The Stone, the Image, and the Mountain
Date: 01/17/2021
Series: Thriving In Babylon
Key Speaker: Ross Tenneson
The God of Gods and Lord of kings
Ross Tenneson / General
Summary
MP: Yahweh is supreme over all spiritual and human rulers because he planned that all earthly kingdoms will end and his will endure forever.
Sticky: The plan of God comforts the people of God and humbles the rulers of this world.
Intro
Friends, this is going to be a dense sermon. It will cover many different topics like the history of global empires and biblical imagery and symbolism. I just wanted to give you a heads up so you can be prepared.
Before we jump in I think it would be good for me to catch us up to where we are in the book of Daniel and in the storyline of the Bible.
Many years earlier, God had called his people out of slavery in Egypt and put them in a land where God was king and his people thrived. God asked them to obey him so that he could use them to bless the other nations around them. Yet, God’s people refused to obey him until finally, he brought the empire of Babylon to come and punish them and drag them off into slavery in a foreign land again.
Yet, what we find in the book of Daniel is that God was nowhere near to done with his people (he didn’t give up on them!). He continued to work through them in amazing ways.
Daniel was a young exile whom the king of Babylon ordered would receive training in Babylonian ways and customs and serve in the court of the king. Daniel was suffering much: his beloved home country lay in ruins and brutal enemies dragged him off to a strange land to serve those very enemies. And yet, God had great plans for this young man who trusted him greatly.
Last week, Daniel preached a sermon that left off in the middle of a story. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream. He didn’t know what it meant so he ordered his wise men both to tell him his own dream to him and to interpret it for him. If they could not do both of those things, he ordered his men to kill them. When Daniel learns that the order for them to die had gone out, he prays with his friends and God reveals to him the kings dream and its meaning. Daniel then requests an audience with the king to share with him the meaning of the dream and to save his own life and the lives of the other wise men.
This is where we find ourselves now: the young exile Daniel standing before the throne of the most powerful man in the world. He is about to share Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interrpreation with him.
Revelation (God)
Daniel iterates the dream to the king in verses 31-35,
English Standard Version Chapter 2
31 “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Daniel shared with the king that he saw a stone that struck an image, turned it to dust, and became a mountain that filled the whole earth. Here is an example of biblical imagery and symbolism. Biblical imagery may seem strange to us, but it would not have seemed strange to the Bible’s primary audience (stuff like this happens a lot in the Bible). We just have to accept that there will be strangeness like stones that become mountains
Why should we accept and be comfortable with strange biblical imagery?
So that we can focus and listen to what God is saying through it. Imagery and symbolism is one way our wise God decided to communicate his plan for his world. The use of these symbols engage our imaginations and emotions in a way simple explanation does not.
When characters in the Bible have dreams and visions, God is showing his people what is most real about him, about us, and about his world in a creative way. God shows us what is most significant and most true about our world from a different perspective so that we can return to life in this world with clarity and conviction about how God wants us to live.
After sharing the dream, Daniel says in verse 36,
English Standard Version Chapter 2
36 “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation.
Now that Daniel has shared the king’s dream with the king, confirming that he has an authoritative interpretation of that dream from God, he is going to share that interpretation. He beings in verse 37 and 38,
English Standard Version Chapter 2
37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold.
Daniel begins by calling Nebuchadnezzar the “king of kings,” that means he is the king who is above all of the other kings. He is the most powerful man on earth.
Daniel clarifies that Nebuchadnezzar did not set himself in this position: God did. God gave him his kingdom. He gave him authority over people, and animals, and birds. Then Daniel gets very straightforward: Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold. That statue represents a handful of kingdoms in history, yet, Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom has a position of priority. His is the first (the head) and it is made out of the most precious metal, gold.
That information is helpful, but what is God getting at in using this image to represent Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom?
If you look at verse 31, Daniel says that Nebuchadnezzar saw a “great image.” The word “image” is an important word in the Bible.
Can anyone think of when we first hear the word “image” in the Bible”?
In Gen 1:27, when God creates human beings, he says he created them in his “image.” It’s the same word that we see in this passage. To be made in the “image” of God means that you resemble God in how you love and care for others.
But what do we notice about the image in Daniel’s dream?
If we keep reading verse 31, we notice that the image is “frightening,” a word that means “startling.”[1] Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom are a distorted image of God. He and his kingdom have twisted what God meant humans to be from something beautiful and wonderful into something scary and destructive.
When God says that he placed Nebuchadnezzar over people, and over beasts, and over the birds, the picture that should come to our minds is Adam before that fall. God designed and placed Adam to live and rule in the garden with him and to promote life in others.
Is this how Nebuchadnezzar had ruled?
Not even close. Rather than rule over the animals, Nebuchadnezzar had become like an (an irony is that when we try to lift ourselves up in pride to be like God, we actually descend to the level of acting like an animal). In last week’s text, Nebuchadnezzar said that if his wisemen could not tell him and interpret his dream, he would tear them limb from lim.
