‘BEHOLD, A GREAT IMAGE!’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 21, 2024 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from April 21, 2024 from Daniel 2:26-45

Theme: History is leading up to the end of all human kingdoms and to the eternal reign of Jesus Christ our Lord.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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I have a daily routine. After I wake up and go downstairs to pour a cup of coffee—just before I sit down to read my Bible—I turn on the news. And after I watch the report of the main news items, I then sit down with my coffee, open my Bible, and begin to pray about the things I just watched on the news.

And boy; do I end up with things to pray about! I wonder if, after watching the news updates, you ever shake your head—as I often do—and say: “What is this world coming to?” I find that the coffee helps me to wake up … but the open Bible helps me to put the news into perspective.

I think of that morning routine as we come to this morning’s passage. We’re looking at the second chapter of the Book of Daniel. And if we pay careful attention to what it tells us, and take it to heart as we should, we won’t ever have to ask, “What is this world coming to?” Daniel 2 takes all the mystery away. It tells us exactly what this world is coming to—and by God’s own decree!

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Now; last Sunday, we began our study of Daniel 2. It tells us the story of King Nebuchadnezzar—a king from real history in the 5th Century B.C.—who was the mighty ruler over the Babylonian Empire.

Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king who had been given an astonishing dream by the God of Israel. It was a dream in which he saw an astonishing ’image’—a great statue composed of different parts. Then, in his dream, he saw a stone that seemed to fly from out of nowhere, strike the bottom of this magnificent statue, and cause it to crumble to pieces and to blow away in the wind. Finally, he saw that stone grow to become a great mountain that encompassed the whole world.

We then read of how King Nebuchadnezzar called all of his pagan advisers and ordered them to tell him both the dream and its interpretation. And of course, none of them could do so. But we also then read of how God gave the interpretation to Daniel—the young Jewish man who, along with his three friends, had been taken among the captives of Israel and made into Nebuchadnezzar’s servants. We read of how Daniel revealed to the king both the dream and its interpretation; and we also read of how, as a result, King Nebuchadnezzar fell to his knees and glorified the God of Israel. He recognized that only God could reveal the things that He had revealed to Daniel.

So; last week, we focused our attention on the story of how this dream was given by God, and of how God had revealed the interpretation of it to Daniel and his three friends. And this week, let’s now turn our attention to the vision itself. It’s hard to express enough how important this vision is. It’s truly the key that unlocks the mysteries we read in the rest of the Book of Daniel.

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So; let’s jump right back into the story of Daniel 2. After Daniel and his three friends prayed fervently, and after God had revealed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel, we find him coming once again before the king.

Humanly speaking, it would have been a very tense and intimidating moment. King Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful and brutal ruler; and he had already ordered that those who couldn’t tell him the dream and its interpretation were to be put to death. But as fearsome as this king and his decree were, Daniel was confident that God had revealed the truth to him.

Verse 26 tells us;

The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?” Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king” (Daniel 2:26-27).

This, of course, was something that the king had already known. He was in fact so angry about it that he was prepared to put all of his pagan advisers to death. But notice what Daniel does. He doesn’t take credit for anything; or make it out that he and his three fellow Jewish friends could do what the pagan advisers couldn’t do. Instead, he makes the matter clear:

“But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets …” (v. 27a).

And in Daniel’s careful words to the king, we see …

1. THE SOURCE OF THE VISION.

The God of heaven was the one who had given the dream to the king. And therefore only the God of heaven could reveal it. And God graciously did so in response to the prayers of Daniel and his three friends. This made it very clear then that this was a vision that had the authority of God Himself behind it. Daniel went on to say;

“… and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart (vv. 27b-30).

And dear brothers and sisters; that’s why you and I need to pay careful attention to the dream that God gave to the king—and to the interpretation that had been given to Daniel. It’s a message from God Himself. It’s God’s authoritative answer to the question, “What is this world coming to?”

