Topical Studies
Nebuchadnezzar
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Daniel 2:1-2 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
King Nebuchadnezzar was the first world ruler. He had conquered much of the known world, including the kingdom of Judah. This lofty king had a dream so impressive it troubled him, moving him to have tremendous concern (Daniel 2:1). He demanded that his magicians, astrologers and sorcerers tell him both what he had dreamed and what it meant. Of course they could not. They were baffled. Then Daniel was brought before the king.
What Is the True Gospel?
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Daniel 2:28-30 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Through this dream God was revealing to this world-ruling, human king that there is a God in heaven—that God is Supreme Ruler over all nations, governments and kings—that God rules the universe! Although during the past 6,000 years God has left the nations generally to their own devices, God was giving Nebuchadnezzar a special opportunity to accept His rule. The main purpose of this dream was to reveal God's government—the fact that God rules and the truth of the coming Kingdom of God, which is the one and only true gospel of Jesus Christ. And, secondly, to reveal—preserved in writing for us today—what is to happen "in the latter days" or the end time.
What Is the True Gospel?
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Daniel 2:32-35 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
When Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the head of gold, it shows us a biblical principle that a king in prophecy represents the entire kingdom. In verses 39-40, "after you" indicates four successive world-ruling empires from the time of the Chaldean empire of Nebuchadnezzar until the return of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. We see in overview an outline of world history from a Gentile perspective, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar and coming all the way down through the various kingdoms until the image is struck on the foot by the Stone, representing the Kingdom of God, or Christ. This prophecy brings us right into our present time—the time of the end—the time when can expect that the Stone, sometime in the not-too-distant future, will strike this image on the feet. We can look for that last empire, represented by the feet and toes, to exist today, or either be coming together, or will shortly be coming together. History has shown that these four empires, beginning with the head of gold, to be the Chaldean (the head of gold), the Medo-Persian (the chest and arms of silver), the Greco-Macedonian (the belly and thighs of brass), and the Roman (the legs and feet of iron) empires. The Roman Empire existed from 31 BC to AD 476. Secular history shows that the Vandals defeated Rome, but Rome was revived and re-established as "the Holy Roman Empire" under Emperor Justinian in AD 554.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Where Is the Beast? (Part 1)
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Daniel 2:36-45 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Daniel 2:36-43 describes four major kingdoms, empires, or governmental systems that have ruled over the greater part of the civilized world: 1. The Chaldean-Babylonian Empire (625 to 538 BC) 2. The Medo-Persian Empire (538 to 330 BC) 3. The Greco-Macedonian Empire (333 to 31 BC) 4. The Roman Empire (Established 31 BC. The imagery suggests that it will exist in some form until the end of the age.) Clearly, these physical empires existed on earth. Verses 44-45 then say that God's Kingdom will encompass all of these previous kingdoms—on earth! Daniel 7:17-18 says much the same.
John Plunkett
Is Heaven the Reward of the Saved?
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Daniel 2:37-38 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
God revealed Himself to this world dictator as the Most High Ruler over all—the Head of a universe-ruling government. The Eternal was revealing Himself through Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, and through the Bible to us today, as the all-powerful Supreme Ruler who is to be obeyed!
What Is the True Gospel?
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Daniel 7:1-7 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
This is a further explanation of the world-ruling empires, showing national characteristics, but this time designed into animals of the same four kingdoms that appear in Daniel 2. Instead of being metals—gold, silver, brass, iron—now we have animals, indicating national characteristics of those four kingdoms, symbolized by the lion, the bear, the leopard, and the beast that was diverse from all the others. The important thing to note here is that this illustration in Daniel 7 is a parallel of the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2. This illustration in Daniel 7 confirms that the legs of iron of the Daniel 2 image and the fourth beast of Daniel 7 both exist at Christ's return, fight against Him, and are defeated. So even as the feet and toes of the Daniel 2 image will be at the time of the end, so will this diverse beast. They are one and the same.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Where Is the Beast? (Part 1)
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Daniel 7:7-8 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
| Horns and Heads | | Horn
(Daniel 7:7-8) | Head
(Revelation 17:9-10) | Historical
Fulfillment | | 1st Horn | "Plucked out by the roots" by the Little Horn, the False Church | | Vandals (AD 429-533) | | 2nd Horn | | Heruli (AD 476-493) | | 3rd Horn | | Ostrogoths (AD 493-554) | | 4th Horn | 1st Head | Justinian (AD 554) | | 5th Horn | 2nd Head | Charlemagne (AD 800) | | 6th Horn | 3rd Head | Otto the Great (AD 962) | | 7th Horn | 4th Head | Charles V (AD 1520) | | 8th Horn | 5th Head | Napoleon (AD 1805) | | 9th Horn | 6th Head | Garibaldi/Mussolini/
(AD 1870-1945) | | 10th Horn | 7th Head | Final Beast Power (AD ????) |
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Nebuchadnezzar's Image (Part Four): Iron and Clay
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Matthew 26:39-44 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Perhaps it was not just the approaching physical torture that Jesus dreaded as He made this plea to His Father. For every microsecond of eternity (with the possible two exceptions of His time in Mary's womb and His human babyhood), He had enjoyed a level of consciousness, involvement, control, and communication with God the Father that no other human could even begin to comprehend. It must have been almost intolerable for the Son of God, the great YHWH of the Old Testament, to contemplate being totally unconscious and "out of the picture," even for a mere 72 hours. Jesus' agony no doubt included the foreknowledge of the spiritual torture of billions of sins committed throughout human history being laid on His innocent head. Jesus knew that His mind would soon become besmirched, infected, and injected with every filthy sin that man had ever committed in the past and would commit from that time on. God tells us in I Corinthians 15:56, "The sting of death is sin." Most of us have been stung by a spider, bee, wasp, or hornet. The pain of an insect sting increases rapidly as its poison spreads through the blood vessels, deep into the body part that has been stung, and it can sometimes be almost unbearable. Nevertheless, it is impossible for us to imagine a fraction of the spiritual agony that those billions of "stings of death" caused our Savior as all the sins of the world were laid upon Him. With all His might, He strove to dwell on better things (Philippians 4:8). He struggled to look beyond those hours of torture, despite His foreknowledge of their severity. Jesus knew what would happen after this day of agony and shame that was just beginning. More than any other human being who ever lived, He understood what lay beyond the split second of death and His short stay in the tomb. Just hours before this prayer in Gethsemane, He had spoken joyfully to His Father about their approaching reunion and regaining His former glory (John 17:5, 11, 13). How did King Nebuchadnezzar feel when God gave him back his status as a real human being and a great king after living the existence of the lowest, slinking animal in the wild (Daniel 4:29-36)? How much more did Jesus look forward to waking after three days and three nights in the tomb as the Eternal God! Did Jesus look forward to His death? No. He looked beyond His hours of suffering and beyond the instant of His death. He looked forward to life!
John Plunkett
Death of a Lamb
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