me to Daniel chapter 2. As I have studied this, I've
realized something that I've never realized before, and it's this. In the first four
chapters of this book, Daniel 1, 2, 3, and 4, God is dealing
with Nebuchadnezzar. Yes, in the first four chapters,
he is dealing with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who I will
still call Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, So we know who
I'm talking about. Their names were changed to these
idolatry names. But all of my life so far, as
I've looked at this book of Daniel, I have focused on those four
men, Daniel and those other three men, and I've focused on all
of these stories. We've really, to me, yet to get
into the stories that everybody thinks of when you think of Daniel.
But I've always thought of these stories from their point of view. And in studying this, this particular
time, I have realized that these first four chapters are a pattern
of how God deals with sinners who he has chosen to save. Seeing that in Nebuchadnezzar. In chapter one, we see that Nebuchadnezzar is a sinner against God. We see
him as the sinner against God that he is. The sinner against
God that he was. He besieged God's people. Our Lord said, in as much as
you've done it unto my people, you've done it to me. You do
it unto them, you're doing it to me. Well, he besieged God's
people. He went on attack against God's
people. He brought God's people into captivity. He tried to infuse
his idolatry into God's people. He was a sinner against God.
That's what he was. But God But God, in the midst
of all of Nebuchadnezzar's wicked doings, God used it to cross
Nebuchadnezzar's path with a preacher of righteousness. Oh, the wisdom
of God in all this. He was an enemy of God, a sinner
against God, and God used everything that he was doing. All of it was determined before
to be done. that his path might be crossed
with a preacher of righteousness. In God's mercy to this king,
and what an amazing thing that is, our Lord said, not many mighty
and not many noble will be saved. That's an amazing statement.
Not many mighty, not many noble, but thank God some. And in God's mercy to this king,
what Nebuchadnezzar meant for evil, God meant for his good. God did for him what God does
for all of his people. It's the same thing that God
did for the apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus. Paul said, I am a
pattern. For every person who is going
to be saved, God deals with every person just like God dealt with
me and arrested me and brought me down and revealed Christ to
me. And well, Nebuchadnezzar is a
pattern of how God deals with sinners. He's a pattern too,
we all are. Every soul is saved this exact
way. And I'll just quickly point out
what it is, okay? Chapter one, we see Nebuchadnezzar
as the sinner that he is, In chapter two, God confronts
Nebuchadnezzar with a very fearful truth, a very arresting reality. In chapter three, God reveals
the glory of the gospel to Nebuchadnezzar. And in chapter four, God calls
Nebuchadnezzar to it. He applies it to his heart. That's how God deals with his
people. Today we're going to see the
start of it. We're going to see the fear of the Lord. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Not the fear of sickness. Not the fear of death. Not the fear of hell. The fear
of the Lord. The fear of the Lord, the fear
of the Lord, God of heaven and earth. That realization comes
to centers through a messenger of God, plainly declaring this
right here. If you look at verse 28, where
our brother started reading just a moment ago, Daniel said, there is a God in heaven. There is a God in heaven. That
is a fearful declaration. Daniel said, Nebuchadnezzar,
listen to me. There is a God in heaven, a true God, a true
and living God in heaven. And he is one that we have to
deal with. He's one that we have to deal with. Now, this is what
I want us to understand about that declaration. To the unbelieving
world, That is a word of warning. There's a God in heaven. To the
unbelieving world, that's a word of warning. But to believers who have heard
the warning and have seen the gospel and have been called to
Christ, to believers, that's a word of comfort. The same word
of warning to unbelievers is a word of comfort To believers,
everything that Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar right here to
those outside of Christ. To those who are without Christ. Some people will hear that and
think, what do you mean without Christ? Everybody has Christ,
do they? Not according to God Almighty. To those who are without Christ,
this is a word of warning. But to those in Christ, this
is a word of comfort. Now, let's read this declaration
that Daniel gave, and I pray that we will see the warning
in it. And I pray that God will cause us to see the comfort in
it. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream, demanded that his man-made counselors,
all of his false religion, tell him the dream and the meaning
of it. None of them could do it. So Nebuchadnezzar gave the
command. Kill them all. Kill them all. But Daniel, being a picture of
Christ, being a picture of the intercession of Christ, he cried
out to God and he begged God to reveal the dream so that he
and the other men would not die. And God answered his prayer.
