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ALL THE MONEY AND POWER IN THE WORLD

WON’T STOP A BAD TRUE DREAM

(Daniel Chapter 2 - The Colossus)

Frank V. Ellis

Senior Pastor

King’s Baptist Church

Vero Beach, Florida

1. Brief Recap of Chapter 1

2 "The Big Reveal"

3 Pt-1 The Golden Head

4 Pt-2 The Silver Chest

5 Pt-3 The Bronze Middle

6 Pt-4 The Legs of Iron

7 Pt-5 The Feet of Iron and Clay

8 Pt-6 The Kingdom of Jesus Christ

9 Citizens of the Great 5th Monarchy and Empire

A Quick Recap of Chapter 1:

Here in the second chapter we are continuing with the story of the young man, Daniel, and three of his friends. Many other Jewish young men who were faithful to Jehovah God as well were in Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar showed up at the doorsteps of Jerusalem. They raised the White Flag, the city's not destroyed but later will be destroyed during Daniel’s time. He is among those first carried off from his homeland, his family, from everything.

They are taken to “a strange land” in chapter one and we see that this strange land is indeed strange. It was hard and yet Daniel was not there as a slave, nor did he and his friends find themselves in misery and deprivation. It was a land of riches and wealth and all kinds of things that weren’t even conceivable to a young Israelite in Jerusalem. He is tested in all those things that the king of Babylon wants to indoctrinate him in - All Things Babylonian - to shape his mind; to shape his worldview; to change how he thinks; to change who he is and what he will become.

But Daniel and his friends manage to take a dietary stand to not defile themselves with the mandated pagan diet and only eat vegetables and drink water – and that separates them out from all those other young men that have been taken from Jerusalem. Not obeying the king in doing this is a dangerous thing, but by faith God leads them to do it. They are successful at the end their first three years of Babylonian “college.” Following that indoctrination, he is indeed told that he is superior to every other person who has gone through this course that all that these young exiles have been brought to.

Then we come to chapter 2 and let’s just review what we find at that time: we find him now in the guild of the wise men of Nebuchadnezzar. He is not the top banana at the top of the tree, but he is a part of the guild. While he is there we discover something about King Nebuchadnezzar in verses 1 through 23. In the story that follows we would sum it all up this way:

“All the money and power in the world won’t stop a bad true dream.”

As we’ve noted before, Nebuchadnezzar was a man of almost total power. He speaks it and it is done at his word. At his word any person or people would be destroyed. At his word any building, or city bridges would be erected, or destroyed. Babylon is that place where the eighth wonder of the world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built, and it was Nebuchadnezzar who commanded a bridge to be built across the Euphrates River--just magnificent amazing things.

The Babylonians, like other age-old peoples, considered the world to be in a state of evolution and with every succeeding new kingdom rising to power, the goal was to become better and more Superior and richer than any Kingdom had come before it. So, the Babylonians had become this and indeed they were at the zenith of world power and at the zenith of this evolutionary growth idea of humankind. It was they, by their own means and powers, who created this seeming paradise.

Nebuchadnezzar, at the top of that Kingdom, was representative all monarchs who liked to act like monarchs because they can. And they can until the day they get cancer, or indigestion, or nausea and then they are faced with the fact that they’re not above the rest of humanity… that they too are fragile. That realization changed his way of looking at life and drove Nebuchadnezzar to go to bed one night and have a dream – a nightmare.

When he awakes, he is driven to take the things in the dream very seriously. He now needs someone to help him with the details and definitely help him understand what it means. Suddenly this man who has “all power in the world,” and who everyone fears, now feels vulnerable himself.

There is something about this recurring dream that reminds him that tomorrow he could be dead and that makes him mad. He turns His anger onto all those who are in a circle of wise men, his “Brain Trust” -astrologers, the scientific religious practitioners, the priest, all who are supposed to study and know and control the world around him. They were supposed to be helping him build this perfect world ever better and better with him at the top of It. They recognized that in this world and all they can do in it that there are forces and powers and entities that have to be understood, studied, manipulated and appeased. Some of these they called Gods, but you have to understand that for most ancient people what they call gods were not persons. They were simply forces and realities that you need to understand and use so that you could master your perfect world. This dream keeps reoccurring and so he calls those who are in the leaders of his guilds, all of his wise men, to come and help him sort all this out.

