DANIEL 2:44

The Bible says in Daniel 2:44-45, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.[45] Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” In contrast to the kingdoms of man is the kingdom of God. There are several things said about the kingdom of God. The first is that it is an eternal kingdom. It says in verse 44 that this kingdom “shall never be destroyed.” Everything in this world is temporary: every person, every thing, and every kingdom.

It is nice to know that something is permanent: the kingdom of God. Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom of God and the importance of becoming a member of it. Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven early in His ministry. Jesus said in Matthew 3:2, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Of course, this statement tells how to get into the kingdom: by repenting of one’s sins. In Matthew chapter 4 the devil offered Jesus “the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,” but Jesus knew the limited nature and the corruption of the kingdoms of the world; and the offer had no value to Jesus. Too bad that more people do not understand the meaning behind the image that was revealed to King Nebuchadnezzar, and too bad that more people do not understand the value of the Kingdom of God as taught by Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter 5 in what we call the beatitudes, Jesus described the characteristics of the people who end up in His kingdom. For example, Jesus said in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Admit your poverty and God will make you rich, spiritually speaking. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus made it very clear how to get into the Kingdom of heaven: you must know the Lord Jesus personally. Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.[22] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?[23] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Jesus told many parables about the Kingdom of heaven, such as those in Matthew chapter 13. For example, Jesus said in Matthew 13:38-42, “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;[39] The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.[40] As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.[41] The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;[42] And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” In total I counted between 55 and 60 times that Jesus mentioned the kingdom of heaven in His teachings in the book of Matthew. It seems that it was a very important subject to Jesus. Be careful which kingdoms that you spend your time talking about. Is it better to talk about a kingdom that is passing away or one that will last forever?

An interesting point to make about the Kingdom of heaven is that it will have its final manifestation when it replaces the kingdoms of this world. That day has not yet come, but it will come when Jesus returns and defeats the armies of the nations of the world at the Battle of Armageddon. But even though the outward manifestation of the Kingdom of heaven has not yet taken place, the kingdom of heaven does already exist. That is referred to in Daniel

It is interesting to consider “the stone” that is mentioned in Daniel 2:45. The stone is Christ. Jesus is the King of kings, for one reason because His kingdom is the greatest of the kingdoms. One purpose of a stone is to crush certain objects. For example, in other times a millstone was used to crush grain. Jesus will crush all the kingdoms of the world including those seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Another purpose for a stone is to build something. A house made of stone is the strongest of all houses. The Bible says in Matthew 21:42, “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?” The Kingdom of heaven is built upon Jesus: who He is and what He has done for each believer. Notice that Daniel 2:44 says that the stone “was cut out of the mountain without hands.” This probably refers to the virgin birth and Christ’s divine origin. Human beings have no solutions to the problems of the world. Human beings cannot fix what ails all these nations. What human beings have done is made a mess of the nations. We need the Savior. We need a better king than any human king can ever be. Jesus is that king. That is one of the reasons that the virgin birth is so important. It is important that we have someone who is not from the normal human lineage. Anyone from the normal human lineage would fail because of the weakness that is inherent in human nature. Thank God that Jesus is God. What a great kingdom that He will set up!

It is interesting to consider some more possibilities about the fourth kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. This fourth kingdom is the Roman Empire. The fourth kingdom is described as being made up of iron mingled with clay. It is clear that the fourth kingdom is the Roman Empire. This means that the Roman Empire still exists, because the Roman Empire is the last of the four kingdoms, and the Roman Empire will be present when Jesus returns and crushes it. The Roman Empire was broken up and went into remission, but it did not disappear. By the way that fact just might answer the question as to where does America fit into Bible prophecy. Not just America, but most of the countries in North and South America, as well as Australia and New Zealand, are in a very real sense just as much a part of the dismembered Roman Empire as the other European countries. After all, our foundation, our language, our human lineage, and our history all are derived from Europe. We see that the image of Nebuchadnezzar was mentioned as having ten toes. We can imagine these toes spread out in such a way that one or more of them encompass the Americas. The inherent weakness in the Roman Empire explains why it fell out of power and formed into the various countries of Europe. The weakness also explains why America had its civil war and why the current people in power are constantly divided: it is in the nature of the Roman Empire to not be able to stay together. It is made of iron mingled with clay. The iron is very strong, but the clay is very weak. Yes, it is possible that the Americas branched off from Europe always to remain a branch; but it is also possible that the Americas will be branched back into the reconstituted Roman Empire of the last days, which means that it will be destroyed along with all the other nations at the return of the Christ. Bible prophecy gives no exceptions to the nations that the Stone will crush. He will crush all of them.

The book of Revelation also uses the word “ten” in reference to this final world kingdom that will exist in the last days. For example, ten horns are associated with the devil in Revelation 12:1-4, “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:[2] And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.[3] And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.[4] And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” Ten horns are also mentioned in reference to the antichrist in Revelation 13:1-2, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.[2] And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Revelation 17:12 explains the ten horns. It says, “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.” The ten kings represent ten countries who give their power to the antichrist. This does not mean that the final manifestation of the Roman Empire has to be made up of only ten countries. Perhaps it just means that ten countries are the decision-makers. It is likely that the ten toes of Daniel chapter 2 represent the same thing as the ten crowns of Revelation chapters 13 and 17.

The Bible says in Daniel 2:46-49, “Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.[47] The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.[48] Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.[49] Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.” In his own personal life King Nebuchadnezzar is starting to come around. He was starting to realize that there was something different about Daniel, and Meshach, and Shadrach, and Abednego. Notice what King Nebuchadnezzar said in verse 47, “Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.” We see one of the good results that took place when Israel was conquered by Babylon and many of the Jewish people were taken captive to Babylon. Because at least some of those Jewish people were faithful servants to the Lord, the heathen people heard the truth about God from the Jewish captives.

But Nebuchadnezzar still had a lot to learn. He made a big mistake in regards to the worship of God in the next chapter. It say in Daniel 3:1-7, “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.[2] Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.[3] Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.[4] Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,[5] That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:[6] And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.[7] Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” What Nebuchadnezzar did here probably made a lot of sense to him. He was a heathen and undoubtedly brought up in heathen religion. He had just had a vision sent from God that caused him to see a great image with a head of gold, and that gold was representative of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom of Babylon. Of course, we know that he was very wrong. Eventually, Nebuchadnezzar would learn the truth. God uses all things, even the foolishness of Nebuchadnezzar. This punishment of casting into the burning fiery furnace whoever did not obey the decree would be used by God to demonstrate His faithfulness to His children, no matter how difficult or dangerous their circumstances. God is grater than any king. You can trust in Jesus to protect you no matter what man may do.

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