Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon was a worried man. He'd had a dream that deeply troubled him, but unfortunately, he had completely forgotten its substance (Daniel 2:1-3). The wise men, astrologers, enchanters, magicians and leaders in the dark arts within his kingdom were all hastily summoned into royal presence. The monarch outrageously demanded that they not only remind him of the dream, but also furnish him with the interpretation thereof! Furthermore, their lives would be forfeit if they failed his royal majesty! What psychological turmoil, what consternation! No monarch ever, had required such a thing of his subjects! It certainly was not the best time to be numbered among the men of learning in that bustling ancient metropolis!
     Providentially no doubt, among the king's wise counsellors were the  Jewish advisers Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Daniel 2:17). These young men earnestly sought the God of Israel in prayer over their predicament. In a vision by night, both the king's dream and its meaning were revealed to Daniel (Daniel 2:19). The prophet and his companions hurried into the king's presence and related the matter to him.
In summary, the king had seen an enormous dazzling metallic statue of a man standing before him. The statue had a head of fine gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay (Daniel 2:31-33). 
As the king watched in awe, a rock was cut out without human agency and it hit the feet of the statue with great force. The statue collapsed into many small fragments, which were in turn blown away by a strong wind. The stone that had smote the statue then expanded to fill the whole world (Daniel 2:34-35). Nebuchadnezzar could only wonder at the accuracy of Daniel's narration.
The prophet then proceeded to give the king the interpretation of his dream (Daniel 2:37-38).

Gold- Babylon (606 to 538BC)
He revealed to the king that the Babylonian empire was the head of gold.
Starting out at the head of human civilization, with Nimrod at the helm (Genesis 10:8-10), the Babylonian empire is responsible for the establishment of many of the institutions governing human society today.

It was the Babylonians who started the false religion of sun worship and idolatry (prevalent among ancient peoples, and exists even today, though in largely more subtle form). "Hammurabi the Law Giver" was probably the initiator of constitution making among the nations of today. He was a Babylonian king. Many other institutions of government, the arts, war, the making of a calendar, astronomy and astrology, writing among many other human institutions largely stemmed from Babylon. The golden Babylonian head thought out and bequeathed these institutions to subsequent human societies, right down to the to the present.
Babylonian rule ended with the infamous (and blasphemous) party thrown by the irreverent Belshazzar for a "...thousand of his nobles..." (Daniel 5:1, 30-31, Jeremiah 51:39, 57). The Bible records that; "...that very night, Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians was slain and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of 62..." (Daniel 5:30-31).

Silver - Medo-Persia (538- 331BC)
One notices that just as the arms and chest are bigger than the head, so was the Medo-Persian Empire larger than the preceding Babylonian Empire. Also, just as the two arms on the human torso do not usually have the same strength or industry, so it was with this dual kingdom. The Persians who came later, were mightier than the Medes. While the Babylonian empire occupied only the Middle East, the Medo-Persian Empire stretched all the way from India, to Cush (Africa).

Again, though gold is more precious than silver, yet silver has greater tensile strength. Thus we find that the Medo-Persians were militarily superior to the Babylonians.

Bronze - Greece (331 - 168BC)
True to the call of prophecy, the Medo-Persian Empire gave way to the Grecian Empire in 331BC. Greece is the empire compared to the "belly and thighs of bronze" (Daniel 2:32, 39). Leading an army numbering only 47,000 soldiers, the Greek military genius, Alexander the Great confronted the mighty Medo- Persian host on the plains of Arbela (or Gaugamela). The Persians, though numbering over one million, were soundly beaten! The weaker tensile strength of silver proved no match for the power of bronze! Young Alexander led his forces in a lightning strike across Asia Minor and into the Indian subcontinent. In exactly 12 years, he had completely subdued the known world. Wherever he went, Hellenistic culture was introduced in dress, architecture, education, religion etc.
It was only the formidable Himalayan mountain ranges that persuaded the Grecian war machine to turn back and head home. Alexander later caught malarial fever during the retreat. He died in Babylon. His kingdom was then divided into four parts going to his close associates Lysimachus (Greece and Macedonia), Ptolemy-Soter (Egypt), Seleucus-Nicator (Syria) and Cassander (Asia Minor).

Iron - Rome (168 - to date)
Circa 168BC, there arose the fourth consecutive empire. A Roman military genius known to history as Julius Caesar came to power on the Italian peninsula. This power later became the powerful Roman Empire. It is the legs of iron in Nebuchadnezzar's statue. Of the four metals making up the statue, iron is easily the most abundant and therefore the basest of all. It is easily the most influential of all metals on the planet today, used in countless ways in all corners of the earth. Such is the reach and influence of the Roman empire it represents. The lives of earth's inhabitants today would be markedly quite different if one were to remove iron (and steel) out of the current civilization's equation.
Since iron also has greater tensile strength than all the preceding metals, we note that the Roman empire was stronger than the previous empires which held sway on earth. 
Just as the human body has two legs, the Roman Emperor Theodosius in the year 395AD, divided his kingdom into two parts: the Eastern Roman Empire going to his son Arcadius, and the Western Roman Empire going to his other son Honorius. The two empires were headquartered in Rome and Constantinople (present day Istanbul) respectively.
Again, just as the human body has ten toes at the feet, so did this empire have ten provinces roughly corresponding to some of nations of Europe today. These were: Anglo-Saxons (England), Alemmani (Germany), Franks (France), Lombardy (Italy), Visigoths (Spain), Burgundy (Switzerland), Suevi (Portugal), Vandals, Heruli and the Ostrogoths.
It is also historically accurate that during the Age of Discovery, these nations went "discovering" new, exotic, far flung lands which (in keeping with the strength of iron) they subjugated and later colonized. The current world system; its education, culture, religion, politics, economy and many other institutions - are heavily influenced by the Roman Empire. In a way, Rome is still in charge (though in a weakened indirect form hence the iron mixed with miry clay at the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue).

The Stone - Yahshua's Millennial Kingdom
Lastly, at the end of the Age, Yahshua will come in all his glory and power along with his powerful angels (Matthew 24:30-31) and put an end to the current unjust, unequal and heavily flawed system. He will totally destroy the Gentile statue and will then set up a Kingdom that will never be destroyed (Daniel 7:27, Isaiah 11:1-9, Revelation 11:15). This is the Kingdom he meant when he preached: " Repent, because the Kingdom of God is at hand." (Matthew 4:17). This truly universal kingdom will be headquartered in Jerusalem (Luke 1:31-33, Matthew 5:33-35).
For the first time in human history we will experience real peace (Isaiah 9:6-7, Micah 4:1-4). Humanity will not wage war and Satan will not deceive the nations any longer as he will be "doing time" in the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:2).
My dear friend, I do not know about you, but I certainly want to be part of this glorious Kingdom! If you have not surrendered your life to Yahshua, our Lord and Saviour, the time to do so is now (John 3:16, Mark 16:15-16). Only by believing in Yahshua's atoning sacrifice on Golgotha, will you have a chance to be part of this exciting, soon coming Kingdom. I pray that you will make the right decision. Shalom.

Pst Kennedy Chang'andu