An Everlasting Kingdom Daniel 2

Open your bibles to Daniel chapter 2.

In the mid 350s AD Christian-hating roman emperor Julian was carrying out a campaign heavily persecuting believers. There is a story told of a roman soldier mockingly asking a Christian of where the carpenter’s son was now. His reply was “The maker of the universe, whom you call the carpenter’s son, is employed with making a coffin for the emperor.” Only a few days later news of the emperor's death reached that city.

There is a sense in which Jesus is making coffins are all the world’s emperors, kings, presidents, and empires. There is a day coming when the only kingdom that stands is the Jesus’ Kingdom.

Today’s text focuses our attention on the Lord as ruler over the nations.

The coming triumph of the Kingdom of God over all the nations of the earth should lead us to recognize the futility of pagan ideologies, rejoice in the God who reveals, and rest in the God who rules.

REPEAT

Daniel 2 LSB

Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king said to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. Then the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Say the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. “But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great glory; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” They answered a second time and said, “Let the king say the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” The king answered and said, “I know for certain that you are buying time, inasmuch as you have seen that the word from me is firm, that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one law for you. Indeed, you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the time is changed; therefore say the dream to me, that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who is able to declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or powerful ruler has ever asked about a matter like this of any magician, conjurer, or Chaldean. “Moreover, the matter which the king asks is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with flesh.” Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and said for them to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So the law went forth that the wise men were to be killed; and they sought out Daniel and his friends to kill them. Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Arioch, the captain of the king’s bodyguard, who had gone forth to kill the wise men of Babylon; he answered and said to Arioch, a powerful official for the king, “For what reason is the law from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. So Daniel went in and sought from the king that he would give him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king. Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to his friends, to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, so that they might seek compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; Daniel answered and said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and might belong to Him. “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding. “He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him. “To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom and might; Even now You have made known to me what we sought from You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.” Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Bring me before the king, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.” Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel before the king and said thus to him: “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!” The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?” Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king is asking, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. “However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the last days. This was your dream and the visions of your head while on your bed. “As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would happen in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will happen. “But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me by any wisdom which is in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. “You, O king, were looking, and behold, there was a single great image; that image, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was rising up in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. “The head of that image was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. “You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. “This was the dream; now we will say its interpretation before the king. “You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory; and wherever the sons of men inhabit, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has made you rule with power over them all. You are the head of gold. “But after you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule with power over all the earth. “Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. “Now in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron; it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. “And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. “And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay; they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not cling to one another, even as iron does not combine with clay. “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will cause a kingdom to rise up which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself stand forever. “Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will happen in the future; so the dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.” Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel and said for them to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. The king answered Daniel and said, “Truly your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him rule with power over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. And Daniel sought of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s court.

The first thing that should be noted is that with chapter two, Daniel shifts into Aramaic. Chapter one was in Hebrew and served as a reminder to the Hebrews in exile that their God had not abandoned them and that he was doing for them just as he promised he would through the prophet Jeremiah.

But now as the language shifts to into Aramaic the purpose shifts to the nations. God reveals something to the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar.

This is not the first time this has happened.

Recall back to the book of Genesis, how the Lord preserved the Hebrews through a captive taken against his will to a foreign land. A dream was given to Pharaoh, and through that the slave is made second in command. The story of Joseph in Egypt.

Now here he reveals himself to Nebuchadnezzar and reveals what he intends to do in the world.

But why? Usually God speaks to His people what he intended to do. Isn’t that enough? Why would God reveal to pagans what He intends to do? They don’t know Him.

In chapter one we learned that God was the one who gave Jehoiakim into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. We also learned that the vessels of the house of God were brought into the temple of Babylon’s false gods. Chapter one was to remind the Jewish people that God was the one who had taken into captivity, but also that God had not abandoned them. He was still with his people.

as we come into these middle chapter, the language shifts to Aramaic and the Lord reveals things directed to the pagan kings. Why? Nebuchadnezzar had no doubt concluded that the power of his false gods had granted him victory over the God of Israel. The Lord wanted to make it clear to these pagan kings....that’s now how it went down. Though Nebuchadnezzar was victorious, it was because the Lord raised him up to be so. And he gives this dream to the king to wake him up to that reality.

