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I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter [Dan. 2:20–23].

This is one of the several recorded prayers of Daniel. Daniel was a man of purpose, a man of prayer, and a man of prophecy. God alone has revealed this secret to Daniel, and this is his tremendous prayer of thanksgiving. Now Daniel is ready to go in and ask again for an audience with the king.

Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch,whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him, Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will shew unto the king the interpretation [Dan. 2:24].

Quite obviously and, I think, logically, the king was rather skeptical. All of these wise men had not been able to come up with the dream and its interpretation, but here comes this young fellow Daniel who says he will be able to. The king asks him, “Do you mean to tell me that all the other wise men had no answer, but you think you can answer me? Maybe this is just another attempt of the wise men to stall for time!” His question sounds rather cynical, but Daniel has a marvelous answer for him:

But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these [Dan. 2:27–28].

Daniel immediately makes a distinction between the wisdom of Babylon and the wisdom of God. The apostle Paul wrote, “… hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” and also, “… the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:20, 25).

Daniel now has the unique privilege of introducing to the darkened mind of this pagan king the living and true God. He says, “There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” This is very important because it is going to be the emphasis in the Book of Daniel; this dream refers to the end of the times of the Gentiles.

The end of “the times of the Gentiles” runs concurrently with “the latter days” of the nation Israel: both come to their fulfillment during the Great Tribulation Period. The day in which you and I live is “man’s day.” Paul said in I Corinthians 4:3, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment [day]: yea, I judge not mine own self” We are living in the day of man.

It is also well to note that the term, “the times of the Gentiles,” is not synonymous with the term, “the fulness of the Gentiles.” Romans 11:25 says, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” The fulness of the Gentiles ends with the Rapture of the church. The terms, “the latter days” and “the times of the Gentiles,” are not synonymous with “the last days” of the church which come to a fulfillment at the Rapture and precede the Great Tribulation. “The times of the Gentiles” will continue right on into the Great Tribulation, and at that time God will again turn His attention back to the nation Israel.

But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart [Dan. 2:30].

The dream had to do with the future of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom and the outcome of his great world empire. Nebuchadnezzar was troubled about the future of this empire of which he suddenly found himself the possessor and dictator. The dream was God’s answer to his problem.

Daniel makes it clear that he himself deserves no credit, that God in heaven has revealed the dream, that God was prompted to reveal the dream to spare the lives of the wise men as well as to satisfy the curiosity of this man Nebuchadnezzar.

God is going to speak to Nebuchadnezzar in a language that he will understand, the language of the outward splendor and glory of his kingdom. In the dream God showed him the outward splendor of his kingdom. This dream was also the dream of a Gentile, and in it God spoke to him by using an image. The image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was not an image to be worshiped; but, because Nebuchadnezzar did fall down before images in the city of Babylon, God used an image in his dream. In this land of idolatry, such a vision was the only language Nebuchadnezzar could truly understand. Babylon was known as the fountainhead of pagan religion, the womb of heathen idols.

We will see in this section the history of the rule of this world by the Gentiles. Because of the failure of the house of David, God is now taking the scepter of this universe out from the hands of the line of David, and He is putting it in the hands of the Gentiles. It will be there until Jesus Christ comes again to this earth. Then Christ will take the seepter and rule on this earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. From the day of Nebuchadnezzar right on down through our day until the Lord comes to reign is “the times of the Gentiles.”

That is, the image excited terror—it was aweinspiring. It was very glamorous, terrific, and stupendous. As Daniel began to describe the dream, I wish that I could have been there to see the expression on Nebuchadnezzar’s face change from cynicism to unconcealed amazement. When Daniel began to say, “You saw a great image, the brightness of which was terrific and stupendous,” I think the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar lighted up. He shifted to the edge of his throne and said, “Boy, that’s it! You are starting out right!”

When Daniel said this, I think the king again said, “Boy, you are exactly right!” Now Nebuchadnezzar is prepared to listen to the interpretation. Tregelles has said of this dream: “Here all is presented as set before the king according to his ability of apprehension—the external and visible things being shown as man might regard them.” As we have said, God is speaking to him in a language that he can understand.

This tremendous image that is before him just stands there. There is no movement at all. It is simply awe-inspiring, glamorous, terrific, and stupendous. The head was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet were iron and clay mixed together. The image therefore consisted of a very strange assortment of metals. It was not an alloy of metals, but a multimetallic image of four metals plus a silicon (that is, sand or clay).

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth [Dan. 2:34–35].

