The Rise and Fall of the World, Part 1

As we look at the world today, we see the world as a vast stage. The play is almost done. There remains but one more scene. And that final scene is the latter days and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now as we come to Daniel chapter 2, we're going to see the unfolding of the last act on the stage of human history. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. China, the United States, Russia, three of the most powerful nations on earth. But despite their strength, is it possible that those world powers could crumble and fall like ancient Rome or Babylon? And why should the way God dealt with mighty nations in the past encourage Christians today?

Consider those questions in light of scripture as John MacArthur continues his series on Bible prophecy titled The Rise and Fall of World Powers. Our study comes from the book of Daniel. If you have your Bible, turn there now and here's John. Turn with me to Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 2. We want to begin to look at the section from verses 31 to 49, the second half of this second chapter. Before we get into the portion of Scripture that we're going to be specifically concerned with, let me just say some introductory things. We're all watching rather sadly we who know Christ, the fall of the United States of America.

As sad as it is, it shouldn't really shock us. The reason is because it has always been and always will be the lot of nations, nations of the world, that the kingdoms of men will go the way of all flesh and ultimately end in collapse and ruin. Anything based on the might of man, anything established on the wisdom of man will suffer the same kind of deterioration that man himself suffers since the fall. Dissipation is man's history.

It is a devolutionary process, not an evolutionary process. Man is not ascending, man is descending so that history as studied becomes a succession of defeats. An empire begins, reaches a peak and fades and dies and another is built out of its ashes. We are looking at America.

America in the past reached its apex. We're on the downside, the back slope. We are watching a defeat taking place. We see the dissolution of our country on every hand.

We are deteriorating just like every other nation ever deteriorated because built into America is the same basic problem. We have feet of clay like the image in Daniel and clay, says Daniel, represents the seed of men. And wherever anything is built on men, it is built for dissolution. The world today then is simply going through the same cycles of dissolution that it has always endured.

We can see the seeds of dissolution very, very manifestly. As we look at the world today, we see the world as a vast stage, a vast stage with the final curtain still down. And we get the feeling that the actors are behind that final curtain, preparing for the last scene in the drama of human history. The play is almost done. There remains but one more scene and that final scene is the latter days and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we step close to the stage behind the curtain, we can hear the commotion of the stagehands as they set up the machinery and set the stage for that final act. And now as we come to Daniel chapter 2, Daniel takes us behind the curtain before it rises. We're going to see incredible insights, not only in Daniel 2, but from Daniel 2 to the end of the book, the unfolding of the last act on the stage of human history. As we look at chapter 2 verses 31 and following, we're going to see the great history of the Gentile world rule. Jesus said there would be a time titled, Luke 21, 24, the times of the Gentiles.

It had already begun. It would come to an end at the coming of Christ. In fact, that verse says, Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. There will be a period of time when Jerusalem is under the control, when the nation of Israel is under bondage to some degree or another, the Gentile world power. That is known as the times of the Gentiles. Interestingly enough, it began with the Babylonian captivity. It began with Nebuchadnezzar.

It ends with the coming of Jesus Christ. We're living in that time right now. Israel does not possess the fullness of its inheritance. Israel does not dwell in its land in peace.

Israel does not possess everything from the Mediterranean to the Tigris and Euphrates as in the original Palestinian covenant. These are the times of the Gentiles. Gentile nations have dominated that part of the world since Nebuchadnezzar and they will to some degree hold power over it until Jesus comes again.

Now listen to me. The second chapter of Daniel then indicates that God transfers the leadership of this earth from the Jew and Israel to the Gentiles. Israel takes a back seat. Israel goes into captivity and never returns to its former glory ever, not even today, not until Jesus comes. Israel should have been the center of the world. Israel should have been the pattern, the leader of the world. Israel should have been that very special people God originally intended them to be through whom we're given the law and the ordinances and the covenants and the promises.

Israel should have been the messenger for the world, but Israel tragically failed. Now as we come to Daniel, Israel is in captivity. Daniel is serving as a captive Jew. However, he, because of his capabilities and talents, has been elevated to serve in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar to assist him in working with Jewish affairs. Because of his faithful, uncompromising and amazing character, he has a very unique place in the land. Now Daniel then begins with the times of the Gentiles.

