Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

When I began this chapter I talked about a dream I had two decades ago about the rapture.

I have wondered about that dream as well as other dreams I have had over the years that still come to my mind.

Some dreams fade with the morning light or the alarm clock and others can hang on for days, weeks, months, years, or even decades.

When we left Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was before the King about to tell the dream and its meaning.

Daniel had told him that while no gods could tell the dream or its meaning there is One God in Heaven who can and this dream this vision that he had is about what will happen in the future.

Daniel also humbly says that he tells this to the King not because he is more special.

The Dream (Daniel 2:31-35)

So from what we know, King Nebuchadnezzar had been having this dream for several nights in a row.

Imagine if you had the same dream night after night.

There is this statue (or as it called here, an image).

This same Aramaic word is going to be used in the next chapter as well.

This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.

Something about this statue, this image really freaked him out.

The most powerful man in the world is frightened by this statue.

It is massive, bright, and it was standing before him in the dream.

Then Daniel tells him about the image.

The Head is made out of fine gold

Chest and Arms are made out of silver

Belly (middle) and thighs are made out of bronze

Legs are made out of iron

The feet are made out of mixture of iron and clay (literally the clay is baked clay).

So clay that has iron in it and it has been baked.

The dream takes a turn and stone (Greek word in LXX lithos not petros).

It is representing something small.

Matthew 3:9 “and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’

For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

It is cut out without hands.

A Handbook on the Book of Daniel (2:34)

By no human hand: here the writer suggests the intervention of God without actually stating it.

Other languages may have to say “with no human assistance” or “without the help of any person.”

This tiny stone hits the statue in the weakest point (the feet made of clay and iron).

The whole thing comes crashing down and everything is destroyed.

They become like chaff

Psalm 1:1-6 “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

The wind drives the remains away.

Nothing is left.

The stone becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth!

Imagine if you were the King and this was your dream night after night.

Daniel had asked the LORD for the dream and for its meaning.

God had given to him and now it was the time to tell the King what the dream meant.

From earlier in verse 28 we know that this is about future events.

Daniel 2:28 “But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these:”

The Interpretation

Daniel 2:36 ““This is the dream.

Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king.”

Many believe that Daniel and three friends were all here together (that it was not just Daniel).

Head of Gold

Daniel 2:37-38 “You, O king, are a king of kings.

For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold.”

The first area is the head of gold, which represents the King who had the dream.

Daniel respects his authority and gives him honor.

He also points out that God is the One who has given it to the King.

This is going to play out in an upcoming chapter.

Chest and Arms of Silver / Belly and Thighs of Bronze

Daniel 2:39 “But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.”

Legs of Iron

Daniel 2:40 “And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.”

Feet: Mixture of Clay and Iron

Daniel 2:41-43 “Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.

And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.

As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.”

Part of Statue

Kingdom

Head of Gold

Babylon

Chest and Arms of Silver

Media or Media-Persia

Middle and Thighs of Bronze

Persia or Greece

Legs of Iron, Feet of Iron and Clay

Greece or Rome

The Stone

Daniel 2:44-45 “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.

The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.””

Psalm 118:22-23 “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.”

Matthew 21:42 “Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

Mark 12:10 “Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.”

Luke 20:17 “Then He looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone’?”

Acts 4:10-12 “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.

This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

1 Peter 2:7 “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,””

Response of the King

The one who is bowed down to and prostrated before is bowing down to Daniel, but not because of who Daniel is, but because of who God is.

The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings,

Application / Conclusion

God will reveal Himself and make Himself known.

Open Doors tells of how visions are changing eternal lives

Tofik* grew up attending Islamic schools and rose to the position of an imam in his East African village.

Several deeply personal revelations brought him to faith in Christ, at the risk of his life.

Tofik trained to become an imam for 24 years at an Islamic madrasa school in Africa.