The Dream of the King
Chapter 2 of Daniel is about Nebuchadnezzar's dream and Daniel's discerning and interpretation of that dream. Nebuchadnezzar was king of the Babylonian empire, and Daniel, at the time, was a member of the exiles from Jerusalem who was placed in service to the king of Babylon. Daniel was a youth in his teens at the time of the dream.
As the account describes, Nebuchadnezzar has a vision or a dream one night while in bed. This dream disturbed him, and he wanted to know what it was about. So, he gave his wise men the task of interpreting the dream. However, the king's request was more challenging than just interpreting the spoken dream. It appears that the king wanted to ensure the interpretation's validity by requiring the wise men to first conjure up what the dream was and then interpret it. This was a helpless case for the magicians, enchanters, and astrologers of Nebuchadnezzer's court. In the words of these pitiful wise men, "There is not a man on earth who could meet the king's demand."
So, Nebuchadnezzar got mad and ordered all his wise men to be executed. But word got to Daniel, and this teenager had the chutzpah to go before the king and ask for a little more time to give him what he wanted. He was granted the time. Daniel returned to his house and got his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to pray for God to have mercy and reveal the king's dream. That night, while Daniel was likely pulling an all-nighter in prayer, God revealed what King Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt and what it meant.
But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
At the revelation of the dream, Daniel "praised the God of heaven." Verses 20 through 23 record Daniel's worship of the Lord. He finishes his praise with this statement, "For you have made known to us the king's matters." Of course, Daniel would not absolutely know that he had the right vision and interpretation until he talked with the king. But the way God delivered this revelation to Daniel must have been spectacular because there appears to be no doubt in this kid's mind that God revealed 100% of the dream and interpretation. The following day, Daniel stopped the execution of the wise men, the ungrateful lot who would later try to have Daniel eaten by lions, and he delivered God's revelation to the king.
Daniel begins, just as the wise men had, by telling the king: "No wise men, enchanters, magicians or astrologers can show the king the mystery that the king asked." "Uh-oh" may have been going through the court until Daniel followed up with, "But there is a God in heaven that reveals mysteries." Daniel put credit where credit was due, and Nebuchadnezzar received the testimony of the One True God for the first time. Daniel explains the king's dream, which involved a statue made with a gold head, silver chest, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of a clay and iron mixture. In the dream, a rock cut out of a mountain hits the statue and crushes the statue from the feet up to the head so that all the materials of the sculpture are scattered "like chaff on a threshing floor." The rock then becomes a mountain and "fills the whole earth."
That was the dream, and Daniel followed up with the interpretation. The cliff notes version is that each metal in the statue represented a kingdom, with Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian empire being the gold top. Each successive material going down the figure represented another kingdom taking over, with the feet of clay and iron being the last. The rock represented a kingdom to be set up by God. According to Daniel’s interpretation, this kingdom would not be "left to another person." In other words, the kingdom represented by the rock would not be a kingdom of man but the Kingdom of God. This kingdom would crush and scatter all previous kingdoms so that no human kingdom will ever rule over the earth again.
Due to the time that has passed since this interaction between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar and because of the historical succession of kingdoms since Babylon ruled, we know the dominions represented in the statue were Babylon (gold top), Persian (silver chest), Greek (bronze belly), and Roman (iron legs and the mixed clay feet). The rock is clearly identified in Daniel's interpretation as the Kingdom of God. Its arrival and crushing of the statue is during the mixed iron and clay kingdom of Rome. This would coincide with the coming of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, and the announcement of the Kingdom of God.
Now, let’s return to Daniel's praise for the God who reveals mysteries. We should note his final statement again. "For you have made known to us the king's matters." While Daniel's reference can indeed be appointed to understanding Nebuchadnezzar's dream, we should not forget that God also revealed to Daniel that this was a dream about the future. Daniel understood that in the future, God would establish a kingdom that would crush all human kingdoms. This new kingdom would have no human ruler, but rather, would be ruled by God alone. Therefore God is the King. If this is the case, then Daniel’s praises of God for revealing the "king's matters," may not only be speaking of the Babylonian king's dream. The given interpretation was also the revelation of the Eternal King's plan for the future. God had revealed and made known to humans, through Nebuchadnezzar's dream, a future Kingdom to come - a Kingdom built by God and ruled by God. A Kingdom that would fill the entire earth and have no comparison among humans.
That kingdom has come! It is the one Jesus announced in His ministry here on earth. It is the one that all believers in Christ share in and live under - for the rest of eternity. Are we familiar with this kingdom? Do we understand it? Are we taught about it, and do we discuss it? Or are we focusing on the world and its many distractions? Is our attention drawn to a fallen kingdoms that cannot eternally exist.
There is a Kingdom. It is already here. We will live in it for eternity. We should get to know it better.