The Unshakable Kingdom

The Unshakable Kingdom

Daniel 2:31-49

There is a lot of tension in the world today. Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine. And Vladimir Putin is relentless in his pursuit of the destruction of the Ukrainian people. Even at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers.

Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping of China is threatening to attack Taiwan and sending surveillance balloons across the United States to evaluate American power, because America has pledged to support Taiwan.

At the same time, Israel’s leader Netanyahu and Ali Khamenei of Iran are fighting a shadow war of little skirmishes in Syria most people do not know about because both countries deny it’s taking place. There is so much tension today, because of unstable leaders and would be Kings that want to rule the world.

I can’t help but think about how it reminds me of what I read in the book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon became the most powerful dictator in the world by defeating Egypt and overthrowing Jerusalem. He took some of the children of Israel captive back to Babylon. The best and the brightest Israel had to offer and among those were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

He also took some of the treasures that belong to the temple of God. By doing this, he was declaring his victory not only over Israel, but over Yahweh their God. What King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t know is God was allowing him power and authority in the world. God was going to use him as an instrument of judgment for the unfaithfulness of His people, and to spread the blessings of God’s promised to Abraham in Gen. 12.

As Nebuchadnezzar believed he was in control and was the dominate ruler of the world he is getting ready to find out who is really in charge. He is getting ready to find out that God is the one who establishes kings and kingdoms, and that He is the one who disposes of them. For us today, we need to understand, we cannot rely on the government or any man to save us. The hope of the world is Christ and the everlasting kingdom of God.

By the time we come to our passage this morning Daniel and his friends have been in captivity for three years. They have been reeducated and immersed into the Babylonian culture. They have held onto their faith in God, but they are now considered among the wisemen of Babylon and advisors to the King.

Nebuchadnezzar has been in power for a little over two years, taking over after the death of his father, and he is feeling pretty good about himself. There are no threats to his kingdom when he begins to have dreams. They are nightmares really, and he is struggling to understand what they mean because he cannot sleep.

The Babylonians believed their dreams were important and they were messages from the gods. So, Nebuchadnezzar believes his dreams have something to do with the future of the kingdom, and he is right. But these are not messages from the Babylonian gods, there are no Babylonian gods. This is a message from the one true God, and it is not only for Nebuchadnezzar, but it is for world.

So, God puts into the mind of Nebuchadnezzar to demand, those who interpret the dream, must describe the details of the dream itself. Well, obviously this is impossible for any human being to do, and really that is the point, God must do it.

To make matters worse, because no man can do this, Nebuchadnezzar recognizes the impotency of the Babylonian gods and their wisemen. So, he issues a decree that all the wisemen of Babylon be destroyed. And the king is not kidding. That kind of cruelty was common in the ancient world.

That is where Daniel comes in. When he and his friends learn about the king’s command they go to the Lord in prayer. They seek God for mercy and wisdom to answer the king. God gives Daniel a vision and he now stands ready to give the answer. He is God’s spokesmen in the moment.

The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the description of the dream, Vs.31-36a. This is the dream itself explained by God through Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar.

“You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle, and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 “This was the dream.”

The dream itself is very simple, and straight forward but we are told some important details about the dream I don’t want you to miss. First, we are told what the image looked like. It was a great image or a statue if you will, mighty in appearance, excellent and bright, and it terrified the king.

When you think of this image don’t think of standing before the statue of Custer in Saint Mary’s Park but think of standing before the Statue of Liberty-on-Liberty Island in New York. The image in this dream was imposing, it was enormous in size and dominated the landscape.

Second, we have this indication that the statue was a man, because it has body parts. It has arms, and legs, a chest, and feet. Also, we are told the man is made of metal. Beginning with a head of gold and then decreasing in value and quality as it descends the body, until it is not even metal anymore, but it is clay at its feet.

I thought James Montgomery Boyce had same interesting things to say about this. He said, “notice how each kingdom is inferior to the previous one. That is to say, Gold is more precious than silver, silver more precious then bronze, and bronze more precious than iron.”

He said, “even though nations become stronger, as they progress with each passing generation they become less glorious.”

I will give you an example, America is so much stronger today than we were 100 years ago. We have greater military power, we have made incredible technological advancements, we have better medicines. Yet at the same time, we are weaker morally and spiritually than we were 100 years ago.