Now let me just say this. Immediately in chapter 2, God gives to Daniel the prophecy through the dream of Nebuchadnezzar that describes this period of history. It describes it from the beginning to the end, how it ends, that's even described as well. And as I studied that, I thought to myself, well why does such a prophecy come at the very beginning of the times of the Gentiles? If it's going to last for thousands of years, it's already lasted over 2,000 years. If it's going to last for all this period of time, why give this prophecy at the very beginning? Well I think there's a good reason. I think as soon as Israel went into captivity, as soon as the land of Judah was taken captivity, as soon as God's people knew Gentiles were ruling in their land, God wanted them to know that that was not a permanent thing.

Why? Because if they felt that it was all over for Israel permanently, they would have begun to question the credibility of God. Because God had many times said He would never forsake His people, He would ever keep His covenant, He would always fulfill His promise, He would never forget Jerusalem. And so I believe that no sooner are they in captivity than God immediately reveals the fullness of the plan from beginning to end, the start of the times of the Gentiles and the ending of the times of the Gentiles when Israel returns to its place of glory so that they will know that God has not failed in all His good promise. At this time when the prophecy comes in chapter 2, Jerusalem is in ruins, the temple is torn down, Judah has been destroyed, the sacred vessels of the temple have been carried off and placed in the temple of an idol, the glory is departed from between the cherubim and the ark of the covenant, Ichabod has been written over the people, the children of Israel stand on the banks of the rivers of Babylon hanging their harps on the willows because they have no song to sing, and the immediate question is has God forever forsaken His people? And the ringing prophecy of Daniel 2 says, no. No. Is this the end? Has God forgotten His covenant? Are all the promises lost? Is God's Word untrue?

No. And so comes immediately this fantastic, incredible revelation. Now let's look at it. In the first 31 verses of Daniel 2, we have the dream received. The dream was received. One night Nebuchadnezzar, this pagan king who didn't believe in the God of Israel, was just about to go to sleep and as he was lying on his bed, according to verse 29, he was lying on his bed thinking. He began to think about his empire and he ruled the known world and he was the most powerful monarch there was and he began to think about what will happen when I die?

What is it going to be like in the future? And as he was musing over these thoughts, he fell asleep and he dreamed some dreams, the Bible says. One of those dreams was a very special one given to him by God.

He knew he wouldn't be around forever. He had seen other empires come and go. He became deeply concerned about his own empire and so he dreamed a dream. One of the dreams, the one that God gave him, was a picture, now watch this, of history from Nebuchadnezzar to the return of Jesus Christ, an incredible prophecy in a dream. The period that he saw is the times of the Gentiles, the world ruler during the setting aside of Israel. Look now at verse 28 and that will frame it for you of chapter 2. There is a God in heaven, says Daniel, who reveals secrets and makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be, now watch this, in the latter days. Now there's a key phrase, the latter days. That is not a phrase restricted to Nebuchadnezzar's understanding.

That is not a phrase restricted to Nebuchadnezzar's lifetime. When it says the latter days, that is what we call an eschatological statement from the Greek word eskatos which means last things. That is a term that refers all the way to the last days, to Messiah's time. In fact, the latter days is a repeated prophetic statement.

You can find it in your Scriptures in Genesis 49, Deuteronomy 4, Deuteronomy 31, Numbers 24, Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah 30, Jeremiah 48, Jeremiah 49, Ezekiel 38, Daniel 10, Hosea 3, Micah 4 and other places. And all the time when you see the latter days, it encompasses the Messiah returning, or the Messiah's time. So it is a very broad term taking us to the latter days. As far as I can see, every Old Testament prophetic writing that refers to the latter days encompasses the consummation of history in the coming of Messiah. So that very phrase there, what shall be in the latter days, indicates that Nebuchadnezzar was to see all the way to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament uses this term the very same way.

The New Testament, for example, is used in Acts 2, the latter days. It's used in 2 Peter chapter 3, and every time it's used, it encompasses the consummation of history in the kingdom of Messiah. So, to Nebuchadnezzar was revealed by God, a prophecy of the latter days encompassing all of the history of the nations till Christ's return.

Look back at verse 28 again. It says, "'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 who reveals secrets makes known to thee what shall come to pass.'" There you have the phrase twice, what shall come to pass. Again, Nebuchadnezzar was thinking of a succession in history. So Nebuchadnezzar sees what shall come to pass all the way to the latter days. Now, Nebuchadnezzar received this dream.

