The King's Dream - Daniel 2: 28-35

Welcome to Kootenai Community Church Adult Sunday School Along along with the shouting microphone.

We'll be in Daniel chapter 2 And we're going to probably do a little bit of review and then start with verse 28, but let's read in Daniel chapter 2 from Let me see

Yeah We will read through verse 35 general

Daniel chapter 2 verses 19 and 20 through 35 So remember the king

Has required his astrologers as his conjurers his sorcerers his wise men quote -unquote

To not only tell him what he had dreamt But to tell him what the interpretation was and they couldn't do it so the order was sent out to kill all of the wise men and Daniel has stopped it and Gotten an opportunity to to pray and the

Lord revealed to him the dream and the interpretation and So then it says in verse 19, then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision

Then Daniel blessed God the God of heaven Daniel answered and said let the name of God be blessed forever and ever

For wisdom and power belong to him And it is he who changes?

The times in the epics he removes kings and establishes kings He gives wisdom to the wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.

It is he who reveals the profound and hidden things He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him to thee

Oh God of my father's I give thanks and praise for thou has given me wisdom and power Even now thou has made known to me what we requested of thee for thou has made known to us the king's matter

Therefore verse 24 Daniel went into Arioch whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon He went and he spoke to him as follows

Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon take me into the king's presence and I will declare the interpretation to the king

Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as follows I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king and the king answered and said

To Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?

Daniel answered before the king and said as for the mystery which about which the king has inquired Neither wise men conjures magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king

However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar What will take place in the latter days?

This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed As for you Oh King while on your bed your thoughts turn to what would take place in the future

And he who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place but as for me This mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man

But for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind

You oh king We're looking and behold. There was a single statue single great statue

That statue which was large and of extraordinary splendor was standing in front of you and its appearance was awesome

The head of that statue was made of fine gold its breast and arms of silver Its belly and its thighs of bronze its legs of iron its feet partly of its feet

Partly of iron and partly of clay you continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands

And it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them Then the iron the clay and the bronze the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time

And became chaff from the summer Became like chaff from the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found

But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth So as we were looking at this previously

It became very evident that daniel's desire No matter what is to elevate jehovah god is to praise him and honor him

He had an absolutely perfect opportunity To put himself in the position of being the most important in the kingdom

Possibly as important as the king, but he chose not to do that Because it was god that gave him the revelation and he acknowledges that and he spends quite a few verses of his book

Of his letter of his history that he wrote Praising jehovah god through from verse, uh 20 through 23

So then daniel goes into the king At the behest of ariok who had told the king.

Hi I found a guy who can interpret your dream i'm the man You need me king nebuchadnezzar.

That's what political types do they They in in engender themselves.

They endear themselves to those in power With greater power than them so that they can gain power and influence and money

It's all about that kind of thing, but not with daniel. He was a man of god and his desire was to elevate god so When the king says can you can you interpret the dream for me?

Daniel says no nobody can do that. But the god of heaven There is a god in heaven who can give the interpretation and that's what he's done

So last week we ended up on verse we kind of started verse 28 and I kicked it off without a proper

Introduction to another yet another of the critics um Criticisms, I guess is the best word to put of the book of daniel trying to make it something other

Than a prophetic book trying to make it a history book Many places in the old testament the the words the latter days appears and when those words appear

Nearly without exception. They are messianic in tone messianic in interpretation

And so we're going to look at some of those Maybe yeah, there we go I'm just going to see if this thing's oh, you got to turn it on all the time, too.

