MESSAGE

       FROM THE

    WORD

                                        THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD pt. 2

                                                          Daniel 2:26-49

SERIES:  Daniel                                                                                                     Message # 5

            Several years ago, CBS ran a television show entitled “Early Edition”.  The show featured a good hearted soul who every morning received a newspaper which had tomorrow’s news listed.  While he used the information he read to help those in tomorrow’s news, his friend was always trying to find out who won at the race tracks so he could make money.  We would all like to know in advance who was going to win the World Series or Super Bowl, what stocks were going to go up or down, and which politicians were going to win or lose.  Psychics make a living conning people into believing what they say will take place in the future.

            There is only one place where we can get correct understanding on the future and it is the Bible.  The Bible explains absolutely what will transpire in tomorrow’s headlines.  Our world will resist the proclamation of God’s word, there will be turmoil in the Middle East, Jesus Christ will return to set everything right.  That is what the future holds.  In the mean time, the task of the church is to take the gospel in the power of the spirit and share it with others.

            As we continue our study through Daniel, we want to finish up Daniel 2.  We saw last week that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that kept him up at night.  When he demanded that his magicians give him the dream and the correct interpretation they were unable and he ordered them all executed.  When Daniel found this out, he asked for time to seek God and learn of the dream.  We pick up the story at that point.

            FIRST, WE SEE THE PROMISE OF DANIEL FULFILLED.  Daniel told the king that God would give him the interpretation and we see that promise fulfilled.  We read                          VERSES 26-30               Daniel 1:17 tells us that God gave Daniel the ability to interpret dreams.  It was for a time such as this that this ability was given.  It is important for us to remember that Daniel did not seek this spotlight.  Daniel sought to develop a deep walk with God and God gave him this ministry.  If you want to have an influence with those who are power brokers, it will never happen if that is your goal.  It will only happen if your desire is to see God exalted and you deepen your walk with Him.

            Reading through these verses, we see two reasons for God’s actions.  First, we see God’s desire to reveal the history of the world to Nebuchadnezzar.  Second and more importantly, God wanted to reveal Himself to Nebuchadnezzar.  God’s desire is that every person on the face of the Earth will fall down and say, “God is great and He is worthy of our praise”.  We read                 PSALM 115:1                    The psalmist understood that the highest priority for the human race is to praise and worship God.  This is not unique to the Old Testament.  Paul wrote                 1 CORINTHIANS 10:31, 32              Every thing we do; that means work, hobbies, job, and recreation should be done as a means of saying praise to God.

            SECOND, WE SEE THE PURPOSE OF THE DREAM REVEALED.  In a nutshell, Daniel is giving to this pagan king the future of the Gentile world.  Until the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in 70 AD, God’s primary work was with the nation of Israel.  We read              ROMANS 1:17               However, God has a plan for the Gentile world.  We read                 VERSES 31-35          As a definition; a gentile is anyone who is not Jewish.  The king does not know this yet, but God’s plan for the Gentile world was coming and the king’s dream described the four kingdoms.

            The king’s dream was of a giant statute.  It has a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay mixed.  This is a frightening dream.  It is no wonder that the king couldn’t sleep.  He was told about the dream, now he wants to know what it all means.

            THIRD, WE SEE THE PREDICTION OF THE DREAM TESTED.  God loves to be tested.  He even challenges us to test Him with our finances.  We read           MALACHI 3:8-11       Tithing is 10% of your income.  Although it is not commanded in the New Testament, it was the beginning point for stewardship in the Old Testament.  New Testament stewardship could best be defined as “Sacrificial Generosity”.  Our daughter just got married.  What would you think if we announced that we had scraped every penny we could find, saved everything we could save, and sold everything that we literally did not need and were generously giving $500 to our daughter for her wedding.  You would probably think we were cheep.  You would be right.  What you love, you are willing to sacrifice for.

            If you are struggling financially, let me challenge you to take this year to test God.  However much you give now, increase it to 10% of your income and watch God demonstrate His ability to provide for you in ways that you will stand back and simply say “WOW!”

            Just as God wants to demonstrate His power to His people, He wanted to demonstrate His power to Nebuchadnezzar.  He does this by revealing the dream and the interpretation.  God placed the dream in the king’s mind.  It was not difficult for Him to explain its meaning.  As Daniel began to interpret the dream, he was informing Nebuchadnezzar of the great kingdoms of the world which were to come.

