Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Daniel 2 | Date: September 28, 2025 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Christ’s Coming Kingdom in Daniel Chapter 2

Open your Bibles, if you will, to Daniel chapter 2. Continuing this evening our series on Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. Tonight: Christ’s coming kingdom in Daniel chapter 2. This is a long chapter, but I will take the time to read through all of it.

Daniel 2, beginning with verse 1. It’s a familiar scene, I think, for most of you. In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled. His sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. The king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”

Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm. If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore, show me the dream and its interpretation.”

They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you’re trying to gain time because you see that the word from me is firm. If you do not make the dream known to me, there’s but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.”

The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There’s not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand. For no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” Because of this, the king was angry, very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. The decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed, and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them.

Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” And Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time that he might show the interpretation to the king.

Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—that’s otherwise known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

And the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. And Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”

Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said to him, “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.” And Arioch brought Daniel in before the king in haste and said to him, “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.”

The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked. But there’s a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in your bed are these.

“To you, O King, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this. And he who reveals mysteries has made known to you what is to be. But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all of the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, that you may know the thoughts of your mind.

“You saw, O King, and behold a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron but partly of clay.

“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 then the iron and the clay, the bronze, the silver, 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. The stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

“This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation.

“You, O king, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power and the might and the glory, and into whose hands he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all, you are the head of gold. Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth. 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. And as you saw 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. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron, partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, partly brittle. 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.

“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. 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. The great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation is sure.”

Then Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly your God is a God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” And the king gave Daniel high honors, many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 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.

The Setting In Babylon

Fascinating event. Prophecy is one that is important for the book of Daniel because we have successive prophecies and visions that come in the book of Daniel that basically amplify on this as well. It also charts out for us the history of the world after that time of King Nebuchadnezzar. In verse one, Daniel dates the fascinating event for us. It’s the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. You might remember the setting. The Babylonian armies have destroyed Israel. They’ve carried away captives into Babylon, and their exiles are there. They carried away many of the more leading and promising people of Israel. Daniel was among them. He was a young man at the time. This is probably a year and a half into Daniel’s three-year training period that he had, training to be one of these wise men to advise the king. So he would have been upper teens, maybe 20 at the time, something like that.

And in verse one, the king has this troubling dream, and he couldn’t sleep. It really bothers him. You can tell he is so serious about finding the interpretation. He wants there to be no question about this, so he makes the request that is just impossible. He wants to know, verses two and following, the meaning of the dream. And so he calls the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, the Chaldeans—verse 13, they’re called the wise men—to come in and tell him. Now these men, this class of advisors to the king, were men who specialized in often what was the magical arts; often it was scholars who knew the books, who studied the meaning of things through astrology, through magic. Some of them were sincere; for many of them it was filled with—what shall we say?—the idea that the stars can tell you the meaning of life and what will come; there’s astrology, things like that. Many of them, though, were sincere, and Daniel is being trained to be one of these scholars or advisors to the king. You might remember that six centuries later, wise men from the east came to see the boy Jesus in Bethlehem, and that just might be the lingering results of Daniel’s faithfulness in Babylon at the time.

Well, the wise men say to the king, “Tell us the dream, we’ll interpret it for you.” Well, that’s a departure from custom. Nobody has ever asked, “Just tell me the dream, and then tell me the interpretation.” So evidently the king has had some doubts. He implies that in some of the words we read earlier in the chapter. He’s got some doubts about these guys. “You’ve been snookering me all along, and this time you’re not going to do it. This one is serious, and I want to know for sure what the interpretation of the dream is. So you tell me the dream. You tell me the interpretation. If you do, you’ll be happy for it. If you don’t, well, that will be the end of you.” So we’ve got a crisis moment.

Verses seven and following, then this crisis comes to its head. There’s not a man on earth who can do what you’ve asked. Only the gods can do that. And so then the king orders their execution. That’s it. It’s over.

