The Unshakeable Kingdom (Daniel 7:1-14)

Sermon Introduction:

We are going to be in Daniel 7:1-14 this morning. Here is the journey that I hope to take you on today. I want you to walk away with this truth ringing in your heart...

Jesus reigns, so don’t let chaos make you do dumb and sinful things.

But to get there we need to come into this text in Daniel 7, asking the right questions. When you see something out of the ordinary, what is the first question your brain asks?

“What” is that?

Our bodies were created by God to be able to detect danger and then focus attention upon it. If it’s something we’ve seen before then our brains are able to put it somewhere and say, “you’re okay, bro. Go back to normal.”

In just a moment we’re going to read a passage from Daniel 7 that is going to be a bit strange. It’s going to give us pictures that will spark our imagination. And it’s going to illicit those places in our brain that causes us to ask, “what is this....what is this talking about...”?

We will hear these things and want to put them into a neat little category. But our goal this morning is to ask a question that requires a different part of us. Instead of asking, “what is this thing...” we need to ask “why is this thing”… why is God, through Daniel, telling us these things here?

It’s a bit like watching a movie. When you first start watching what are you doing? You’re trying to understand the plot…you’re trying to pick up on characters…get to know them, identify them, label them, where do I place this guy....good guy, bad guy…do I cheer for this dude, am I supposed to loath this guy.

But after you’ve answered those questions in a satisfactory way you start to immerse yourself into the story. You’re attuned to the action. You’re asking “why” type of questions.

I want us to do that with Daniel 7. So, let me give you a couple of pointers as we begin....we’re going to start this story w/a great storm in the sea.

When you see the mention of the sea…hear and feel in your bones…chaos. Things are out of control.

And try to hold yourself back, just for a moment, when Daniel describes the creatures. And experience the story. Notice the action. Notice what they are doing…look for those little details.

Daniel 7:1–8 ESV

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

Sermon Introduction:

So what did you see?

Did you notice all the chaos? And did you happen to see how these kingdoms devour one another--”three ribs in its mouth between its teeth”—these dude has done at the first beast.

And that fourth beast is the big deal.

Terrifying.

Dreadful.

Exceedingly strong.

Devoured, broke in pieces. Stamped what was left with its feet.

This is your monster destroys the world movie. And you’re meant to place yourself there and feel the terror, the dread.

And then you see that little horn…and it’s boasting, it’s bragging. So arrogant Godzilla, destroying everything, creating destruction all around.

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Here, then, is the picture. Out of the chaotic sea a powerful beast emerges. It gives the appearance of taming the chaos but actually creates even more destruction than was there before.

And it keeps getting worse and worse. With the chaos that this creature brings about another beast—even more powerful—destroys that beast (yay!) but then it’s even worse and more destructive than the one that went before it.

Now, this isn’t so strange is it?

We can see examples of this throughout history. During World War II, Stalin helped to defeat Hitler. But Stalin’s rule was characterized by totalitarianism, mass purges, forced labor camps, and widespread repression. Millions of people were executed or died due to famine and their failed communist policies.

Stalin's regime also imposed strict control over the countries in Eastern Europe that fell under Soviet influence after World War II, leading to further repression, censorship, and human rights abuses in those nations.

Chaos give opportunity. It creates fear. And bad leaders love to use your fear to gain power. EVERY human kingdom does this. Or to put that another way…chaos can make us do stupid things.

We can see this on the world scene, we can certainly see it in the world of politics, but we can see this every single day.

Your job is chaotic. You feel out of control. You feel powerless. You feel worthless, stuck. So you succumb to the lure of pornography because for just a brief moment it makes you feel in control.

Your kids are making your house feel chaotic. Okay it doesn’t feel chaotic. It IS chaos. You have got to get this thing under control. And the best way to do that is to lash out at your kids, your spouse, the mailman, anybody who will listen and help you bring some order to chaos.

Your loneliness is more than you can handle. And so you enter into a relationship that you know isn’t going to be the best for you—but you convince yourself that it’ll be alright, it’ll work out.

One monster is killed but you’ve made space for an even bigger one. This isn’t just the stuff that we see with world leaders, it’s beating here in our own chest.

Chaos makes us do stupid things. And chaos is what life is like where the wild things are…outside the garden…outside the peace and shalom that God created us to live in. We’ve rebelled. And so chaos is our lot.

You don’t get back to the Garden by trying to create a little makeshift paradise in the kingdom of man. You can’t answer chaos by partnering with the kingdom of chaos. It’ll NEVER work, it’ll never last.

It’s kind of like Proverbs 26:27

Proverbs 26:27 ESV

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.

One leader rolls this stone up a hill—shows off his power—but then it rolls back on him. Another leaders comes by, sees the first dude squashed under the bolder—says, “what an idiot…then starts pushing the boulder back up the hill.

It’s a silly cycle. But it’s a deadly cycle. And Daniel is seeing this whole thing unfold. It’s a hopeless scene. People are continually harmed and the whole thing is just devouring itself and out of all this chaos emerges this boastful little horn. Is this the one who reigns over all?

