Yesterday was
the first article for this How to Understand Bible Symbols and Imagery series!
It was really very very simple.
Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away all of our sins! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Every article that I write after this will require more
in depth study.
This series is not for the surface reader of the Bible.
It is for that person who will do as
2 Timothy 2:15 admonishes to
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
What I will be presenting is Biblical and Historical. You can research it anywhere on the internet and read it in any Encyclopedia.
So as the Bible says in
Hebrews 5:14
But
strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those
who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. ...so let us begin.
The Imagery of Daniel 2 is something that I learned during my early years of life. And that imagery will be the focus today.
Oh and let me add this: To understand scripture you simply compare scripture with scripture and let the Bible interpret itself.
Isaiah 28:10
For precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little:
I mean think about it for a minute...
Who is the Author of the Bible? Yes. And
He knows everything from the beginning to the end. ...so of course He knows what the future will be and what the past was.
2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
And in
His GREAT LOVE, He has shared what will be/what has been and what is to come in His Word.
John 16:13
Howbeit when he, the
Spirit of truth, is come, he will
guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and
he will shew you things to come
So let's see what imagery we see in Daniel and what it means.
This is what Daniel tells the King about his 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.
And that's that part of the image.
Then Daniel goes on to interpret the dream for the King by telling him what the various metals/colors/textures represent.
Daniel 2:36-44 says
This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all.
Thou art this head of gold.
39 And
after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and
another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40 And the
fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas
thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 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.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, 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.
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Now
to understand what kingdom comes after Babylon, you can find that in Daniel 5
Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:
19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.
20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
21 And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.
22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;
23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
25 And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.
26 This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
27 Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
28 Peres;
Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
I hope that you have your Bibles in your hand so that you can continue to study this dream of Nebuchanezzer
here.
Remember I just want to share with you how to understand imagery and Bible symbols. And the first thing to studying any hard subject is comparing scripture with scripture.
I will share another Bible study tip in my next post tomorrow, God willing.
Click on the link below for any of the articles in this How to Understand Bible Symbols and Imagery:
How to Understand Bible Symbols and Imagery 01
How to Understand Bible Symbols and Imagery 02
How to Understand Bible Symbols and Imagery 03
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