The Book of Daniel - Chapter 2 (part 2)

Upon returning home, Daniel explained the situation to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah and suggested that they all pray to God for an answer to the problem. That night, Daniel had a vision in which the whole of the king's dream was revealed to him. The whole shebang.

Daniel was deeply grateful and gave thanks to God for giving him wisdom and showing him dream of the king.

Daniel went back to the executioner and said "Hold tight for a bit and take me to the king, I can do this interpretation now for him." and so he was brought back before Nebuchadnezzar. This was the moment of truth.

The King said "Ok, spit it out. Whats the dream and whats the deal with it?  You got this, right?"

Daniel explained that what the astrologers and magicians had told the king was correct - no person could do what the king was requesting....BUT.... there is a God in Heaven, and he reveals mysteries.
"What you saw was days to come - and I don't know this because I am better at this stuff than anybody else.... only because you are to be told the interpretation."

Daniel then explained....
"You stood by this giant honkin' statue. Majestic and awesome, its head was gold and its chest and arms of silver.  The statue had a belly and thighs made from bronze and its legs of iron.  Its feet were kind of a mixture of iron and clay.  So you're standing there and checking out this statue.  And suddenly a rock was cut by some hands that weren't human and struck the statue in the feet and the iron and clay feet just busted up.  Well, a statue without feet won't stand too long, and it fell over and broke into a million pieces all over the floor. But it was cool and you didn't have to sweep up the mess because a wind swept all that junk off the floor and didn't even leave dust. Totally clean. But the rock, that had smashed the feet of the statue became this giant mountain that pretty much filled the Earth. So that's the dream you had and now that I have your attention, I can explain it to you."

Nebuchadnezzar was fascinated at this point. The dream description was completely accurate - and without question, that gave strong likelihood that the interpretation would be accurate as well.

Daniel dove right in,  "God has placed you in a position of power over mankind, beasts of the fields and birds of the sky and you are the big honcho over all of these.  The gold head on that statue represents you.   There will be another kingdom after yours, though inferior. That is what the silver chest and arms represent.  And after, yet another kingdom will rule the earth, and that is represented by the bronze.  Lastly, there will be a fourth kingdom and it will be like iron - strong - able to smash everything. That kingdom will be just like that iron. It will break and smash however, like the feet of the statue which was made of both iron and clay, that kingdom will be divided. It'll have characteristics of both materials. Parts will be strong as iron, but parts as brittle and breakable as clay.  This means that the people of that kingdom will not remain united. Just like iron and clay don't mix together, the people of that kingdom will be likewise.

In the time of those kings, God will set up a kingdom in Heaven that cannot ever be destroyed or passed to another people,  and the kingdom will last forever.  The rock cut from a mountain - that destroyed the statue and caused it to be blown away by the winds - that rock is the kingdom God will prepare."

Daniel explained to the king that he should be thankful to God for giving him the vision that truthfully showed the future - and what will happen in it.

Nebuchadnezzar, realizing this was the truth, fell before Daniel and ordered an offering and incense be presented to him to recognize that the God Daniel spoke of, we the God of all gods.  He then made Daniel the ruler over Babylon and in charge of all its wise men.  Daniel requested that the king appoint Shadrach (Hananiah's new name as told in Part 1 of this chapter), Meshach (Mishael's new name) and Abednego (Azariah's new name) all to become administrators over Babylon and Daniel remained in the royal court.