Daniel 2

Daniel 2 gives us all a glimpse of not only our Father's mercy and power, but also a picture of what the future holds (including for us). Nebuchadnezzar puts out his decree that he had a dream and wants a description and explanation from one of his servants- something that can only be given by God himself. Daniel, under threat of death, prays with his 3 friends seeking mercy. God, of course, reveals the secret to Daniel in a vision and he'll get his opportunity to give glory to the Lord. What faith! God is painting the picture of 'seek me, ask for mercy, and I will protect you'-now that should be encouraging. Here, God is quick to give Daniel the vision because of the circumstances. His timing is always perfect- if we have to have an answer quickly, God will deliver.

I also love Daniel's answer to God when he's given the vision: open adulation. He blesses the name of the Lord, which is done in private but is recorded in the book. He gave private thanks and glorified the Lord before sharing with the king.

The vision is awesome. God is giving a 'world empire road map' for, what many believe, has yet to be completely fulfilled. The statue, made up of five different parts, with the first three named by Daniel. The head of gold is indicative of the Babylonian empire. Daniel also names the next two empires (prophetic pronouncement) to follow: the silver chest and arms are the Medo-Persian empire and the thighs of bronze are representative of Greece (Daniel 8:20-21). That leaves the legs of iron and the feet of partly iron and partly clay. The Roman empire seems to be the feet of iron because of the description given by Daniel of how the empire would rise and fall. Because the feet also contain iron, it would reason that the Roman empire would be apart of the final empire on earth.

With the advent of the European Union and the rise of the Euro, it is easy to imagine a reformation of a pseudo-Roman empire. Daniel's prophecy would even suggest this, in my opinion, as he says in verse 43 'As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.' The EU is conglomerate- a partnership of several states, not 'one state'. This makes the newfound empire weaker than the others because of its fragility, but an empire nonetheless according to God through Daniel.

God makes one last promise in the vision- "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." - 2:44

Sounds to me like God will return to set up his kingdom on earth! We can only hope that we are that close to our Lord's triumphant return to our fallen world. Daniel was so incredibly accurate with his description, predicting the world empires during the time that Israel would be a nation. Without fail, this will occur. Watch Europe.