The Dream: Its Revelation and Interpretation, Part 2

Let's bow in a word of prayer together. Father, we thank you for tonight and the opportunity you give us to study the Word of the Lord. We thank you, Lord, for you and for all you've done for us.

Your sovereignty that rules over all, your grace that sustains us, it saves us, and we are grateful for that. We're grateful, Lord, for everything you do because who you are determines what it is you do. And you've ministered to all of us in unique and special ways, and for that we are grateful.

And we pray that tonight as we have the opportunity to study a great passage of Scripture, they're all great, it just seems that, Lord, when you give us prophecy and it's so accurate that, Lord, we are able to see how it is you control everything. And, Lord, for that we are grateful because that tells us that you're in control of our lives and that nothing's going to happen by accident, but always by divine appointment. You have a plan, and that plan will always be fulfilled exactly as you have ordained it, and for that we are grateful.

So, Lord, as we study your Word, open our hearts and minds that we might see the beautiful things out of your law. In Jesus' name, amen. If you got your Bible, Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 2. And this chapter is one of the key passages of prophetic truth.

In fact, it's like the hinges in which the door of prophecy sway. If you understand Daniel chapter 2, you'll begin to understand more and more of the rest of Daniel. In fact, the second half of Daniel will elaborate on the second chapter of Daniel.

And so, the things you might not understand or get this evening, don't worry, we're going to come back to it from a different perspective, a different angle, to show you exactly how it opens up everything for you to see. But what it does is it tells us that our Lord is in complete control of absolutely everything. And we're going to get a peek behind the prophetic curtain to see all the different players that come to be, and how it is God uses each particular person in a unique and special way.

When you come to Daniel chapter 2, the times the Gentiles have already begun. They began in chapter 1, verse number 1, when it says, In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. We told you at that time that the book of Daniel truly is about Gentile supremacy under the direction of God's sovereignty.

The times the Gentiles begin when Judah goes into captivity, and that's Daniel chapter 1. And it will last all the way until the Messiah comes again. In fact, Jesus would say these words in Luke's gospel, the 21st chapter. He said this, it says, And they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

In other words, in Luke's gospel, we know the times of the Gentiles had yet to be fulfilled. That won't happen until the Messiah comes again. And so in Daniel 1, verse number 1, those times began.

Three years in now, Daniel is 18 years of And he is going to interpret the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had so he, Nebuchadnezzar, understands the future of the world. And so we're going to see how history unfolds itself as we study Daniel chapter 2. In fact, over in Matthew's gospel, the Lord quotes from the book of Daniel when he says in verse 15 of Matthew 24, Christ wants you to understand the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. Now in Daniel 2, he doesn't bring that to light, but he will bring that to light in the second half of the book of Daniel.

And so our Lord puts a punctuation mark on the book of Daniel when he quotes it for the disciples to understand what's going to take place in the end of the age with the fullness of the Gentiles. As you recall, the glory of the Lord had departed from Israel. Therefore, they were, for lack of a better phrase, on their own.

God had ordained them in the book of Deuteronomy to be a light to the world. He had ordained them to be the individuals who would open the door to the Gentile world that they might come to know the true and living God. And yet Israel continued to fail.

So much so that they went after pagan gods and they began to involve themselves in idolatry. And so the Lord would put them in the capital of idolatry, Babylon. He'd put them there for 70 years to help them understand how they need to move out of that and come back to Him.

And He gave the prophecy in Jeremiah 29 that, I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for prosperity and not for calamity, plans to give you a future and a hope. So He told them that everything was running on hope. And Israel needed hope.

They needed to understand that their God was in control. They needed to understand that there was hope at the end of the tunnel. And Daniel is the one who begins to unfold for them the hope that the Lord gives them concerning the future.

He's going to show them through prophecy the times of the Gentiles and show them how it is that Messiah is going to come to earth. How is it that Messiah is going to arrive and show them King of kings and Lord of lords. And so He's going to give them hope.

