The Rise and Fall of the World, Part 3 B

Then the King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshipped Daniel. He said, what's he doing worshipping Daniel? Well, he doesn't know Daniel's God, so he figures the only way to get to Daniel's God is through Daniel. Some people have denied the whole book of Daniel on this one basis. Kings don't bow to their captives.

Therefore, this is a forgery. Want to know something? Kings do bow to God. On the subject of prophecy, Charles Spurgeon once said that pastors would do more for God's people by preaching more about the first advent and less about the second. Of course, our focus should be on the work of Christ, and pressing on toward sanctification in the here and now. And yet, a careful look at what the Bible says about the future not only reminds us of the all-powerful God we serve, it also motivates us to proclaim the gospel while there's still time. We trust John MacArthur's message today on grace to you will do just that, as he continues a compelling look at the end times and God's control over all the nations.

It's part of John's series titled The Rise and Fall of World Powers. And now with today's lesson, here's John. Daniel, chapter 2. We've been studying the whole chapter, and I'm not going to, for time's sake, go over all the review and everything, but just come in at some point to refresh your thinking and then pick up the closing portion of the chapter.

Having looked at the dream received, the dream recalled, the dream revealed, we focus particularly, and I want you to look back at this now, on the final phase of this world empire. The final phase is indicated in verse 34. Verse 33, I'm sorry. The legs are of iron, and that speaks of Rome, but the feet are part iron and part clay. Part iron and part clay. Now go down to verse 40. And the fourth kingdom, and there's the explanation of that, shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things, and as iron that breaks all these, it shall break in pieces and crush.

But it doesn't end there. And whereas thou sauc'd the feet and toes part of potter's clay, that's tile-like material, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. There shall be in it of the strength of the iron, for as much as thou sauc'd the iron mixed with miry clay, and as the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. And whereas thou sauc'd iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not adhere one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

Now watch. The final world empire was Rome, right? But it appears in two phases. The first part is all iron, the two legs, the east and the western empires of Rome. But the final phase changes, and it's a mingling of iron with clay. It has an inherent weakness. It is more diverse than it has ever been, because the weakness, the tile, represents the seed of men. The final form of the Roman empire will be a diverse situation, trying to mingle strength with weakness, and they cannot coexist any more than you can connect iron to clay.

You can't do it. The final form will be partly strong and partly brittle. The Bible doesn't see the period in between. The Bible sees Rome as the final world empire, strong and then weak. Rome was never conquered by any other world empire. No nation has ever taken Rome's place.

Did you know that no nation ever conquered Rome? In the eastern part of the empire, it took 1,500 years before they finally kind of faded out. I believe the Bible tells us they went into an abeyance. Their head was wounded, as if they were dead, only to rise again in the future.

The Roman empire simply disintegrated, but its influences are still here through Roman thought and Roman law. It doesn't see the period in between, the church age, but that isn't surprising, because the Old Testament never did see the church age. That's why in Ephesians 3, Paul says, this is a mystery. This is a mystery. I'm a preacher of a mystery. God has given me a message to give to you that is a mystery. The dispensation of the grace of God to me is to preach the mystery. The mystery was hidden.

A mystery is something hidden that is now revealed. The Old Testament never saw the church age, and so we're not a bit surprised when we find an interval in the New Testament era that isn't discussed in the Old. For example, you have passages in the Old Testament that prophesy things about Christ, half of which are of his first coming, half of which are of his second coming, and yet the Old Testament puts no time period in there.

Why? Because it doesn't see that mystery period known as the church age. That's the mystery. That's that which was hidden and is revealed in the New Testament. So there will be a final phase of the Roman Empire involving a European Confederacy that involves ten nations, territorially occupying what was once the Roman Empire.

We're seeing that very exact thing right now. How does it end? Doesn't take long. Verse 44. This Roman coalition will come together in the end time, and it says, in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever.

Stop right there. Now listen. All students of the scripture that I know anything about and that I've ever read all agree that this is the founding of the kingdom of God. Now they may have differences as to just exactly how it comes to pass, but it's clear that this is the God of heaven setting up a kingdom.

But I want you to notice something fascinating here. Verse 44. And in the days of these kings, now listen to me. In the days of these kings, what kings?

What are you talking about? There aren't any kings mentioned here. The only king mentioned in the whole place here in laying out history is Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold. What do you mean in the days of these kings?

Doesn't seem to be an antecedent for that. What kings? Those who do not believe in an earthly kingdom of Christ. Those who do not believe that Jesus Christ is going to come and reign for a thousand years. They use the term a millennial.

They deny a millennial. They say this is referring to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. And that the spiritual kingdom of Christ will be set up in the hearts of men during the times of these four kings. In other words, during Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, that the kingdom of Christ will be set up in the hearts of people during those kingdoms.

