Daniel 2:31-45: The Dream

Amen. Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles once again to Daniel chapter 2.

Daniel chapter 2 verses 44 and 45. Hear now the inspired word of God.

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, another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

In as much 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.

Let's pray. Father, once again, as we look into your word, we would simply ask that you'd open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts, that we would see, hear, and understand what you have to say to us.

And that by listening and heeding to what you have to say, that we would become more like our

Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen. Please be seated.

When I was a detective, I had a recurring dream. I dreamed

I was chasing a bad guy which turned into a gunfight, and invariably my gun would malfunction, and I couldn't pull the trigger, and I'd be there in my sleep pulling and pulling, but nothing would happen.

And the bad guy kept coming at me, toward me with his gun, and right at the moment of truth,

I'd wake up, very relieved to be awake and alive.

I had that recurring dream for years and years until the day

I retired. Since the day I retired from the police department,

I have never had that dream again. What does that mean? Did the dream have any meaning?

Do you know with all our medical advances, there's no consensus about the purpose of dreams? There's a common definition for dreams.

This comes right from a website. They are images, thoughts, or feelings that occur during sleep. Thanks a lot.

Even I knew that. However, there is no consensus among the so -called experts as to the purpose of dreams.

But there is one purpose that I could not find on any of the expert sites, and that is that at various times in the past, and for his purpose,

God has communicated to men in dreams. You won't see that purpose on any psychologist's list.

Now, it was never the norm, but at various times for his special purpose, God spoke in dreams.

Now, in the New Covenant era, there's no need for him to speak in dreams because we have the complete

Word of God. In our text for today, we see one of those times that God spoke in dreams.

God gives Nebuchadnezzar a dream, and it frightens him. He lost sleep.

His spirit was troubled. This was apparently different than any other dream that Nebuchadnezzar had ever had.

Think back over the last several weeks, the sermons, and the lengths that the king went through to get relief from his tormented soul.

He perceived that this dream was different and that it contained a message for him, and he was right.

Not knowing the meaning of the dream was agonizing, just about the same as the content of the dream itself.

Remember his relief just in getting the word that it could be interpreted. He was already relieved, and with those thoughts in mind, we come to the dream itself and then the interpretation.

Look at verse 31 of Daniel chapter 2, and we read, You, O king, were looking, and behold, there was a single great statue, that statue which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.

It's reasonable to say that the presence of the statue alone was enough to bring forth all kinds of emotions in the king.

Just look how Daniel describes it, large, extraordinary splendor.

That's not the usual description of a statue. Ginger and I traveled around the country about a year and a half ago, and on our travels, we hit many national parks and things, and we saw many statues, beautiful sculptures around this country.

In fact, Rapid City, South Dakota has 44 statues of presidents on the street corners of its downtown area, and it was fun as we walked looking at these various statues, but I wouldn't describe any of them as awesome or extraordinary splendor.

There were only two statues on a trip that may rise to that description. One was Mount Rushmore, and the other was the

Crazy Horse Sculpture. Both of them, carved into the sides of mountains, were truly spectacular, but I don't think dreaming about them would cause me to tremble.

So this statue, even without further description, may be described as something awesome because to cause the mighty king to lose sleep and be troubled in his heart, that must have been some statue.

But there's more to the description. Verse 32, the head of the statue was made of fine gold.

It's pressed its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron, partly of clay.

That's an unusual description for a statue, but certainly nothing to bring fear into a man's heart.

If anything, it's a curious construction. I've never seen anything like that in four different materials, gold, silver, bronze, and then iron and clay.

Curious, but not particularly terrifying, especially without an understanding of the imagery.

So it seems that the last part of the vision was troubling.

Verse 34, he continues. Daniel's responding to the king.

He says, you continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, the gold were all crushed at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors.

And the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Now, that's awesome. The uncut stone, the stone was cut out of a mountain, but not by no hands.

That could be troubling. That's troubling enough, but look at the result of it being hurled at the statue.

It strikes the feet and crushes them. Not surprising since the feet were that mixture of iron and clay.

And then the whole statue falls into itself and becomes like chaff.

In case you don't know, chaff is that scaly protective coating on grains such as wheat.

It's not edible for humans. And so in the ancient world, the farmer would beat the grain to separate that chaff from the wheat.

And then he would winnow. He would take like a pitchfork, throw it up and the wind would blow the chaff away and the good grain would fall down to the winnowing floor.

Now, think about this. The gold, silver, bronze, and iron, they're not suitable to winnow.