            The first kingdom is Babylon.  Someone might accuse me of simply making that up.  It’s the world’s kingdoms; it’s a guess that Nebuchadnezzar is the first one listed.  However, it isn’t a guess on my part.  Daniel writes              VERSES 36-38                     There is a basic principle of interpretation which states, “When the Bible gives the interpretation, look no further”.  God specifically states at the end of verse 28, “…YOU ARE THE HEAD OF GOLD”.  There is always curiosity in Bible interpretation how to know if a verse is to be taken literally or whether it is a figurative passage.  One way to discern this is to look for what God says.  If God gives us a literal interpretation, go no further.  In our passage, Daniel tells the king that he is the greatest kingdom on Earth. 

            The second kingdom is Medo-Persia.  We read             VERSE 39                       You might wonder how I can conclude that the Medo-Persian empire follows Babylon.  I made it up.  Not really.  This passage does not mention the Medo-Persian empire.  However, Daniel has a similar dream in chapter 8 and there he does specifically list the Medes and the Persian kings as being the second kingdom.  From a purely historical point of view, we know that the Medo-Persian Empire came in and took over Babylon.  We will look at this event when we study chapter 5.  It is the place where God wrote on the wall and announced the demise of Babylon.  Let me also add this interesting point.  When Nebuchadnezzar ruled the world, he confiscated the world’s gold and used it in many of his building programs.  Daniel’s statue portrays the second kingdom as being made of silver.  When the Medes and Persians took over the world, they implemented a new taxation system which used silver as its standard.

            The third kingdom is Greece.  This is one of the most remarkable prophecies in the Bible.  When Daniel was explaining this dream, the Greek empire didn’t even exist.  We will see more of this kingdom as we make our way into chapters 7 & 8.  Let me make this observation.  The statue presents this third kingdom as bronze.  When Alexander the Great come to power and united all of the Greek city states, he ushered in a new form of warfare which used bronze as the material in its weapons.

            The forth kingdom is Rome.  Of the four kingdoms, this one is given the most attention by Daniel.  This kingdom is represented by iron.  We saw with the second kingdom the two arms indicated two kings.  This forth kingdom had two legs which indicate a divided kingdom.  We read                   VERSES 40-43         After the church came into existence, the Roman Empire began to disintegrate and divide.  Rome remained one of its capitols, but the eastern kingdom set up in Constantinople, which is Istanbul today.  It is also interesting that the Romans were the first to begin making their weapons out of iron.  There is another interesting aspect to this prophecy.  We are told that the feet will be iron and clay.  This seems to be an indication that the kingdom will have a hard time sticking together, but it will not be destroyed in the same way the other kingdoms were totally destroyed.  This forth kingdom will just fizzle out.

            The forth kingdom is Rome and out of this kingdom will arise a new kingdom that will have ten kings and is represented by the iron/clay toes.  This ten toe kingdom appears in several chapters in Daniel and throughout the book of Revelation.  In other passages, the symbolism used is ten horns.  This is not a guess.  If every other picture of this beast represents a king or a kingdom, then what must the ten toes represent?  When this occurs, everything mentioned in the Bible regarding the end times will become operational and the Messiah will return to destroy this ten nation confederacy and set up His own kingdom.  That means that the old Roman Empire will revive itself and become a ten nation super power.  We do not know exactly how this will manifest itself, but the European Union is probably a good place to start.  There are more than ten nations in this organization presently, but mergers and takeovers can certainly solve that issue.  You might find this interesting.  The European Union is in the process of finalizing its constitution.  By design, any reference to God and religion is purposefully left out.

            It is not mentioned in this passage, but later in Daniel we will see the head of this organization that is given the title “Anti-Christ” in the New Testament.  He will try to rule the world, take over Israel, destroy the Jews, and take on God.  He will succeed for 42 months and will meet his fate at the Valley of Megiddo in Israel.  I want you to notice why this interpretation is accurate.  In verse 45 we are told that these nations will be crushed by a “STONE…CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN WITHOUT HANDS…”  That is a reference to the fact that this one who will crush the nations will not be of human origin.  I believe it refers to the deity of Jesus Christ.  It can’t refer to God, because God would be the mountain out of which the stone was cut.

            The last kingdom is the final kingdom.  We read                 VERSES 44, 45                 This is God’s very own kingdom.  It is what is known in theological circles as “The Messianic Kingdom”.  We will see this several times throughout the book as Daniel gives reference to this kingdom destroying the final kingdom.

