you'll notice uh in that psalm they are void of understanding notice that no right judgment can they make they walk in utter darkness all of earth's foundations shake that's what we looked at last time as we looked at nebuchadnezzar he really is in the darkness over these dreams he really doesn't have any idea of the future nor does he have any control of his kingdom i just want to say up front we're looking at things that way we mentioned romans 13 which obviously god ordains governing authorities god gives governing authorities and in his common grace they do things that are they should be just and right we're looking at kingdoms in the psalm 2 kind of perspective all of them collectively against the lord and the evil that is often behind kings and kingdoms when they assert their own authority and go outside the design in which god has ordained that's what we're looking at in this whole story of babylon and there's a lot to learn today from it so i'm going to read daniel chapter 2 page 876 we began last time you remember nebuchadnezzar has a dream in his head and nobody can interpret the dream he has gone to all the soothsayers and the magicians and all these charlatans to ask and because they can't do that recognizing only god can do that the gods who don't dwell among flesh they said he starts killing them and daniel asks for time daniel goes to the lord in prayer which we looked at last time with his friends and the Lord gives him an answer in a night vision. Daniel ends up blessing the Lord in prayer and that's where we are in our text this morning at verse 24. Let's give our attention to the reading of the Lord's word. Therefore Daniel went into Ariok whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to them, do not destroy the wise men of Babylon bring me in before the king and I will show the king the interpretation then Ariok brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation the king declared to Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation daniel answered the king and said no wise men enchanters magicians or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked but there is a god in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has made known to king nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these to you oh king as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be but as for me this mystery has been revealed to me not because of any wisdom that i have more than all the living but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your mind you saw oh king and behold a great image this image mighty and of exceeding brightness stood before you and its appearance was frightening the head of this image was a fine gold its chest and arms of silver its middle and thighs of bronze its legs of iron its feet partly of iron and partly of clay as you look the stone was cut out by no human hand and it 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 all together were broken in pieces and became like chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found but the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth this was the dream now i will tell the king its interpretation you oh king the king of kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom the power and the might and the glory and into whose hand he has given wherever they dwell the children of man the beasts of the field the birds of the heavens making you you rule over them all you are the head of gold another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you and yet a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth and there shall be a fourth kingdom strong as iron because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things and like iron that crushes it shall break and crush all these and as you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron it shall be a divided kingdom but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay and as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle and you saw the iron mixed as you saw the iron mixed with soft clay so they will mix with one another in marriage but they will not hold together just as iron does not mix with clay and in the days of those kings the god of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed nor shall the kingdom be left to another people it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand and that it broke in pieces the iron the bronze the clay the silver and the gold a great god is made known to the king what shall be after this the dream is certain and its interpretation is sure. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid homage to Daniel and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and said to Daniel, truly your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries for you have been able to reveal this mystery. Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon Daniel made a request of the king and he appointed Shadrach Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon but Daniel remained in the at the king's court and there we'll end the reading god's word well this morning we come to a very important section i think in daniel that lays the groundwork for the things that are going to be revealed later and sort of helps us to understand the book of what is the crucial theme of the book and what is happening here it's a remarkable chapter there's so much detail here i don't want to overwhelm you um this morning with this i want to keep the central truth before us which i think daniel was concerned to do with nebuchadnezzar and it's this all the kingdoms of this world and their glory are passing away and there is only one kingdom that will stand eternally that is the thesis of this chapter that's the simple message of this chapter that obviously has huge implications for our moment that obviously has huge implications for our time in which we live in our changing seasons trying to understand how we fit into all of this kingdom stuff and how we fit into the kingdoms of this world especially when they have over asserted their authority and have turned tyrannical it offers us unspeakable comfort because what we have here is a clear revelation of how we are to look at history it really is a history lesson to some degree and to appreciate in the midst of history where our loyalty should be where our devotion should be as we wait for the coming of this kingdom in full when, as you know, Christ returns on the clouds of heaven. There's so much I want to jump into, so I want to get going into the text today, not by way of too much introduction here because there's a lot here. I want to get to the crucial meaning of it all as we look at of what is revealed here to the king in Babylon. You remember the scene? God has troubled Nebuchadnezzar. god has harassed the king god has set all this in motion with his dreams so so god has has directed this circumstance as we looked at last time with providence there's nothing that's happening in the kingdoms of this world that is not under his sovereign control he's even in the king's head in dreams he's disturbed him and nebuchadnezzar was so disturbed remember he couldn't even remember the dream just like most of you might have a dream and you can't remember it the next morning that's exactly what has happened he goes to all the magicians and the astrologers and the wise men of babylon to have them tell him not just the interpretation but the dream itself because this thing has so disturbed him but he can't get it remember psalm 82 they're in darkness they don't know anything well daniel as we left off last time had asked for a time and he went to the lord in prayer and help and god gave him the answer in a night vision well after a reflection of praise as we ended on last week the importance we looked at of prayer in the midst of these kind of moments especially tyranny Daniel is presented to the king and Nebuchadnezzar asks in verse 26 if Daniel's able to make known the dream Daniel of course begins by answering the claim of the astrologers that only such a thing belongs to the true God of heaven and earth notice the humility in Daniel here all the all those who were given revelation were always first and foremost careful to give glory to God in this. Nebuchadnezzar still gives too much praise to Daniel by the end. But he says there is a God in heaven who's made known revelation, his secrets he's made known to you. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, that will be in the latter days. What Daniel does here is rehearse the future of the world from the point of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon in all of its glory to the advent of Christ that that's that's what he wants to do here that's that's what exactly this vision does Daniel expresses humility here that he doesn't have the wisdom himself to tell Nebuchadnezzar this and after he gives praise to God Daniel begins what you saw Nebuchadnezzar was a great image great image it was one image it was one great figure an impressive figure his head was a head of gold and its chest and arms of silver its belly and thighs of bronze and its legs as iron with feet partly of iron and partly of clay Daniel goes on to describe in this image four kingdoms that's what you see there as you move down the image from the face to the feet and almost universally it has always been understood that the four kingdoms are the head of gold being Babylon moving down you'll notice there to um the medes and the persians we'll look at as we go through this then the macedonian kingdom which is alexander and all of his glory in greece and ending up with rome rome which is the great kingdom that god showed the arrival of his kingdom when his messiah was entered into history right so this is the kingdoms that are here represented the fourth kingdom is like iron it will break in pieces and shatter everything and the surprise is that the fourth kingdom shall be a divided kingdom but notice at this kingdom there's this is why attention is given because something big happens in this this kingdom as the feet are mixed with clay and iron its strength is fragile it will be mixed with seed that's how it literally reads and it will not hold together the surprise of the dream is this as you watched on nebuchadnezzar a stone appeared that was not cut with human hands and it struck the image at the clay and the iron feet and the whole thing fell over and it became dust in the wind. All those kingdoms became dust in the wind. And that stone became a great mountain over all the earth. Now Daniel doesn't want to just rehearse the details of this. As fascinating as the vision is, he wants to give the interpretation. There's no good just to talk about the details. That's the danger of apocalyptic literature is just to focus too much on the details and miss the meaning. So that's what Daniel does here in verse 37. Daniel begins to explain the interpretation and to give that to Nebuchadnezzar that the God of heaven and earth gives to all rulers. Here's the central theme. The God of heaven and earth gives to all rulers their kingdoms. Did you hear me? God gave Joe Biden the kingdom for a time. I don't care how much any of you dislike that. God gave Donald