This is not a natural action that's taking place here. This is a devastating event that grinds these metals into a fine powder and the wind carries them away as though they were this flimsy chaff.

Unusual at the very least, those items are blown away while the stone grows into a great mountain that fills the whole earth.

For a man who is the king of a regime, that is rife with mystical meaning.

That's got to be a scary dream. And I'm not speculating here because listen once again to the description of the most powerful man on earth and how he responds to this dream back in Daniel 2 .1.

Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. Remember, he's so disturbed by this dream, he can't sleep.

And it troubles him so much that he sends his wise men on that impossible mission.

Tell me the dream. Was he concerned about this dream?

In essence, he puts the kingdom on hold until he can find out the interpretation of this dream.

And then he's so concerned that he's not fooled, he won't even tell the wise men what the dream is. You see how this is unfolding until we come to Daniel.

And I love the way Daniel responds in verse 36. This was the dream.

Short, sweet. When Daniel concludes his description of the dream, he moves right to the interpretation without fanfare.

But notice he doesn't say, is that about right? No, he looks back at Nebuchadnezzar and says, this was your dream.

He knows he was right. So he doesn't ask. No equivocation, no hesitation.

But hopefully even, we're only a couple of months into this study, but we're not surprised because Daniel was a man of faith.

And we're just beginning at the beginning of Daniel's life. The Lord had revealed to him the answer and he knew the answer was correct.

So that was that. He didn't need confirmation from the king. He heard from God and acted upon that word.

There's a message, a full sermon right there. And he's just as positive with the interpretation.

He says, now we'll tell the interpretation. And look what he says about this pagan king.

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.

Is that a description or what? He calls him the king of kings.

That's a superlative statement. And he affirms that God, the

God of heaven, the one, the true, the living God, he's the one who has given him that kingdom.

And he further describes it as a kingdom of power and strength and glory.

And remember that description comes out of the divine interpretation of the dream. And this is not

Daniel sucking up to the king. This is a divine interpretation. You know, kings or leaders of nations are known to exaggerate the power and the glory of their kingdoms.

But here it is, Daniel's description. And he bases the glory of the kingdom. He rescribes it back to the

God who is in heaven. But he doesn't end there. He continues to describe the kingdom of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar's rule.

Listen to what he says about it in verse 38. 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're the head of gold. This kingdom is so exhaustive that the only way that Daniel can describe it is it's inclusive even of the animals and the birds of the sky.

That may be partly hyperbole, but it makes the point. There was no king like Nebuchadnezzar.

And that comes from the word of God. And then he relates the description to the dream.

You're the head of gold. You know, as I have read numerous commentaries on this dream,

I was struck by how many different views were represented. And some so diverse that I couldn't even begin to explain all of them.

But to me, there might be some details we disagree on, but to me, it's rather simple.

The kingdom of Babylon, at its peak, was a glorious kingdom in many different ways. In might, in power, in majesty, in glory.

You ever hear of the seven wonders of the ancient world? One of them was the hanging gardens of Babylon.

And I actually took some time and I was looking at primary source material.

If you were at the conference yesterday, you'd understand what I mean by that. But not what somebody else said about it, but primary source material.

These gardens were supposedly some of the most beautiful, not only in their description and their eye -pleasing, but the engineering behind them was incredible for the time.

The ancient writings support this description of Daniel. So we see that the glory of this kingdom was unmatched.

It was incredible in so many different ways. So the first part of this vision is clear.

Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon are represented by the golden head, an unbelievable kingdom.

And God put them there. Then we move on to the second part of the statue, verse 39.

After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.

What's interesting about these parts of the statue is that they're given merely a couple of lines of commentary.

At the time of the dream, the two kingdoms are future. It would appear that these two kingdoms are necessary to complete the prophecy, but may not be as crucial to the meaning of the dream as obviously the head.

What we can say for sure is that these kingdoms are inferior to Babylon. We can safely say that because that's what the word says.

Most scholars are in agreement that the silver breast and arms are representative of the Medo -Persian empire, which conquered

Babylon. We'll actually see that in the fifth chapter of the book of Daniel. But according to the dream, this kingdom does not reach the status of Babylon.

What is the measure of the status? We don't know for sure, but it remained inferior to the glory and the majesty of Babylon.

And then the third part, the third kingdom, the kingdom of bronze, which will rule over the earth.

Again, we're given little to no information about this kingdom in the dream in scripture, but it's another inferior kingdom to Babylon as it is referred to as bronze as opposed to gold.