Well, they evidently—Daniel already had a standing of respect among these people in Babylon at the time, because they go to him and ask him for help with this matter. And he intervenes; he goes to the king: “Give me some time, what’s the urgency here?” And he wants to pray and ask for God’s help in this. He’s bold, he’s poised, and evidently he impressed the king, because the king then grants the time.

Verses 17 and following then, he has this prayer meeting with his friends, his three friends, and he asks for mercy from God, and God responds in mercy and reveals the dream to Daniel. And then verses 20 and following, Daniel prays again, and this time, a prayer of thanks and praise to God for what he has done for them.

The Dream And The Interpretation

And so then, in verses 24 and following, Daniel goes to Arioch, the captain of the guard, takes him to the king, and in verse 26, the king asks him, “Are you able to make known the dream?” And it’s interesting in verse 27, Daniel does not say yes. He doesn’t want to make it that simple. First of all, he gives him a theology lesson. Verse 28: “There’s a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these. To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this. And he who reveals mysteries has made this known to you, what is to be.”

Now those expressions in verse 29, “after this,” and “what is to be,” he tells us, okay, this is talking about the future. “What is to be,” that’s just a general statement, but that expression “in the latter days,” that’s more of a specialized term, and always has to do with the age to come in the Old Testament.

So then in verses 31 and following, Daniel tells the dream to the king: “Here’s the dream that you had.” And the dream is almost a sci-fi kind of dream. It’s this massive image, a metallic image; it’s a great image. He says, verse 31, “This image is mighty,” so it’s this large, powerful image. It’s human-like. It’s got legs and arms. It’s human-like and powerful. It makes its own way. It gets its own way. He said it’s of exceeding brightness. Well, that’s the metal construction of it. So you can see it glistening off the sun. It’s just a frightening picture for the king. It says this stood before you, this human-like metal image stood before you, and it says its appearance was frightening. Oh, you can tell that already from the king. He’s already shaking in his boots. I think the New International Version translates this here, “Its appearance was awesome.” The idea is that it’s just a fearsome thing here.

Well, in verses 32 to 34, he describes the metals that made up the image. You have a head of gold. You have the chest and arms of silver, you have the middle and the thighs of bronze, and then the legs of iron, but then the feet were iron mixed with clay, probably what is meant. He mentions potter’s clay that might even have been baked or something like that, but it’s clay. It’s not stable like the other metals are.

Now these metals—gold, silver, bronze, iron—they decrease in value, but they increase in strength. And so he says it breaks the legs. They’re the strongest. This is iron. But the feet are iron mixed with clay. There’s a weak spot. And he’ll play on that in a little bit.

Well then, verses 34 and 35, that’s the climax of the dream. “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. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and it became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, 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.” Now this stone cut out by no human hand, verse 34. We’re told down in verse 45 it was cut out from the mountain. So you picture then some massive boulder, a section of the mountain, coming off and then crushing this image and breaking it. It strikes the image on the feet, and then it grinds the entire image to powder. And the whole image is broken down at the feet, falls, and then is just crushed into powder entirely. Verse 35, at the end of the verse: “But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” So you have this massive boulder; supernaturally, obviously, supernaturally cut out from the mountain, breaks the image, crushes it, and then that boulder grows and fills the whole earth. Okay. That’s pretty fascinating.

Verses 36 and following. What’s the interpretation? Daniel says, in effect, here, “And I’ll tell you what it means.” A single image with four distinct sections: head of gold, the shoulders of silver, the middle of bronze, and then the legs of iron. This single image with all of these different sections are successive kingdoms with an extraordinary kind of rule.

Verses 37 and 38, you have the gold head. And Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, “That’s you.” Virtually, Nebuchadnezzar ruled over virtually the entire Mediterranean world. He was a massively powerful king. He’s the one, of course, as I mentioned, who had destroyed Israel. They had defeated the Assyrian Empire. They had defeated Egypt. It was a massively powerful empire. He’s called here, we read it, “king of kings.” Ezekiel calls him the king of kings as well. So he’s a massively important king and massively powerful. He’s one of the great rulers of the ancient world. He was successful because of his building enterprises throughout his kingdom. He was, of course, noted for his military strength as well as administrative skills. A powerful man, powerful king, powerful kingdom.

