“As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel 2:34-35
The king’s dream did not end with seeing the terrifying image. Daniel
continues telling the dream God sent to him.
As you looked The king stares at the frightening huge image that stands in front of him when suddenly there is action.
A stone was cut out by no human hand Out of nowhere a stone appears. It is not carved by a human but appears to be the act of a God. The word stone is used in Ezra meaning a huge boulder.
It struck the image on its feet of iron and clay Like a missile the stone speeds toward the statue and it strikes the image at its weakest point, the feet made of a mixture of pieces of iron intermingled with clay.
And broke them in pieces The feet are broken (shattered or crushed) into multiple pieces. The implication is that the feet are destroyed and that does not bode well for the rest of the image.
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces As Nebuchadnezzar watches, this huge colossus of a statute comes crashing down. None of the parts of the statute, regardless of their composition, remained intact.
Became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors Nebuchadnezzar is stunned. It is not just that the statute falls – that would be natural consequence. Every part of the image is obliterated.
The mighty frightening statute that dwarfed the horizon s turned into fine grains of dust like the chaff from gain that has been threshed.
The wind carried them away Next Nebuchadnezzar sees a mighty wind (we will see these four winds of heaven again in Daniel 7:2) sweep over where the image stood.
Not a trace of them could be found The result of the wind is that the every particle of dust that was once the stone is completely swept away. There is absolutely nothing left of the frightening image that once stood mightily on the landscape.
But the stone that struck the image There is a “but”. Nebuchadnezzar sees that the stone uncut by human hands is all that remains.
Became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. To Nebuchadnezzar’s total amazement, the stone grows. In fact it grows until it is a huge mountain that fills every part of the entire earth. What can this mean?
What can we learn? There are two lessons. First, we see how Nebuchadnezzar could not understand this dream. We couldn’t either without God’s explanation. Second, we see why it troubled the king. If he was thinking about the future and had this dream he would wonder what it meant about him. God has his attention. That’s the first steps in coming to know God as redeemer.