That doesn't really make it. In the first place, those are kingdoms, not kings. And the word kings, malkia in Aramaic, is far different from kingdoms, which is malkwata.

It isn't even talking about the same term. And not all of them are even designated as references to kings, but rather kingdoms. What kings?

Well, that's really easy if you look at it. And you go back and you'll find that the kings can be none other than the toes of the feet. In other words, the 10 toes represent 10 kings in the final form of the Roman Empire. The toes of the feet, he starts talking about them in verse 42. And then he says, and in the days of these kings, and there, Daniel actually interprets the picture. The toes represent kings.

You shouldn't be too shocked about that. In Revelation chapter 17, listen to this. Revelation is the Daniel of the New Testament giving us the picture of the future. It says, and the 10 horns which thou sawest are 10 kings. And here he's talking about the same imagery of 10 kings, only this time it's 10 horns. If you go over to Daniel chapter 7, look in the very same book, you'll find at the end of verse 7, there were 10 horns. It says in verse 7 at the end, and it had 10 horns. If you go further in the chapter, down to verse 15, and you can begin to read the whole thing, you'll see more about the 10 horns. Verse 20, the 10 horns are mentioned again. Verse 24, the 10 horns, and here's the key I want you to see, and the 10 horns out of this kingdom are 10 kings that shall arise.

Did you get it? Daniel sees this Gentile world power finalizing itself in a 10 king confederacy, and that is precisely what Daniel means when he says in the days of these kings. At the time of the 10 kings, God will set up his kingdom.

Now, if you make it mean the other four kingdoms, it doesn't make sense. Did God set up his kingdom during the time of Babylon? Did God set up his kingdom in Medo-Persia? Did God set up his kingdom in Greece? Did God set up his kingdom at the time of the Roman Empire?

Of course not. God's kingdom as yet has not been established on the earth, and since the whole of the image is a political picture, and since the whole of the image is actual history, whatever final kingdom is entered in must also be actual, historical, political, and earthly. You see, you can't have a spiritual thing introduced into a very physical, historical, actual set of images.

The kingdom of heaven was not set up in those times, not in its political, earthly form. And so in the days of those final 10, when that Roman confederacy gets itself together, folks, that gets a little bit close to home, doesn't it? If you look at Europe and you see the economic community together now in a 10-nation confederacy, and you see the world with the attitude it's got right now toward God, I tell you, there's only one thing that has to happen before Christ can come, and that's the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and we're gone.

And that happens instantaneously when he comes. What happens further in verse 44? The God of heaven will set up a kingdom. What kind of a kingdom will it be? It'll be a kingdom that will never be destroyed. It won't be like the other kingdoms. It'll be one that's never destroyed.

The others were all destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It's not going to be the kind of a thing that fades and somebody else takes over.

But it'll break in pieces, and it'll consume all kingdoms and all the residue of all the kingdoms that are left at the time, and it shall stand forever. Some people have actually taught that this is the church. That's foolish.

That's absolutely foolish. This can't be the church. In the first place, the Roman Empire went on for centuries after the church was begun. The church didn't destroy a ten king confederacy in Rome.

That's ridiculous. The Roman Empire went on and on and on a long time. In fact, you know the Roman Empire went on longer after Jesus than the other empires had gone from Nebuchadnezzar to Jesus. So the church didn't bring a dramatic end to anything.

There's no evidence at all for that. It's not the church. It's the actual, literal kingdom of Christ on earth. The church isn't even a political entity. We don't even fit the imagery here. The church doesn't, like it says in verse 45, for as much as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter and the dream is certain and the interpretation of it sure.

Remember the stone that said earlier in the chapter came and smashed the image and it blew away in dust and the stone filled the earth? The church didn't cataclysmically destroy all the nations of the earth. The church didn't end the times of the Gentiles.

Why? The church was born and then came 70 A.D. and the Gentiles really took over Jerusalem. It cannot be the church. The church has never overcome Gentile world power and the church never will. The church doesn't come and instantaneously fill the whole earth and take over. The church grows quietly, imperceptibly, not violently, catastrophically in a destruction.

This is not the church. The church has never broken in pieces the world's kingdoms. This is a literal, physical, earthly kingdom that God sets up and the times of the Gentiles ends. It is a political kingdom and you can read all about it in the Old Testament. It is a physical kingdom. The Old Testament says Jerusalem will be rebuilt, Israel will be stored to the land, the curse will be lifted, there will be abundance of food, there will be health, there will be healing, there will be a high birth rate, the topography will change, a new temple will be built, and on and on and on. It is a literal, physical kingdom. It certainly will have spiritual reality to it, but it is a physical kingdom.

