After his dream, Nebuchadnezzar built an enormous golden image and demanded that his whole known world worship it.
Daniel 3:1 records that the king made an image of gold sixty cubits high and six cubits wide. Les Feldick says the dream, especially the glittering head of gold, served as a catalyst, and that Nebuchadnezzar became so filled with his own power that he set the image on the desert sands and required everyone to worship it.
Daniel 3:1 — This verse records exactly what Nebuchadnezzar did after the events of Daniel 2 — he made a golden image.
Daniel 2 records that God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream of a great image whose brightness was excellent and whose form was terrible. The image was a huge likeness of a man made of different metals: a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part of iron and part of clay. Daniel interpreted it as a revelation of the Gentile empires that would follow one another. The very next chapter then begins: 'Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.' Scripture does not state his internal motive, but it records the action plainly.
Les Feldick connects Nebuchadnezzar's dream directly to the golden image. He points out that the dream image only had a head of gold, and he imagines that in his dream Nebuchadnezzar saw that gold glitter in the Middle Eastern sun — so he got the idea that this is what he was going to do. By Daniel 3, Les says the king had forgotten what Daniel had said and had become so filled with his own power and self that he wanted to unite all the pagan religions of his known world into the worship of one image, an image of himself. Les calls the dream a catalyst for what Nebuchadnezzar actually does in the next chapter. He also says this action ties Nebuchadnezzar to the Antichrist, who will do the same thing in the last days.
The Bible gives the dimensions as sixty cubits high and six cubits wide (Daniel 3:1). Les Feldick explains that a cubit is a foot and a half, making the image about ninety feet high and about nine feet wide. He calls it a pretty good size image.
Les teaches that the dream served as a catalyst. Nebuchadnezzar saw the head of gold glittering in his dream and, in Les's words, got the idea that 'this is what I'm going to do.' By chapter 3, he had forgotten all about Daniel's interpretation and was filled up with his own power and self. He wanted to unite all the pagan religions into a worship of one image, which would be of himself.
Daniel recovered the dream and told Nebuchadnezzar he saw a great image in the form of a man — with head of gold, chest of silver, belly of brass, legs of iron, and feet/toes of iron mixed with clay. Les describes it as a humongous likeness of a man whose brightness was excellent and whose form was terrible and frightening.
Les says the huge image depicted all the great Gentile empires that would come on the scene, beginning with Babylon, then the Medes and Persians, then the Greeks, and then the Romans. He highlights the word 'until' in Daniel 2:34 as marking a point in time when that succession of empires would be interrupted.
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream That Predicted Every World Empire — Daniel 2
heaven, verse 28, that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king what shall be in the latter days. Now immediately what does Daniel say? God has revealed to you prophetic events. Now you want to remember that I stressed it last week, and I'll keep stressing it over and over, that all true prophecy centers on the nation of Israel, and usually, not always, but usually within a time frame.
Golden Image Built After the Dream
Les points out that the dream image only had a head of gold, and that gold glittering in the Middle Eastern sun put the idea in Nebuchadnezzar's mind to build an image of gold — ninety feet high and nine feet wide — and demand the whole known world worship it.
Dream as a Catalyst
Les teaches that the dream was a catalyst and that by Daniel 3 the king was filled with his own power and self, wanting to unite all pagan religions into worship of an image representing himself — which Les ties to the Antichrist.
The Dream Image Depicts World Empires
Les explains that the image in Daniel 2 depicted all the great Gentile empires — Babylon, Medes/Persians, Greeks, Romans — and that the word 'until' in Daniel 2:34 points to a time when this succession ends.
Recovering the Dream
Les reviews that Nebuchadnezzar lost his dream, Daniel recovered and interpreted it as a great image of a human man with head of gold, chest of silver, belly of brass, legs of iron, and ten toes of iron and clay.
The Dream Image Described
Les emphasizes that the image was in the form of a man with head, shoulders, belly, legs, feet, and toes — a humongous likeness of a man.
Terrible and Frightening Vision
Les notes that Daniel 2:31 says the image's brightness was excellent and its form was terrible, and that the vision shook Nebuchadnezzar.
Why Is Nebuchadnezzar's Dream Still Relevant Today? Daniel 2
But now back, if you will, to Daniel chapter 2, and we're going to drop right down again to verse 31, where Daniel begins to interpret this dream, recovers it and interprets it, and he says that you saw a great image. And he said, "...this image, whose brightness was excellent.
Daniel 3:1: Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
This verse records the king's action after his prophetic dream.
Daniel 2:31-33: Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
This describes the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, which led to his later action.
Scripture does not give an exact time gap, but Daniel 3 opens with him making the image, and Les Feldick says the dream served as a catalyst for what he did next.
It was about ninety feet high and nine feet wide, based on sixty cubits by six cubits and Les's explanation that a cubit is a foot and a half.
Les explains that the king was filled with his own power and self and wanted to unite all pagan religions around one image — an image of himself — set out on the desert sands.
Watch the Teaching: Nebuchadnezzar's Dream That Predicted Every World Empire — Daniel 2