THE INTERPRETATION OF KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM.
Last week we gave the description of the image which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, saw in a dream, as recorded in Dan. 2:31-35. To briefly repeat, the image comprised a head of fine gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet of mingled iron and clay. Through a vision from God, Daniel had told the dream to the king; and then by way of interpretation, he said:— “Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 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 forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break 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.” Dan. 2:38-45. The Lord’s purpose in giving this dream to Nebuchadnezzar was, that the interpretation of it by His prophet should make known to the king what should be the future history of the world. This had been a matter of great anxiety to the king, and the Lord utilized this anxiety for the purpose of showing him that all human government should come to an end, and be permanently succeeded by the kingdom of God. In short, the image and its destruction was an object lesson in the proclamation of the Gospel to the king, and Daniel was the preacher. But the illustration and the sermon had the further purpose of teaching the same truth to all future generations; for the apostle Paul tells us that “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Rom. 15:4. It will be noted that from head to feet the material of the image degenerated in quality. As the image is illustrative of the world’s political history to the end of time, this degeneracy of the material of the image surely indicates a degeneracy of worldly conditions until the coming kingdom of God shall utterly annihilate human rule forever. Just as corruption so permeated the world before the Flood that its destruction became necessary, so it will be at the coming of the Lord. See Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-30. There will be this difference in the result, however,—the kingdom of Christ, instead of another fallible human administration, will take the place of the old order. “A King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” Isa. 32:1; Matt. 19:28. “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.” Isa. 32:17. So far history has verified the assurance of the prophet, that “the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” This “head of fine gold” as compared with all successors, was “the lady of kingdoms” (Isa. 47:5), but it became so corrupt under the kings that succeeded Nebuchadnezzar, that it could no longer stand, and another took its place. The kingdom of the Medes and Persians succeeded Babylon (Dan. 5:25-31), and therefore answered to the breast and arms of silver in the image. This was also a kingdom with universal sway, for King Darius sent decrees to “all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth.” Ch. 6:25, 26. Grecia succeeded Medo-Persia, as shown in the vision of Daniel 8 and its interpretation, and specifically stated in verses 20 and 21. Alexander of Macedon was enabled to utterly overthrow the Medo-Persian rule, and to make himself king. But, notwithstanding this superior physical power, the quality of the Grecian kingdom was as brass compared with silver; perhaps not in the opinion of men, but surely it was so in the judgment of God. That the great universal kingdom of Rome grew up from a germ of revolution in the far western part of the Grecian Empire, and finally became mistress of the world, is so well known that it needs only to be cited as a fact in the application of it to the interpretation of the image under consideration. It was indeed the fourth universal kingdom, and never since has there been any other. That it was universal, the Sacred Record shows; for it tells us that just before the birth of Christ, “there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus [Emperor of Rome], that all the world should be taxed.” Luke 2:1. This kingdom was “strong as iron,” and no power on earth has compared with Rome in the matter of breaking in pieces and subduing other powers and peoples. But the strength of her power eventually became weakness. From the strength of iron, Rome went to pieces, becoming simply a mixture of iron and clay, that could not be welded. She passed into a condition of hopeless division, the parts of which never have been and never can be united. Various attempts have been made to establish universal empire, but all have failed, and all such efforts must inevitably fail; for “the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” Therefore the next universal kingdom that will dominate the earth will be that one represented by the stone cut out without hands—a kingdom set up by the God of heaven, which will not only “break in pieces,” but will “consume” all human powers, and “it shall stand forever.” This is also recorded in the second psalm, which should be read in this connection.