Are we losers? - Daniel 2

Introduction

(slide) Are we losers? Are we, as followers of Jesus, losers? Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher in the late nineteenth century and one of the intellectual fathers of our post-Christian age. He once asked, “What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man. What is bad? All that proceeds from weakness.”

That’s why Nietzsche believed Christianity had inverted what actually mattered. He said, “Christianity has preserved too much of what should perish. It has taken the part of the weak, the low, and the botched.”

He saw Christians worshiping a crucified Savior, loving their enemies, and giving themselves away for the weak and suffering. And he concluded, not that this was noble, but that it was preserving weakness instead of overcoming it. In his mind, Christians were losers glorifying losing.

But Jesus said the opposite. He said, “The first will be last, and the last will be first.” He said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

And we have to decide who we believe. So let’s wrestle with the hard question this morning: Are we losers? Are we losers for following a God nobody can see? Are we losers for living by values our world considers outdated? Are we losers for clinging to a hope built on resurrection, miracle, and a kingdom that has not yet come in fullness?

Are we wasting our lives as weak people chasing a fantasy? Or will we be proven wise in the end, no matter how the scoreboard looks right now?

God’s Word

That question isn’t new. Human beings have always assumed that the winners must have the strongest gods. The victorious must be right. The powerful must be secure. The successful must know something everyone else does not. Babylon believed that. Nietzsche believed that. And if we’re honest, our culture often believes that too.

So, Daniel 2 is written to challenge that assumption. Because by every visible measurement, Babylon is winning and Judah is losing. Nebuchadnezzar has the throne. Daniel is an exile. Babylon has the army. Judah has been conquered. Babylon has the temple vessels. Daniel has a death sentence hanging over his head.

Everything you can see says Babylon is strong and Daniel is weak. But Daniel 2 pulls back the curtain and shows us what is really true: the strongest man in the world cannot sleep, the gods of Babylon cannot speak, and the exile everyone would call a loser has access to the God of heaven. It shows us that men are only as secure as their gods, and gods are only as strong as their word.

First, notice the contrast between the men of Babylon and the man of Judah, and you’ll see that…

Men are as “secure” as their “gods.”

The question facing Daniel and the rest of Judah is simple: Should we become Babylonians or not? That was the brilliance of Babylon’s strategy. They didn’t just conquer nations. They converted conquered people into Babylonians. They took the best and brightest from the nations they defeated, brought them into Babylon, renamed them, retrained them, reeducated them, and offered them a future inside the empire.

That is why Daniel is in Babylon. He has not merely been relocated. He is being remade. So Daniel has to decide who is right and who is wrong. He has to decide who the winners and losers really are. Because from every visible angle, Babylon looks like the winning side. So Daniel has to decide: Will he remain loyal to Yahweh, the God of a conquered people? Or will he become solidly Babylonian and enjoy the rewards of the empire?

That is not just Daniel’s question. That is our question too. It’s the same question facing our teenagers when they walk into school. It’s the question facing college students when their faith is challenged in the classroom. It’s the question facing singles as they think about dating, marriage, sex, and loneliness. It’s the question facing families as they decide what will set the priorities of their home. It’s the question facing seniors as they consider how to spend the last chapters of their lives.

Will we assimilate into Babylon, or will we follow Jesus? Will we be shaped by the mainstream of a secularized culture, or will we lean into our ancient faith — with its ancient values, its crucified Savior, its resurrected King, and its miraculous hope?

There’s are two great ironies that form the spine of Daniel two. The first of these is that the secure man is the conquered man, and the insecure man is the ruling man.

“Power” doesn’t promise “sleep.”

(slide) Nebuchadnezzar is a young king in his late 20’s, and everything he’s touched has literally turned to gold. He has the world by the coattails. Everything he wants he gets. Everything he wills happens. Except a good night’s sleep. Verse 1 says in three different ways that King Neb couldn’t find rest “In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.” That’s the Hebrew way of adding five exclamation points.

(SLIDE) The man has the mightiest army at his finger tips, and yet he is filled with paranoia and insecurity. Reinhold Niebuhr observed that human beings are tempted by the insecurity of life to seek a security that finite creatures can never possess. That’s Nebuchadnezzar. He has conquered nations, but he wants more than power. He wants certainty. So, he keeps asserting power and authority in hopes of discovering certainty, but he’s chasing after the wind. Certainty can’t be caught.

You can see how his insecurity creates insecurity in others. He begins to make demands of the wise men of Babylon. They are supposed to have access to the divine, and he so he summons them demanding that they not only interpret his dream, but that they actually recall his dream without being and told and then interpret it. And, an insecurity vortex is created. Round and round they go. King Neb makes the demand, and they tell him that it’s impossible. Neb raises the stakes threatening death for silence and promising a promotion for the truth. Neb keeps threatening, and the divines of Babylon keep trying to buy more time. Insecurity is begetting insecurity. Paranoia is begetting paranoia.