Trump the kingdom for a time. God gave Barack Obama the kingdom for a time. Who did that? We don't seem to let that set in real well. God did that. He gives to all rulers their kingdoms, their power. their strength their glory it's such an important point this will save you a lot of heartache if you get this we look at all the powerful kingdoms of the world every single one of them God established he's the king he appointed their rulers what daniel is doing here is providing what is known as a philosophical history of the future it's um it's important to understand and theological no kingdom has power of itself god has given to every nation of this earth whatever power it enjoys for a time he rules over all he's lord over all he has a throne established that's fixed in heaven and never topples it's strength that comes from above but he wants to capture something for us to understand about these kingdoms and it's captured in the single great kingdom of Babylon the kingdoms of this world are all captured and brought together under one magnificent kingdom Babylon in fact I think you can make the case that all the kingdoms here belong to their head and I think that's an important principle in scripture isn't it that as Jesus is the head of his mountain he's the head of his church his people he's the head so nebuchadnezzar represents the head what are we talking about of a competing kingdom of a competing mountain a single great kingdom in history from a theological point of view from which all the other kingdoms derive from their root is babylon why can i say that you know the first time kingdom's used in scripture they don't ever know the first time kingdom's used in the bible it was way back in genesis 10 speaking of nimrod and it says this the first sinner of his kingdom was babylon genesis 10 babylon now that's important you know what would happen at babel they would come together in one language and try to reverse all the effects of the fall and create a center of devotion and power that would reach up into the heavens to take and exalt themselves over God so that that would stand as the single great city that would be above the eternal city. See, everything's a rival mountain here. Come, let us build a city whose tower shall reach into the heavens. And what did God do? He scattered them. No, you're not. The name Babylon means confused. Here's Babylon in its zenith. Here's Babylon in all the glory it ever achieved, if you will, that we could study in history. And you should read. There was just a book that I saw somebody sent me that was put out recently on Babylon, the greatness of Babylon. In history, no kingdom was like it in the earth. Babylon becomes the chief symbol of all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory and their strength. But I think we have to get what's behind it. At least that's why I said theologically. What is behind all this? You know, Jesus called Satan the ruler of this world. I wonder if you've ever let that set in for a minute. Jesus called Satan the ruler of this world. The God of this age. Listen to Isaiah 14. It's so important. How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How you are cut down to the ground who did weaken the nations. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I'll ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. That's what Nebuchadnezzar said. In the next chapter he's going to say it. Is this Babylon not my kingdom that I have built by my royal power and the wisdom of my might? the lord answers in isaiah 14 for i will rise up against them says the lord of hosts and i will cut off from babylon notice the connection the name the remnant and son and nephew says the lord babylon throughout history represents all the collected earthly kingdoms in their power against psalm 2 the lord and his anointed that's what we have here and so much impressed peter who understood exile theology that he says in peter he said this to the church the church that is at babylon that's a scripture verse the church that is at babylon elected together with you when peter spoke of the exiles in his day he used babylon to describe where we live you're in babylon you're not in jerusalem right now you're going to the true jerusalem but you're in babylon right now that's what he said when the end comes what is the final designation to all the nations of the earth well you remember my study in revelation i'm sure you remember it revelation 18 god describes all the kingdoms of the earth under babylon this way fallen fallen is babylon the great she's become a dwelling place for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit and a haunt for every unclean bird did he say america the other kingdoms here are all inferior culminating with rome the tie is notice they were all fragile and when we get to rome it's a mixed with seed people um all the peoples are and this was the most unique thing about rome is you look at all the collected nations that were under Rome's power and authority. They were all brought together, and I think the tie there is to say that they did everything they could to reverse the curse at Babel. And guess what happened to Rome? This is what's interesting about the fourth kingdom. It collapsed on itself. No outward nation came in. It collapsed internally of itself. It fell apart. What does that sound like? What kingdom does that sound like in the earth right now? We're following the same course. The United States represents the same thing. Babylon and Rome reborn. What does all this mean? All the kingdoms of this world are captured under Babylon. They are desperately trying