Verse 39, another kingdom arises after you and has a silver chest and arms. Well, if the first part of the image was Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, well then the silver chest and arms, that’s Medo-Persia, this next kingdom to come along in history. We read of that, by the way, in Daniel chapter 5. It’s a famous incident at Belshazzar’s feast. They’re all so smug with confidence that they’re safe. Babylon is safe from the approaching armies of the Medo-Persians. And then they come in. It’s a fascinating story how it came about. They came in, and you remember, that’s the incident where there’s the handwriting on the wall: “Your days are numbered, and it’s over.” So we have then this more powerful, more expansive kingdom coming, and they take over Babylon. Babylon is brought down overnight, and we have then the Medo-Persian Empire. The Medo-Persian Empire conquered Babylon, and they held rule from the massive kingdom, from the Aegean Sea all the way to India. Massive kingdom.

Well, that’s verse 39, the first part of the verse. 39b, a third kingdom comes. This one’s of bronze, “which shall rule over all the earth.” This is the middle section and thighs of bronze. Well, if the first one is Babylon, the second one is Medo-Persia, the next kingdom is the kingdom of Greece. This is the vast kingdom of Greece, of course, carried out and extended by the military conquests of Alexander the Great. This was a massive kingdom as well. For a couple of years, I studied under an ancient historian. He wasn’t ancient, but he was an ancient history historian. And one section of one of the courses, I remember, was just to study the life and the career and the military tactics of Alexander the Great. It was a fascinating study how this man conquered virtually the whole known world. And it’s a pathetic thing in one way, because he gets done, he’s 30 years old, and sits down and cries because there’s nothing else to conquer. He’s done. But that then is the third kingdom.

Then verse 40: “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.” So the legs of iron. So if the first one was Babylon, the next is Medo-Persia, and the next one is Greece, well then the next one is, in order, the kingdom of Rome. And this is an enormously powerful kingdom, and just crushes everything in its wake.

It was a kingdom that was strong because of its organizational structure. It was strong because of its military power. It did have an inherent weakness, though. That’s the feet of iron and clay. There were a couple of weaknesses in the Roman Empire. One was her diversity. There were some sections of the empire, like Syria and Asia Minor, that would rebel at times. They were disloyal. So it’s diverse, and so that made the kingdom brittle.

And then Edward Gibbon, the historian, makes the remark that one of the weaknesses of the Roman Empire was its moral decadence. We ought to listen to that, by the way. But ultimately, the defeat of this kingdom doesn’t come simply because it had some diversity in the kingdom and some moral decadence. Ultimately, the defeat of this kingdom comes from the outside. Another kingdom entirely, and that is this great stone cut out from the mountain, and it comes to crush it.

Verse 44: “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 this is the stone in verse 34 that was cut from the mountain. Now it’s come and it crushes this other kingdom. And there’s your dream and the interpretation.

One of the fascinating things of the book of Daniel is how clear and how simple we find the future history told. In fact, it is so plain that the critical scholars just insist that this book must have been written after the fact, looking back, and so now it’s a history book, it’s not prophecy, it’s history, looking back at the other. And of course, believing scholars have piled up mountains and mountains of evidence to demonstrate that this book is written from the 6th century BC. It was, in fact, before these things took place. It’s one of the fascinating things about Daniel’s prophecy.

Well, verse 46 then, we have the king’s response. Clearly, there’s no God like this. He fell on his face, paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. I’m not so sure what Daniel thought about that. But that’s what you do. And the king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods, Lord of kings, revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

Then verse 48, he promotes Daniel over the whole province of Babylon.

