**The Dream of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel’s Divine Revelation**
In the second year of his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was troubled. His nights were restless, his mind unsettled by a dream that seemed to haunt him. It was no ordinary dream, for it carried a weight that pressed upon his spirit, leaving him agitated and desperate for understanding. The king summoned his wise men—the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers—to his grand palace, a place of towering walls and golden splendor, where the air was thick with the scent of incense and the murmur of whispered secrets.
The king sat upon his throne, his face stern, his eyes piercing. Around him stood his counselors, their faces pale with unease. “I have had a dream,” Nebuchadnezzar declared, his voice echoing through the hall, “and my spirit is troubled to know its meaning.”
The wise men bowed low, their robes sweeping the polished floor. “O king, live forever!” they said. “Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it for you.”
But the king’s response was unexpected and chilling. “The word has gone out from me,” he said, his tone firm and unyielding. “If you do not tell me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be turned into piles of rubble. But if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore, tell me the dream and its meaning.”
The wise men were stunned. They stammered, “O king, tell your servants the dream, and we will reveal its interpretation.”
But Nebuchadnezzar’s patience had worn thin. “I know that you are trying to gain time,” he said, his voice rising in anger, “because you see that the word has gone out from me. If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, there is but one sentence for you. You have conspired to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation changes. Therefore, tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation.”
The wise men trembled. “There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks,” they said. “No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not dwell among mortals.”
At this, the king flew into a rage. He ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be put to death. The decree went out, and the executioners prepared to carry out the king’s command. Among those sought for execution were Daniel and his three friends—Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—young men of Judah who had been brought to Babylon as captives and trained in the king’s service.
When Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, came to Daniel to carry out the sentence, Daniel spoke with wisdom and tact. “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” he asked. Arioch explained the matter, and Daniel immediately sought an audience with the king. “Give me time,” Daniel said, “and I will interpret the dream for you.”
The king granted Daniel’s request. Daniel returned to his house and explained the situation to his friends. Together, they prayed fervently to the God of heaven, seeking mercy and revelation. That night, in a vision, the mystery of the dream was revealed to Daniel. Overwhelmed with gratitude, Daniel praised the Lord, saying:
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
for wisdom and might are His.
He changes times and seasons;
He removes kings and sets up kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to those who have understanding.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
He knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with Him.
To You, O God of my fathers,
I give thanks and praise,
for You have given me wisdom and might,
and have made known to me what we asked of You,
for You have made known to us the king’s matter.”
The next morning, Daniel went to Arioch and said, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream.” Arioch brought Daniel before Nebuchadnezzar and announced, “I have found a man among the exiles of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation.”
The king turned to Daniel and asked, “Are you able to tell me the dream I saw and its interpretation?”
Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician, or astrologer can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:
“Your Majesty, as you were lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the Revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
“Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
“This is the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands He has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, He has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
“After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and just as iron crushes all things, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
When Nebuchadnezzar heard this, he fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor. “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings,” he said, “and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” The king lavished gifts on Daniel, appointed him ruler over the entire province of Babylon, and made him chief of all the wise men. At Daniel’s request, his three friends were also given high positions in the kingdom.
Thus, through Daniel’s faithfulness and God’s revelation, the lives of the wise men were spared, and the glory of the one true God was made known in the courts of Babylon. The dream of Nebuchadnezzar served as a divine proclamation of the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms and the ultimate triumph of God’s eternal kingdom—a kingdom that would never be destroyed.