Animals tear limb from limb. The brutality with which he rules and the brutality with which his kingdom conquers other kingdoms points to a frightening distortion of the image of God he and his kingdom have become. Instead of using the wonderful abilities God had given him to promote life, he has used them to take and subjugate the lives of others.
As the head of the statue, he is not exception to the rule, but rather the mold who represents all of fallen humanity. The kingdoms who follow his kingdom are not better, but worse versions of the same Babylon.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
39 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
The first kingdom, we know is Babylon. Gold represents Babylon. The next kingdom is likely the Persian kingdom, represented by silver. The third is the Greeks, represented by bronze, and the fourth is Rome, which iron symbolizes.
We don’t see an improvement in the kingdoms that follow, but a degeneration. Daniel even calls the kingdom that follows “inferior” and the decreasing value of the metals and the moving down the body indicate this.
In what way were these kingdoms inferior?
When we look at history, we see that these kingdoms did not become any less brutal, but more so.[2] The manner in which the Greeks oppressed the Jews in the time before Christ was atrocious. The Romans treatment of the early Christians and the church is unthinkable (they burned them as lights for their parties). As each successive empire comes, they become more and more depraved.
This statue represents all of the kingdoms that people create. All of them, without exception come under the influence of Babylon and treat others in cruel ways. What we see here is that apart from the help of God, human kingdoms and nations become more and more depraved (rather than less so). Even here today in our beloved America, the spirit of Babylon is at work, promoting cruelty toward one another.
At this point I don’t want us to miss something very important: it’s not just kings and kingdoms that distort God’s image. Rather, they lead in distorting and the people follow suit.
As we have said in past sermons, all of us here today are at risk, and in fact are guilty, of being like Babylonians. The spirit of Babylon tempts us to be violent, to be coercive, to be manipulative to others.
While it is not socially acceptable to tear people limb from limb when we don’t get our way, we have found other more subtle means of exerting the same influence. We use our words and emotions to bludgeon others when they don’t do what we want, or we withhold relationship from others who have hurt us in retaliation, and we deal with others without patience and with ultimatums.
Who do you feel the least patience for in your life right now?
The spirit of Babylon wants to do anything but love, wait, and care for that person. Rather, our flesh wants to respond with emotional violence and indifference. I know how my flesh wants to respond to others who hurt me or irritate me: distance. I want to avoid and forsake them. It’s not physical violence against them, but it is emotional violence.
In what ways are you like me and like the kingdom of Babylon?
I share this point because it is crucial that we see that apart from Christ we are citizens of Babylon. When we recognize this, we can respond with zeal and passion at the offer of his kingdom and his influence.
Now Daniel moves on to describe the strangest kingdom of them all,
English Standard Version Chapter 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. 41 And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
Now Daniel describes the kingdom that the iron legs and feet represent. Most likely, this is the kingdom of Rome which conquers the kingdom of Greece and is the world’s superpower when Jesus is born. “Iron” is an appropriate symbol for this kingdom because of the cruelty and force which which they established and maintained “the peace of Rome.” Daniel makes a big deal of the strength of the iron and weakness of the clay. This kingdom, while powerful, rested on a weak and corrupt foundation. One possibility of what this means is that Rome’s insatiable appetite to expand lead them to conquer too many people groups for them to maintain, so that the kingdom weakened and collapsed from the inside.[3]
Rome, like the kingdoms that come before it, is doomed. It is a temporary kingdom that, though it was strong as iron, nevertheless had a foundation as brittle as clay. Rome, like Babylon is a temporary kingdom doomed to pass away. So also, all who live today who belong to the kingdom of Babylon rather than the kingdom of God and live under its influence is temporary and will receive judgement.
Daniel continues to reveal God’s plan for history to the king of Babylon, and now gets to the most important development in all of history:
English Standard Version Chapter 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,
There was a kingdom that was coming that will last forever. God will set up that kingdom rather than people. He will rule in it forever with his people. one day, the cruelty of these nations will vanish and their will finally be peace.
Are you today suffering perhaps from the cruelness of others, perhaps from the cruelness of life in this fallen world?
So were God’s people in the days of the exile, unimaginably so. Yet, God wants to use this vision, and this promise to set up a kingdom that will break the wicked kingdoms of this world to bring peace and hope to our hearts.[4]
Friend, if you are suffering right now, and you are trusting in Christ, you have a bright future. You have a sure future. You have a fixed future. You may look around at others who do not know the Lord and wonder how they are so prosperous and so care free while you suffer so much. Yet, when you see things from God’s perspective, you are so well off and they are in great danger!
Daniel further unfolds and illuminates God’s plan for his kingdom in the next verse.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.
God chose to represent the arrival and the coming of his kingdom by a stone that comes and smashes the dreadful image, turns it to dust, and then morphs into a great mountain that fills the whole earth. Strange right?
