The Dream

So as the kids head down, we're going to read scripture together from the Old Testament, Daniel chapter 2.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

! So Chris, our minister in training, is going to come and read scripture for us, and let's read God's word together.

Thanks, Corey.

So we're going to read Daniel in chapter 2.

We're going to read through the chapter, various verses, and I'll try to let you know where we are as we go.

This is God's word.

In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams.

His spirit was troubled, and his sleep left them.

Then the king commanded the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to be summoned to tell the king his dreams.

So they came in and stood before the king.

And the king said to them, I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.

Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever.

Tell your servants the dream, and we will show you the interpretation.

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans,

The word from me is firm.

If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.

But if you show me the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor.

Therefore, show me the dream and its interpretation.

They answered a second time and said,

Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.

And the king answered and said,

I know with certainty that you're trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm.

If you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you.

You've agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change.

Therefore, tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.

The Chaldeans answered the king and said,

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

For no king, no great or powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean.

The thing that the king asks is difficult.

No one can show it to the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.

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

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

Then we're going to verse number 17.

Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,

and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery,

so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

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

Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

Daniel answered and said,

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 to those who have understanding.

He reveals deep and hidden things.

He knows what it is to dwell in dark.

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've given me wisdom and might,

and have now made known to me what we ask of you,

for you have made known to us the king's matter.

And to verse 31.

You saw, O king, and behold a great image.

This image mighty and of exceeding brightness stood before you,

and its appearance was frightening.

The head of his image was of fine gold,

its chest and arms of silver,

its middle and thigh of bronze,

its legs of iron,

its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

As you looked, a stone was cut by no human hand

and 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 the 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.

And finally, verse 44.

And in those days,

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 with no human hand

and that it broke in pieces

the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.

A great God has 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,

an incense be offered up to him.

The king answered and said to Daniel,

Truly, your God is God of gods,

the Lord of kings,

and a revealer of mysteries,

for you have been able to reveal this mystery.

Amen.

This is God's holy word.

Thanks, Chris.

Let's pray.

Lord, we ask now that as we look at this text together

that you would help us to hear and understand

and that our hearts would be open.

So we ask for the presence of your Holy Spirit,

and we pray that in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

We're working our way through the book of Daniel

on Sunday mornings,

and in the year 605 B.C.,

King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,

went to Jerusalem,

and he sacked Jerusalem,

but he didn't destroy it with violence.

Instead, he wanted to destroy God's people in Jerusalem

by assimilating them,

assimilation,

annihilation by assimilation.

He wanted to Babylonize the world

and create a great empire

where his name would be renowned in all the world.

And so what he did was he took the professional class

from Jerusalem to Babylon.

So these are the people with the most skills,

the smartest people in the city of Jerusalem,

to help build Babylon into this even better empire

and city than it was.

And he wanted to really turn the whole world into Babylon.

God's people here in this book are in exile,

exile.

And exile simply means any time where the people of the Lord,

the people who follow God,

are not in the place they're supposed to be.

They're not in the garden city of God ultimately.

They're not in the city of God.

And throughout the Bible,

Babylon and exile become metaphors,

symbols of the reality that the Bible says

every single Christian,

every single person who follows the Lord

is also living a life of exile,

a life of pilgrimage,

a waiting for the city of God.

So St. Augustine said

that every single Christian

is a citizen of the city of God

living in the cities of men.

And at the heart of the city of man,

which is at the heart of Babylon,

is the problem of idolatry.

Babylon is not only a living reality

of putting an idol at the center of life,

but it's a symbol in the rest of the Bible for that.

And it tells us that

what's at the heart of Babylon

is also in every human heart

that we all struggle with the same things.

No matter what you come and believe today,

no matter your spiritual background or not,

we all struggle with what the Bible calls idolatry.

And idolatry is anytime we take something in this life

that's creaturely, that God made,

and we divinize that thing.

We turn anything in this world

into a little God for us.

So idolatry is when something absorbs your heart

more than God does.

Something takes over your imagination

far more than God does.

