Excellent we shall continue. You'll be glad to know that we will be finishing chapter two this evening. This is our third week and it's been my intention to go as not as slow as we can because it would have we could have been taking longer but this we we've tried to break it up into three sections so that we can really understand what has been said through Daniel chapter two and not just whiz through it but now we come to a very popular part the one that everybody sort of knows um the interpretation of the dream uh but i want to just give a quick recap as we as we get there i i will try and be as quick because we're going to be looking at verses 24 to 49 so we got a bit to cover so I will try and be as quick as possible. But you remember so far in this chapter that we have seen that there was this desire to This dream that Nebuchadnezzar had and he commanded that he was told the dream and the interpretation. You remember that he was told that there was no one could do it? Only the gods could give it, but they don't dwell with man, and therefore all the wise men were commanded to be killed. At that point, we see that Ariok goes out. He comes to Daniel, and Daniel is a bit shocked at this, and he goes into prayer, and we've seen that from the prayer, it turns our attention to God. His prayer is very thorough. what's known as theocentric. It's God-centered. It's not man-centered. It's not, oh, God, just help us. But it's really this glorification of God that is wanted. And so we've seen that from the first sort of 23 verses of Daniel, chapter 2, that the whole scene has been set up that God is the revealer of mysteries. He is sovereign over the kingdoms of men. And we'll see that tonight. But it's all about God's sovereignty and God's power. So we're going to read tonight, as I say, to this best known part of this chapter, and that is the dream and the interpretation. We're going to read from chapter 2, verses 24 to 49. So Daniel chapter 2, verses 24 to 49. and I will read it as best I can. It says this, Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him, Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Take me before the king and I will tell the king the interpretation. Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said thus to him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation. The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belshazzar, Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation? Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, cannot be declared to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and he has made known to the king, to King Nebuchadnezzar, what will be in latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed about what would come to pass after this. And he who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than any other living. But for our sakes, who make known the interpretation to the king and that you may know, some say understand, the thoughts of your heart. You, King, were watching and behold a great image. This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you and its form was awesome. This image, this image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet part partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron and clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone which struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. And wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the air of heaven, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold, but after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours. Then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the earth. all the earth and the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron inasmuch as iron breaks into pieces and shatters everything and like iron that crushes that kingdom will break into pieces and crush all others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of pot of potter's clay and part partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic, they shall mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not pass, shall not be left to another people. It shall not break. in pieces or consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever in as much as you saw that the stone was cut from a mountain without hands and that it broke into 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 true. