Okay, turn with me to the book
of Daniel and the second chapter, book of Daniel chapter 2. Last
week we looked at compromise with idolatry and how this little
group of people in Babylon, the people Daniel and his three friends
who'd been taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon in fulfillment
of God's promise of judgment against Judah and its idolatry
that on the basis of that they'd been taken there and the attempt
was being made to force them to compromise with idolatry and
they wouldn't have any of it they most graciously requested
that they should not that they should not eat the king's food
and wine which was prescribed for them to make them grow strong
and fit and healthy and it's a symbol Babylon is a symbol
of the world and of society and everything in it. It's a symbol
of all of those things. It's a symbol of walking away
from the grace of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ, because
basically there are only two religions in the world. Only
two. The one that's by far in the majority, as you look around,
is the one that says man can work his way to eternity. Isn't
it? Nobody thinks that, well, very,
very few, and even then in their quieter moments I don't think
they think this, The vast majority of people do not believe that
when their body dies, the spirit that is them, they believe it
carries on somehow. So how is it going to be? Well,
they believe on the basis of their own efforts and their own
goodness and their own worth and their own decency as people,
they will be good enough for eternity. And it comes in various
measures, from the blatantly works-based religions You know,
Islam is a blatantly works-based religion. Your good works are
put on one side of the scales, and your bad works are put on
the other, and so long as the one outweighs the other, you're
acceptable in heaven. Not at all. That's not the message
of this book. Whoever has sinned in one point, says James, is
guilty of all. And God cannot look upon sin.
And the soul that sins, it shall die. That is the judgment of
God. And that same false religion, that same worship of that false
God that I can get myself to heaven continues through all
sorts of other religions that call themselves Christian. You
see, they say that what makes a difference between the one
who is fit for eternity and the one who isn't is the one who's
fit for eternity did God such a good favor by choosing to follow
him. By using his reason and deciding
this all seems pretty reasonable to me, therefore I'm going to
do God a favor and follow him. That is preached so much in the
name of Christianity but it isn't true. It is not the message of
this book. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We are so weak and insignificant
in the world's eyes. How dare we stand up against
the great professors of theology and the archbishops and the great
leaders in the evangelical churches and say such things because this
book says what we believe. We try to be faithful as God
helping us to be faithful to this book. And this book says
this, that acceptance with God and acceptance in eternity is
on one basis only, one basis only, and that's the doing and
the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of the people the Father
gave to the Son before the beginning of time. He gave a number that
no man can number, a multitude from every tribe and kindred.
And Christ covenanted in the covenant of grace that He would
come to earth that he would humble himself although he was in the
form of God he thought it not robbery to be equal with God
he would humble himself and come to earth as the representative
of those people and those people all in him. Do you know in British
law not that long ago not that long ago the husband and wife
relationship was such that the husband was counted entirely
responsible for everything that the wife did and that's why When
you look back, you think it's such terrible attitudes. The
husband was given such powers of control over his wife. Because
if she did something that got him into trouble, he was responsible
for it. That's the way it worked. Well, can you stretch the analogy? Because the scripture uses that
analogy. That's how it is with Christ and his people. He was
held responsible for everything his people ever did in history. He was held responsible for making
every one of those people fit for glory. and He came to earth
and He accomplished it. And in that moment when the powers
of darkness thought they had achieved their very, very best
intentions of destroying Him, we read it in Revelation 12,
the dragon and the man-child that came forth from the woman,
that man-child is Christ and the woman is the church, the
people of God in all history. And the dragon's intention was
to destroy and He stood there waiting for her to give birth