Yeah Boy, it works so much better when you turn it on So verse 27 daniel answered the king

After he'd been asked by the king if you are you able to make this dream and its interpretation known to me He said as for the mystery about which the king is inquired neither rise men conjurers magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king

However in verse 28 He says there is a god in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has made known to king nebuchadnezzar

What will take place in the latter days? Now that's an aramaic phrase and it refers to The end of things

It's also in hebrew. It refers to the end of things This was your dream and the visions in your mind

While on your bed Um, so and we talked about the fact that daniel had daniel and I did again this morning had daniel any aspirations towards our office

This would have been the time But he didn't He what he goes ahead and he begins to he

Acknowledges that he received this information from the god of heaven and then he begins the description of the dream and the interpretation of it

His and his proclamation to the king by the way about not anybody being able to interpret this but the god in heaven

Served we talked about two projects number prospects or two objects I guess I should say he was elevating jehovah above everything nebuchadnezzar had ever imagined and he was defending the other wise men

Who I think you pointed out last week Who would be happy to throw him under the bus or actually worse yet?

You might be able to get out from under the bus if you time it right But he was going to be thrown into the lion's den.

We should use that. Well, that's throwing him into the lion's den Everybody know what we were talking about.

I'll be an opportunity to preach the gospel In effect daniel declares god's sovereignty and at the same time he protects the pagan seers from their own duplicity and their own inability

He downplays men and he gives glory and credit to god in doing this He was even taken a chance because he was clearly elevating jehovah over nebuchadnezzar's gods over the gods of babylon

There is a god in heaven he said and it's not barduck Or any of the other ducks that you have lined up?

I just made that up. That was pretty good Commentators have fixated on the phrase latter days.

Some say that it is a statement after the fact By the spurious daniel who wrote in the time of the maccabees

And the statement has no messianic context because it's a history and not a prophecy

Remember for those of you that maybe missed the introduction of the to the book Those who will criticize the book of daniel their number one objection is that it's too accurate too many prophecies

Too pinpoint accurate therefore it couldn't be a prophetic book. It has to be a history book That's like I don't know what kind of an argument that is, but I call it stupid

It's a prophetic book It was written in 530 bc and it was it prophesied

All of the sweep of history from the time of nebuchadnezzar until the kingdom of god So the commentators have fixated on this phrase latter days

They say it has no messianic context and that often what I missed out on explaining last year was they would last week

I mean last year it was a year ago last week was that in a given book in a given?

In a given book with a prophecy or with a statement of latter days The latter days is specific to the time that the person who wrote it lived

So the latter days of jacob would be his end time his end days just before he died

But that's not what you get from the context when you read these scriptures So each of these has to be determined with by context and application

It's used 14 times in the old testament And they say they are using it these critics say they are only using it from their personal

Perspective and that it depicts the latter days of their own vision It is first used in genesis 49 1 jacob summed up Summoned his sons and said assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come

Other uses are found in hosea 5 afterward the sons of israel will return and seek the lord their god and david their king

Now let me point something out David was 200 years dead when hosea wrote his book

So he probably wasn't talking about david you think? Probably that descendant of david who would sit on the throne perpetually

That the hebrews knew about their messiah he said I will

Israel will return and seek the lord their god and david their king and they will come trembling to the lord And to his goodness in the last days messianic

Isaiah 2 2 now it will come about in the last days The mountain of the house of the lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills

And the nation all the nations will stream to it last days messianic Micah 4 1 and it will come about in the last days at the mountain of the house of the lord will be

Established at the chief of mountains. It will be raised above the hills and the peoples will stream to it Nearly word for word what isaiah said?

Jeremiah 48 47 yet. I will restore the fortunes of moab in the latter days declares the lord

Thus far the judgment on moab again messianic But it will come about jeremiah 49 39 in the last days that I will restore the fortunes of elam

Declares the lord jeremiah 30 24 The fierce anger of the lord will not turn back until he has performed until he has accomplished the intent of his heart

In the latter days, you will understand this messianic Understand that the observant israelite

Was always looking towards the coming of the messiah every hebrew woman

Thought that she might be the one Every hebrew woman they all looked forward each of the verses mentioned before have messianic content messianic

Implication in this particular case daniel is alluding to the establishment of the divine kingdom

In the final years of the fourth kingdom, which is the revived roman empire walvoord in his commentary says here