God gave Daniel the revelation. Now look back at verse 19 with
me. 19, it says, Then was the secret revealed
unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of
heaven. Daniel answered and said, blessed
be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are
his. Now here is the warning for unbelievers
and the comfort for believers. Wisdom and might are his. Wisdom and might are his, as
our Lord stood before Pilate. And Pilate said, why are you
not answering me? You remember, Pilate was interrogating
him and the Lord opened not his mouth. They were accusing him
of all these things. And he opened not his mouth.
Why didn't he open his mouth? Because he was standing there for me
and you, if we're his people. And everything they accused him
of, we were guilty of. And he bore the guilt, he bore
the shame. But Pilate got frustrated with him and furious with him
and he opened not his mouth and Pilate said, why are you not
answering me? Don't you know I have the power
to destroy you? And the Lord said, you would
have no power at all against me except it were given to you
from above. That word from our Lord was warning
to Pilate. And it was warning to this unbelieving
world, but that was comfort to God's people. Isn't that so much
comfort to us? Doesn't it comfort you to know
that all wisdom and might are his? Even in that moment of the cross
and what appeared to be his greatest weakness, that was his most glorious
display of strength. That was Him accomplishing a
work that no other man on earth could accomplish. No other man
on earth. What does the cross of Calvary
prove to sinners like you and me? What does it prove to us?
Here's what it proves. All wisdom and might are His.
Can we not enter into the wisdom of the cross? That's the greatest
wisdom the earth has ever known. And that's the greatest might
this world has ever known. What comfort that is once that's
revealed and understood. But that's a very fearful thought
when that comes to a sinner for the first time. That's a very
fearful declaration. All wisdom and might are His. Meaning it's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. It's a fearful thing. Verse 21 says, And he changeth
the times and the seasons, he removeth kings and setteth up
kings. He removes them, he sets them
up. He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that
know understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret
things. He knoweth what is in the darkness
and the light dwelleth with him. What does that mean? That means
there's a God in heaven. That's what it means. Man thinks
he's gonna do this and gonna do that. No. Man's gonna do what
God allows man to do. Every soul on this earth must
answer to and bow before the God in heaven. Verse 23, Daniel
said, I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers,
who hath given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto
me now what we desire of thee. For thou hast now made known
unto us the king's matter. He said, this thing is by grace. This is all by grace. Thank you
for giving this. Thank you for giving this. This
is all by grace and Daniel didn't say that in lip service only.
So many people in this world are crying grace, grace. Now you better go to work for
it. If it's grace, then it's no more
work. Otherwise, grace is not grace. It's grace. Paul said, if our righteousness
before God comes by the law, Christ died in vain. Our righteousness before God
does not come by us performing the deeds of the law. It comes
by Christ performing the deeds of the law. It comes by the doing
and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 24 says, therefore
Daniel went in unto Ariok, whom the king had ordained to destroy
the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus unto him,
destroy not the wise men of Babylon, bring me in before the king and
I will show unto the king the interpretation. Then Ariok brought
in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus unto him,
I have found a man of the captives of Judah that will make known
unto the king the interpretation. The king answered and said to
Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto
me the dream which I have seen and the interpretation thereof?
Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, The secret
which the king hath demanded cannot the wise. Men is in italics. Can not the wise, the wise men,
the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the
king? Can you do this? His answer was,
no, I cannot. But, verse 28, there is a God
in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king,
Nebuchadnezzar, what shall be in the latter days, Thy dream
and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these. Now let me read this to you.