So he calls to the leaders of his guilds, “... come up with the dream or become ‘body parts’” [2:5 condensed].

Daniel Chapter 2 is all about making something…
These Words are used 30 times in this chapter:

·                    known
·                    declared
·                    revealed
·                    shown
·                    told

Nebuchadnezzar says to his wise guilds, “Give me the dream and the interpretation.” They reply, like any good psychoanalyst would say today, “tell me your dream and I will give the interpretation” [2:7b].

Nebuchadnezzar is thinking is “what good is my dream of one world empire if a nightmare terror can overwhelm me. If I am going to die then you are all going to die--Before me!”

They tell him, “But only gods know this and they don’t dwell on earth” [2:11b]. So the decree goes out, they’re all going to die.

The mechanism of state begins to crank away. Daniel has been in one of those guilds but he’s not been in any of these meetings. He doesn’t know what’s going on. He is still a lower-class wise man at this point, but the word comes to him from the Executioner to get ready, “you’re going to die!”

Daniel clearly has shown prudence and wisdom in all of his dealings and has earned favor with everyone. He deals with a manager to get the Executioner a message. It’s a message for the king, and he asks for the king to give him (Daniel) what he (the king) was not willing to give his top echelons of men - to give him a little more time. Daniel says give me one day to prepare and I will come to you and I will give you the dream and I will give you its interpretation.

A Great prayer meeting
Daniel and his friends went back to his house in order to pray for compassion from God, and God reveals the dream and its meanings to him in a night vision.

Then Daniel ends up before the king who is ready to start tearing apart his advisers like a kid tears apart a Lego model. Daniel requests mercy on the advisers.

He then says to the king, “About your experts…”

1. They are Right, nobody can do what you ordered them to do.

2. They are wrong to think there is no access to the God of heaven. I know the God of heaven and he reveals mysteries.

And then he tells the king, “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…” [Daniel 2:28]

Daniel Knows Stuff Because He Knows the Living God!
Daniel then says to the king, “Nothing special about me, the true and living God has revealed it to me.”

WE’VE HEARD THIS STORY BEFORE
…because it is very much like the story of Joseph before Pharaoh. Each faced a king with a disturbing dream that came from God and revealed the future and the King’s top advisers failed to interpret the dream.

A Hebrew captive, in Egypt was Joseph. A Hebrew captive, in Babylon was Daniel. Both succeed and give all the credit to God. Both are rewarded by being given great political power.

The stories of Joseph and Daniel bookend the life of God’s people in the land of Israel: Joseph was in Egypt before Israel possessed the land, and Daniel was in Babylon after they lost it.

Wisdom is not a lesson to be learned but a relationship to be enjoyed. Daniel’s wisdom, contrary to that of the learned Babylonian astrologers, did not come from books of dream interpretation; instead, it came from a conversation, a prayer, with God himself.

Let’s look at two examples
In the New Testament Peter heals a lame man in Acts 3:12, and everyone’s amazed – and Peter says,
“Why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

In Acts 14:15 Paul heals a crippled man at Lystra. The city goes nuts, wants to worship him and Barnabas. They say, “No!” “We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God.”

Daniel is given his ability and the wisdom of this revelation to be able to answer Nebuchadnezzar’s questions. Daniel wants to make it clear that it is the Lord’s doing and not his. God works through His people. We are never the heroes. We are never the ones that do anything that really matters. It is the Lord who does it in and through us.

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THE BIG REVEAL:
A DREAD FOR THE SHINY METAL PEOPLE - A DREAM FOR THE 5^TH EMPIRE.

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.

Please note that this is one statue, one image, though each of the parts of the statue are separately identified and described. They are all parts of one whole. The whole statue represents the human power to create 4 human empires that have no dependance of God, and then a 5^th empire – which is of The Lord God.

Each of these empires would successfully incorporate the empire that had come before.

The image represents man’s dream of one world without God. A human made paradise, where if there is a god… he is on the sidelines, to give an occasional reward to pat the victor on his back.

