The God of Daniel – part 2
Daniel 2:24-49
May 15, 2016
It has been a couple of weeks since we looked into this book of Daniel,
But certainly it won’t take much to pull you back into step.
Daniel was a young Jewish refugee who was ripped from his homeland, stuck into a Babylonian system meant to defile him and then brainwash him.
Daniel, if you will remember, stood strong.
• He simply requested permission not to defile himself.
• God granted him favor with the man in charge of him,
• Daniel came out smelling like a rose.
• After the two years of training he and his friends were found to be wiser than any other and were promoted into the king’s service.
That was the rise of Daniel.
In chapter 1 we saw how God put Daniel in position.
Ch. 2 is the story of how God gained the proper position in Daniel’s life.
There is nothing written regarding any doubts, concerns, or frustrations Daniel had with God,
But let’s not overlook the difficulty of the scenario either.
If at 15 years of age you saw
• A foreign army attack your country,
• Exile you into slavery,
• Rob God’s temple,
• Eventually burn it to the ground,
Would you be a little confused as to exactly what God was doing?
I think that is only a fair observation.
This would have been tough.
It was important for Daniel then to learn who God really was
And what God was really up to.
The events of chapter 2 are how God did exactly that for Daniel.
It looks like a message for Nebuchadnezzar, but make no mistake,
THIS IS GOD’S MEANS OF SOLIDIFYING DANIEL’S FAITH.
If we could tie it to the book of Revelation for a second.
What happened for Daniel in chapter 2
Is the equivalent of what is supposed to happen for you
When you read and study the book of the Revelation.
In a world of chaos and immorality
You are supposed to see that God is still in control.
Well that is what happened for Daniel.
He saw a revelation of God to remind him of that very thing.
TO QUICKLY PULL YOU BACK INTO THE STORY:
• We have a young Nebuchadnezzar on the throne.
• He had a dream that terrified him.
• He entreated every form of worldly and pagan wisdom for help.
• The requirement was to reveal both the dream and the interpretation.
• None could
• Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the wise men to be torn limb from limb
• Daniel requested time to seek God and it was granted to him
• God showed Daniel the dream and its interpretation
• Daniel worshiped God
That is where we are in the story.
We still don’t know what the dream was
Nebuchadnezzar still doesn’t know what the dream meant
But by Daniel 2:23,
Daniel is encouraged and he is a full-blown worshiper of God!
Daniel 2:20-23 “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding. “It is He who reveals the profound 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 power; Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”
Daniel held that:
• God is the Source of Wisdom
• God is the Sovereign over everything
• God is the Giver of Wisdom
And therefore God is worthy of praise.
I don’t want to insinuate that Daniel didn’t believe in God before, He certainly did.
But it is clear that God has become real to Daniel
In a very special way.
Daniel is now a confident man.
TONIGHT we want to pick up with the story
And see why Daniel was so encouraged.
What did he see? What did he learn?
Whatever it was must have been amazing to give Daniel such hope
While living as a youth in the land of Babylon.
Last time we saw:
1) Daniel’s Dilemma
2) Daniel’s Decision
3) Daniel’s Declaration
#1 DANIEL’S APPROACH
Daniel 2:24-30
You absolutely have to love this part of the story.
Daniel is an excited, rejuvenated young man.
Moments earlier he was hoping God would see fit to answer his request,
But here he is a confident and excited young man.
He asks for permission to come to the king
(this would have been intimidating to say the least, but Daniel has encountered God)
When Daniel gets to the king we get exactly what we expected:
(26) “The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?”
• Remember the king wants the truth.
• He’s not interested in some flattering false interpretation.
• This test is the way he knows he’ll get it.
But look at Daniel’s answer!
(27-30) “Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, 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 latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed. “As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place. “But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing 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 understand the thoughts of your mind.”
Daniel’s answer reveals his high view of God.
• Daniel admits that the kings request is beyond human ability.
• Daniel admits that the knowledge the king wants is beyond human understanding
• Daniel admits that the interpretation that has come is only a result of God’s tremendous mercy.
In short, Daniel is pointing everything to God.
BECAUSE DANIEL HAS ENCOUNTERED GOD
AND WANTS TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE ELSE KNOWS IT.
IF I COULD CHASE A RABBIT HERE A SECOND…
This reflects a reality I see time and time again, even in the church.
Churches love to push things like evangelism and missions
And even things like door to door visitation.
Often times people don’t want to do such things because they are intimidated and yet church leaders hold Matthew 28 over their heads and sort of guilt them into doing it.
But I’ve found that this isn’t the most effective way
To produce evangelistic members.
I believe that the best way to produce missionaries
Is to lead people to encounter God.
People who have met God don’t have any trouble telling about Him.