Then what happened? Do you remember? He forgot it, didn't he? He forgot the dream. It left his mind. I think God gave it to him and I think God let him forget it because God wanted to prove a point. I think he remembered some hazy things so that he could recall it when Daniel told it to him, but basically I think he forgot the dream because where it says in the authorized version that the dream went from him, some versions say the thing is gone from me, others say the command from me is sure, or the command from me is firm. The Aramaic basically says the thing is gone from me. But some say it comes from a different Aramaic word meaning the command is firm and he's not saying I forgot it at all, he's just trying to test all of his wise men. So he pretends to forget it. Now frankly, folks, as you look at the text, it could go either way. The reason I believe he forgot the dream is because that makes better sense to me in the context.

You say, why? Well, why would Nebuchadnezzar have a dream that scared the life out of him, that absolutely panicked him, that gave him a good case of apoplexy, a dream that caused him such frenzy that he couldn't sleep, that he lost his sleep, why would he then pretend not to remember that and start to play games with his wise men? It would seem to me that if the panic was as deep as the text indicates it was, he wouldn't be fooling around just trying to prove that his wise men couldn't really tell him the answers. Because as it turned out, he kept saying to them, tell me the dream and then its interpretation. And they would say, well you tell us the dream and we'll tell you the interpretation. But we can't figure out the dream if you don't tell us. And some say, well, he was just pretending not to remember to smoke out their phoniness. But you see, that would have been completely off his point. He was trying to get an answer to this tremendously disturbing dream, not try to unmask his wise men.

That could save itself for another day when things weren't quite as panicky. The fact that he made the wise men tell the dream and its interpretation. And he was so distressed that they couldn't, he said, I'm going to kill everyone.

Gather every single one of them and kill every one of them. Now that will give you a little idea of the anxiety of his heart. By the way, when Daniel finally told him the dream, he never killed anybody. Which shows you that he wasn't really trying to kill his wise men, he was really trying to get the answer to the dream.

And that's why I believe he forgot it. And I think God helped him forget it, just like God gave it to him, so that God could smoke out the phonies among the wise men and put Daniel in the place he wanted him in. Because the only one who had the answer was Daniel.

He's the only one. This was no time for playing games. Daniel stepped in to be the channel of God's revelation. And when he did, the king spared all the wise men, showing that that was not his intention. He just wanted to get his dream cleared up. Now, God is called by Daniel the revealer of secrets. And that's exactly what happens beginning in verse 31. The dream is recalled. The dream received in the first 31 verses...or first 30 verses.

Then in 31, the dream recalled. Daniel, remember, is God's chosen man. And back in chapter 1 verse 17 it said that Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now Daniel was given this gift by God to be able to deal with dreams, to be able to interpret dreams, to be able to reveal dreams, and now was his moment. You see, God was pushing Daniel up the ladder and this would be the final straw. Nebuchadnezzar was already convinced this man was ten times wiser than all of his wise men put together.

And now when this happens, he makes him prime minister of the whole place. Let's see the dream recalled, verse 31. Daniel speaks and this is what he says to it. Thou, O king, here's what you saw.

Now get this. Daniel doesn't know because the king hasn't told him. There's no way humanly that Daniel could get this information. The king says, I can't remember my dream.

And so first Daniel has to tell him what his dream was and then interpret it. First he says, Thou, O king, sauced and behold a great image. The Aramaic word here is statue.

It's not an idol that you worship, it's just a statue. This great image whose brightness was excellent stood before thee and the form of it was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly or bowels and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron and its feet part of iron and part of clay. Now that's a strange looking thing. The head is gold, the breast and arms are silver, the bowels and upper thighs are bronze, and the legs and feet are iron and iron and clay.

And it's just this huge, brilliant, massive statue. And then the action takes place in verse 34. Thou sauced until a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image on its feet that were of iron and clay and broke them to pieces. Then were the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, the gold broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors 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.

Now that's a strange dream, a very strange dream. And those people in those days believed that dreams had significance and this one did because it was from God. What did he see? He saw a statue in a human form.

It was made of shining metal. You'll notice it says this great image twice in verse 31. That word in the Aramaic is immense, massive. We have no way to know just how big it was in his thoughts, but it was a massive image, a massive statue.

And it says its brightness was excellent there. That means it was extraordinarily splendorous. Now the metal in it was shining brilliantly, this massive, immense, brilliantly shining thing. It says at the end of verse 31, it was terrible. It inspired terror, or it inspired fear.

Perhaps we would best say it was awesome...awesome. So immense, so splendorous, so awesome that he was literally scared to death. And even though he couldn't remember what he saw in his dream, he could remember that it scared him.