Is a picture of history dominated by man, a dream of one world paradise without God shared by 4 great empires. More about that in a moment, but first…

So when Babylon Falls the next Kingdom, Medo-Persia, will consume it, then the next one, Greece, will consume it. The last one (Roman) will consume the former last one. This image always represents man’s dream of having a world without God, a human-made Paradise where there may be gods and forces, but they’re on the sidelines that they might give a help here there and a pat on the victors back. But basically it is a nation’s desire that they are determined to build greatness and dominance and to control everything in their sight, in their imagination, by their own abilities. It is a one world Paradise without God - created by man and these four parts of this colossus are four great Empires who are all after that same goal.

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THE IMAGE DESCRIBED
PART 1
BABYLON: THE GOLDEN HEAD

So let’s walk through Part 1. The first part of the image is described. You need to have your Bible open? And probably read all this later too. I’m going to read the description and then read Daniels explanation. So the first one is verse 32.

Daniel 2:32 The head of this image was of fine gold,

EXPLAINED

Daniel explains, “O King of Kings” to whom the God of Heaven has given this kingdom the power, the might, and the glory, and the list of all the things He's given His glory over. He Is making you rule over all of them. You are the head of gold. Daniel recognizes that everyone in any place of authority ultimately is there because God put them there, and if Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon, he is there because God put him there. He knows that there is no authority on earth has not been ordained by God. So he is willing to give this reverent respect to this King as he would expect it in this place of standing. But God knows and He makes it clear in what He says, “you’re there Nebuchadnezzar because the God Of Heaven has given you your kingdom for His reasons.”

[Daniel 2:37-38] “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, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold.”

Daniel recognizes the kingship given by God to Nebuchadnezzar. He knows that there is no authority that exists on Earth that has not been ordained by God.

Think of Jesus standing before Roman governor Pilate who says to Him, “Don't you know that I have the authority to release you or to crucify you?” [John 19:10b] And Jesus looked him square in the eye and said, “The only authority you have is that which has been given to you by heaven.” [John 19:11a]

Nebuchadnezzar, egomaniac that he was, is thinking, “Hey, I am the gold. I am the head.” This king was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Please note as we go that there's going to be a lot of stuff that Daniel says to him that seemed to go right over his head.

He’s is like he Israelite King Hezekiah, who commits a stupid blunder that has just ruined the nation for the next generations. He responds, “yeah, but at least it won't happen in my time,” and here is Nebuchadnezzar’s empire Babylon, the highest and finest development of a human paradise without God.

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THE IMAGE DESCRIBED
PART 2
MEDO-PERSIA: THE SILVER CHEST

[Daniel 2:32] …. its chest and arms of silver,

EXLAINED

[Daniel 2:39] Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you,

Literally, verse 39 begins, “But after you…” (NKJV). Did Nebuchadnezzar even hear that? Nebuchadnezzar your kingdom will not last. Kings and kingdoms, presidents and dictators, democracies and tyrannies and monarchies come and go and enter the landfill of history.

This Silver empire will be the Medo-Persian Empire initially led by the dynamic Cyrus the Great. It will last for about 208 years (539–331 B.C.). Through him the Israelites will be allowed to return to Jerusalem.

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THE IMAGE DESCRIBED
PART 3
GREECE: THE BRONZE MIDDLE

[Daniel 2:32] … its middle and thighs of bronze,

EXPLAINED

[Daniel :39] … yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.

In 332 B.C. the armies of the great conqueror Alexander the Great marched against the Medo-Persian Empire and defeated it in a series of decisive battles. As broad as the world is wide, but as unstable as water.

Alexander would die at the age of 32 after conquering the “known world,” and his empire would splinter into four parts. Alexander the Great also dreamed of one world order and set to make it real. Moved all the way to India. Dreamed of one world religion, himself as “the son of the gods.” He took soldiers and merchants, had mass marriages to mix east and west, one world integration. He provided a universal language across the known world. KOINE Greek. When the New Testament was written, it was not written in Hebrew nor Aramaic, but rather in Koine Greek, the business language of the then civilized world.

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THE IMAGE DESCRIBED
PART 4
ROME: LEGS OF IRON

[Daniel 2:33] its legs of iron,

EXPLAINED

[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.

It would defeat the divided Greek empire. From the defeat of Carthage in 146 B.C. to the division of the East and West empires in A.D. 395 Rome dominated. It began as a noble republic and devolved into an empire run by ego maniacal tyrants. It suffered often from civil war. Rome’s systems of communications, primarily its road system, expedited the spread of the gospel, all roads lead to Rome.

