Holy Scriptures and Israel

Voiceover: Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: The study of Daniel chapter two. Listen, verse 31: "Thou, oh king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible." Let's just pause here for a second. The first thing that Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar is this: "King Nebuchadnezzar, you have seen a huge image. That's what you have seen."

And you notice there is a progress here. This image was a unique image. It says here in verse 31, it was great. It was bright. It stood. And then it said that it was terrible. You notice the progress? He says, "Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, you saw a great image, which was bright, which stood. It was standing, it was not sitting. And it was a terrible sight to behold."

When he was dreaming at night, if you will, God has revealed to him that great image, which was so bright, which was so large, if you will, and it was so terrible. The expression here for the word terrible, it was awesome, awesome sight to see. That's what you have seen, Nebuchadnezzar, in verse 31.

Then in verse 32 and verse 33, he gives him the composition of the image. What was it made out of? Notice in verse 32 and 33: "This image's head was of fine gold. His breast and his arms of silver. His belly and his thighs of brass. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and partly clay."

You notice how interesting now? He gives him the composition of the image which he had seen. Notice: gold, silver, brass, and iron—and partly iron and partly clay. Notice the interesting thing that we have here. Notice this composition. It was made out of these various type of material.

Now, as you notice that, and I'll put this here again. If you notice that interesting thing when you look at that image, it's very interesting that there are some increases and some decreases. There are certain things that we want to point out. There are certain things that we want to mention. There is a decrease and there is an increase here as we look at this image.

First of all, you notice there is a decrease in the value of the metal. Gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay. In my other one, it's easier to see. Gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay. Very interesting. There is a decrease in the value of the metal. Gold worth much more.

And you notice that, it is interesting and now secondly, you notice there's another decrease. It doesn't start from the feet to the head in the order in which he presents it. He presents it from the head. It's a downward course, if you will. There is a decrease from the head, the breast, if you will, the belly and the thighs, the legs, and the feet.

This is the decrease. There's a decrease in value. There's a decrease also in position, from the head all the way down to the feet. You know, somebody also said—and I marked that for myself—there is also a decrease in the gravity. Now, I'm not familiar with this, but apparently, and I mark it for myself, the gold gravity is 19. Silver is 11. Brass is 8.5, and iron is 7.8. Don't ask me anything about it. This is exactly what I've listened to—a message about the second chapter of Daniel—and this is exactly what even in gravity there's a different, there's a downward path, if you will, from the head which was gold, all the way to the toes, to the feet.

Gold, silver, and then brass, iron, and clay. But there's not only a decrease. If you notice here in those verses, there is also an increase. There is also an increase. And the increase is in two ways. First of all, in the hardness of the metal. There is an increase in the harder. Gold, silver, brass, and iron.

There is an increase in the hardness of the metal. And secondly, there is an increase in the strength of the metal, from gold, silver, brass, and iron. There is a strength all the way down to iron, which is an increase. It's going upward towards down—the iron, which is the stronger of all those metals. It is very important to note that. So there's an increase and there is a decrease.

And so in those two verses, verse 32, from the head all the way down to the toes or to the feet, those four different types of metals and of course, at the end is partly clay as well with the iron. Okay, the next verse now, verse 34 and 35. He's continuing. The story of the dream did not end because now he's saying in verse 34 and 35, something happened. Notice that.

"Thou sawest this image until that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and of clay and break them to pieces. Then was the iron and the clay and the brass and 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, and no place was found for them, and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."

It says here in verse 34 that you saw a stone which was cut out without hands. Listen, it smote the image upon the—not the head, not the chest, not the belly, not the thighs, not the legs—it smote the image right down on the feet. The stone did not fall on the head, but it fell right at the bottom part of the image.

This is very important to notice. That tells us that this whole image is not going to be destroyed. Those kingdoms will take one step or one kingdom at a time. It will not be destroyed until the final stage of the image will come to the time where the stage of the toes or the feet is going to be. That's where the stone is going to fall upon the image.

And it says in verse 35, "And it was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, the gold, broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away and no place was found for them, and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." It is a symbolic language for speaking about great mountain, speaking about a great kingdom. And the stone that fall on it, it has to do with no one else except the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah Himself, who is the stone which the builders rejected, became the chief cornerstone.

