Truth Project: King Nebuchadnezzar

Welcome to Truth Matters Saturday with Dr. Cheryl Davis as she explores deeper into the prophetic message found in the book of Daniel. Today Dr. Davis shares the profound dream of King Nebuchadnezzar and the statue of the five empires of man. Four of the five that Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of have come to pass, and the final one is yet to come. It will be the empire of the Antichrist, which is emerging now in the European Union. As we see this happen, there will be a great shaking among nations. Nations will rise and nations will fall as stars from the sky. This will be a sign of the rapture of the church, the time of Jacob's trouble and salvation, and God's judgment on the nations.

Here's Dr. Davis, God's man for the moment. So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time that he might tell the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house and made the decision known to Hananiah, Michel, Nazariah, his companions, that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Notice how Daniel responds under extreme situations of stress.

Basically, we learn in verse 13. And so the decree went out and Arioch is the executioner and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them. So Arioch obviously comes to Daniel's home.

He's the captain of the king's guard as he's gone out to kill all the wise men of Babylon. Daniel still attempts to reason and negotiate with Arioch the same negotiation, the skill that God has given him in chapter one. And he asked Arioch, what is the matter of the king?

Why is it so urgent? And God probed Arioch to make the decision known to Daniel. You know, we see the Holy Spirit working on all characters involved. So Daniel exhibited courage at this point where he could have easily cowered in the corner to say, so be it. You know, the king has made the decree.

I'm not going to do anything against that. But Daniel went in and shows bravery and asked the king to give him time that he might tell the king the interpretation. Notice he did not ask the king for what the dream was. He knew that God had gifted him with wisdom as well as understanding and visions and dreams. And he did not necessarily have faith in himself, but he had faith in his God that he would be able to interpret it. So the king said, yes, actually, you know, the king gave him time. And I think that's the favor that God gave for Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar.

But interestingly, he goes back to his home and makes the decision known to his friends. And these are friends that are godly. You know, these are not just other wise men, other Chaldeans, other astrologers. Notice he goes to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, the same people who purposed in their heart not to defile God along with Daniel. There's a key point here that when you're going through struggles, you're going through stressful times and you need someone to pray, you just don't go to any random person on the street.

You need to have friends in your circle that can approach the throne of heaven that will keep their situations to themselves, but will approach and pray and share in your burden and cast their burdens on God as well along with you so that the Holy Spirit can move in your situation. In verse 19 through 23, we see God working Daniel's life again. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Bless 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 raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who are understanding. He reveals deep and secret things.

He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers. You have given me wisdom and might, and you have now made known to me what we ask of you.

You have made known to us the king's demand. God revealed the dream to Daniel in a night vision. But first, Daniel doesn't immediately go to Nebuchadnezzar and say, Hey, King, I got the answer to your dream. He praises and thanks God. And I think that's an important lesson for us that when there's dispensations from heaven or even answers in prayer, oftentimes we can forget where they come from.

We need to credit God and praise God for the things that he does for us and for who he is, especially for sending his son on the cross to die for our sins so that all this is possible. And moving on to verses 24 through 30. Therefore, Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and says 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 Belteshazzar, 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 and soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were these. As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on 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 anyone living. But for our sakes, who make known the interpretation of the king, that you may know the thoughts of your heart. Interestingly, you know, Daniel is very brave to approach the king. He is the the dream is revealed to him by God. He praises God. And then he goes to Arioch. But notice how Arioch responds to Nebuchadnezzar. He goes to Nebuchadnezzar in verse 25 and says, I have found a man. Arioch takes the credit for himself and finding a man for interpretation. But really, Daniel is the one that approached Nebuchadnezzar on his behalf to ask for more time. Daniel gives credit above the impotent astrologers, magicians and soothsayers. He says the secret which the king demanded, they really can't declare it.

And really, they had already said that before. They, you know, they know their limitations, but he's reinforcing that with Nebuchadnezzar. But he gives credit to God where he says there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. And really, this is Nebuchadnezzar's first encounter with God.

And he doesn't take credit himself. Daniel is very humble, which I think is a perfect example of how we should be, he says. But as for me, the secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living. It is because God wants to make known the interpretation to the king that you may know the thoughts of your heart. It's important for us to know the example in the life of Daniel, as that is how we are to live as Christians. We are to live righteously and we are to praise God for his deliverance.

