The Message of Daniel 2
Any serious student of the Bible will
agree that some doctrines are not always so readily
apparent. That does not mean they are impossible to
grasp; it just means they are understood only with prayer
and honest study.
Daniel is not a difficult book to understand
if it is taken at face value. That is, if the student
does not go into it with a bias against miracles and
against the plain-sense meaning of scripture. Modern
critics say the book was written long after Daniel was
alive because it is simply too accurate regarding historical
events that were future to his day. This attitude totally
incapacitates the Spirit’s work as Teacher and the result
is a thoroughly skewed, unbiblical conclusion. So,
you might want to refresh your memory by rereading at
least this chapter before considering the conclusions
presented.
The message of chapter two was given
by way of a dream to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon
(modern Iraq), and it was actually very simple and to
the point: though Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful pagan
king, had put an end to what might be called the semi-theocracy
of the Jews, yet his own kingdom, and all those which
will follow him, will eventually be destroyed and replaced
by God’s pure and perfect theocracy on this very earth.
It might be amusing that this heathen monarch so steeped
in idolatry had no problem believing this while most
Christians today just can’t seem to get it.
After having the dream King Nebuchadnezzar
did not understand it. He intuitively knew it was of
great importance, and thus the interpretation was of
equal importance. Now, the king had a caste of religious
advisors he had always used in previous situations,
but it seems quite clear he knew in his heart they were
frauds. Perhaps he knew the role they played in Babylon
was most often for show, and when it came to something
as important as this dream he also knew they just could
not be counted on. Because of such seriousness, and
in order to validate what might be their interpretation,
he required them to repeat the dream to him. Of course,
this could not be done and they were all consigned to
death.
Daniel and his friends were also to
die, but the difference between those four young Jewish
boys and the others was the fact that they understood
they had the sole, living and only real God to talk
to about this matter. God revealed the dream to Daniel
and, as you know, he recounted the dream to the king
and also gave him the interpretation. What a wonderful
faith-building story, and most everyone comes away with
a sense of awe and amazement each time they read it.
Sadly, however, that is about the end
of the story for most Christians. Though they know
the details of the dream intimately, yet they somehow
fail to grasp the interpretation. Unfortunately, most
readers think the bulk of the interpretation is found
as it relates to the details of the image itself. Though
that is very important, yet to miss the star of the
show is to miss the entire message. And, the star of
the show is the stone cut out without hands that smashes
and puts an end to all the preceding kingdoms. Further,
it grows and fills the whole earth (not heaven!), and
will endure forever.
If the student fails to grasp this
fact the entire chapter is left unfinished; it is like
looking at a panoramic masterpiece and only seeing part
of the scene. We must never miss the fact that in chapter
2:4 through chapter 7:28 God is talking with a specific
view of the Gentile world in mind. And this is the
door through which the entire world — Jew and Gentile
— must enter in order to understand the plan of the
ages — that is, God is going to totally destroy every
iota of secular human statesmanship and will install
His king on His throne in His land and rule with a rod
of iron over His earth. Some of the details of how
this will be done are discovered as one studies through
the Bible, as well as the fact that other details have
been kept concealed. But, in its pure essence this
is the termination point of the interpretation according
to God.
Nothing could be more simple, yet nothing
could be of more importance to our own generation.
At least one reason so many people are disillusioned
by the guarantees of so-called enlightened and educated
society, and are so hesitant about a collapsing financial
system and are just plain scared by the entire world
having gone crazy with certain communists and Moslems
rattling sabers while standing next to nuclear triggers,
is because they flat-out do not know what is happening
to their world around them, and they don’t even know
where to go for the answers.
What causes even more sadness is the
fact many of those same people are Christians. And
that is because they have bought into the horribly distorted
idea that Israel no longer plays a role in God’s plan
and that the church has now been given the promises
God made to the nation of Israel.
To be quite honest, if I believed that
stuff I would be on the verge of despondency myself,
and for several reasons. First, I would be unable to
trust God because I would fear He might, on a whim,
void the unconditional promises He made to the church
like He did those He made to Israel. Second, I would
fear heaven might not be all God said it would be.
After all, if He cannot, or will not, bring about ...the
period of restoration of all things about which God
spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient
time (Acts 3:21) then why should I believe He will
bring about anything else His holy prophets predicted
including what the New Testament says about heaven?
Can we trust Paul to have been correct about the rapture
in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15? And what
about the promises in Isaiah 2,11, etc.? That kind
of thinking is totally void of hope, peace and joy,
and frankly, I see no blessing at all in living like
that.
That is why it is so important to understand
the message of Daniel two. So, we might ask, exactly
what should we remember about this message?
The first thing about the message is
it belongs to you and me as Gentiles. Daniel 2:4 to
7:28 was written in Aramaic (not Arabic!). Aramaic
was the language of the Gentile world in those days.