Okay, so verses 31 to 35, where we have just spoken about, we read about the dream itself. Daniel gave Nebuchadnezzar the dream. Up to now, Daniel have done half of what he had promised that he was going to do. He was faithful to keep the first half.

And by now you can just imagine King Nebuchadnezzar, when he heard of the actual dream that Daniel could give him, the dream that he dreamed, King Nebuchadnezzar can now trust Daniel for the interpretation as well. And so now notice from verse 36 to verse 45, Daniel tell King Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation itself.

Now, I just want to mention something. What we learn from this image is really the future course of human history. What God was going to tell Nebuchadnezzar through the prophet Daniel is really the course of the whole human history, beginning at the time that Nebuchadnezzar became the king of Babylon up till the time where the Messiah will come and set up His kingdom here in this world.

There will be four Gentile empires which will rule the world before there's going to be final Jewish empire, headed up by the Messiah Himself in the future day. First of all, he began in verse 36. He says, "This is the dream, I just told you that, and we will tell thee the interpretation thereof before the king."

Notice he used the word "we". He doesn't say "I". Why "we"? Because he was reckoning and sharing the giving the interpretation which God had revealed to Daniel. He was sharing this blessings of sharing this with Nebuchadnezzar, also because of his friends, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, who had prayed with him and asked God to give them the interpretation.

So he doesn't say "I will show you the interpretation," though he does, but he shared this. He's giving the credit not only to himself, but he is also thinking of his friends, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. And so in verse 37 and 38, he began. Daniel gives the interpretation of the head of gold. "Thou, oh king, art a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given thee a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven has He given into thine hand and has made thee ruler over them all." Listen to the end of this verse: "Thou art this head of gold."

Look how clear. What he's saying, Nebuchadnezzar, "You are this head of gold." It is you and the kingdom which God had given Nebuchadnezzar. And that is not really limited to Nebuchadnezzar itself, because the Babylonian did not lose the kingdom at the end of the life of Nebuchadnezzar. No, the ones that have lost the kingdom was actually his grandson.

But it was when a king was going along with a kingdom. The kingdom, when you talk about a king, you talk about a kingdom. When you talk about a kingdom, you're talking about the king. And so every time he was talking about Babylon, he was talking also about Nebuchadnezzar. But when he was talking about any king of the Babylonian, he was talking also about the kingdom itself. Also he's saying to King Nebuchadnezzar, "You are this head of gold."

Now I want you for a second, there are a couple of verses that I want you to turn with me. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 27. Verses 5 to 8, we read how Jeremiah agrees with the fact that yes, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian were the kingdom which God had given to Nebuchadnezzar, of course, and to his son, and to his son's son, to rule over the kingdom of Babylon.

Jeremiah chapter 27, verse 5: "I have made the earth, the men, and the beasts that are upon the ground by my great power and by my outstretched arm and have given it to whom it seemed meet to me. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him—this is number one—his son—this is number two—his son's son—this is number three—until the very time of his land come; and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him."

Now it is very interesting, by the way, that we learn here there were other kings in additional to King Nebuchadnezzar. There were other kings that reigned for a short time. But God had promised to give the kingdom to Nebuchadnezzar, to Nebuchadnezzar's son, and then Nebuchadnezzar's grandson. And eventually, if you read chapter five, when we're going to get to the end of chapter five, it was Belshazzar, the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar, who lost the kingdom of Babylon when he had this party with thousands of his servants.

And he made a great party, and he did not realize that the Medo-Persians were coming in at any time to enter into to take over Babylon. He was getting drunk until there was the writing on the wall, if you remember that. And God said, "You have been found wanting short and thy kingdom have been taken from you."

And you remember he was shivering, his knees were hitting, his heart fell to his knees, and the kingdom have been taken from this wicked man who mocked God, the God of Israel, who mocked the vessels of the God of Israel. And that is the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar who lost the kingdom. We'll get to it in chapter five of the book of Daniel.

Now turn to another chapter, please, in Ezekiel chapter 26 now. Again, notice Jeremiah tells us that God had given the kingdom to Nebuchadnezzar. Notice here we find out in Ezekiel chapter 26 and verse 7: "For thus saith the Lord God, behold I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north with horses and with chariots and with horsemen and companies of and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field, and he shall make a fort against thee and cast a mount against thee and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls and with his axes he shall break down thy towers."