And Israel would need hope as they sat in Babylonian captivity. And they would hang their harps on the willow trees there by the river because they could not sing of joy any longer because the glory of the Lord had departed. But in Matthew 24, when the Son of Man appears, then the glory of the Lord will shine all around and everyone will know that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Now God's going to do something great in Daniel's life. He's going to promote Daniel. Daniel doesn't know this.

Daniel doesn't understand all that God's doing. All he knows is that there's been a decree that all the wise men are going to die. Daniel's a part of that assembly.

And so that's all he knows. But God is orchestrating every situation to bring about how it is that Daniel will be promoted to the highest office in the land and be used in a mighty way. And so remember, I'm going to reiterate this over and over again.

The man is 18 years old. And it makes you wonder what we teach our children and how we parent as parents, our children. When you look at Daniel when he was 15 and what he did in chapter one, now in chapter two, three years later when he's 18, and the kind of integrity this young man has, the boldness that he has, the strength that he has, the courage that he has.

So we're going to read to you Daniel 2 verses 31 and following to help you understand this image that Nebuchadnezzar had and how Daniel is going to interpret that. And there will be some of you sitting here tonight who will say, okay, okay, okay. You know what? I'm not going to get this anyway.

So let's move on to chapter three and the fiery furnace of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But the bottom line is, remember we've told you, and you need to get this, the clearer you see the future, the cleaner you stand in the present. The more courageous you'll stand in the present, the more confident you'll be in the present.

But it all depends on how clearly you see the future. That's why the future is so important. That's why prophecy is so important.

So once you begin to understand what God is doing, how God operates, how He's going to bring about His great and wonderful purposes, it gives you the courage to stand today, tomorrow, the next day. It helps you live the kind of life that God wants you to live because He who has this hope in Him purifies Himself even as He Himself is pure. So let's read it and then we'll look at it together.

Daniel 2 verse number 31 says this, you, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue. That statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you. Its appearance was awesome.

The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breasts and its arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff.

From the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Now it's interesting to note that in this image, in this dream, God uses language that Nebuchadnezzar would be very familiar with.

That's why the stone is cut out of a mountain. What's the significance of the mountain? What's the significance of the toes being crushed and then the wind blowing them away like chaff? That's very important. We'll discuss that with you in a minute.

Verse 36, this was the dream. Now we will tell its interpretation before the king. You, O king, are the king of kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory.

And wherever the sons of men dwell or the beast, the field, or the birds of the sky, he has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you.

Then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron. And as much as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.

In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom, but it will have in it the toughness of iron. In as much as you saw the iron mixed with common clay, as the toes, the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.

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.

In as much as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future. So the dream is true in its interpretation, trustworthy. Interesting that as Nebuchadnezzar has this dream, it's a colossal image of an individual, of a man, because it goes to the importance to understand that man in all of his achievements are bigger in his own mind than what they really are.

Man does think that he is increased in the area of science and technology and transportation and everything that pertains to man. And rightly so, man has increased in knowledge, but man seems and tends to look at his achievements as being so great and so wonderful, and yet it's all going to come tumbling down. It's all going to be destroyed.

The king has this dream, and Daniel is going to recollect that dream, and then he's going to reveal that dream, and then he's going to reaffirm the importance of that dream. And he's going to spell out for the king exactly what he was dreaming. Nobody else could do this, only Daniel, because God had revealed to him the mysteries.

So none of the other magicians or wise men or conjurers could do this. None of the sorcerers could do this. They could not tell the king what his dream was, but they could in their own mind interpret the dream if they knew what it was.

But the king wanted them to tell him, what did I dream? And then tell me the meaning of what I dreamed. And here Daniel tells him exactly what his dream was all about. There's this image.

This image has a head. That head is filled with gold. It's a golden image of the head.

And then you have the chest and the arms. It goes from gold to silver. And then you have the chest and the thighs, and they're made of bronze.

Then you have the legs. They're made of iron. And the feet, they're made of a mixture of iron and clay.

And at the outset, you can begin to understand the deteriorating aspect of the image, because God has a unique and wonderful plan that He's putting together, so people will come to understand exactly what it is God is going to do. And the dream tells us that the kingdoms of the world are going to deteriorate. They're not going to get better.