to assert their authority and their power and their strength and their rebellion against God and His anointed. That's the big picture of history, beloved. That's God's picture of history, if you will. The dream says all of them are shattered at some point. All of them. They all progress in wickedness. Remember Genesis. I'm going to give you the land when the cycle of the iniquity is complete among the Amorites. They all run cycles. All nations run cycles. And then they overassert themselves in the great nations in power and authority. And they go well beyond what God had originally ordained them to be. And the progressive view of history for them is this. It's pessimistic. From Babylon, everything is in regress sense. That's their story. They're not achieving the heavens. They're not our saviors. They are on a downward spiral and the whole image is represented as from gold getting weaker and weaker and weaker until you get to clay feet. all the kingdoms of this world and their glory are fading i think you know that's hard for us if um if daniel were to be thinking of the united states today which by the way we have all the same symbols of rome it's interesting what would he say of us take the arrogance of a nation and a people who started so well to assert authority over god's creation of marriage who do you think you are oh america who do you think you are oh babylon it's an epitaph of human history one pastor said i think we americans think that our kingdom has been so strong it'll go on forever look around we're rome revisited it's collapsing on itself it's collapsing in itself really we've done it to ourselves this is what rome did now i know how hard that is i people fought and died for this country and we love our country calvin said it's the right thing to love your country nothing wrong with that we are citizens here too we care about our country that's natural that's good and that's right but the question this is pressing us with is a really good one the glory of Babylon is fading this world and its kingdoms are not our home it's right to ask where are our true loyalties where are our true loyalties when Babylon comes crashing down what are we pouring ourselves into what kingdom the pursuit and power and glory of earthly kingdoms when jesus spoke of the kingdom of god what did he say plainly my kingdom is not of this world For if it were of this world, my servants would fight. What is God showing us here then? Well, what God is showing us, what Nebuchadnezzar was being showed, is that there's only one kingdom that will endure. They are all weakening. They are all moving and progressing. They are all moving to judgment. that's what he's saying and daniel was showing nebuchadnezzar what the glory of god's kingdom would be like when it breaks in and this kingdom has all power this kingdom has all glory this kingdom has a king with all might and that's what daniel describes here debbie kenezer when you looked you saw this rock didn't you it was a stone not made with hands and you know what it did it went and it took out the feet of that image and it blew in the wind all of it blew away in the wind and daniel describes that in the midst of the fourth kingdom beloved which was rome god would set up his kingdom on in this powerful way. Look at verse 44. A kingdom that shall never be destroyed and this kingdom shall not be toppled or left to someone else. It shall break into bits all these other kingdoms and this kingdom shall stand forever. The great God, Nebuchadnezzar, has just made known to you what's about to happen. there is a God in heaven he has a kingdom that cannot be shaken God is the author of history he has given you your power he has given the nations and peoples to his son and that's what's going to come out in this book you ever wonder why in the old testament Jesus was called a stone I mean it's one of these things we say stone of stumbling and a rock of offense or the stone which the builder rejected has become the chief cornerstone and it was marvelous in our eyes it was everywhere in the old testament but jesus took it one day and he applied it to himself listen to this a man planted a vineyard rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time when the tenant saw him they talked over the matter this is the heir they said let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours so they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him jesus looked directly at them and asked then what is the meaning of that which is written the stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone listen to this everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to bits anyone on whom it falls will be crushed he's thinking of daniel i'm convinced daniel you say where is this kingdom daniel says it's a mountain that fills the whole earth it's a mountain that fills the whole earth listen to isaiah 2 verse 2 now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all the nations shall flow into it how did jesus describe the coming of his kingdom well he said he wasn't seeking worshipers on this mountain or that mountain but in spirit and in truth he's describing a kingdom that would come not in the way that we would expect how does this kingdom come like a mustard seed the oaks grow slowly don't they mustard seed which is this little seed he says when it's fully grown becomes something giant and great the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his field though it is the smallest of all seeds yet when it grows it's the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds come and perch in its branches here's