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Now; notice carefully what Daniel had said about the king’s dream. He said that it concerned “what will be in the latter days”. King Nebuchadnezzar had inherited the kingdom of Babylon from his royal father. But Nebuchadnezzar’s remarkable rise to power had occurred in a very short amount of time. His vast kingdom extended from the River Euphrates in the east, all the way to the Mediterranean to the west, and even further in the south to Egypt. He had quickly become the ruler over the civilized world of that time. Naturally, he would have wondered what would happen after him. And through Daniel’s interpretation of the dream, God was telling the king not only what would happen after him—that is, “what would come to pass after this”; but also what would happen in times far beyond his own—that is, “what will be”.

As we look at the whole of the vision and its interpretation, we find that it covers all of what the Lord Jesus once called “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 24:21). It’s a time period characterized by the domination of the Gentile world over God’s holy city Jerusalem—a time period of human history that will be brought to a conclusion when our Lord Jesus returns to take up His rightful place of rule over the nations. God revealed all this to the king through a vision of a great image that represented all of the world empires that would come after him.

In verses 31-35, Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar what he had seen in his dream:

“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (vv. 31-35).

Now, we’ve all had dreams that were a little weird; haven’t we? We usually wake up from them and say, “What a weird dream”; but then forget about it and move on with our day. But this dream wasn’t just weird. This dream was stunning and overwhelming. Given the language that Daniel used to describe the image that the king saw, you can appreciate why the king was so desperate to understand its meaning. He couldn’t just ‘move on’.

So; let’s take a moment to consider what we’re told about …

2. THE NATURE OF THE IMAGE.

The original language that’s used in this passage describes it as something enormous in size, exceedingly bright and glorious in appearance, and utterly terrifying to behold. The New American Standard version translates verse 31 this way; “You, O king, were watching and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary radiance, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.” No drawing that we could ever make of it—or no carved replica we could ever create of it—could even remotely do justice to it. The king would never be able to get it out of his mind … because it was from God.

And there are some fascinating aspects to the details of what he saw in this image. For example, the arrangement of things, from the top to the bottom, went from most valuable to least valuable. The head of gold represented a kingdom of great value; the chest and arms represented a kingdom that was less valuable than gold; the belly and the thighs of bronze represented a kingdom that was less valuable than silver; and the legs of iron and feet of iron and clay represented a kingdom that was less valuable than bronze. The flow of the empires that were shown to the king in this image went from most valuable to least valuable. It’s the opposite of how we might have ordinarily thought it should go. Each of the successive kingdoms was not becoming better, but was growing worse.

But notice also that, in terms of the toughness and durability of the kingdoms, the flow went in the other direction. The head is made of gold; which represented a kingdom that was soft and malleable in the way that gold is soft and malleable. The chest and arms were made of silver; which represented a kingdom that was tougher and more durable than the first. The belly and the thighs were made of bronze; which represented a kingdom that was tougher and more durable than the second. And the two legs were made of iron; which represented a kingdom that was far less attractive than the first three, but far harder and more rigid than them all. Each successive kingdom was growing harder—not softer.

And there’s also a strange arrangement of these different elements in terms of their density. The head of gold would have weighed much more than the chest and arms of silver; because gold weighs almost twice as much as silver. The chest and arms of silver would have weighed more than the belly and thighs of bronze. And the belly and thighs of bronze would have weighed more than the legs of iron. And think too of the feet at the bottom of those legs. They were made of an unstable mixture of iron and clay. In other words, this huge, awesome, glorious statute was precariously top-heavy. It would have easily fallen over if pushed. All together, these kingdoms were unstable.

And one more thing. The arrangements of these different elements represented an increasing degree of division. The head of gold was, of course, one head. But the chest of silver was divided by two arms. The belly of bronze was divided by two thighs, and the legs of iron were also divided into two—but then further divided into ten. The further down you go in the order of these kingdoms, the more division you see represented in them. They were not progressing toward unity, but toward disunity.