As the sequel shows it is similarly the period of the establishment of the divine kingdom Which is principally denoted by it in verses 34 35 44 and 45 of daniel chapter 2

But the closing years of the fourth kingdom verse 40 through 43 may well also be included in it

Again from the first part of this phrase in genesis the first use of this phrase in genesis 49 messianic import is established in each case

Context determines the extent of that import with regard to this section of scripture content and context shows clear messianic implications messianic connection

The old one old testament scholar said this he said in this context the expression must involve the eschatological future eschatological future things

So it's kind of like the future future If you're repeating you're kind of repeating yourself. That's what eschatology is involved with the study of future things

It must involve the eschatological future for it concerns the final phase of the fourth

Kingdom that daniel describes which we will get to someday And the coming kingdom of god

When does the kingdom of god come in its finality? Anybody got a date by the way?

july 19th 2025 No, I just made that up what what hour

Good answer No, we're not supposed to set dates don't do that bad bad idea

To tie this up walvard. John walvard in his commentary expresses it this way He says the expression is found as early as genesis 49 1 where jacob predicted the future of his sons the term is employed by balaam in numbers 24 14 and moses in deuteronomy 4 30 and 31

In connection with the future of israel an examination of these prophecies indicates that the latter days includes much of which is now history

Much of which is now history all of the things that happened Subsequent to the final latter days

You've heard the phrase that we are in the end times Well, i'm going to steal my own thunder. Okay.

I'll wait until I get to the next page But there's a lot between here and there and it's it's really exciting But with reference to the consummation in messianic times

Jeremiah used the expression a number of times to refer to the climax of the age Relating to the second coming of jesus christ and you will find these in if you're taking notes.

Jeremiah 23 20 30 24 and 48 47 40 excuse me 48 47 and 49 39 ezekiel identified the times of the invasion of gog and magog

I actually have that for you if you need it There's the text we're reading Ezekiel identified the times of the evasion invasion of gog and magog as in the latter days in 38 16 of the book of ezekiel

The expression is also found in hosea 3 5 and in micah 4 1 in reference to the messianic age

On the basis of scriptural usage. It is clear that the latter days is an extended period of time regarded as the consummation of the prophetic purview involved in each instance, so when the

Well, let me finish his his comment and then we'll talk about it accordingly

Culver's definition is accurate that the expression refers to the future of god's dealings with mankind

As to be consummated and concluded historically in the times of the messiah He goes on to point out that the expression always has in view the ultimate establishment of the messianic kingdom on earth

Even though the latter days includes events that are now history Such as the division of israel in the promised land some of the preview some of the predictions included that They also include beyond that to the final latter days on the basis of the usage of the old in the old testament

It can be concluded that the expression is larger than that of messianic times specifically But that it always includes this element in its consummation

So a prophecy may be declaring things that Continue a continuum of history that occurs

Some of it is is now history Some of it was history by the time christ came some of it was history by the time the next prophet wrote his book but the continuation of that prophecy continues all the way through to the final latter days, which is the for the coming kingdom of god

By the way culver refers to robert d culver who was a professor of systematic theology and wrote the commentary

Daniel in the latter days and I commend it to you. I've been reading through it and he writes in layman's terms

It's very nice. It's it's free on the internet. It's robert d culver Uh daniel in the latter days.

It's uh, it's not a long read and it's it's kind of broken up if anybody wants it, I have actually taken the the uh,

Opportunity to copy it into a pdf and I can send it to you if you want. It's it's a good read so The new testament has many references to the latter days and uh, we can look at just a few of them acts chapter 27 27 that's like proverbs 40 acts chapter 2 17 through 21

Which is a reference to joel 2 28 through 32 comes to mind Acts 20 acts 2 17 through 21 and it's it

I think he's shouting at us Isn't that what that means? And it will come about in the last days and it shall be in the last days

God said that I will pour forth of my spirit on all mankind and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy

