Nebuchudnezzar's Dream

If you've seen the Veggie Tales episode about the chocolate bunny statue that Mr. Nezzar ordered all the veggies to bow to, this story was familiar! But the part I didn't learn from the DVD was how the dream's interpretation had played out in history. Daniel explained that the statue represented a series of kingdoms that would rule Israel. He began with the gold head, which depicted Nebuchudnezzar as King of tye Babylonian empire. The next kingdom to rule over Israel was the Medes/Persians, who overthrew the Babylonians. Cyrus' decree sent the Israelites back to their homeland where they remained after they were peaceably absorbed into the Greek empire under Alexander the Great. The fourth kingdom to rule Israel was the Roman empire, who oppressed them for hundreds of years before finally destroying Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. The Jews were scattered at that time and grafted into the surrounding peoples, without a national identity or homeland. During the Six Day War, the Jews reclaimed the city of Jerusalem and were officially granted statehood in 1948. Now that Israel is again a recognized government, there is one more kingdom that is yet to dominate it. This kingdom is represented by the feet of bronze and clay. End times scholars believe that this kingdom will be headed by the antichrist and will ultimately be defeated in the Battle of Armageddon.

Nebuchudnezzar must have been so flattered by his representation in the dream that he didn't seem to pay heed to the foreshadowing of his own ruin. His response was to build a 90 foot gold statue of himself for the people to worship. This sets the stage for the miraculous account of Shasrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Recall that these were the friends of Daniel who refused to defile themselves by eating the kings food and were conscripted into royal service because of their education, nobility, and good looks. In this story, they honored God by refusing to bow to the giant statue of and were promptly thrown into a fiery furnace. God spared their lives and appeared to them in the fire Himself. It was understood by Nebuchudnezzar and agreed upon by modern Bible scholars, that the fourth person in the furnace was "a son of the gods" (see our NLT footnote) whom we know to be Jesus.

Tomorrow's reading: Jer. 8:4-11:23