In chapter two, it’s the dream. Chapter three, God saves the three friends from the fiery furnace. Chapter 4 the Lord humbles the pride of the king. chapter 5 God humbles and destroys the king. chapter 6, God rescues Daniel from the den of lions as he serves in the court of the new king, teaching him the lessons that Nebuchadnezzar learned before him, and finally, chapter seven, the final Aramaic chapter, Daniel tells of his own vision of kingdoms to come, and the coming everlasting Kingdom.

This is a message to not only Israel, but to all the nations, and thus by extension to us here today.

The only empire that will last is the everlasting kingdom of the Lord. Do not take sinful pride in the accomplishments of your nation as though you did anything by your own merit. The Lord is sovereign over the nations. His kingdom is the one that will last.

This chapter is a beautiful literary masterpiece. The scene is set. A crisis arises. The tension is heightened. The solution is found, and the scene is wrapped up with the promotion of Daniel and his friends.

As we consider what the Lord has given us here and the truth of the coming everlasting kingdom, we should respond in three primary ways:

Recognize the Failure of False Religion

Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, and is so trouble by it, he seems to know that it has greater significance than a normal dream. So he seeks an interpretation from his advisors. Notice who he call in. Magicians, conjurers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans.

These were individuals who had different emphases in occult practices. Some specialized in potions, incantations, spells, astrology, etc. Their job was to discern the will of the gods through their various forms of occult practices.

So when the king calls them in, it’s no surprise to them. This is what they are there for.

They ask for the dream so they can interpret it, but the king say no. He’s apparently suspicious that these magicians aren’t all they’ve cracked up to be and had more tricks than truth up their sleves.

But notice how they respond to him in vs 11.

Daniel 2:11 ““Moreover, the matter which the king asks is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with flesh.””

They are exactly correct about this. Their paganism has utterly failed them here.

I love how Dale Ralph Davis puts it in his commentary

“Paganism is nothing but a religious cul-de-sac” it doesn’t get you anywhere.

It never has. and it never will. This was true in pagan babylon. It’s true today in pagan USA.

I find it interesting that there have been some notable voices expressing their appreciation of Christianity—but they themselves aren’t Christians.

Richard Dawkins, famed atheist who believes the bible is all myth and fairy tale, said that he prefers cultural Christianity over other forms of society because people are more polite, better behaved, etc.

Elon Musk likewise identified himself as a cultural christian in the sense that he likes the values of Christianity, though he is not a Christian himself.

Historically the places that are known as the most brutal and wicked are the places where Christianity or Judaism before Christ, were least known.

Paganism doesn’t have the answers. Atheism doesn’t have the answers.

False Religions fail to explain the world as it is. They fail to provide the answers to the problems we face.

Only the one true God can provide that.

And praise the Lord, he speaks! He reveals!

Rejoice in the God who Reveals

Because of the failure of the pagan witchcraft, the king orders all of the wise men be put to death, which would have included Daniel and his friends.

He ask for time and it i s granted.

God reveals the dream and it’s intrepretation to Daniel.

Daniel’s prayer of thanksgiving is noteworthy:

Daniel 2:19–23 LSB

Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; Daniel answered and said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and might belong to Him. “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding. “He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him. “To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom and might; Even now You have made known to me what we sought from You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”

God is the one who rules over all. God put Nebuchadnezzar in place. God will be the one to remove him!

But he reveals the deep and hidden things!

Our God is one who reveals.

Our faith wouldn’t be much if God did not reveal to us himself and His Word. We’d be like the rest of mankind, groping around in the dark hoping to find our way.

But God reveals! He makes known! He has communicated his plans to his people! And because he has done so, we do not have to live in fear. We don’t have to be like the bumbling sorcerers. We can have confidence in the one true God.

We rejoice in the one who reveals, because what he reveals leads us to rest in the one who rules.

