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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Rev. Rodney den Boer > The God of heaven reveals his eternal kingdom to an earthly king of kings | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Read: Daniel 2 Sing: Ps 108:1, 2; Ps 51:1, 2, 4; Ps 78:1, 3; Ps 146:1, 2, 3; Hy 45:1, 2, 3 Questions for reflection/discussion
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Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Living in Babylon can be challenging. Last week we saw how King Nebuchadnezzar took Daniel and his friends out of Jerusalem, and they attempted to assimilate them into Babylon, stripping them of their Jewish identity and making them look like Babylonians, sound like Babylonians, dress like Babylonians, and eat like Babylonians. He took them out of Jerusalem and wanted to take Jerusalem out of them. And we see, this week, that it remained perilous for them to be there. With a king like Nebuchadnezzar on the throne, their lives were in danger. All it took was a dream to upset him and he orders all the wise men to be killed. He would have done it, too, that’s the sort of man he was.
And last time we also saw how we, in a sense, are living in Babylon today. We are surrounded by an ungodly world that opposes God. When we think of the devil’s tactics and how much he may have influenced the church, it can weigh us down heavily. We can be weighed down thinking more generally about the opposition we face in a country that is largely rejecting Christianity. Living in Babylon can be challenging.
How can we remain faithful? The message of Daniel 2 is a great encouragement for us, because it shows us that there is only one kingdom that is eternal, and that is the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. This knowledge compels us to trust and worship him. This morning, we see how:
The God of heaven reveals his eternal kingdom to an earthly king of kings
- God reveals secrets
- God rules history
- God deserves worship
1. God reveals secrets
The chapter begins by giving us a glimpse into Nebuchadnezzar’s heart: he has no security. It’s incredible, he’s the most powerful man in the universe, his armies are doing amazing things, he wins battle after battle, and he cannot sleep at night. He is insecure. All it takes are some dreams at night, and v1 says he was so troubled that his sleep left him. And in v3, he says, “my spirit is anxious to know the dream.” Dreams were often thought to bring a message from the gods. You can imagine Nebuchadnezzar tossing and turning on his bed: what are the gods telling me? Is the tide of their favour turning? Are my armies going to face defeat? Are my men going to remain loyal to me? Is there some disease looming? Are the gods angry at me? He is anxious, insecure, he has no rest.
So, Nebuchadnezzar called in all the wise men, the sorcerers, magicians, conjurers, and Chaldeans. Sorcery was common in Babylon, which was known as a city of many sorceries and magic spells (Isaiah 47:9, 12). The word Chaldean here is a reference to the Chaldean religion, not the Chaldean nationality. Nebuchadnezzar wanted these wise men to tell him what the gods were saying in his dream, and then, if necessary, to influence the gods with their magic spells, enchantments, and sorceries. If there were any bad effects from the dream, these men should be able to deal with it.
And so, he called them all in and demanded that they tell him the dream and what it meant. It was a completely unreasonable demand, as their protest shows: you can at least tell us the dream, o king! But the king maintained his demand, threatening death if they could not tell him the dream, and promising a rich reward if they could. Their lives were hanging in the line. Could all their magic help them?
They say, in v10, there is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter, and (v11), there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. Here their inability is exposed. Their magic and sorcery cannot help them. They cannot do more than any other man. They have no real access to the world of the divine. It exposes their idolatry as a lie. All the king’s sorcery and all the king’s men couldn’t put Nebuchadnezzar together again.
And so, the king gave his order to kill all those wise men. The ESV says the wise men were about to be killed. And when Arioch started gathering them for execution, he came to Daniel and his friends. Notice Daniel’s response, in v14, he answered with counsel and wisdom. He remained calm under fire, because he knew his God, he knew that God was watching him and preserving him. God had protected him in the past and would be with him in this intense moment. His life was in danger, but not a hair could fall from his head without the will of his heavenly Father.
He asks for a bit of time, and asks his friends to pray with him. Prayer is his instinctive reaction. They take it to the Lord in prayer. Together they pray that God would reveal the secret to them, and they pray that they would not die with all the wise men of Babylon.