Daniel said, this is the dream that you had that you can't remember
what it was. Okay, here it is. He said in
verse 29, as for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind
upon thy bed. What should come to pass hereafter?
And he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall
come to pass. He said, you were dreaming of
future things that will come to pass. Verse 30, but as for
me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have
more than any living. But for their sakes, that shall
make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest
know the thoughts of thy heart." Daniel, as the messenger, as
the preacher, he said, God did not reveal this to me for my
glory. God revealed it for his glory,
for your good, Nebuchadnezzar, for the good of all those who
could not do what you demanded of them to do. Verse 31, Thou,
O King, sawest and behold a great image. This great image, whose
brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof
was terrible. This image's head was of fine
gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his
thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and
part of clay. Thou saw this till a stone was
cut out without hands, which smoked the image upon his feet
that were of iron and clay and break them to pieces." He said,
you saw what to you was a great image. But a stone came and knocked
it all down. A stone which was never touched
by man's hands, which we're about to read, came
out of a great mountain. That stone came and what you
saw to be a great image, that stone knocked it down. Now this is a warning to the
world, but this is comfort to God's people. You have any idea who that stone
is? That chief cornerstone, that
living stone, that stone of stumbling, that rock of offense. That rock
is Christ, Jesus Christ. This image is man. You want to get to the heart
of all this? The image is man, the rock is Christ. This is the stone that the builders
set it not, despised, rejected. Daniel said, let all the world
know assuredly that God hath made this same stone chief of
the corner and whoever this stone falls
on. Whoever this stone falls on,
this is what Daniel's telling Nebuchadnezzar, whoever this
stone falls on, it is going to grind him or her to powder. You better be warned. That's
what he's telling him. You better be warned. Now, wait a minute.
Somebody said, you're talking about Jesus Christ. Who is the
stone? Wait a minute, Gabe. You just
said that rock is Christ. You're talking about Jesus Christ,
Jesus. Jesus Christ is going to dash
men to pieces? Yes, Jesus Christ is going to
dash men to pieces. I know that's a shocking thing
for people to hear. There is a God in heaven and
His name is Jesus Christ. And He is the only rock who will
be standing in the end. He is the only rock. We will
either stand in Him or we will be crushed by Him. It is one
or the other. Verse 34 says, Thou sawest till
that a stone was cut out without hands, which smoked the image
upon his feet that were of iron and clay and break them to pieces.
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the
gold broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of
the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away
that no place was found for them. And the stone that smoked the
image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Amen. Even so, amen. That's what's going to happen. We're about to read that this
image in all of these medals, our brother read it for us just
a minute ago, but we're about to read, these are all the kingdoms
and the people and the nations of this earth. And God is going
to do away with all of it. He's going to do away with all
of it. That is such a warning to this
world. That is such comfort to God's people. Even so, amen, come Lord Jesus. This image of man's sinfulness,
man's pride, man's self-righteousness, man's false religion. God said,
I'm going to do away with all of it. That makes me excited. God's people cry, Amen. He said,
all flesh is grass. And I'm going to blow upon it,
and I'm going to wither it, and I'm going to burn it up. Daniel
said, Nebuchadnezzar, all flesh is grass. Behold your God. He is coming
to take vengeance, and He will take vengeance, because vengeance
is His, saith the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar, the islands of
this world mean nothing to him. They mean less than nothing to
him. They're not even counted as dust on the scale. And he's going to break them
to pieces and do away with them. And Nebuchadnezzar, that includes
you. And that includes me. And that includes you. Verse 35, then was the iron,
the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces
together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing
floors, and the wind carried them away that no place was found
for them, and the stone that smoked the image became a great
mountain and filled the whole earth. I have a visual image
for that scenario. Every time I read that, I think
of this. When I was a late teenager, maybe early 20s, driving in Franklin,
Tennessee, where I lived at the time, and I came to a stoplight,
and it was very flat where I was, and the wind was blowing so hard. My, you know, my truck was just,
was so hard, and those traffic lights, you've seen them, you
know, just so hard, and whatever was holding that traffic light
let go. And I feel like traffic lights are getting smaller. I
think they used to be bigger. I saw one at an antique store
one time, and I was shocked at how tall that thing was. Heavy,
heavy metal. But anyway, that thing let go
and fell and shattered into a thousand pieces. And that wind was so
strong, it immediately swept all of it away. There was not
one piece left in the street. It was a clean street. It was
gone. Gone. That fast. That's what
God is going to do to the sin of this world and the sinners
of this world. You're going to hear this. The
moment you hear a trumpet, is that a trumpet? I'm telling you, that's what's
going to happen. Should have warned her. I thought
about warning her. I didn't. Next time I'll go like
this. That's what's going to happen.