And so; the nature of this strange and remarkable image was meant to tell King Nebuchadnezzar something of the nature of the ‘the times of the Gentiles’ that would follow after him. The unfolding history of these various kingdoms all started off with splendor and value. But the further one went in that history, the less splendor and value you would see. The history of these kingdoms began with softness and flexibility; but they would all grow more tough and rigid in their ways as time went on. Also, the history of the ruling Gentile nations—the story of human rule over this earth—is a story characterized by instability. Their position and their rule don’t become more stable on this earth, but less and less stable as time goes on. Kings and kingdoms increasingly fall and fail with greater ease. And it is a story that began with an appearance of unity; but it all became characterized by increased division and disunity as the centuries rolled along. And think of the base of this awesome image. We find that, at its foundation, it all crumbled to pieces. No wonder Nebuchadnezzar so desperately wanted to know its meaning and significance!

And dear brothers and sisters; I hope you notice from all of this that God didn’t reveal these things simply because He looked ahead and foresaw how they would all occur. He declared these things because they’re exactly how He sovereignly decreed them to be. Our mighty heavenly Father is the one who determined the flow of the kingdoms of the Gentile world the way He did—even their times and their boundaries—so that they serve His predetermined purpose for the course of history, and accomplish His predetermined outcome. He allows the nations of this world to frustrate themselves; so that mankind—hard as it tries—simply cannot make an eternal kingdom on this earth. Only God can do that. And He has purposed to do this only through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The history of the nations all points to our desperate need for Him!

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So then; that’s the dream. Daniel declared the details of it to the king—revealing to him what God had shown him in a vision of the night. In verse 36, Daniel says,

“This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king” (v. 36).

And now, with respect to this magnificent image, Daniel goes on to give …

3. THE IDENTITY OF THE PARTS.

And in looking at these different parts of the image—from top down—we see a precise outline of the history of the times of the Gentiles before it transpired. All of the aspects of this image that Daniel went on to explain to Nebuchadnezzar were yet to have occurred in his time. And only one is yet to occur in ours.

First, Daniel explained the Head of Gold. Verses 36-38 say;

“You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold (vv. 37-38).

The kingdom represented by the head of gold was the Babylonian Empire—the kingdom over which Nebuchadnezzar had been made king. Babylon had existed as a kingdom before Nebuchadnezzar’s time, and he was not the first king in its history. But he is highlighted to us in this vision because he was the king God had made ruler over all the men of the earth, and over all the beasts of the field, and over all the birds of the sky. He became king in 605 B.C., and he was the first of the kings of these four great world kingdoms in this display of the ‘times of the Gentiles’. And what’s more, he was—without question—the most splendid and glorious of them all.

The element of gold, as we pointed out before, is soft and malleable. And that certainly describes the story of Nebuchadnezzar as we find him in the Book of Daniel. As we will read on in later portions of the book, he was the king who had been dramatically softened by God to the point of bowing to Him and worshiping Him. That was not true of the other kings in the way that it was true of him. And his kingdom continued gloriously until the year 538 B.C.

But Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson Belshazzar was a wicked and ungodly king. He was the one who—in Daniel 5—had been given the vision of ‘the writing on the wall’. In 538 B.C., the Babylonian kingdom fell into the hands of the kingdom that followed. And that leads us to the next kingdom represented by the Chest and Arms of Silver. In the first half of verse 39, Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar;

“But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours …” (v. 39).

And this was the Median/Persian Empire. It’s represented by two arms—one being the Kingdom of Media; and the other being the Kingdom of Persia. In later history, Persia became the dominant kingdom. God had given the Kingdom of Babylon into the hands of King Cyrus the Mede; and he successfully conquered it in one night’s time. People went to bed at night as citizens of one empire, and woke up in the morning as citizens of another. This second kingdom reigned from 538 to 333 B.C.

And in 333 B.C. the Persian kingdom fell under the control of the next kingdom; represented by the Belly and Thighs of Bronze. In the latter half of verse 39, Daniel says;

“… then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth” (v. 39b).

