roman Empire found in the Tribulation period.  The ten toes of the statue relate to the ten-nation confederacy of the Roman Empire in the Tribulation.  This is the final formation of the Roman Empire.  The United States, Canada and all other western powers will be subservient to this ten-nation confederacy. 

The phrase “seed of men” implies a grassroots issue; it permeates the masses.  Throughout the stream of the Roman Empire, the two issues of monarchy and democracy struggle at the grassroots level.  Domestic strife weakens government so that it cannot reach its objectives.  This sets the stage for the final Kingdom. 

44 And in the days of these kings

“These kings” are the rulers of the ten-nation confederacy of Europe in the last days. 

the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

This verse introduces God’s kingdom.  God will send His Messiah to judge the world in the days of the Revived Roman Empire (the ten-toed confederacy) to overthrow the vestige of that empire. 

From God’s viewpoint, the highest form of government is monarchy, not democracy.  This premise requires a perfectly righteous monarch. 

1 Tim 6: 14 “…that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, 15 which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.”

45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.

The stone cut out of the mountain without hands crushes the iron and clay.  This is the Second Coming of Christ to judge the world.  This final and fifth kingdom God will establish during the Millennium and will continue into the eternal state.  He will destroy the Gentile kingdoms of the world. 

1 Pe 2: 6 “Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion

A chief cornerstone, elect,
precious,

And he who believes on Him will by
no means be put to shame.’”

Daniel’s prophecy is “sure.”  This is a term of certainty.  People of God trust the Word of God. 

2 Pe 1: 19 “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light
that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts…”

Verses 36 to 45 give the interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.  The metals represent different kingdoms and also the outline of the history of the Gentiles from Daniel to the coming of Christ. 

³⁶ This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king.

Daniel prudently differentiated the dream from the interpretation.  This verse begins the interpretation of the dream.

³⁷ You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory;

Nebuchadnezzar was the world ruler of his day (Je 27:6-7,14).   None of the rulers that followed him had as much absolute power as Nebuchadnezzar.  He was the “king of kings (Ezek 26:7).  God sovereignly gave him this power.  That concept may have crushed his pride. 

³⁸ and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold.

Nebuchadnezzar ruled because God gave him the privilege to rule.  Herodotus visited Babylon about ninety years after Nebuchadnezzar.  He said that much of the temples and accouterments were made of solid gold.  This was the Chaldean Empire at its zenith. 

³⁹ But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours;

The next kingdom to rise after the Babylonian was the Medo-Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.  This empire covered a greater geographical territory and lasted longer than the Babylonian (539-331 B.C.).  The two arms represent the two nations of Media and Persia. 

Daniel 11:2 concerns a prophecy concerning Xerxes who inherited the silver hoarding of his father Darius and other Persian kings.  He could have never launched an offensive across the Hellespont against Greece without this treasure of silver. 

then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.

The kingdom after the Medo-Persian Empire was Greece under Alexander the Great (cf. 8:20-21).  The territory of this kingdom was yet greater than the Medo-Persian Empire.  This kingdom stretched in time from 331 to 31 B.C. and in geography to India.  The kingdom lasted longer than the previous two. 

After Alexander died in 323 B.C., his generals split the empire into four parts.  General Antipater ruled Macedon-Greece.  Lysimachus governed Thrace-Asia Minor.  Seleucus ruled Asia and Ptolemy reigned over Egypt, Cyrenaica and Palestine.  Thus, its government was more republican and less power was given to its rulers. 

⁴⁰ And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.

The fourth kingdom was the Roman Empire.  Rome defeated Greece in 31 B.C. and ruled until 476 A.D. in the West and until 1453 A.D. in the East.  Rome’s empire extended geographically farther than the previous three.  The two legs represent the East and West portions of the empire (Rome and Constantinople).  Rome’s empire extended from the British Isles to India. 

Daniel gives more space to this fourth kingdom than the other three.  This is the kingdom we live in today.  No human world power follows Rome except the kingdom of the Messiah.  Rome stamped its image on western civilization.  The western dimension of the Roman Empire reached into France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Great Britain.  From there its influence moved into the United States, Canada and the Americas. 

Note passages in Daniel dealing with the four Gentile kingdoms and the Millennial Kingdom:

·        Babylon, 2:32, 37, 38; 7:4, 17

·        Medo-Persia, 2:32, 39; 7:5, 17; 8:3–8, 20, 21; 10:20, 21, 11:2–35

·        Greece, 2:32, 39; 7:6, 17

·        Rome 2:33, 40; 7:7, 17, 23

·        Revived Rome, 2:33, 41–43; 7:7, 8, 11, 24, 25,

·        Millennium, 2:34, 35, 44, 45; 7:13, 14, 26, 27