Daniel said:
"The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king." Their power was from beneath; they were servants of Satan; their religion was not founded on the rock of revelation; visions and the things of the Spirit were far from them. "But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets," Daniel said, "and [he] maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days."
The dream and its meaning pertain to our day, "the latter days," the days just preceding the Second Coming of Him who gave the dream.
"Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king," Daniel said, "thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass."
Standing in the awesome mortal presence then on earth, speaking boldly before all of the imperial court, relying upon prophetic insight and with seeric assurance, Daniel gave the divine interpretation: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image."
Doubt is absent; Daniel knows!
"This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible."
No artist has yet gained the inspiration to paint the terrible form nor the awesome visage of this great image, nor do we the suppose that mortal skill could record on canvas what the Lord placed first in the mind of the wicked king and then in the heart of the righteous prophet.
Providentially we have a few of the descriptive words from that prophet, the prophet in whose presence even the roaring lions closed their mouths.
"This image's head was of fine gold," Daniel continued, "his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay."
Such was the wondrous image chosen by divine wisdom to represent the successive and great kingdoms of men.
Looking back we can identify with ease the respective earthly powers whose periods of supremacy were molded and sculptured into the terrible image.
"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory," Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar.
"And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold."
Babylonia was indeed the first world -- kingdom. She held sway from about 605 to 538 B.C., with Nebuchadnezzar's prosperous reign lasting from about 606 to 562 B.C. His voice was as the voice of God to the millions who trembled at his word. His armies traversed the earth, conquered kingdoms, and transported whole nations from one land to another by the sharpness of their swords and the piercing power of their spears. On the roof of his vast palace in Babylon were the famous hanging gardens, ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
"And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee," Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, "and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth."
These kingdoms are the Medo-Persian or second world-kingdoms, whose dominion prevailed from about 538 to 333 B.C. and the Grecian powers that prevailed beginning with the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.
"And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise."
Here we see the powers of Rome, beginning with the Caesars, particularly Augustus, who ruled when the Lord Jesus was born, and continuing until the first barbarian king ruled in Italy in A.D. 476.
The two legs of iron symbolize perfectly the division into an eastern and a western Roman Empire, with Constantine the Great (in whose day the Nicene Creed was written) establishing a new capital at Byzantium and giving it the new name of Constantinople (now Istanbul).
"And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
"And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."
Clearly these are the numerous, divided, warring kingdoms -- some strong, others weak -- that grew out of the mighty Roman Empire.
That they did not "cleave one to another" has resulted in the death and misery of many people during the long ages from the fall of Rome to the day of restoration with which the dream is now prepared to concern itself.
Having thus described the terrible image, Daniel tells the king: "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."
By way of interpretation, Daniel's divine word is: And in the days of these kings -- those of divers sorts, powers, and strengths, which grew out of the Roman Empire -- "shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." (Dan. 2:27-45.)
How wondrous are the ways of the Lord! How glorious are the mysteries of this kingdom! And how sweet is the word he sends by dreams and visions and seeric interpretations!
Here we have seen the kingdoms of this world, kingdoms drenched in blood and held together by the arm of flesh, one following another until the set time for the great latter-day restoration of all things.
Then a stone is cut out of the mountain without mortal hands and a kingdom is set up by the God of heaven. It is a new kind of kingdom. The arm of flesh plays no part in its creation. It is created without man's hand. It comes from God. It is established by revelation. It is the Church and kingdom of God on earth.
And it grows until it fills the whole earth, until the knowledge of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea, until every living soul on earth is converted. And what of the other kingdoms? This eternal kingdom, this kingdom which shall never be destroyed, this kingdom which is the new and everlasting kingdom, shall break in pieces and consume all kingdoms. It shall make a full end of all nations; they shall vanish as the chaff before the summer breeze and shall not be found on earth. And the new kingdom shall not be left to any other people; never again will there be a general apostasy; the Church of the God of heaven will be set up on earth to stand forever.
Thus saith Daniel. Thus saith the Lord. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. (Dan. 2:45.)
This kingdom was set up on April 6, 1830, by revelation and commandment from on high. It is "called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord" has named. (Isa. 62:2.)
For, as the prophets foretold, "the Lord God shall . . . call his servants by another name" (Isa. 65: 15) in that day when Israel is restored and her people are prepared for his coming.
It is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and its eternal destiny is assured.
For thus saith the Lord: `The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth."
And further, by way of invitation, the revealed word says:
"Call upon the Lord, that his kingdom may go forth upon the earth, that the inhabitants thereof may receive it, and be prepared for the days to come, in the which the Son of Man shall come down in heaven, clothed in the brightness of his glory, to meet the kingdom of God which is set up on the earth.
"Wherefore, may the kingdom of God go forth, that the kingdom of heaven may come, that thou, O God, mayest be glorified in heaven so on earth, that thine enemies may be subdued; for thine is the honor, power and glory, forever and ever." (D&C 65:2, 5-6.)
When we say, as say we must with all the power and persuasion at our command, that the Almighty promised to set up his Church and kingdom again on earth before his millennial return; when we speak of the restoration of the everlasting gospel in the last days; and when we testify that the ancient keys and powers must once again be vested in mortal men -- such pronouncements mean that everything that appertains to, is connected with, or is part of the gospel shall be restored and shall be administered by the Church.
God's Church and kingdom can accomplish its destined mission only if it is restored in all its glory, beauty, and perfection.
And that, Hope12, is what I think the message behind the prophetic vision of Daniel 3.
Thank you for asking a question that required much thought to answer.
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