The entire book is important, but this emphasizes the
importance of those six chapters to non-Jews. It must
be understood that all four kingdoms in the vision are
Gentile, and that Israel eventually came under the control
of all four: the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians,
the Greeks and the Romans. And, since 605BC when Daniel
was taken captive the land of Israel has not been under
a genuine Davidic Jewish monarchy. The fact of the
matter is God was showing to Nebuchadnezzar, and to
us, that this ongoing anti-Semitic Gentile world will
one day be destroyed to be replaced by the reign of
David’s greatest Son, Jesus the Christ. In fact, the
dream was in answer to the king’s prayer (2:29) regarding
just such a matter.
Second, the message firmly emphasizes
that God alone is Master of both time and world events.
Nothing in the realm of Jewish and Gentile world politics
happens by random accident. Though God does not orchestrate
death and tragedy, yet He most certainly corrals humanity’s
evil and uses it to bring about the fruition of His
plan (2:21). And that includes who becomes a prime
minister, president or monarch.
Third, the message declares in no uncertain
terms that the world’s greatest Jew will become the
world’s greatest King. Have another look at Zechariah
14 and Revelation 19. During the millennium Jesus will
rule with a rod of iron and will summarily smash into
subjection anyone, commoner or aristocrat, who might
bow up to Him during His reign. His kingdom will fill
the entire earth, and the saved of the ages will reign
with Him. There will be no place on this planet where
anyone might live separated from the powerful and authoritative
theocratic reign of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Satan will be bound and peace will abound. Such peace,
prosperity, restoration and blessing will never happen
during the Times of the Gentiles, no matter who leads
and no matter what they do. Bank on that.
Funny, but it seems this is the part
of the message most Christians just cannot accept.
A careful study might reveal they do not understand
“redemption”. To redeem something is to buy it back;
to own it by act of creation and then to own it by paying
a price for it after it had been taken away. That principle
applies to humanity and to the earth. Isaiah and other
Hebrew prophets spoke of such aspects of creation’s
redemption, but those texts are most often rejected
out of hand by multitudes who claim the title of Christian.
Jesus died for the sins of humanity, and though the
earth did not sin against God, it has been subjected
to the curse of man’s sin since the Garden. The ancient
Hebrew prophets spoke clearly of the time when the curse
will be lifted (e.g. Isaiah 2,11,65, Ezekiel 47, Joel
3, etc.), and that time is coming. Just as sure as
the sun will rise tomorrow morning, that time is coming.
We see from this that death and hell
get nothing from God. Saved humans will have their
spirits, souls and immortal glorified bodies for all
eternity. Further, the earth will be “restored” (God’s
precise word, not mine) for 1000 years, and just prior
to the eternal state it will be burned by an inconceivable
fire (2 Peter 3:10) which will destroy every evidence
of human rebellion and deprivation. There will not
be even one cursed molecule left over from the old earth.
Lucifer and his minions will only get hell, and not
even one square inch of this planet. Though Satan is
currently the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4),
that will all change soon. Millions in the last few
months have been talking about “change we can believe
in”. Well, change is coming indeed, but it won’t be
the kind they have in mind!
Fourth, the message is clear about
Jesus’ kingdom being on this earth. The four great
empires were all on this earth as secular history bears
out. The stone cut out without hands will destroy every
vestige of them and will grow in their place. In fact,
Daniel says very clearly it will fill the entire earth,
not heaven. See again Isaiah 2:1-4 for a snapshot as
to how all this will look.
And, what should this message do for
us? It should make us aware of the fact that the taking
out of the church is imminent. That should always be
our prevailing thought. But, there is more.
We can rest at peace. If there is
one commodity about which the world knows nothing it
is peace. Of course, since we are presently living
on this cursed planet we have natural concerns about
any number of matters that affect our livelihoods and
families. Yet, we do not fear as the world fears.
We do not fear Ahmadinejad because he is a pawn in God’s
hand. We do not fear Kim Jong Il for he, too, is an
impotent despot on a leash. We do not fear a falling
stock market and a devalued dollar for our citizenship
is not of this world. We do not fear that some sleazy
politicians in Washington wish to remove our liberty
for we understand real liberty is at hand.
And, if the Lord’s coming is further
delayed we see how Christians can face death without
fear. Though death is the enemy of all mankind, yet
even now we can speak directly to the Grim Reaper instead
of talking about him (1 Corinthians 15:55). No fame,
no amount of money and no credentials awarded by any
human institution can offer that!
Further, we can see the future — a
blessing given to all who are believers if they would
simply accept it. We are not stunned by any turn of
world events, for we know what is in store. In fact,
about the only thing that surprises us is that Jesus
has not come for His church before now! Perhaps the
only question we might ask in closing takes us back
to the beginning. If Nebuchadnezzar the pagan king
could characterize this terminal generation that has
so much more knowledge and information than he had,
how do you think he might describe it in light of its
vile and sordid unbelief? DLM
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