New Season
Daniel 2:28-38
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
No man can tell him what he is doing because it is not their place. Is this not how Babylon in Revelation 14:8 fell which made the nations drunk of the wine thereof. I know I am about to commit theological heresy; but imagine if God were to walk among men. Then think if he were to rule among men as no other has, then he had been doing so all along. Because of the city's unbelief told in Matthew 13:58, they did not recognize him then, now, or even in the future for who he truly is. Now that I have said this, you can prepare the fire to burn me or this book; but you cannot deny the power of Christ and of what has been said in this text here. One day, the truth will be made manifest at the time appointed. This is why, unlike the wise men of that day, it is important to take your prophecy lessons from Jesus himself as did King Nebuchadnezzar. I am going slowly through this material on purpose. It is for reasons such as this that these measures are necessary. The leaven the woman mixed has had a long time to take root just as the seed grew into a great tree that the birds of the air found shelter within. Prophecy classes in King Nebuchadnezzar's court also proceeded slowly due to the condition of the people's hearts.
But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
Belshazzar may have come to stand before the king along with Daniel as did Satan with the sons of God; but notice his words here. His boast of having greater wisdom than anyone else alive sounds like Satan's words which felled him. Isaiah 14:13 says he desired to exalt himself unto God's throne to be just like him. In the interpretation and what passed through the king's mind are not our place to know. Sometimes God must seal up what the thunders, lightening, and voices from Heaven, so we do not get confused. He knows what we can handle and when. Some knowledge is too much for us. Therefore, we can only watch and wait with prayer as did Daniel's friends until the end of time. There is a danger here in neglecting the end times because Daniel and his visions are as relevant for today as they were then. They are relevant for are they not of the future. The king did not know what material his wise men would be. Thus, he did not want to risk telling anyone who did not possess the head of gold.
If the head of gold is as Christ which leads the church, anyone who did not fully possess Christ would be immediately disqualified. Is he not the head of the church? Is he not the head of the corner and on him the whole world holds together. He is one person we cannot live without. But we will see more of his rightful position shortly. It helped that God had already prepared Daniel's heart in secret to be his messenger to the people. See, working for the devil certainly pays. These wise men had position, power, and influence until King Darius had to put them all down. Serving God as King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel found was not without challenges. There may have been a situation and some difficulties faced. It may have taken a long time to work out. But in the end, serving God paid off. It all worked out for everyone's benefit. Sometimes you must choose between serving God, money, or yourself. You cannot have both. Serving God for me, is worth more than this world. And how many of you know that in his kingdom, it always works out.
This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
The head is made of gold refined as in Psalm 12:6. This is as the believers who have been tried and come forth as gold according to Job 23:10. King Nebuchadnezzar, who was part of this head, held dominion over creatures and dominion over man. This is not an unsaved person. This is someone who is ruler of all. God's home health company if you will which answers to him directly. The silver is like gold impurities requiring more processing time with which to work. It makes up the breast and arms as close to the heart yet as servant of all. Yes, in Matthew 26:14-16 Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. The pure in spirit and the betrayer alike are seen in the kingdom of God. The bronze is seen in Job 41:27, Job 6:12, Isaiah 48:4, Jeremiah 1:18, and Jeremiah 15:20. Bronze both makes up certain serving vessels of God and is associated with the sacrament of crucifixion. We see in later visions the making up of Christ as a man appearing bronzed. As the man who bore our sins and carried our sorrows, bronze is also associated with both sinfulness and repentance. Once you repent, sin has changed you, so you no longer look the same as you did before. As the sacrificial lamb who was slain for the sin of the world, it is little wonder he looks this way. The high priest placed his hand upon him imputing the sin of the people. Christ who did no wrong and knew no sin, now appears as the repentant sinner, the judge, and the redeemed alike.
Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
Leviticus 26:18-19 shows that the bronze and the iron came from differing responses to God, the head. Look at the progression of spiritual states. In the feet are iron mixed with clay. Here iron is seen as a rule of nations with a rod of iron as in Revelation 2:27. Clay in Scripture can be compared with two things. Here is a rule of those by him. Clay also speaks of the heart of flesh with the hard heart removed of Ezekiel 36:26. This is the potter's material where some vessels were made to honor and some to dishonor in 2 Timothy 2:20. Which is this here? It is important to see the iron and the clay do not mix. They may marry each other but there is inferiority, and they will not hold together. There is just enough motion that the clay sticks to the iron. It is important to note that clay and iron attract being from similar materials but vastly different. Thus, while they may marry there is nothing keeping them together. Psalm 40:2 says for this he drew me from the miry clay. Then we see that the stone was not made with hands. The statue was made up of the people and the kingdoms that are spiritual. Thus, they are also made up of the condition of the people. It is important to note that this statue is not divided into sections. Rather it makes up the whole man. One house is seen as rich, some have a few lesser means. However, the sharpest contrast is the spiritual house inhabited by the spirits of the unsettled and those who lived there before them. This house is like that of the children of Israel who refused Christ's gathering in Matthew 23:37. But now their house is left desolate.
This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
Ezra 1:2 repeats these words. All the kingdoms of the world are spoken of here as well as at that time. King Cyrus had power over multiple just as did King Nebuchadnezzar. You might be saying to yourself, 'I thought there was just one.' No, actually there are two now and three later. The Babylonian and Israeli kingdoms together make two. Then the Babylonian, Median, and Persian empires make three since Israel was allowed to return during this time. But I can hear you sniffing now about the vision of the statue man. In Rio de Janeiro, a city of much prostitution, there is seen a statue of Christ the Redeemer here and nowhere else in the world. Can it be that the angel flying through Heaven in Revelation 14:8 to announce that Babylon has fallen has more to do with the lifestyle being destroyed. A city and what it stands for which has made the nations drunk but not with wine. Christ the Redeemer is still unharmed. He stands forever throughout all time until time itself is no more. The parts of the man which make up the whole are seen in the vision. If you do not believe me, that is a whole man and not just a statue. His feet have not been cut off and sent into another era as some theologians and their diagrams would have you believe.
The stone not made with hands is of Christ the chief cornerstone. Even now he is laid in Zion as a rock of stumbling and of offense according to Romans 9:33. What happens when the corner of the building gets up and decides to walk away or go visit the neighboring house? The entire house comes down along with it. Then you will quickly find that it made up the whole house. Depending on where the house is located it can easily take out the whole city if you are not careful. Preachers like to get hung up on the idea of the different mixtures or of what kingdoms the statue man is made. That is not for you to know. Otherwise, the Lord would have told you names, dates, places, the times, and the seasons. Given that he does not even want to tell the disciples where they will sit in Heaven, I am not sure he will share that information with you. The times and the seasons are his alone for they are under his control. Then, as in Isaiah 49:26, all mankind will know "that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."