Acts 4:18-20 “And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Jesus said:
John 15:26-27 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
Those that knew Him…
Those that had encountered Him…
Had no problem testifying about Him.
And this is what we see from Daniel as well.
• He had prayed to God
• God had answered.
• God had revealed Himself to Daniel,
• Daniel had no problem declaring Him to the king.
There is absolutely no mistaking
Who deserves the glory for this coming interpretation.
Daniel’s approach is great.
#2 DANIEL’S ANSWER
Daniel 2:31-45
First Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar
Precisely what the dream was which he saw:
He saw a statue.
• A head of gold
• Breast and arms of silver
• Belly and thighs of bronze
• Legs of iron
• Feet of iron and clay
• He then saw a stone which was not cut by human hands come and crush the entire statue and then became a mountain that covered the entire earth.
(36) “This was the dream; now we will tell its interpretation before the king.”
We learn that this statue represented 5 kingdoms.
1) THE KINGDOM OF BABYLON (37-38)
“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 dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.”
Not only does Daniel give us insight that the various metals
Represent various kingdoms,
But he also gives us a reference point
By which we can know who they are.
He begins with Babylon.
And it is important that Nebuchadnezzar realize that
There is only one reason why his kingdom
Has obtained such success.
It is because “the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory”
God has given this kingdom to Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah 27:5-8 “I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight. “Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him. “All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant. “It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the LORD, “until I have destroyed it by his hand.”
You can easily follow Daniel’s message here.
• King, I did not receive this message due to any wisdom of my own, and you did not receive this kingdom due to any power of your own.
The God of heaven reigns supreme
And He has chosen to give the things He desires.
Furthermore Nebuchadnezzar should know that regardless of the glory he obtains, HIS KINGDOM WILL NOT LAST FOREVER.
TURN TO: JEREMIAH 51:34-40
Every ruler of this world should know that
THE POWER AND THE GLORY ARE NOT THEIRS.
They exist for the glory of God.
Those who do not most certainly meet their end.
For Daniel immediately turns to the kingdom which is coming after him.
2) THE KINGDOM OF MEDIA-PERSIA (39a)
“After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you,”
The kingdom isn’t listed, but history (even the book of Daniel) tells us plainly that it was the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians.
The interesting thing listed here is that this kingdom arose
Even though it was “inferior” to Babylon.
How does and inferior kingdom overthrow one that is greater?
Because such things are not a matter of human strength of ingenuity,
But are purely the prerogative of the God of heaven.
3) THE KINGDOM OF GREECE (39b)
“then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.”
This would be the kingdom of Greece, in which Alexander the Great actually claimed to have conquered the whole world.
And yet this totally mighty kingdom still won’t stand forever,
Because Daniel immediately turns to speak of a fourth kingdom.
4) THE KINGDOM OF ROME (40-43)
(40) “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.”
It was in fact Rome which conquered Greece.
It was the nation of iron that was a war machine
That went out to conquer the world.
The Roman empire is still one of the most fierce to have ever existed.
(41-43) “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. “As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, 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 adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.”
The Roman empire indeed grew large and vast,
But it had tremendous difficulty ever unifying.
It was indeed a divided kingdom.
• It never could unify the notion of a senate and a Caesar.
• It could not seem to mix democracy and imperialism
The kingdom divided and over the years saw 10 kings emerge.
Some were weak, some were strong, but never were they unified.
We’ll talk about it later in Daniel, but also foreshadowed here is the future kingdom of the anti-christ and his ten king coalition, but that point is made later.
The main thing we notice thus far is that kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall
And God is the sovereign over all of it.
Isaiah 40:21-24 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.”
No nation arose due to their own power…
No nation fell due to their own demise…
The sovereign God of the universe sets enthroned in the heavens
And He controls all these things.
This is what Daniel had learned of God, and this is what Daniel desperately wants Nebuchadnezzar to see.
We are also meant to see that there is coming 1 kingdom to rule them all.
5) THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST (44-45)
Now this is one of those tricky prophecies
That you have to be careful how you read.
We have talked about it before,
But often times when prophets saw the events of the future
They saw them like we look on a mountain range from many miles away.
From a distance it is often difficult to see how far apart the mountains are from one another, so it is with prophecies like these.
For example:
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”
Isaiah saw both comings of the Lord,
But from his perspective they looked as they happened at the same time.
(Indeed that is what most of Israel expected)
But there is at least 2,000 years hidden inside that prophecy.
That is what we find here with Daniel’s as well.
I tell you that because
• Some want to see this all fulfilled at the first coming of Jesus.
• Some want to see it only fulfilled at the second coming.
• But they are both there.