It's when you seek something

and you give it all your attention

and you center your life around it

and you make it far more important to you

than the God who made you.

And so while the Bible says

believers are living in exile

because we're in a city of idols,

a city that we do indeed love,

but a city full of idols

and our hearts are struggling with idolatry,

there's a sense in which

it doesn't really matter the background

you came from today,

you come from today.

We all struggle with exile

because exile is just being away

from where God made us to be.

And that's in his presence,

making him the center of our lives.

And so Babylon's in all of us.

It's a space that we're all living in.

It's just any time that we turn anything in this world

into a little God

and we worship it

and we center our lives around it.

We take good things that God gave us

and we turn them into bad things.

That's idolatry.

And that's at the center of Babylonian life.

Now, the book of Daniel is wisdom literature.

And I mentioned this in week one,

but in the original Hebrew Bible,

the Old Testament,

the order of the books

is slightly different than the order

we have in our English Bibles.

And originally the book of Daniel

was part of the wisdom text

like Psalms and Proverbs and Esther

and books like that.

And so this is a book about wisdom.

And it's really asking the question today,

how do you live as a believer

with faith and hope and wisdom

in an age of exile in Babylon?

How do you live as a human being

in a situation where we have Babylonian hearts

prone towards idols?

That's the wisdom question

around the book of Daniel.

And week one, week two,

I can say it in one sentence.

I won't repeat the sermons.

Don't worry.

Week one and week two,

what do we say?

The first two principles we learn

is that the book of Daniel

in chapter one says,

the call of the believer

is to be in the world,

never separate,

to love Babylon,

to give your life to her,

to seek the peace of the city,

to pray for Babylon,

Jeremiah 29,

to never back away

from being a part of the culture

that God's put us in,

and yet not of Babylon.

Be in the world,

but not of it.

Seek the peace of the city,

love her,

and don't ever give your heart to idols.

So starve your idols to death,

fast from them.

That's the first two principles today.

We get the third principle.

It's very simple.

I fear that if I say it right now,

then you'll think

I don't need to listen

to the rest of this,

but I'm going to say it,

and hopefully you still will.

And it's so simple,

but remember,

Daniel's a wisdom book,

and it comes after the book of Proverbs

in the original order.

And the principle today

that we learn from Daniel 2

is get wisdom.

To live well in Babylon,

in exile,

you need wisdom.

And that's really the big idea here.

So let's look at that.

We're going to see that through,

briefly through the lens of

the man of Babylon,

the dream,

and the stone.

So first,

the man of Babylon.

Daniel 1,

maybe you know today

that the Bible,

the Old Testament,

is written in Hebrew,

the New Testament,

in Greek.

But there's a moment

in the Old Testament,

and here we are,

where Daniel 1

is written in Hebrew,

but Daniel 2 to 7

is written in Aramaic.

There's a third language.

And Daniel chapters 8 to 12

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

is in Hebrew.

So it goes Hebrew,

Aramaic, Hebrew.

So that means we've entered

into this own stand-alone section,

Daniel 2 to 7.

And if you were,

we'll see this over the next few weeks,

but Daniel 2 to 7,

Daniel 2 and Daniel 7

are all about dreams

from foolish kings.

If you take one step in,

Daniel 3 and Daniel 6

are all about the courage

of believers in the face of death.

The fiery furnace

and the lion's den.

And then if you step

to the very middle,

Daniel 4 and 5

are both stories

of the pride of kings

that topple their empires.

So we're entered

into this little section

that's really carefully constructed

and crafted together,

this Aramaic section.

And so it's making a point.

We're honing down in

on the problem in the middle,

Daniel 3 and 4,

4 and 5,

and that's pride

at the human heart,

at the center of idolatry.

And pride,

the point of this text

is pride,

our pride,

our idolatry makes us foolish.

It makes us fools.

And so this really is

the story of Nebuchadnezzar's dream

is a story,

a dream that's focused

all about

how much Nebuchadnezzar's idolatry

made him into a fool.

And it's just playing out

Proverbs 1,

Proverbs 2,

Proverbs 3.