that He might destroy the child. And we know from passages like,
books like Colossians, that in that very moment He put to flight
those principalities and powers, the powers of darkness. In the
moment when they thought they'd destroyed Him and that they were
at their highest rejoicing, they didn't realize it, but He put
to death every accusation they could ever bring against these
people. And so we read in Romans 8, who shall bring any charge
to God's elect? Christ has died for them. there
is no charge that will stick in the court of divine justice
Christ has died for them and that is the basis of our confidence
and that is the basis and not one shred of what we are or what
we do not one solitary shred by Christ alone by Christ alone
not on the basis of Christ justifying me and then me sanctifying myself
that's not what this book teaches it doesn't teach that it teaches
that we're set apart and made holy in Christ now believe me
what we do in this life makes not one scrap of difference to
our relationship with God but our relationship with God makes
an enormous difference to the things that we do because having
been saved by such grace oh how we are motivated how we are motivated
with that new heart within we fail again and again but oh how
we desire to do the things of the living God and to walk in
his ways and to know him and to follow Him, and to serve Him,
and to praise Him, and to glorify Him, for He's the God who is
our God. He's given us life and everything. And you see, this
was what they knew, these four boys, these 14-15 year old boys,
Daniel, Hananiah, I'm going to try and remember them, Azariah,
and oh gosh, I've forgotten, never mind, excuse me, but we
know their other names, here they are, Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah, and we know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
which were the idolatrous names of the false gods of Babylon
given to them but somehow it sticks because at the end of
chapter 2 in verse 49 those are the names that are used for them
and from then on in the book those are the names that are
used Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They stood there alone but as
young as they were they knew the truth of God and they knew
the idolatry of the society that had caused their captivity. Why do I say they knew the truth
of God? In Jerusalem, they had the Word of God, the Old Testament
Scriptures, some of them at least. They had the books of Moses.
They had the Psalms. They had the writings of David.
They had the writings of Solomon. They had those things there.
They knew them. They studied them. Not only that, but graphically
before them, every day in the temple in Jerusalem was acted
out in rite and ceremony and symbol with an altar, with the
showbread, with the candlesticks, with the Holy of Holies, with
the veil of the temple, with the priesthood, with the animal
sacrifices, with the shed blood, with all of these things, every
day was acted out. How is a man made just with God?
That's that question in Job, you remember? How can a man be
just with God? And every day in the temple in
Jerusalem, the answer was acted out in those symbols on the basis
of the shed blood of a perfect sacrifice. That's how On the
basis of the shed blood of a substitute. On the basis of the righteousness
of a substitute. On the basis of the intercession
of a perfect priest. On the basis of the intercession
of a prophet. That's how it was all acted out.
And everything is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ. Those
boys knew those things. Those boys knew the Gospel that
we know. They hadn't, as Hebrew says,
they were before Christ came. So they were looking in types
and pictures, but they knew for sure that one would come. How
else can you explain Simeon at the temple? What was he waiting
for? A baby to hold in his arms. And who would that baby be? The
Lord of glory. God become man, that he might
grow and be God's salvation and represent his people. They knew
that and they wouldn't veer from it one iota, not one bit. And God helping us, as I said
last week, that is our determination. And that is a successful gospel
ministry, that. not huge numbers, oh it would
be great if there were huge numbers but I tell you I'd sooner there
be two or three where that truth is held dear and not compromised
for any worldly gain whatsoever not one bit than go along with
the crowd and use the words of Zion and the language of Zion
and the language of Jerusalem as so many of Daniel and his
friends companions did the others who compromised and ate the king's
food, they went along with it quite happily and they said,
well it's not really that bad, is it? Let's go along with it.
It's not really, why should we die in a ditch over this thing?
It doesn't really matter. But no, they did and God vindicated
them. God utterly vindicated them.