And your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams Even on my bond slaves both men and women

I will in those days pour forth of my spirit and they shall prophesy And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below blood and fire and vapor of smoke

The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. Therefore the great Before the great and glorious day of the lord shall come and it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the lord

Will be saved When god wants to authenticate his prophecy what he is saying

He will send signs and wonders and he's done that in the past the last time being with the closing of the new testament period nothing

Subsequent to that but there's going to come a time when it will happen again And I put both joel and acts up there so you can see that the quotation

So for this section And at least in the introduction to the vision where daniel is telling the king you were on your bed

And these are the things you saw and the interpretation of them. They're the interpretation of them

Walvoord finishes this up in his commentary. He says in the new testament There is allusion to the old testament concept and then he lists numerous scriptures

Acts 2 17 through 21 But elsewhere reference to the last day john 6 39 40 44 54 7 37 and 11 24 12 and 48

Acts 2 17 2nd timothy 3 1 hebrews 1 2 james 5 3 and numerous others

They must be interpreted contextually and it is not always the same concept as the latter days

And you can look at john 7 37 to see that the latter days for israel Are not precisely the same as the last days for the church as the old testament

Characteristically spans the present age Without including the church in its consideration

At least specifically taking both the old and new testament uses together It is clear that the latter days for israel began as early

As the division of the land to the 12 tribes in genesis 49, excuse me 12 tribes

And include the first and second advents of christ the last days for the church Culminate at the rapture and the resurrection of the church and are not related to the time of the end for israel

Daniel does not deal with the age between the two advents except for the time of the end And the new testament does not clearly use the term latter days of the present church age

In the context of daniel 2 the latter days includes all the vision that nebuchadnezzar received and stretches from 600 bc

The time of nebuchadnezzar To the second coming of christ to the earth. It is used in a similar way in daniel 10 verse 14

Including the extensive revelation concerning the remainder of the medo -persian kingdom and this by the way

This will all make sense as we go through it piece by piece We're getting the great sweep right now the medo -persian kingdom many details of alexander's empire as in chapter 11 in daniel and the consummation called the time of the end in Daniel 11 36 through 45 these prophecies serve to give added detail

Not included in the revelation to nebuchadnezzar. So in 11 daniel 11, we will see some prophecies that Are separate from but not different from the dream in chapter 2.

They give added detail to that Having stated the general purpose now daniel was able to unfold what will occur in the latter days

Namely the majestic progression of four great world empires and their destruction and replacement by the fifth empire the kingdom from heaven so now

According to walvard. Anyway, nebuchadnezzar's dreams can be a dream can be unfolded For purposes of understanding this from the perspective of a christian

Recognize that we acknowledge we are in the last days at least since the new testament was written

Paul thought he was in the very last days when he wrote the new testament A testimony to two things number one.

No, man is perfect and sees the future number two. God did not give paul a date He gave him the scripture that he wrote and paul knew that christ was coming and one of the things it serves to do in the

In the life of an observant if you will christian is he could return at any moment Could he return today?

You bet he could are you ready? I love to see nodding heads when

I ask that question That's one of the things that purposes it serves Paul thought christ would come very soon augustine assumed christ would be back by 650 a .d

He didn't date it. But that was the general time when augustine thought christ would be back one of the characteristic

Characteristics of an expectant obedient doctrine driven believer is the idea that christ could return at any time

This would have been the same view of an old testament believer They would have looked forward to the coming of the messiah at any time

As we get into the next section of daniel, it will be profitable for us now to review Some terms some definitions

In the introduction to jan note daniel chapter 2 I gave somewhat synoptic descriptions of each of the three major beliefs about the end times

For our purposes going forward a thorough understanding of the definition of pre -millennialism is important This definition comes from robert d culver's commentary daniel in the latter days

Dr. Culver is highly spoken of by numerous theologians that you would know.

He lived in the he wrote in the 50s and 60s Um walvard commends him macarthur commends him and so that's

I commend his book to you. It's an excellent read. It's a fun read Um, he deals with I'm getting way off the track.