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrated before Daniel and commanded that they should present an offering of incense to him. The king answered Daniel and said, truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets. Since you could reveal this secret, Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts. And he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. Also, Daniel petitioned the king And he set Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat in the gate of the king, or as some translations say, the king's court. That's an interesting passage. That's the passage of time as we know it. It's mostly our history and also partly our future. And we're going to look at this because, again, we're going to see something, I believe, that sometimes we can be too quick to rush past. First of all, we're going to see that in verse 24 and 25, the first thing Daniel does after he gets the interpretation, the dream and the interpretation, both him and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. We can't just pick on Daniel. All four of them were involved. Once they get this, the first thing Daniel seems to do is not think about the king, but think about the wise men. That's the first thing in his mind. Because we see in verses 24 and 25, he goes out to them and he goes out to Ariok and he says, don't kill the wise men. Don't harm him. Don't kill him. Don't touch him. Just leave him alone until I've gone to see the king. Now, this will raise certain questions, some of which I don't have the answer to. In fact, many of them I don't have an answer to. For example, one of them is, was it just Ariok and a couple of guys going out killing him, and Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were their first port of call? Or had they already been killing some, and they were next on the list, and therefore Daniel said, don't kill any more. You've killed some, but don't kill any more. I tend to think it's that, because if there were multiple groups going out, killing randomly, how would they get the message to the other teams to stop killing? In my understanding, there was no cell phones at that time. I'm just putting it out there. So I don't think he could have got the message out very, very quick. So I think there was one team that Ariok, who was the commander of the guard, who is now the appointed executioner, him and his mates were going out to kill all the wise men. And they've either started and they've come to Daniel and Hananiah, Mishel and Azariah, or they're starting with Daniel. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And Daniel says, we've got it. We know what this mystery is. Now, don't kill anymore. Don't kill the wise men. Now, this is fascinating in many ways, because the wise men all throughout the book of Daniel are always trying to kill and get rid of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And yet, they were protecting them. I just want to raise that up here, that they could have just went, you carry on about your work, I'm going to go and see the king. But they didn't. They just said, stop, don't hurt anyone else. So it's fascinating to me that the minute they get the answer, they praise God for his sovereignty, and he's the God who is a revealer of mysteries. And I love Daniel's statement, but there's a God in heaven. There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. So there's this great confidence, because they've just had it. And instead of rushing to the king, they think of of the other wise men. Now, one thing you want to notice here in these first two verses is, unlike the appearance before where Daniel sort of burst into the king at the beginning of chapter two, this time he does it right. He does it culturally. He does it the acceptable way. And Arioch brings him in. He announces him. That's the cultural way. Someone should announce your arrival, and you go in. And they do it right this time. But Ariok tries to get a bit of the glory. He goes, I found someone. He's trying to get in on a bit of the prize money here. And he goes, I found someone. which he didn't really. But it's fascinating here that they go about the whole thing in a cultural way. And he mentions this. And it's fascinating what he says. I don't know if you've ever taken time to see it. He says that he found someone from among the exiles. Notice what that just means. He says, he's not one of our guys. He's one of the guys you brought in from Jerusalem. He's one of the captives. He's one of the exiles. He's a foreigner. He doesn't worship our gods. You can just picture that being said to the king. I find this guy, and he's from the people of Israel. He's from Jerusalem. And so he makes this great declaration. This mention of Daniel's exile will accent his religious heritage, the possibility of his aloneness, recalling the events of the beginning of the book. Remember, they tried to change his identity. They tried to isolate him. They tried to force him to follow their religion, their belief, their gods. And yet, this could be the highlight that they're not one of us. They are of the exiles. So this great declaration, while both Daniel and Ariok mention the interpretation, I hope you noticed that, that Daniel says, I'm going to bring the interpretation. And Ariok comes to the king and says, I found someone who can give you the interpretation. What did Nebuchadnezzar want? the dream and the interpretation. So again, as I said last time, whenever you see this at the beginning in chapter 2 when they talk about the interpretation, it's implied in the passage that they're going to give the dream and the interpretation. Daniel's not trying to shortcut what the king has commanded. It's fascinating here as well that now the scene is set for, comes for some key points, the