They're going to get worse over time. And He gives them this image because it takes them all the way to the end. Now, the king doesn't understand how long everything is going to be.

He has no idea. But He does tell them that you, O king, are the head of gold. And this would do Nebuchadnezzar good.

It would set his mind at ease. He would hear exactly how it is Daniel talks about this image, and how Daniel opens up to him what he had dreamt. And now he can rest in the fact that Daniel can tell him exactly what the dream was all about.

And that's what Daniel does. So, once Daniel recalls the dream, and he talks about the stone that's going to come, and it's how it's not made with hands, meaning it's not made out of human hands, but it's going to be a super—it's not natural, it's supernatural. It's cut out of the mountain.

And we talked to you last week about that stone is the Messiah. We'll talk to you a little bit more about that this evening, so you come to understand what Daniel would have known based on what the Old Testament already said. But as he gives this image to Nebuchadnezzar, the king, he now begins to interpret it for him.

He begins to reveal everything to him. And as you read this, you got to realize that when you come to Daniel 7 and Daniel 8, these images will unfold to a greater extent. So, you have to hold on to your hats until we get there.

But remember, this is the times of the Gentiles, from the days of Nebuchadnezzar all the way until the true king of kings arrives. You'll notice that Daniel calls him the King of Kings. That's a small K, not a capital K, because when Christ returns, He returns as the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords, all with capital letters.

Why? Because He is the true king and the true Lord. But he does tell Nebuchadnezzar that He is the head of gold. So, you know the head of gold refers to Babylon.

Very important. Why? Because what begins with Babylon, the times of the Gentiles, the times of the Gentiles will end with the future kingdom of Babylon, according to Revelation 17 and Revelation 18. So, that's very important to understand this.

And so, as you realize that Daniel helps Nebuchadnezzar understand that you are the head of gold, he tells them very clearly with these words. He says, you are king of kings. He tells them the God of heaven, El Elohim, El Elyon, excuse me, has given the kingdom, the power and strength and glory.

In other words, Nebuchadnezzar, what you have, God has given to you. My God has given to you, the one who reveals secrets. He has given you this kingdom.

He has given you this opportunity. He has given you the glory of this kingdom. And he wants them to understand exactly who's in charge.

And we know that Romans 13 and Acts 17, it talks about that God ordains the governments and the kings and those who rule in the lands. God's in charge of all those things. And Daniel wants Nebuchadnezzar to understand that, listen, there is a God, my God, who gave you glory, who gave you power, who made you the king of kings.

Now, you will know that there's only one part of the image that has a king. None of the other ones do because Babylon was a true monarchy that ruled the world. It was the first world empire.

It was run by a king, King Nebuchadnezzar. But the rest of them don't have a person in charge because they have a different form of government. And that's seen in how the image is portrayed.

But note this, he tells them, you are powerful and you are strong. He tells them in verse 31, this image was extraordinary. It was awesome.

It was filled with splendor. And Nebuchadnezzar wouldn't know that. He remembers the dream.

But what does it mean? And so now Daniel says, listen, you are the head of gold. You are the top of this image. You are a world empire.

You are the king of all the kings. And so he tells them this. Now remember, this kingdom lasted for 70 years.

It would last as long as God designed it to last. God had raised up Nebuchadnezzar. God had given Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

Because Jeremiah 25 says that Nebuchadnezzar is God's servant. And so Nebuchadnezzar was raised up by God as his servant specifically for the captivity of Israel for 70 years. When that was done, when those 70 years were up, the next part of the image takes over.

So Babylon would be the first world empire. It would last for 70 years. The next two world empires would last around 200 years.

And the second one would be the Medo-Persian empire. We know that based on Daniel 8 verse number 20. We know the next empire is Greece based on Daniel 8 verse number 21.

But we also know from an historical perspective, because history unveils to us exactly what the Bible had already foretold. You see, God wasn't waiting around for history to happen and then give a prophecy. No, he gave the prophecy hundreds of years before.

