The Real Kingdom (Daniel 2:25-49)

This sermon was preached on 6/11/2011

Everyone is concerned about the future. This is very much the case today as people consider the various crises that dominate the focus of the great and the small in our contemporary world. Most of them would see no value in looking at the ancient Book of Daniel, but that is their mistake. The chapter we are considering has a great deal to say to us about character and destiny.

One conquered king

As we noted in a previous study, there are different ways of reading the Book of Daniel. One feature that appears in the early chapters involves the story of Nebuchadnezzar. He appears in Daniel 1 as the conqueror of God’s people, yet the accounts of him in the next three chapters don’t depict him as such a conqueror. Instead Nebuchadnezzar himself becomes conquered by God and is therefore an interesting character study of one whom God pursues. Nebuchadnezzar depicts the journey of how a pagan discovered the true God.

In Daniel 1, Nebuchadnezzar thinks that the God of Israel is weak (this is seen in the placing of the vessels from Jerusalem in the pagan temple in Babylon). The reader, however, is aware that all is not going to Nebuchadnezzar’s plan. Four Jewish men outsmarted Nebuchadnezzar over his attempts to conform them to Babylon’s standards. Would they be able to do so again? The answer is yes, and in Daniel 2 we see how he was outsmarted by Daniel and in Daniel 3 we see how he is outsmarted by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar discovers that the God he thinks he has defeated actually controls his life. By means of a particular and precise piece of divine revelation, Nebuchadnezzar realises that he is dealing with a God who is far bigger than first imagined. The message of God, which on one level is against Nebuchadnezzar because it predicts the demise of his regime, speaks powerfully to him about the awesome sovereignty of God. In verse 47, Nebuchadnezzar reveals that his grasp of God’s person and ways is increasing, even although he has not yet realised the uniqueness of God. The earthly emperor has yet to realise that the Lord is not merely a higher version of other gods, but greater understanding will yet come. In this, Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of many when they start reading God’s fuller revelation, the Bible. They sense there is something special about it, even when it condemns them. Their understanding is deficient at first, but as they keep reading it they gain more understanding.

It is also evident from Nebuchadnezzar’s response to Daniel that the king realised there was something special about Daniel. The king had promised great rewards to any who could discover and interpret his dream, but he had not intended to bow down to them. But there he is, falling at the feet of Daniel, fully aware that he is a representative of the supreme God. The Lord is pursuing Nebuchadnezzar and he finds himself doing what he would never have anticipated. And many a person has found himself being unknowingly directed by the seeking Lord to a place where he would be found.

So as far as Nebuchadnezzar is concerned, the book of Daniel is saying, ‘Watch this space!’

Two contrasting servants

Another feature that comes across in the Book of Daniel is his character. In chapter 1 we read about his quiet determination based on his strong faith in God. Earlier in chapter 2, we noticed his calm demeanour when facing the terrifying prospect of being slain with all the wide men of Babylon – he is like the righteous man in Psalm 112:7-8: ‘He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.’ And that passage in Daniel 2 reveals him and his friends to be men of prayer – it is hard to realise they are still in their late teenage years!

In verses 25-30, we see another important feature of Daniel’s character and it is seen in contrast to the character of Arioch, the servant of Nebuchadnezzar. Arioch is a man who wants to take credit for something he had nothing to do with (v. 25); such an attitude is only found in those who think a lot of themselves. He wants to make an impression on his master and is therefore prepared to lie in order to climb the ladder. Of course, in these aspects he is like his master Nebuchadnezzar. The king thought he was very important and lived under a delusion that he was supreme; like his servant Arioch, the king at this time was marked by pride and falsehoods.

In contrast, Daniel the servant of God claimed no credit for having discovered the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Instead he stated clearly that only God could have revealed the dream to him. Daniel went out of his way to assert that he did not have special gifts or insights (v. 30). Instead he saw himself as a servant who had to pass on the message of his Master. So Daniel was humble and truthful, the opposite of Arioch. The fact is that we become like those whom we serve or like what we serve. And it means that people can tell what our master is like from our behaviour.

We also observed in the previous study Daniel’s consideration of the other wise men when he asked Arioch not to execute them. His consideration of others re-appears at the end of the chapter when he asks Nebuchadnezzar to give important roles to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Four crushed kingdoms

The Lord informed Daniel about the contents of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream – he saw a statue of a man that was broken in pieces by a stone. The statue itself was made of four metals: a head of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the abdomen and thighs of bronze, and its legs of iron (with the feet having a mixture of iron and clay). Not only did God reveal the dream to Daniel, he also told him what it meant.

The statue represented the four world empires that would rule until God set up his kingdom. First, there was the empire of Babylon (vv. 37-38); the second empire was the Persian Empire (v. 39), which conquered Babylon; the third empire was that of Greece, which defeated the Persians; the fourth empire was the Roman Empire (vv. 40-43) and it defeated Greece. Yet each subsequent empire was also a continuation of the previous because it retained any features that were beneficial. For example, the Greek Empire gave a universal language and the Romans retained it, a decision that was of great benefit in the spreading of the gospel.

As we listen to Daniel’s explanation of the statue, there are two features that are stressed. The first is the total sovereignty of God. He is in control of the rise and demise of these empires. No matter how extensive their domain, or how impregnable their defences, they come to an end when God says so. The subsequent empire may have been able to defeat the previous one, but the One who planned the defeat of one and the success of the other was the Lord himself.

