God of Gods, King of Kings

Amen. You can be seated.

Hopefully, you have your Bibles open by now to the book of Daniel.

And our passage this morning will be Daniel chapter 2.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

I want to say thank you to our three readers this morning.

They did a great job reading what partially was a difficult text

with some difficult names and difficult words.

Y'all did excellent, so thank you for doing that.

And now, we ask for the Lord's help to understand what we've read.

So, if you would, bow with me once more in prayer.

Lord, apart from your grace, apart from your help,

we cannot understand what we've read.

And so, we pray now that by the power of your Spirit,

would you give us eyes to see and ears to hear

and hearts to joyfully receive what we've read,

that we might rejoice in the truth of your sovereign reign over all the earth.

We love you, Lord.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I hope you noticed a theme in the songs that we sang this morning of the Lord's kingship.

You know, the songs we sing, they aren't random or accidental.

We choose the songs that we sing intentionally

to preach the message in a different way

through singing what we're going to preach through preaching the Word of God.

As I read through Daniel chapter 2 and studied through it this week,

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

I was reflecting on some of the richest works of theological depth and truth

that the church has sung throughout the ages.

And two songs in particular came to mind.

And the first is like this.

I won't sing it.

And my God is so big, so strong, and so mighty.

You can go along if you know it.

There's nothing my God cannot do.

The mountains are His.

The rivers are His.

The skies are His handiwork too.

My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty.

Y'all know it.

Come on.

There's nothing my God cannot do.

The second one is like it.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

There's nothing wrong with a little repetition, is there?

Now, we learn these truths as children through singing.

But the fact of the matter is, as we age, as we grow older,

the more time we spend in Babylon,

we can begin to wonder whether or not these truths are actually true.

Does God have the whole world in His hands?

Is God so big and so mighty that there's nothing my God cannot do?

Well, here as we come to Daniel chapter 2,

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

I want us to remember the context here that Daniel is riding to exiles.

He's riding to God's people here who are placed in Babylon,

here in enemy territory.

And he's reminding them and us this morning of these very simple,

very basic truths.

The truths for us as we live in exile,

here in enemy territory,

that God is still in control.

Amen?

The Lord is God of gods and King of kings.

That's what we've titled the sermon this morning.

God of gods, King of kings.

That's a truth that we have to remember in our days here in exile.

And two implications of that simple truth

that we'll see here in Daniel chapter 2 this morning.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

Two implications of God's reign over all things.

That first, all wisdom belongs to Him.

And second, we'll see all history belongs to Him.

The first implication here of God's reign

is that all wisdom belongs to Him.

Look there to verse 1 of chapter 2 with me.

Daniel tells us that Nebuchadnezzar,

in his second year of his reign,

he had some bad dreams.

A dream so bad that they kept him up.

He couldn't sleep.

I don't know if you've ever been woken up by a dream.

I have.

Sometimes dreams can be unsettling.

And sometimes they can seem real.

Sometimes they can disturb us.

Well, in this instance, this was very real.

And in God's providence, this was meant to be unsettling.

And unlike most of our dreams,

God was genuinely communicating a truth,

something very real for Nebuchadnezzar here in his dreams.

And Daniel tells us that he's so bothered by the dreams

that he commands that the magicians and the enchanters

and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans,

basically all of his wisest informants,

to come in and tell him his dreams.

And so they all come together,

and they stand before the king,

and Nebuchadnezzar says to them,

I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.

And so Daniel tells us the Chaldeans spoke up and said reasonably so.

Tell your servants the dream,

and we will tell you the interpretation.

Give us something to work with here.

You can see their predicament.

Nebuchadnezzar, he's put these wise men of Babylon

in an impossible situation.

He wants them to tell him not only the meaning of the dream,

he wants them to tell him what he dreamed there alone in his own mind,

in his own bed at night as he dreamed these dreams.

It's an impossible situation.

And not only this, but he's so serious about this command

that he says,

if you can tell me both the dream and the interpretation,

you will be rewarded and showered with gifts and honors and rewards.

But if you cannot tell me the dream and its interpretation,

look there to verse 5.

