Falling Idols

We saw last week that Daniel was willing to put everything on the line that God could interpret the dream of the king. And in an incredibly stressful circumstance he went to his friends and they prayed through the night that God may reveal this dream. So far, with these 4 teenagers we have seen some incredible character qualities.

Respect for authorities (especially those they disagreed with)

Wisdom

Self-control

Faith in God

Where we ended last week was Daniel telling the king that it was God, not himself that was able to interpret this dream. Not the sorcerers or magicians or astrologers. Not the wisdom of the world but only the wisdom of God. As the Chaldeans said “only God can tell you”. And sure enough He did. We talked about how this shows us that we should go to God rather than world to search for the answers because the world is just as confused as we are. And now we are going to look at the dream that God had given Nebuchadnezzar

The Falling statue

It is described at “tall and dazzling”. It was terrifying to the king, like looking straight up at something you think might fall on you.

Daniel describes a statue with a gold head, silver chest and arms, bronze stomach and thighs, and iron legs and iron/clay feet.

Now what do you notice about the materials used for this statue?

They go from expensive to cheap but also from strong to weak. With the feet being something like china, easily breakable. It was top heavy and with a strike at the feet it would topple.

Then a “stone broke off without a hand touching it, from a supernatural force, and struck the brittle feet. And what happens? The feet are crushed and all of the material goes into the wind where they aren’t found again. That which was valuable is just gone in a flash.

What do you think this means?

We have this newly created kingdom, Babylon, with a strong king. But how long would they last? Were they just this sparkly jewel at the top but brittle underneath? Nebuchadnezzar had this massive empire but how long would it last? We know that there were groups trying to overthrow him and it caused him anxiety.

Now what about this stone that turns into a mountain? What do you think this means?

-It is a rival kingdom that will overthrow his own (which Persia will do). But, as we will see, it means more than that as well.

The Sovereign God

Now we will see the full meaning told to us by Daniel.

Daniel gives Nebuchadnezzar an honored title, “king of kings” and the head of gold (Daniel, again showing his respect) but says this is only possible because of Yahweh, the God if Israel, the Creator of all things. He is the only one who could give him this authority and power. And, up until this point, the Lord has led Nebuchadnezzar rule over all of these things. In this, there is some confidence, he has true authority. But the Lord is over all kings and nations on the earth. From Him nations rise and fall.

Jeremiah 27:6-7 “So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him. All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.”

Daniel identifies that there will be 4 kingdoms, who will become weaker and weaker, that will rule the earth. Then the last will be “Strong as iron” that will shatter everything, but will be divided and will have some incredible strength but a part that will also be brittle.

-The Babylonians first from 605-539 B (66 years).

-We see that the Media-Persian empire, with Cyrus the great, would be the next great empire. From 559 BC - 331 BC (208 years). We will see this in the second half of the book. This empire would be inferior. But in what way was it inferior? Because the kingdoms to come would all be just as powerful if not more powerful. But it seems to be from a moral standpoint. That each kingdom were led into more corruption, more vices, more violence. The world would become more and more sinful through each generation. What some may see as modernization and utopia, Daniel says things will continue into chaos.

-Then after the Medo-Persian empire would be the Greek empire when in 332 BC would conquer the Medo-Persian empire when Alexander the Great defeated them. The Greek empire would last from 332 BC to 146 BC (185 years).

-The last empire would be the most powerful. It would have tremendous strength to destroy others. It would also last the longest from 146 BC to 395 AD. About 500 years. But even after that the Eastern Roman empire would last till 476 BC and the Western Empire would last till 1453 BC (the Iron and clay feet). As Daniel says, iron and clay don’t bond together so there won’t be unity and it will be vulnerable. There are ten toes, that later we will see will represent 10 kings that will unite out of Rome (10 representing completeness as it does in many places in the Bible) and from this place those who will come against the everlasting kingdom.

Then, we see at the end of this last kingdom a new kingdom that will last forever is formed.

The Everlasting Kingdom

This kingdom will rise “in the time of those kings” in that last kingdom.

This is Christ’s rule, the Kingdom of God. It will be a divine kingdom, it will be eternal, it will never be conquered, it will be inaugurated at Christ’s second coming when the day of judgment occurs and Jesus has final victory over the world. This kingdom will fill the entire earth, and all will have to acknowledge this kingdom.

Daniel ends by saying this can be trusted, it is true because it is from God.

Daniel (2) The Meaning of the Great Rock (2:44–45)

What a comforting passage this is. In this present world of injustice, wars, and crime, it is reassuring to know that Christ is coming; and when he comes, all of the evils of this age will end. There is indeed coming a day when “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14), for Messiah’s reign of righteousness will extend to the ends of the earth.

What is then interesting is Nebuchadnezzar’s response to the dream. He doesn’t fear that his kingdom will be destroyed, he doesn’t consider what the everlasting kingdom is. He doesn’t ask any questions about the future or about Daniel’s God. Instead, he seems relieved. Probably because he saw himself as the gold head, the best of all the kingdoms. He was excited that at the present he got to keep all of his wealth and power. He bowed down to Daniel and gave Daniel offerings. He gives Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego powerful positions within Babylon. Daniel essentially is the mayor of Babylon and he is the head over all the other wise men of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t worship Daniel’s God, he doesn’t commit himself to be obedient to God’s commands, he just seems to add it to his long list of other gods (like the one he will make in the next chapter). He is the “God of gods” but not the only God.

-We can be the same way. We can see the miracles, we can hear all the evidence, we can say that we believe but we don’t have a personal relationship, we aren’t committed to following God, we don’t obey his commands. We can follow all these other gods and just put the God of gods on the shelf.

But we are told that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. When we hear from God, when we read His word, when we are given evidence that leads us to believe in Him and when we say we have faith. We should drop all those other gods and follow Him.

Daniel is now given an opportunity to be an influence, a voice, for the Lord his God. But he will also in a difficult place where it would be easy to compromise. He is in politics now, it is an easy place to do things for yourselves. To money grab, to make false promises, to get lazy.

Takeaways

God is sovereign over all nations and all people

Daniel 6. Nebuchadnezzar’s Response (2:46–49)

J. Boice well comments: “If God does not control our lives—from the actions of kings and others in positions of power to the most minute circumstances—then everything in life is uncertain.

If God isn’t in control than we are just “victims of circumstance, and whatever happens will happen.” It is all just chance and luck. It is just the “universe playing out.”

But if God is sovereign, like the Bible tells us than we can be certain about the future and everything that God has promised. We can trust that one day Christ will come back and rule over the heavens and the earth. This frees us to live for God knowing that He rules over all things and we will rule with Him one day.

God is omniscient

God knows all things, including all things in the future. He is never shocked, never confused, never unaware of the things that are happening in this world. Even though we may not know it all we trust in the God who does know all things. Why wouldn’t we put all of our faith in that God?!?!

God will reign forever, earthly and evil kingdom will not

God will come back and He will reign eternally in His perfect kingdom. All the nations on earth are ruled by fallen people who follow wicked ways. But one days all the pain, the corruption, the deceit, it will all end. Then God, in His perfect ways, will rule over all things.