Hello Friends!
Welcome Back! Let’s continue our study of “Daniel’s Devotion” from God’s Word…
Daniel’s
Devotion (Part 2)
March 25, 2014 was the 57th anniversary of the signing of the "Treaty of Rome"
signed by the European leaders in the city of Rome. More on the significance of
this day below. But first, let’s look to our reading for today…
To begin with, “Nebuchadnezzar had dreams” and he was “troubled” to the point of loosing “sleep”:
Now in the second year of
Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so
troubled that his sleep left him. Then the king gave the command to call the
magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king
his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said to them,
“I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream” – Daniel
2:1-3
We then see Daniel had
been summoned by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar to tell him his “dream” and
to interpret it for him:
Then Daniel went to his house,
and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,
that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so
that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men
of Babylon. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel
blessed the God of heaven – Daniel
2:17-19
God gifted Daniel with the
ability to reveal the dream to the Babylonian King and to interpret it for
him:
But there is a God in heaven
who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be
in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed,
were these – Daniel 2:28
The dream that King
Nebuchadnezzar had was of an image of a man with a head of gold, chest and arms
of silver, his belly and thighs of brass, two legs of iron and ten toes of iron
and clay mixed. There was a Stone that hit the image of the man and broke it
into pieces:
This image’s head was of fine
gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of
iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was
cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and
broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the
gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing
floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the
stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth – Daniel 2:32-35
Daniel's interpretation of
the King's dream was actually the revelation of the "empires" of the
coming Gentile world powers from the times of Daniel until the times of the
Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar that he was the
"head of gold" – the first of the Gentile world powers.
The passages found later
in chapters 7 & 8 give us the understanding that the Medo-Persian Empire followed by the Grecian Empire and the Roman Empire would take Gentile history
all the way to a time when the "ten toes" would appear – the "Revived Roman Empire" of the
future...
As mentioned above, in 1957 a group of European leaders met to
sign the "Treaty of Rome" in Italy in which I believe set the stage
for the European Union of
today. A very close investigation of the EU
reveals that it is at least an "infrastructure" of the fulfillment of
Daniel's prophecy of the "ten toes" which will become ten nations,
kings or regions…
The key verse to notice
about this prophecy is noted as "the days of
these kings":
And in the days of these kings
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the
kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever – Daniel
2:44
The Creator God of heaven
will destroy these “kings” and set up the kingdom that Jesus
Christ will rule and reign over at His Second Coming – The 1000-Year Millennial Kingdom.
This interpretation of these prophecies from Daniel fits the prophecies of John
the Revelator in his book of prophecy:
The
beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit
and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names
are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they
see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven
mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have
fallen, one is, and the other
has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast
that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is
going to perdition. “The ten horns which you
saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive
authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they
will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the
Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of
kings; and those who are with
Him are called, chosen, and
faithful.” Then he said to me, “The waters which you
saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. And
the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her
desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it
into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their
kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman whom
you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth – Revelation 17:8-18
The evidence is very
strong that we are living in those days…
Thank you for reading! Don’t miss next week’s continued
investigation of Daniel’s Devotion…
May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect
love, mercy and grace!
Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah
and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!
Blessings!
Shane <><