Daniel uses the words: breaks; shatters; breaks to pieces and crushes. It would be a kingdom of Iron that crushed and broke all others.

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THE IMAGE DESCRIBED
PART 5
ROME: FEET OF IRON AND CLAY

[Daniel 2:41-43] But while Nebuchadnezzar was thrilled being the head of gold … the most important note about the image was its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

When we talk about something that is going to last... “having feet of clay”… well, that's just not going to work out well, and that’s where the idea “Iron and Clay do not mix” comes from. So the golden head; the silver shoulders; the Bronze belly; and thighs and the legs of iron - all of them were always being carried on feet of brittle clay. This “One World Utopia” idea that we as Humanity could sustain Paradise without God… stands on feet of clay and all those theories sound really good to those who can’t connect with the real world. They sound good in theory until they touch real life. It's then that all men find out that Iron and clay cannot mix nor can man with man apart from Christ. And those theories never last and never work.

This is the final part of the giant image. Partly strong and partly brittle. They will not mix, they will not hold, “just as iron does not mix with clay.” This is the weakness of human strength. The final detail about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was revealed--a final detail to the dream that is at the heart of it all.

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THE IMAGE DESCRIBED
PART 6
THE KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST

We’ll back up for a moment to catch God’s description through Daniel of what happens after the colossus of human power is complete.

[Daniel 2:34] 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.

And with that we are introduced to the fifth Empire an Empire that starts as a Stone, our “Rock.” I could spend all morning taking you through the Old and New Testament scriptures that talk about a stone and a rock and a mountain as a picture of the power and Kingdom of God.

The 5th empire … stone or rock not made with hands, Jesus Christ.

[Daniel 2:35] 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.

The best explanation comes In verse 44.

[Daniel 2:44] 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,

So here is this colossal statue representing the coming history of the world the great Empires that would rise and boom… a stone starts off a little bit. It crushes the Colossus and then it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger until it fills the whole earth it grows and it grows and it’s groans. This is an image of a stone that is made without hands. It’s not a stone that has been shaped and chiseled or formed. It is that human beings had nothing to do with it. They did not make it at all. Remember when the Hebrews traveled through the through the Wilderness wandering. When they built their altars, they were not to ever be built with stone that they choose to mold and shape. They were to take stone in its natural shape and stack it up. They were alters that were built without hands. They were always pointing all the time to Jesus Christ who had come - not shaped; not formed; not planned; not detailed; not imaged; not created by any human mind, but indeed the gift of God for our salvation and for his kingdom.

It Begins for the time of this iron Kingdom, that the Roman Empire is born, as a baby, in a Manger. A Roman protected King will try to kill him. Eventually a Roman Governor will sentence him to death. There came into that Kingdom Jesus Christ. He came proclaiming the gospel of God. The time was fulfilled and the kingdom of God was at hand in order to repent and believe the gospel. It was these images of stone that are all over the Old Testament and they get repeated over and over.

[Mark 1:14-15] “Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

[Acts 4:11] “He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone.”

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

God is going to set up a kingdom and it will never be destroyed the kingdom of God would begin to take shape of the person and the work of Jesus Christ and then as he would be ascended to Heaven and as we continue as his body, we continue through his church… the body of Christ.

That statue speaks of four Empires all seeking the same thing to bring a man-centered paradise under the control with no reference to God. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome all came crashing down and right on time… Jesus Christ is born, has His ministry, dies on the Cross, is Resurrected, Ascended – and the Empire of His Church was established and now continues.

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This now is the great fifth monarchy, we are citizens of the 5^th monarchy which will overcome the world.

The dreams of these other empires were that they would govern and control history. But this vision makes it clear that God is the governor and determiner of all things.

The 4 empires of the Colossus, different each, yet having the same overriding purpose, “man regaining paradise on earth without God.”

It is the same today. Man thinks he can be his own god, nature is called a god and still described with awe and wonder, but not the Creator who made it. Nature is just a collection of nouns and is just a way to personify the wind and sun and moon and stars, all just aspects of creation. Nature itself cannot be spoken of us as the source of anything. Yet we have made nature the effective lord and governor and ruler of all things.

But God makes it clear He is the governor and the determiner of all things. All these four Empires are all different and yet they are always with that same purpose--man regaining Paradise on Earth doing it themselves, by their plans without God. And there are always people who think exactly that way. Most of them are running many of the governments of the world. Probably our own.

