Daniel Notes

Nebuchadnezzar's vision in Daniel 2:  The statue of the man had a gold head, silver chest, and so forth, down to feet made of iron and clay.  And it was destroyed by ... a stone. People with various views of millenialism make quite the to-do over the different kingdoms and who they are and what the end will mean.  But the "stone" is Christ.  (See Psalm 118, Matt 21:42, Matt 16:18, and Psalm 91.)  Christ's kingdom is weird: it is not "of this world" (John 18:36).  The king's dream was about "the latter days" which is not a futuristic event but is rather the last twenty centuries (Dan 2:28 and Acts 2:17).


In verse 2:28, Daniel reports that God has revealed the meaning of the dream to Nebuchadnezzar.  He doesn't say that God revealed to him the meaning of the dream ... because Daniel is nothing in himself.  He is only the instrument that God uses to speak to others.


Nebuchadnezzar's faith: It always seemed to me as if Nebuchadnezzar must have believed in the Lord, but I could never point to anything definitive.  But after listening to the class discussion recently, I am more convinced.  In chapter 3, Neb realizes that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saved them.  So he declares, "Hey, everybody!  Worship that God, or I'll have you chopped to pieces."  Um... yeah ... faith doesn't exactly come about by threat of force.  But after Neb's little crazy-escapade, he begins his proclamation with "Peace to you" and all honor going to the Lord and none to himself.  He says the Lord gave him back his kingdom and his majesty; Neb didn't get it back for himself but received it.  And the last we hear from him is praise to Yahweh, in words that sound similar to the Magnificat.