the truth of the vision today think of all that's happened in the world from the beginning of time the lord has always had a people to himself right from genesis from the beginning they began to gather together in the midst of all these kingdoms and call on the name of the lord and worship the name of the lord and you end in revelation and what does john see in revelation seven he sees a multitude worshiping god listen this is so encouraging for us no man can number of every tribe tongue people and nation that is exactly what the lord is doing and everything we've learned about our king and his kingdom is that it's not like the kingdoms of this world it doesn't come with outward glory he doesn't appear to have a head of gold jesus as the head appears lowly when he showed up on the earth scene he didn't take a throne room in rome he didn't appear to have strength like all the other kings of the world how did this kingdom come with suffering and death and then glory jesus said it unless a kernel of seed goes into the ground and dies then it produces much seeds that's how the kingdom would come through the death of jesus when he was exalted over all through the cross through death he said when i'm lifted up what is he talking about the resurrection i will draw all peoples to myself and the ruler of this world will be cast down it's remarkable a kingdom not bound by space and time not in one locality such as the united states a kingdom that has servants from every nation today if you could only see if you could only see the worshipers right now underground in china you could only see in India what's happening you could only see down in the far reaches of Mexico who's worshipping you could only see deep into the nations of the earth who's calling out on the name of the Lord and it started where? in a little room in Jerusalem when Jesus said wait till the Holy Spirit comes look what's happened it's a powerful kingdom and you're going to see it physically when he comes again all the time and space brought together into eternity think about this the message of scripture throughout is that our kingdom is heavenly with a heavenly city with a heavenly path with a heavenly pursuit with heavenly promises to exiles who are to wait for its arrival and to worship patiently among the kings and kingdoms of the earth this doesn't mean we're uninterested why we're here about our kingdoms and nations that we live in it's interesting what god told daniel and judah before he sent them off to babylon here's what he said this is what the lord almighty the god of Israel says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. You want to know what to do? You want to know how to handle yourself in the midst of all this? Here you go. Here it is. Build houses. Settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. This is in Babylon. Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there. Do not decrease. That's an important message for the church today. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city. Of course we do. To which I've carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it. Because if it prospers, you too will prosper. Then this is what the Lord said. When the 70 years are completed of your time that I've appointed in Babylon, I will come to you and I'll fulfill my good word to bring you back to this place. A type of what? The Jerusalem of the heavenly one. Here it is. Here's your verse. Here's your bumper sticker verse. I know it is. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. The context of that is not that God is promising to do that in America. The context of that is, I have plans for your future in glory in the new Jerusalem. I'm coming. And I'm going to take you home. Your Babylon stay is short. But for now, that's where we are. And in Babylon, we testify to the risen king that all peoples may come to know him and that they may come to believe in the true king and that we may remember as we are here not to love Babylon in a way making it our home but to remember that we are promised something so much better a heavenly city that God has prepared for those who love him who have bowed to his king because here we have no enduring city said hebrews and his kingdom will last forever so believe in christ say that today repent and believe the gospel come to this king turn to him before his kingdom door is shut and receive the joy of this promise do not fear little flock in Babylon. It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. May we look to that stone, the rock of our salvation, who has set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed and a kingdom that will stand forever. That's where you belong. That's the confidence we have. So whatever happens in our times, whatever happens to the United States, whatever happens to any kingdom, we belong to the true king and to the kingdom that'll never be shaken. He wants you to live in that kind of peace and that kind of joy and that kind of hope. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for helping us through this chapter, and we pray that you would, Lord, guide us through this book, that we would have a good understanding and that we would See what you've revealed here and that our eyes would be on our king, the kingdom to which we ultimately belong and that we, oh Lord, would be good citizens here praying for the good of the city and wanting the witness of Christ to advance. May, Lord, in the times we live when kingdoms fall and kingdoms crumble, we look up to heaven and be reminded of where we truly belong. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.