Rest in the God who Rules

Daniel comes before the king. He says “I’m not the guy. I can’t tell you what you want. But God can.

Daniel 2:28 ““However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the last days. This was your dream and the visions of your head while on your bed.”

Your false idols aren’t much. They cannot help your wise guys figure this out. But there is a God who can. And he has.

There has been much discussion over the details of the interpretation. Daniel directly tells us that this statue represent successive kingdoms. Babylon is the head of Gold. After that most scholars and interpreters have largely agree: there is the Medeo-Person empire, represented by the breast and arms of silver. After this, the Greek empire, represented by the belly and thighs of bronze. The iron legs are the Roman empire.

What I have just said is nearly universally agreed upon.

It’s the last portion where there are some disagreements. How do we understand the feet mixed with iron and clay?

The first four kingdoms, from where we stand today, are historical. Is this kingdom also historical? Is it yet to come? Does it have a connection with the roman empire?

How are we to understand the toes? Jay was texting me this week saying they were taking a family vacation this weekend, but that he would be listening intently online for the identification of the toes.

That’s a lot of pressure!

I believe this is a kingdom yet to come, and it will be a kingdom that is made up of a coalition, or a confederacy of kings.

The reasons for this are several:

vs 44 says that the everlasting kingdom represented by the stone that smashes and becomes a mountain, it says it comes “in the days of those things”. plural. Not one king, like Nebuchadnezzar. But multiple kings.

The vision that Daniel receives in chapter 7 parallels with this dream, and in that dream Daniel sees beasts representing the different kingdoms. One beast has ten horns.

Daniel 7:24 “‘As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will make low three kings.”

We’ll talk more about that when we get to chapter 7.

This understanding also fits with Revelation 17:12 ““And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.” John was told that ten rulers will come, but it is yet future.

The reason this cannot be a historical kingdom and must be one to come is because all the other kingdoms have come and gone, but there is nothing in history that matches this iron/clay kingdom.

That kingdom will be destroyed by Christ when he comes to establish his kingdom over the earth. That clearly hasn’t happened yet, either.

For all these reasons, I’m left to conclude that this is a yet-future kingdom that will have a mixture of strength and frailty. Historically many dispensationalists have believed that this is a sort of revived roman empire to come, because of the remaining iron mixing with the clay. I think that is possible, but I wouldn’t die on that hill. Some have said it exists in a form of the Roman Catholic Church. Possible, but impossible to prove. We aren’t given information about what that would even look like in detail.

In fact, while we are given a smattering of details, the main point is not found in trying to parse out all the details of this text.

Our job is not to keep our eyes on Rome to see if a renewed roman empire is coming!

Our job is to look to Christ and his coming kingdom!

Daniel 2:44–45 ““And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will cause a kingdom to rise up which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself stand forever. “Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will happen in the future; so the dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.””

Psalm 2 says that Christ will rule with a rod of iron and dash the kingdoms of this world to the ground.

Rev 19 speaks of the day when Christ comes and conquers his enemies and establishes his kingdom.

We can get so tunnel vissioned with our nations and kingdoms. Nebuchadnezzar was so focused on what he had done, as we will see in a few weeks, and God was revealing to him that his kingdom will day end. Each successive kingdom will one day end.

But there is a kingdom coming that will not end.

What is the carpenter’s son doing? He’s building coffins.

The wheels of history are not moving autonomously. God is sovereign over the nations.

And in this we rest. We rest in the God who rules.

Here we are in an election year. We don’t know who the next president of the united states will be. We don’t know who will serve as the next supreme court justice. The next governor of Indiana.

But we serve a God who does. He is the one who raises kings up and puts kings down. He is the one knows all because he accomplishes all.

The king was so amazed at this revelation that he declared in vser 47

Daniel 2:47 “The king answered Daniel and said, “Truly your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries since you have been able to reveal this mystery.””

There is much more than could be said, but I want us to remember these things today.

The coming triumph of the Kingdom of God over all the nations of the earth should lead us to recognize the futility of pagan ideologies, rejoice in the God who reveals, and rest in the God who rules.