Many People think we live by blind chance, and if there is any reasoning power of the universe is to be believed that it is man. Marxism, in all its forms, says exactly same thing … man must take over and become his own god and govern the universe. We will make it paradise. Notice how, despite all our technology, we are no closer to achieving such goals.

Thos 5^th monarchy of Christ does usher in paradise but it is a byproduct … for the goal of Christ and His coming the is not to fulfill the desires of man’s heart--as man imagines paradise, but to reestablish communion with God. For Man was in communion with God in paradise (the Garden) and this is what made it paradise. Unbroken communion between God and man. Man, by his sin, destroyed that communion. We have joined into that destroyed communion - it every one of us has participated in it. Adam. Was that representative Man Who Lost It All.

Jesus Christ came as the ideal representative “man,” keeping His law perfectly and as the innocent Lamb of God to make atonement for man’s sin. By His death on cross and His resurrection Jesus Christ reestablished communion with God. It is Christ that has made it possible to re-establish that which was lost, and that which is essential, in every human heart, every human family, and every society that wants to be whole and right--he makes that possible again. What the Lord’s Supper reminds us that it is what we mean when we pray In Jesus name--communion has been reestablished.

This 5^th monarchy will be over the whole world. It will not be followed by another, like Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece or Rome.

We who hold this kingdom-view can easily forget how unbearably sad Joe and Jane Pagan might be, for they go out their front door in the morning and have no idea where history is heading.

If I didn’t believe Daniel 2:44, I couldn’t find the energy to place one foot in front of another.

“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”

The Roman Christian-hating Emperor Julian (AD 332–363) was fighting a war with the Persians. He was wounded in the battle. While this was going on, one of Julian’s followers mocked a Christian in Antioch by asking, “So what is the carpenter’s son was doing.”

The Christian replied, ‘The Maker of the world, whom you call the carpenter’s son, is employed in making a coffin for the emperor.’

Within two days news came to Antioch of Emperor Julian’s death. Daniel chapter 2 makes it clear that Jesus has a coffin for every emperor and empire; the only true security is in the kingdom of the carpenter’s Son. People who think like the first 4 empires find themselves terrorized by their own dreams …. They seek to escape that terror. Magazine articles of billionaires building their bunkers… for all their power and money… the troubling dreams still come. Every moment is haunted, and sleep taunted by the realization that history is not in their hands, Government is not upon their shoulders, but upon His shoulders, the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace. He who doeth all things well.

Don’t be impressed with human political power, no matter how ‘iron-ish’ it appears; it is all so fleeting; so, do not fear it. Daniel chapter 2 says, “Look at it square in the eye and repeat after Jesus:”

‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above’ (John 19:11a).

We escape from the terror of dreams through Jesus Christ--the blessed assurance.

1-Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

2-Perfect communion, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
Angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

3-Perfect submission, all is at rest.
I in my Savior am happy and bless’d,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

Chorus

    This is my story, this is my song,
    praising my Savior all the day long.
    This is my story, this is my song,
    praising my Savior all the day long.

         Blessed Assurance, 1873
         Tune: Pheobe Knapp
         Lyrics: Fanny Crosby

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SOME FINAL WORDS

Hebrews 12:28-29 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Ref. Deuteronomy 4:14).

Even though Christ has granted us unusual privileges, we must be aware of God's awesomeness and holiness. Therefore we worship Him with reverence and awe.

1.	Brief Recap of Chapter 1
2	"The Big Reveal"
3	Pt-1 The Golden Head
4	Pt-2 The Silver Chest
5	Pt-3 The Bronze Middle
6	Pt-4 The Legs of Iron
7	Pt-5 The Feet of Iron and Clay
8	Pt-6 The Kingdom of Jesus Christ
9	Citizens of the Great 5th Monarchy and Empire

Frank V. Ellis Senior Pastor
Originally preached 2023-12-31
King’s Baptist Church, Vero Beach, Florida

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THE BIG REVEAL:A DREAD FOR THE SHINY METAL PEOPLE - A DREAM FOR THE 5TH EMPIRE.

THE BIG REVEAL:
A DREAD FOR THE SHINY METAL PEOPLE - A DREAM FOR THE 5^TH EMPIRE.