limitation of man. This whole scene here reveals the limitation of man, because I love the fact that when, and we'll get to it in a minute, when Nebuchadnezzar says, so you're going to give me the dream and the interpretation, and Daniel goes, no. No, no man can do that. The limitation of man. But there is a God in heaven. So he was very quick to point out the limitation of man. He's very quick to point out the uselessness or the powerlessness of idols of foreign gods. And yet here he points out the power, the wisdom, and the glory of God. There is a God in heaven. And I think that's an interesting way he begins to present to the king. He's almost like witnessing to the king before he answers the king's request. He's laying the groundwork before the king for the greatness of God. Then in verse 26, we see the king answered and said to Daniel, whose name is Beltshazzar. This is crucial. Because again, remember, they tried to change his identity to Belshazzar. And I was thinking about this. But one thing I want to point out here is this. At no point in his book, the book of Daniel, is Daniel called by his Babylonian name, Belshazzar, without being in close proximity to his Hebrew name. I want you to notice that. I want you to take time and read through Daniel. At no point in the book of Daniel, to my recollection, is Daniel ever called Belshazzar without the phrase, who's also called Daniel. He is never left alone, whereas Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, after chapter one, are known as? And I think that's an important point. So now we have this scene that, again, they're trying to force them into an identity that they've been brought into. And Daniel won't have it. Daniel ain't going to have it. And so in his book, he keeps going, they may call me this, but my name is this. They may call me Belshazzar, but my name is Daniel. And there's a reason to it. I mean, again, there are passages like Daniel chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, chapter 2, verse 26, chapter 4, verses 8 to 9, chapter 5, verse 12, chapter 10, verse 1, where it talks about Belshazzar, Daniel, in close proximity. So again, it's there. But I think the reason is this. If you'll allow me a bit of leeway here, I believe it's this. Daniel, if you remember back when we did chapter one, is Hebrew and it means God has judged or God is judged. Okay? And I'm sure you know what the dream is all about. So what has God done? God has judged. God has judged the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires. God has judged. Belshazzar means may Baal protect my life. Baal being the Babylonian number one God. So here in essence what Daniel's saying is Baal can't protect your life because God has judged and your time is up, son. You don't have much time left. And after you, there's going to be this empire. And after that empire, there's going to be that empire. And after that empire, there's going to be a fourth empire. But guess what? There is a God in heaven, and his empire's coming. His kingdom's coming. So you can see how he's presenting a God who judges. And in this giving of a dream and in giving of an interpretation, he is pointing that their so-called gods cannot protect them, because the God of heaven will raise up kings and depose kings. I think that's a wonderful picture to have. What the Babylonian wise men with their dependence on idols cannot do, Daniel's God is able to accomplish. We see this scattered throughout the book. You see this in chapter 3, verse 15, 17, and 29. If we jump down to the first block here, verses 27 to 30, the scene is now set, but we have a development of the groups. Throughout the first two chapters, we've seen a growing number being applied to the wise men. It seems to grow in size and grow in number all the time. But here now we've got a different group. We've got magicians and enchanters in chapter 1 verse 20. We've got magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers in chapter 2 verse 2. And here we have magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, astrologers and diviners, our fate determiners in chapter 2 verse 27 as some translations will have it. And they're not doing a very good job because they can't talk about the fate that's falling on Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire, only God can. And so here, Daniel says all these guys from all these different sections of your wise men, all these people who follow the occult literature and the Babylonian literature and all these other various gods, they can't tell you what my God can. And again, he sets up this wonderful picture to reveal the greatness of God. So you can sort of picture the tension here. He's cranking up the tension. Rather than just going, here's your answer, he's building the tension. He's really wanting Nebuchadnezzar to get the tension, get really cooked in here, buy into this. By verse 28, Daniel's assertion comes in, but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. And what did Nebuchadnezzar want? That secret revealed. And there's a God in heaven who can do it. which