Daniel 2:31-43 The Times of the Gentiles ~ 20210620 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

06/20_Daniel 02:31-43; The Times of Gentile Dominion; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20210620_dan02_31-43.mp3


Daniel and his three friends, under sentence of death because of the failure of the wise men of Babylon to divine the dream that the king had, seek mercy from the God of heaven. The God who reveals mysteries, revealed the mystery to Daniel in a vision of the night. So Daniel praised the name of God, who lives forever and ever, who removes kings and sets up kings, who made known to him the king’s matter. He was brought before the king to make known to the king his dream and the interpretation.

He made it clear to the king that it was not in him, not because of his own superior wisdom. In fact no wise man could access the mystery, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

Latter Days

The Hebrew of this term ‘latter days’ is almost a technical term for the coming days of Messiah. It first shows up in Genesis 49, when Jacob is blessing his children;

Genesis 49:1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.

He says of Judah,

Genesis 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him [or LEB: until Shiloh comes]; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

Daniel himself uses this expression in chapter 10; the angelic messenger

Daniel 10:14 and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”

God had made known to Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

Daniel 2:28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: 29 To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. 30 But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.

The king had been thinking about what would be after this. He had risen rapidly to power, he had established his empire, and he was considering what the future might hold.

The Dream

Daniel 2:31 “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 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. 36 “This was the dream.

The king’s dream was a massive and foreboding statue, human in form, cast of metals of descending value but increasing strength. But the whole image was demolished to dust and blown away by the wind. The stone which struck the image grew to fill the whole earth.

Authority A Gift of God

Daniel 2:36 “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold.

Daniel addresses the king with the appropriate respect, acknowledging his position. He was the king of kings. He had conquered kingdoms and ruled over them. Ezekiel also referred to Nebuchadnezzar as king of kings (Ezek.26:7)

But Daniel acknowledged where this had come from. The God of heaven has given you the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory. These are all only gifts of God. You didn’t deserve them, you didn’t earn them, you didn’t gain them by your own accomplishments. They were given to you. As we learned at the opening of chapter 1, God gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

This dream had been the occasion for a psalm of worship from Daniel, not only the fact that God had revealed the dream to him, but also the subject matter of the dream. Daniel praised the God who removes kings and establishes kings. This could have been perceived as offensive, but Daniel is boldly communicating the truth; all human authority is derived. God alone is the ultimate authority.

Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Jesus said to Pilate:

John 19:11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above...

Daniel and his friends in captivity needed to remember that all authority is God given authority. The king needed to know that his authority was entrusted to him from outside of himself.

Ruler of Beasts and Birds

Daniel 2:37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold.

This is stunning language. Daniel says that Nebuchadnezzar has been given authority over mankind, over beasts and over birds. When we read this we think ‘surely this is hyperbole; no human king can control the birds of the heavens.’ But these phrases are meant to be triggers, to trigger in our memory something we have read before.

This should take us back to Genesis 1, to the creation mandate, where:

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

God created mankind in his own image to have dominion over all creation, to lovingly care for, to protect, to manage well his creation under him. Psalm 8 says

Psalm 8:4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

We didn’t do very well with this. Instead of thriving under God’s gracious rule, we rebelled. We disobeyed. We brought sin and death into God’s good creation. Things spiraled downward until

Genesis 6:6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

After a radical re-start, God chose Abram

Genesis 12:2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God chose Abram, renamed Abraham to be a blessing to the nations. God re-affirmed these promises to Isaac and then to Jacob or Israel. As we saw in Genesis 49, God chose the tribe of Judah to rule ultimately over the nations. David’s son Solomon had dominion over kings, he was a blessing to the nations,

1 Kings 4:33 He spoke of trees, ...He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish.

But his heart was divided and he went astray, and the nation of Israel was divided and spiraled down until Jehoiakim king of Judah was given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

Now we see this creation mandate to rule God’s creation under him pass from the Jewish nation to a pagan king Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem has been trampled underfoot; the times of the Gentiles or Nations had begun (Lk.21:24).

Daniel 2:37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold.

Kingdoms; Babylon (605-539), Medo-Persia (539-331), Greece (331-146), Rome (146 BC – AD 395)

Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold. He had asserted his authority over Jerusalem in 605 BC, and in 586 BC Jerusalem was captured and the temple destroyed. Babylon had become the ruling empire, given authority over God’s people.

Daniel 2:39 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.

We will read of the handwriting on the wall for the Babylonian kingdom in Daniel 5, which fell to the Medo-Persians in 539 BC. Then Alexander the Great marched against the Medo-Persian empire and defeated it in 331 BC. We will be given much more detail about these kingdoms when we get to chapter 7 and beyond. The Greek empire lasted for 185 years and was defeated by Rome at Carthage in 146 BC.

Daniel 2:40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.

We see these kingdoms increasing in strength and covering wider geographical territory, but declining in preciousness and value.

Jesus indicated that while Jerusalem was being trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, the times of the Gentiles were not yet fulfilled (Lk.21:24). Paul pointed to a partial hardening on Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Rom.11:25). Although Israel is back in the land, it seems the times of the Gentiles are not over yet.

Iron Married to Brittle Clay

While the image down to the legs is different kinds of metals, when we get to the feet we see something strange.

Daniel 2:41 And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

This final form of the kingdom will be a mixture, a divided kingdom, part strong and part brittle. Daniel uses the language mixing in marriage to describe the failed union. This could refer to attempts at political alliances through marriage. Or it could refer to a Genesis 6 sort of thing, as Jesus specifically mentions marrying and being given in marriage before his return;

Luke 17:26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Empires Opposed to God and the Catastrophic End

Nebuchadnezzar wonders how long his empire will last, what comes next. He got much more than he asked for. He was told that his power, his dominion, his authority was a gift from God. God gave the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field into his hand.

All authority is from God, and is meant to be used under God for the good of others.

Matthew 20:25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,

As far as Gentile dominion, Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold. But he was given a vision of the decline of world empires, the future division, and the ultimate and catastrophic destruction of the nations by God himself.

Psalm 2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

***

2021.06.20 Sermon Notes

Daniel 2:31-43The Times of Gentile Dominion

What will be in the latter days

Genesis 49:1, 10; Daniel 10:14

All authority is a gift from God

Romans 13:1; John 19:10-11

The Creation Mandate

Psalm 8; Genesis 1:26-28; 6:6; 12:2-3; 49:10; 1 Kings 4:24, 33-34

The Times of the Gentiles

Luke 21:24; Romans 11:25

Failed unity in marriage?

Genesis 6; Luke 17:26-27

Those opposed to God will meet a catastrophic end

Matthew 20:25-26; Psalm 2

***

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org