Get wisdom,

and to get wisdom,

the fear of the Lord

is the beginning of wisdom.

But if you don't fear the Lord

and you fear something else

in your life

far more than the Lord,

you're going to struggle

with foolishness.

That's the real idea here.

And let's see it.

In verse 1 and 2,

Nebuchadnezzar,

it says he had a dream

and that dream

made him very troubled.

He couldn't sleep.

He saw in this dream

some type of terrifying image.

And he does something wild

in verse 5 and 6.

He brings in all the magicians,

all the sorcerers,

all the Chaldeans,

the priests,

and he says to them,

I want you not just

to interpret my dream,

I want you to tell me

what the dream was.

And if you can't tell me

what the dream was

and then interpret it,

I'm going to tear you

from limb to limb.

I'm going to cut your heads off.

And he makes that pronouncement

throughout all the realm.

Every wise man that fails,

all of you together

will be collectively executed.

Now,

this is classic Napoleon complex.

Remember Napoleon?

He was a great emperor,

a conqueror of all of Europe,

but he could never get enough.

He wanted power.

Some people have said

that it was because

of his diminutive stature

that caused that.

And I can say today,

I've never struggled with that

or been accused of it.

Okay?

Just to make that clear.

I,

another Napoleon

that I like to think about

is Lord Farquaad

from Shrek.

You know,

he was so tortured

and so power hungry

that he tortured

the gingerbread man.

And,

look,

these are silly examples,

but you know

the story of Caligula,

perhaps,

the story of

the literary figure Macbeth

and Shakespeare's Macbeth,

that Scottish king

who was promised

the hope of a crown.

And in that,

he started off wise,

but it made him crazy

because he was so power hungry.

And he became

a murderer,

paranoid.

He couldn't live life.

And here,

what we have

is the fact that

Nebuchadnezzar

has centered his life

on an idol.

And that idol

is,

of course,

his own pride,

his own self-glory,

but we could say

it also is power.

Nebuchadnezzar

is the most accomplished

man in world history,

and some say.

And he has centered

his life around power.

And power

promises

to make you great.

And

when it becomes

the very thing

that you want

above anything else

in life,

it becomes a god to you

and it begins

to be a slave master

and rule you.

And you will do

terrible things.

To keep hold

of the god

that's at the center

of your life.

And that's what's

happening here.

Nebuchadnezzar

is the most powerful

man in all the world,

and yet

one little dream

makes him go crazy.

He says,

I will tear

every wise man

in this kingdom

from limb to limb

because of a little

dream that he had.

And we realize here

that

when you

center your life

around an idol,

whether,

you know,

we could think here

especially of

achievement idols.

Success,

wealth,

power,

the security

that comes by way

of being very

financially successful.

And in a city

like ours,

many,

many people

move here

to pursue

security idols,

achievement idols.

And we can think

about those

and say that

when you make

those the actual

goal of your life,

what happens

is not the security

you seek through them,

but a life of

fragility and fear.

And that's exactly

what's going on here.

Let me just give you

a couple ways

this works.

Idols promise

you something

and they can

never deliver.

And they create

real fragility.

So power

promises security,

but the more

you have,

the more you realize

how you have

to get more

and more

to actually keep

the original power.

And that's what's

going on in

Nebuchadnezzar's life.

He's so anxious.

He's so fearful.

He can't sleep.

He's got such a fear

of losing

what he's built

because he knows

something.

And that's what?

That when you center

your life around

stuff,

it's incredibly

fragile.

It can easily

be lost.

And so here

he's so afraid

that he's going

to lose his precious,

his ring,

the ring of power

that he's put

on his hand.

He's so afraid

of that.

So an idol

promises you

great things,

but it leaves

you in deep

fragility and

insecurity.

Secondly,

anxiety is

typically a

product of that.

So one of the

ways you can

know what

you're struggling

with maybe

that you've

put at the

center of your

life is to

ask,

what makes

me shake

in my boots?

What am I

most afraid

of?

What keeps

me up at

night?