Is this the end of the story? Is this what it all becomes? Is this the march of history just one long drawn out battle of king of the hill? (Not the one w/Hank and Bobby—the one where you fight on the playground and throw everyone down the hill until one boy is standing on top) Is this what human history is marching towards—survival of the fittest?

Then Daniel’s dream shifts gears…he’s looking at this little horn…but then listen:

Daniel 7:9–14 ESV

“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Daniel then sees the throne room of God. He sees the Ancient of Days. THIS is the real kingdom. And it’s given to the Son of Man.

We’ll try to answer some of the what in just minute, but for now lets hear the story. What is this telling us?

The Ancient of Days doesn’t emerge out of the chaos. He is before it. He is outside of it. He enters into this and judges all of the wickedness.

I love how Joyce Baldwin phrases this:

Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary A1. Daniel Has a Vision of Four Kingdoms and of God’s Kingdom (7:1–28)

there is one thing above all that the chapter is proclaiming quite unambiguously: the Most High is the reigning king in heaven and earth. There is an opposition to his rule, formidable in appearance and powerful, but all the time the Most High is in control, even when his opponents seem most successful (7:26). Therefore those who are allied with him triumph also.

What we see here is that there are two kingdoms. There is one kingdom that is self-consuming, devouring, chaotic, cruel, and evil. And then there is the unshakeable kingdom of God.

Here is why this matters. We live in the midst of both of these kingdoms. That was true of Daniel and that’s true of us. And as I said earlier our fear, our hatred for the chaos, our desire to go back to the Garden, to live in shalom....will drive us to make silly and dumb choices. We’ll make friends with the world, make friends with the world system, follow leaders who look nothing like Christ, and get swallowed up.

Now let’s circle back to some of these details in the text. Let’s briefly try to answer the “what” in this passage. What are these beasts pointing to? What do they represent?

Most are agreed that beast one is Babylon, beast two is the Median-Persian empire, beast three is Alexander the Great’s kingdom of Greece, and the fourth beast is Rome....there is then some divergence about the identity of the little horn.

Some view the little horn as Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Wicked dude…did many of the bad things we read about the little horn that we’ll see next week....

Others think it’s pointing to a kingdom yet to come. And also some think that these ten horns is a reconstituted Roman Empire of sorts…and many believe this little horn is pointing to the Antichrist.

We will dig into that a little more next week. The truth is, I don’t know for sure, and I’m not sure I’m meant to know…that’s not the point. Let me ask this question. God is clear right. God accomplishes His purpose.

God isn’t going to communicate in a way that is really confusing and then be like, “You fool…how dare you not know what I was talking about.” No, we see in James 1 that this isn’t how God is, this isn’t how he imparts wisdom.

Which leads me to ask the question, Why not just tell Daniel there is going to be this fella named Alexander the Great, and there is going to be the Antichrist…his name is going to be David Hasselhoff…(I’m kidding)…why not give us dates? Why not give us names?

Did he just leave us little clues so we could figure out the names? A little mystery so those enlightened or who have the Spirit can peek into all of these mysteries?

Well, there is an element in which the purpose of the parables is to invite further discipleship…to ask deeper questions…but it was never that. It’s for the purpose of relationship.

And God knows people. If it’s the year 550 BC and God says, “In the year 2067 in a land far far away...” what does that do for Daniel? And how do people for all of those years handle that truth? It means nothing, right. It’s not for them. It’s discarded.

But what if He makes it ambiguous? Then each generation is owning it for themselves, they are applying it for their generation. I like how one commentator said this:

the message of Daniel 7 is that life in this present age will always be this way until the end of this age...The beasts of the present world order may change their shape as the centuries pass, but their violence and lust for power continues. Nebuchadnezzar turns into a Darius, who becomes an Alexander the Great and then an Antiochus Epiphanes...These fierce rulers are in turn followed by a Nero and a Domitian. Their fires of persecution continued to be stoked centuries later by the Inquisition. In the last century, we have seen further manifestations of the beast in the persons of Hitler, Stalin, and Kim Il Jung. The frightening beasts of this age were present at the gas chambers of Belsen, and on the killing fields of Cambodia and Rwanda, and they are still tormenting the saints in Sudan and China, and in other parts of our modern world.

That, I believe, leads us to a proper application of a passage like this. The kingdom of man is a scary thing, it’s devouring, it’s going to create pain and hurt and chaos and all of that. But it’s not the kingdom that is going to stand.

I also should mention that there is an interesting connection here with Nebby’s vision in Daniel 2. And it’s interesting that from Nebby’s perspective it’s about the power of these kingdoms—God spoke to him in a language he could understand, the language of power and dominance. But for Nebby we do see some good out of the kingdoms. Rome wasn’t all bad. We get some good things out of Greece.