It made a lasting impression on me, during my student days when visiting our missionaries in Lae, PNG, and the missionary car was broken into at the markets, we were just coming back to the car and saw the guy jumping out, there was a shout and a chase, the police were quickly involved, and once we were all back in the car, the first thing Pastor Ryan de Jonge said was, “let’s pray.” It was an instinctive reaction.
Daniel and his friends, similarly, turned to God. Why did they pray? Because they knew that their God held the secrets of heaven and earth, and he could reveal it to them. They knew that their God was speaking to Nebuchadnezzar through the dream. They may have remembered the stories of Jsoeph, who was able to understand the dreams of the chief butler and the chief baker in the Egyptian prison, they remembered how he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh, another great man in the history of the world. God could do the same for them. They prayed to the one, true God, asking for revelation. This was their response to the king’s decree. They turned to God for answers.
And it raises the question for us, brothers and sisters. Where do we look for answers? When we face perplexing questions in life, confusion about God, ourselves, or the world we live in, where do we turn? The world around us has their modern wise men. You open WhatsApp or Facebook messenger these days and they ask if you want to speak with an AI chatbot. Do you think Artificial Intelligence will give you answers to your deep questions of life? Or if you scroll through YouTube, there are endless so-called counsellors or therapists telling you how to live a better life. Do you think they can really help you understand God, the nature of this world, yourself?
Beloved, none of these things can give us true knowledge of God, of this world, or of ourselves. The Bible teaches that we are blinded by sin, so we can only know God by faith, as he shines the light of his Word and opens our minds by his Spirit. That’s how we gain true knowledge and become wise, when God reveals the truth to us. The wisdom of this world will not help us, but God has revealed his wisdom to us. True knowledge is available, because God has spoken, revealing himself and his plan of salvation.
The Holy Spirit shows this in our chapter, too: God reveals secrets. He reveals knowledge and wisdom. In response to the prayers of Daniel and his friends, God, the only true God, gives a vision, he reveals what Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was, and its meaning. Visions were given to prophets, during deep sleep. God clearly spoke to him. Just as God spoke to the other prophets in the OT, God revealed the dream to Daniel.
And Daniel is careful to give him the credit. Straightaway, he honours the God who reveals deep and secret things, who knows what is in the darkness. He praises God, for wisdom and might are his. And he confesses God’s name before the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar, too. In v28, he says, there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made it known… he who reveals secrets will reveal the dream… and v30, there is nothing special about me. Daniel honours God as the source of knowledge and wisdom. Daniel 2 shows this to us: God reveals secrets.
And we see this more fully in our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has revealed his wisdom, especially in his plan of salvation. The NT speaks of the gospel as a mystery which has been unveiled. God’s plan to save a people through Christ, a people who are grafted into him by faith, a people including Jews and Gentiles. This was a plan unveiled in the fulness of time, a secret which has been fully revealed in our Saviour, Jesus Christ, a plan which centres on the cross on which he died for our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is our wisdom from God, who fully reveals to us the secret plan and will of God concerning our redemption.
Do you want to be wise? Do you want understanding and knowledge? Turn, dear brothers and sisters, to the Word of God. In the Word, we meet the Son of God, who reveals fully to us everything we need to know for salvation. He reveals his plan to save us. And he makes this plan known in the context of his rule over all history. We’ve seen, first, that God reveals secrets. Second, we see that:
2. He rules history
Daniel explains to the king that the different parts of the statue in his dream represent different kingdoms. There is the head of gold, representing King Nebuchadnezzar – that’s you, great king! You are a king of kings. And after your kingdom will come another kingdom, the chest and arms of silver, then the belly and thigh representing a third kingdom, and finally the legs and feet, strong like iron, but with the fatal weakness of clay.
With our knowledge of history, it is easy to see how this played out in following generations. The silver chest seems to correspond with the kingdom of Media and Persia, kings such as Cyrus and Darius; the belly and thigh seems to match the kingdom of Greece, with kings such as Alexander the Great; and the divided kingdom of iron and clay fits the Roman kingdom, with its brutal strength.
Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar did not have the advantage of hindsight. They lived before these events happened. And yet, it gave a clear message to Nebuchadnezzar that his kingdom, though it was magnificent, was also limited. His kingdom, though powerful, would be overthrown.
And his kingdom, though he attributed it to himself, had been given to him by another king, by the God of heaven. The God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. Nebuchadnezzar was very great, but that greatness was not from himself, it had been given to him by someone greater. The God who reveals secrets gave this dream to show Nebuchadnezzar who was really in control.
And further, he revealed that there is a greater kingdom that will last forever. It would come in the days of the divided kingdom, it would break off without any hands, and it would grow, steadily, until it filled the earth, and then it would crush the other kingdoms. The God who had given him his dominion would one day extend his own rule throughout the earth.
See the opportunity God gave to Nebuchadnezzar to repent and believe in this greater kingdom? God reveals that Nebuchadnezzar is not God, but he, the only true God, lives and reigns forever, and he calls Nebuchadnezzar to submit to him. It’s an opportunity to worship the true king of kings.
It’s worth noting, too, that a good chunk of the book of Daniel is written in Aramaic, rather than Hebrew, from 2.4 to the end of ch7. Aramaic was the lingua franca, a trade language spoken throughout the Ancient Near East. Why was it written in Aramaic? The themes of these chapters show that God rules over all the world, over all kingdoms. It is a message that is highly relevant for Babylonians as well as Jews. And so, perhaps these chapters are somehow addressed to the nations who were not Israelites. A true knowledge of God spreads beyond Israel, to Nebuchadnezzar and to his kingdom.
What does this dream reveal to them? It shows us two things about history.
First, it shows that there are cycles within history. Kingdoms rise and they fall. Ecclesiastes 1 shows us the cyclical nature of the world. And that is true on a global scale for kingdoms, too. They get great, and eventually they collapse. They might last a long time, but they will fall and another will rise in its place. Just think of the Babylonian empire. It was great in its time. The hanging gardens live on in history as a wonder of the ancient world. But eventually, Babylon became weak, the armies grew less disciplined, the rulers became self-absorbed and pursued pleasure, it became vulnerable to attack, and the next kingdom overthrew it. The Western civilisation we live in was great, but has become very weak, we no longer know our own history, the Christian foundations that undergird our nation are being eroded, and so it is no surprise that our society is falling to pieces. History is cyclical. Kingdoms rise and they fall.
But history is also linear, moving forward. The stone, as you might guess, is a clear reference to the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was a kingdom that began in obscurity, and grew slowly. It began as a small stone, and gained size until it destroyed all the other kingdoms. Our Lord Jesus taught about this kingdom that it is like a mustard seed, starting off small, but becoming a great tree. And again, he said, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till all was leavened (Matthew 13:32-33). These images show that the kingdom of God begins small and yet has a pervasive impact, it infiltrates the entire world.
The kingdom of God was set up in the days of the Roman kingdom, with its iron strength. In those days, a man was born in relative obscurity to a virgin named Mary and was named Jesus. He went around the backwater region of Galilee, and he was killed by his own people on a cross in Jerusalem. And yet, as the psalm says, the stone that the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone, and his followers began to preach life through him. They said that this man had died for his people’s rebellion, to bring them to God. They said that his death on the cross was a revelation of God’s wisdom, his amazing plan to save sinners. They said that he had risen as king, and more, that he is alive and ruling now, and will rule forever.
It was only a handful of men who began to preach this message, but many believed that Jesus is the King, they willingly submitted to him. And as this truth was preached, the leaven began to spread throughout the world, the mustard seed grew, the stone increased in size, so that the apostles preached to the ends of the earth.
And here we are, 2,000 years later, while many other kingdoms have arisen, and have fallen in ruins. Still today, Jesus Christ is king, and the church of Christ are the people of his kingdom, willingly serving him and giving their lives to him. Here we are, the people of Jesus Christ, worshipping him this morning. It is evidence that his kingdom is unstoppable. It is an eternal kingdom, because Jesus Christ is an eternal king.
