Word of Salvation – Vol.49 No.41 – November 2004

 

Dreaming of the End of Human Kingdoms

 

Sermon by Rev J De Hoog on Daniel 2

 Scripture Readings: Daniel 2

Suggested Hymns: BoW 93a; 510; 72a; 515:1,4

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ…

Daniel Chapter 2 is a long chapter with just the one message. There is one central reason why God has put this chapter into his Word. There is one great statement about God that He wants us to hear. What is it? What is the message of Daniel 2? Now I don’t want to tell you outright; rather, I want you to think with me towards finding that one central message. I want to give you four lines of evidence to follow. I think you will find that all four will lead us to the same conclusion.

The first line of evidence is this: Nebuchadnezzar has become troubled and anxious. He has had a dream, and it has troubled his mind so much that he can’t sleep.

Think about that fact. Nebuchadnezzar is at the height of his power. By the second year of his reign, he commands an empire that stretches from the edge of Egypt across to the great River Euphrates. It was the largest empire the world had seen up to that point. He was Nebuchadnezzar the Great, and his city of Babylon was the wonder of the known world, a city of great beauty, learning and literature. Nebuchadnezzar had it all – power, fame, influence, luxury, anything he desired he could have. And yet, he is filled with anxiety and his mind is troubled over one little dream. He is so anxious and insecure that he asks an impossible feat of his wise men. He asks them to tell him the dream he had. And when they say that such a thing is impossible for mere men, then in a fit of rage he decides to destroy them all.

Why is Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man in the world, so insecure, so anxious? He has no peace in his heart; he is filled with fear. Why?

A great deal of archaeological evidence from Nebuchadnezzar’s time has been dug up. From this evidence, archaeologists tell us that Babylon had many gods, and dreams were considered a communication from the gods. They have found ancient dream manuals that list dreams and then events that follow, all arranged systematically for easy reference. These books tried to cover every possible event and dream, so they became very very long. Only an expert could find his way through these manuals. Nebuchadnezzar had surrounded himself with every conceivable kind of expert – verse 2 speaks of magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers.

Nebuchadnezzar wanted to be ready, and he wanted to feel secure with all these expert advisers around him. But the archaeologists have also unearthed a written saying that says this: ‘If a man cannot remember the dream he saw, it means his personal god is angry with him.’ To forget a dream was a bad omen. Nebuchadnezzar had woken up with a very bad feeling. He knows he has had a vivid dream, but he can’t remember it. And he is filled with anxiety.

Why then is Nebuchadnezzar so anxious? Basically because his trust is not in the one true God. He has everything the world can give, and he has experts to cover every single event. But he has no peace. He does not know the one true God.

Here is the first line of evidence from this chapter. As long as Nebuchadnezzar sought security in possessions or power or luxury or experts or superstition, he could never be content. Like so many people today, he had everything except what he really needed – peace. He does not have a sense of peace with himself.

The great church father, Augustine, said it very well. He said, ‘The human heart is restless until it finds its rest in God’. God has made all human beings for relationship with Him. God has made you that way. The world can’t give you what only God can give. As long as you search for meaning and security in the world, true peace will elude you. Don’t be fooled! That extra ten thousand dollars will not satisfy. Having that house by the sea will not finally meet all your needs. When sickness strikes, when death looms, these will mean nothing.

The second line of evidence is found in three key sections in this passage. These verses highlight the way this story is put together. First, verses 10-11. Nebuchadnezzar has asked the wise men to tell him the dream, and then also its meaning. ‘The astrologers answered the king, ‘There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men’.’

The second key section is where Daniel goes to Nebuchadnezzar to reveal the dream and its meaning. Verses 27-28: ‘Daniel replied, ‘No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come’.’ And then, read also Nebuchadnezzar’s reply in verses 47: ‘The king said to Daniel, ‘Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery’.’

The wise men tell the king that they cannot tell the king his dream and explain it – only the gods could do that, and the gods do not live among men. What an admission! Do you see what the wise men are saying? They are admitting that their gods are useless. They are confessing that the whole system which supports them and keeps them in the palace is a sham. When it comes to dealing with practical questions, the gods are irrelevant, for they do not concern themselves with the affairs of human beings. Tell us your dream, Nebuchadnezzar, and we’ll concoct an explanation. But it will be based only on our wisdom, on the accumulated writings of years of study. The gods whom you serve and whom we claim to represent are useless to you right now. They are inaccessible, the whole system that we represent is a sham.

By total contrast, the Lord God is concerned and involved in the affairs of human beings. God is different from the false gods of their own invention. He is the true and living God, the one who invites us into a relationship with Him, the one who speaks to us constantly through creation and through His Word. As even Nebuchadnezzar had to admit, He is ‘the God of gods and the Lord of kings.’

