The king had a dream. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a huge statue: The head of the statue was made of pure 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 baked clay, Daniel 2: 32ff. Daniel interpreted the dream for the king. See Daniel 2: 1--49. 1. The head of pure gold represents the Babylonian kingdom, 612--539 BC. The Babylonians invaded Israel in 605 BC, and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 587--586 BC. The Babylonians took all the gold from the temple. They also took gold from many other nations. The Babylonians are present day Iraq. Through the Babylonians God brought punishment and purification to His people. 2. The silver chest and arms represent the Medes and Persians (Iran). The Medes/Persians invaded Babylon in 539 BC, and ruled the world from 538--333 BC. Through the Medes/Persians the Father gave grace to His people. He gave His people the opportunity to go back home, rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, rebuild the nation of Israel. Why? Because the Messiah would be born there about 500 years later. Study the books of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Haggai. If youre looking for a great biography on women in leadership, you wont do better than to study Esther. 3. The bronze belly and thighs represent Greece. They ruled the world from 333--146 BC. Alexander the Great was one of their leaders. Through the Greeks, God would spread the language that His New Testament would be written in; the logic, precision, and structure were the perfect language for God to reveal His Word, His truth. The good news of Gods salvation came to us through the Greek language. The Greeks also gave us democracy (demos, the people, and cratein, to rule), city states like Athens, Corinth, Sparta, and advancements in government, architecture, literature, art, history, drama, math, and philosophy. 4. Iron legs, feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay: the Roman Empire. Romans ruled the world from 146 BC--476 AD. Jesus was born about 4 BC. Jesus said, Give to Caesar what is Caesars, and to God what is Gods, Matthew 22: 21. The Romans gave us advances in theology, government, engineering, roads, bridges, aqueducts, arches, architecture, law. These advancements helped spread Christianity and Judeo-Christian values. Under Roman rule, Christians were persecuted and murdered for many years. This helped Gods church to grow. In 313 AD Constantine received Christ as Savior, and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Roman empire split into two parts in 395 AD: the east (Constantinople, now Istanbul) and the west (Rome). In a sense the USA is a product of this fourth kingdom of iron and clay. Observe carefully: God had a reason for allowing each of these four kingdoms to be in power. All four kingdoms point straight to the King of Kings. In the end Christ will come back to earth and establish His kingdom, where we will worship Him and serve Him. No more war. No more cancer. No more death. No more evil. History is His story, as someone once said. All history points to Christ the King. Keep worshiping Him. Keep serving Him. Help people. God will reward you beyond anything you can imagine, Ephesians 3: 20--21. The Father will work everything in your life for good. Your future is bright. The Word of God, for the people of God . . . [WFSP, 107.7 FM, and 1560 AM, Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM].
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 12:31:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015