And oftentimes

anxiety,

that type

of fear

is a smoke

signal.

It's a symptom

and it's like

looking up above

a forest line

and seeing smoke

on the horizon

and you've

got to trace

that smoke

down to the

bottom of

your heart

and ask,

why am I

so afraid

of this,

of losing

this?

What is it

that has

captured me

so much

that I've

centered my

life around

that if I

lost this

precious,

this ring,

I would be

lost.

That's what's

going on in

his life.

Third,

idolatry,

especially

achievement

idolatry,

reverses the

master-slave

relationship.

And so what

happens here

is instead of

wielding the

kingdom as a

great tool for

the common

good,

boy,

the most

powerful man

in human

history has

this opportunity

to wield

these resources

for such good,

for the common

good of the

people.

Instead,

what ends

up happening

is if,

very precise

here,

if power

is your

goal,

if achievement

is your

goal,

if success

is your

actual goal,

then what

happens is

that you'll

end up

becoming a

slave of

that goal.

It has

now mastered

you.

In other

words,

power,

success,

achievement,

and money

are not bad

things,

they're good

things.

But if

you make

them the

very object

of your

hope in

your life,

power itself,

not the

fact of

power that

could wield

resources for

so much

good,

then you'll

become its

slave.

It's become

your God,

it's become

your master.

Lastly,

you see here

in this

passage how

much this

idol of

power,

hunger for

him,

isolates

Nebuchadnezzar

from love.

Idols do

that,

they isolate

us from

real relationships

and love.

When power

becomes your

God,

you can never

be sure if

people really

love you or

they just want

something from

you.

And here,

all across

this passage,

you know,

what do the

Chaldeans do,

the Magi do?

They come to

Nebuchadnezzar

and they say,

oh king,

live forever.

They say,

we love you so

much.

And he turns

around and says,

I'm going to

cut you from

limb to limb.

And they say,

well, oh king,

live forever,

just give us a

little more time,

we're going to

do our best.

Nobody will

ever speak the

truth and love

to him.

They flatter

him,

they enable

him,

right?

Because idols

do that.

They take

loving relationship

away from us

because we're

so fragile,

we're afraid

to actually

have relationships

of honesty

and truth.

And the

takeaway here

is that anytime

we've made

an achievement

God,

the very center

of our lives,

it turns us

into slaves.

And at the

very end

of this section,

this first section

that we read,

the Chaldeans

themselves,

the magicians,

they say

exactly the

point in

verse 11 and

12.

They say,

King,

what you have

asked,

only a God

could do.

In other words,

it's turning the

tide,

it's starting to

make you think,

where is it that

you can get a

foundation that

will actually give

you security?

And they say,

only a God

could do the

thing that you're

asking for.

They're halfway

there,

so secondly,

let's see the

dream.

Now,

nobody in all

the kingdom

can do this.

Nobody can

tell Nebuchadnezzar

the dream.

Nobody can

interpret the

dream.

And what

happens is that

Daniel and his

friends hear about

this.

And in verse

12 and 13,

Daniel goes

to Ariok,

the king's

advisor,

and he says,

Ariok,

set up a

meeting between

me and

Nebuchadnezzar.

And so

Daniel rushes

straight in.

And the reason

for that is

because Daniel

knows that he's

also going to

die.

He and all the

people that have

come, the 10,000

that have come,

Nebuchadnezzar's

going to kill

everybody about

this.

And so he knows

that everybody's

life is at risk

here.

Now, what the

passage the writer

is doing here is

setting up this

great contrast in

this moment between

Daniel and

Nebuchadnezzar.

So we've seen

Nebuchadnezzar,

the man of

Babylon, the man

who has power at

the very center of

his life, that he's

revolving his

life around

entirely.

But then it

turns to Daniel.

And here's the

test.

Nebuchadnezzar has

a scary dream.

Nebuchadnezzar has

a scary dream, and

it makes him so

fragile.

Daniel, the

prophet Daniel,

God's servant,

what does he do?

His life is

actually on the

line, and in

verse 14, it

turns and we're

told, in verse

14, he acted

with prudence and

discretion.

