The story of Daniel and the king’s dream is pretty straightforward. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that really troubled his soul. He called all his wise men in and demanded not only the interpretation of the dream, but the content of the dream from the advisors. He wanted to make sure they weren’t playing him so he figured that if they were really able to divine the mysteries they could also tell him what his dream was. Only Daniel was able to tell him that his dream was about a kingdom that would never be destroyed.
The story
After the king announced he had been troubled by a dream, he demanded of all his wise men to know the content and meaning of the dream. The penalty for not being able to provide both parts was to be cut into pieces. The wise men wisely told the king that only a god in heaven could reveal such information. The king was angry and set a date for all the wise men in the kingdom to be killed. That included Daniel and his three friends who were some of the wisest of all the king’s advisors.
When Daniel found out what was going on he went into the king and told him that if he would grant some time that he would come back with the information the king wanted. Daniel and his friends prayed, and in the nighttime Daniel was shown everything the king had seen, along with its interpretation. They went back to the king and told him the dream and its interpretation. The king was so impressed that he made Daniel the ruler over the province of Babylon, and the governor over all the wise men in Babylon. Daniel requested that his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be made the rulers over Babylon. The king granted Daniel’s wish, but kept Daniel at court with him.
The Dream
The reason the king had this dream in the first place was because he had been pondering on the future and wanted to know what was going to happen to the kingdom. The Lord gave him the dream then provided the interpretation to Daniel so the king could have his answer. The king’s dream was of a frightening statue with a head of fine gold, his breast and arms were of silver, his belly and thighs were of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet were part iron and part clay. A stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands rolled down the mountain and broke into pieces this might image then continued to grow like a mountain until it filled the whole earth.
Daniel told the king that the five parts of the image were five kingdoms that would rule the earth. King Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom was the head of gold. His kingdom would be replaced with a lesser kingdom of silver, which President Spencer W. Kimball says was Cyrus the Great of Persia. He was followed by a lesser kingdom of brass, which would be Alexander of Greece. The empire of Rome would be the fourth great kingdom made of iron. Finally, the feet and toes which were a mixture of iron and clay, the manual says is a collection of European nations. The mixture of iron and clay (which don’t mix) caused the feet and toes of the image to be particularly weak and easily broken.
The Importance of the Stone
The stone mentioned in the dream is the restoration of the gospel of Christ in the last days. It came into existence without the aid of human hands. The gospel was restored through Christ and his angels who gave Joseph Smith the keys of the kingdom of God on earth. As the Lord’s Church rolls or spreads throughout the earth it grows. How the church of God will break apart the image’s feet of clay and iron is a mystery to me. All the scriptures tell us is that as the stone moves forth it will grow from a stone to be the size of a mountain, and eventually will fill the whole earth.
The stone that replaces the five greatest kingdoms of the Biblical world is the kingdom of God. For millennia people have looked forward to the fulfilling of Daniel’s prophecy of the stone cut out of the mountain. That has now happened with the restoration of the gospel of Christ. With the conferring of priesthood keys to man once again, priesthood power is again on the earth to bless the lives of mankind in a way that has not been available for centuries. With every passing year the kingdom grows, as does the spiritual power of those righteous Saints who honor their covenants with God.
This is the stone that will subdue all other powers under the heavens. The final fulfillment of the prophecy will happen when the Savior comes to rule personally on the earth. But for now, it is our privilege and responsibility to prepare the way for the coming of our Lord. It is our commitment through covenant to take the gospel to all the world, including our neighbors, friends, and family members. If we even activated half of those who have been reclaimed by the world, the power in the priesthood of the Church would grow tremendously. More temples would be needed and would be built, and the blessings of the Lord will be poured out upon our heads.
Conclusion
We are intimately connected to Daniel’s prophecy. We are part of that stone. We have been given the divine mandate to move or roll it forth throughout the earth. It is our responsibility to take the gospel message to all the children of God. And in spreading the gospel message, we also spread the love of God to his children. This is the best part. We get to love more people by bringing the joys of the gospel into their lives.
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