Page 57 - Daniel

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Nebuchadnezzar’s Vision of the Great Image

eginning with the second chapter of Daniel, the grand outline of
BGod’s program for world history during the period of Gentile
supremacy and the chastisement of Israel is presented for the first time.

What is true of the book in general is especially true of chapter 2.
Nowhere else in Scripture, except in Daniel 7, is a more comprehensive
picture given of world history as it stretched from the time of Daniel, six
hundred years before Christ, to the consummation at the second advent
of Christ. It is most remarkable that Daniel was not only given this broad

revelation of the course of what Christ called “the times of the Gentiles”
(Luke 21:24), but also the chronological prophecy of Israel’s history
stretching from the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the Lord’s second advent.
These two major foci of the book justify the general description of Daniel
as world history in outline with special reference to Israel.

Interpretations of the book of Daniel, and especially chapter 2, divide
into two broad categories. Those critics who label Daniel a second-
century forgery challenge the prophetic meaning of chapter 2 at every
turn, asserting that Daniel is merely recording history. If they are right,

an exposition of this chapter becomes a meaningless interpretation of a
curious but unimportant document.

On the other hand, reverent scholars have consistently defended the
authenticity of this book as a genuine portion of the Word of God
written by Daniel in the sixth century B.C. A sensible explanation of the
broad prophecies that chapter 2 details can be made only if this second
view is adopted.

Among those who regard this chapter as genuine Scripture, there is a
further subdivision into two classes: (1) those who interpret the vision
from the amillennial or postmillennial point of view; (2) those who

interpret the vision from a premillennial perspective, which is the
position of this book. The difference here resolves itself largely in