In Daniel Chapter 2, we are told of an important event that will show how accurate Bible prophecy
is. One night king Nebuchadnezzar had a
dream that really upset him but he could not remember it. He called all his wise men and asked them to
tell him the dream and what it meant, but they could not. Word got around the palace that the king was furious and had decreed that all
the wise men should be killed. When
Daniel heard this he went to the king and asked for time to learn what the
dream was and what it meant. The king
granted his request and Daniel got with his friends for an urgent prayer
meeting.
“You,
O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue,
which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you,
and its appearance was awesome. The head
of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its
belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and
partly of clay. You continued looking
until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet
of iron and clay and crushed them. Then
the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the
same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind
carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a
great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel 2:31-35
Read'n Grow Picture Bible Illustrations (Biblical illustrations by Jim Padgett, courtesy of Sweet Publishing, Ft. Worth, TX, and Gospel Light, Ventura, CA. Copyright 1984.)
The king had
dreamed of a statue made of different kinds of materials. The head was gold, the breast and arms were
silver, the belly and thighs were bronze, the legs were iron, and the feet were
a mixture of iron and clay. But in the
dream a stone came flying at the statue’s feet and pulverized the entire
statue. Then the stone itself grew to be
a huge mountain, so big that it filled the entire earth.
“You
are the head of gold. After you there
will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze,
which will rule over all the earth. Then
there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and
shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and
break all these in pieces. In that you
saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a
divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you
saw the iron mixed with common clay. As
the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the
kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with
common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they
will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. In the days of those kings the God of heaven
will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not
be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms,
but it will itself endure forever.
Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without
hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the
gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the
future…” Daniel 2:38-45
