Daniel 2:31-35 – “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Prophecy is how the God who knows and controls the future reveals it to us so that we can prepare for tomorrow. In Daniel 2 we find one of the most incredible prophecies in all of Scripture.
The God-given imagery is of a warrior king made of differing materials. Each material represents another kingdom that rises up to overtake those that ruled prior.
- The first kingdom is Babylon, ruled by Nebuchadnezzar, who received the dream and is typified by gold (Daniel 2:36-38). This rich kingdom was called the kingdom of gold, and even had gold they had stolen from God’s temple as told in Daniel 1.
- The second kingdom is Medo-Persia, depicted as silver (Daniel 2:39). This kingdom conquered Babylon, and those events are recorded in the Old Testament book of Esther. The two arms in the dream may have prophesied the empire’s division between the Medes and the Persians.
- The third kingdom is Greece, typified by bronze (Daniel 2:39). Ruled by Alexander the Great, Greece conquered the Medo-Persian empire with soldiers bearing bronze helmets, breastplates, shields, and swords.
- The fourth kingdom is Rome, depicted as a mixture of iron and clay (Daniel 2:40-43). This mixture predicted that the vast Roman Empire with a diversity of conquered nations, languages, religions, and cultures would eventually fall apart. The two legs may refer to division in the Roman Empire starting in AD 395, with the Eastern Byzantine half headquartered in Constantinople, and the Western Roman empire headquartered Rome.
In amazing detail, the prophecy of Daniel 2 revealed the next six hundred years of human history as everything God promised came to pass. Jesus Christ was born during the rule of the Roman Empire which arrested Him, tried Him, sentenced Him to death, and placed a seal over His tomb. Jesus rose from death, returned to His throne over the Kingdom of heaven where He rules today from the unseen realm, until He returns to establish a Kingdom that never ends, thereby fulfilling the final prophecy of Daniel 2.
In addition to this introduction to and overview of Daniel, you can find the corresponding sermons, daily devotions, men’s ministry resources, and hundreds of additional sermons and Bible teaching resources for free at markdriscoll.org or on the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.
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