The Millennial Man

These are notes based on the video. You are free to watch the video only or even follow with the notes below.

Theme story – Come with me in your imagination today 2,500 years ago to the greatest kingdom of the world – Babylon, which ruled the world at that time. Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, began to think about the future of his kingdom. Have you ever wondered what the future holds for you? That’s exactly how the king felt!

One night, the king fell asleep and God gave him a very vivid dream. This dream was so startling that it woke him up! He wanted to know what this very important dream meant! So he called for all his wise men to come before him and then he told them about his disturbing dream.

The wise men confidently answered the king, “Tell us the dream and we will tell you what it means.” But that was the great problem! Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t remember his dream! Have you ever had a vivid dream and then woke up and couldn’t remember it? 

“You tell me the dream and what it means, and you will be greatly rewarded,” he told them, “but if not, I will cut you in pieces and turn your houses in ruins!” But the wise men were powerless to interpret a dream they had not first heard. Now the king became very angry with these so-called “wise” men and commanded that all of them should be killed. But was there someone in the vast kingdom of Babylon who could explain the mystery of this mighty king’s dream? That brings us to the first question in our study. 

Question #1 says: Why did God give the Babylonian king this dream? 

(It’s best for the you to read the Bible verses yourself, in your Bible.) “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” (Dan. 2:28) Because God knew the king wanted to know the future, He gave the king this dream.

Question 2 says, When the king’s counselors failed to reveal and interpret the dream, what was Nebuchadnezzar’s command? 

The Bible says, “For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.” (Dan. 2:12) So the king begins to realize that these wise men who claimed to have a connection with the gods couldn’t help him in his problem! This king had a crisis, a problem in his life, but among the wise men who were absent at that meeting was a God-fearing young man, named Daniel who had just finished his training for the king’s service. Let’s go on to the next question.

Question 3 says, When Daniel learned about the death decree, what did he ask of the king and what did he tell his friends? 

The Bible says, “Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to … his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret.”  (Dan. 2:16-18) Because the king wanted so desperately to know this mysterious dream, he gave Daniel the requested time. Daniel gathered his companions together and prayed that God would help them in their crisis. The king had turned to the wise men in his crisis, but Daniel turned to God in his own crisis. 

Question 4 says, When the Lord revealed the dream to Daniel, to whom did he give praise and credit? 

The Bible says, “I thank thee, praise thee, O thou God of my fathers… But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets.” (Dan. 2:23, 28) God answered Daniel and his friends’ prayers and revealed the mysterious dream. In the morning, Daniel thanked God for answering his prayer. You know, when we are facing a crisis or problem in our lives, we can do the same as Daniel. We can turn to the same God he did. 

We are going to discover 3 exciting important points from this study. Here is the first one: When Daniel had a life or death crisis in his life, and no one had the answer, he turned to God and God answered his prayer. But let’s make it practical to our lives.  In the same way that God answered Daniel’s prayer, He desires to answer your prayer. (If possible, tell a personal testimony about a time when God answered your prayer and skip the following illustration.) I want to illustrate this point with a story from Africa. 

Illustration: Dr. Helen, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. “A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister.  One of the girls responded, ‘Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won’t feel so lonely.’  That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle!  Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, ‘If God sent that, I’m sure He also sent a doll!’ And she was right! The heavenly Father knew in advance of that child’s sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a ladies’ group to include both of those specific articles.” 

Prayer is not just something for the people of the Bible. The same God who answered Daniel’s prayer is the one who desires to answer your prayers today! God wants to have a personal relationship with us and He wants to be our best friend! If we pray to Him, He will answer us and do great things for us!   

So back to the study with Question 5: What 2 objects did Daniel say the king saw in his dream? 

The Bible says, “Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands…” (Dan. 2:31, 34)  So Daniel said, “O King, this is what you saw!” Now this sounds like an amazing dream! Let’s watch a little animation about this.

 “You, O King, saw a great image.  The head of the image was of gold . . .the chest and arms were of silver. . . the belly and thighs were of brass . . . the legs were of iron . . . And the toes were of iron mixed with clay.  A large stone struck the image on the feet and broke it into pieces.  The stone then grew bigger and bigger until it became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” 

What an amazing dream! Now the king had confidence that Daniel could also tell him what the dream meant! 

So Question 6 is, What does the head of gold represent? 

The Bible says, “Thou art this head of gold.” (Dan. 2:38) So Daniel told the king, “You are this head of gold.” Notice he didn’t say that you’re the whole image! The Bible tells us exactly what this image means! This head of gold represents the kingdom of Babylon which ruled from 612 to 539 BC as one of the greatest empires of the world. God symbolizes this kingdom with a gold head because there was gold everywhere in Babylon! Many of the giant temples and gods that they worshiped were overlaid with solid gold. Thus, the king thought Babylon would last forever! Did it?

Question 7 says, Would the Babylonian kingdom last forever? 

The Bible says, “And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee.” (Dan. 2:39)  No, it wouldn’t! What is the next metal in this image? Silver. The Medo-Persians ruled from 539-331 B.C. and used silver for their money. We’re counting down in time because this is B.C. – Before Christ. This image is actually a time line that started in Daniel’s day and stretches all the way down to our day and beyond.

