Episode 1: the forgotten dream
Babylon 600 BC-501 BC
Ancient Babylon was a city that was surrounded by triple walls. The walls of Babylon consisted of actually two systems of walls. They surrounded the city, and these two systems of each one consisted of three separate walls. She had a total of six walls surrounding. The whole city was massive. There were over 200 pagan temples. The most famous was Ziggurat which was in the center of the city. Babylon was a very polytheistic and sophisticated society.
There was a man who ruled over it and made the city one of the wonders of the world. His name was Nebuchadnezzar. Soon after Daniel entered the service of the king Nebuchadnezzar, events occurred that revealed to the idolatrous nation the power of Daniel’s God. The king had a remarkable dream and this dream unlocked the secrets to the empires that would appear in world history one by one.
This story is based on the Bible, Daniel 2
In the second year of his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar awoke in a state of extreme distress from a horrible dream, but he was not able to remember it. So he summoned his wise men–“the magicians, the astrologers, and the sorcerers”– who always predicted the future of the empire. If they had the power of foreseeing the future, it would be easy for them to tell the things of the past. right?
” I had a dream last night but I forget it.” ” So, let me know about the dream,” The king asked
“O king, live forever: tell the servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” The wise men responded.
None of them could give an answer. They were the men who claimed to know the future things that had not happened yet. But they were not able to know the things that happened in the past. It proves that their power to foresee the future, it was all fake and false. However, through Daniel, God let the king know not only the dream but also its explanation.
According to Daniel, the scary dream was of a statue. It was a giant, frightening statue of a human whose head was gold; his chest and arms were silver; his belly- bronze; his legs- iron; his ten toes were partly of iron and partly of clay.
when you look at it in order from top to bottom, it was made of different kinds, and the strength of each metal gets stronger as well.
Daniel Interprets the Dream; the rise and fall of kingdoms.
The first metal is gold
“Oh, king you are the head of gold”
The Bible defined the golden head as Babylon, which Nebuchadnezzar ruled over
Ancient Babylon was a dream city of the international fame and the gate of the world. It could also boast of the hanging gardens – one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world- but his kingdom would not last forever.
The second metal is silver; silver is stronger than gold
“After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours.”
This means a kingdom stronger than Babylon will arise and defeat Babylon. Historically, Babylon was destroyed by Media and Persia. The Bible identifies this kingdom by name: Dan 8:20 “the kings of Media and Persia.” The Persian army led by Cyrus the great, conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. Silver is a fitting metal for this kingdom as Medo-Persia was inferior to Babylon.
The next metal is bronze; bronze is stronger than silver.
Stronger metal means stronger national power. “Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.”
Which kingdom in history brought down the Medes and Persian Empires? It was Greece(Hellenistic Greece) and Alexander the great was in power. The Bible once again accurately predicted this kingdom by name centuries before it rose to power; Dan 8:21″ the King of Greece…”
The last is iron, which is the strongest
“Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron… it will crush and break all the others.”
Iron is far stronger than bronze. Then which kingdom defeated Greece which was powerful and expanded its territory on the land of Greece? It was the Roman empire(168B.C-476A.D). “The Iron Monarchy” is a fitting nickname for the Roman Empire as they are recognized for their dominant army and brutal power.
“the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom…”
The Bible clearly says the toes of the statue are ten.
The Roman empire was very powerful and it wielded absolute power, but it also gradually collapsed because of the Germanic invasions. Its glory did not last forever. The empire was divided into exactly ten kingdoms, no more, no less; Lombards, Franks, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Heruli, Suevi, Alemanni and Anglo-Saxons.
What were the ten kingdoms made of?
“They were partly of iron and partly of clay.”
This implies that there are weak kingdoms along with strong kingdoms among ten divided kingdoms. When you study more about this in Daniel 7, you can find out the weak kingdoms.
“so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united…”
One of the main ways they tried to get unified was through intermarriages of their families. Even though they attempted to have unity through intermarriage and did not work. Napoleon tried to unite Europe but failed. Hitler, despite controlling the majority of the continent at one point, and being poised to take control, failed to unite Europe. Amazingly, Daniel reveals these nations would not ”cleave one to another”. That is, they would never unite into one dominant kingdom. Europe has never, and will never be united into one empire, no matter what mankind might try. Incredibly, history affirms the Bible account.
Today, the European Union attempted to be united, but they can’t be one. Why?