We will get the interpretation of this later on. We will let Daniel give the interpretation—we do not need to guess about it at all. The thing to note here is that, as Nebuchadnezzar beheld the image in awe and wonder, the stone, coming from beyond the environs of the image and without human origin or motivation, smote the image on the feet of iron and clay with such force that all the metals were pulverized. Then a wind blew the dust of the image away, so that it entirely disappeared. Then the stone began to grow as a living stone, and it filled the whole world, taking the place of this image.

Nebuchadnezzar was the first great world ruler. I think that this was God’s ideal for Adam—he was given dominion, but he lost it. The world has known four great world rulers; there have been four great nations who have attempted to rule the world. They all just butchered the job—none of them made a real success of it—but the first one, Nebuchadnezzar, did the best job.

Daniel immediately began to interpret the dream. The different metals represent world empires. Nebuchadnezzar is identified as the head of gold. He exercised rulership over the then-known world. No one questioned his authority. His was an absolute monarchy, and there have been very few since then, by the way. More is said about this Babylonian empire in other sections of the Bible, including Daniel 5:18–19 and Jeremiah 27:5–11. Through Jeremiah God said: “I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come …” (Jer. 27:5–7). God made Nebuchadnezzar the one at the top; He made him the first great world ruler, and there has been none like him since then.

The kingdom which will come after Nebuchadnezzar will be inferior to his. The third one will be inferior to the second, and the fourth will be inferior to the third. That means the fourth one is the worst form of all. That is where we are today.

There are two kingdoms mentioned in this verse. The arms of silver represent Media and Persia. In Daniel 5:28 we are told the future of the Babylonian kingdom: “Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” We don’t need to speculate as to who the second kingdom is—it is made clear. Remember that Daniel lived in both the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom of Media-Persia. We read in Daniel 6:8, “Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.”

And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ 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.

This is a remarkable passage of Scripture. More attention is directed to this fourth kingdom than to the other three kingdoms put together. Four verses are used here by Daniel to describe it and interpret it. Only one verse, verse 39, is used to describe the second and third kingdoms, the Medo-Persian and the Graeco-Macedonian empires.

The fourth kingdom is the kingdom of the latter days. Remember that Daniel had told Nebuchadnezzar that that was the reason for the image. God is speaking to Nebuchadnezzar, an idol worshiper, through this image, and He is telling Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. He is a world ruler, and he is concerned about where it is all going to end. My friend, we are living in the period of the latter days, and that is still the question today: What is this world coming to?

We need to stand back and look at this image again for a moment. It is awe-inspiring and of tremendous size. I think it towered over the entire plain of Babylon as Nebuchadnezzar saw it in his vision. It is a multimetallic image. It has a head of gold, and that speaks of Babylon. The breast and arms are of silver—Media-Persia. The brass is Graeco-Macedonia. The legs are of iron, and that is Rome. In the feet, clay is inserted into the iron, which is the last form of the Roman Empire.

The image represents four empires, and there are several observations to be made about them. There is a definite deterioration from one kingdom to another, and this is made clear in several very specific ways. This deterioration is contrary to modern philosophy and opinion. Our viewpoint today is that we are all getting better and better every day: evolution is at work, and it is onward and upward forever. We feel that we have the best form of government and that we are superior people—neither of which is true. The human race has always liked to pat itself on the back as Little Jack Horner did:

5. The division of sovereignty: the definite division of sovereignty denotes weakness. Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold, but there are two arms of the Medo-Persian empire, The Babylonian Empire was strong because there was not that division. The Graeco-Macedonian Empire begins with one, but soon is divided into four. Rome has two legs of iron but it eventuates into ten toes which are composed of both iron and clay.

In the United States today we like to believe we have the very best form of government, and people eagerly say they “believe in democracy.” Actually, our form of government is not a democracy, but a representative form of government. No one asks me to come to Washington, D.C., to make any decisions. There are many who do go to Washington to tell them how to do it, and I think somebody needs to tell them. The problem is that it is the wrong people who are doing the telling. I am of the opinion that a democracy is really not the best form of government.

God’s form of government is going to be just exactly like that head of gold, only the ruler will be that Rock that is “cut out without hands”—none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is going to reign over this earth, and He is not going to ask anybody for advice about it. He will not have a Congress, and He will not have a Cabinet, and He will not be calling upon you to vote for Him. In fact, if you don’t make a decision for Him in this life, my friend, you just won’t be there at all. Don’t rebel against that fact, because this happens to be His world—He created it. You and I are just little pygmies running around down here. God has as much right to remove you and me from this little world as I have to remove those ants that get into my house and yard. I set out poison for those fellows—I want to get rid of them. Why? Because they don’t fit into my program. There are a lot of us who don’t fit into God’s program. This is His world, and He is going to make it to suit Himself.

