Daniel 2:31-49
Introduction:
Let me know if you are coming to corn distribution by Wednesday afternoon.
Vacation from August 11-19.
Second baptismal service.
Story of found ring.
Text: Daniel 2:31-49
Review:
Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. He threatens to kill all magicians and advisors if they don’t tell the dream and its interpretation. God gives Daniel the dream and its interpretation.
Theme: God’s sovereignty. He raises up and puts down kingdoms. All kingdoms that exist are exercising stewardship from God. One day, God will be fed up with the increasingly corrupt and unstable kingdoms of the world and will destroy them and establish His own perfect kingdom.
**SLIDE 1**
Verses 31-35 – The Dream
**SLIDE 2**
Verses 36-38 – The Head of God – Babylon
This is key for our interpretation of the dream. The golden head represents Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom – Babylon. The other pieces represent kingdoms to follow. So all pieces of this statue are kingdoms, each one follows the other. The first piece is Babylon.
Daniel pointed out to Nebuchadnezzar that his position was given to him by God who had granted him “dominion and power and might and glory.” God also allowed the king to rule over all the inhabitants in his vast domain. Daniel emphasized the sovereignty of God over the kings of the earth, even Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest king of the day. God’s sovereignty and power over Nebuchadnezzar is an important point and one that comes up often in Daniel.
Link: From history we know that the Medes and the Persians conquered Babylon. Historically, they arose after Babylon, and they are talked about specifically and by name in other parts of Daniel, so we know which kingdom the silver chest and arms represent.
**SLIDE 3**
Verse 39 – The Chest and Arms of Silver and the Middle and Thighs of Bronze – Medo-Persia and Greece
This force was led by Cyrus the Great. This was a joint empire between the Medes and the Persians and the chest and arms of silver represent this well. Two arms, connected by the chest.
Cyrus was actually quite popular amongst the Jews. He took a stance toward religion and culture quite the opposite of Nebuchadnezzar. It was in large part because of Cyrus and his policies that the Jews were eventually allowed to return to Jerusalem.
Link: But the rule of the Medes and the Persians lasted only about 200 years and was replaced by Greece, our third kingdom, represented by Bronze.
**SLIDE 4**
This empire was established by the conquests of Alexander the Great. It did not last very long as a unified body, because after Alexander’s early death, it was divided up amongst his generals. More on that later on in Daniel.
**SLIDE 5**
Verses 40-43 – The Legs and Feet of Iron and Clay – Rome
Now, here is where things get messy and you run into a large variety of interpretations.
Some will say the iron is Rome but the feet are a revived Roman empire.
Some will say this is Rome. Period.
In looking for a picture for this, I found an opinion that stated the feet were the Ottoman Empire.
I am of opinion that this image represents Rome and a revived Roman empire. I feel that is the interpretation that best fits with what the Bible says and what we know from history.
Those who say it represents the Roman Empire only, believe the Rock from heaven that became a mountain is the church. They have different dates for when they say that the kingdom of the church began. Some state it began some time during Christ’s earthly ministry. Some state that it began on the day of Pentecost. Some state that it began when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD. And some state that it began when Constantine declared Christianity to be the state religion.
The problem with all of these views is that the Roman Empire continued to exist. The Bible states that the kingdom of God will “break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever.” Whichever start date you pick for the kingdom of the church, the Roman Empire was still around and had not come to an end. When the kingdom that Daniel is speaking of comes, it will utterly destroy all other kingdoms and it shall never end. The world currently has many kingdoms, so the eternal one hasn’t begun yet.
An even bigger problem with this view is that it overlooks or reinterprets a very large amount of prophecy to fit the view. We don’t have time to go over them all today, but God made many promises and delivered many prophecies to the Jewish people about a coming kingdom. And if that kingdom is the church, then those prophecies and promises aren’t going to be fulfilled. And we have a problem if God is delivering prophecies and promises that He has no intention to fulfill.
The newish view that it represents the Ottoman Empire has two problems. First, the Bible says that these are successive kingdoms. The kingdom that came after Greece was Rome. There is a 1k year gap between Greece and the Ottomans. A bigger problem still is that means God’s kingdom began November 1, 1922. What an awkward time. And if God’s kingdom is here, how did WW2 happen? And all this North Korea business? No, obvious problems with that view.
There is another view that it is the feet of iron and clay represents the Catholic Church. This was popular and highly plausible a long time ago. Today, I’m not sure the Catholic Church is powerful enough to be considered the dominant kingdom in the world.
Well, there have been innumerable guesses of what, precisely, these feet of iron and clay represent.
I’m sorry to disappoint, because I know it’s popular, but I’m not going to venture into guesses. I’m not going to add my own uninspired guess to the pile. Preachers and teachers have delivered innumerable guesses over the years, they have been wrong, and it’s been an embarrassment to the church.
Instead, I’m going to talk about what we know and what the Bible makes clear.
So, let’s talk about that.
The legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay are the fourth successive kingdom. The kingdom to come after Greece was Rome. Rome started off as a very strong kingdom and iron is a good representative of who they were.
“We find that the Romans owed the conquest of the world to no other cause than continual military training, exact observance of discipline in their camps, and unwearied cultivation of the other arts of war.” – Vegetius
“Great empires are not maintained by timidity.” – Tacitus
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” – Tacitus
There is a quote I tried hard to find, maybe Joe can enlighten me later as I know he enjoys Roman history too, but essentially it states that Rome was not concerned with art or language or philosophy, those were for other nations. Rome was for governance.
**SLIDE 6**
Sorry. This quote has nothing to do with what I’m talking about. But I had to squeeze it in there. “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” I thought it was funny, but I’m a nerd. And boy, how our society might be improved if we had fewer opinions and more obedience to parents and other authorities. We need less rebellious imbeciles writing books, blogs, and news stories. Well, it relates in a small way. Children categorically disobeying parents and authorities is a sign of the end times.
Anyway, back on point…
**SLIDE 7**
Rome ruled by iron. They weren’t pretty or cultured. They were iron.
This image fits Rome even better as you work your way down. Everybody knows about the Roman Empire, but what is less known is that it eventually divided into two empires. The east and west.
**SLIDE 8**
The eastern empire was ruled from Constantinople and eventually became known as the Byzantine Empire. The western empire was ruled from Milan, Ravenna, and Midiolanum – depending on the period of time. It’s interesting that after a certain period of history, neither the western nor eastern portion of the Roman Empire was ruled from Rome.
Still more, Rome was plagued by political intrigues, assassinations, regime changes, close calls, near collapses, civil wars for many hundreds of years. It was strong and united during the time of Christ, but not for much longer after that. A statue that starts as one piece of iron, divides itself into two legs, and becomes increasingly destabilized and weakened by clay and eventually divides into ten toes describes Roman history very well.
The interpretive problem that we face today is that the Roman Empire is no more but the Kingdom of God is not here. The closest thing we have to the Roman Empire today is the Catholic Church, and that is why it has been the target of some guesses. The European Union bears some semblance to this as well. The United States is the current dominant super power. You could pick secular humanism or Islam or Russia or China or whatever.
Pick your guess, who knows what tomorrow will bring. But in order for this prophecy to be fulfilled we need an Empire that either greatly resembles or is identical to Rome, and when the prophecy is fulfilled, that Empire will be destroyed and replaced by God’s kingdom.
I believe the reemergence of this empire is described in Revelation. We will know when it is here, because it will encompass the world. And given the sudden and cataclysmic events that occur leading up to it, and the powerful demonic forces behind it, it could happen very quickly. When it does, there will be no need for guesses because it will be very clear. Perhaps it exists in some form today, but it is not yet what it will be for us to pick it out for certain.
**SLIDE 9**
Verses 44-45 – The Stone that Became a Mountain – The Kingdom of God
So let’s look at the kingdom to come.
This kingdom is not disputed quite as much. It’s not controversial that this is the Kingdom of God. The fact that it never ends, is a kingdom not created by humans, and is the final kingdom makes that an absolute guarantee. The dispute that is there arises over what is the Kingdom of God. Is it the church or a literal kingdom coming in the future?
As I said earlier, because of various prophecies and promises that God has made, and because the church came when Rome was still strong and did not destroy Rome, and especially because of the book of Revelation, I believe this kingdom is a future one and a literal one. One that, like these other kingdoms, will be set up on the earth. Only its king will be Christ, the Messiah, and it will have no end.
This kingdom is set up toward the end of the book of Revelation.
*Read Revelation 20:4-7*
This kingdom will have 1,000 years of peace and will fulfill God’s promises and prophecies made to Israel. At the end of 1,000 years there will be a brief interruption of that peace when Satan is loosed once again. After his defeat, the kingdom will continue for eternity.
You can read a description of what that eternal kingdom will be like in Revelation 21.
*Read Revelation 21:1-4*
It’s going to be a beautiful, restful, light filled, glorious place.
But there is an element to this that is not at all restful.
*Read Revelation 21:5-8*
It’s not a popular topic, but God will punish sin. When His eternal kingdom is established, it will occur with destructive force. And it will be perfect, unlike all other kingdoms, because God will have an absolute zero tolerance policy toward sin.
The dream of the statue represents an increasingly corrupt and unstable world system, one that will eventually be destroyed by God through brute force.
The corrupt and sinful elements will not be allowed into God’s eternal kingdom
Those who will spend eternity in this kingdom will be those who have been cleansed from their sin by the blood of the Lamb. Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and His shed blood. Jesus and His work for us on the cross cleanses us from all of our sins. We are forgiven for every one of these condemnable sins listed here and more. And we are guaranteed to receive a perfected form in the end times. We will receive total liberty from sin, never sin again, and so be able to be a part of God’s perfect and eternal kingdom.
*Give Gospel and Invitation*