You just read it. You'll enjoy it. So I always go the wrong direction

So what is a millennium? What is a millennium? Any answers to that question?

What's a millennium just the general word millennium? It's a thousand years Does it mean anything else?

Does it mean 50 years ever? Does it mean ice cream ever? Well, if you're a critic of daniel it could

It could the millennium specifically is The period of time between the resurrection of the just and the unjust and the period of satan's imprisonment number two

The millennium is further qualified as an initial stage of the everlasting kingdom of christ an initial stage

Of the everlasting kingdom of christ a period begun by the visible return of christ in glory to judge and rule the nations a period closed by the final eradication of all evil from god's universe at the final judgment of the wicked and number four

A period during which the saints of the first resurrection will be associated with christ in his reign number three

In connection with the inauguration of the millennium It is revealed that one the closing days of the present age

Shall witness the restoration of israel to the land and the conversion of the nation to be followed in the millennium by the fulfillment

Of the old testament covenant promises distinctive to that nation Number two a final personal antichrist shall appear near the close of this present age who will become

Master of the world and will be destroyed by christ at his coming And number three a period of great tribulation for israel is to chance

Transpire under antichrist suppression from which deliverance will be provided by christ at his coming

That for our purposes is the concept of the millennial kingdom the millennium

And pre -millennialism with that understanding Are there any questions? Don't ask hard ones.

Yes You have to gather that are after the days

After days after many days and the latter days. Are they the same in some cases? They are and it is determined by context now.

I don't have that in front of me right now But when I was reading through sometimes it's clear. They're talking about the millennial kingdom

They're talking about the final end. Sometimes it's not it's talking about a local After many days but the latter days

As near as I can tell Always have messianic implications the latter days do

Okay verse 29 As for you o king while on your bed your thoughts turn to what would take place in the future

And he who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place at this point Daniel lets the king know that he's going to give him the information he seeks that he desires

But he first reminds the king That this information is not coming from himself not coming from he daniel, but rather from god whom daniel gives a new name

He who reveals mysteries It's a phrase and it's a name that daniel kind of appends on to jehovah

Now he is not only Um, he who heals he who provides but is he who he he who reveals mysteries?

so That means that there's no one else that reveals mysteries all the gods of babylon all the gods that your

Previous wise men were seeking. They don't have these mysteries. Jehovah. God has them period

Daniel knew by god's revelation Yes Yeah He leave daniel leaves himself out

And and that is so hard to do especially when you're right And you know you're right

And you want everybody else to know you're right and that it was you that was right That's who we are.

That's who I am. That is not who daniel is daniel Is a god is a revealer of mysteries and daniel is a revealer of god in everything.

He says and everything that he does We need to learn from that daniel knew by god's revelation that the king had been wondering about the future

He had just finished an unbelievably fast rise to power and had become the most powerful monarch in the ancient world

He controlled huge swaths of land. It was natural for him to wonder what came next. He was no dummy

He'd studied history. He'd seen kingdoms rise and fall sometimes In the lifetime of one of the kings which was cut very short by the next guy who took over and established his own kingdom

Which was completely different from his kingdom solomon wondered about this as well, especially We should go through ecclesiastes again.

It's in there. Yeah So daniel now informs the king

And this is the beginning I can imagine the king You were thinking of the future and the king You know whatever your interpretation of the initial part of it whether the king knew and was faking the the diviners out or he

He had a vague memory whatever he remembered on his bed. He couldn't remember the dream, but it terrified him You've had those you've woken up and something whatever you dreamed you were scared

But you couldn't remember what you dreamed and you were looking around and maybe a noise woke you up or something

And I'm i'm picturing this this king going that's right And goosebumps going down his back.