We have made progress, but we have not made progress on every level. So, we are strong like iron, but we are as weak as clay.

Then notice the statue wasn’t the only thing Nebuchadnezzar saw. No what got his attention more than anything else was an image of a stone, carved out of a mountain without hands, and it struck the statue causing it to collapse, crumble, and be blown away like chaff in the wind.

Now this dream may not sound all that frightening to you. But when you play around with witchcraft, sorcery, and astrology the way Nebuchadnezzar did, it is terrifying. When you do that, you are inviting all kinds of evil into your life. Remember the Babylonians were superstitious. They believed their false gods spoke to them in dreams, and the dreams of the king represented the future of the kingdom.

So, God used this method to get his attention, and indeed God’s message is about the future. God was using this dream to point Nebuchadnezzar to a future that promised the fall of something great, the kingdoms of the world, and the rise of something greater, the kingdom of God. That is what we will see in this story.

The next thing I want you to see in this passage is the Interpretation of the Dream, Vs. 36b-45. As God begins to reveal the interpretation of the dream through Daniel it become clear who the real king is, and it’s not Nebuchadnezzar.

“Now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold. 39 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. 41 And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

Notice how Daniel begins in Vs. 36 with, “Now we will tell the king the interpretation.” But who is we? When we first read that, we think “we” means him and God, and that makes a lot of sense. But when you consider Vs. 49 and how Daniel asks for places of honor for his friends, I believe “we” here is a reference to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. After all, they were his prayer warriors, and their lives were at stake in this too.

In Vs. 37-38 we see the emphasis is on the God of heaven. He is the one who has given Nebuchadnezzar dominion, and power, and glory. Although we see in the third and fourth chapters, the king wants to take credit for it. God is the one who has established him and God is the one who will bring him down.

The historical significance of this dream has been debated for a long time. But certain details of the dream are made clear in the passage itself. For instance, Daniel tells us that the different parts of the statue, represent kingdoms of the world. Also, we are told the head of Gold is Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom of Babylon, that’s the information we have.

I thought Voddie Baucham had some interesting things to say, “Our tendency and temptation is to read more into the dream in Daniel chapter two than Daniel gives us. When we are talking about prophetic literature, he says, allow apocalyptic literature to give you the interpretation. So, when Daniel says, this is the interpretation of the dream we have no need to go beyond what Daniel gives us.”

We have this tendency to connect this dream in chapter two with the prophecies we read in chapters seven and eight. We do that so we can be very specific here about who these kingdoms are and the empires they represent. We can speculate who they are, but that is not the point of this text.

Daniel doesn’t identify the other kingdoms. We know the first kingdom is Babylon, we are told that He says, “you oh king are the head of gold.” But beyond that Daniel doesn’t have much to say about the other kingdoms.

For example, the second and third kingdoms are only briefly mentioned in Vs. 39, so Daniel isn’t really concerned about them. The fourth kingdom is distinguished from the others only because we are given more information, but again it’s not identified. So, if we allow ourselves to speculate and get caught up in the details, we miss the point of the story.

As tempting as it is to talk about how we believe the second kingdom represents the Medes and the Persians, and the third kingdom represents Alexander the Great and the Greeks, and the fourth kingdom represents Rome, and all of that maybe true, but that is not the point Daniel wants to make here.

The point of this story is the fifth kingdom, and the fact that the kingdom of God rules and reigns over every other kingdom in the earth. That’s the point. Now there are a couple of things I want you to notice about this fifth kingdom.

First, it is an indestructible, everlasting kingdom. Vs 44 says,” It shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall stand forever.” No people of the earth will ever conquer the kingdom of God. No matter how hard the atheist, media, and unbelievers try. No matter how much we persecuted the church will stand, the body of Christ is an eternal kingdom. Jesus said, not even the gates of hell could prevail against it.

Second, it is a supernatural kingdom, Vs. 45 says, it was stone cut from a mountain with no human hand. In other words, it comes from the divine hand of God. When you consider the full revelation of God’s Word it becomes clear that this Kingdom, belongs to Jesus. The image of the stone or the rock in scripture is always associated with Christ.

