Gods Word in Prophecy
God never leaves us in the dark about his plans. Amos, one of God's prophets says, “The Sovereign LORD never does anything without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets”. (Amos 3:7 GNB)
The particular prophecy on this panel is very important, because it spans such a huge amount of time. Given around 600 BC, it covers world history from then until now, and way into the future. It makes clear that God is in control of world affairs. Daniel says, “God controls the times and the seasons” (Daniel 2:21 GNB).
At the time of this prophecy the Jews had been taken captive to Babylon, a foreign country. (2 Kings 24-25). Babylonia was a world empire ruled over by Nebuchadnezzar, an all-powerful despotic king. God caused Nebuchadnezzar to dream about a giant statue, and through Daniel, a Jewish captive and God’s chosen prophet, revealed the meaning to the king.
The huge statue in the dream was composed of different materials - a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, waist and hips of bronze, legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Then a stone, unaided by man, broke away from a cliff and smashed the whole image to dust. The stone then grew and filled the whole earth.
God revealed that the different metals in the statue represented four world empires that would come and go, but never a fifth dominating world power. History has proved that despite man's attempts e.g. Napoleon and Hitler, this has come true. We now live in the time of mixed iron and clay which represents a mix of strong and weak nations.
Great exciting events are now to come. Jesus - the stone - will come to rid the world of evil and be conqueror over all nations. Daniel says, “At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last for ever” (Daniel 2 : 44 GNB)
Why do we believe this? We have complete confidence in the last part of the prophecy because all the earlier elements happened exactly as God said.
Other prophecies in the Bible are just as sure. Evidence from the past gives us certain hope for a wonderful future.
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