Back around the year 587BCE the Jewish people were taken captive by the Babylonians. During this time the king of Babylon, king Nebuchadnezzar, had a dream that disturbed him very much. He called all his advisors in to give him an interpretation of the dream.
Nebuchadnezzar wanted them to tell him what the dream was because he had forgotten it. No one could. He got so angry that he threatened to kill them all, until Daniel, a young Jewish man, stepped forward and said his GOD would give him the interpretation of the dream.
So that night Daniel and his friends prayed to GOD to give them the interpretation and GOD answered their prayers. In the morning Daniel went to the king and said to him "neither the astrologers, the magicians, nor the channelers, with all their crystal balls, cards and tricks could show you the interpretation, but there is a GOD in heaven that reveals secrets, and HE will make known to you the dream. Daniel then began to describe the dream to the king.
Daniel told the king that he had seen a giant statue. The head was made of gold, the chest and arms were of silver, the belly and thighs were made of brass, the legs were made of iron, and the feet and toes were a mixture of iron and clay. Then a stone was cut out, but not with human hands, and smashed the statute in the feet, destroying the whole statute until it was seen no more. The stone then became a great mountain until it filled the whole earth.
Then Daniel began to tell the king the interpretation that GOD had given to him. He said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "You are the head of gold. After you will come an inferior kingdom. Then a third kingdom like brass which will rule all the earth. Next a fourth kingdom which shall be as strong as iron, which will break and bruise and subdue all things, but that kingdom shall be divided being partly strong like iron and partly broken, and as iron and clay do not mix this kingdom will never cleave one to another. In those days the GOD of heaven will destroy this earth with all its kingdoms and set up HIS kingdom which will stand forever."
Now as we look back in history, we know all of the kingdoms represented in the statue. The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, Babylon. The next kingdom that followed was the Medo-Persian Empire. They were taken over by the Greek empire under the rulership of Alexander the Great. After he died the powerful Roman Empire took over and was eventually divided into ten kingdoms, like the ten toes. Today we know these kingdoms as Europe, which is divided like the iron and the clay and shall never cleave together. The stone represents the very next kingdom to be set up, which is when the Messiah comes again to destroy this earth and take HIS people to heaven. May we all be ready for that day.