            This is where it gets really interesting.  The timing of this Messianic Kingdom is given for us.  Verse 44 tells us, “IN THE DAYS OF THOSE KINGS…”  This is important because some scholars believe that this final kingdom is the church.   The church did eventually take over the Roman Empire, but it did not “CRUSH” the Roman Empire as verse 44 says it will.  For 2000 years the church and the Old Roman Empire have co-existed.

            Throughout the book of Daniel this scene is replayed.  At the end of the ages, a ten nation union will emerge out of the fourth beast, Rome.  One of those nations will be ruled by a Hitler-like individual and will try to take over the whole world.  Chapter 9 tells us that he will make a peace treaty with Israel, break that treaty, desecrate the Temple and challenge God to a winner take all battle.

            When that challenge takes place, one will come who will set up God’s kingdom and He will rule the world.  We read             DANIEL 7:7-14                  Did you see anything familiar in that fourth beast?  It was characterized by iron.  This is the final kingdom which comes out of the old Roman Empire.  At the end of this, comes the “STONE WHICH WAS CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN WITHOUT HANDS…”  Did you see that phrase “SON OF MAN…”? Have you ever heard that phrase before?  We read it every year at Good Friday services.               MATTHEW 26:62-68                    Does that phrase “SON OF MAN…” sound familiar?  It is right out of Daniel 7.  This “SON OF MAN” is the “STONE...CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN…”  This is why it is critical for us to understand the nature of Jesus Christ.  If he is just a great teacher and he died, that ended it.  He is dead and this event could never take place.  It is only as we see that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh that it is possible for Him to be the one who will return at the end of the ages, destroy the enemies of evil and set up God’s Kingdom.  This is why the Pharisees accused Jesus of blasphemy.  They understood that Jesus was claiming equality with God.

            LAST, WE SEE THE PRAISE OF THE KING MANIFESTED.  What a meeting that had to have been.  I want you to notice Daniel’s observation to Nebuchadnezzar.  In verse 45 we read “SO THE DREAM IS TRUE AND ITS INTERPRETATION IS TRUSTWORTHY”.  That is a man who has a high view of God’s word.  That is the view that every believer should have.  When you read the pages of the Bible and share them with your friends, you should think in your heart and say with your lips, “This word is true and its interpretation is trustworthy”.

            For hundreds of years, opponents have tried to ban, outlaw and discredit God’s word in our culture.  One of those major attackers of God’s word was the French philosopher Voltaire.  During the height of the French anti-God movement, he was invited to speak and announced that in 100 years the Bible would only be found in libraries.  One hundred years later, his home was purchased by a Bible society to store the Bible before being shipped around the world.  When God’s word is proclaimed, praise is the result.  We read         VERSES 46, 47            When the king came face to face with the power of God’s word, he fell to his face and said, “God is powerful”.

            Isn’t that what we want to take place?  All of us would rather have the praise of people than the curses of the crowd.  We would all like to be praised instead of criticized.  However, if our hearts are truly right with God, our chief objective is that people say “God is great”.  Let’s see how we can apply this story to our life.

            First, history has a purpose.  We are not here by accident.  We are here by design.  Even tyrants have there role to play.  Every national crisis has a plan in God’s final project.  This is why the true believer should never get discouraged over bad news.  God’s plan will triumph and His side will win.

            Second, if God knows everything, even to the final detail of what is going on in the world, He can probably handle your life.  He may not reveal the details to you, but He does know and is working behind the scenes to do His will.

            Third, God may allow you to go into difficulty so you can reveal His power.  He is giving you a platform from which you might demonstrate His power to others.  That means we need to prepare ourselves to speak for God whatever the situation might be.  It also means we need to get our lives in order so that when God moves we will follow His will.

            Fourth, a spiritual victory is shared by the speaker and the prayer team.  Remember, Daniel came to his friends and asked them to pray for him as he went to see the king.  We have to walk through the open doors, but it is prayer that opens the door.

            Fifth, God’s word can be trusted.  Jesus trusted God’s word.  The Apostles trusted God’s word.  The early church trusted God’s word.  The believer who places His life and spiritual well-being in the heart of God’s word, finds a true refuge.

This message is from the teaching ministry of Glen Jackson, pastor of the Faith Christian Church in Simi Valley CA.