Daniel 2

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dreams(v1-13)

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream repeated that deeply trouble him to a point he could not sleep (v1). The wanted to know the meaning of the dream, so he choose to ask people what the dream was and the meaning of it. He did not want to tell what the dream was, so that when someone could tell it, his explanation would be trustable (v5).

We notice that Nebuchadnezzar was a cruel king, he would cut the magicians into pieces and their houses turned into plies of rubble (v5).

Daniel’s Prayer and Praise to God (v14-23)

When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard came to kill the magicians include Daniel and friends, Daniel urged his friends to pled for mercy from the God of heaven (v18). When God reveal the meaning of the dream to him, he praised the God of heaven.

Daniel’s praise to God reveals God is sovereign and He is in control of this world. “He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them” (v21)

Do you come to the Lord in prayers like Daniel and his friends? Do you remember to praise God when God answer your prayers?

God can still use dreams to communicate with people, but that is not His usual approach. In NT, God mainly guide believers through the Holy Spirit, and through His words. Be careful about claiming dreams as communication from God. Human brain is capable of generating dreams ourselves, and the enemy is capable to using dreams to lie and to attack man. “I am against those who prophesy false dreams” (Jer 23:32)

Explanation of the dream (v24-45)

• head made of pure gold – Babylon (636 BC – 539 BC)
• chest and arms of silver – Medo-Persian (539BC – 330 BC)
• belly thighs of bronze – Greece (330BC-63BC)
• Legs of iron – Rome (63BC – 475AD)
• feet of partly iron and partly backed clay – eastern and western rome
• A rock that became a huge mountain – Jesus Christ (v34,45)
• A kingdom that will never be destroyed – the kingdom of heaven

What we can learn from the dream:

1. The dream reveals that God is in control of history.
2. Human enterprises decline as time goes, the kingdom of heaven goes on forever
3. Iron mixed with clay. It will be difficult for things to hold together at the end of the age

This prophesies also is a extremely strong prove of the bible as words of God.

God, Daniel and Friends were exalted (v46-49)

• Nebuchadnezzar praised God (v47)
• Daniel was appointed as the ruler of the entire province of Babylon (v48)
• Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego became administrators over the province of Babylon (v49)
• What started as a disaster, through prayers and faithful to God, Daniel has turned it into a triumph, for God, and his people.