The false gods of Babylon do not live among men, said the wise men. Why not? Because the false gods of Babylon do not really exist – they are gods whom the Babylonians have made in their own image. But the one true God of heaven and earth exists. And He has proved it by being the God who did dwell among men.

He was with his people in Old Testament times. He showed his presence in a very visible way by allowing His glory to fill the tabernacle and to fill the temple. And then, when the time was right, God the Son came to earth as a man. John says of Jesus Christ: ‘The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.’ The word literally means, ‘He tabernacled among us.’ And right now, God the Father and God the Son are with us through the agency of God the Holy Spirit. Just before He physically left this earth, Jesus Christ promised He would be with us always. And because He is with us, we can know His peace in our lives. What Nebuchadnezzar could never know, because the world could never give it, you can know in Jesus Christ.

We have seen two lines of evidence so far. The first is the fact that Nebuchadnezzar could find no peace, even though he had everything he could possibly desire in the way of the world’s gifts. The second line of evidence is the fact that the gods of Babylon were useless and the whole religious system was a farce, but God could reveal the mystery because He is the one true God, who is involved in the lives of human beings.

The third line of evidence is found in Daniel’s prayer of praise after God had revealed the mystery to him. Verse 20 says: ‘Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.’ This is a remarkable prayer in the circumstances. Remember that Babylon has defeated Jerusalem. The city of God is a smoking ruin, the temple of God has been destroyed and the golden articles of His temple are on display as trophies of war in the temple of a pagan god. The people of God have been decimated and are in exile. But Daniel knows that God is sovereign. He knows that all this has been in God’s control, too. And because God is determining history, so He is able to explain and reveal it. History does not proceed by some impersonal force. God is God alone, He knows the future because He has already designed it. And so He can reveal it.

The fourth line of evidence lies in the dream itself – the incredible dream of Nebuchadnezzar. There is a huge statue – dazzling and awesome in appearance. It is made up of four parts, and the four parts represent human kingdoms about to come. The head of gold represents the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar – the Empire that destroyed Jerusalem. When Babylon collapsed, the Persian Empire took its place and became even more powerful – the Persian Empire is represented by the chest and arms of silver. The belly and thighs of bronze represent the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great. It is said that in his early twenties Alexander burst into tears when he was told there were no more countries to conquer. And then the legs and feet of iron and clay represent the Roman Empire, which was in power when Jesus Christ was born.

In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, this great and awesome statue is smashed to smithereens by a rock cut out of the mountainside, and that rock grows and eventually fills the whole earth.

The rock in the dream is a very powerful picture. Daniel explains what it means in verses 44 ff: ‘In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to other people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.’

‘In the time of those kings…’ In the time of the Roman kings, the time of iron and clay, God was going to do something amazing. The rock was going to be cut out of the mountain. God was going to set up His kingdom on the earth, one that would last forever and eventually fill the whole earth.

And in the time of the Roman Empire, John the Baptist comes to the area of the Jordan, and what does he preach? Matthew 3:2 says:

‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’

Then Jesus Christ comes to live at Capernaum after being baptised by John, and He begins to preach as well. Matthew 4:17 says, ‘From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’.’ Jesus sends out His twelve disciples on a preaching mission. What is the message they are to tell? Matthew 10:7 says, ‘As you go, preach this message: The kingdom of heaven is near.’

It was happening. During the time of the kingdom of iron and clay, the God of heaven would set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed. Jesus came to declare that this kingdom was now at hand. Jesus came to establish that kingdom.

God took the initiative. John 3:16 is such a familiar verse. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ God sent Jesus his Son into the world. Nebuchadnezzar saw a stone roll down a mountainside and crush the statue. God rolled that stone, Jesus Christ his Son, down from heaven. He rolled that stone onto the earth to establish His kingdom.

God took the initiative. His timing is perfect. See how He uses each of the four kingdoms represented by the statue in his plans.

At the time of Habakkuk and Jeremiah, about 600 years before Jesus Christ, Israel had become so corrupt as to be almost useless to God. God had to purify His people. He had to weed out the sinful rebellious ones. So He raised up Nebuchadnezzar, the man who had this dream, the kingdom represented by the golden head, to do just that. God’s people were taken into exile.

But then God had to get the faithful people back to their land so that He could send Jesus to be born in Bethlehem as He promised. So He raised up the next kingdom, the Persian kingdom, the kingdom represented by the arms and chest of silver, to send His people back to Israel to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.

But then, if the gospel message is to go out to all the world, God needs a language and way of thinking that will spread throughout all the known world. So He raised up the next empire, represented by the bronze belly and thighs, the Grecian Empire, to spread its language and culture right through the whole known world. The New Testament comes to be written in the language of that culture.