then should really make Nebuchadnezzar sit up and take notice. Why? Because the wise men said that the answer remains among the gods and the gods do not dwell with man. And yet Daniel has just said there's a God in heaven who knows what you're thinking. So he is. with us. He knows what's going on in your head. He knows the secret and he's going to reveal it. And so he's just, he's just hyped up. He's shown the distinction between the God of Israel and these other so-called gods, these idols. He's shown the distinction about the God that he follows and how wonderful God is. And he's just, he's bringing Nebuchadnezzar in on it. Not only does God know, but God has revealed or told Nebuchadnezzar what will happen or what will be. I love, notice what he says. He didn't say, oh, and he told me, he says, he said, Nebuchadnezzar King, he's already told you what's going to happen. He's revealed it to you, but you just didn't get it. That's why you're asking us. God has revealed what's going to happen to you. Now there's a key phrase in here, key little phrase called in latter days. in latter days. That's not just meaning next week, because obviously this dream, this vision, takes in four great empires, then our time and the coming Kingdom of God. Okay, that's why I said it's our history, but also our future. This is the dream that takes in. And so Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, God has revealed to you what's gonna happen in the days to come. What's gonna take place, but you just didn't get it. But Daniel's about to tell him. Verse 30, the mystery was revealed, not because Daniel has greater wisdom than the other living men, Although we are told in chapter 1 he was 10 times smarter than the rest of them. He had proved himself, God had graced him. But Daniel is very humble. He says, I have been given this, and we, again, he uses the plural here, and we'll see this. We have been given this, not because I'm smarter than anybody else, but because there's a God in heaven. who reveals mysteries. Daniel is always trying to take the spotlight of himself and of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and put it on God. He's always trying to put the spotlight back on God. He's always trying to say, this has come from God. This is what God is doing. This is what God is saying. Here is the sovereignty of God. He's trying to get Nebuchadnezzar to see the awesomeness of God. I think that's a brilliant thing. So he says, it's been given to me, not because I'm the smartest guy in the room. That's my phrase. That's not his. But because there's a God in heaven. But you may know the interpretation. This is it. He says, I've been given that you may know the interpretation. And this is crucial because Nebuchadnezzar said, unless you can tell me the dream, I'll not know your interpretation is true. And so Daniel says, remember he wasn't even there. So he doesn't know what the king said. And yet here he said, this has been given to me so that you may know the interpretation is true. It's trustworthy and that you can gain understanding of what is to come. And again, that's crucial that he will gain understanding of what is to come. And we'll see this as we go through, the importance of that phrase. But Daniel, he wisely turns the spotlight to the true giver of wisdom in verse 28, and that is God. So the contest becomes one between God and these false idols. This is the battle now. Daniel has taken himself out of the picture and he says, here is the true battle. My God, who is a God in heaven, who can reveal mysteries, and your so-called gods who can't do anything like that. So the battle now is between God. He highlights God's graciousness. The other wise men were convinced that divine knowledge was inaccessible. Think about that. God graced Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah with this divine knowledge, the secret. While other people are going, oh, that's impossible. You will never be able to. That's not for us men to be able to do. Daniel says, no, God has graced us. The divine judge graced us with this knowledge so that you, O King, will understand. When you see these pictures and these shades in here, you just see a wonderful picture of this dream and interpretation, that God wants this Gentile king to understand that what's about to happen to him, his empire, and the empires to come is not random accidents, but it's all part of the plan. God is sovereign over the empires of man. So now we have the Daniel proclaims the dream and the interpretation. So from verse 31 to 46, we know the dream. Verses 31 to 33, he lays out the dream in one sense. He says that you, O king, you were watching and you saw a great image. In fact, other translations will say, will use things like, it was a great image, it was awesome, it was enormous, it was dazzling, it was awesome in appearance. I'm sure it was. Could you picture seeing a thing like that? I'm sure, I mean, not a bit of wonder he couldn't sleep. You know, I mean, that was an awesome sight. And this was the passage of time right in front of him in picture form. And