Ooh He's he's this guy knows because He'd seen his father lied to by these seers for probably many years so He had become the most powerful monarch and he was wondering what would come next what's going to come after my kingdom verse 30 but as for me

This mystery daniel says in keeping with what you just pointed out Daniel says as for me this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me

Any more than in in residing in me more than in any other living man But for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind

And I might add so that we would have this marvelous prophecy that we can read and love god for Daniel continues his praise in elevation of jehovah by declaring that no living person could have come up with this information on their own

It had to be revealed by the god of heaven The purpose of the revelation and the interpretation of the revelation is twofold first It was to help the king understand what he was dreaming about The second purpose which will be revealed as we read on is to provide a record of the details of the future coming world history

God's purposes in the revelation of mysteries are always for his glorification

In his infinite kindness. He also allowed this interpretation to bring understanding to king nebuchadnezzar and later to us

So those are the purposes of the revelation that daniel is going to give to this king verse 30 any questions or comments

Verse 31 you oh king. We're looking And I can just imagine I was and behold there was a single great statue

That statue which was large and of extraordinary splendor was standing in front of you

And its appearance was awesome As daniel begins his interpretation

Who knows? This is another one of those things that is left up to sanctified imagination

This could be as good a representative. I went online and I typed in daniel's Statue or nebuchadnezzar statue

There was all kinds of pictures pretty much all of them were similar to this But there were different variations and all of them any one of them could have been right

I'm, not creative enough to come up with one. So I borrowed one So as daniel begins his interpretation of the dream it was most likely evident to nebuchadnezzar that daniel was being honest

But he most certainly recognized that daniel was telling him the very dream that he had and I think at the very least

As daniel went along and revealed more of the dream and the interpretation The king would remember oh, yeah

And he probably remembered ahead of some of the stuff daniel was saying because he's just he was just a guy Just like the rest of us are and he put his toga on one leg at a time

Maybe he jumped into it. I don't know So the statue was human in form and must have been very huge and very bright as it reflected light

The word splendor is a translation of the chaldee word caldee word which which denotes brightness

It was very bright the kind of bright where you have to kind of look at it like this Yesterday a friend of mine was on the hill behind us

He'd hiked up the hill up behind billy lovelace's place and he texted me And he texted me a picture of my property and I thought

I looked up no airplane. What's going on here? And he said this is your property from 3300 feet.

Well, so he um, 3400 whatever he said and I said, where are you? So he said i'm on the hill behind billy's

I said Signal me wave your arms or something. So I he said, okay, just watch the top of the hill

So he took his phone and he flashed it and that flash went across my eyes I had to you know, apparently he has a really nice mirror shaped phone but so this is the kind of thing where you just kind of you see it and you have to It's going to blind your eyes if you just look directly at it.

That's the idea of this caldee word. It was huge Exceedingly bright and it inspired fear

Which is the meaning of the word translated awesome when we say awesome We lose I think in america today in our language.

We lose sight of the fact that the word first word in that The first suffix in that word is awe

Awesome. This this statue was massive. It was bright and it inspired fear. It was he was awestruck

So then daniel starts the interpretation and i'm trying to decide what to do here Because we're not going to make it through what

I have and Well, I can review the next time I come up because you want to get your money's worth, you know, we got eight minutes here

Yeah The head of that statue was made of fine gold its breast and its arms of silver

Its belly and its thighs of bronze now now daniel describes the components Excuse me of the statue

The head was not just made of gold. It was made of It was made of good work fine gold

It was made of the kind of gold that was used for the finest implements and jewelry of the day

It wasn't just the stuff you just dug out of the ground And and panned or panned it and you put it in your little snuffer bottle

And you smashed it and made it into something a dime or something a gold dime This was the most fine gold beautiful gold.