"By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee; thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen and of the wheels and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach." And so on. And if you read all the way to verse 14: "I will make thee like the top of the rock; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more; for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God." And here he's speaking about Nebuchadnezzar, who is going to come and against Tyrus, and he is going to simply become the one he calls him here in verse 7, "king of kings."

So in the book of Ezekiel we read that God had given him this authority. In the book of Jeremiah we read this, and in Daniel. In other words, in this image which we have before us, the head is the Babylonian kingdom. Now, go back to Daniel, please, chapter two, and now verse 39a.

By the way, it's interesting that he used the metal of gold to describe the Babylonian. It's very interesting. But the Babylonian used the gold—it was a symbol that they have used it everywhere. They have used it in their temples. They have used it in every building that they have had. Gold is really depict the Babylonian. And their god Marduk was known to be as the god of gold. And it is no coincidence that God used gold to describe the Babylonian kingdom.

Now verse 39. Verse 39a, the first part of verse 39, gives Daniel gives now the interpretation of the breast and arms of silver. And notice that. It says in verse 39, "And after thee," notice, once this Babylonian kingdom will be over, "after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee."

Now, this is very interesting that the second, this another kingdom, has to do now with the Medo-Persian. You notice that it has the breast, but then it divide itself immediately into the two arms, which represent the Medes and the Persian.

And you know, again I'm saying from history it's very well known that in 539 B.C. the Medo-Persian have succeeded to take over the Babylonian and they have got them to be, if you will, brought them into their own kingdom. But now the Medo-Persian became the second kingdom after the Babylonian.

And I'm going to give you a verse for that. Turn to Daniel chapter five, please, and verse 31. By the way, Daniel chapter five is the grandson Belshazzar that lost the kingdom to the Medo-Persian. Notice, Daniel chapter five and verse 31—maybe I'll read verse 30: "In that night," Daniel five, verse 30 and 31, "in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom being about threescore and two years old." And so at the end of chapter five of the book of Daniel, by that time the Medo-Persian became this—as we look at our image again.

Very important to look at the image. The head is gold, but the breast and the arms of silver. And so in verse 39, he says, "Another after this shall arise another kingdom," but notice it says inferior to thee. In other words, the Medo-Persian kingdom did not have the same authority. The kings did not have the same authority as the monarch of the Babylonian.

And so there are two, the Medes and the Persian. These two kingdoms are united, but they are two kingdoms and they did not have the same privilege that the Babylonian had.

And in interesting here that he is using now silver. Why silver? Why silver and not gold? Well, the Medo-Persians were known to be a people that knew how to collect taxes. They build many roads to enable to get their taxes, which made out of silver, taxes from everywhere. And somebody said that they had a very good IRS system. Tax collecting system.

And so God in His foreknowledge, knowing what will characterize this kingdom, He's saying the head is Babylon, is gold. The chest and the arms is a second kingdom inferior, not as powerful, if you will, not as much as authority as the Babylonian had, but they are a little bit inferior, two kingdoms united together, the Medo-Persian. And they are, if you will, together united but represented by the two arms inferior, having the color or the metal silver which represent that which will characterize the Medo-Persian.

Okay, let's go down now in the third in verse 39, the third kingdom now in verse 39b. So the Babylonian begin in 586 B.C. The Medo-Persian began their rule in 539 B.C., when they took over Babylon. Now in 331 B.C., the Grecian is the third kingdom. Daniel now gives us in the third kingdom that we rule, and you notice in verse 39b, he gives interpretation of the belly and the thighs of brass. And he says, "Another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth."

Now I want you to turn for a second to Daniel chapter 11, please, just for a second. Daniel chapter 11, it is so interesting that Greece does mention in the book of Daniel as well. And it's very well known that the Grecian Empire began of course with Alexander the Great. And Alexander the Great was a young man who have conquered very much.

Those who know history can tell us a lot about it. But he have conquered, and apparently he died very young, in about 32, 33 years of age. And when he died, four of his captains have taken over the kingdom, and it had been divided into four section. But there were two primary, the North and the South, which have been taken hold much longer, much more powerful.

Daniel chapter 11 and verse 2: "And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all. And by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia."

Voiceover: You have been listening to Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.