They were healthier and stronger in the flesh because they just
ate that simple diet. You know that simple diet? That
simple diet represents the simplicity that is in the Lord Jesus Christ,
isn't it? You know, religion loves to be
elaborate, doesn't it? It loves to be elaborate. You
hear their services on the radio. Or you might even watch them
on television, but I wouldn't advise it. But you know the religious
things they do. You know, the service was on
the radio waiting for the news this morning while we were pottering
around the kitchen. And in the service something
would be said and the whole congregation had to sing an incredibly elaborate
Amen. All over the place. Very elaborate,
amen, because it can't just be simple. It all has to be fancied
up with gold braid and all the rest of it. But no, the simplicity
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those boys just ate a diet of
mashed vegetables. I said last week, it's not an
instruction to us for what our dietary rules should be, but
it's an indication of the simplicity that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just the Word of God. just the presence of Christ,
the word of Christ, the mind of Christ, those simple things
of that gospel that is in him, the simplest thing ever, yet
the most profound, and they were vindicated for it. Now, you could
say that that was a triumph of faith. The end of chapter one
is a triumph of faith. They were elevated to great honor
amongst the magicians and wise men of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar
examined them He inquired of them and he found them ten times
better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in
his realm. And so they were elevated to
a position of authority. But it's the experience of the
children of God, and it's your experience, and mine I'm sure,
that a triumph of faith very often is followed by another
challenge. You know, you never can sit back
and rest on your laurels because there was a triumph of faith.
It's always followed by another one. And why is that? It's the
chastening of the Lord. We read in Hebrews 12 about the
chastening of the Lord. Despise not the chastening of
the Lord. Why does he do it? It's for our good. Do you know
there's a line in an old hymn to preserve us from our slothful
ease. You know when things are easy,
everything's going fine, it's easy to become slothful in spiritual
things, isn't it? It's easy to neglect. It's easy
to neglect the Word of God and the means of grace. And things
that try us and give us difficulties drive us to seek the Lord. They drive us to seek His face.
They drive us to read His Word. They drive us to say, Lord, help
me. What can I do in this situation?
Help me. I am help... These trials come
to us. And so it is. A triumph of faith
is so often followed by the next challenge. And so it was with
Daniel and his friends. I haven't got time to tell what
is one of the best stories in the Bible in Daniel chapter 2.
It really is what we might call a cracking good Sunday school
story. I haven't got time to tell it.
You know it. You can read it for yourself. But Daniel and
his friends ended up in mortal danger because they were counted
along with the magicians and wise men of Babylon because of
what had gone before in chapter 1. And so just by association
of the fact that that was what they were they fell foul of this
furious, despotic edict of Nebuchadnezzar that unless they could tell him
not only the interpretation of his dream but his dream itself,
what was it I dreamed and then tell me what it means that they
would all be put to death. So Daniel and his friends were
in mortal danger. The dream that Nebuchadnezzar
had had, and don't forget when we go to the interpretation of
the dream Nebuchadnezzar is that head of gold of the statue. picturing
future history that would come after Daniel, picturing the future
history, he, Nebuchadnezzar, was the head of gold. He was
this most powerful, in a sense, relatively speaking, never before
anyone more powerful and never since anyone more powerful in
the history of the world. They talk about the American
president being the most powerful man in the world. He's a wimp
and impotent by comparison to what this Nebuchadnezzar must
have been. He was the head of gold. There has never been a
more united empire that was more pervasive around the then known
world that had such united power resting in one absolutely omnipotent
sovereign head, Nebuchadnezzar. He indeed was that head of gold.
And he had been given a dream. He had been given a vision by
the God of heaven. by the God of Heaven, and that
dream had terrified this man, in whose hands was all power
in the then known world. It terrified him. He couldn't
sleep. You think, well, he just had
a dream of a statue. Do you know, you must have all at various
times had nightmares of one sort or another, and they really disturb
you. And you wake up and you think, oh, I wish I could get
that out of my mind. That makes my stomach turn over. Every time
I think of those things, And some things really do disturb
you. Sometimes you have dreams that make you laugh. Christine
will tell you I've been known to wake up in the middle of the
night laughing. Because what I've dreamt has made me laugh.
And I just burst out laughing in the middle of the night. It
hasn't happened recently, don't worry. I'm a bit more sane these days.
But it does happen. It does happen. Dreams can be
powerful things. And you know, when you've had
a nightmare, Oh boy it can disturb you. Well this disturbed Nebuchadnezzar.