But here for Daniel, he shows at the core the kingdom of man is evil, self-devouring, and will ultimately be judged and destroyed. The main point is to contrast that scary and chaotic kingdom of man—with the unshakeable, steady, firm, victorious, and lasting kingdom of God.

Notice that the Ancient of Days sits. It’s calm and orderly. No panic. I contrast this to what we so often hear on talk radio, or see on social media. This is THE most important election…if you don’t vote…ahhh the whole world is about to explode!

If your cow has flatulence the polar ice caps are going to melt!!!! Ahhhh!!!!

Again, there might be some reality to these things. We do live in a chaotic world. Things are broken. Things are dying. Things are bent towards self-destruction. BUT that’s the point...

There is a kingdom that is nothing like that. An eternal kingdom. And it’s a kingdom that is marked by peace and shalom.

Secondly, notice that his clothing is as white as snow. That is a symbol of purity and of integrity. That means there is zero compromise with evil here. He never ever compromises w/evil, makes a deal with the devil, cuts a corner…he is absolutely pure.

His head is like pure wool. That’s a symbol of age. He has been around, he has wisdom, respect, he has gone before all things. We’ve never experienced this before!!! But he has the wisdom of age—the wisdom of eternity.

And his throne was fiery flames…likely a picture of judgment…as it moves towards the judgment of the beasts. He is holy. He fights for justice. His wrath is poured out upon wickedness and sin. Rather than wickedness and sin being the thing that moves the kingdoms of the earth—the Ancient of Days eradicates it.

And then we see that thousands upon thousands stand before him. You aren’t alone, Daniel. You aren’t alone, dear saint. There are many who stand before him. In fact, someday all will stand before Him.

Now the last thing for us to see is this Son of Man—we will circle back here a bit next week—but you’ll notice that this one like a son of man, He’s human…but well…more than that somehow. And he’s given dominion and all the peoples, nations, language serve him—or more literally worship him…his kingdom is everlasting.

And so what we have here is something of a God-Man who is given the keys to judge the world. The Son of Man....

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If you fast forward a few hundred years. You’re in Jerusalem. The people have returned just as God said. No more exile. They rebuilt the temple, just as God said. We’ve seen (likely) most of these beasts (Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome).

And at this time there is a man named Jesus from Nazareth who is doing all sorts of miraculous things, people are following Him, the religious leaders of the day don’t like Him at all. He’s a threat to their kingdom. He loved like they had never seen before, he spoke with authority like they’d never heard before, and people were making claims about Him like He was the Messiah to come…the Rescuer…and they couldn’t bear that possibility.

So they seize him. And they drum up some false witnesses against him. They accuse him of saying he was going to destroy the temple…all the false charges leveled against this man Jesus…and He remains silent…He’s not answering them.

But then, and we can read this in Matthew 26…

Matthew 26:63 ESV

But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

Now what are they doing. They are taking this Jesus and standing over him as a judge. They have all the power, it seems. They are the ones calling the shots. They are analyzing Jesus…sifting him through their fingers, putting him to the test, casting a judgment upon His character, His work, His words, everything…picture them....

high, exalted, lifted up over this man they call Jesus…he looks like he has had sleepless nights, poor, maybe already having been beaten as the guards have taken him before this sham of a trial…lowly, Jesus before the powerful Sanhedrin. No wrinkle on their clothes, perfectly kempt, elaborate dress, put-together, in charge, in power...

Tell us, are you the Christ? Are you the Son of God?!?

Matthew 26:64 ESV

Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

What is Jesus saying there?

Daniel 7:13 ESV

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.

You’re judging me now…and what you ought to doing is worshipping, you ought to be following me, you ought to realize that I am the Christ, the Son of God…my ministry has spoken, the works I did are clearly from the Father, yet you’ve refused…and now you are standing over me as a judge...

You will not see me again until you see me returning as the son of Man in Daniel 7. The next time you see me…the roles are going to be reversed. I will be the one judging you.

The high priest then tears his robes, accuses him of blasphemy, gives him the death penalty, then they spit in his face and slap him—then mock him as the Christ. Then only a few hours later they’ll crucify Him…under Roman rule. The Jewish leaders in full partnership with the kingdom of the world to crucify the Son of God, the Son of Man.

What do we do with all of this, then?

If Jesus reigns…if Jesus is who He says He is…then it means there is a story that is bigger than the chaos, there is an unshakeable kingdom, and it is only the kingdom of God—the kingdom with King Jesus, the Son of Man as its king—ONLY this kingdom will bring peace out of the chaos. Only His kingdom will never be destroyed...

Every other kingdom will devour itself or be judged by God. Every other kingdom will fail.

And so when we find ourselves in chaos…what do we do? How do we try to find order? How do we try to find peace? Do we find it in the kingdom of man? Do we find it through politicians, celebrities, money, power, pleasure, fame?

Jesus reigns, so don’t let chaos make you do dumb and sinful things.

Philippians 2:14–16 ESV

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Philippians 3:20–4:1 ESV

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Are you trusting in Christ?

Need to repent for living for the wrong kingdom...