The second feature that is highlighted is the descent of man. What may seem surprising to us is that the victors are inferior to the conquered, a fact depicted in the less value of the metals of which the different parts of the image were made. Persia, although it conquered Babylon, was inferior to it; Rome, although its territory was more extensive that the previous empires and lasted longer than them, was inferior to the Empires that preceded it. How can we say that man is descending as his kingdoms develop?

I suppose the answer to that question is that human achievements cannot deal with the root problem of their peoples. No matter how lofty their aims they discover that a great power controls their subjects, and that greater power is sin. Despite all the benefits that these empires brought about, the subjects were always liable to rebel. There never has been, nor will there ever be, a human government that can control the sinful tendencies of their peoples. That is why every nation has a system of punishment.

Of course, we have to remember that the dream and its interpretation were divine revelation and therefore also contained a message for the people of God. Imagine an Israelite living in the days of these empires. They seemed so dominant, yet a true Israelite living in the time of the third empire could look back and see that the previous two disappeared just as God said they would. Therefore the Israelite would also know that the current third kingdom too would eventually disappear, and he could look ahead to the coming of the fourth kingdom and anticipate the promised victory of God over all these empires.

Imagine yourself a Christian living in the cruel days of the fourth empire, having to watch as hundreds of his fellow-believers were persecuted. If he judged things by the physical eye, he would conclude that the church was going nowhere. But as he read this dream of Nebuchadnezzar he would realise that God’s Word told what would happened and that soon the iron crushing of Rome would be no more and that the infant church would flourish despite the fact that for a short time it would be under the dominance of the iron kingdom.

One continuing kingdom (vv. 44-45)

In his dream Nebuchadnezzar saw rock hewn out of the mountain that came rolling along and without any human help shattered the image in pieces. I suppose the first question that comes to mind is, ‘What is significance of the first mountain (v. 46)?’ One thing would be true of the mountain is that it is a lot bigger than the image. So the biggest thing in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is not the idol, although for a while the idol seemed to block out the mountain. The mountain was a reminder to Nebuchadnezzar that there is something far bigger than the dreams of men and their earthly kingdoms, and that which is far bigger is the purpose of God.

What is declared to Nebuchadnezzar about this purpose of God? The king saw in his dream that something (depicted by the stone that was uncut by humans) would appear and overthrow the powerful earthly kingdoms. The stone, we are told in verse 46, depicts the kingdom of God. This stone unusually is alive, and after overthrowing the last of the empires it is going to grow and grow until it becomes such a large mountain that it will fill all the earth (v. 35). This stone needs to be examined.

First of all, when will it appear? We already know the answer to this question. It will appear during the times of the fourth empire, that of Rome. Second, where does it come from? The answer to this question is that, unlike the four empires, it does not have a human origin. Third, will it look impressive when it first appears? The answer to this question is that it will not look threatening at all to the empires of man; after all it is only a small stone.

As we think of these three answers, let’s move on several centuries to a small town in Galilee, to the house where a young woman lives, at the time when she had an unexpected visit from the angel Gabriel. Listen to what he has to say: ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end’ (Luke 1:30-33). It is in the days of the fourth empire, he does not have a human origin, and it all seems so small, not a threat to the empire of man. Yet the Stone had arrived.

Thirty years later, Jesus begins to preach about the kingdom of God. Eventually he comes into direct contact with the local representative of the fourth empire, Pontius Pilate. Jesus tells Pilate twice in John 18:36: ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ There in the days of the fourth empire, the small Stone without a human origin stands and does not seem a threat. We know what happened. Pilate, under pressure from the crowd, allows Jesus to be crucified, and exposes the weakness of his empire, that it cannot control sin. In the first contact, as it were, between the empire of man and the kingdom of God, the former seems to win. Yet its decision was actually how it was going to lose its grip on many of its subjects because the Stone’s death was only the onset of his role as the Destroyer of earthly empires, as they were soon to discover.

The dream of Nebuchadnezzar sees the Stone conquering the whole earth. It starts small and works its way forward, enlarging his kingdom continually. Throughout its existence it will never be overthrown by any subsequent earthly empires. Not that they have not tried to do so, and no doubt will continue to do so. But they will not succeed because nothing they can do can prevent the triumph of the Stone. Even when they kill his followers, they cannot reduce the extent of his kingdom because his martyred followers are still members of it.

After he rose from the dead, an action which showed the futility of earthly power as the guards at the tomb could not do anything about what was taking place, Jesus spent forty days with his disciples speaking to them about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). His directions for the growth of the kingdom extended to the same limits as the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, to the ends of the earth.

One of the amazing aspects of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar is that time as well as space belongs to the Stone. His throne does not grow decrepit and weak like the thrones of the previous empires. Already Jesus has reigned for a period that is almost four times longer than the era of the longest running human empire, that of Rome.

We know about the past appearance of the Stone, of the small, apparently insignificant beginnings of his kingdom. And we know that his reign now includes the whole earth, as he said to his followers as the basis of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). This is very encouraging because the empires of man are still plotting against the kingdom of Jesus and sometimes seem so strong. And it is also a very good reason why any of us, who are currently resisting his rule, should bow to him and join his kingdom. For as Nebuchadnezzar was told in his dream, this kingdom is ‘a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people’ (v. 44).