And all he had left was the fear without the dream and so now Daniel tells him what it was he saw. Now notice this thing, very interesting. It is made out of different metals basically. It starts out and it goes from gold all the way down to iron and clay. By the way, the clay is hasap in the Aramaic which is a word meaning baked clay. It probably refers to the china tile that they used in those times and that would have been what he saw.

He saw the feet made out of a combination of iron and tile, ceramic brittle tile. Another interesting thing about this is that not only is it decreasing or a deteriorating value, but it's always interested me that there's a corresponding lower specific gravity. Gold is heavier than silver and silver is heavier than brass and brass is heavier than iron and iron is heavier than iron and clay mixed. The whole thing is top heavy...it's top heavy. It's getting more and more brittle as it goes down. In fact, gold is so flexible and malleable that it can't even be shattered, but iron and clay can. The whole history of humanity, the whole history of the Gentile world until the coming of Christ is going to be a very precariously balanced thing that is constantly and incessantly deteriorating until its final dissolution when it is smashed at its feet and it is blown away like dust in a wind.

Pretty vivid. From its head of gold to the fragile feet of glazed china mixed with iron, the image is fragile and prone to fall over. And that is exactly what happens in verse 34.

The action begins. A stone was cut out without hands. That means it had no human source.

No men made that stone. It smote the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them to pieces, in fact so much so that they became like chaff of the summer threshing floor and the wind carried them away. No place was found for them and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. The stone takes over the whole world and all the rest of that stuff blows away. The top heavy image is toppled by a crushing blow at its feet.

In rapid succession the entire disintegration of the image follows and all of its dust is blown away. Now this is a pretty amazing missile, wouldn't you say? That smashes all of the history of the Gentiles. And on that note, John MacArthur wraps up today's study from the book of Daniel. It's part of his series, The Rise and Fall of World Powers, here on Grace to You. John, lately on Grace to You we've been playing a lot of vintage John MacArthur messages and I love hearing them and what amazes me is that the message we heard today you preached more than 40 years ago and even then you were talking about cultural decay in the United States, which is even worse now. So with all of the moral collapse and everything that's gone wrong in America, is it somehow wrong for Christians to celebrate the birth of our nation like many of us did recently on Independence Day? No, but that's a very interesting thing to talk about, Phil, because I kind of have the feeling that there isn't the same sense of gratitude for America. You know, America is a common grace, right? I mean, it's a gift from God to a certain population of people for several hundred years. It's a blessing, a blessing of freedom, religious freedom that not all nations have enjoyed. It's a nation of prosperity. There seems to be a grander gift of prosperity to this nation than many, many other nations through the same 200-year period or even today. But I don't see in this particular culture gratitude because I was reading today that less than half of Americans now go to church.

That's the lowest that statistic has ever been. And I'm not talking about Christians. I'm talking about people who acknowledge God and would even say, thank you, God, for what you've provided. I don't know that people are going to be singing God bless America. There's this growing hostility toward what this country is, and it's orchestrated.

It's orchestrated by people who want to do damage and just are kind of classic and want to destroy everything in sight. So I don't know that people are thankful, and I think that's the issue for me. You can say what you will about America. This is a wonderful place to have been given common grace and to have been exposed to the gospel. But to whom much is given, much is required, and this nation has gone past, I think, the point of gratitude and even past the point of grace where they're now under judgment. But for those of us who see the hand of God in the kindness expressed in our home country, we're happy to say thank you to the Lord and grateful that he allowed us the freedom to proclaim the gospel and continues to allow it even up to this day for at least a little while, perhaps.

That's right. Thank you, Jon. And friend, to help motivate your evangelism and to equip you with clear teaching on the gospel, let me encourage you to pick up Jon's book called Nothing But the Truth.

It's affordably priced. Order yours today. Call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org to purchase your copy of Nothing But the Truth. There's no need to be intimidated about proclaiming the gospel. This is a detailed book that can help you present the good news with clarity and with boldness.

Again, to order Nothing But the Truth, visit gty.org. And just a reminder that every day on this broadcast, we're not just teaching the content of a passage. We're teaching Christian men and women how to approach the Bible on their own and how to evaluate what others are teaching. And it's the support of listeners like you that makes this vital ministry possible. To partner with us, write to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412. Or call us at 800-55-GRACE or you can make a donation online at gty.org.

That's our website, gty.org. Now on behalf of John MacArthur and the Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for tuning in today and be here tomorrow when John continues his look at prophecy from the book of Daniel, called The Rise and Fall of World Powers. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.