“Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these: 29“As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
31“You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.
Before the king fell asleep, he may have been thinking about what the future held for him and his kingdom. Already as a young man, he had helped to win important military victories that had made Babylon a world power. Did the future hold more of the same? Would Babylon continue to be the leading nation of the world?
Suddenly, visions flashed before his mind in which God, the Revealer of mysteries, showed him what would happen not only to the Babylonian kingdom in the immediate future, but to all kingdoms of the world in the distant future.
Daniel now proceeded to tell the king his dream, giving proof of the authenticity of his interpretation. In his dream the king saw an image, apparently of a man. The first thing about the image that impressed the viewer was its size; it was immense. The appearance of the image was dazzling; it was of shining metal. Nebuchadnezzar remembered the image as being awesome; not only its size but also its appearance was terrifying.
Daniel briefly reviewed the details of the image, which was made of materials our world considers to be precious and lasting. The head was of pure gold; the chest and arms of silver; the belly and thighs of bronze; the legs of iron. What was surprising, however, is that the feet which supported the image were partly of iron and partly of baked clay. These two materials do not bond together. Besides, baked clay is a brittle material, with little strength. The immense statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw stood on weak feet. For all of its size, the image could fall without warning.