The Living Word: Will there be Peace on Earth? (Part 1)
BY LEAORA SCHMIDT
thelivingword@mail.com
The pagan king aroused from his sleep, disturbed by a dream that seemed significant, but he couldn’t remember it! His wisemen and counselors that he depended upon weren’t able to help him. This made him so angry and frustrated that he sentenced them to death. When one of the unconsulted wise men was informed of the king’s death decree he bravely spoke up, “Wait a minute! Not so fast! There is Someone who can reveal hidden things. Give me time to find out what the King dreamed.”
Thus it was, that Daniel, a Jewish captive serving in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court, sought out three other Jewish captives, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, and they prayed to the God of heaven. In answer to their prayer, God showed Daniel the dream and its meaning. It was significant! It foretold the future of the world until the very end of time—even into eternity!!!
The dream, as recounted in Daniel chapter two, depicted an image of a man com- posed of four different metals, signifying four empires. The head of gold represented Babylon, the existing empire at the time of the dream. King Nebuchadnezzar’s empire of Babylon dazzled with gold. It was referred to as the golden empire. The breast and shoulders of brass represented Media-Persia which would succeed Babylon. Then the belly and thighs of silver depicted Greece, which was to be supplanted by the iron empire of Rome. The feet and toes had a mixture of clay with iron. Europe’s ten kingdoms tried to unite by intermarriage, but failed in achieving long-lasting peace, because iron and clay do not adhere to one another. History books give details of these four empires just as Scripture foretold them.
It is possible to see where we are in 2020 by this prediction given 2,500 years ago to a heathen king and interpreted by Daniel through prayer. Recognizing history’s re- cord of strife and warfare, many ask, Will there be lasting peace? The last part of the dream assures us that there most assuredly will be peace—everlasting peace. That’s the best part of the dream. We are today living in the toes of iron and clay. Uncertainty and chaos increase daily. The fourth and last earthly kingdom is nearing its end.
I recently wrote in an email my confidence that we are actually in the toenails of that great image. One responded by saying that it seemed plausible that even those toe- nails were being cut short! It’s a joyful an- ticipation that the best is yet to come as we move away from the image of man to what God has in store for our future. It’s all there in the dream to read about in Part 2.