“The Gospel According to Daniel”
Lesson 3 – The Statue and the Stone
As we read through the second half of Daniel chapter 2, we finally learn what King Nebuchadnezzar dreamt about and the meaning behind his elusive dream.
Let’s read Daniel 2:29-49 together.
Daniel reveals to Nebuchadnezzar that God had given him a dream of a great statue of a man. This image had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet a mixture of iron and clay. As Nebuchadnezzar beheld this image, he witnessed a stone cut without hands hurled at the feet of iron and clay. The stone broke the feet into pieces and the entire statue ended up shattering into pieces, scattering like chaff in the wind. The stone then grew into a great mountain that filled the entire earth.
We have learned in a previous lesson that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was a prophecy of future events to come, of empires that would come upon the world scene. You may hear scholars and evangelists speak quite a bit about the statue and its prophetic significance. However, when you read Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation carefully in Daniel chapter 2, note that the focus of the dream is not on the statue. God is not interested in giving Nebuchadnezzar a future history lesson. The focus is on the stone cut without hands.
The stone represents Jesus (Matthew 21:42; Matthew 16:18; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:10-11). Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall, wars and disasters will happen, but one day Jesus will return and set up His kingdom (Matthew 24:6-12; Revelation 20:1-3; Revelation 22:19-20). Unlike human empires which all eventually collapse and fade into history, Jesus’ kingdom will stand forever, like the mountain that engulfed the whole earth in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:35).
God was telling Nebuchadnezzar that He is in control of history. The sequence of world empires that came after Nebuchadnezzar supports this assertion. God’s kingdom is real and will appear at the close of human history.
Friend, Jesus is coming soon! We are essentially living in the “toes” of history. Don’t focus your attention on the statue, but keep your eyes on the stone that is coming. Will you keep your eyes on Jesus?