It says,

You shall be torn limb from limb,

and your houses shall be laid in ruins.

Nebuchadnezzar's not messing around, is he?

This is a serious dilemma.

How in the world can they possibly begin to know the king's dreams?

They can't.

In fact, they know they can't.

And so they tried again and said,

You tell us the dream,

and we'll tell you the interpretation.

But the king's word was firm.

You tell me both the dream and the interpretation.

If you can tell me the dream,

then I know that you can tell me the interpretation.

I remember when I was in high school,

I went to the movies with some friends,

and I came out after the movie was over to my car,

and on my car there was a flyer.

Don't you love getting those on your car, right?

And typically I would not respond or call the person that put a flyer on my car,

but this time I took them up on the offer because, to my surprise,

this was a flyer, an advertisement for one free dream interpretation.

And I couldn't wait.

And so we got in the car, and we sped back to my house.

We got in the house, and we ran up to my room, and we called the number,

and the person picked up on the other end,

and they began to ask for some personal information.

What's your name?

Where do you live?

And it's time to mess with them.

And so we said,

Wait a minute.

Shouldn't you know my name?

He said,

No, no, no, no.

You have to tell me your name.

I said,

Okay.

Well, where do you live?

Wait a minute.

Shouldn't you know where I live?

If you're supernaturally in tune like this,

and you're prophetic,

and you can know these things,

I said,

No, no, no.

You have to tell us where you live.

And so we did the same exchange a few different times

as they asked more and more questions,

and finally it came to the point where they were ready to hear the dream

and said,

What did you dream?

I said,

Wait a minute.

Shouldn't you know what I dreamed?

And she said,

Don't call this number again.

I don't got the phone.

And it was done.

Right?

We were messing with her,

but really what we were doing,

right,

is we were testing her.

We were putting her claims to wisdom and knowledge and ability to the test.

And nobody can tell you the dream and the interpretation.

Anybody can make up an interpretation to a dream.

But who can tell you exactly what you dream?

Nobody can do that.

And that's,

And that's,

in fact,

what the Chaldeans say in response.

Look there to verse 10.

They said,

There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand.

No one has ever asked us to do anything like this.

The thing that the king asks is difficult,

and no one can show it to the king,

except the gods,

whose dwelling is not with flesh.

And what I want us to see here is that this is a test of Babylon's wisdom.

The king has been given a supernatural revelation.

He's been given a spiritual dream.

This is a vision from God.

And in his moment of desperation,

he turns to the wisdom of Babylon.

And despite all of their education,

despite all of their training,

despite all of their knowledge,

they simply could not do what needed to be done.

This is a failure of Babylonian wisdom.

The Nebuchadnezzar had asked the impossible.

On one hand,

the impossible request was,

Tell me what I dreamed.

No man can do that, right?

That's an impossible request.

But we also need to understand,

there's another layer of impossibility here,

that sometimes at first glance we tend to skip over.

It is impossible for people who are of the flesh,

to discern and interpret and understand spiritual things.

And Nebuchadnezzar's mistake,

is that he turns to the wisdom of Babylon,

in order to understand the truth of God.

That's impossible.

What we need to understand is that unbelievers,

people who are of the flesh,

simply cannot understand spiritual truth.

Even if they could somehow guess the dream,

which they couldn't,

they wouldn't have a shot at understanding the truth of the vision.

Why?

Well, for the same reason that Nebuchadnezzar

couldn't understand the truth of his dream.

They are people of the flesh,

and people of the flesh cannot understand spiritual truth.

It doesn't matter.

This is a lesson for us, church.

It doesn't matter how educated you are,

how influential you are,

how high up in the ranks of society and culture you have climbed,

how many degrees are hanging in your office.

It doesn't matter.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14,

1 Corinthians 2:14

he says,

the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,

for they are folly to him,

and he is not able to understand them,

because they are spiritually discerned.

And Nebuchadnezzar's mistake here is that he turned to natural people,

seeking spiritual wisdom,

and predictably they failed.

So verse 12, it says,

because of this, the king was very angry and very furious,

and he commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.

So the decree went out,

and the wise men were about to be killed,

and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them.