This kingdom was the Grecian Empire; and it was led by one of the most remarkable human beings in human history, Alexander the Great. He was the son of Philip II of Macedon. He sought to conquer the world in order to impress his father, and he conquered it very quickly. In 333 B.C., he began to rule over the Persian Empire; and progressively took control of the whole world until his unexpected death ten years later. Then, his kingdom was broken up and divided to his four generals. The remaining portions of the Grecian Empire fought against one another for almost two hundred years.

Then came the year 146 B.C. and the Battle of Corinth. That was when the Grecian Empire fell under the rule of the next empire; represented by the Legs of Iron. This was the Roman Empire—a powerful and fierce empire that eventually divided into the eastern half and the western half. At the time when God gave this vision to Nebuchadnezzar, no one would have imagined Rome would have become a great world power. It was hardly significant at all. And yet, in verses 40-41, Daniel said;

And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay (vv. 40-41).

When exactly did the Roman Empire come to an end? It’s a little hard to say, and historians have debated the matter for centuries. It seems best to say that the western half ended in 476 A.D. when it was defeated by the Germanic tribes. The eastern half continued all the way to 1453 A.D., when it was defeated by the Ottoman Empire. But it all really just seemed to dissipate slowly.

But do you notice the Feet and Toes of Iron and Clay? In verses 42-43, Daniel says something that seems to speak of the ongoing impact of this fourth kingdom in a future time;

And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay (vv. 42-43).

This seems to speak of some remaining element of this fourth empire, broken up into ten kingdoms, ruled by ten kings. This would describe something that has never been true of the Roman empire in the past. Later, in the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel, all four of these empires are characterized in another vision; and this last one is described as a terrifying beast with ten horns. This is most likely, then, describing a revived form of the Roman Empire in the future—with a confederacy of ten kings over ten sub-kingdoms. Their alliance will be brittle, and it will be as easily broken up as iron that’s mixed with clay.

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So; this is the history of the world empires that will rule during ‘the times of the Gentiles’—from the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign as the head of gold, Media/Persia as the chest and arms of silver, Greece as the belly and thighs of bronze, Rome as the two legs of iron, and a future expression of the Roman Empire in the form of ten kingdoms in fragile confederation. It’s a brief review of prophetic history in the form of a statute. To us, most of it is history past. But some of it is yet to be fulfilled.

But then; notice what strikes these brittle feet of the statue. We’re told—at last—about …

5. THE STONE CUT WITHOUT HANDS.

In verses 44-45, Daniel tells the king about what will happen in the time of those ten final kingdoms;

“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this” (vv. 44-45a).

This is describing something that is yet to occur. It describes a stone cut from a mountain “without hands”; meaning that it’s God’s doing and not mankind’s doing. The stone will strike this statue at the feet—that is, at the time of these ten kings. And all of those Gentile empires will disappear from the bottom to the top—not ever to be in power again, not ever to be incorporated into another kingdom, not ever to be seen on earth. And in their place, this stone will become a mighty mountain, immeasurably greater than them all, that rules over the whole world.

What is this stone? Or perhaps better, Who is this stone? It’s none other than our Lord Jesus at His second coming. Revelation 11:15-18 describes this for us very clearly when it says;

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:15-18).

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What a dream! What an interpretation! What a remarkable promise from God! And that leads us to one final thing, and that is …

5. THE CERTAINTY OF THE OUTCOME.

Daniel put it concisely when, at the end of verse 45, he said;

“The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure” (v. 45b).

Even King Nebuchadnezzar declared his ‘Amen’ to it all when he then fell before Daniel and declared that Daniel’s God is “the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets”.

And so, given its absolute certainty, what should you and I do in response, dear brothers and sisters in Christ? I would say that we should never again fret and worry over ‘what this world is coming to’. And that’s because, now, we know the answer. This world is not out of control. The flow of the times and seasons is going exactly as our sovereign God has decreed. History will unfailingly lead to an end of all the fallen and corrupt kingdoms of humanity; and it will all culminate in the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ on this earth over a glorious kingdom that will never come to an end.

We never again need to ask what this world is coming to. It’s coming to the glorious reign of Him who is coming again!

AE