The Rise and Fall of the World, Part 1
Daniel 2:31-40
Boy, I can tell that your hearts are blessed and warm tonight by the fellowship we've already shared and enjoyed. So long as I come to Grace Church Sunday after Sunday, in fact day after day after day, I come to study. Years go by and I never ever grow weary or close to that of the tremendous joy of the blessing of fellowship with God's people, praising Him and studying His word.
Especially am I rejoicing in our study tonight - turn with me to Daniel 2. For our study tonight we want to begin to look at the section from verses 41 through 49. The second half of this second chapter. Now we covered verses 1 to 30 last time. Now whether or not we'll cover the next half of the chapter tonight I really don't know. But I do know that God has some tremendous things to say to us in this second portion beginning in verse 31.
Before we get into the portion of scripture that we're going to be specifically concerned with, let me just say some introductory things. We're all watching rather sadly - we who know Christ - the fall of the United States of America. As sad as it is, it shouldn't really shock us. The reason is because it has always been and always will be the lot of nations, nations of the world, that the kingdoms of men will go the way of all flesh and ultimately end in collapse and ruin.
Anything based on the might of man, anything established on the wisdom of man will suffer the same kind of deterioration that man himself suffers since the fall. Dissipation is man's history. It is a devolutionary process not an evolutionary process. Man is not ascending, man is descending. In 1 Timothy 3:13, God says, "Evil men shall grow worse and worse." Things don't get better, they get worse.
We see decay working in our society everywhere - nationally, socially, domestically, individually, organically. All things in this world are caught in a process of deterioration that began when man fell into sin in the garden. And each new combination of forces or nations that has tried to achieve a lasting kingdom invariably meets the same inevitable overthrow. No matter what the intentions are, no matter what the safeguards are, the dissolution of manmade effort in inevitable.
So that history as studied becomes a succession of defeat. An empire begins, reaches a peak and fades and dies and another one is built out of its ashes. We are looking at America. America in the past reached its apex. We're on the down side, the back slope. We are watching a defeat taking place. We see the dissolution of our country on every hand. Political humanism ruin the government. A government once established on the principles on the word of God. Godless atheism dominates our education. International blackmail threatens us all over the world. A lack of conviction and a lack of courage changes the way we approach problems.
The destruction of the family is causing a loss of all orientation among people and a rise of psychological and psychiatric problems. The deterioration of the family contributed by immorality, living together without marriage, working women, women's lib, passive fathers, homosexuality, etc. We've seen a steady decline in authority to the point where in many cases there is absence of authority.
In parts of our society we have lost the ability to control behavior. There's an ever-increasing rise of crime, lax criminal justice. We are constantly being corrupted at a faster rate through materialism, alcohol, drugs, sex, total selfishness. And we can go on and on.
We are deteriorating just like every other nation ever deteriorated. Because built into America is the same basic problem. We have feet of clay like the image in Daniel. And clay says Daniel represents the seed of men. And wherever anything is built on men, it is built for dissolution.
Fred Barshag gave me a very interesting article this week and I want to share it with you. It says the following was written by Professor Alexander Tyler nearly 200 years ago while our 13 original colonies were still a part of Great Britain. In fact, Tyler was at the time writing about the fall of the Athenian Republic over 2,000 years earlier. This is what he said:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until he voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship.
"The average age," says Tyler, "of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." For us, that was 1976. "These nations have progressed through the following sequence:" - now listen to this - "from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency and from dependency back into bondage."
Every nation follows the same cycle. And democracy seems to follow it just as fast or in some cases faster than any other form of government. By the way, it might shock you to know that democracy is not God's form of government. God's form is theocracy where one person rules, and that person is God.
The world today then is simply going through the same cycle of dissolution that it has always endured. We can see the seeds of dissolution very, very manifesting. As we look at the world today, we see the world as a vast stage. A vast stage with the final curtain still down. And we get the feeling that the actors are behind that final curtain, preparing for the last scene in the drama of human history. The play is almost done. There remains by one more scene. And that final scene is the latter days and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If we step close to the stage, behind the curtain we can hear the commotion of the stagehands as they set up the machinery and set the stage for that final act. And now as we come to Daniel 2, Daniel takes us behind the curtain before it rises. We're going to see incredible insights, not only in Daniel 2 but from Daniel 2 to the end of the book. The unfolding of the last act on the stage of human history.