But verse 14 says that Daniel replies with prudence and discretion to Ariok,

the captain of the king's guard.

And he says,

why is the decree of the king so urgent?

And Ariok made the matter known to Daniel,

and Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time

that he might show the interpretation to the king.

Now what's so special about Daniel?

This Judean teenager who thinks that he can do better than all the wise men of Babylon.

At first glance, this seems like a bold move, doesn't it?

None of them can do it,

but it requests a time for me that I can show the king the interpretation.

It looks like a bold move,

but actually as we see how he approaches this,

it's actually profoundly humble,

because unlike the Chaldeans,

he doesn't rely on his own flesh to do it, does he?

And look at what he does.

Daniel, you remember, he's been trained in Babylon's wisdom.

He spent three years soaking in the Babylonian ways,

learning their wisdom, learning their way,

but he doesn't rely on Babylon's wisdom, does he?

Verse 17 says,

Instead, Daniel and his friends sought the mercy of God in prayer.

Verse 19 says,

The mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.

You know, there's a saying that's often attributed to the Navy SEALs.

Speaking of times of desperation and crisis and a moment of need,

they say,

You don't rise to the level of the occasion,

you fall to the level of your training.

You've ever heard that?

You don't rise to the occasion,

you fall to the level of your training.

Well, here's Daniel facing execution.

I mean, this is the moment, right?

This is a high stakes, high pressure moment.

He doesn't rise to the occasion,

He falls to the level of his training.

But not the three years of training in Babylon's wisdom.

He falls to the level of his training in a lifetime of training himself

in dependence upon the Lord in prayer.

Do you see the difference here between Daniel's approach and the Chaldean's approach?

I hope you see this.

I think that this is what Daniel is showing us here in this first half of the second chapter.

It's two polar opposite approaches to wisdom.

On the one end is the wisdom of man.

With all of this is education and accolades and success and self-dependence.

That's on one end.

On the other end is the wisdom of God.

These are two polar opposite approaches to wisdom.

They do not mesh well with one another.

And we see the end of each one as well, don't we?

Dependence on the wisdom of man.

What's the end of dependence on the wisdom of man?

It's destruction.

It's death.

It's violence.

It ends in death.

But dependence upon the wisdom of the Lord is the path of life.

And as I read this and think about this,

I'm reminded of Psalm chapter 1.

Psalms 1 · chapter mention

Psalm chapter 1 which says,

Psalms 1 · chapter mention

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers,

but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

And on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does he prospers.

But the wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Church,

our call during our time of exile

is to cling to the wisdom of God.

And we need to understand that the essence of sin

is rejecting God's wisdom

and instead pursuing a wisdom of our own making.

Whatever that might look like,

whatever shape that might take,

sin is rejecting the Lord's wisdom

and pursuing our own.

Well we've seen all the way back

even in the first pages of scripture,

all the way in Genesis chapter 3,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

that the path of man's wisdom

ends in destruction.

Genesis 3 verse 6,

Genesis 3:6

it tells us,

when the woman saw that the tree was good for food

and that it was a delight to the eyes

and that the tree was desired to make one wise,

she took of its fruit and ate.

She also gave some to her husband

who was with her and he ate.

And we know that as a result of rejecting God's wisdom

and instead pursuing a wisdom of their own device,

they were exiled from the garden.

The wages of sin was death.

That's the path and the end of man's wisdom.

But we're told again that there is another path.

The fear of the Lord

is the beginning of wisdom.

That doesn't come from us.

It doesn't come from our own flesh.

It doesn't come ultimately from our own study,

from our own capabilities,

although the Lord uses these things for our good.

This comes from the Lord.

Church, if we want to grow in wisdom,

here's a simple path for you.

According to James,

Treg quoted this verse earlier.

He says,

If any of you lacks wisdom,

let him ask God,

who gives generously to all without reproach,

and it will be given to him.

If anyone lacks wisdom,

let him pray.

Ask God for wisdom.

Seek his wisdom in prayer.

It's amazing, isn't it?

Daniel accomplished more in one night of prayer

than he was able to accomplish in three years of study

in Babylonian wisdom.