he unpacks it here. In fact, the NIV will use the word awesome, but it might be better translated dreadful. This was a dreadful sight. In one sense, Nebuchadnezzar seen that his empire was not going to last. The Babylonian Empire wasn't going to last long. Well, I can't say it wasn't going to last long. There was no time frame given, but he knew it wasn't going to go on forever. And he knew another empire was going to come up after him. And so here we now get this wonderful picture. And here's another thing that struck me, even today. I want you to see this. And again, it made a lot of sense. You have here, the head was of gold, the chest and arms were of silver, the belly and thighs were of bronze, the legs of iron, and feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, or baked clay. Here's one thing I want you to notice. The head, the golden head, is a single unit. I'm sure you'll be glad to know that. You only have one head. But everything else is double. If you notice it, it's set in pairs. It's the chest and arms, the belly and thighs, two legs, two feet, pairs. I find that fascinating and there's a real, and you even see when you start to look into it, even the elements that it's made up of, just how accurate God is in all of this. The golden head, while it is not pointed out in the text that the top to bottom sequence of metals reflect two comparisons. I did a bit of background check on this to make sure my facts were right and it's this. If you look from top to bottom they decrease in density and value. Now, I don't know money and stuff a lot, but I do know that gold is worth more than clay. I just do. Likewise, if you look down the list, gold is the most expensive. Silver, bronze, iron, and clay, they decrease in value going from top to bottom. If you look at it as well, apart from clay, and we'll get to that in a minute, but if you look, apart from the other parts, they increase in strength. They increase in strength. I find that fascinating. One is that they decrease in density and value, but also they increase in strength. If we were to look at it, along those lines. So I'm just putting it out there how God can speak in and go, perhaps Babylon was seen as this beautiful, wonderful empire. I mean, after all, we all know of the hanging gardens of Babylon, don't we? I can't think of too many gardens in Greece that are part of the seven wonders of the world. And it's just this wonderful picture how God brings in this, even the nuanced in here, these empires that are going to come and go. Verses 34 to 35, it then brings in this stone, this stone that is carved without human hands. Again, it brings in this divine element. Not only after these empires have come and gone, there's going to be a divine action, there's going to be an an empire, a kingdom that's going to come that is of divine nature. It's not of human nature. It's not like one king, like from Greece or Rome or whatever, are going to come in and take. But it's going to be a divine king. And we'll see this when we get to Daniel 7. One like the Son of Man coming in the clouds to judge the nations of the earth. this divine judge, this empire coming in, and this sovereign divine kingdom being established. And God shows him this. God will show him this. And it just strikes me that God is so specific, speaking to this Gentile king. There's the contrast between the successive replacement of human empires, you know, we'll get to them in a minute, but also the fixedness, as it's known, the fixedness of the eternal kingdom. It's not going to be replaced. God's kingdom will never be replaced. When God's kingdom comes in its fullness, it's going to be around for all time. Isn't that a wonderful thing? We don't have to worry. We can sit back and go, when it comes, we're not gonna have to worry. My God's kingdom will last for all eternity. And so this is a wonderful picture here where God is showing the fragility and the temporal nature of human empires, but also the eternal nature of his empire, that it will never end, but will go on forever. When the rock here is understood by some to be Christ, We will look at that at some point, but it may well be in the context and the comparison that is made here in this chapter, it shows that God is about to set up an eternal kingdom. So you want to be part of God's eternal kingdom, you have to be part of God's chosen people. Basically, that's what it's saying. And it's all been declared to this Gentile king. Verse 36, we get on the interpretation here. And this is where I believe all four, even though Daniel is the spokesperson, I believe all four are there. Because it talks about, in verse 36, he says, now we will tell the interpretation, the plural. We will tell. So I believe, I can't prove it, but for the sake of how they received the interpretation and how we will give you the interpretation, it's all plural. It's all the four of them together. So I believe while Daniel may have been the spokesperson, the one out front, I believe Hannah and I and Michelle and Azariah were there with him to confirm it and go, yes, that's