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Dream statue of Nebuchadnezzar

Daniel explains the meaning of the statue.
Contributed by Bible Scenes
Story also available on our translated websites: Spanish, Portuguese, German, French
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In the second year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, he had a disturbing dream. The king asked his astrologers to tell him what he had dreamt and explain the meaning but they could not. – Slide 1
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Daniel and his friends asked God to show them the dream and its meaning and during the night God revealed the mystery to Daniel. The next morning he was brought before King Nebuchadnezzar. – Slide 2
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‘No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain this mystery,’ Daniel said, ‘but there is a God in heaven who has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. In your dream, there before you stood an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. – Slide 3
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‘The head of the statue was made of pure gold.’ Daniel explained this represented the powerful kingdom of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire (605BC – 539BC). – Slide 4
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The chest and arms of the statue were made of silver. Daniel explained this represented the kingdom that would rise up after the Babylonians and be inferior. (Most attribute this to the empire of the Medes and Persians 539BC – 331BC). – Slide 5
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The belly and thighs of the statue were made of bronze. Daniel explained this represented a third kingdom that would rule over the whole earth. (Most think this was the Greek empire 331BC - 168BC). – Slide 6
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The statue had legs of iron. 'There will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, that will crush and break all the others,’ Daniel explained. (Most attribute this to the Roman Empire 168BC – 476AD). – Slide 7
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The feet of the statue were partly made of iron and partly of baked clay. This kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. Its people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. (Christians differ in their interpretation of this kingdom but many believe it is yet to come and link it to the final kingdom of the anti- Christ - Revelation 17:12-14). – Slide 8
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Daniel continued to explain the King’s dream. – Slide 9
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‘While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands.’ – Slide 10
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‘… It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay … – Slide 11
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‘… and smashed them! – Slide 12
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‘The iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. – Slide 13
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‘The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.’ – Slide 14
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Then Daniel declared, ‘In these times God will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure for ever.’ – Slide 15
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Slide 16