So he got all of his wise men. Tell me the dream and tell me
the interpretation of it. And if you can't you're all going
to be executed. Daniel thought this was a very
unreasonable request too. But Daniel was bold. Daniel went
and sought an audience with the king and said you must give me
time but I promise you when you've given me time I will come and
I will tell you. I will tell you. I will come
and I will tell you." Why did he do that? Why did he ask? You
think, what a foolhardy thing to do. Keep your head down. Go
and do what Saddam Hussein in this same area did not many years
ago, three or four years ago. Go and hide in a hole for a long
time and hope that they won't find you. No, he went to the
king. Why did he go to the king and
promise an answer if the king would give him time? The reason
is this. He knew the God of heaven. He
knew who was in control of everything. We used to sing a song in our
teens in the church in Lancaster, I know who holds the future.
And we used to sing it so glibly, not really meaning it. But you
think about those words, I know who holds the future. With God,
things don't just happen. Everything by him is planned.
I know. Daniel knew. who held the future. Daniel knew who'd put that disturbing
dream in Nebuchadnezzar's head. Daniel knew that the God who'd
put it there was the God who would control it, being fulfilled
in the future, because he knew this. He knew that Nebuchadnezzar's
heart, like the heart of all worldly rulers, where is it?
It's in the hands of God. Proverbs 21 and verse 1. The
king's heart is in the hands of the living God. If this vision
was true, it was God that had put it there. And God sees into
every heart. You know what Jeremiah 17, 9
says about the heart of man? It's deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And then the
very next verse, verse 10 says this, I, the Lord, search the
heart and I try the reins, the innards. He's the one who searches
the heart. The God of heaven, who controls
all things, sees into the heart. So Daniel knew with great confidence
this God sees this, He will tell it to me." Why did he think that?
Why did he think that? Because he knew that God was
determined to fulfill His purpose, which was to preserve a faithful
line in the earth until Christ should come, until His kingdom
should be established, and that Daniel and his friends were the
last little remnant of that true, true faith from Jerusalem. When
everybody else had compromised with the religious idolatry around
them, they had remained faithful, so he knew God would preserve
them. to preserve that truth that the gospel might never die
out and this is the promise we have that as long as this world
continues God will not leave himself without a witness and
so they knew that but it wouldn't be done without prayer look at
verses 17 and 18 of chapter 2 you see Daniel went in and asked
the king that he would give him time and that he would show the
king the interpretation then verse 17 then Daniel went to
his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his companions that
they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning
this secret you see it's not going to fall down from heaven
on a plate in front of them they must go and desire mercies of
the God of heaven that they should not perish with the rest of the
wise men in Babylon that that faithful line might be preserved
they would not perish with them. So they were going to pray. They
were going to pray. We don't know how long they were
going to pray. We don't know how persistent
they were in prayer. But the message of Scripture
is that in time of crisis like this, men and women of faith
are encouraged to be persistent. Think of the parables of Jesus
about the importunate widow who would come and pester the landlord
for a loaf of bread and for much pestering he would although he
had no thought for her because of how much pestering he would
give it to her and he says then how much more your heavenly father
who knows what you need and who loves you will give you those
things we read of Elijah on Mount Carmel you remember he'd had
such faith in the God of Scripture and the God of Scripture had
said that in the face of idolatry he would cause drought and on
the strength of that Elijah went to Ahab and proclaimed a drought
of three years, three and a half years altogether. And at the
end of it, he'd had the triumph on Mount Carmel. And so now there
was going to be rain. And the sky was as clear blue
as it is this morning, not the merest whiff of cloud in the
sky. And so he sent his servant, his young boy servant, as he
prayed, O God of heaven, send this rain because you've said
it. Your word has said it, therefore I pray that you will do it. I
pray that you will do it. Your word has said it. vindicate
your servant, vindicate your truth." And he sent him to have
a look. Can you see anything? Nothing
at all. Oh, Elijah, your prayer doesn't work. I'm going to give
up now. No. Praise again. Go and have a look now. Do you
see anything? Ah, I see a little fluffy cloud on the horizon,
as big as a man's hand. You can just imagine the picture,
can't you? Just a little fluffy bit, just over there. And this
is, I think, seven times, something like that. But in the end of
it, as soon as the little bit of cloud is seen, Elijah says,
You better start running. Ahab and everybody else, you
better start running because you're not going to make it back
home before the floods come. That little cloud is going to
grow and is going to absolutely pour down. Persistence in prayer. So they prayed. They prayed to
the God of heaven and the secret was revealed. That's what it
says. God revealed the secret. Verse 19. Simple, simple words. Then was the secret revealed
unto Daniel in a night vision. They prayed. together? Separately? We don't know. With persistence?
