READING • DANIEL 2
History from God's point of view
Human history often measures importance by power, wealth and empire. The Bible looks at history differently. It follows God's purpose, especially His dealings with Israel, and shows how that purpose reaches forward to the Kingdom of God on earth.
The Bible's history has a purpose
The Bible is not a complete history of every nation. It selects people and events that help us understand God's purpose with men and women. Israel has a central place in that record, but the hope offered through the Lord Jesus Christ extends to people of every nation.
Acts 7 provides a useful New Testament example: Stephen looks back through the history of Abraham, Joseph, Moses and Israel in order to explain God's continuing purpose. The same pattern can be seen throughout Scripture.
From Adam to Moses
PERSON
PLACE IN THE BIBLE STORY
ADAM
The first man. God created him very good, but he disobeyed God; sin and death then became part of human experience (Genesis 1–3).
NOAH
In a violent and corrupt age, Noah believed God and obeyed Him. God preserved Noah and his family through the Flood (Genesis 6–9).
ABRAHAM
Called 'the Friend of God'. He left Ur at God's command and received promises concerning descendants, land and blessing (Genesis 12).
ISAAC
Abraham's promised son, born when Abraham and Sarah were beyond the normal age for having children (Genesis 21).
JACOB
The son of Isaac. God gave him the name Israel. His twelve sons became the fathers of the tribes of Israel.
JOSEPH
Sold into Egypt by his brothers, yet God was with him and raised him to great authority. Later Jacob and his family came to Egypt (Genesis 37–50).
MOSES
Born to Israelite parents and brought up in Pharaoh's household. God used him to lead Israel out of Egypt and towards the land promised to their fathers.
God, Israel and idolatry
God gave Israel wise laws and called the people to worship Him alone. Yet they repeatedly turned aside to idols. An idol is anything that is given the place that belongs to the true God. In Bible times people worshipped carved images, heavenly bodies and other created things. Such objects could neither hear nor save.
A lesson for every age
Idolatry is not limited to statues. Anything that becomes more important to us than God can take an idol's place in the heart. The history of Israel therefore warns us as well as informing us.
Joshua, the Judges and the kings
After forty years in the wilderness, Israel entered the land of Canaan under Joshua. During the period of the Judges the people repeatedly turned away from God, suffered the consequences, cried to Him for help, and were delivered. God was their true King, but eventually the people asked for a human king like the surrounding nations.
PERIOD
KEY FIGURES
WHAT HAPPENED
ENTRY INTO CANAAN
Joshua
Joshua led Israel into the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
THE JUDGES
Judges of Israel
Cycles of disobedience, oppression, repentance and deliverance showed the need for faithful obedience to God.
UNITED KINGDOM
Saul, David, Solomon
Saul was the first king. David became the model of a king seeking God, and received promises fulfilled ultimately in Christ. Solomon succeeded him.
“Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.”
1 Chronicles 29:23 • King James Version
A divided kingdom and exile
After Solomon, the kingdom divided. The northern kingdom retained the name Israel, while the southern kingdom was called Judah. Both repeatedly turned away from God.
The Assyrian Empire conquered the northern kingdom and deported many of its inhabitants. It did not return as a restored northern kingdom. Later Judah was conquered by Babylon and many of its people were taken into captivity. After about seventy years, groups from Judah were allowed to return and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.
This history matters because the promises, the royal line of David and the hope of God's Kingdom continue through the biblical record even when human kingdoms rise and fall.
The New Testament
Several centuries after the close of the Old Testament period, God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament tells of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and of the formation of the first ecclesias. The gospel then went beyond Judea to people of many nations.
One continuing purpose
The Bible's story does not divide into unrelated Old and New Testaments. The promises and history of the Old Testament prepare the way for Christ, while the New Testament explains how those promises reach their fulfilment in him.
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
Daniel 2 gives a very different kind of view of history. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, dreamed of a great image. God revealed both the dream and its meaning to Daniel. The image represented a succession of kingdoms, followed finally by a kingdom established by God.
“Thou art this head of gold.”
Daniel 2:38 • King James Version
Daniel explicitly identifies Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian kingdom with the head of gold. He then speaks of another kingdom, a third kingdom of brass, and a fourth kingdom strong as iron. In the traditional interpretation followed in this course, these successive empires are understood as Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.
The image of Daniel 2
PART OF IMAGE
KINGDOM / PERIOD
SIGNIFICANCE
HEAD OF GOLD
Babylon
Daniel identifies Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom with the head of gold (Daniel 2:37–38).
BREAST & ARMS OF SILVER
Medo-Persia
The course identifies the second kingdom with the Medo-Persian Empire; Daniel later names Media and Persia in his prophecies.
BELLY & THIGHS OF BRASS
Greece
The third kingdom is identified with Greece; Daniel 8 explicitly names Greece in a later vision.
LEGS OF IRON
Rome
The fourth, exceptionally strong kingdom is traditionally identified with Rome.
FEET: IRON & CLAY
A divided political order
The mixture is strong in part and brittle in part, yet does not become one lasting, unified power.
The stone and the Kingdom of God
Nebuchadnezzar then saw a stone 'cut out without hands'. It struck the image, the image was broken, and the stone became a great mountain that filled the whole earth. The emphasis is that the final kingdom is not produced by ordinary human power: it is established by God.
“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.”
Daniel 2:34 • King James Version
This course understands the stone as pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God that will be established through him when he returns. Human kingdoms are temporary; God's Kingdom will endure.
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: ...”
Daniel 2:44 (excerpt) • King James Version
Why this prophecy matters
The lesson of Daniel 2 is larger than a list of empires. It teaches that God knows the course of history and that human power does not last for ever. The image begins with the splendour of Babylon and ends with the Kingdom that God Himself establishes.
Much of the sequence in the vision lies in the past. The final promise still directs our attention forward: God's Kingdom will replace human rule and will fill the earth. That is the same hope developed throughout the Bible and centred in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SUMMARY
God's purpose through history
1
The Bible gives history a purpose.
It concentrates on the people and events that reveal God's purpose, particularly His dealings with Israel and the promises that lead to Christ.
2
Israel’s history teaches spiritual lessons.
From Adam, Noah and Abraham through Moses, Joshua, the Judges and the kings, Scripture shows the consequences of faith, obedience and disobedience.
3
Human kingdoms rise and fall.
Israel's own kingdom divided and was overthrown, yet God's promises were not abandoned.
4
The Old and New Testaments belong together.
The Old Testament prepares for Christ, and the New Testament shows the gospel being preached to people of all nations.
5
Daniel 2 presents a sequence of kingdoms.
The course understands the image as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and the divided order represented by iron and clay.
6
God’s Kingdom is the climax.
The stone 'without hands' represents a kingdom established by God, not by human power, and it ultimately fills the whole earth.
7
The prophecy gives us hope.
Human empires are temporary, but God's promised Kingdom will never be destroyed.
Chapter to read
Acts 7
LEARN BY HEART • DANIEL 2:44
“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.”
Daniel 2:44 • King James Version
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