Nebuchadnezzar's Great Image

King Nebuchadnezzar just before this had won some great victories over surrounding nations--Egypt, Syria, etc.--as he had previously done with Judah, and as the Lord had predicted in the dream which Daniel had interpreted for the King, which showed the Babylonian Empire as the golden head of earthly dominion.

That national humiliation of Israel began with their subjection to Babylon and, through the prophet Daniel, God foretold that it should be continued under the successive Gentile kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.

While it stood erect, a stone was taken from the mountain and hurled at the image, striking it on the feet. Forthwith the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold were crushed to powder and became as the chaff of a summer’s threshing floor, and the wind carried them away. By Divine illumination, Daniel, the Prophet, explained the vision thus: The head represented Nebuchadnezzar’s own universal Empire, Babylon.

The breast and arms of silver represented the kingdom which would succeed his as a universal empire; namely, the kingdom of the Medes and Persians.

The king had dreamed of a great image, the head of which represented the Babylonian kingdom; the breast of silver, the Medo-Persian kingdom; the belly and thighs of brass, the Grecian kingdom; the legs of iron, the Roman Empire.

Daniel showed the king the dream, which the monarch had forgotten, and gave him the interpretation. The king had dreamed of a great image, the head of which represented the Babylonian kingdom; the breast of silver, the Medo-Persian kingdom; the belly and thighs of brass, the Grecian kingdom; the legs of iron, the Roman Empire. The "Holy" Roman Empire was represented in the feet, part of clay and part of iron.

The vision was of a stupendous image. Its head of gold represented Nebuchadnezzarʹs Empire—Babylon. Its breasts and arms of silver represented the Medo‐Persian Empire. Its belly and thighs of brass represented the Grecian Empire. Its strong legs of iron represented the Roman Empire, East and West. Its feet of iron and clay represented Papal Rome.

This was seen in a dream by the king of Babylon, and the inspired interpretation by the Prophet Daniel explains that it represented empires of government.

And under divine guidance he told how the golden head of the great image which the king had seen was a picture of the Babylonian Empire; the silver breast and arms pictured the Medo-Persian government; the brass belly and thighs the Empire of Grecia; and the legs of iron represented Imperial Rome.

By a careful study of Biblical history and prophecy this period of Gentile times has been found to be 2,520 years, having its beginning in 606 B. C-, and thus ending in 1914 A. D. From 606 B. C. four universal empires have held sway; namely, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

With Satan as the power behind the thrones of Gentile dominion there could not be other than a steady deterioration in the quality of the successive Gentile world powers down to today.

That terrible image pictured or represented Satan’s organization, both that which is invisible and that which is visible to man and which for sixty centuries has oppressed the human race.

This is corroborated by the prophecy of the Great Image showing that wicked spirits and wicked men have ruled the world and that this earthly rule of iron has been and is harsh and selfish and cruel.

In the prophecy of Daniel 2: 31-45 description is given of a “great image”, which is a picture of Satan’s organization and the various elements thereof by which he has ruled the world.

“Copper” of the image symbolizes the wicked angels or demons that operate by Satan’s direction, and which, as the prophecy states, “bear rule over all the earth.”

The image of the dream represents Satan's organization as a whole, invisible and visible, and including "the god of this world" himself.

Satan the Devil is the golden head of the image, pretending to be divine, and aiming to "be like the Most High".

The miry clay, therefore, pictures religion and its clergy, which religion pretends to be Christianity and which clergy palm themselves off as representatives of God's kingdom.

The ten toes of the image picture the complete number or all of the religious-political governments of men at the time of such climax.

Instead of this dream’s representing a succession of world empires, It pictures Satan’s entire world or kosmos, composed of both the heavens and the earth which he organized since the flood, “the heavens and the earth, which are now.” (2 Peter 3:7) It is all one organization from head to foot. Its destruction means the world’s end. Satan the Devil is the golden head of the image, pretending to be divine, and ai ing to “be like the Most High”.

In the second year of his reign in this special capacity the dream showing the end of Satan’s organization and rule and the taking over of power by Christ’s kingdom came to Nebuchadnezzar, as recorded at chapter 2.

After this introduction that gave full credit to Jehovah God, Daniel revealed the king’s dream of the terrible image that was struck by a stone and destroyed, and in the interpretation thereof showed it was a forecast of Christ’s kingdom smashing Satan’s organization, saying: “In the days of those kings the God of the heavens shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people; it shall break in pieces and annihilate all these kingdoms, but it shall stand forever.”

In the prophetic picture of Nebuchadnezzar’s image, the cutting of the stone out of the mountain without hands foreshadowed the Kingdom’s coming into existence or being established in 1914; while its coming against the image and grinding it into powder would constitute the complete expression of the Kingdom’s coming at Armageddon.—Dan. 2:31-45.

Since that time Satan has built up a powerful worldly organization, which was described by Daniel as being like a great image with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

This was the “kingdom” or world power of the Medes and Persians. The expression “After you” refers to time, and reminds Nebuchadnezzar that another rulership will succeed his dynasty to the world’s domination.