I'm telling you, it could happen today. It could happen any minute. And we're going to go. There
is a God in heaven. I know people think all it is
is grandmama and you know, whoever. I'm telling you, there's a God
in heaven. There's a God in heaven. And
it's not us. And he's not like we naturally
assume he is. He is seated on a throne doing
as He will with whom He will, and He reveals secrets. Meaning the secrets of all of
this sin that we are trying so hard to hide. You say, you make
Jesus Christ sound like a mean person. No, He's a holy person. who will not put up with sin. Sin will not stand in His presence. He is gonna reveal every secret
we are trying so hard to hide. Isaiah said, every valley is
gonna be exalted. All those shadowy spots that
we think, we'll just keep that down in the shadows. Every valley
is gonna be exalted. Every hill that we're proud of
is gonna be made low. All the crooked places are gonna
be straightened out, and all the rough places are gonna be
planed off. In hearing that, every soul who
knows the gospel cries, thank God. Don't you cry, thank God.
Somebody who doesn't know the gospel yet will hear that and
say, how can you say thank God? The cross. The cross. I'm going to go ahead
and get ahead of myself. I'm going to go ahead right now
and get ahead of my notes. That's what happened to every
child of God on the cross. Outside of Christ, that's what's
coming. In Christ, that's what's finished. God did that to his people in
the person of his own son. Look at verse 36. This is the
dream, okay? He said, I told you what the
dream was. Told you what the dream was. Now here's the interpretation.
This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof
before the king. Verse 37. Thou, O king, art a
king of kings, lowercase k. He said, you are a man among
men. God has set you up to be a mighty
man among men. Verse 37. Thou, O king, art a
king of kings, For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom,
power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children
of men dwell, the beast of the field, the fowls of heaven, hath
he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them
all, thou art this head of gold." You are the head of gold. That's
what you saw in your dream concerning yourself. You saw yourself to
be the head of gold. And doesn't that describe man? The nature of all men and women,
you see yourself as the top of it. Verse 39, after these shall arise
another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of
brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth
kingdom shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaketh
in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all,
these shall it break in pieces and bruise. He said, all of these
other kingdoms are going to come after you to rule over this world. Yours is here for a moment. Another
one's going to come after you. All the commentary writers were
saying, well, that's the Persians and the Medes, and that's Alexander
the Great, and that's Rome, and all of that may be so. But it
doesn't matter. This is all of mankind. This is all of mankind. All of
it is going to be done away with. Verse 41, and whereas thou sawest
the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, part of iron, the kingdom
shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the
iron. For as much as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay,
and as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay,
so shall the kingdom be partly strong and partly broken. What
he's saying is, you mix the sinful flesh of man into anything and
it won't stand. It will not stand. Verse 43,
whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle
themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one
to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days
of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which
shall never be destroyed. Whose kingdom is that? That's the kingdom of the seed
of David. Jesus Christ the Lord, thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. Of his reign there will be no
end. Verse 44, in the days of these
kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be
left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. For as much as
thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without
hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay,
the silver, the gold, The great God hath made known to the king
what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is certain and
the interpretation sure thereof. Daniel said, Nebuchadnezzar,
what I just told you is certain and sure. And brothers and sisters,
what I just told you is certain and sure. It is ordered in all
things and sure. This is how it's going to be. And with that declaration, Nebuchadnezzar
heard what Daniel said, and I pray we all hear what Daniel said,
but as it is in the common pattern of how God saves sinners and
deals with sinners. Sometimes it takes a little while
to truly see and understand the point of what is being said,
where the focus of the message belongs. It's not something usually
that a man or a woman just understands. The Lord starts working and dealing
with a person. And that was the case with Nebuchadnezzar.