But we're also to give the credit to God for what God does and not take the credit for ourselves and not be prideful and boastful. Moving on to verses 31 through 45, we get into the dream and its interpretation. You, O 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's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. The iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed together and became like shaft from the summer threshing floors.

The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found, and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This is the dream. Now we will tell you 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 heaven, he has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all.

You are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, and as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. But as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. You saw iron mixed with ceramic clay.

They will 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 be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, 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. This dream is very interesting, and really the purpose of it is to show Nebuchadnezzar the future. The dream is a witnessing of the transfer of the world's power from the Jews to the Gentile rulers. Prior to Babylon, the Jews were the world power at the time. They were a theocracy. God was their king. That was the gold standard until they asked for a king, and the first anointed king was Saul, the second one was David, and a long history of some good kings, but mostly wicked kings. But this dream is a witnessing of the transfer from the Jews to the Gentiles, being the rulers of the modern world at that time. There are four empires in this dream, so the world kingdoms will have the authority to rule the world.

Let's start with the head. Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar that that head of fine gold is Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar ruled in 605 BC to Belshazzar in 539 BC. The chest and arms of silver are the Medes and the Persians. The Medes and the Persians became the world power from 539 BC to 332 BC. Those kings were King Cyrus to Darius III. After the Medes and the Persians of the Persian Empire, the belly and thighs of the statue made of bronze is Greece. It's Alexander the Great and the four divisions of his kingdom. He ruled from 332 BC to 63 BC. Troops were led by Alexander the Great, outnumbered two to one, yet they defeated Darius III of Persia at the battles of issues.

And we know that that is confirmed in history. And also, just to make a point about Alexander the Great, success without succession is failure. When Alexander the Great conquered the known world but could not conquer himself, he did not raise up a ruler.

And his kingdom was divided by his four generals, but basically it plunged his territories into civil war. Moving on to the statue and the legs of iron is Rome. Rome is known as the iron legions of Rome. Their moral character was depraved. They are the ones that invented crucifixion during Jesus' time for punishment. They ruled from 63 BC to somewhere between 395 and 476 BC.

But the feet, whose clay is mixed with iron, we have not seen that kingdom yet on the horizon. It is suspected that it is the revived Roman Empire consisting of ten kings or ten nations. But what does the statue mean? You know, the statue really shows the transfer of power over time, but there is more meaning into the statue. And I'd like to get into a couple points as far as what does the statue mean. The first point I'd like to cover is human government really stands on a delicate foundation.

If you look at the statue going from the head to the feet, the statue is really supported just by a mixture that is pure mud. We read of collapsing governments recently that have gone bankrupt. We see in the last year or two prime ministers or presidents resigning over protests and the voice of the people requesting them to resign. Governments are built on an unstable foundation of humanistic ideas, which is unpredictable and weak.

Ronald Reagan said that the nine worst words of the English language are, Hello, I am from the government and I am here to help. We have seen that even in the last six months within our country. You know, we had a booming economy. We appear to be a strong nation.

But when faced with an invisible virus, we've seen our country weaken and be driven in fear, shut up in our homes within 40 days. We are living in a time like no other, nations in distress, a pandemic causing fear, anxiety with threats of instability in the nations, rumors of war and rumors of an internal conflict within the U.S. that could divide the nation, as Alexander the Great experienced during his reign as he witnessed his Grecian empire divided into four kingdoms. Nations rise and nations fall.

Kings and presidents come and go. But there is one kingdom that shall stand forever and one king that shall reign supreme over the nations. The kingdom is the kingdom of God and the king is Jesus Christ, king of kings and lord of lords. This is ultimately where we are headed today. But before this great kingdom rules on earth, there is one earthly kingdom yet to come. That is the kingdom of the revised Roman Empire in modern Europe.

The formation of this kingdom is already underway and could rise quickly as we see our nation crumbling under the stress of political and racial division. But there is a better way for God's people. Dr. Davis and the Truth Project would encourage you to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ by accepting him as your lord and savior.

It's a simple process of confessing sin, believing that Jesus Christ rose from the grave and inviting him in prayer to be the lord of your life. If you are caught between faith and doubt, Dr. Davis would like to help you. You can reach her by email at Cheryl Davis at ProjectTruthMatters.com or connect with her on Facebook at Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Or you can write to her at The Truth Project, P.O. Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina, 28384. Please join us next Saturday at the same time as Dr. Davis continues her teaching from the Book of Daniel. Truth Matters Saturday is a ministry of The Truth Project, where truth is essential to all matters.