exactly what we've seen. So he says, we will give you the interpretation. petition, which again is great. They were all in it together, just like they were all praying together and seeking God together. And they believed they got the interpretation together. They went to the king together, and they stood there and declared, here's the interpretation. Verses 37 to 38, we then getting into the kingdoms here. We start breaking it down. It flies at a very quick pace at some point. And I want to give you some facts, but we will be coming back to this vision later on, okay? Especially in Daniel 7, we'll come back to this. So I'll give you some now, but we'll come back to it at a later time. In verse 37 and 38, the God of heaven has given you. Again, notice the God of heaven has given you. He is king of this great empire because God has given him. It's not by his will, it's not by his strength, it's not by his power, it's not by the might of his army, it's because God has done this. So again it's to do with God's sovereignty that God has done the dream and the vision and it's interpretation is from God who you think you defeated. You remember he's gone and he's attacked Jerusalem, he's sacked Jerusalem, he's gonna go back again another two times, as we will see, and he thinks he's defeated the Israelites and the God of Israel. And yet Daniel stands here and goes, you think you've beaten him, but you haven't. You think you're better than him, but you're not. There is a God in heaven who knows your secret and he's given it to you and he's going to tell you what's to come. So Daniel brings in this big God again. As Nebuchadnezzar is the monarch at the time of the vision of Babylon, is the greatest empire at that time in history. So Daniel begins with Nebuchadnezzar. So for those who are taking notes, I'm going to fly through this relatively quick. You can get my notes if you want, because there's been a lot of dates in here. So we have the head of gold, which is Babylon, and they were around from 605 BC to 539 BC. Nebuchadnezzar's 43 year rule, he reigned for 43 years. We know of Nebuchadnezzar and then Belshazzar in chapter five, but there were other emperors between them. So we've got his 43 year rule from 605 BC to 562 BC and that is followed by Babylon's decline under the reign of five weaker kings until its fall in 539 BC when we read that the Medes and the Persians come in and they attack when Belshazzar is the king in Daniel chapter five. So you're talking here, the first five chapters, they're really, they're about 60 odd years or so. There's not a lot of, they're not the whole length of the Babylonian empire. Five chapters takes us the full length of the Babylonian empire. That's nearly 70 years in five chapters. OK, just giving you a picture there. Then we move from the head of Gaul to the next line. the chest and the arms. There's a bit of a debate here. Some have argued if it's the Medes and the Persians. If the succession goes Medes, Persians, Greeks. I don't believe that. I'll state that. I'm not going to get into too much about that. But I believe it's the Medo-Persian Empire, Greeks and the Romans. Okay, that's the process that I believe it happens. And so here you get this picture of the Medieval Persian Empire coming in to take over the Babylonian Empire. As I said, it was said in Daniel chapter 5. The chest and arms have since silver 539 BC to 331 BC. That's the Medieval Persian Empire as it states in our history. Okay and it's fascinating in that the the thing we know about them is this, not much is made of this empire within the biblical narrative and it seems to play a transitional role between Babylon and the Greeks. It seems to be a bypassing comment but it's quite a big empire. History will tell us that the word for silver or the money in this new empire had taxation. So the whole thing, the whole silver element, as God says, it's going to be a silver chest and arms, the Medo-Persian, the Medes and the Persians. We'll get that when we get to Daniel 6 about the law of the Medes and the Persians. That's where that comes from. That can't be broken. But they had this idea of taxation and always silver. You had to pay it with silver. So I just thought it was interesting how God put them as the chest and arms of Silver. So then we have, we move swiftly on, verse 39, we get to the third kingdom, which will rule the whole earth. That's what God says. And I, if you know anything about history, you know that the belly and thighs of bronze is the Greek empire from 331 BC to 146 BC. And they ruled the world. They were fierce. Now, again, bronze is an interesting clue here. And I love just how God is so detailed. I know you're looking at me going, but that shouldn't be surprising. But he is. I just think it's fascinating. Given this emperor knowledge about an army, he doesn't know. And he will never meet. For example, History tells us that the Greeks, who were outnumbered 20 to 1 by the Medes and the Persians, defeated the Medes and the Persians. And that the Greek soldier was looked upon as the bronze soldier because of his