Daniel 2:31-33 You, O king, saw, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you… The prophecies of Daniel (feinting to "the times of the Gentiles") are marked by evolution, but it is downward, and not upward; rather, it is devolution! They are marked by progress, but it is progress in corruption; by development, but it is inferiority. This outline is given us in two parts. One from the human standpoint in Daniel 2, where, under the figure of a man in stately proportion, they are seen in their succession by a man of the Gentiles; the other from the Divine standpoint in Daniel 7 and 8, where, by a man of God, they are seen in their origin. The one, therefore, displays their outward appearance to the eye of a man of the world; the other reveals their moral character to the eye of the man of God. Nebuchadnezzar sees these nations and "times of the Gentiles" under the outward aspect of glittering gold, shining silver, brilliant brass, and irresistible iron. Daniel sees them as wild beasts, ferocious in their nature, cruel in their career. Nebuchadnezzar sees them in a dream, as a stately man, in his palace. Daniel sees them in a vision of God, as wild beasts arising out of the waters. For, "man being in honour abideth not, he is like the beasts that perish" (Psalm 49:12). And man apart from God, has ever gone, and must ever go down, down! Even the saint without Christ can do nothing. But man apart from God can do "only evil continually." He goes down, as it is here shown, from gold to miry clay; and from the noble lion to the nondescript dragon! Yes, man has indeed a free will, but it is ever exercised in opposition to God's will, it is "enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). Man has ever destroyed himself, and his help is found only in God (Hosea 13:9). Now look at the image. Look first at its values. All tend downwards, first gold, then silver, brass, iron, and clay. Look at its weight, its specific gravity. Gold is equivalent to 19.3; silver, 10.51; brass, 8.5; iron, 7.6; clay, 1.9. Down, down front 19.3 to 1.9. The image is top-heavy, and the first blow of the mighty stone upon the feet shall shatter its pottery, and bring it all down in pieces. So it is with the beasts, which are all emblazoned on the banners, and stamped on the coins of the Gentile nations. But they are wild beasts, and they run rapidly down from the lion to the bear, from the bear to the leopard, and from the leopard to the hybrid monstrosity. All is on the descending scale, all is seen to be growing worse and worse. Those who look for the world to improve and progress fill it developes into the Millennial kingdom, must account for this. We all agree that these things are figures, but they are figures of a reality, and that which is represented as an ever increasing descent, cannot possibly be the figure for a gradual ascent. At any rate, it was not so interpreted to Daniel by the Holy Ghost. He said to Nebuchadnezzar, "Thou art this head of gold, and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee" (Daniel 2:38, 39). Yet, with all this advancing deterioration, there is a seeming advance in apparent greatness, but it is in reality only weakness. The first empire, Babylon, is seen as one; the second, the Medo-Persian, is seen as two; the third, Greece, becomes four (Macedonia, Thrace, Syria, Egypt); and the fourth, Rome, becomes ten. So that there is less and less of that unity which is strength, and more and more of that division and separation which is weakness. And as the image thus declines in all that is great, noble, and precious, so the beasts become more wild and ferocious. Government runs down, down! The first (Babylon) was an autocracy, "whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive" (Daniel 5:19). The second was a parliament of princes, and the law of the Persian kingdom was stronger than the Persian king (Daniel 6:1-14). The third, Greece, was a government of oligarchies; while in the fourth, Rome, we see the mingling of princely iron with the communistic clay; until, in our day, we see more and more of the clay and less and less of the iron, till good government is the one great want of the age all over the world. Man has been tried and found wanting. He cannot govern himself as an individual, apart from God. How, then, can he do it nationally? No! the descent is from God to the devil, from Christ to anti-Christ. (J. Bullinger.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. |
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