The number ten being a Biblical number symbolizing earthly completeness, the ten toes picture all such coexisting powers and governments.

The sixth world power, the Roman, was not the only world power symbolized by the iron legs. Within the centuries of existence of the ironlike system of world power there arose the greatest and mightiest in all the line of march. This was the seventh world power, which was foretold in Bible prophecy.

There is the vision of the dreadful image, whose head of gold represents the king of Babylon, after whom three other kingdoms rise, as pictured in the other parts of the image.

In his dream the king of Babylon saw the representation of a continuous series of political world powers, from the Babylonian World Power of Nebuchadnezzar's dynasty down to and including the Biblically Seventh World Power, the Anglo-American World Power of our twentieth century.

The silver breasts and arms symbolized the succeeding Medo-Persian World Power. The copper belly and thighs symbolized the Macedonian-Grecian World Power. The iron legs symbolized the Roman World Power and the outgrowth therefrom, the British-American Dual World Power. The feet partly of iron and partly of clay symbolized the present-day or final governmental powers that have become partly radical (socialistic; communistic) or partly imperial.

The succession of world powers that began with the Babylonian and ran down through the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, the Roman and the Anglo-American, was pictured as a large, unusually bright image of several materials, with feet of iron and of clay.

Daniel explained that the head of gold represented Nebuchadnezzar, or, by extension, the dynasty of Babylonian rulers that began with Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel explained that the head of gold represented Nebuchadnezzar, or, by extension, the dynasty of Babylonian rulers that began with Nebuchadnezzar. (Dan. 2:37, 38) The silver breasts and arms pictured the succeeding world power of Medo-Persia. The copper belly and thighs depicted "another kingdom, a third one [counting from Babylon]." (Dan. 2:39) This was the Grecian World Power. The next part of the image, the iron legs, initially represented Rome.

What does it picture in the light of our modern day? Daniel's explanation says for our illumination: "They will come to be mixed with the offspring of mankind; but they will not prove to be sticking together, this one to that one, just as iron is not mixing with molded clay." Accordingly, the molded clay symbolizes "the offspring of mankind," or, literally, 'the seed of men.'—Daniel 2:43.

The various metals in this image represented a series of world governments that would develop on the earthly scene down through the centuries, to be followed by the reestablishment of God's sovereignty in the earth by the Kingdom rule of his Son, Christ Jesus.

Daniel made known to Nebuchadnezzar that its head of gold stood for the "king" of Babylon, and that the lower parts of its body represented other kingdoms that would arise after Babylon.

There follow other world powers, the silver breasts and arms standing for Medo-Persia, the copper belly and thighs for Greece, and the iron legs for Rome and, later, the world power of Britain and America.

However, it is "in the final part of the days" that "the offspring of mankind," the common man, comes to the fore. In many lands kings, kaisers, and czars are replaced by revolutionary and democratic rulers. Human misrule of the earth becomes a hodgepodge of harsh dictatorships and more pliable democratic forms of government.

What did it all mean? Daniel tells the king that the parts of the image represent world powers that will follow one another. Many religious scholars agree with the point made in a Bible encyclopedia that says: "The central truth of (Daniel chapter 2) is that some day the kingdom of God will supersede all human empires." When will that day come?

"You, O king, the king of kings, you to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the might, and the strength and the dignity, . . . you yourself are the head of gold." Thus, the head represented King Nebuchadnezzar and the dynasty of kings that began with him.—Daniel 2:37, 38.

The entire image was crushed to powder by a stone cut out of a mountain, the stone thereafter filling the entire earth.—Da 2:31-35. What is the meaning of the parts of the dream image seen by Nebuchadnezzar? The image obviously relates to domination of the earth and Jehovah God's purpose regarding such domination. This is made clear in Daniel's inspired interpretation.

Since the other body parts represented kingdoms, the head evidently represented the dynasty of Babylonian kings from Nebuchadnezzar down till Babylon's fall in the time of King Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar.—Da 2:37, 38.

Thus, the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar well pictured how human rule would continue to be exercised in opposition to divine sovereignty even after his kingdom ended.

So political human rule in its entirety, unitedly opposed to divine sovereignty during the time of the end, is what the ‘ten toes’ of the image would logically represent.

The four world powers represented by the four metals of Nebuchadnezzar's dream were the Babylonian Empire (gold head), MedoPersia (silver breasts and arms), Greece (copper belly and thighs), and the Roman Empire (iron legs).

The ten toes of the image represent all such coexisting powers and governments, for in the Bible the number ten at times signifies earthly completeness.—Compare Exodus 34:28; Matthew 25:1; Revelation 2:10.

Some of the governments pictured by the image's feet and toes of iron mixed with clay are ironlike authoritarian or tyrannical. Others are claylike.

However, the iron legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image pictured not only the Roman Empire but also its political outgrowth—the Anglo-American World Power.

Second, this alliance will be the last world power to rule before God’s Kingdom puts an end to all human kingdoms. Even though other nations may at times challenge the Anglo-American World Power, they will not replace it.