Verse 46, and I'll be brief here. 46, then the King Nebuchadnezzar
fell upon his face and worshiped Daniel. Wrong person. Wrong person. In chapter 1, Nebuchadnezzar
feared nothing. At least now he fears something. But he hadn't quite had his eyes
open to see Christ just yet. Verse 46, Then the king Nebuchadnezzar
fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they
should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him. The king
answered unto Daniel and said, Of a truth it is that your God
is a God of gods. There are a whole bunch of gods
out there and yours is a big one. I've seen yours is one who
really ought to be looked at, but there's a whole bunch of
gods out there. Wrong. But he said, Of a truth it is,
that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer
of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret." Daniel started
by telling him, it's not me, there's a God in heaven that
reveals secrets. Daniel's pointing him to Christ,
look to Christ, don't look to me, look to Christ. Verse 48,
then the king made Daniel a great man and gave him many great gifts
and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief
of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel
requested of the king and he said, Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But
Daniel sat in the gate of the king. Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel
to be a permanent fixture as his head counselor, and he was
wise to do that, but he still has not gotten the point of the
message. And I want to leave us with this so that we will
hopefully get the point of the message, okay? The rock is coming. Jesus Christ the rock. is coming. To the unbelieving world, this
is a word of warning. But to God's sheep, this is a
great word of comfort. Because our Lord said, whoever
this rock falls on, it will grind him or her to powder. This rock that is the mountain
of the law and the mountain of judgment, whoever this rock falls
on, it will grind him or her to powder. But whoever falls
on this rock," this is what Jesus Christ said. The rock is coming. This mountain of the law, this
mountain of judgment is coming. And whoever this rock falls on,
it's going to grind him a herd of powder. But whoever falls
on this rock for mercy, This rock is the mountain of Sinai,
no doubt about it. The rock of the law, the rock
of justice, the rock of holiness. But this rock is a mountain of
mercy. This rock is a mountain of mercy.
How can a sinner find mercy? Fall on Mount Calvary. fall on
Mount Calvary, the rock of Mount Calvary, rock of ages, cleft
for me, be broken for me, even me. Let me hide myself in thee. Our Lord said, whoever falls
on this rock for mercy will be broken. Whoever falls will be
broken. You say, wait a minute, I thought
the point was to not be broken. Oh no, we have to be broken.
We're sinners against God. But every soul who falls on Christ
the rock for mercy will find that his or her breaking has
already taken place. All of their sin was done away
with in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of
Calvary. Every soul who falls on Christ
for mercy will have some secrets revealed to him or her, the secret
of election. He chose you. Everybody, he chose
you. The secret of redemption. He
paid your price in full. Do I owe anything? Nope. Can
I leave a tip? Nope. It's paid in full. He'll reveal the secret of substitution. Do you love substitution as much
as I do? Every time I read in this scripture,
it says, you'd better do this. No, I can't do it. Jesus Christ
did and He gave that to me. You better not do that or you'll
suffer for it. I've done it but Jesus Christ
didn't do it and He gave that to me and He took my punishment
because I didn't do it. He'll reveal the secret of substitution.
One day soon, He'll reveal the secret of glory itself. Glory
itself. There's a God in heaven. His
name is Jesus Christ. Fall on Him for mercy. Fall for
mercy, you'll have it. You will have it. Amen.