bronze helmet, his bronze breastplate, and his bronze sword. He was known as a bronze soldier. picture of the image, he is, they are the bronze thighs. It's an interesting thing, Billy. It's an interesting picture you get, how God is giving details that are played out in history. And so we'll get back to this when we get it, when we touch on things like Alexander the Great. Does anybody know what age Alexander the Great was when he died? 32. Indeed he was. And yet he conquered the world. Young guy. Yet he drank. I think he drank himself to death. But he was the first to believe in a one world money system. Interestingly. So you get this picture coming out, and God is bringing out this flow of time, and he's giving pictures of what these empires will be like. And also, the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi, the Medes and the Persian Empire was still existing by Malachi. Just so you know, by the time you get to the end of the Old Testament, Malachi, The Medes and the Persians are still around. We haven't even got onto the Greek empire yet. By that point, they come up in the 400 years of silence. So just to give you an idea of where all this fits in, and God has given that world view. In the 400 years of silence between Malachi and Matthew, the Medo-Persian Empire and the Grecian Empire came crashing down, being replaced by the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire. And again, that's from verses 40 to 43. It talks about the fourth kingdom with this Roman Empire. And it says, it shall be as strong as iron, and as much as iron breaks into pieces and cr-cr-cr- Don't want to read that again, but from verses 40 to 43, they get this description of the fourth empire. The fourth empire, the legs of iron. Two legs. Very important. Keep that in mind. and the feet of baked clay and iron. Rome was around from 146 BC to 476 AD. Okay, 146 BC to 476 AD. Massive long reign of the Roman Empire and we know that Christ came. In that, the cross happened during that. But it's all during the Roman Empire. And they, again, moved through the world. The Roman, the Grecian Empire collapsed in 168 BC. The two legs represent the Roman Empire, which was the longest part of the vision. Notice the legs are the longest part of the body, for many of us. It's the longest part of the vision, the legs. It's the longest empire. Again, you may say I'm reading too much into it, but I just think it's a funny, I think God's having a bit of an interesting view on things. He puts it all in perspective. But the two legs are important, and we'll see this in a minute, that they represent the eastern part and the western part of the Roman Empire. The eastern part and the western part of the Roman Empire. The eastern part, does anybody know what that is today? What it'd be referred to today as? the Greek Orthodox, Constantinople, or the Byzantine Empire. That's the eastern part of the Roman Empire. And the western part, we know very well. Roman Catholicism, the Rome, that's where all that comes from. So the Roman Empire divides into two, two legs, the Eastern, the Byzantine or the Constantinople, and then Rome. And these are the Roman Empire. As it says, the Roman Empire was officially split into East-West in 395 AD. And upon the death of Emperor Theodosius I, through the earlier divisions for administration purposes, it then fractures completely. And again, we get into the tent. We'll be getting into the tent toes. in Revelation 17, the 10 horns and everything else. But we'll get there in the end. I'm just trying to show that how God has mapped this out specifically, not left anything to chance, but has told Nebuchadnezzar so that he will know about the passage of time. The teaching interprets the 10 toes of the image as representing a time when the Roman Empire will revive and will be divided into 10 kingdoms. Now, here is the important thing I want you to remember about this, because we'll be coming back to it. The Roman Empire was never defeated. You'll never find in history. where it said that the Roman Empire was defeated. The Roman Empire just fragmented and ceased to exist. It just collapsed. It was never defeated and replaced by another empire as it was, as it were. Just like the Medo-Persian Empire replaced the Babylonian Empire, just like the Greek Empire replaced the Medo-Persian, and the Roman Empire replaced the Greek Empire, nothing replaced the Roman Empire, just fragmented. So it is believed that they will, in time to come, revive. And it will come under 10 leaders. But we'll get to that soon. Again, we see this in Revelation 17, verses 7, 12, and 13. Again, Revelation 17 talks about the woman riding a beast with seven heads and 10 horns. But that's for another study. We'll not quite get into Revelation quite yet. So while Rome fell to the, fell, or I should say, was replaced by the Moedene power, the last remaining empire was never replaced, and according to prophecy, will make a return to power. Okay, so watch this space. Watch world events. See what's happening. Because Daniel will predict for us that Rome, as it is, will