God’s form of government is going to be one of the most strict forms of government that the world has ever seen. I do not think a rooster is going to crow in that day without His permission to do so. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to be a dictator, and if you are not willing to bow to Him, I don’t think you would even want to be in His kingdom when He establishes it here upon the earth. Maybe it is good that He has another place for folk like that, because it will not be pleasant for them to be here—they wouldn’t enjoy it at all. God’s form of government is the absolute rule of a king, the sovereignty of one ruler. It is going to be autocratic, dictatorial, and His will is going to prevail. That is the reason it is well for you and me to practice bowing to Him and acknowledging Him. He is going to take over one of these days.

Before we move on, we need to notice one more thing: No great world power follows Rome. The Roman Empire is the last, and it will be in existence in the latter days. Actually, it exists today. All of these other empires were destroyed by an enemy from the outside, but no enemy destroyed Rome. Attila the Hun came in and sacked the city, but he was so awestruck by what he saw that he realized he could not handle it. He took his barbarians and left town. The Roman Empire fell apart from within—no enemy destroyed it. Rome is living in the great nations of Europe today: Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Spain are all part of the old Roman Empire. The laws of Rome live on, and her language also. No one speaks Latin today, but it is basic to understanding French, Spanish, and other languages. Her warlike spirit lives on also: Europe has been at war ever since the empire broke up into these kingdoms.

What is happening in Europe today? There is a new psychological viewpoint developing. The young people there do not want to be called Italians or Germans; they like to be called Europeans. Such thinking is creating a basis for the man who is coming someday to put the Roman Empire back together again. He is known in Scripture as the Man of Sin, or the Antichrist. They have a Common Market in Europe today, and they may be well along in restoring the Roman Empire. But not until God takes down the roadblock will that man appear and all this come to fruition. Because he is Satan’s man, God will not let him appear until He has called out His people to His name. When He has done that, He will remove His church from the earth. God is carrying out His program whether it looks like that or not.

You see, the Roman Empire fell apart like Humpty-Dumpty. There have been a lot of men who tried to put it together again, but they have not succeeded. That was one of the missions of the Roman Catholic church at the beginning. Also, Charlemagne attempted to put it back together. Napoleon tried to do so, and also several emperors of Germany. Hitler and Mussolini attempted it, but so far the man has not yet appeared who will accomplish it. God is not quite ready for him to appear.

What will be the final end of this last kingdom, the kingdom of iron mixed with clay? The clay, I believe, represents the masses, the different nations of the ten toes. The iron speaks of the fact that Rome lives on in this final form of the old empire. How is it all going to end? We are given the answer in this concluding section of chapter 2.

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.

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 [Dan. 2:44–45].

The Antichrist, or the Man of Sin (he has about thirty-five aliases in Scripture), is the one who will bring back the Roman Empire. He will be a world dictator—he will rule the world just as Nebuchadnezzar did at the beginning (see Rev. 13). That is an ideal form of government, but if the wrong man is at the top, it is horrible. This was true of Nebuchadnezzar, as we will see, and it will certainly be true of the Antichrist.

When the Lord Jesus comes, He is going to rule as an autocratic ruler, and He is going to put down all rebellion against Him: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps. 2:9). I don’t think He wants me to apologize for Him today. If you don’t like it, I suggest you get on the next trip to the moon or Mars and get off this earth. He is going to take over this earth, and I think He may take over the place you choose, also. This is His universe—it belongs to Him.

“The stone [which] was cut out of the mountain without hands” represents none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a man; this is God’s Anointed. The Lord Jesus Himself made it clear that He is that Stone. In His day there were probably more people who understood what He was saying than there are today. In Matthew 21:44 He said, “And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” He is the Stone, the living Stone, the foundation—“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). If you fall on that Stone—that is, rest in Him by faith, come just as you are without one plea but that His blood was shed for you—you are broken, you come as a sinner, with nothing to offer. But He is a wonderful Stone to rest upon.

The Stone is one of many figures of speech in Scripture which speak of Christ in His office as both Savior and Judge. He is the Rock of salvation (see Deut. 32:15), and He is the Rock of judgment (see Deut. 32:4).