So when it came to be, everyone would know that when Daniel interpreted the vision, it was absolutely accurate, exactly as God had revealed the secrets to him. And so Babylon is the kingdom of gold. And truly the historian Herodotus, when he went to Babylon 100 years after Nebuchadnezzar, it was laced with gold through and through.

And so Isaiah tells us that Babylon is the city of gold. And that's why it's represented as gold in the image. Then he moves to the chest, the breast, and the arms.

This is a divided kingdom. Okay? There are two aspects to this kingdom. There are the Medes and the Persians.

When you come to Daniel chapter 5, Daniel will read the handwriting on the wall at the feast of Belshazzar and tell Belshazzar, who followed Nebuchadnezzar, your kingdom is coming to an end. He's given your kingdom into the hands of the Medes and Persians. And that's exactly how the image is portrayed.

There are two aspects of it, the Medes and the Persians. And notice it's a silver image. That part is silver.

And it is true that as you go through history, you realize that the Medes and the Persians had developed a supreme taxation where the people had to pay their taxes in silver coins because silver was a major part of their economy. And so that's why the image is silver. The Lord knows all this.

Why? Because the Lord ordained it all. And so that's why the second aspect of the kingdom, the second kingdom, the second world power is depicted as silver. The Medes and the Persian empire was established in 538 B.C. It was stronger and bigger than the Babylonian empire.

Following that would be the Greece empire. It was stronger and bigger than the Medes and Persian empire. And then following that was the Roman empire, and that was even stronger and bigger than the Greek empire.

They get bigger and bigger and bigger, but they get weaker and weaker and weaker because that's the effects of sin upon man. Sin just makes man weaker and weaker as time goes on. And that's exactly what's happening.

And then you come to the third aspect, and that's Greece. And how do we know it's Greece? From Daniel chapter 8, verse number 21, it tells us that it's Greece. And this is the third world empire.

It was headed by Alexander the Great, the great general, the greatest general of ancient times. And he was the one who had ruled. He took over after his father.

His father was Philip of Macedon. And this was a different kind of government as well. Babylon was a monarchy.

The Medes and Persian was an oligarchy. And when you come to understand Greece, it was aristocratic in nature. Rome was imperialistic.

And so as you begin to see exactly how things unfold, you begin to realize that now Greece is that third world empire. Alexander the Great demanded that he would be called the great king. He commanded people to call him the king of all the earth.

You will note that the empire of the Medes and Persians, it says after you, in verse number 39, there will arise another kingdom inferior to you. Wow. Why is it put that way? Why is that all that's said? Nebuchadnezzar was a proud man.

And maybe Nebuchadnezzar, if he knew more about the Medes and the Persians, would become maybe angry with Daniel. So God only reveals so much. But He lets him know that this is an inferior kingdom.

Maybe it's inferior militarily, economically, or maybe it's just lower in nature because it's next in line. There's some debate as to which is true. But that's all that's said.

But when you come to the third kingdom, it tells us it rules over all the earth. And so the kingdoms begin to be bigger, encompass more area, and become more powerful as time goes on. Because man, in his own mind, thinks he's getting bigger and more powerful as time goes on.

But in all reality, it's going right along the lines that God wants it to go. So you have the head of gold, which is Babylon. You have the chest or the breast and the arms of silver, which is the Medes and the Persians.

And then you have Greece. And Greece has a division as well. Why? Because we will see in times ahead, in Daniel 7 and Daniel 8, that there was two aspects of the Greek empire.

One was the Seleucids of Syria, and two, the Ptolemies of Egypt. And you're going to see how that unfolds as time goes on. And also notice that it's signified by bronze or brass.

That's important because when the Greeks went to battle, they had helmets of brass. They had breastplates of brass. They had shields of brass and swords of brass.

Now, did God know that in advance? Absolutely. And that's why the image is given in brass. So they understand, or bronze, because bronze is our text.

So they are able to understand exactly that God was foretelling everything exactly how it was going to be. And then you come to the fourth empire. The fourth empire is represented by iron, and iron crushes everything.

And that's the Roman empire. And again, you're going to see this unfold in Daniel 7 and Daniel 8 as time goes on. But Rome, symbolized by iron, had two legs in the image.