All right, so you

see that contrast?

Nebuchadnezzar has a

scary dream, and it

absolutely breaks him,

the most powerful man

on earth.

Daniel is a slave,

and his life is under

threat.

He's been told he's

going to be executed,

and the next verse in

verse 14 says, but he

was able to operate with

prudence and discretion.

And there's a great

contrast between wisdom

and foolishness.

The word prudence that's

used in this passage is

like the word wisdom, but

it's a little more

specific, and maybe

prudence is not a word

that we use very often

in modern speech, but

prudence means the

ability to know what

to do when there are no

rules telling you what

to do.

So prudence is this

ability to enter into a

very complex life and

live with justice and

righteousness in the

midst of Babylon, in the

midst of exile, when

there's nobody telling

you how to operate in

every single situation.

So this is a very

complex situation.

Daniel is a slave of

the king.

The king has said, I'm

going to kill everybody

because nobody can

interpret my dream.

Prudence says, what do

I do in the midst of

such a difficult, complex

situation?

Now, if you were to go

read throughout the last

couple thousand years, and

even beyond that, in

philosophy, I'm going to

talk about it in the

classics, the classic

literature, in theology,

everybody gathers around

this idea that says, what

is wisdom?

And typically, four things

have been said, and I

won't go through them, I'll

just list them for you.

Typically, almost everybody

is gathered around the

idea that wisdom is

prudence, the ability to

know how to operate well in

a complex world, justice, the

ability to, with precision,

and seek what's good in

complex situations, seek

justice, to do it with

courage.

So, to be able to enter

into a space and speak the

truth, even at great risk

of your own life.

And lastly, the fourth is

temperance.

And temperance is a word we

don't use very often either,

and all it means is that

over time, the more you use

prudence with justice and

courage, this is who you

become, and that's what

temperance means.

It becomes second nature to

you.

And if you were to go

through this passage, verse

16, Daniel sets an

appointment.

Daniel says to Ariok, make

an appointment with

Nebuchadnezzar for me to

interpret the dream before

he ever even knows the

interpretation of the

dream.

And he's willing to say,

look, I don't know what to

do right now exactly, but I'm

willing to risk my life to

go in and hoping that God

will give this to me.

That's prudence.

It's the courage because of

justice to take a risk in a

really hard situation.

And then in verse 27 to 28,

he tells Nebuchadnezzar,

Nebuchadnezzar, your kingdom

is going to fall.

Boy, can you imagine?

Imagine stepping into the

court of Lord Farquad, and

you have to tell him, your

little kingdom is going to

fall because of your pride.

The man who kills gingerbread

men, he, in other words, you

see what Daniel's doing?

He is willing to step into the

fray and to say, the point is

your kingdom is dust.

To a man who's so fragile that

he's already said, I will kill

everyone if they cannot tell me

what this means.

Daniel was so wise that he had

prudence and he sought justice

and he had great courage and it

was just natural.

It flowed out of him.

Real wisdom.

The point of the passage is get

wisdom.

And how do you get wisdom?

And this is where we really hone in

on the big idea.

And that's that Daniel is not just

morally good.

Daniel is not just wise in the

story.

There's far more than that.

The question of the passage is,

what is the foundation of your

life that can make you wise?

And even deeper than that, what is

the foundation of your life that

can give you the security in your

life to operate with prudence,

courage, justice, and temperance?

What is the foundation of your

life that can actually ground this

type of truth and love, this

courage, this ability, this

wisdom?

And it's back in chapter 1.

It comes up again in chapter 2.

And it's that when Daniel refused

to give his heart to idolatry and

said, I will fear the Lord no matter

what, it says God then blessed him

with all wisdom.

And back to Proverbs 1.

If you want to be a wise person in

a complex world, the Bible says

get wisdom.

And the way you do that is saying

the fear, recognizing the glory of

the Lord is the beginning of all

wisdom.

And so the question of this passage

is, what is the foundation of your

life that can give you a security

where you're okay so that you can

actually be a person who's growing

in wisdom over time?