Daniel just described four kingdoms in their literal and physical sense.
He ended with the nation of Rome.
And then says:
(44a) “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people…”
Obviously then this prophecy cannot be all future
Since Daniel reveals to us when this fifth kingdom begins.
It began during the days of Roman rule upon the earth.
And we also read:
(44b) “…it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”
That however obviously did not happen.
This kingdom of heaven DID arrive,
But it DID NOT conquer earthly kingdoms.
We even here Jesus telling Pilate:
John 18:33-37 “Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
• Did the kingdom come? Yes
• Did the kingdom conquer? No
(45) “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 take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
We understand this as well.
The “stone [that] was cut out of the mountain without hands” is clear to us.
It is Jesus Christ. He is the stone that the builders rejected,
Which became the chief cornerstone.
His kingdom is an eternal kingdom
That will never fail to reign upon the earth.
And this kingdom DID ARRIVE in the days of Rome.
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
He later told his disciples:
Matthew 10:5-7 “These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
The kingdom did in fact arrive!
Jesus taught repeatedly on “the kingdom of heaven”
• Leaven hidden in flour
• A mustard seed that started small and ended big
• Wheat where tares had been sown
• A treasure in a field
• A pearl of great value
• A dragnet cast into the sea
Jesus told us repeatedly that the kingdom had arrived.
It was a kingdom of salvation.
• And it has spread like leaven
• It is growing like a mustard seed
• It exists in the midst of a world of corruption
• And someday this kingdom will take physical form and will dominate the world, just like Jesus said.
Acts 4:11-12 “He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
1 Peter 2:4-5 “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The kingdom is here.
I’m a part of it, and so are you.
That is why Paul could say things like:
Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
But this kingdom is not a physical kingdom that has conquered the world.
• Jesus emphatically told Peter to put his sword away.
• We are told to submit to the governing authorities of this world.
That means that the promise of Christ’s kingdom crushing the kingdoms of this world is yet future.
But we know it is true, WHY?
Because every other part of this prophecy has been absolutely literally fulfilled.
“so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy”
When the disciples began to see that
The kingdom which had arrived was a spiritual one,
They began to ask about when the physical one was coming.
Matthew 24:3 “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
What followed was the Olivet Discourse in which Jesus preached on the end times.
• He spoke of the tribulation
• He spoke of the importance of submitting to Christ
• But He also spoke of a physical return and literal reign.
He closed that message like this:
Matthew 25:31-33 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”
In short,
• Those who say the kingdom hasn’t come at all are wrong, it is here, I’m a part of it, and so are you. Our citizenship is in heaven.
• But those who say it already came and things like the millennium are a myth are also wrong, even Jesus spoke of that coming day.
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE THEN TO DANIEL AND TO US?
• The kingdom is real!
• The kingdom of heaven is not a myth, it is not a fairy tale.
• The first enemy the kingdom of heaven crushed was the sin of the human heart,
• But it will soon come and destroy every other physical kingdom of this world.
Can you see now why Daniel was so encouraged?
CAN YOU SEE WHY YOU SHOULD BE?
Daniel’s Approach, Daniel’s Answer
#3 DANIEL’S ASCENSION
Daniel 2:46-49
Talk about missing the point.
The whole point of the dream, and the whole point of the chapter is that
All men should worship and exalt the God of heaven
And see that His kingdom is the only kingdom that matters.
Nebuchadnezzar did not!
“Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel”
The glory wasn’t supposed to be Daniel’s
(47) “The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely 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.”
“a” “God of gods”?
“a” “Lord of kings”?
“a” “revealer of mysteries”?
He obviously doesn’t get it.
He even then begins to honor and exalt Daniel, not God.
(48-49) “Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. And Daniel made request 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.”
He was grateful, but he was grateful to the wrong person.
• It was God who had set him in power
• It was God who had upheld his kingdom
• It was God who gave him the dream
• It was God who explained it
Yet Nebuchadnezzar held no glory for God at all.
The parallels to our day our obvious.
• We live in a nation that has clearly only existed because of the mercy
and sovereign prerogative of God.
• And we live in a nation where the majority fail to recognize that fact at
all.
WE ARE DANIEL’S IN THE MIDDLE OF BABYLON.
I told you, this message wasn’t simply for the benefit of Nebuchadnezzar (indeed it didn’t benefit him at all) This message was for the benefit of Daniel.
Through this vision God reminded Daniel that
He is in control and His kingdom is on its way.
And now we even have the luxury of seeing 90% of that prophecy
Already fulfilled, so we know it is true.
Take courage, and have hope.
Wicked rulers have never been an indication that God is failing.
The kingdom of heaven is here,
Its physical manifestation is coming soon.
Matthew 13:36-43 “Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