And it's true, there was an eastern part of Rome and a western part of Rome. The eastern part would last some 400 years, and yet the western part would last till 1400 AD. And so you begin to see that God is in charge of all this.

And as you begin to realize that Rome came to power in somewhere around 63 BC, and would be in power during the time of Christ, and were still oppressing the people of God because at times the Gentiles were still in process. And that was the Gentile domination over the Israelis, as it's always been since Daniel chapter 1, verse number 1. And so God is outlining everything for the king. Now, you can imagine the king sitting there thinking, wow, this is amazing.

I can't believe this. I'm represented in the head of gold. And of course, gold was all about Babylon.

And then he knows that there's other empires in the world that are coming, marvelous empires that are coming. But then you go from Rome, and we'll talk about this as time goes on, until you come to the feet. And they're a mixture of iron and clay, which shows you the deterioration of the image.

It's not based on something that's solid, but it's going to be destroyed very easily. So who does this represent? This represents a revived Roman Empire, because there's still iron that's there, but there's so much clay that's mixed in with the iron. And we know that iron represents Rome in the legs.

So when it comes to defeat, there needs to be a revival of the Roman Empire. You see, the last empire was Rome. And there have been people who've tried to be world rulers, whether it be Hitler, he thought he could be a world ruler.

Napoleon thought he could be a world ruler. Mussolini thought he could be a world ruler. Some believe that China will be the next world ruler.

They won't be. Why? They're not a part of the image. They're not in Daniel chapter 2. That's how you know that China will not become the next world dominant power.

Instead, they'll come a conglomerate of nations, of kingdoms that come together, symbolized by the ten toes. In Daniel 7, they're called ten kings. And we're going to see the division of ten toes representative as ten kings.

When you go to Revelation 17 and 18, you realize that those ten kings are in power. Those ten-nation confederacy rules the land. And from there comes a little horn, who is the Antichrist, who will rule all of them.

He is the next coming world ruler. It's not going to be a nation. It's not going to be a person except for the Antichrist.

And he's going to be ruling over this ten-nation confederacy. If you're with us in our study of the book of Revelation, you understand this. But when we get to Daniel 7 and 8, we'll unfold all this for you again, so you begin to understand exactly how it is this ten-nation confederacy comes together and that is ruled by one ruler, the Antichrist.

And then he says that the stone, this stone that's cut out of the mountain is going to come and crush everything, everything. Now, Reynolds Showers, who's written a commentary on the book of Daniel, he has now gone home to be with the Lord, says this, and it's very unique. He says, the Babylonians called their chief god, Marduk, the great mountain.

They believed that their gods came from the sacred mountain of the earth, the mountain that they called the mountain of the lands. The temples of Babylon were intended to be imitations of mountains. All of this indicates that to the Babylonian way of thinking, mountains were associated with that which is divine.

Because the Babylonians… because this was the Babylonians' mindset, God purposely portrayed His future kingdom first as a stone cut out of a mountain and second as a stone that became a great mountain. This was His way of getting Nebuchadnezzar to understand that the fifth kingdom would be divine rather than human in origin. This kingdom would not be another attempt by man to rule the earth apart from God.

God emphasized this divine origin by portraying the stone as cut out without human hands, but to prevent Nebuchadnezzar from concluding that this divine kingdom would be set up by Babylonian gods. Daniel made it clear that the God of heaven would establish it. So, God would use the symbol of a stone cut out of a mountain because the Babylonians would associate mountains with the divine.

And God is the divine. He is the only deity. And this stone cut out was not made with hands.

It was a supernatural making. And of course, everything about the coming of the Messiah is supernatural. And so, He goes on to explain this.

He says, after the stone had crushed the entire image, the wind blew away every remnant of it. The Babylonians believed that wind was a divine activity. They called Marduk the Lord of the wind.

As a result of this belief, Nebuchadnezzar would understand the divine activity would rid the earth of Gentile world power. Now, remember, all this is set in motion because Israel needs to know that there's a future hope. Israel needs to understand that God has a plan.

It's running right on schedule. And as it begins to unfold, they're living in the very beginning. You see, Nebuchadnezzar, all this was before him.