(slide) The telling verses are Daniel 2:10–11 “The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.””

Do you see the source of the insecurity? Babylon’s entire religious system is collapsing in one sentence. The thing they have built their lives on cannot help them when they need it most. Babylon had the greatest king and most powerful army and a stockpile of gold, but one thing they lacked: a god that would actually answer them and dwell with them. So, Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t find a good night’s sleep, and the divines knew their lives depended on the water from a dry well. So, everyone is miserable, and everyone is anxious.

Babylon sleeps. The guards sleep. The servants sleep. The city sleeps. But the king is staring at the ceiling. The throne cannot help him. The gold cannot help him. The army cannot help him. Because eventually every human being arrives at questions no amount of power can answer.

Let me pause for just a second and ask: What’s winning — having the nicest throne or the soundest sleep? What’s losing — living at peace in the servant’s house or being restless and anxious in the largest palace?

“Security” comes from “sovereignty.”

In Daniel, we find a man very different from the Babylonians. He’s an exile. He seems to live at the beck and call of the king. The king seems to decide every day whether he lives or he dies. His God seems to have let him down and allowed him to be in exile.

(slide) But, notice the difference in Daniel’s response to the threats of King Neb and that of the Babylonian wise men. The wise men requested more time. They kept delaying the inevitable. They kept hearing the piercing silence of their gods. Daniel said, “Set up the meeting.” Before he has an answer, before he has even prayed a prayer, Daniel 2:16 says: “And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.”

Daniel has faith that God will deliver him because he knows who his God is. His God is the opposite of the silent gods of Babylon. He does dwell with his people. It’s interesting, isn’t it? Nebuchadnezzar is the most powerful man in the world, and yet he fears what tomorrow may bring. He’s used to speaking and getting his way, and yet when he speaks to his gods, he only gets silence.

Daniel is a 16 year old boy, barely old enough to shave, and yet he’s courageous enough to call a meeting with the king who’s demanded he be killed. And, the difference between the courage and the cowardice, the insomnia and the insecurity is that Daniel knows that when he prays that his God will answer him.

(slide) The security of the man is determined by the strength of his God. You see this even clearer when Daniel praises God for answering his prayer by sending the interpretation in verses 21-23. He sings of his God’s sovereignty: Daniel 2:21–23 “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals 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, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.””

Daniel isn’t secure because he knows how tomorrow will unfold. Daniel is secure because he knows who governs tomorrow. The God who answers prayer is the same God who raises kings and removes kings. Which means Nebuchadnezzar isn’t ultimately holding Daniel’s future. God is.

(slide) And so, on the basis of the strength of his God, he rests. Nebuchadnezzar was trying to secure himself by his own conquest, but Daniel says humbly: Daniel 2:30 “But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.” Daniel knows the God of gods, and Neb doesn’t even know his own thoughts.

“Winning” is “resting.”

So, I’d ask Nietzsche, and I’d ask you: who is the winner, and who is the loser? Is it the conqueror who can’t understand his own thoughts, or is it the humble man able to speak boldly to a king? And, the difference between the two is the trustworthiness of their God. Does you God bring you rest, or is your god incapable of answering the biggest questions of your life?

You see, our community is filled with people living for gods that only make them more paranoid. All of our commercials and algorithms are telling us about new gods that we can acquire to make us more satisfied, more content, and more secure. But, the more of them we have, the less secure we actually feel. The higher we go, the more we fear the fall. Look around, and you’ll quickly discover to become more Babylonian is to become less secure. To become more like the people that you go to school with and work with and retire with is to become more anxious, not more of a winner.

To win is to have the certainty of a resurrection. It’s to discover the God who knows the thoughts of man and yet dwells with us in the flesh.

That’s who the human soul is craving because that’s who makes the human soul secure. So, winning isn’t your seat in the castle; it’s your ability to sleep in the lion’s den.

Men are as secure as their gods, and…

Gods are as “strong” as their “word.”

To get the full picture, you have to understand that Daniel and his friends aren’t only wrestling with whether they should become Babylonians. They’re wrestling with the question underneath that question: Has Babylon’s god beaten our God?

Because in the ancient world, conquest was often interpreted theologically. If your nation won, your gods looked strong. If your nation lost, your gods looked weak. So when Babylon conquered Judah, hauled Daniel away, emptied the temple vessels, and carried them into the treasury of a pagan god, the question almost asked itself: Is Yahweh still God in Babylon?

That is why assimilation was so tempting. It wasn’t just that Babylon had better opportunities. Babylon looked like it had better gods. It had the gold. It had the throne. It had the army. It had the future.

