THE FUTURE KINGDOM

INTRODUCTION

-Daniel and his friends completed the 3 year training to become some of the top advisors in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court. One night Nebuchadnezzar had a distressing dream and called some of his enchanters and magicians to both tell him the dream and its interpretation. When they could not tell him the dream, the king in his anger ordered the death of all his top cabinet members, including Daniel and the other three. When told of the kings order, Daniel was allowed to approach the king and he asked for a period of time to try to figure out how to help the king. Given that time, Daniel and his friends immediately went to the Lord in prayer and earnestly and persistently sought God’s face about the matter. In answer to the prayer, God gave Daniel the dream and its interpretation. Daniel and his friends again went to the Lord in prayer and gave God thanks and praise. This is where we pick up the story.

Daniel 2:24–30 ESV

24 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 in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.” 25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” 26 The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, 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. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: 29 To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. 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 approached Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard who was given the task of killing all the wisemen, and asked to be brought before the king. Wanting to get some credit or recognition, Arioch tells the king that HE found someone to interpret the dream. He emphasizes that Daniel is from among the captives of Judah. It is interesting to note that all of the Babylonian enchanters and magicians could not give the answer that the king sought. The gods that these guys sought after couldn’t provide the answer. However, a Jew who follows Yahweh has the answer because Yahweh has all the answers.

-But Daniel quickly lets the king know that it was not him who came up with the answer. In fact, there is no human on earth who would be able to do what the king asked the people in his government to do. There is only One who could give that information, and that is Yahweh God. God is the one who gave the king the dream to begin with, so only God could give the details of the dream and what it means.

-This is so important—when we are able to do something, we don’t take credit for ourselves, but we give God all the glory and honor for what has been accomplished. We don’t have the power or wisdom or know-how within ourselves to accomplish anything of any significance. If anything of godly, eternal worth happens it is all of God and we must be quick to give God the credit. Just last week I was telling someone an idea, and I added this fine print saying: if it’s a good idea then God is the One who gave it; if it’s a bad idea it was all on me.

-As one author pointed out:

Daniel (True Humility)

There is a model here for all of us in our relationships with those who do not know our God. In contrast to the self-promoting way of the world, we should constantly seek occasions to exalt and declare publicly the praises of our God. Whatever gifts and abilities we have, whatever successes we may meet with in life, all of them are ultimately the work of the one who gave us those gifts and opportunities, along with the diligence and perseverance to pursue them. We are simply God’s servants, doing the work he has assigned to us; he deserves all of the praise and adoration. The biblical word for this attitude is humility: the perspective that sees our own size rightly in comparison to the surpassing greatness of our God.

-That is our attitude. I know that we love to get the attaboys and pats on the back (like Arioch did), but it is not us. It is God working in us and through us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. God gave the king the dream and the answer, it had nothing to do with Daniel or anybody else. Daniel was merely the vessel through whom God spoke. And we are merely the vessels through whom God works. He gets all the credit and honor and glory for whatever happens through us.

-So, Daniel begins giving the report that God gave to him. The night of the dream the king had gone to bed thinking about the future and stability of his own reign. God revealed to the king what would happen in the future regarding his own kingdom as well as other kingdoms that were to come. The entire course of history is in God’s hands, and He is moving it toward His own intended goal. And God wants to make sure that Nebuchadnezzar understood that. So, Daniel first tells the king the details of the dream as the king had requested.

Daniel 2:31–35 ESV

31 “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.

-Daniel fulfills the first part of the king’s request—he is able to describe the dream itself. The king saw a large statue that caused him to be terribly frightened (and it will serve as a pattern for something the king would do later in chapter 3). It actually might be called a colossus in it’s most literal form because the word means a statue of gigantic size and proportion. It is obviously a statue that depicts a human of some sort because of the parts of the statue that are described. This might be an indication that whatever the statue represents is manmade. Each section of the body is made of different material. As you move down the statue, the material becomes less valuable and less impressive. The head was of gold. The chest and arms were of silver. From the waist to the knees(or from the stomach to the knees) was of bronze. Then from the knees to the ankles was of iron. And the feet were a mixture of iron and clay.

-There was then a rock that had not been hewn out of stone by human hands or instruments. Where the stone came from is not stated and who hurled the stone at the statue is not stated. The stone represented something supernatural. While the statue is manmade, the stone is God-made. It struck the statue at the feet, and the entire statue came tumbling down turning to dust which is then blown away by the wind and all traces of the statue disappear. But the stone became a huge mountain that would go forth and fill the earth. It started small and then grew larger until it became much bigger and covered more ground than the statue or any part of the statue.

