King Nebuchadnezzar woke up shivering in a cold sweat sometime around 600 BC from a horrible nightmare. Something about the dream troubled him in the deepest way, but like many dreams his recollection of the dream vanished only moments after waking. Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t the kind of man to seek the aid of mystics or religions, but as ruler of what arguably was the first world empire he knew how to use religion to control people and reinforce his own power. Realizing the spiritual tendencies of the people he built a 90 foot tall god of his own for the people to submit to – and anyone who refused to bow to this god would be put to death. In this case however even the man who built one of the seven ancient wonders of the world was willing to humble himself for answers. His demand for answers however certainly didn’t look like humility – if none of the mystics or religious rulers could tell him his dream he would kill them all. Of course this was an impossible request, but one of the captive children of Israel
Perhaps the dream troubled the King so much because he saw the destruction of a giant statue not unlike the one he built by a Stone uncut by human hands. In his dream the statue was composed of five different layers with different materials. The head of the statue was gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly of and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet of iron mixed with clay. Each layer was inferior to the one above it, and the Uncut Stone struck the statue at the feet of clay causing the entire form to collapse. The prophet Daniel then explained that each one of these layers represented Kingdoms of the world that would succeed Babylon Persia followed by Greece Roman Empire , whose worldwide dominion was strong like iron. The fifth Kingdom is the one we are living in today, essentially built on what remains of the Roman Empire . According to the dream, God’s judgment will fall on a manmade system by a Stone untainted with human hands in our days.
Humanism is mankind exalting himself as god against the God of Heaven, and has its roots at the ancient city of Babel Babylon
The God of Heaven stands as an authority separate from all manmade religions and gods which are little more than man worshiping the product of his own hands. The name of God YAHWEH is literally interpreted as ‘The God who IS’ – or the same name God told Moses, I AM. God demanded that Moses remove his shoes while standing before God because even those manmade shoes tainted the Holy ground he was standing on. God has made it very clear through history that man is the work of His hands, and He will not be tainted by the work of man’s hands. This was so important that he would not allow the prophets to build altars out of stones that had been cut with human hands. In Exodus 20:25 he commanded Moses, “And if you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone: for if you lift up your tool upon it, you have polluted it.” –Exodus 20:25
The God of Heaven and Earth is not honored by glimmering manmade cathedrals or human works, but instead respects those who are humble before Him. Psalms 138:6 tells us, “Though the LORD be high, yet he has respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knows afar off.” The very Stone that mankind rejected in his pride will soon return to judge the earth. But for those who have placed their trust in Him, the scripture promises us – “Behold, I lay in Zion
