I was talking to a friend a couple of weeks ago and he asked me, “Have you ever had a dream so real, you wake up mad at the person in your dream?” Yes. Oddly enough that has happed to me. It’s strange. It had happened to him as well as we both laughed at the absurdity of it.
There is a man in history that also had a vivid dream; so real he awoke startled, sweating, heart-pounding, and he wants answers!
There are so many every-day-sayings that have their origins in God’s Holy Word. Today we look at “Feet of Clay”.
Feet of clay has been used in English since the 19th century to refer to a fundamental weakness that has the potential to lead to the downfall of something (or someone) otherwise great and powerful. It comes from the Book of Daniel and one of my favorite stories.
We see in chapter two that Nebuchadnezzar has reigned as king for two years. Verse one says he “had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him.”
Have you ever been so troubled over something you could not sleep? I have.
I won’t go into the details but in 2008 three of our grandchildren were removed from their mother’s home and placed in foster care. I did not know where they were or who they were with, and I was beside myself with worry.
But even as I paced the hall at 2am, filled with anxiety, I kept praying. I prayed for the children’s safety, and I prayed for my worry. I had never, in 24 years at the time, seen my husband cry, until that year. (He only knew of his experience in foster care, and he was devasted for our grandchildren;) and I prayed for him.
Now, all these years later it is barely a memory, and those children are adults making good lives for themselves, but back then, I could not sleep for worry.
The king could not sleep. He was troubled. He was anxious. He was worried. He had questions that no one could answer. That is until Daniel was brought in.
Daniel begins to unravel the dream in chapter 2.
“…This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.” Daniel 2:31-33 NKJV
As the dream continues, suddenly a huge stone strikes the clay feet of the statue, causing it to collapse and break up into pieces.
Daniel then finished interpretation of the dream.
“You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold.
“But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.
“Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
“As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.” Daniel 2:37-43 NKJV
From True Riches Radio Commentary, “…this final manifestation of this final kingdom, represented by the toes, will have some strong elements and some brittle, or weak elements. The original Aramaic word for “strong” is “taqqiph” and implies to be full of power and might. The original Aramaic word for “brittle” is “tebar.” This word, which is derived from the Hebrew word “shabar”, means to be so fragile as to be broken into pieces. This final kingdom will be composed of great strength and significant weakness.”
I have heard more than one preacher state, as far as the time we are living in history, related directly to the prophesy of the image, “not only are we at the feet, but we are living in the time of the toe.”
Friend, Jesus is coming soon. There are approximately 2,500 prophecies in the Bible, and most of them have come true already. We are living in the time of the end.
Luke 21:28 “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
by Jeanette Stark – Monday, July 17, 2023
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