And v44 says, “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.” The same powerful God who gave Nebuchadnezzar his dominion, the same God who revealed this to him in a vision, this God installed his Son, Jesus Christ, as his eternal king. He set up his kingdom. And so, it cannot be thwarted, it cannot be overthrown. Dear brothers and sisters, our King has been powerfully at work throughout the centuries. He rules in heaven, gathering his people into his kingdom, and preserving them from the hostile forces around them. He gathers, defends, and preserves us in the world we live in, today.
We can, therefore, entrust our lives completely to him. We do not trust in princes or rulers, in a man however wise, but we trust the living God who rules all history, who has installed his Son at his right hand and given to him power and authority that will outlast any earthly kingdom.
Consider how encouraging this vision would have been to Daniel and his friends. They faced a momentary crisis, where their very lives were endangered. But the vision reminded them that their God was ruling. Babylon was within his control, and Babylon was basically a ticking time bomb, before it would fall. Their God, however, lived and reigned forever. They could trust that he would care for them.
And the same is true for us. Jesus Christ is our King and he preserves us for his eternal kingdom. At times, we can be discouraged by evil we see in this world when we hear the news. But in all this, we know that Jesus Christ preserves us, he is gathering his eternal kingdom. The kingdoms of this world are like a ticking time bomb. It is only a matter of time before they will be utterly destroyed. But the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ lasts forever. It’s an encouragement for us as we fight sin in our lives, in the church. We know that Christ will rule forever, and all sin will be destroyed.
3. God deserves worship
And so, he deserves worship. There are two very different responses to the revelation of God in this chapter. The word cuts two ways. There is the response of Nebuchadnezzar, who remains proud, continuing to enjoy his own sovereignty, and there is the response of Daniel, who praises God, humbly worshipping him.
First, look at Nebuchadnezzar’s response. He has been told that he is a king of kings. But he has also been told that there is a king of heaven who has given him his authority. How does he respond? He falls on his face to Daniel and commands an offering be made to him. He acknowledges that Daniel’s God has been able to reveal the mystery. But he does not submit to this God. The next chapter makes that very clear. He is happy to be the head of gold, and to have his own position established. He remains proud. He might be able to sleep better now, because it turns out the gods are on his side, or so he thinks.
It is the height of folly, isn’t it. God has just shown him the eternal kingdom of his Son, but he remains focused on his own kingdom. It is the height of folly, after hearing of Christ’s eternal kingdom, to go on trusting yourself, knowing that you will be crushed by him unless you repent and believe in him for your salvation. But that’s what Nebuchadnezzar does.
On the other hand, Daniel responds with worship, in v20-23. He praises God who revealed the secret to him and his friends. Notice, in v23, how he mentions his friends? You have made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter. We prayed for revelation, and you answered us by revealing the vision to me. Daniel takes no credit for himself, but thanks God for answering all their prayers. And he worships God for his wisdom, knowledge, and revelation. Blessed be the name of God forever and ever.
Brothers and sisters, God has revealed the secret mystery of his plan to save us, a mystery revealed fully in Jesus Christ, a mystery which centres on the cross, where he died for our sin and which shows us the wisdom of God. And he has revealed to us that he has given all authority to his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall, but the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is an eternal kingdom that will last forever.
And so, it leaves us with the question. Where is our trust? What kingdom are we building? Is our heart set on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do we trust him as our eternal King? Or do we merely say that we do, like Nebuchadnezzar here in the chapter, while our lives tell another story; our lives say that we are investing far more in ourselves, in the things of this world, in building a legacy for ourselves, which, when we really stop to think about it, will hardly be remembered by anyone in a few generations time? What about you, dear brother, dear sister? Where is your trust? Into which kingdom are you investing?
The kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only kingdom that will last forever. And if you are in Christ, you belong to this kingdom. We have received, as the book of Hebrews says, a kingdom that cannot be shaken. How encouraging is this, despite the opposition of the world! So, dear brothers and sisters, let’s worship him. Let’s join the loud voices of Revelation 11:15, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” Those words were used by George Handel in the Hallelujah chorus of his famous Messiah Oratorio. Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. King of kings, and lord of lord, and he shall reign forever and ever. Let’s be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and let us offer to him acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Rodney den Boer, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2025, Rev. Rodney den Boer
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