For us, everything of the image is past tense, except for the feet of clay and iron. That's future for us. But we can look back and see how Babylon was a world empire.

After Babylon came the Medes and the Persians. After them came Greece. After them, Rome.

But there's never been a world empire since Rome. So, God designed it that way so no one would wiggle their way into this image and rule the world. That's how you know that China, as great and as strong as they are, militarily, economically, financially, are not the next world power.

Rest at ease. It's not going to happen that way because China is not in Daniel chapter 2. They are part of the kings of the east of Revelation 16. The kings of the east includes China, but they are not the next world power.

The next world power will be a 10-nation confederacy, 10 kings, 10 toes, 10 kings, Daniel chapter 7. And from those 10 kings comes a little horn, and that little horn we know as the son of perdition according to 2 Thessalonians 2 verse number 3, or as we call him in 1 John, the Antichrist. He will become the next world ruler. Nobody else is going to rise to world power except for the Antichrist since the time of Rome.

So, you need to understand that as you look at Daniel 2 because Daniel 2 is that great prophetic picture that all of prophecy and the future of the world rests on. So, if you understand Daniel 2 and you'll understand it all the more when you move on to Daniel 7 and 8, it will all unfold for you. And so, Daniel now is going to reaffirm in the mind of Nebuchadnezzar that his God reveals this.

Look what he says in verse number 44. In the days of those kings, that's a very important phrase. Why? What kings? The kings that are representative in the divided kingdom in verse number 41, in that you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom, okay? In the days of those kings because there are 10 toes.

Later in Daniel, they're called 10 kings. In the days of those kings, okay, the God of heaven, El Elyon, that's the whole emphasis of Daniel's book, will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. Now listen, that phrase right there proves pre-millennialism and negates all millennialism.

There's going to be a kingdom, but that kingdom is not going to be established until these 10 kings, this 10 nation confederacy is destroyed. Very important. He says this 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. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands.

In other words, you've seen this. Now you understand this. Now you're held accountable to this, O King Nebuchadnezzar.

You see, the king had a dream at a very specific time in history, not before Daniel was 18, not before Daniel had gone through the pagan school system of Babylon, but at the exact moment that the king needed to have a dream so that it could all be fulfilled prophetically as God had designed it. And so God was in charge of all of this. And here was Daniel telling him, the dream that you saw that now has been revealed to you, now you're held accountable to.

And this would all play a part in Nebuchadnezzar's conversion. He's not going to be converted now, but he will be down the road and you'll see it. But it all plays a part in sowing the seeds of a man who will learn to submit himself to a higher authority, the only divine King, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And so he says, then as much as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, the gold, the great God has made known to the King what will take place in the future. So the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy. In other words, this is all true.

You can bank on this and now you're held accountable to it. Isn't that great how Daniel says that? He's 18 years old. He says, oh King, what you saw is absolute truth.

He wasn't afraid of the King. Why isn't this 18-year-old boy afraid of the King? Because he understands the future. He's been called by God.

He knows what it means to set his life apart for God. He is so committed to the Lord God of Israel that there's nothing that intimidates him. King Nebuchadnezzar was a ruthless man, but he's not afraid.

He stands strong. And because he stands strong, he can tell the King, listen, you're held accountable to this. You've seen it.

I've said it. God revealed it. Now you're held accountable.

Everything that you've heard is true. It's all trustworthy. You can bank on this.

Daniel had no idea what was going to happen next. Daniel was not able to understand how God would elevate him to a place of prominence and power in Babylon at the age of 18. I can't emphasize that enough because when you look at 18-year-olds today, I tell you, there's not much maturity there.

When you look at 18-year-olds today, you wonder how many more video games can they play, right? How many more things can they put on Instagram and how many more things can they actually do? Why is it we're not producing young men who are strong and steadfast? Why is it we're not producing men that are so strong that they cannot be intimidated by the rulers around them? That was Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel 3, we'll see it being Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They too are very young, probably 18, maybe 19 years of age.

They're all still very young, yet they're not intimidated. They're very confident. They're very courageous.