But it does rule over the world, so it's not too shabby. Again, scholars are mostly in agreement that this part of the statue, the belly, the thighs, the bronze portrayed the

Greek empire under Alexander the Great. Main reason is that the Greek empire follows directly after the

Medo -Persian empire in the historical data. But it adds nothing particularly of importance to the vision of Nebuchadnezzar.

But that's not to say that it's unimportant in the whole plan of God. If it wasn't included in the dream, the whole timeline would be inferior.

It would mess up our timeline to pinpoint when these things took place.

So it's important, at least for that reason. But one can also see how God used the

Greek empire in some astounding ways. The Greek empire spread their common language so that there was one language known to the whole known world.

And God used the Koine Greek language to have his word understood throughout the world. And the gospel of Jesus Christ was proclaimed.

And everybody could understand it because it was given in the common language. Fourth part of the statue, verse 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. Notice that this kingdom, it's not specifically described as inferior to Babylon, but the case can be made of course.

But it's referred in a different way. Instead of being like gold, it's as strong as iron.

And then it says iron shatters all things. When you hit something with iron, it breaks things, it crushes things.

The glory of this kingdom is in its might. And again, alluding to the historical record, and of course the history of the

Bible itself, scholars agree that this refers to the Roman empire. And of the four empires in the dream,

Rome is described with such detailed accuracy that liberal scholars maintain, oh, it couldn't have been written beforehand.

This had to be after the events occurred. But you know what?

Sometimes even evangelical scholars can get caught with their words. I was reading one commentator who was talking about the description of Rome.

And he says, and Daniel related it with surprising accuracy. And I was thinking about that.

That's a poor choice of words. That's a poor choice of words.

Look once again at the detail, at the detail here.

Look at verses 41 to 43. Well, you know what?

Before we go to, what's wrong with saying it was surprising accuracy?

Well, God wasn't predicting. He was just merely saying, this is what

I'm going to do in the future. So of course it's going to be accurate. But let's look at the details he gives.

Verse 41, 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 the toughness of iron in as much as you saw the iron mixed with the 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 seat of men and they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.

Now any serious student of ancient history will tell you that is a perfect description of Rome in the first century.

It was one of the mightiest empires and was unbelievably ruthless.

It wasn't known for its diplomacy. Rome was known for breaking things and killing people.

Yet for all her might, it was a divided kingdom. And that's demonstrated with the iron mixed with clay and also there being ten toes on two feet.

In Rome of this time period, there were households set against households.

If you read any of the history of the Caesars and you'll see the plotting even within the households.

And then when Rome set up kings and governors and conquered lands like Herod in Israel, it only added to the intrigue.

That's the first part of the dream. And we can place these events with certainty in the timeline of history, especially with the narratives of scripture.

But while we can identify four specific kingdoms, these kingdoms also stand as representatives of all the secular kingdoms of the world of every age.

And that becomes apparent in the last part of the dream. Look at verse 44. 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.

It will crush and put an end to these kingdoms, but itself will endure forever.

I believe there's the purpose of the dream right there. Remember what Daniel has told the king back in verse 28?

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.

These kingdoms can never solve mankind's problems, no matter who they are or when they came into existence.

So God gives Nebuchadnezzar a peek into the future when he will set up his heavenly kingdom in the latter days.

When will that be? In the days of the fourth kingdom, the Roman Empire. Jesus Christ came in the fullness of time.

That is the perfect time. And contrary to some teaching in the modern church,

Jesus set up his kingdom when he came to earth in his first advent. Just a few verses to indicate that.

When Jesus came on the scene in the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, verse 15, he came in saying, the time is fulfilled.

The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe. And then when he was accused of casting out

Satan by the power of Satan, he says this. Of course, he says, no kingdom divided against itself can stand.

And he says, but if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, Matthew 12, 28, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

And then he says to his disciples in Matthew chapter 16, right after Peter gives that great confession, thou art the

Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus tells them, truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

And then he said to the Pharisees, there it is, talking about the kingdom, before behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.

The dream also shows the difference between the earthly kingdoms and the kingdom of God.

All the earthly kingdoms which have or ever will exist are fleeting at best.

God tears them down and builds them up. But the kingdom of God will endure forever.

Paul speaking about the end of all things at Christ's second coming, after that great defense of the gospel, he says, and then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to the

God and Father, when he has abolished all rule, all authority, all power.

First Corinthians 15, 24. A major error in the church today is to confuse scripture concerning what

Jesus accomplished in his first advent, what will happen at the destruction of Jerusalem, and what will occur at his second advent.