Now, this is just simply illustrated

in the dream itself.

And we only need to spend two minutes

on it to get this across.

And that's the dream in verse 31 to

35.

The dream is that there is a great

statue, a great image.

And it's a terrifying image.

But it's got a head of gold.

It's got a chest of silver.

It's got a core of bronze.

It's got legs of iron.

And it's got feet of iron with clay

on the bottom.

Now, Daniel goes and he tells the

dream because God gave him that

dream as a gift.

He gave him the interpretation.

And then from there, he then turns

and tells Nebuchadnezzar the

interpretation.

Now, people come to this and they

make the dream into a moment of

prophecy, a really important

prophecy about world history.

And it definitely is that.

This is a moment where the real God

is telling somebody a thousand

year span of history.

What's going to happen?

And that's important to note.

But the point of the dream is not

about the prophecy.

It's not about the kingdoms that are

to come.

Traditionally, we've said that the

head of gold is, of course, Babylon.

Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that

directly.

Then the silver is the kingdom of

Persia that's to follow this.

And then the bronze is Greece.

And then the iron is the kingdom of

Rome that is to come.

But at the very bottom of the

statue is clay.

And from verse 38, you see the

point, because in verse 38, he

turns to Nebuchadnezzar himself.

He doesn't say, let me talk to you

about everything here.

Let me talk to you about the

kingdoms that are to come.

He turns to the man of Babylon,

Nebuchadnezzar, and said, you are

the head of gold.

And your feet are clay.

And your kingdom is going to get

pulverized into dust.

And the way that that happens is

there's a supernatural event where

in the dream, someone invisible

cuts from a mountain, a great

stone that strikes this image and

casts all the kingdoms down.

And the point is that he's looking

at the face of Nebuchadnezzar and

saying, let me give you a thousand

year span of history that is to

come and understand that you are not

the climax of history.

And you've made your life centered

around power and achievement and

success and wealth, and it's all

going to crumble.

You have clay feet.

And Greece is going to have clay

feet, Alexander the Great will, and

Rome, and everyone else.

And the big idea is that any time you

center your life on your own personal

kingdom, if your life is made through

your own kingdom building, centering

your life around your success and your

glory and your power and your wealth,

you've got clay feet.

And ultimately it's going to pass away

and it's going to crumble.

And it's not a foundation.

You see, what foundation did Nebuchadnezzar

and all of his achievements have?

Clay.

Sand, as the New Testament says.

And the question of the passage is, what is it

that you're building your foundation upon in

your life?

What is, another way to say it is, what is

your why?

You know, what's, people debate about this

kind of stuff all the time, but what is,

what is the difference between a Christian

banker, a Christian who is a banker, a

Christian who is an accountant, a

Christian who goes to work every day in

the city, and someone, and somebody who's

not, who centered their lives around

power, wealth, achievement, and status.

And the main difference is why?

Why are you going to work every day?

Why are you raising your family?

Why are you seeking education?

Why are you going to uni?

Why?

In other words, what is the thing at the

center of your life that is a secure

foundation for meaning and purpose that

can provide a security that will never

leave you, a foundation that will never

go away, a meaning and a purpose that if

your stuff gets taken from you, that still

remains, that ultimately is still there.

Do you have that?

That's the question of the passage.

And so lastly, how do you get it?

We'll finish with this, the stone.

So at the heart of this dream, we're told

that there is all of a sudden in the midst

of the dream, a supernatural hand that

cuts a stone out of a mountain in order

to strike this great image.

And let me just mention a couple quick

characteristics about that stone.

Just think about this for a moment with me.

Verse 34 and 35 says, this is a rock cut,

not with human hands, but by supernatural

hands.

Then secondly, it says, this is an instrument

that will destroy the pride of all the great

kings.

And then third, it says, it's a stone.

It's a rock.

Okay, think about it.

It's not gold.

If you look at every piece of the image of

Nebuchadnezzar's dream, gold, silver, bronze,

iron, all far more precious than stone, than rock.

In other words, this stone is humble.