Now tonight as we look at chapter 2, verses 31 and following, we're going to see the great history of the Gentile world rule. Jesus said there would be a time titled - Luke 21:24 - the times of the Gentiles. And it had already begun, it would come to an end at the coming of Christ. In fact that verse says Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. There will be a period of time when Jerusalem is under the control. When the nation of Israel is under bondage to some degree or another, the Gentile world power. That is known as the times of the Gentiles.
Interestingly enough it began with the Babylonian captivity. It began with Nebuchadnezzar, it ends with the coming of Jesus Christ. We're living in that time right now. Israel does not possess the fullness of its inheritance, Israel does not dwell in its land in peace, Israel does not possess everything from the Mediterranean to the Tigris and Euphrates as in the original Palestinian covenant.
These are the times of the Gentiles. Gentile nations have dominated that part of the world since Nebuchadnezzar, and they will to some degree hold power over it until Jesus comes again.
In Ezekiel 21, Ezekiel tells us that the glory had departed from Israel. The glory had departed from Israel. Now God in a sense, when Israel went into captivity, just moved away. And Ichabod, the glory has departed was written on that land.
Now listen to me. The second chapter of Daniel then indicates that God transfers the leadership of this Earth from the Jew and Israel to the Gentiles. Israel takes a back seat. Israel goes into captivity and never returns to its former glory ever, not even today. Not until Jesus comes. Israel should've been the center of the world. Israel should've been the pattern, the leader of the world. Israel should've been that very special people God originally intended them to be, through whom we're given the law and the ordinances and the covenants and the promises. Israel should've been the messenger for the world. But Israel tragically failed.
In Deuteronomy 32:8, When the most high divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. While the Lord's portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. Originally, Israel was His people. Jacob was the lot of His inheritance. The center of the world and the focus of everything was on God's chosen people, Israel. That's the way it was. That's the way God intended it to be.
It was God's purpose that the king, the incarnate Son of God should come and reign in Jerusalem. And from Him would flow out blessings to the whole world. But as you know the tragic history of Israel, Israel wouldn't obey God, Israel wouldn't love God, Israel went into idolatry and spiritual adultery and all kinds of other evil things and God finally had to remove Israel from the central place. They were to be the place of messiah.
In Psalm 2, the second of the psalms, God made it clear. He said, "Yet" - verse 6 - "have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." God's place was Zion. God's king was to sit in Zion. No one was to usurp that place. But what happened? First the kingdom was divided because of the terrible sins of Solomon. The ten tribes in the north split off and became known as Israel. The two tribes remaining in the south - Judah and Benjamin - constituted the nation of Judah. So you have Judah and Israel. The northern tribes decided they'd rather have idolatry than the true worship of God. So they pursued their idolatry and they were literally destroyed by the Assyrians.
The righteous out of the ten had migrated to the south. And so the south was the remnant of the ten plus Judah and Benjamin. But sadly to say they also rebelled. They also fell into idolatry, and not many years later they too were hauled off into captivity in Babylon, and that's where we pick up the story when we come to Daniel.
It is the story of Judah, the southern kingdom, carried into captivity. And the beginning of Gentile domination of the land if Israel. The glory days are over. The days of the great are over. Jerusalem is a rubble, devastated, decimated and the times of the Gentiles have begun. And it will not again be Israel in its fullness until the messiah returns.
Now the sweep of history from Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity all the way to the time of Jesus Christ is covered in this one chapter, and I want you to see this. This is a very powerful section of scripture. Everything from Nebuchadnezzar all the way to the coming of Jesus Christ is touched on in this chapter in a broad and general way.
Now stay with me. Though Syria and Egypt have tried repeatedly to overthrow Jerusalem they have never succeeded. Why? They were always thwarted by the power of God. And of course the Syria and Egypt are seen as the great enemies of Israel because Egypt is to the south and Syria is to the north and east. Syria and Egypt on many occasions have tried to destroy Israel. They had tried to sack, plunder and wipe out Jerusalem but thy never succeeded. Century after century after century, they were thwarted in that effort and the reason is it was not yet God's time.
Jerusalem would not be trodden down by the Gentiles - listen - until the wickedness of Jerusalem was full. And finally when God said that's all I'll take, then Nebuchadnezzar came then the decimation of Jerusalem then the people who were carried into captivity and then begins the times of the Gentiles. Dominion was removed from the nation Israel.