I learned some interesting things about the properties of gold. Did I write them up here? Yeah, I did so I won't get ahead of myself

Its chest and arms were made of silver silver in the and the belly and upper legs were made of bronze

Imagine the king's incredulity as daniel carefully details every aspect of his dream He did this had to be just utterly amazing to this king

And you know it was because later on what does he do? He elevates him He does daniel doesn't seek high office, but he's given it because the king knows this guy's for real

Actually, he knows that his god is for real This would have probably inspired both awe and fear as well as encouragement

This young man was different from all the other seers that he had had interaction with over his life

He was actually getting the truth and this probably encouraged And unsettled him at the same time because It would have just been awesome he would have been awestruck

Verse verse 33 its legs of iron its feet partly of iron and partly of clay I guess that was the last one

Further descriptive terms indicate that the legs were of normal iron And the feet were a mixture of iron and clay the kind of clay that was used for making pottery

And what happens when you drop a piece of pottery? It shatters what happens when you drop a piece of iron?

It breaks your foot, it's what it usually does I can vouch for that Thousands of observations about this statue have been made over the centuries probably more than thousands tens of thousands

It can be noted from the that and it can be no several things can be noted from the top down the value of the materials decreases gold silver bronze iron and then iron clay

These are some observations that people have made over the centuries from the top of the statue to the bottom the value decreases

The weight Oh, excuse me It can also be noted that other than the clay from the top down the strength of the materials increases

Gold isn't as tough as silver silver isn't as tough and usable as bronze for for um

Difficult applications iron is stronger yet now iron and clay. That's a different story and we'll get to that The weight decreases from the top down as well gold is very malleable

Silver less so and bronze much less. So iron is not very malleable at all. And then of course clay is very malleable

Now here's some of the things I learned about gold just just for your own Um because i'm a trivia guy Gold is so malleable that it has been said that it can be beaten to less than the thickness of the wavelength of light

I didn't know that I knew you could take I read somewhere. You could take a square inch A cubic inch and beat it to a mile beat it out to a thread a mile long

Why would you do that i'd i'd buy something with it, but you know Yeah, I made my gold into a mile long string.

We can't find it now No one understands why this is For all the centuries that we've been studying the atomic

Structure of atoms and and thus and such they don't know why gold can do this. They have theories

I remember when I was in college In high school and they would come up with something that they didn't really know why it was working

They would give it a name in latin or greek. So you wouldn't know that they didn't know That's why the original stuff that held the eye held

Back in the day when they were still learning this stuff the the the component The goo that held the protons and neutrons together, you know what they called that back in the day gluon

I wonder where they got that We don't know what it is. Let's it's got to be some kind of glue.

Let's call it gluon By the way, the same people that are giving you information about today's disease they are the guys that named it gluon

Okay Gold can accommodate plastic deformation Even when the thickness is less than the size of the sub grains formed

So it gets you can smash it smaller and smaller and smaller and the sub grains are small too small To be to be reduced anymore and it can be reduced more and they don't know why they don't know why

This unusual behavior of gold is attributed to the absence of an oxide film which enables dislocations To escape from the surface of the metal attributed to we think remember that It is incredible and very valuable metal.

It has multiple uses and has long been used as money Silver is also very malleable able to be beaten into pretty much any shape one would want

But it is less so than gold and platinum silver also has multiple uses in industry and has been used as money for millennia

Iron is very strong and also malleable It is also very useful in industry and clay of course can be shaped into anything

One wants hardened in the kiln and used for many purposes So those are the those are the substances that are in this and they will have

Interpretational value as we go on and we will be very careful To use the historical grammatical method and not get into the fanciful interpretations that have occurred over the centuries

We may have fun talking about some of them But we will not we will not push them as doctrine.

We will push we will talk about what we can know from the scripture So then we're gonna we're gonna finish up with verse 34 and With this little vision in front of you here so The dream statue

I actually had another one and i'm trying to figure out where it went Not there not there not there.

So I probably forgot to put in it'll be a bonus for next next time It's it's a a chart showing the head was gold valuable soft self -contained unit heavy

And smallest the chest and arms were silver less valuable harder one unit two parts

Lighter and larger the abdomen and thighs were bronze even less valuable even harder

One unit two different parts even lighter even larger lower legs were iron

Still less valuable still harder two parts still lighter still larger and the feet and toes

Iron and clay less valuable very hard and very soft two parts 10 segments 10 segments.