-That is one strange dream. I know I’ve had a lot of strange dreams, but this probably beats even them. But the king knows that the dream has significance. Indeed it does, because God was letting Nebuchadnezzar know what was going to happen in the future with regard to world history. Thankfully we are not left wondering what the dream means because Daniel also gives the interpretation.

Daniel 2:36–45 ESV

36 “This was the dream. 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.”

-Daniel begins the interpretation first reminding Nebuchadnezzar that all the power and might that he has comes from God. God has indeed given Nebuchadnezzar great power and strength and riches and influence, even over areas not directly under his control. Daniel makes it known that he is the head of gold, meaning that the Babylonian Empire was the head of gold (the kings and their kingdoms were interchangeable in reference to one another). In its heyday Babylon was quite powerful.

-Thus, each section of the statue represented an earthly kingdom, an empire, that would have power specifically over the land of Israel. And it is kept in the back of the mind that God is the one in control and He raises and brings down empires as He sees fit. Most scholars and theologians are pretty much in agreement of the meaning of the top four sections of this statue. The head of gold is Babylon. After Babylon would come an empire that would be inferior, and that would be the Medo-Persian Empire (the arms and chest of silver). The question should be asked how these subsequent empires were inferior since they actually controlled more land than Babylon. Many think that it has to do with morality. Each subsequent empire would become more and more corrupt, and that truly seems to be the case.

-After the Medo-Persian Empire would come another empire, most likely referring to the Greek Empire, or sometimes referred to as the Greco-Macedonian Empire (the middle section of bronze). After this would come the empire of iron that would very much have the strength to crush everything in its way, and this refers to the Roman Empire. That all seems pretty straight forward—the statue is showing a straight line of empires, one right after the other, that would have control and power over Israel. These empires will succeed one right after the other. The Babylonians fell to Medes and Persians, who fell to Greece, who fell to the Romans. It’s the feet and the timing of the stone where many people part ways from one another in their interpretation.

-Some interpret the feet mixture of iron and clay to be an end-time Empire that must have some sort of connection to the Roman Empire since there is iron there. If that is the case, then the rock represents Christ’s second coming to set up His earthly reign (because it is without a doubt that the rock represents Christ setting up the kingdom of God). They assume that the feet would have ten toes, correspond it with ten horns on a beast in chapter 7, and believe that this final empire would consist of ten kingdoms jointly ruling a the time of Christ’s return. I think you have to be careful in assuming things. Where the Bible remains silent it’s best we do too. Daniel did not fixate on ten toes so we probably shouldn’t read into things that are not there.

-Others believe that the feet are just a representation of how the Roman Empire would become fragile and the stone represents Christ’s first coming, setting up the Kingdom of God in the rule and reign of the hearts of people all over the world.

-I personally believe that this latter interpretation would make more sense. There is nothing that would indicate some sort of gap between the legs and the feet required of the previous interpretation. The statue is one piece and each section naturally flows into the next section, indicating a natural flow of governmental powers over the region. Babylon falls to the Persians who fall to the Greeks who fall to the Romans. The Roman Empire, while strong, also has some weak spots, especially as it mixed with some of the Germanic tribes. Or it quite possibly represents the split of the empire between east and west.

-One author describes it this way:

Ezekiel & Daniel Commentary

As diversity of languages split up the Tower of Babel, so the inability of cultures within this empire to live in peace dismantles this behemoth of destruction. Multiculturalism would become tribalism and the social and political fabric of the empire would not hold. Civil war contributed greatly to the Roman Empire’s eventual dissolution

-But it is during the time period of this fourth kingdom, the Roman Empire, that Christ comes and sets up the Kingdom of God and then the church grows from that to spread the Kingdom. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is at hand. He has ushered in the Kingdom of God, and it truly has taken over the world as people from every tribe, tongue, and nation enter into it. No earthly kingdom has ever had that kind of power or influence. The stone is still growing into the mountain, and it is Christ’s kingdom that will continue to grow until His return and He rules and reigns over His kingdom forever.

-Let me ask you: Where is the Babylonian Empire? Where is the Medo-Persian Empire? Where is the Greco-Macedonian Empire? Where is the Roman Empire? They are all gone, never to return. They have been crushed to powder and scattered. But where is the Kingdom of God? It is alive and well in the hearts of believers all over the world. The Kingdom of God right now is covering the entire world, and will continue to grow until Christ returns and it is all the remains. And therein lies the message that God gave the king. God Himself will usher in an eternal kingdom, all others will eventually fall.

-And because of Daniel’s service to the king in this manner, the chapter concludes:

Daniel 2:46–49 ESV

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.

-Daniel was promoted in the government and he brought the three others to serve with him. Daniel now knew that he was serving a temporary kingdom, that God would usher in an eternal kingdom, but until that time came Daniel served faithfully where God had placed him. May we do the same.