These verses in Daniel speak of the time when He is coming to the earth as Judge to put down earth’s rebellion against God. The reference here is to the second coming of Christ to the earth, which is depicted for us in detail in Revelation 19:11–21. His coming is going to be climactic, catastrophic, and cataclysmic. It is mentioned again and again in Scripture (see Zech. 14:1–3; Joel 3:2, 9–16 Isa. 34:1–8; Ps. 2).

Man’s boast of ruling this earth and establishing a utopia will end in the dismal destruction of this so-called civilization. It is hard for us to get this fact in our thinking: We live in a world that is judged. This world is not on trial. I hear people say, “I’ll take my chances.” My unsaved friend, you do not have a chance. You are lost. You are without God. You have no capacity for God. All you have in your heart is perhaps a little desire to be religious. You’d like to win a few more ribbons for going to Sunday school—you don’t intend to miss a Sunday. But, my friend, you need to trust Christ as Savior, and that is not easy to do, is it? It is not easy to bow to Him and to acknowledge Him. However, either you are going to come to that Stone, or that Stone is coming to you. I’d rather come to the Stone.

God is going to end man’s little day down here. God’s kingdom will prevail, and for one thousand years the earth will be tested under the personal reign of Christ. Apart from a brief moment in which Satan and sin will be permitted to make their last assault on the righteous reign of God, the kingdom will continue on into eternity (see Rev. 20).

The effect of Daniel’s interpretation upon Nebuchadnezzar is so profound that he actually worships Daniel and commands others to do likewise. He doesn’t know any better; he only knows the worship of physical objects, and he intends thus to worship the living and true God. This was his introduction to the God of heaven. In this book we can watch the growth of faith in the heart of this idolatrous king. It will break through the darkness of paganism, and he is going to come into the marvelous light of the knowledge of God.

Sitting in the gate of the king is a practice that is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. In Genesis, Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; that meant that he was a judge. And in the Book of Esther, Mordecai was also given that office—he sat in the gate as a judge.

Daniel now is rewarded and elevated by Nebuchadnezzar, but he does not forget his three Hebrew friends. They likewise receive high positions in the government of Babylon. This young boy Daniel is moved into a position of sitting in the gate. He was a judge, a Supreme Court Justice, but he also acted in the capacity of prime minister. Throughout this book we will find that he is the one with whom Nebuchadnezzar confers. He judges the people, and he is also prime minister of the kingdom of Babylon.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up [Dan. 3:1–2].

Some scholars think that Nebuchadnezzar constructed this image in memory of his father, Nabopolassar. Others are equally convinced that he made it to Bel, the pagan god of Babylon. It is more likely that he made it of himself. Daniel had declared that Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold in the image of his dream. Instead of humbling himself before God, the dream caused Nebuchadnezzar to be filled with excessive pride, and he made an entire image of gold to represent the kingdom he had built.

The image was sixty cubits high and six cubits in breadth—that was a pretty good-sized image. A cubit is approximately eighteen inches, which would make the image ninety feet high. Babylon was situated on a plain, surrounded by flat country. Although it was a city of skyscrapers for its day, the sheer height of the image made it visible for a great distance. The plain of Dura was like an airport—flat and expansive—allowing a great multitude to assemble for the worship of the image, actually the worship of the king.

All the leaders and government officials were present for the dedication of the image. Only the big brass were invited, and they were to sell this project to the people. This was the first step in the brainwashing program. These bureaucrats comprised a great company.

What did Nebuchadnezzar really have in mind in making this image? We can observe here three things: (1) The making of this image shows the rebellion of Nebuchadnezzar against the God of heaven who had given him world dominion. Instead of gratitude, this is a definite act of rebellion. (2) This also shows his vaunted pride in making an image which evidently was self-deification. The Roman emperors also attempted this later on. (3) Obviously, Nebuchadnezzar was seeking a unifying principle to weld together the tribes and tongues and peoples of his kingdom into one great totalitarian government. In other words, he was attempting to institute a world religion. This was nothing in the world but a repetition of the tower of Babel—a forming of one religion for the world.

There are many who are working toward a world religion today, including the denominations which make up the World Council of Churches. They are moving toward a world religion, and, my friend, they are going to leave Jesus out altogether. All of these attempts are not toward the worship of the living and true God; they actually oppose Him. It is a movement which is going to lead to the Great Tribulation Period, to the Man of Sin, and the False Prophet. This, of course, is after the true church is removed from the earth (the true church is all those who make up the body of believers). Every believer in Christ—whoever he is, whatever his color of skin, whatever his denomination, if he is trusting Christ—will all go out together.

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 3:536-544