Remember that how many toes does most of us have? People who've been careful in their construction jobs 10 we have 10 toes and it is the lightest and the largest lightest and the lightest

So then i'm going to finish with verse 34. Daniel says to the king He says you continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands and it struck the statue on its feet of iron

And clay and crushed them Now when you get your legs kicked out from under you what happens?

I was when I was a kid. I didn't know what mange was Anybody here know what mange is?

It's kind of a disease that cow get in their hide and I walked up behind one of our friendly milk cows

And I started scratching a bear spot She didn't like it she kicked me right across the knees

And I found out what the stuff on the floor tasted like Just like that My legs went out from under me and I went down like a ton of brick.

Well 100 pounds of bricks So the description continues with the stone that was cut without hand the implication that god did this

No hands cut this stone god did this and struck the statue at its weakest point the feet and completely crushed them

And when it completely crushed the feet the whole statue collapsed and we'll see later on that it was

Well, we've got time to read verse 35. We'll finish with verse 35 this in itself Must have also been terrifying to him nebuchadnezzar and explains his inability to sleep

So this great big cool statue and then all of a sudden this big stone comes flying and it destroys the statue

And he knows it means something. He just doesn't know what verse 35 And we'll finish here

Then the iron the clay the bronze the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time

And it became like chaff from the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away So that not a trace of them was found

But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. The destruction of the statue was complete

It wasn't like when I got my legs kicked out from under me. I just had sore legs for a while and I landed in the manure This statue was destroyed

Do you know what chaff is When they would thresh the wheat they would throw it when they would

Yeah on the threshing floors They would throw it into the air with wind blowing And the wheat was heavy enough to just move a little bit and fall back down on the floor

But all the associated paraphernalia around the wheat with the chaff would blow away and it was like dust

It blew away like dust and left the wheat whole It would have toppled and fallen and broken into multiple pieces had such a stone broken the supports

But the statue as the scripture says became like chaff From the summer summer threshing floors say that three times fast

This brings forth the image of waving the wheat in the wind to get the chaff to float away and leave only wheat chaff in this case being reminiscent of dust the statue was completely destroyed so much so that no trace of it could be found afterward

Opposite that the stone that did the destruction became a great mountain and filled the whole earth this this is

This brings forth the idea that it filled the entire scene filled the whole scene in nebuchadnezzar's mind

And could and became all that he could see in his dream The stone filled the whole seat the whole area filled the whole earth.

He couldn't see anything now, but the stone This is what terrified nebuchadnezzar.

He woke up Not knowing what this meant forgetting it possibly forgetting most of it for sure

Looking for someone to help him understand it because when he went to bed He was thinking about the future and what his kingdom meant what would come after him?

daniel Gave all the glory to god And when we when we go through this and the the implications of each of the kingdom are brought out

Daniel will continue to give glory to god because it is he that reveals dreams

Well, he doesn't reveal dreams today to us, but he is still the same god He is still the same trustworthy all -knowing grace filled god that we have come to know and love and So we're going to look forward to more of daniel now.

There'll be more Uh, jess will you be teaching next week? Okay, so we'll be talking about that.

We're going to have some more sunday school opportunities coming for you adults Any questions about what we've read so far?

Let's close in prayer Lord It has been said that some of your word is very hard to understand

It has been said that some of your word is To some people for sure not understandable those who do not know you

But there is plenty of it that is very clear to understand Let us focus on Knowing those sections well and studying the sections that we don't know so well

But let us be obedient to you in all of it And give the glory to you just as daniel has done

In every step of his life so far that we have been made privy to by his writing We thank you for this book.

Thank you for your glory Thank you for your kindness and your goodness in giving us the word of god So that we might come to know you and we look forward to being obedient to you today in jesus name.