The Messianic Kingdom

All right, what do we make of all of this? Well, it doesn’t take much, and particularly after this long series that we’ve been here, you see it immediately. Clearly, the kingdom of God is in view. That’s this fifth kingdom, this one that comes to crush all of the others, this one that’s cut from the side of the mountain to crush all of the others. It’s clearly the kingdom of God. And by the way, the expression “kingdom of God” is not used exactly like that in the Old Testament. We have expressions of God’s reign, God’s kingdom, and here we have something very close to it. Verse 37: “You, O King, the King of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory.” Ah, yes, the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power and the glory, might and the glory. So we have something close to that. God now is the kingdom, and it is his kingdom that has come to crush this one.

So what we have then, verse 44: “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.” That’s clearly the kingdom of God that’s in view. So we have then a succession of world powers, finally crushed by the kingdom of God. That fits already into what we’ve seen several times—dozens of times, I suppose, throughout this series—that the kingdom of God will come and finally the rulers of this world will be crushed.

Now in our series, we’ve been looking specifically at Messianic prophecy. Messiah is not explicitly mentioned here in Daniel chapter 2, but it’s clearly and without question what is in view and understood, particularly in the broad sweep of Messianic prophecy that we have seen. This is just a high point in all of that. If you want to review quickly: Genesis chapter 1, God creates man to be ruler over the earth. That is forfeited. God promises another who will come. That promise unfolds. We find it in 2 Samuel 7; it comes to the high point where David’s son will be the ruler. That’s God’s promise, and we find that celebrated in the Psalms. Psalm 2 is graphic in that way: nations of the world rage against God in rebellion; God laughs; God says, “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill, and he’ll inherit the nations.” Psalm 72: all the nations bow before this king. Psalm 110: all of his enemies become his footstool. We find it in Isaiah: the government will be on his shoulders—the world government will be on his shoulders. We find it in Isaiah 11. We’ve seen it throughout these studies: that Christ’s kingdom will come, and this will be the—he will usher in the kingdom of God that will rule over all the earth.

Now, if there’s any question, then, that this is the Messianic kingdom in view, we do have an allusion to this prophecy in the New Testament in Luke chapter 20. In verses 9 and following, Jesus tells this parable to the Pharisees. You remember the parable of the wicked tenants? A landowner with his vineyards; he went away, left his tenants in charge, and then sent one of his servants back sometime later to collect some of the rent, some of the profits. And they took the servant, they beat him up, and sent him home. And so the landowner sent another of his servants to go collect the profits. They beat him up, and they sent him home. And the landowner says, “Well, I’ll send my son. Surely they’ll reverence him.” So he went. Tenants looked at it, though: “Here’s the son. He’s the heir. Let’s kill him, and we can have everything ourselves.”

Pretty much along this time, the Pharisees listening to Jesus are getting a clue that he’s talking about them. But at that point, then Jesus draws the punchline. And he quotes Psalm 118, which we haven’t seen yet in our morning series, but we will get to it soon. And he alludes to Daniel chapter 2. Luke 20 verses 17 and 18, he says, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” That’s Psalm 118. “Everyone who falls on that stone”—this is Daniel 2—”will be broken to pieces. When it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

So here we have Jesus himself making allusion to Daniel’s prophecy and affirming that it’s talking about him. He’s bringing in the kingdom of God. One other question then remains: what’s the timing of the fulfillment of this prophecy? You’ll notice in verse 44 it says, “In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom.” So this is while, at least while the Roman kingdom is still standing. Well, that’s easy. That’s the time of the birth of Jesus. And this is one of the really clear examples of what we’ve seen a hundred times over in this series where we have prophecies that leap from the now to the not yet. And here we have that as well.

Verse 44: “In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” So the kingdom of God established in the first coming of Christ, through his life, death, resurrection, ascension to heaven, the kingdom has been established. The culminating aspect of that kingdom will be at his return, as we find in so many other prophecies as well. So we have here a broad view of the already and not yet: the kingdom has come; it’s been established in the days of those kings. Its consummation awaits for the return of Christ.

