But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has let King Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen in the last days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay in bed were these: 29 Your Majesty, while you were in your bed, thoughts came to your mind about what will happen in the future.[g]”
Daniel 2:28-29
- The details revealed concern the last days.
- The events are future to King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel
Daniel 2:39-43 “After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth. 40 A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others.[i] 41 You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter’s fired clay and partly of iron—it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay, 42 and that the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay—part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle. 43 You saw the iron mixed with clay—the peoples will mix with one another[j] but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay.
- Four major kingdoms will rise in history
- The fourth major kingdom will be as strong as iron, crushing and shattering other kingdoms in the world.
- This fourth kingdom will have a major weakness – it is made up of a mixture of peoples and they will not stand together because of their different backgrounds.
It is during the fourth kingdom (or empire), the Kingdom of God will be set up and His kingdom will overcome all the other kingdoms of the world.
44 “In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever. 45 You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it,[k] and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold. The great God has told the king what will happen in the future.[l] The dream is true, and its interpretation certain.”