Christian,

Christian,

when's the last time

that you got down on your knees,

went into your closet,

and prayed,

and asked the Lord for wisdom

to guide your steps,

to open up his word?

The Lord has written a book for us

full of his wisdom,

full of his direction.

When's the last time

you opened up his word

and said,

Lord,

let your word be a lamp

unto my feet

and a light

for my path.

Church,

the Lord wants us

to grow in wisdom.

He's given us

these very simple means

of pursuing wisdom

through prayer

and through his word.

How often are we

coming to his word?

And most clearly,

church,

he's given us

his own son

who is the very wisdom

of God.

See,

the glorious truth

of the gospel

that the Chaldeans

completely got wrong.

Remember what they said?

They said,

no one can know

these spiritual things,

only the gods,

and they would never

come down to dwell among us.

We know better,

don't we?

God has come down to us

in the person of Christ,

the son of God,

made flesh

so that we might

know the person

and the glory

and the wisdom

of God.

Paul tells us

in Colossians,

we've been studying this

in our men's Bible study

on Thursdays,

that all the treasures

of wisdom and knowledge

are hidden in Christ.

Outside of Christ,

there is no wisdom.

But inside of Christ,

church,

Christian,

you can have all

the wisdom you want

if you would seek it

in Jesus Christ.

So Daniel prays

and the Lord reveals,

but Daniel didn't stop praying

once he got what he wanted,

did he?

Now he responds to the Lord

with this beautiful prayer

of worship

in verses 20-23.

Look there with me.

He says,

Blessed be the name of God

forever and ever

to whom belong wisdom

and might.

He changes times

and seasons.

He removes kings

and sets up kings.

He gives wisdom

to the wise

and knowledge

knowledge

to those who have

understanding.

He reveals deep

and hidden things.

He knows

what is in the darkness

and the light

dwells with him.

To you,

O God of my fathers,

I give thanks and praise

for you have given me

wisdom and might.

Do you hear that?

All wisdom belongs

to you

and you have given

wisdom

to me.

You've made known

the matter to me

what we asked of you

for you've made known

to us

the king's matter.

All wisdom

belongs

to him.

But there's a second

point of emphasis

here in this prayer,

isn't there?

All wisdom

belongs to him

and

it says he changes

times and seasons.

He removes kings

and he sets up

kings.

The second truth

of God's

sovereign reign

that Daniel wants us

to see here

in the second half

of this chapter.

All wisdom

belongs to him

first.

And second,

all history

belongs

to him.

All history

belongs

to him.

We see this

in this

interpretation

of Nebuchadnezzar's

dream here

in verses 24

through 45.

Look there with me.

After praising

the Lord,

Daniel goes to

Ariok and says,

Don't destroy

the wise men

of Babylon.

Bring me in

before the king

and I will show

the king

the interpretation.

And so,

Ariok brings

Daniel in

to the king

quickly.

He says,

In haste.

And he says,

I found among

the exiles

of Judah

a man who

will make

known to the

king the

interpretation.

And so,

the king declares

to Daniel,

whose name

was Belteshazzar,

Are you able,

you hear that?

Are you able

to make known

to me the king,

excuse me,

are you able

to make known

to me the dream

that I have seen

and its interpretation?

And here's what

Daniel says.

No.

No.

No.

No wise men.

No enchanters.

No astrologers.

No magicians.

Nobody can show

the king

the mystery.

So far,

he sounds just

like the Chaldeans,

doesn't he?

No one can do this.

But look there

to verse 28.

But there is

a God in heaven

who reveals

mysteries.

And he

has made known

to the king

what will be

in the latter days.

I can't do it.

You ask me

if I'm able,

I'm not able.

No man is able

to do this.

But there is

a God

who is able,

a God

to whom belongs

all wisdom,

and a God

who reveals

wisdom to

his people.

More than that,

verse 30,

he says,

this mystery

hasn't been revealed

to me

because of any

wisdom that I have

more than all the living.

It's not about me.

Don't give me

any credit.

This wisdom

didn't come from me.

It was revealed

to me by God.

No one is able

to do this,

but God

has revealed

the truth.