For example, Matthew 21:42 says, “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Eph. 2:20-21 calls Him the cornerstone and the foundation we the church are built on. Jesus speaking of Himself in Matthew 21:44 says, “And the one who falls on this stone will be broken in pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” Christ is the stone the world rejected. He is the stone God will exalt and use to build his kingdom, one that will never be destroyed.

So, in one sense the stone has already struck. Christ came into the world, born of a virgin, with no help from man, and He established the kingdom of God, and we as believers are a part of that kingdom. We are a part of the stone that is becoming a mountain and filling the earth.

But in another sense the kingdom of God is not yet complete, because we are told the stone will destroy all other kingdoms and that moment still awaits. There will be a day when Jesus returns in Power and glory. Revelation 11:15, “the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

There will come a day, when the wars will cease, and peace will reign. There will come a day when there will be no more tears, suffering, or sorrow, and righteousness will rule. On that day, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The question is where will you be on that day? Are you a part of the stone of believers that is becoming the mountain and filling the earth? Have you come to the place of repentance and faith where you put your trust in the everlasting kingdom of God?

Because the kingdoms of the world are only temporary. Even America will be crushed by the stone one day, and it will become clear who belongs to Christ and who doesn’t. Don’t put your trust in a political party to save you. The only hope of the world is Christ and the everlasting Kingdom of God.

The final thing I want you to see in this passage is the Worship of the King, Vs. 46-49. Daniel had exalted God in the presence of the king, now the king will exalt God in the presence of Daniel.

46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. 47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.

Interestingly, this passage begins with the king Nebuchadnezzar worshipping Daniel. How ironic is that? Daniel was just a teenager when he was taken from his home and made a slave in Babylon. He was trained by the king to serve as a wisemen, and now the king falls on his face and worships Daniel. Only God can do that. Only God can take you from total obscurity to a place of prominence. Only God can take a complete disaster in your life and use it for your good.

At first, I am struck by the fact that Daniel doesn’t stop the king from worshipping him. But then I realize Daniel has just escaped death, and maybe now is not the time to correct the way the king worships. Daniel is just grateful to be alive and the king is overwhelmed by emotion. There will be time later to teach about idolatry.

But then we immediately see the king begin to praise God. Vs. 47, The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

You see Nebuchadnezzar was used to people worshipping him as their god. Idolatry was their common practice in Babylon. So, for him, to honor Daniel, in his mind, he was honoring Daniel’s God.

What we don’t see here is Nebuchadnezzar making Daniel’s God, his God. We see praise and worship, but we don’t see conversion. You might say, “well how do you know he wasn’t converted?” We have his response in chapter three. He builds himself a great statue of gold representing himself in the dream and wants everyone to worship it. So, it is clear, Nebuchadnezzar still thought of himself as God.

There is a great lesson in this for us. God can do great things in your life that cause you to fall on your face and worship the one true God, but without repentance and faith He does not become your personal Savior. Nebuchadnezzar knew what he heard and saw from Daniel was true, but he never surrendered his life.

However, the king did pour favor on Daniel. He presents him with gifts and honor. He appoints him as the chief prefect in Babylon.

You know in this moment the story of Joseph is ringing in Daniel’s ears. He knows very well how Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharoah and was given command of all of Egypt.

But I want you to notice Daniel’s heart. Because his heart is so right with the Lord. He is not only thinking of himself, but he is thinking of his friends.

Called by their Babylonian names now in this passage, he asks for positions of honor for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These were his prayer warriors. They together with Daniel sought the mercy of the Lord, and Daniel doesn’t forget them.

Conclusion

So, what is the purpose of this dream and interpretation? Well for those who are living outside of a relationship with God, it calls you to acknowledge His greatness. To understand He is in control, and everything that takes place in the world is under His authority.

His Word is true, you can believe it, you can trust it, and if you will turn to Him in faith, you can become a part of the everlasting Kingdom of Christ.

Stop trusting government systems and powers of this world who are only interested in their own political gains. But put your trust in the one who was willing to die for you that you might live forever, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For those who have a relationship with God, this should be a great encouragement to you. You are already know what it means to have a Savior. You already know what it means to be forgiven and set free. And this should fill your heart with hope because we are apart of an unshakable kingdom.

Our God is faithful, and His promises are true, and our hope is not in the world, but in Christ, the everlasting kingdom of God.