Undoubtedly. But in the time that Daniel had
asked for, the God of heaven revealed that to Daniel in a
night vision. He knew. That's what it was he
saw. And that's what it means. And
you can imagine what it would have done for his spirit to see
that. I could use an illustration.
Let's think, for example, imagine the winter of 1944-1945. And imagine that there are some
prisoners of war somewhere in Germany or Poland or somewhere
like that. And they haven't heard anything
at all for a long, long time. They're in their prisoner of
war camp in their very, very bad conditions. Very, very cold,
bad conditions, terrible food and all of those horrible things
that went with the war. And they hear, they hear a secret. The news gets to them. The D-Day
landings have happened. France has been liberated from
the Nazi invasion. Paris is now free. The troops
are coming through Belgium and into Germany. Soon Europe is
going to be free from this tyranny. And you can imagine what those
prisoners of war in their continuing constrained conditions must have
thought. It's as good as over. It's as good as over. Look what
we've seen. Here we are in these circumstances.
But the answer's clear. There's no doubt about the outcome.
It's just a matter of time. Is it not so with the people
of God? We look at the culmination of
these things. We look at the way that the Lord Jesus Christ
and his church and his gospel is despised and yet we know,
we know that he will triumph. He will triumph. So what was
Daniel's reaction? Now I would have been inclined
to go, great, I've got the answer. Right, let me get in there as
quick as I can. Tell him I've got the answer.
I'm going to come and tell him. No, not Daniel. He didn't do that.
Look what he did. In verse 20, well, verse 19,
Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said,
Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever. For wisdom and
might are his, and he changeth the times and the seasons. He
removeth kings and setteth up kings. He giveth wisdom unto
the wise and knowledge unto them. that no understanding, He revealeth
the deep and secret things, He knoweth what is in the darkness,
and the light dwelleth with Him. I thank Thee and I praise Thee,
O Thou God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might,
and has made known unto me now what we desired of Thee, for
Thou hast now made known unto us the King's matter." See? Praise and thanks. Praise and
thanks. You know one of the great accusations
of Paul in Romans chapter 1, I think it is, of mankind in
general, neither were they thankful. Neither were they thankful. Not
thankful to the living God who gives us life and breath and
all things. Daniel knew that all things were
ordained for the good of his people. Romans 8.28, you know
it well. God was ordering all events in
history with the intent of establishing the supremacy of Christ's kingdom. That's what it was. That was
the vision he was given. that everything that seemed of
power and influence in this world would be subject one day to the
overarching, worldwide, universe-wide rule of the kingdom of the Lord
Jesus Christ and of His salvation and of His truth. Jesus described
it like this. He said, you know, we have in
our language, mighty oaks from little acorns grow or something
like that. Well, Jesus put it even more
graphically. He said, the tiniest seed in the vegetable kingdom. The tiniest seed is the mustard
seed. The merest, tiniest little speck
of dust. And he said, look what a huge
tree. Look what a huge tree grows out of that tiny, tiny little
seed. And so it is. His kingdom will
fill all of creation, the whole world. What did Nebuchadnezzar
see? What did Nebuchadnezzar see?
Nebuchadnezzar saw this dream. Well, first of all, when Daniel
had the dream, then he'd given thanks, then he went to tell
Nebuchadnezzar what the dream was. And of course, just note
here that in verse 25, he goes to Ariok and he says, bring me
into the king because I now know what it is that he wants to know
about. And Ariok comes and says, I found a man of the captives
of Judah that will make known unto the king the interpretation.