And then

he begins to unfold

Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

Now,

here's my disclaimer.

Okay,

because the book of Daniel,

as I mentioned last week,

is filled

with mystery.

And I told you

last week,

if you're not used

to having a pastor,

say things like,

I'm not quite sure

what this means,

as we walk through

Daniel together,

you're going to get

used to that.

Okay,

because there's mystery

here.

Christians have

discussed and debated

some of the meanings

of these verses

for years and years

and years,

for centuries.

And I want you

to be okay

with us saying

we may not have

a 100% firm grasp

on everything

that we read

here in this book.

and that's okay.

Part of the purpose

of apocalyptic

prophetic literature

is to encourage

Christians

that there is

a God

who knows

all the details

of human history

even if we don't.

That there is

a God

to whom belongs

all wisdom.

That there is

a God

who sovereignly reigns

over all of human history

even if we

struggle to put

all the pieces together.

Okay?

That disclaimer

out of the way.

Here we go.

Alright,

here's the dream.

Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar

starting in verse 31

that he saw

in his dream

a great image.

It was strong

and bright

and frightening

and the head

of the image

was of fine gold

and his chest

and arms of silver

and his middle

and thighs of bronze

and his legs

were of iron

with his feet

partly of iron

and partly of clay.

This is an image

of one giant

terrifying statue

is made up

of these

different composite

parts

but these four parts

they come together

to form one

strong, bright,

terrifying image.

Everybody with me?

Okay?

No.

Everybody with me?

Are y'all with me?

Alright.

Alright.

But then we see

verse 34

something surprising

happens.

A stone

that was cut out

by no human hand

and this stone

comes and it strikes

the image

on the feet

and in this stone

it breaks them

into pieces

and then from the feet

upwards

this whole image

comes crumbling

to the ground.

The legs of iron

and the clay

the bronze thighs

the silver chest

and arms

all the way up

to the head of gold.

It was broken

into pieces

and it says

the strong

terrifying image

becomes like

the chaff

of the summer

threshing floors.

You remember Psalm 1?

What happens to the wicked?

They're like chaff

that the wind blows away

and they're no more.

Not a trace of them

could be found

but it says

the stone

that struck the image

listen to this

the stone

that strikes the image

it becomes a great

mountain

and it fills

the whole earth.

Now at this point

I just imagine

Nebuchadnezzar's jaw

dropping

and hitting the floor.

Daniel's done it.

He has told him

his dream.

How did he do this?

That's only part 1.

Verse 36 says

this was the dream

now we will tell

the king

its interpretation.

Daniel goes on

to tell Nebuchadnezzar

that this dream

was a vision

of five kingdoms.

Five kingdoms.

Four of these kingdoms

here on one side

they make up

this great

and terrifying

image.

The first

of these kingdoms

is easy to identify.

Daniel says

you oh king

the king of kings

to whom

the God of heaven

has given the kingdom

and the power

and the might

and the glory

and to whose hand

he has given

wherever they dwell

the children of man

the beasts

of the fields

the birds

of the heavens

making you rule

over them all

you are the head

of gold.

Clearly

kingdom number one

is Babylon

and if he were

to stop right there

Nebuchadnezzar's got

to be feeling

pretty good

right?

I'm the head

of gold.

God's given me

dominion.

God's given me

reign and rule.

I'm at the top

of this tower.

I'm above the world.

I'm the king

of the world.

But he doesn't

stop there

does he?

Verse 39

He says

another kingdom

inferior to you

shall arise

after you.

Those are two

words a king

never wants to hear.

After

you.

In other words

as great

and as mighty

and as strong

and as powerful

as you are right now

Nebuchadnezzar

your kingdom

will not last forever.

There's another

kingdom coming.

There will be

an after you.

There's an expiration

date on your rule

and you have

nothing to do with it.

You can't change it.

You can't control it.

It's in the hands

of a sovereign God

who raises up kings

and puts them

down.

The second

kingdom

we see in the vision

it has

a silver chest

and arms

and the traditional

understanding

is that this is

the Medo-Persian

empire

under Cyrus.