Now as we come to Daniel, Israel is in captivity. Daniel is serving as a captive Jew, however because of his capabilities and talents has been elevated to serve in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar to assist him to work with Jewish affairs. Because of his faithful, uncompromising and amazing character, he has a very unique place in the land.
Now Daniel then begins with the times of the Gentiles. Now let me just say this: immediately in chapter 2, God gives to Daniel the prophecy through the dream of Nebuchadnezzar that describes this period of history. It describes it from the beginning to the end, how it ends, that's even described as well. And as I studied that, I thought to myself well why does such a prophecy come at the very beginning of the times of the Gentiles. If it's going to last for thousands of years - it's already lasted over 2,000 years - if it's going to last for all this period of time, why give this prophecy at the very beginning? Well, I think there's a good reason.
I think as soon as Israel went into captivity, as soon as the land of Judah was taken captivity, as soon as God's people knew that Gentiles were ruling in their land, God wanted them to know that that was not a permanent thing. Why? Because if they felt that it was all over for Israel permanently, they would've begun to question the credibility of God. Because God at many times said he would never forsake His people, he would ever keep his covenant, he would always fulfill his promise, he would never forget Jerusalem. And so I believe that no sooner are they in captivity than God immediately reveals the fullness of the plan from beginning to end. The start of the times of the Gentiles and the ending of the times of the Gentiles when Israel returns to its place of glory so that they will know that God has not failed in all His good promise.
At this time when the prophecy comes in chapter 2, Jerusalem is in ruins, the temple is torn down, Judah has been destroyed, the sacred vessels of the temple have been carried off and placed in a temple of an idol. Glory is departed from between the [inaudible] and the arc of the covenant. Ichabod has been written over the people, the children of Israel stand of the banks of the rivers of Babylon hanging their harps on the willows because they have no song to sing, and the immediate question is has God forever forsaken His people? And the ringing prophecy of Daniel 2 says no.
Is this the end? Has God forgotten His covenant? Are all the promises lost? Is God's word untrue? No. And so comes immediately this fantastic, incredible revelation. Now let's look at it. In the first 31 verses of Daniel 2, we have the dream received. We're not going to go back over that. If you were here last week, you got in on it. The dream was received. One night, Nebuchadnezzar, this pagan king who didn't believe in the god of Israel, was just about to go to sleep and as he was lying on his bed, according to verse 29, he was lying on his bed thinking, he began to think about his empire and he ruled the known world and he was the most powerful monarch there was. And he began to think about what will happen when I die? What is it going to be like in the future?
And as he was musing over these thoughts he fell asleep and he dreamed some dreams, the Bible says. One of those dreams was a very special one given to him by God. He knew he wouldn't be around forever. He had seen other empires come and go. He became deeply concerned by his own empire and so he dreamed a dream. One of the dreams, the one that God gave him was a picture - now watch this - of history from Nebuchadnezzar to the return of Jesus Christ. And incredible prophecy in a dream. The period that he saw was the time of the Gentiles, the world ruler during the setting aside of Israel.
Look not - verse 28, and that'll frame it for you of chapter 2 - "there is a God in heaven, says Daniel, who reveals secrets and makes known to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, what shall be" - now watch this - "in the latter days." Now there is a key phrase, and we're going to kind of give you some teaching tonight. It's going to be a little academic so hang on. The latter days: that is not a phrase restricted to Nebuchadnezzar's understanding. That is not a phrase restricted to Nebuchadnezzar's lifetime. When it says the latter days, that is what we call an eschatological statement. From the Greek word, Escatos, which means last things. That is a term that refers all the way to the last days to messiah's time. In fact, the latter days is a repeated prophetic statement.
You can find it in your scriptures in Genesis 49, Deuteronomy 4, Deuteronomy 31, Numbers 34, Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah 30, Jeremiah 48, Jeremiah 49, Ezekiel 38, Daniel 10, Josiah 3, Michael 4 and other places. And all the time when you see the latter days, it encompasses the messiah returning or the messiah's time. So it's a very broad term taking us to the latter days.