But then, if the gospel message really is going to spread to all men and women, God also needs to organise that travel across the whole world be made easy and safer than ever before. So He raised up the Roman Empire, the empire of clay and iron, which builds magnificent roads and makes the world a safe place for Roman citizens.

And then, just at the right time, when everything in history is just right, God sends his Son into the world to establish His own kingdom. He has already been exercising His rule over all the other nations, but now He makes this rule plain by sending the King himself, Jesus Christ, to call people away from the kingdoms of this world and into the Kingdom of God.

This Kingdom that Jesus Christ is setting up will last forever. Verse 44 of Daniel 2 says, ‘In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed… It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.’ The kingdoms represented by the statue are each swallowed up by the one that follows. All the empires set up by mankind ‘have their day, and cease to be.’ But the Kingdom of Jesus Christ will last forever. He has eternal life, He can never die again, and so His Kingdom will outlast the earth. The stone grew to fill the whole earth. God’s Kingdom is growing today, and one day everyone will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the King.

Four lines of evidence in this chapter of Daniel. And what conclusion do they point to? The first line of evidence – Nebuchadnezzar has it all, but he doesn’t have peace. Second – the gods of Babylon do not really exist and so are useless in any practical situation. Third – God is the one who sets up and deposes kings, He uses kingdoms for His own purposes. Fourth – the evidence of the dream itself. Human kingdoms all fail, but the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is eternal.

What is the conclusion that these four lines of evidence point to. Surely this: There is only one true God and ruler of the world. All human systems will fail, but God’s Kingdom is supreme and will last forever.

What is the goal of all human kingdoms? Surely it is this: Paradise Regained. All human beings who have ever lived are conscious of paradise lost. All human beings who have ever lived are conscious of the burden of human guilt and misery that has cursed us since the fall. And all human kingdoms have sought to restore paradise. From the Tower of Babel, through Egypt and Assyria and Babylon and Persia and Greece and Rome and Christendom and the USSR and the United States of America and the European Union, all have aimed towards paradise, with order and unity and unlimited wealth and peace and prosperity and culture.

But notice that the four empires represented by the statue in the dream – which really included all human empires since then – notice they are represented as one man, one image, one human being. It is the image of fallen mankind, thinking he must seize the reins of history, thinking he must set the world right by himself. And if God exists, then He is like a God on the sidelines who gives out prizes to the winners, to the determiners of history. The statue represents fallen mankind, those who think they can determine and control history without God. And in the dream, fallen man falls. They are fallen in more ways than one.

But think about the stone cut out of the mountainside. That stone is a living stone. That stone represents Jesus Christ and His kingdom. It is a stone that grows to fill the whole earth. Listen to what 1 Peter 2 has to say about that stone: ‘As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house… For in Scripture it says: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, and, a stone that causes men to stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.’

The kingdom of God, represented by that Stone, does not seek paradise regained on earth. Its goal is not an earthly paradise in itself. Rather, its goal is restoration of communion with God. Paradise regained, the new heavens and the new earth, are not the aim but a byproduct of that central aim. The broken relationship with God needs to be restored. And so Jesus Christ, the mighty Stone, who is man and God, dies to take away the punishment for our sins; dies to reconcile us to God and God to us. And then He rises again, triumphant, alive today, calling His people and gathering and preserving and defending all for whom He died.

There are two ways of relating to that powerful rock cut out of the mountainside, Jesus Christ, our King, the living stone. Either you can build your life on Him, so that He becomes the foundation of your life, or you can trip over Him, so that He becomes a stumbling block. If you do not believe, He becomes a stone that makes you stumble and a rock that makes you fall.

Either way, you cannot just shrug your shoulders and ignore Jesus Christ. If you are driving along a steep mountain road and suddenly a rock the size of a bus came hurtling down the side of the mountain and lands right in front of you, would you ignore it? No, you would not, you could not! Just the same, you can’t ignore Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the rock who has destroyed the power of all other kingdoms when He destroyed the power of death.

There are two kingdoms in the world today. There is the kingdom of this world, with all its achievements and apparent power, but with the basic problem of sin and death unsolved. This kingdom is seeking a paradise regained on earth. This kingdom has McDonalds and Microsoft and Coca-Cola as its flagships. This kingdom provides comfort and entertainment and distraction from misery for those who can afford it, and it destroys those who cannot. This kingdom will crumble away as all such kingdoms ever have since the beginning.

But there is also the Kingdom of God, with the problem of sin and death resolved, with people reconciled to God, with an eternal paradise in prospect, and this Kingdom is filling the earth. Where is your allegiance? There is only one true God and ruler of the world. All human systems will fail, but God’s kingdom is supreme and will last forever.

Are you a follower of the King of kings, Jesus Christ?

Amen.