They came in

and they

conquered Babylon

but that kingdom

also

will come and go

and after this

a third

kingdom

will come

a third

kingdom of bronze

that it says

will rule over

all the earth

and again

as we

follow the course

of history

most understand

this third

kingdom

to be

the Greek

empire

who came in

and conquered

Medo-Persia

under Alexander

the Great.

They rose to power

quickly

and tremendous

power

they were

strong

they were

agile

they were

fast

Daniel chapter

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

7

we'll get

there

Lord willing

it's sort

of a parallel

vision

and Daniel

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7

this third

empire

is pictured

as a leopard

with wings

it's fast

and it's

powerful

there's stories

of a 20

something year old

Alexander the Great

weeping

because he said

there's no more

kingdoms for me

to conquer

he'd taken

over them

all

and so he

ruled

so to speak

over all

the earth

but even still

another fourth

kingdom

will come

after him

this fourth

kingdom

he mentions

he says

is strong

as iron

because the iron

breaks everything

and this

kingdom

will crush

and break

into pieces

and crush

all the others

and again

as we

follow the

course

of history

as we

read through

the pages

of the

church

fathers

commenting

on these

passages

the traditional

understanding

is that

this is

the Roman

empire

the Roman

empire

just like

those before

it

the Roman

empire

rose

to enormous

power

but this

kingdom

would be

a divided

kingdom

you see

the clay

mixing

with the

iron

partly

strong

partly

brittle

there was

internal

corruption

and division

in the

Roman

kingdom

moral

insanity

was the

norm

and it

too

would

eventually

fall

now

again

as I

said

we're

going to

see more

of these

kingdoms

as we

get to

the second

half

of the

book

of Daniel

but I

want to

encourage us

here in

chapter 2

don't

don't lose

the forest

for the

trees

here

okay

if your

eyes are

starting to

glaze over

I want you

to come

back with

me

alright

because

Daniel

and his

friends

I want you

to place

yourself

in their

shoes

for a

moment

here

as

exiles

as Daniel

interpreting

this dream

and this

vision

they

wouldn't

have been

arguing

over charts

and dates

and timelines

and trying to

argue over

these details

they would be

rejoicing in the

big picture truths

of this vision

they would be

rejoicing that

God is

reigning over

all of human

history

that God

is the one

who removes

kings

and sets up

kings

and we

have the

advantage of

being able to

look backwards

and see how

history has

played out

they were

looking

forwards

and they

knew with

confidence

it was a

comfort to

them that

God is

reigning over

Nebuchadnezzar

God is

reigning over

whoever it may

be who will

come after

Nebuchadnezzar

God is

reigning over

whoever it may

be that's

coming after

that and

whoever is

coming after

that there

is a God

who is

orchestrating

and who

owns every

single bit

of human

history

God is in

control

what a

comfort

I know

church that

we are

in an

election year

right

as a year

of panic

and uncertainty

and fear

for a lot

of people

I want us

to take

this comfort

with us

whoever

sits upon

the throne

of America

come November

is placed

there by

God

himself

we cast

our vote

but the

deciding vote

is in the

hands of a

sovereign God

who raises

kings and

puts them

down in

this nation

and in

every nation

on all

the face

of the

earth

amen

and not only

this

Daniel and his

friends

they would be

they would be

reminded that

ultimately

for all

the kingdoms

of the

world

in every

time

and in

every

age

there are

only

two

kingdoms

two kingdoms

did you

notice that

these four

kingdoms

in Nebuchadnezzar's

dream

they're all

different

they're all

made of

different stuff

in the

course of

time

they war

after one

another

they conquer

each other

but in the

vision

they're all

part of

one

big

terrifying

image

here's the

point

all the

kingdoms

of this

world

in the

kingdom

of man

they stand

united

against the

kingdom

of God

there are

ultimately

only

two

kingdoms

there is

the

kingdom