And 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? It's a little bit like, you know
these talent shows, these endless talent shows on the television?
And if you ever watch any of them, especially the auditioning
bits, you see these complete no-hopers turn up. And as soon
as they open their mouth, the judges all start laughing because
there's just no chance that this guy is ever going to get any
further because he can't sing. Fundamental problem, he can't.
And it's almost like that. Here's one of the slaves of Judah.
He reckons he's going to tell you, O king. And the king, really? You think you can do this? You're
just hastening the time when your head's going to park company
with your shoulders. That was the reaction. That was the reaction
of it. He was totally incredulous about
this. But what does Daniel say? He says, The secret which the
king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the
magicians, and the soothsayers show the king. You're right,
O king, to be sceptical. Nobody wearing flesh and blood
can show you these things, however good they seem to be, and believe
me there is some convincing, convincing magicianship in the
things of the world. You know when Moses and Aaron
were doing those plague signs before Pharaoh and he said my
magicians can do that and they came in and they turned the river
to blood and they did all sorts of tricks and made it appear
as though there was nothing special and so it is so it is beware
deceive even the elect if that were possible but it isn't possible
but Daniel says no you're quite right to be skeptical flesh and
blood can't reveal these things to you but verse 28 but there
is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the
king. There is a God in heaven. Isn't
this what we say to the world around us? You live as if you
are the author and finisher of your own destiny. You live in
denial of the fact that there is a God in heaven with whom
we have to do. There is a God in heaven whom
we must face when we die, to whom we must give an account.
There is a God in heaven He has confidence in the God of heaven.
Not in his own wisdom, though he's wiser than all those around
him, but his confidence is in the God of heaven, in the Christ
of God, in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And so he tells him what he dreamed. He tells him what he dreamed.
He says, why has it been given to me, verse 30? The 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." I think that's saying for the sake of those
to preserve that line of faithful belief in the truth of the gospel
throughout the 70 years of captivity. That's what I believe he's saying.
It's been revealed to us because God will preserve us. And you,
though you're determined to execute us, you will not have your way.
The God of heaven will have his way. And so in verses 31 to 35 He gives, he tells Nebuchadnezzar
what he dreamed, this great statue, gold head, silver shoulder and
arms, brass middle and sort of pelvis area, and then legs of
iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay. And a little
stone, a little stone that is not as all other stones for building
work cut out with hands, with a hammer and chisel, But a stone
that isn't cut out with hands, a little stone, comes and grows
and grows and grows and grinds the entire statue to powder and
it fills the earth and becomes a great mountain. That's what
you saw. What does it mean? Well you, O King Nebuchadnezzar,
are the head of gold, the king of Babylon, the great, united,
glorious kingdom. But you're not lasting forever.
Your kingdom's going to be replaced. And before too long it will be
replaced by this silver kingdom, which will be the Medo-Persian
Empire. And we know now, from archaeology
and history, we know this is exactly what happened. Between
600 BC and forward, the Medo-Persian Empire came next, but it wasn't
as united. It had two arms. It was of silver,
not as valuable as gold. It was still strong and mighty,
but not as valuable as gold. And it was under that King Cyrus
who came that Jerusalem was rebuilt and the temple was rebuilt because
the God of heaven put it in his heart to send people back to
do that thing. Even though he was a heathen
God, God put it in his heart that that might happen. And then
after him came the Brass, which was the Greek Empire, the empire
of Alexander the Great and those who followed him. And that was
divided, too, into the two legs. It was divided East and West.
And then there was the Roman Empire, which was the legs of
iron. And why iron? because of the strength of it,
because of the weight and the strength of it. It would crush
and that's what the Roman Empire did. It crushed and extended
further than anything before. It extended to this country right
up to the border with Scotland. Some of us are Scottish in our
congregation this morning. There's a limit to even how far
the Romans could go and they couldn't do anything with the
Scots so they had to build a wall to keep the Scots out. But that
was the Roman Empire. But then you go down onto the
feet which was what followed the Roman Empire, or part of
the Roman Empire. And it was mingled with clay.