Remember Daniel 11.32, those who know their God, right, will be strong and do great exploits. The reason that 18-year-olds today are not strong and don't do great exploits is simply because they do not know God. There is no other answer.

They do not know God because for those who do know God, Daniel 11.32 is true. They're strong. They do not back down.

They will stand firm on the principles of Scripture. So let me go back with you to this stone. I think it's so important to understand this.

Fourteen times in Scripture, it talks about this stone. That means it's very significant. It's a unique stone.

So let me help you understand this stone because this stone is the Messiah. The Messiah is the one who comes and crushes the kingdoms of the world. The Messiah is one who comes in all of His splendor and all of His glory and sets up His kingdom.

This is who the world ruler truly is, the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. Let me tell you something about this stone. This stone is what we're going to call a stricken stone, a stricken stone.

Book of Exodus, 17th chapter. Remember Moses, when the people were thirsty? And what did God say to Moses? Strike the rock and water will come forth. If you go to the New Testament, Paul references that in 1 Corinthians 10 verse number 4 and tells us that the rock or the stone, listen, is Christ.

God tells Moses to strike the stone and water will come forth so the people of Israel will live. If you go further on to Numbers chapter 20, the people are thirsty again, right? And God says to Moses this time, I want you not to strike the rock. I want you to speak to the rock.

Remember that? Speak to the rock. And Moses is so upset with the nation of Israel, he doesn't speak to the rock. He strikes the rock and God's angry with Moses.

And because of that one incident, God says to Moses, you cannot enter into the promised land. You say, well, that just seems so harsh. I mean, I know he's a little upset.

We all get upset, right? So he decides not to speak to the rock, but to strike the rock. What's wrong with that? If the rock is Christ, He can't be struck twice. He can only be struck once.

That's why God said speak to the rock, don't strike the rock. Why? Because our Lord was stricken once, not twice, just once. What Moses did is he marred the picture of the Messiah to Israel.

He marred the purpose of the Messiah's coming to Israel. That's what kept him out of the promised land. Not because he got angry, but because instead of speaking to the rock, which is Christ, he struck the rock.

This stone is very important. Does anybody know where the stone of Israel is first mentioned in Scripture? Does anybody know? There's a hint. It's in the book of beginnings, book of Genesis, in Jacob's blessing of Joseph in Genesis chapter 49.

In Genesis chapter 49, there are two firsts. It says these words, verse 49 to 24, but his bow remained firm, his arms were agile from the hands of the mighty one of Jacob. From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.

Very important. Why? First time in Scripture that Yahweh is referred to as a shepherd. Okay? And whoever the shepherd is, is the stone.

And the stone is the rock of Israel. Could it be that Jacob in his old years got a glimpse as dim as it might be of the future of the Messiah's two comings? Because he came once, the first time as the shepherd of the sheep. He comes the second time as the stone or the rock of Israel that crushes all who've come against him.

Could it be that Jacob in his old age was able to get a greater glimpse of the end, more so than we could ever imagine? So Daniel would know the Pentateuch. He would know the Old Testament as we would refer to it. He would know the book of Genesis.

He knew about the star in the book of Numbers. He's got to know about the stone of Israel in the book of Genesis, the 24th verse of the 49th chapter. And so to know the stone is to know that this is a stricken stone.

Also to know the stone is to realize that it is a stumbling stone, a stumbling stone. That's in Isaiah chapter 8 verse number 14. We read this last week.

It is the Lord of hosts whom you shall regard as holy, and He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. Then He shall become a sanctuary, but to both the house of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over. This stricken stone is also a stumbling stone.

And sure enough, this Messiah was a stumbling block to the nation of Israel. Why? Because everything about His coming did not satisfy them the first time. They stumbled over the Messiah of Israel.

That's why in Romans 9, 33, Paul would reference Isaiah chapter 8, that Israel had come against a stumbling stone. This stone of Daniel 2 is the stricken stone of Exodus 17. It is a stumbling stone of Isaiah chapter 8, and it is the scorned stone of Psalm 118 verse number 22.

Psalm 118 verse number 22, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. They scorned the stone. They shunned the stone.