So Question 8 says, What metal would represent the kingdom that followed Medo-Persia? 

The Bible says, “and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.” (Dan. 2:39)  It would be a kingdom of brass. The army of Greece, the next kingdom, all used brass for their armor. Greece ruled from 331-168 B.C.

Question 9 says, What metal represents the 4th kingdom? 

The Bible says, “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron.” (Dan. 2:40) This 4th kingdom, Rome, was symbolized as the iron in the image. The Roman empire overthrew the Greeks and ruled for almost 500 years (168 B.C – 476 A.D.). Rome used weapons made of iron. Jesus lived in the Roman Empire. You probably heard the story that Jesus was crucified by the Romans. But Rome would not last forever, either.

So Question 10 says, What would happen after the fall of the Roman Empire? 

The Bible says, “The kingdom shall be divided… And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.” (Dan. 2:41, 42)  It would be divided. Into how many parts? How many toes do you have? 10! So it would be divided into 10 parts or 10 kingdoms. That’s exactly what Daniel said would happen 100s of years before it happened! The remaining 7 are now the modern European nations of today (England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, etc.). All these little empires that came from Rome actually evolved into the nations of Europe we know today! So where are we on this time line? Are we in the head of gold? No. Are we living in the Greek empire? No. We’re not in the Roman empire. We’re in the toes of the image as the Bible shows us! 

Question 11 says, Would these kingdoms ever succeed in uniting? 

The Bible says, “They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” (Dan. 2:43) Many of the European leaders have done their best to reunite Europe under one government. But these simple words from Scripture have stopped every would-be leader of Europe. God said it and nothing can change His Words!  

Let’s notice another interesting point from our study today. God predicted the rise and fall of nations with 100% accuracy from Daniel’s day to our day. Since God predicts and controls the future, we can trust Him with our future!

Illustration: Napoleon tried to conquer all of Europe and was doing really well for awhile. But at the height of his success—when it looked like he really would conquer all of Europe—a Christian minister came to him and read the prophecy of Daniel 2 and said, “Napoleon, based on this prophecy, I predict you will never conquer all of Europe.”  Do you know what Napoleon said? “Not even God Himself can stop me.” However, at the Battle of Waterloo, God did stop Napoleon.  And after losing that battle, history records that Napoleon said, “God Almighty is too much for me.”  God had said “They shall not cleave one to another.”  That stopped Napoleon. So what will happen next?

Question 12 says, Who will set up the final kingdom?  Let’s read this from the Bible from Daniel 2:44. (Let the student read the verse before continuing on.) 

The Bible says, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed…” (Dan. 2:44) Daniel says, “in the days of these kings.” What kings? The kings of modern Europe today. God will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed! What is the time period that God is going to set up His kingdom? Sometime very, very soon! 

Question 13 says, What does the stone do to the other world kingdoms? 

The Bible says, “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” (Dan. 2:34, 35)  This stone is Jesus’ kingdom! When He comes, He will completely destroy all the kingdoms of earth and establish His everlasting kingdom! Very soon, Jesus is going to return to this earth and take His people back home with Him to heaven. When He comes, He will put an end to all the pain, the misery, the suffering, and the things that we see happening in the world today. 

Question 14 says, After hearing about Daniel’s clear interpretation of the dream, what did Nebuchadnezzar say about the Lord? 

The Bible says, “The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.” (Dan. 2:47) The king saw that God was in full control of all the events of the past, present and future and he readily acknowledged God as far above all the heathen gods of Babylon. 

Let’s notice the last important point from our study today. Because this prophecy was accurately fulfilled, we can know that Jesus is coming soon! Jesus wants you to be a part of His kingdom! 

Illustration: Think of your family. Imagine that one sad day, your baby brother (or sister or child) was killed in a tragic car accident. How would you feel? Of course, you’re heart-broken. But can’t you just say, “Well, I have other brothers and sisters (or children), so it’s ok. They can take my lost sibling’s (or child’s) place”? No! There is no one in the whole world who can take the place of that one special person! 

Friend, no one else can take your place in God’s heart! There is a place in God’s heart that only you can fill! God wants you to be there in His kingdom! If you’re not there, how will God feel? God wants you to be there, my friend! Don’t you want to be ready for Jesus when He comes?

Summary: And in our study today, we learned how we can be ready for Jesus when He comes! We saw that we need a connection with God and that He will help us when we pray to Him in our crisis. We also saw that since God can so accurately control the world’s affairs, He can control our lives, too. And lastly, we saw that Jesus’ kingdom is coming soon and He wants you and me to be a part of it!

Appeal: My friend, God can’t imagine going throughout eternity without you! He wants you to be there with Him! He loves you; He created you; He paid the paid the price to save you and He wants you to be with Him in heaven! I can’t think of anything better than to be in heaven with Jesus! God says to you, I want to be a part of your life! I want to be your friend and companion! Is it your desire to be ready for Jesus when He comes?