Here was have some powerful imagery. The kingdom of God comes first as “a stone…cut out by no human hand.” In other words, the origin of this kingdom is not human, but from God. The stone is first cut from another mountain before God sends it to the earth. The mountain in heaven symbolizes God’s heavenly kingdom and the mountain on earth symbolizes the time his kingdom comes from heaven to earth and fills it.[5]
Note the beginning of this kingdom on earth: it starts not as a mountain but as a stone. The beginning of this kingdom appears unimpressive.[6] Though it begins small, it grows to cover the whole earth.
So also, when Jesus came the first time to establish his kingdom here on earth, he was not impressive in the eyes of the world. As that kingdom spreads throughout the world as the church grows and expands, we are not impressive in the world’s eyes. The Sport’s stadiums, the movies, and politics seem impressive while the church and our crucified Lord escape the notice of so many. Yet, bit by bit, the church grows inevitably and surely. Revivals and church planting happens in the most unlikely places. On all continents, and in almost all places on Earth, brothers and sisters bend the knee to Jesus and lift his name high.
And friends, this stone does not stay a stone. Rather, it morphs and transforms into a mighty mountain. Yet, not only a mighty mountain, a mighty mountain that fills the whole earth. As I speak, the Lord is expanding his rule through the whole world as he expands his church. And, he will come again. When he comes again, he will not be subtle. Here is the Apostle John who in his vision sees what the future holds,
English Standard Version Chapter 11
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
In the not too distant future, these nations and people our world worships will be brought to nothing. All that will remain forever and ever will be the Lord Jesus and his kingdom! His kingdom will stand and his people will reign with him forever.
Then Daniel says,
English Standard Version Chapter 2
A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
Daniel concludes by reminding Nebuchadnezzar that his supernatural knowledge of the king’s vision authenticates him as a true witness of the plan of God for history.
Let’s see how this pagan king responds:
English Standard Version Chapter 2
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. 47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
He responds in the only proper and worthy way to the truth that God had revealed to him: he fell on his face. When we see the plan of our God through Jesus for history, this is the proper response, right here on the ground before him. Friends, is this the posture of your heart before God today? This is the main burden of the text, have you humbled yourself under the rule of God and want him to direct and guide you in every area of your life by his word?
Why does Nebuchadnezzar bow before Daniel?
I think he is bowing before him as a representative of Yahweh, as a way of honoring Yahweh.
The irony here is unbelievable: Daniel was a nobody captive from Jerusalem who was humiliated and sat in the court of the king of his oppressor. King Nebuchadnezzar thought he had demonstrated that the God’s of Babylon were far superior to the God of Israel by his military victory. Yet, this turn of events shows that God always stayed on this throne and worked these events exactly as he pleased. Our God demonstrates in this story that he always stays on the throne. Nothing can take him off of it.
English Standard Version Chapter 2
48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.
Then God honors Daniel and his friends and elevates them to high places in this kingdom. God gives them favor. I don’t want us just to marvel at what God did through Daniel, I want him to do the very same through all of us.
We know the same sovereign plan of God that Daniel did. Through this passage, we are also now witnesses of this vision and of God’s plan for history. In short, that plan is Christ will come and Christ will come again. All of history and the kingdoms of men raise and fall on that reality. God wants each one of us to testify to God’s plan as boldly and lovingly as Daniel did with all of our neighbors and friends. They are limping through this world without hope, and God has graciously opened your eyes to his plan through Jesus and drawn you to place your hope there. Now, you can look into the eyes of others and share with them about this great savior.
Maybe you are listening now and want to know how you can become a citizen of this kingdom. Remember how I talked earlier about how the little stone represents the surprising and unexpected beginning of Jesus’s kingdom? The way his kingdom began was not him being lifted up on a throne to rule but on a cross to die. The first time he came he suffered and bled and died in the place of anyone who trusts in him in order to forgive and save them. He rose from the dead and is coming again, and will establish his kingdom along with anyone who trusts in him today.
[1] Koehler, L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M. E. J., & Stamm, J. J. (1994–2000). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament: Aramaic (electronic ed., Vol. 5, p. 1850). Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill.
[2] Calvin’s Commentaries on Ezekiel 13-20; Daniel 1-6 (Volume XII of Baker Book’s 500 Anniversary Edition): John Calvin, Henry Beveridge, 179.
[3] From Mark Driscoll’s sermon on Daniel 2: https://realfaith.com/sermons/kingdom-down-2-god-is-in-control-of-who-is-in-control/.
[4] Calvin’s Commentaries on Ezekiel 13-20; Daniel 1-6 (Volume XII of Baker Book’s 500 Anniversary Edition): John Calvin, Henry Beveridge, 168.
[5] From Brian Verrett’s unpublished and upcoming commentary on Daniel.
[6] Calvin’s Commentaries on Ezekiel 13-20; Daniel 1-6 (Volume XII of Baker Book’s 500 Anniversary Edition): John Calvin, Henry Beveridge, 180.