They rejected the stone. They did that when Messiah came. This stone was the stricken stone of Exodus 17.

This stone was the stumbling stone of Isaiah chapter 8, and this stone simply is the stone that was scorned in Psalm 118. Isaiah 28 tells us that this stone is a significant stone. Isaiah chapter 28, therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, I am Wayne and Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation firmly placed, and he who believes in it will not be disturbed.

This is a significant stone. Why? Because it's only this stone that can be the cornerstone, the foundation block to everything that we believe. That's what makes the Messiah so significant because everything rests on the cornerstone.

Everything rests on who the Lord God of Israel is. He is the significant stone. He is also, he's also the shattering stone, the shattering stone.

That's in Daniel chapter 2 verses 34 and 35, the stone that comes and shatters the 10-nation Confederacy. Over in Matthew chapter 21, verse number 44, Jesus said it this way, Matthew 21 verse number 44, He said this, therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken or shattered to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.

This stone is a shattering stone. It destroys those who do not believe in it. So important.

And lastly, this stone is a saving, saving stone. We know that from Acts chapter 4. The book of Acts, the fourth chapter, the 11th verse says this, He, that is Christ, is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

This chief stone, this significant stone is not just a shattering stone, it is the only saving stone. And this stone is a supernatural stone. Why? Because it was carved out of a mountain, not naturally, but supernaturally, because it's the God of the universe.

You see, everything about the stone is so crucial because it's all about the coming Messiah. This is Israel's hope. And so, we look at Scripture and we realize that when my anxious thoughts overwhelm me, it's thy consolations that delight my soul.

Anxiety in the heart of a man weighs it down, but a good word, a good word lifts it up. It revives it. Well, God knows that.

So, He's going to give Israel the good word. He's going to give them His consolations. He's going to teach them about their future.

He's going to tell them, yes, you're going into captivity. Yes, you're going to be there. Yes, you got to pay the consequences for your sins.

And yes, this is going to be the times, the times of the Gentiles that will rule for years to come. But there's a hope. And that hope is based on this stone, this stone that is supernatural, this stone that is a saving stone, that is a significant stone, that is a shattering stone, that is a stumbling stone, that is the only stone that matters.

And He wants them to understand this because it's going to give them hope. And they need to have hope. Why? Because they need to understand the future.

Like Daniel, the clearer you see the future, the cleaner you stand in the present. The more courageous you stand in the present, the more confident you stand in the present. Everything revolves around how well you know the end and how the Messiah has it all under control.

He is orchestrating every situation, every event, every king that rises to power is a pawn in the hand of the living God that He moves as He wishes to bring about His ultimate purposes for His people. And Daniel 2 is just the beginning of opening the door, helping us peek behind the curtain of prophecy to understand exactly what it is Messiah is doing. This should cause us all to rest in the fact that our God is in complete control of all things.

I have nothing to worry about. I don't have to worry about what's going on in America, what's going on in China. Not to worry.

Why? Because the next world power is going to be a ten-nation confederacy. And from that will rise a Antichrist, a little horn. But I won't be here.

Why? Because I'll be in glory. If I understand the book of Revelation correctly, I believe I do because I understand it the way Jesus said it. Okay? That was a joke, but it's not really a joke, it's truth.

All right? And so therefore, I'm not going to be here, but I can tell people this is where the world's going. This is how we know. As Daniel, we can say, you know what? This is truth and this is trustworthy.

You must believe in the stone that's coming that crushes everything, but is willing to save those who turn from their sin and follow Him. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for tonight, a chance to be in Your Word and an opportunity to understand more and more about the future.

Our prayer, Lord, is that You'd lead us and guide us in the way that we should go, that we might understand, Lord, more and more of this great truth. We have a little bit more to go in Daniel chapter 2 to see how it is You raise Him to power at 18 years of age. What a remarkable example He is to all of us to understand, how it is You work in people's lives and how it is You want to use them in a powerful way for Your glory, for Your honor.

Thank You, Lord, for giving us a peek behind the curtain of prophecy. As time goes on, we'll see more and more of it unfold for us and have our hope fixed upon Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.