of this

world

and there

is the

kingdom

of God

I'm reminded

again of

the second

song

it just

asks

why do

the nations

rage

and the

peoples

plot

in vain

the kings

of the

earth

set

themselves

against

and the

rulers

take

counsel

together

against

the

Lord

and his

anointed

saying

let us

burst

their

bonds

apart

and cast

away

their

cords

from us

that's

the

pledge

of the

kingdom

of man

says

we

will

rule

and not

God

for all

the

diversity

that we

have

on the

earth

for all

the

diversity

over

over

human

history

for all

the

diversity

between

here

and

in the

next

nation

and the

next

nation

and the

next

ruler

the

next

ruler

the

next

we

have

this

in

common

we

will not

have God

rule over

us

psalm 2

says

he who

sits in

the heavens

laughs

the

Lord will

break them

with a

rod of

iron

and dash

them in

pieces

like a

potter's

vessel

which is the

third truth

here that

Daniel and his

friends would

take comfort

in and that

we church

should rejoice

in that

at the

end

of

history

the

kingdom

of

God

prevails

over

the

kingdom

of

man

the

end

of

history

is

written

and

this

is the

focus

of

this

vision

and

church

this

ought

to

be

where

our

focus

is

as

well

Daniel

says

in

the

days

of

these

kingdoms

verse 44

in

the

days

of

these

four

kingdoms

God

will

set

up

another

kingdom

listen

to

this

church

as

history

goes

about

its

course

as

these

worldly

kingdoms

come

and

go

rise

and

fall

as

leaders

come

to

power

and

they

fall

down

another

kingdom

is

rising

almost

unnoticed

by the

kingdoms

of this

world

but

this

kingdom

is

worthy

of their

attention

is

worthy

of

our

attention

Daniel

says

this

coming

fifth

kingdom

is

not

like

the

other

kingdoms

it

is

not

the

work

of

human

hands

unlike

these

kingdoms

which

rise

and

fall

this

fifth

kingdom

will

rise

and

verse

44

says

this

kingdom

shall

never

be

destroyed

unlike

these

kingdoms

which

rise

temporarily

but

then

eventually

are

overtaken

and

handed

over

to

another

people

this

kingdom

will

never

be

left

to

another

people

and

unlike

these

kingdoms

which

lean

on

their

own

wisdom

to

their

own

downfall

and

eventually

crumble

to

the

dust

this

coming

kingdom

will

triumph

over

all

the

kingdoms

of

the

world

says

this

kingdom

will

break

into

pieces

all

these

kingdoms

and

bring

them

to

an

end

and

this

kingdom

shall

stand

forever

what

kingdom

is

this

this

is

the

kingdom

of

god

this

is

the

kingdom

of

the

god

of

gods

and

the

king

of

kings

now

this

topic

the

kingdom

of

god

which

really

it

ought

to

be

one

of

the

most

encouraging

truths

in

all

of

scripture

sadly

is

one

that

Christians

like

to

fight

about

and

to

disagree

on

and

so

I

just

want

to

ask

two

questions

here

of

the

kingdom

when

is

it

getting

here

and

how

do

I

get

in

two

basic

questions

when

is

it

coming

how

do

I

get

in

question

number

one

when

is

the

kingdom

of

god

getting

here

well

if

you

listen

according

to

daniel

it's

here

it's

clearly

different

from

these

other

four

kingdoms

right

it's

different

from

these

other

earthly

kingdoms

don't

think

of

this

kingdom

in

earthly

physical

terms

but

he

says

in

the

days

of

these

kingdoms

this

fifth

kingdom

is

going

to

rise

up

god's

kingdom

what we

need

to

understand

is

that

god's

kingdom

is

his

reign

rule

and

authority

over

his

people

I'll

say

that

again

god's

kingdom

is

god's

reign

rule

and

authority

over

his

people

greg

greg

gilbert

pastor

in

kentucky

says

the

kingdom

of god

is god's

redemptive

rule

reign

and

authority

over

those

redeemed

by

jesus

the

kingdom

of god

is his

sovereign

rule

over

his

people

now

that

kingdom

it

develops

in the

course

of

history

it

takes

different

shape

it

grows

it

swells

it

it

looks

a

little

bit

different

now

than

it

did

then

but

daniel

tells

us

again

god

is

working

to

establish

this

kingdom

even

in

the

days

of

these

four

kings

and

he

tells

us

that

there

is

a