God Rules Over All History

During the time of that fourth kingdom, God will establish his own kingdom. And in his time, that kingdom will destroy all rivals. Of course, we read the climactic account of that in the book of Revelation. Babylon the Great is destroyed, and the song is, “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”

One of the lessons of this passage is that God rules over all history, even today. That just lies on the surface of this passage. During this inaugurated phase of the kingdom, God’s kingdom advances, but it advances secretly through the gospel. The world doesn’t necessarily notice it. And while he is still ruling, the world contests that rule. It’s being opposed. And the world has its succession of rulers, just like we saw here in the Old Testament. We find Babylon, such a mighty kingdom. Oh, no, it’s not. It’s Medo-Persia. That’s a mighty kingdom. Oh, no, it’s not. It’s Greece. That’s the mighty kingdom. Oh, no, it’s not. It’s Rome. That’s the mighty kingdom. And you get the distinct impression here in Nebuchadnezzar’s own dream that he is little more than a spectator watching all of this happen. He struts, he thinks he’s a big shot, he’s this mighty king, but it’s God, as Daniel says here in his prayer back in chapter two, verse 21: “He removes kings and sets up kings.” This is God’s doing.

You may have thought you were strong; God brings up Babylon, and he sets it down. And he brings up Medo-Persia, and he sets it down. And he brings up Greece, and he sets it down. And he brings up Rome, and he sets it down. And then he has his own kingdom, which will be forever. God is writing the script for all of history and advancing all of history in that direction. If you ever wonder where history is going, very simply, that’s it. God will establish his kingdom worldwide, and it will be unmistakable.

But during this phase of the kingdom, God rules. He rules over all things. There’s not a thing, there’s not an inch of anywhere that is outside his firm grip. But he rules from behind the scenes. Because he rules from behind the scenes, the world assumes a kind of independence, a kind of autonomy. Like they’re doing it themselves. Like we are the reason for our success. There’s Babylon. There’s Medo-Persia. There’s Greece. There’s Rome. There’s the Third Reich. In more recent times, the United States of America. That’s the big kingdom of the world. And we think it’s because of us. God is writing the script for the whole thing. Raises up kings, sets them down. Every mighty ruler that has come, God has put him there. And as they get put down, God has done that. From Nebuchadnezzar, to Alexander, to the Caesars, to President Trump. This is God’s doing for whatever purpose he may have.

And so Psalm 2, for instance, tells us that the nations rage. And you remember what God does in response. He chuckles, he laughs. What Daniel 2 tells us is what so many of the other prophecies have told us: that one day God will take center stage. And there will be no mistaking that he rules. In the words of verse 28, the whole world will know that there’s a God in heaven. Like a massive boulder cut from the side of a mountain, it will come and it will crush this world’s kingdom. Verse 44: “His kingdom will break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth and bring them to an end. And his kingdom will stand forever and ever.”

Some years back, Don Carson wrote a song—wrote several songs—and one of them is to capture this whole idea here from the book of Daniel, as well as from the book of Revelation: “Mighty Babylon and the Third Reich too join the dust of empires that have passed away. Full of strutting pride, mouthing boasts untrue. They lie crushed before the God whose word holds sway. Surely all the nations are dust upon the scale. So with whom will you compare this God whose will prevails?”

And then he takes it to the book of Revelation, chapter 5. You remember the scene. Who will take the scroll from the sovereign’s hand, break the seals, and bring God’s purposes to pass? While we wait in fear to see what God has planned, from the throne, the lion roars: Death has passed. Sing to Christ, the conqueror, a new song full of praise. For the triumph of the Lamb means God will have his way.

That’s the message of Daniel chapter 2. This is what we’ve seen in so many other prophecies as well. And this is where history is going. I’ve said it a hundred times, you’ve heard me. When you hear us ask, “Get on the right side of history,” remember, this is where history is going. And the message of the Bible throughout is, it just throws down this line. It says, you must know Jesus Christ is King. You may bow before him today, and you’ll find mercy, but know for certain that you will bow before him someday. God’s kingdom will fill the whole earth, and it will be forever.