That is not just their temptation. It is ours too. It’s tough, isn’t it, when everyone else seems to be doing exactly what they want and enjoying it, while you’re still trying to live by the words of Jesus? It’s tough when the guy who ignores Jesus seems to get the promotion. When the person who disregards God’s design for sexuality seems happier than you. When compromise appears to pay better than faithfulness.

That is why we are tempted to become Babylonians. Babylon’s gods seem to have more gold to offer than ours.

And that brings us to the second great irony that forms the spine of Daniel 2. The first irony is that the secure man is the conquered man, and the insecure man is the ruling man. The second irony is this: The victorious-looking gods are silent, and the defeated-looking God speaks.

“Silent” gods can’t “win.”

(slide) The first contrast between the God of Judah and the gods of Babylon is in their response to the dream. Remember what the Chaldeans say in verses 10–11: “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand… no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” That sentence gives us Babylon’s definition of winning.

The winner is the one whose god can answer. It’s the one whose god can reveal the future. The winner is the one whose god can tell you what tomorrow means. The winner is the one whose god actually dwells with his people.

And by that definition, Babylon is losing. They have the throne, but they do not have a word. They have the army, but they do not have a god who answers. So Babylon may look like the winner, but their gods are silent. And silent gods cannot secure anyone.

(slide) Now, contrast that with what Daniel says, and you can understand why he doesn’t feel like he’s losing even though it might look that way. The whole passage turns on the phrase that starts Daniel 2:28 “but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.” That is the difference. Babylon’s gods are silent. Daniel’s God speaks. Babylon’s gods cannot tell the king what he dreamed. Daniel’s God can tell the king where history is going. So who is really winning? Is it the empire whose gods cannot speak? Or is it the exile whose God reveals mysteries?

Men are only as secure as their gods, and gods are only as strong as their word. So, the winners are beginning to emerge from the losers. The secure are emerging from the insecure. And, it’s not who our short-sighted eyes expect.

“God’s” people can’t “lose.”

And that’s the point of the dream. The real test of a god is not whether he can make you rich or powerful. The real test of a god is whether he can tell you where history is going. The winner is the one whose god can tell him whether he is actually winning.

And that is exactly what Yahweh does. The dream is of a fearsome statue that strikes dread until you understand it. The head is of shining gold. Its chest and arms are made of silver. Its torso and thighs are bronze. Its legs are iron. It is a picture of successive empires. The head of gold represents the glory of Babylon. It seems unassailable and unconquerable from such a great height. But the Medes and Persians are coming, and Babylon will fall. Then come the Greeks under Alexander the Great. Then Rome.

And every one of them will look like the winner. Every one of them will look secure. Every one of them will appear unconquerable. And every one of them will fall.

Why? Because they are standing on feet of clay. They weren’t built upon the right foundation and so they weren’t built to last. They look permanent, but they are already cracking. They look secure, but they are already crumbling. They look victorious, but they are already dying.

(slide) But Daniel’s God is different. The reason He can reveal the future is because He governs the future. Earlier Daniel praised Him saying, “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings.” God knows what is coming because God is the one bringing it about.

Daniel is looking at Babylon and wondering if God’s kingdom has lost. God answers by showing him that Babylon will fall. Persia will fall. Greece will fall. Rome will fall. Every kingdom built by man will fall. But the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.

His kingdom is not like the others. It is a stone uncut by human hands that shatters the kingdoms of men and fills the whole earth. Every other kingdom diminishes. His kingdom expands. Every other kingdom ends. His kingdom endures.

(slide) Centuries later Jesus picked up that very image and applied it to Himself: Matthew 21:42–45:“Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.”

The stone is Christ. The kingdom is Christ’s kingdom. The future belongs to Christ. AND, to those of us who are in his Kingdom. God’s people can’t lose because Jesus’ kingdom can’t be overthrown.

“Winners” are declared on “Sunday.”

You know, the Babylonians said the gods do not dwell with flesh. Daniel knew better. And centuries later God proved it when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. You see, the response of Nebuchadnezzar will ultimately be the response of every king and every president, every congressman and every dignitary, every mom and every dad, every boy and every girl: “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

You see, winners and loser shouldn’t be counted on Friday night when the cross is bloody. Winners and losers should only be counted on Sunday morning when the tomb is empty. And, because we have a God who not only knows the future, but told us the future, then we can know that we’re safe with him. The throne of David may have been empty while Judah was in Babylon, but God is speaking the Nebuchadnezzar so that he may know and his people may know that it won’t stay empty for long. And, today, you may feel like a loser living in Babylon, but the crumbling empires of history and the empty tomb of Jesus let you know that you can sleep even if today you’re in the lion’s den.

Babylon called Daniel a loser. Nietzsche called Christians losers. But Daniel 2 says the losers inherit the kingdom. Men are as secure as their gods, and gods are as strong as their word. So, we’re more than conquerors. Not losers.