Fulfilled Prophecy in Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

In ancient times, claiming special powers and failing to deliver could earn you a death sentence. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a dream around 600 years before the appearance of Jesus, which he struggled to interpret. He summoned the help of magicians, sorcerers, astrologers, and enchanters, expecting them to interpret his dream without giving them any details about it. They protested, telling him that no one could ever interpret a dream of someone who wouldn’t share the details, so Nebuchadnezzar did what all good kings of the time did: he had them executed.

When Daniel heard about this event, he prayed to God for help in interpreting the dream, which God then revealed to him. Then he approached Nebuchadnezzar and said the following:

“‘Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then 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. 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.’

‘This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.’

After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.’

‘In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.’”[1]

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was later fulfilled. The first kingdom was Babylon under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar; the second was the Medo-Persian kingdom under Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian; the third was the Greek kingdom under Alexander the Great; and the fourth was the Roman Empire under numerous emperors. Jesus appeared during the Roman Empire around 2,000 years ago.

As Nebuchadnezzar’s dream prophesied, the Roman Empire split into its East and West halves (between 285 and 395). The Emperor Constantine founded Constantinople, which was the powerful capital of the East, while Rome was the much weaker capital of the West. The West eventually crumbled while the East thrived for another 1,000 years.

Amidst the ruins of the Roman Empire in the West, the Roman Catholic Church grew and established its legitimacy in the centuries to come throughout Europe. Christians played a strong role in building hospitals, universities, charities, and granting equality of opportunities to all. Christians contributed to artwork, music, architecture, philosophy, and science. We live on the shoulders of some great Christians of the past, such as Francis Bacon, Galileo, Blaise Pascal, Isaac Newton, Joseph Haydn, Michelangelo, and Mozart.

But then the age of the “enlightenment” arrived in the 18^th century and deep atheistic thinkers emerged in the years following. The “rational” supplanted the “traditional” and the “material supplanted the supernatural.” People in the West began to reject claims of spiritual experiences and supernational causation, chipping away at the traditional and religious foundations that have benefited societies for centuries.

Atheists, Marxists, and postmodernists crawled out of the cracks in our foundations, lambasting God and rejecting anything we believe that points to Him. They deny we have any objective moral values or duties, such as the values of life, liberty, justice, equity, truth, and the duties to pursue them. They deny we have any absolute truth. One needs to ask them whether such denials are absolutely true!

Our foundational cracks are most pronounced in political movements and ideologies that are determined to eliminate our Christian beliefs and structures. The drive by some to destroy traditional family units, eliminate the patriarchy, and view life through the lenses of victimhood and power and oppression have fueled radical far leftist values and atheistic or Marxist agendas. They decry capital punishment for those guilty of murder while advocating for the murder of the innocent unborn. Their values are perverse and in opposition to our conscience.  

We need to get back to our Christian roots by focusing on Jesus, the Bible, and our Christian values. What would Jesus do? He addressed the radical feminist movement He gave us the Lord’s Prayer, which begins with “Our FATHER who art in heaven.” He addressed the destruction of the family unit when He said that marriage was between one man and one woman and divorce was only acceptable in cases of adultery. He addressed abortion through the words of Jeremiah the prophet.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”[2]

Jesus stands for peace, love, freedom, human dignity, and servant leadership. And how did the people of His time repay Him for His miracles, wisdom, and love? One of His twelve chosen apostles betrayed Him and the “strong bulls of Bashan” beat Him, spat at Him, stripped Him of His clothing, and crucified Him. Rather than claiming victimhood and scorning His earthly enemies, Jesus forgave them. In doing so, He set the example for us of how we’re to live, lead, and love.

Just as prophesied around 700 years before Jesus’ arrival, the Suffering Servant was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.[3] He then saw the light of day and was glorified by God.

Jesus fulfilled over 330 prophecies in the Old Testament. Fulfilled prophecies are one of many strong indicators for the truth of the Bible and Christianity. In the Bible, we’re told that we’re made in God’s image, He loves us, He forgives us, and He holds us accountable. To prove His everlasting love for us, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”[4]

At this point, you may be wondering whether we have enough evidence to support the claims that Jesus is divine. We do. You may be wondering whether it would benefit societies to get back to our Christian roots. It would. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life sharing the Good News and doing my part to bring Christianity into people’s lives. Come along for the ride!

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[1] Daniel 2: 31-49

[2] Jeremiah 1:5

[3] Isaiah 53; Psalm 22; Zechariah 12:10

[4] John 15:13