Who is the most powerful ruler in the world right now? In the Bible we’ve seen many powerful kings. In fact, a long, long time ago in a place far, far away, God gave a vision to Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful king of the Babylonian Empire.

It was a vision of a statue—the statue’s head was made of gold, the chest and arms silver, the belly and thighs bronze, and the legs iron (mixed with clay). Daniel, the prophet, was given wisdom to interpret the dream. He explained the gold was Nebuchadnezzar and the other metals were powerful kings and kingdoms that would rule after him. Daniel then explained that the God of heaven would set up a kingdom, which would never be destroyed and would end all these kingdoms (Dan. 2:44).

What does this old, strange dream have to do with Paul and Acts? A lot! The Roman Empire was in power in Paul’s day. Roman soldiers killed Jesus. But he rose again. And the gospel of the kingdom, which Jesus preached, was now being preached throughout the Empire. That powerful Empire was eventually destroyed (just like all the kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream), but God’s kingdom is forever. As Acts ends, Paul is on his way to Rome. He’ll have quite the adventure to get there and quite the ministry once he arrives. Want to learn what happened to him?