Feet of clay. Feet of clay. And you know, we
read of the Achilles heel in Greek mythology. You know, the
great strong thing that couldn't be defeated, but it has an Achilles
heel. Get it in the Achilles heel, and you'll wound it mortally.
Well, in this Roman Empire, the feet of clay. Feet of clay. Not
strong enough to hold up the structure, and gets ground to
powder. And that's what history has done. There've been no worldwide
empires since the Roman Empire. There's been lots of little kingdoms,
ten toes. People read too much into this.
They went mad about the European Union when it was going to be
six countries and then it was going to be ten countries. And
oh gosh, we had prayer meetings all over the place trying to
pray to stop the ten from happening because that would be a dreadful
thing. I'm sorry, if it was in the word of God and it was due
to happen, it would happen anyway, wouldn't it? The things that
people come up with. But it's a picture of world history,
and of world culture, and of world society, and world religion. But the thing is, the stone comes
and crushes it all, and that stone is Christ. That rock is
Christ. And the gospel that I outlined
at the start of this message, that gospel that is so clear,
that is what crushes all other things. However little and insignificant
it appears, compared with world history and world powers, it
comes and it crushes. And so we read, every knee shall
bow you know that one who was in the form of God and thought
it not robbery to be equal with God and he came from heaven and
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the
death of the cross and he made himself of no reputation but
God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above
every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess every tongue confess in whatever relationship
they are, they will have to confess that he is Lord of glory and
they must bow before him and all these kingdoms will be crushed
to powder and there won't be anything of it remaining in glory. And this is what we look forward
to. And this is where we are. We're like prisoners of war in
that camp, in a sense. But we've heard the news. It's
happened. It's done. It's finished. It
will be fulfilled. Don't fear little flock. Fear
not, little flock, it's happened, it's fulfilled. God controls
all things. He's controlling all of history.
He's bringing about His purposes. The eternal, indestructible kingdom
of Christ will last. Verses 44 and 45. In the days
of these kings, Roman Emperor, the God of heaven will set up
a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall
not be left to other people. That's why Simeon was waiting
in the temple he'd seen the history of the ones that went before
he knew what the book of Daniel said he was waiting in the days
in the days of that Roman Empire and that Roman domination of
the land of Israel there he was waiting for that kingdom to be
set up which shall not be left to other people but shall break
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and shall stand forever
that stone was cut out of the mountain without hands not the
work of man Christ is not the work of man He's the Son of God
with power and glory and He comes and fulfills all of His purposes
this is such a comfort to us isn't it? what a comfort and
what an assurance we don't look at the things around us just
like the prisoners didn't look at the prison camp surroundings
they thought we know what's coming it's definitely coming what great
assurance weak and insignificant in the eyes of the world but
citizens of an eternal kingdom and so it says is it Romans 8
27 I think something like that we are more than conquerors through
Christ who loved us we weak insignificant little flock are more than conquerors
you'll notice Nebuchadnezzar's reaction he fell on his face
and worshipped Daniel and said your God is a mighty God definitely
amongst all the gods this wasn't this wasn't the worship of a
believing heart yet I believe, other commentators disagree,
but I believe later in the book we'll see that Nebuchadnezzar
is brought to saving faith in the God of heaven, in the Christ
of God. I believe that, but I wouldn't, you know, you can choose not
to agree with me if you want to, many commentators don't,
but this certainly wasn't. This was somebody seeing a glimpse
of the power of this God and bowing before him. He was brought
to bow before Daniel and his friends and to honor them greatly
for the purposes of God with the people of God. So let's take
encouragement from this. He's the God who changes not.
He's the same yesterday, today and forever. The God who's making
the sun shine through this window now and holding up your chair
legs underneath you is the God that did these things. Let's
rejoice in that. Amen.