make a resurgence in power. and world dominance to some degree. But we will return to this in Daniel 7. Daniel is a great book, but it's all crisscrossed. But we'll return to this again in chapter 7. Because in chapter 7, while in chapter 2, we get the empires from man's perspective, in chapter 7, we get them from God's perspective. So we'll come back to that. Okay, I've just given you a bit of a... tea... tea... tea... tea... tea... So the stone cut without hands, or the stone that comes from God, it's not with man's hands or with man's ability or man's aid. This is a stone that comes purely from God. It smashes the feet, this new kingdom that will revive, this 10 toes will smash it to bits and everything will come crumbling down because time will be no more and God's kingdom will be established. That'll be a thing to look forward to. It's going to be great. And it says here that it breaks everything into pieces and then the stone becomes a mountain that will fill the whole earth. Bigger than any other human empire. It's going to fill the whole earth. People from every tribe, nation and tongue, part of this kingdom that's going to grow and fill the whole earth. but I would just want to bring this to your point, verses 44 to the end. I want to be very quick here. During the reign of the kings of the fourth kingdom, God will establish his kingdom, which will last forever. It will not be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will never be replaced. It will never be conquered. And no other people will take it over. It will bring the kingdoms of men to an end. No man will ever take up another kingdom after this. No emperor will ever take throne after this. When God's kingdom comes, that's the end of the rule of man. God will rule from this point on. The unity of the statue, man's kingdoms, gold, silver, bronze, iron, are destroyed and brought to an end by the establishment of God's kingdom through the Messiah, a rock cut without hands. So again, here you just only have the Redeemer coming in during the Roman Empire, but as the Roman Empire tries to make a resurgence, God's kingdom comes and brings man's rule to a complete end. I think that God's just putting it out there. The dream is true. You remember what Daniel said? We're doing this so that you know the dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy. So what he's saying is, Nebuchadnezzar, you can trust me. Because my God, who's in heaven, has revealed this. And here's the passage of empires from you right through to the very end. And so he gives this great overall picture. So the King's response is to fall down prostrate. This is used in a sense of worship, to throw yourself down. It's used in connections with God or gods, this deity type thing. You throw yourself prostrate on the ground in total surrender. This is reinforced by the language of offering an incense, the sense of worship. Now he's trying to worship Daniel. And Daniel is busy trying to put all the praise and honour to God. He's passing it on in that sense. Your God, and Nebuchadnezzar says, your God is the God of gods, who is above all gods and kings and the revealer of mysteries. So Nebuchadnezzar got it. But was Nebuchadnezzar Christian at this point? No. Some people think he was. I don't think he was. I do not believe he was. From the rest, from what we will see, I do not believe he had fully got it. But he had this revelation of God as the God of gods, as the revealer of mysteries, as the God of heaven. He got this big view of God, but he hadn't quite personalised that view. Daniel is rewarded and his three friends are rewarded. Daniel is made almost like second in command and he is to stay in the king's court forever. That's why in Daniel chapter one it says he remained in the king's court until the first year of Cyrus. He had to stay, stay there. That could be a reason why he wasn't with Hananiah, Meshel and Azariah at the Fari furnace. That could be. Because they were given as administrators out among the people. They had to go out, like third in command, to go out and just make sure all the people were all okay. So they were out with the people, Daniel was in with the king, and you get this difference in responsibility that was given to them. But they were honored, and they were raised to a high level of office, which makes me think, wouldn't that make you sick if you were a wise man? I mean, they probably weren't even happy that those four men had saved their lives. But they got the prize, and they didn't. They got all the honor. And they didn't. Not a bit of wonder some years later, and we'll see how many years later, that they didn't like Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and wanted them burnt. So we'll get there soon. But as I said, as we draw this to an end, chapter 2 shows the world empires from man's point of view. Chapter 7 is the same world empires in God's sight, and they're like beasts. OK? But we'll get there. So that's chapter 2. A God who is in heaven, who is a revealer of mysteries and sovereign over the affairs of man. Amen. Let us go to prayer.