As far as I can see, every Old Testament prophetic writing that refers to the latter days, encompasses the consummation of history in the coming of Messiah. So that very phrase there, "What shall be in the latter days," in the case that Nebuchadnezzar was to see all the way to the messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The New Testament uses this term the very same way. The New Testament, for example, it's used in Acts 2, the latter days. It's used in 2 Peter 3 and every time it's used it encompasses the consummation of history and the kingdom of messiah. So Nebuchadnezzar was revealed by God a prophecy of the latter days encompassing all of the history of the nations till Christ returned.
Look back at verse 28 again. It says what shall be in the latter days, thy dream and the visions of thy head upon my bed are these. As for thee O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed. What should come to pass hereafter. And he reveals secrets makes known to thee what shall come to pass. There you have to phrase twice - what shall come to pass. Again, Nebuchadnezzar was thinking of a succession in history. So Nebuchadnezzar sees what shall come to pass all the way to the latter days.
Now Nebuchadnezzar received this dream. Then what happened? Do you remember? He forgot it, didn't he? He forgot the dream. It left his mind. I think God gave it to him and I think God let him forget it because God wanted to prove a point. I think he remembered some hazy things so that he could recall it when Daniel told it to him. But basically I think he forgot the dream. Now some of your Bible versions may have given you problems on that last week because where it says in the authorized version, that the dream went from him. Some versions say the thing has gone from me. Others say the command from me is sure or the command from me is firm. Now what, the Hebrew says the thing has gone from me. But some have introduced the concept of an Aramaic source that would see - the Aramaic, I should say, basically says the thing has gone from me - but some say it comes from a different Aramaic word meaning the command is firm. And he's not saying I'm forgot it at all, he's just trying to test all of his wise men. So he pretends to forget.
Now frankly, folks, as you look at the text it could go either way. The reason I believe he forgot the dream is because that makes better sense to me in the context. You say why? Well, why would Nebuchadnezzar have a dream that scared the life out of him that absolutely panicked him, that gave him a good case of apoplexy, a dream that cost him such frenzy that he couldn't sleep, that he lost his sleep. Why would he then pretend not to remember that and start to play games with his wise men? It would seem to me that if the panic was as deep as the text indicates it was, he wouldn't be fooling around just trying to prove that his wise men couldn't really tell him the answers. Because as it turned out, he kept saying to them, "Tell me the dream and then its interpretation." And they would say, "Well, you tell us the dream and we'll tell you the interpretation. We can't figure out the dream if you don't tell us." And some say, well, he was just pretending not to remember to smoke out their phoniness.
But you see that would've been completely off his point. He was trying to get an answer to this tremendously disturbing dream, not try to unmask his wise men. That could save itself for another day when things weren't quite as panicky. The fact that he made the wise men tell the dream and its interpretation. And he was so distressed that they couldn't, he said I'm going to kill every one, gather every single one of them and kill every one of those. Now that'll give you a little idea of the anxiety of his heart.
By the way, when Daniel finally told him the dream, he never killed anybody, which shows you that he wasn't really trying to kill his wise men, he was really trying to get the answer of the dream. And that's why I believe he forgot it. And I think God helped him forget it, just like God gave it to him, so that God could smoke out the phonies among the wise men and put Daniel in the place he wanted him in. The only one who had the answer was Daniel. He was the only one. This was no time for playing games. Daniel stepped in to be the channel of God's revelation and when he did, the king spared all the wise men, showing that that was not his intention. He just wanted to get his dream cleared up.
Now God had called by Daniel the revealer of secrets, and that's exactly what happens beginning in verse 31. The dream is recalled, the dream received in the first 30 verses, then in 31 the dream recalled. "Daniel remembered as God's chosen man" - and back in chapter 1, verse 17, it said that Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now Daniel was given this gift by God to be able to deal with dreams, to be able to interpret dreams, to be able to reveal dreams and now was his moment.
You see God was pushing Daniel up the ladder and this will be the final straw. Nebuchadnezzar was already convinced this man was ten times wiser than all of his wise men put together. And now when this happens, he makes him prime minister of the whole place. Let's see the dream recalled, verse 31.
Daniel speaks and this is what he says to him: "Thou O King, here's what you saw." Now get this, Daniel doesn't know because the king hasn't told him. There's no way humanly that Daniel could get this information. The king says I can't remember my dream, and so first Daniel has to tell him what his dream was and then interpret it. First he says, "Thou O king sawest and behold a great image." The Aramaic word here is statue. It's not an idol that you worship, it's just a statue.
This great image whose brightness was excellence stood before t