³¹ “Your Majesty, you were looking, and there, rising before you, was a single, massive statue. This statue was huge, shining with dazzling light, and was awesome to see. ³² The statue’s head was made of pure gold; its chest and arms were made from silver; its abdomen and hips were made of bronze. ³³ Its legs were of iron, and its feet were a mixture of iron and clay. ³⁴ You observed this until a stone was cut, but not by hands; and it smashed the statue’s feet of iron and clay and shattered them. ³⁵ Then all the parts shattered simultaneously—iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. They became like chaff, left on summer threshing floors. The wind lifted them away until no trace of them remained. But the stone that smashed the statue became a mighty mountain, and it filled the entire earth.

The dream’s meaning: four future rulers

³⁶ “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its meaning: ³⁷ You, Your Majesty, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given kingship, power, might, and glory to you! ³⁸ God has delivered into your care human beings, wild creatures, and birds in the sky—wherever they live—and has made you ruler of all of them. You are the gold head. ³⁹ But in your place, another kingdom will arise, one inferior to yours, and then a third, bronze kingdom will rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰ Then will come a fourth kingdom, mighty like iron. Just as iron shatters and crushes everything; so like an iron that smashes, it will shatter and crush all these others. ⁴¹ As for the feet and toes that you saw, which were a mixture of potter’s clay and iron, that signifies a divided kingdom; but it will possess some of the unyielding strength of iron. Even so, you saw the iron mixed with earthy clay ⁴² so that the toes were made from a mixture of iron and clay. Part of the kingdom will be mighty, but part of it will be fragile. ⁴³ Just as you saw the iron mixed with earthy clay, they will join together by intermarrying, but they will not bond to each other, just as iron does not fuse with clay.

⁴⁴ “But in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will be indestructible. Its rule will never pass to another people. It will shatter other kingdoms. It will put an end to all of them. It will stand firm forever, ⁴⁵ just like you saw when the stone, which was cut from the mountain, but not by hands, shattered the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. A great God has revealed to the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain. Its meaning can be trusted.”

Psalm 96

The temple’s fate

⁵ Some people were talking about the temple, how it was decorated with beautiful stones and ornaments dedicated to God. Jesus said, ⁶ “As for the things you are admiring, the time is coming when not even one stone will be left upon another. All will be demolished.”

⁷ They asked him, “Teacher, when will these things happen? What sign will show that these things are about to happen?”

⁸ Jesus said, “Watch out that you aren’t deceived. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I’m the one!’ and ‘It’s time!’ Don’t follow them. ⁹ When you hear of wars and rebellions, don’t be alarmed. These things must happen first, but the end won’t happen immediately.”