It's small.

It's of humble origin.

And then in verse 35, it says, but this

humble stone will one day become a great

kingdom that will start small, but will fill

the whole world.

Friends, the New Testament directly identifies

this stone as Jesus Christ.

The stone that the builders rejected has

become the cornerstone of a mighty kingdom,

a mighty foundation.

And the New Testament, just think about it.

The stone, it has to be crafted out of

supernatural hands.

Jesus Christ, born of flesh, truly human, but

born of the Spirit, conceived by the Holy Spirit.

He is the Son of God Himself.

He is supernatural.

The stone, He's not gold.

Boy, did Jesus come into this world?

Not gold, not silver, not bronze.

He was born and placed into a little animal

feeding trough laying in the spit of the

animals.

He's just a little stone.

He's humble in His origin.

The stone that the builders rejected became

the cornerstone.

The stone that all the kingdoms of this world

hate because He comes to vanquish their pride

has become the cornerstone of a kingdom that

will last forever.

This is talking about Jesus Christ, the stone in

the stream.

And the irony of the Christian gospel today is

this.

If you think, not Nebuchadnezzar versus Daniel,

but Nebuchadnezzar versus the stone, Jesus

Christ.

Nebuchadnezzar came to center his entire life around

power and abundance and temporal wealth and

security.

Jesus Christ, the only one who controls the

kingdoms, the absolute God Himself, came in such

great irony that He didn't come seeking power.

He came in exactly the opposite way of

Nebuchadnezzar.

He came to be the stone that shatters all pride

of the emperors.

And yet, at the same time, He came giving away all

power to release us and rescue us from our power

hunger.

Jesus Christ is the stone that the builders rejected

when He went to the cross so that He could free you and

rescue you from centering your life around power

hunger, around self-glory, around divinizing self and

everything else in this life more than God.

He came to offer that rescue.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the

cornerstone.

And so the question today, friends, as we finish is,

is Jesus Christ the foundation of your life?

Do you have feet that have been secured temporarily by

something else like achievement and wealth and power and

glory and relationship and romance?

And the proportion to which your life is centered really does

revolve around any of the stuff in this world like that that

can be lost will be the proportion to which you will live in fear

and fragility.

So anxiety is directly proportional to the degree to which we

have made our feet something in this life, our foundation,

something in this life that we can lose.

But if Jesus Christ the stone is your foundation, something that

can never be lost, an identity, a purpose, a rescue, a forgiveness

from idolatry forever that can never be taken away, you have a

foundation that will never leave you, that will give you true and

lasting security.

I'll give the last word to just this comparison.

Think about it.

Nebuchadnezzar's empire was built through military conquest, political

force, great evil, seeking absolute power.

It was maintained through fear and threat and executions.

He demanded worship.

We'll see that next week through intimidation.

His kingdom lasted 70 years, 70 years.

And today you can go visit the site of his kingdom in Iraq.

It's a tourist center.

It's an archaeological dig site.

It's long gone.

The dust has washed it away.

Jesus Christ's kingdom was built on sacrificial love, on giving power

away, on seeing a much bigger perspective.

And that's a kingdom that starts off so small but grows so big over the

centuries.

It's maintained through servants like Daniel and others and the call upon

all of us today that are willing to even die, to lose all power and death like he

did.

It has lasted thousands of years.

It's never going away.

It will endure forever.

It spans every continent, every culture, every kingdom, every language.

The mountain is here.

The kingdom has come.

It's in the now and not yet phase of history.

Build your life on that rock.

It's a far better identity, a far better purpose.

Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you that you rescue us from our idols.

And so we pray today, God, that we would be able to identify the little gods in our

lives that we continue to revolve our lives around.

And that, Lord, you would give us wisdom to fear you more than the fragility, the fear

that comes out of the fragility of chasing little rings in this life that will never satisfy

us.

So we thank you that that's such a clear message.

And Daniel, Lord, teach it to us more and more and more today.

And especially as we sing, Lord, show us these truths.

Meet with us in a particular way in this moment.

And we pray that in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.