This dream is all about what leads up to and the events surrounding the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Look at the stone in verse 45. In as much 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.

Look at the description of the stone. It's cut without hands. In other words, it's of heavenly origin.

We see this referring to Christ in Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16.

Therefore says the Lord God, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be disturbed. That's a messianic portion of Isaiah.

And the same imagery in the instructions from God to Moses regarding the construction of the altar.

Look at the symbolism. Look at the imagery here. This is God instructing Moses on how to build the tabernacle and the events, the elements of it.

Deuteronomy 27, 6. You shall build an altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the

Lord your God The sacrifice is pictured there. Jesus is the stone, and he brings his kingdom to earth during the period of the fourth kingdom, and essentially brings an end to all the kingdoms as represented by the statue in the dream.

But he defeats the other kingdoms according to his principles, and not as the world would expect.

Remember, Jesus made a point of saying that his kingdom was different than all these other kingdoms.

Remember when he stood before Pilate in John 18, 36. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world.

If my kingdom were of this world, 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. The kingdom comes with Christ, but it grows to a great mountain and fills the earth.

And this is exactly how Jesus described his kingdom. Two quick parables in Matthew chapter 13, verse 31.

Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.

And this is smaller than all the other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is bigger than the the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air will come and nest in its branches.

And then again in verse 33, he spoke another parable to them. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of the flower until it was all leavened.

When Jesus was crucified and rose again, he shattered the kingdoms of this world so that they became like chaff.

And his kingdom began to grow. It started in Jerusalem and Judea, then to Samaria, and then to the remotest parts of the earth.

And the disciples were given that great commission to make disciples of all the nations. And they went with the promise that Christ would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it.

That is what Daniel interprets for Nebuchadnezzar, that that's the kingdom of heaven.

Remember, this prophecy comes at a time when

Israel and Judah have been dispossessed from their land. They have no army to speak of.

Whatever's left is just ragtag. The temple has been ransacked. The treasury plundered.

Things are at an all -time low, and the sentiment is captured in the psalm written at that time.

I'm going to read this psalm to you. It's a fairly short psalm, but I want you to just pause for a moment and think, how many people here, this is rhetorical, don't,

I don't want to see hands, how many people here are getting somewhat discouraged of what you see in our society around us?

It's easy, easy to focus, isn't it? We're inundated in the news. You can't even watch a decent

TV show or movie anymore without filth being displayed. It can get you down.

It's exactly what the Israelites were going through when they were dispossessed. Psalm 137. Listen to this.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered

Zion. Upon the willows in the midst of it, we hung our harps.

They actually wouldn't sing, they hung their harps up. For there our captors demanded of us songs, and our tormentors mirth sang, sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you. If I do not exalt

Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, oh Lord, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem, who said, raise it, raise it to its very foundation.

Oh daughter of Babylon, you devastated one. How blessed will be the one who repays you.

With recompense with which you have repaid us. How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

Complete disheartened. Now you can imagine this prophecy leaks out from the king's chambers to the people of Israel.

It's exactly what they needed to hear, and yet the dream is given to a pagan king.

Why is that? Well, we may not know this side of glory, but one reason is sure, and that is that the king of Babylon is the reigning king of the known world, and God has big plans for him.

He's not ready yet, but he will be in two more chapters. God has something planned for Nebuchadnezzar.

You know, that recurring dream that I had, it was troubling, but not the way

Nebuchadnezzar was troubled. I knew that it wasn't a premonition. I knew it wasn't a message from God concerning my death.

It did, however, I have to say this. It did, however, prompt me to one action. I cleaned my weapon and made sure it was in working order a whole lot more than I did before, but I think that was just reasonable, but I knew all

I needed to know about life and godliness was not going to come with a dream, but from the holy scriptures.

That's how God speaks to us today, even as this text in Daniel teaches us some important principles for life.

Once again, we're reminded of God's sovereignty. He is lord over this world. He is ruling and reigning as king of kings and lord of lords.

He is the lord over history. He's lord over the nations, and no matter how splendid or majestic or powerful a nation is,

God raises them up and tears them down according to his good pleasure. He's sitting on his throne at the right hand of God, and that is a realm that supersedes all earthly realm, and he has given every one of his loyal subjects work to accomplish for his kingdom.

Let us be faithful to what he has called us to do as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were.

Be faithful to what he has called us to do. If you're here this morning and you've never come to faith in Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to repent of your sin.

Come to Jesus Christ. He is lord of all. Let's pray.