Now, we need one more thought and we will close this section. It says back up in verse 34, that thou sawest a stone 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 filled the whole earth. Only thing left is to find out who the stone is. The stone comes and obliterates all of this and then fills the earth.

Well, I know who it is, so do you. Because Jesus said you'll never ever see the end of the times of the Gentiles. Your house will be desolate until you look at me and say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. He's the only one that can end the times of the Gentiles. He's the only one that can destroy the governments of the world. And Isaiah said it, the government shall be upon his what?

Shoulder. He's the only one who has the right to rule. When in Revelation 5 they were searching heaven to find somebody who could open the scroll and in came the lamb and the lamb could open the scroll.

Why? Because he had a right to open the scroll because the scroll was the title deed to the earth and he and he alone had the right to possess the earth. It's Christ. It's Christ himself who is the stone.

In fact I love it. In Genesis 49, 24 God is called the stone of Israel. In Psalm 118 the stone which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner. And Peter quotes that and it refers to Christ.

Jesus used that of himself. He said I am the stone that the builders rejected but I am become the head of the corner. God said to the prophet Isaiah chapter 28 verse 16, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation stone. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10, for that rock was Christ. Christ is the stone and I believe it is at the coming of Jesus Christ that he smashes Gentile dominion. His feet as Zechariah 14 says, land on the mount of olives. There's a cleavage in the mountain from the east to the west.

He splits it wide open and into that valley called the valley of decision come the Gentiles from all over the globe and they are judged with the judgment of God and from then on when judgment has been brought to bear upon them, God sets up his kingdom through Christ in the city of Jerusalem and reigns for a thousand years and then on into eternity. What does it mean that he was cut out without hands? I believe first of all it is a reflection of his virgin birth. This stone was not a man made stone. Secondly, I believe it is a reflection on his resurrection that there was no human agency involved in his resurrection.

His own power brought him from the grave without a human agency in the normal manner he was born and without a human agency at all he was raised from the dead. And notice when the stone comes it doesn't hit the head, the shoulders or anything like that but it smashes the final portion, the weakest part, the feet and the entire Gentile tower comes down. You know when you start to study Jesus as a stone, boy do you get into some fascinating truth. The Bible says he is a crushing stone. He comes to crush a shattering, smiting stone but at the same time he is a restoring stone for no sooner does he smash and crush but that he fills the earth. Now listen to this. You say Nebuchadnezzar had this strange dream. Did he really understand it?

Listen. Nebuchadnezzar's chief god, according to the archeologists who have found a lot of things about that time. Nebuchadnezzar's chief god was a god that he called Belmarodek. Now Belmarodek we found in archeology had a very special name.

His name was Shadurabu. You know what that means? That means the great mountain. That means the great mountain. Nebuchadnezzar thought Shadurabu. Belmarodek was the great mountain but Daniel said to him that stone that hit that image filled the whole earth and became a great mountain. Your god is replaced and he used his own terms, God did, so he'd understand. And Daniel says there's only one Shadurabu and you haven't seen him yet. The title meant the all-powerful god and when Daniel used this in the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, believe me, he understood it. He understood it.

You see, God gave Nebuchadnezzar a vision in his own terms so he would understand. How does the story end? Well, I love this too. Verse 45. By this time, somebody might be saying, boy, I've heard some things in my time but this takes the cake. This is the wildest thing ever dreamt up by the imagination of some person who tried to push it off as if it were true. Crazy image, ridiculous story with an incredible fanciful interpretation.

Just in case that's where you are, there's a little P.S. at the bottom of verse 45 that's meant to nail you to the wall. It says this, and the dream is certain and the interpretation of it sure. Don't mess with this.

There are no mistakes. It's sure and it's certain. We've seen the dream received, the dream recalled, the dream revealed.

I'm just going to read this to you. The dream rewarded. Look at verse 46. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshiped Daniel.

He believed it. He said, what's he doing worshiping Daniel? Well, he doesn't know Daniel's god so he figures the only way to get to Daniel's god is through Daniel.

He commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him. The king answered unto Daniel and said of a truth, it is that your god is the god of gods and the lord of kings and the revealer of secrets seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. He says your god is the god of gods. Your god is the shadu rabu. Your god is the lord of the wind. Your god is the revealer of secrets.

I want you to know folks this is a short conversion. It's the emotion of the moment because he bails out as we'll see very soon in the very next chapter. But in this moment he is literally overwhelmed at the display of god's power through Daniel. Then the king made Daniel a great man and gave him many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.

Now that folks is known as a promotion from being the bottom guy on a totem pole to running the show. He was the prime minister of the Babylonian empire and I like this. When Daniel got his new position he figured he'd use it so he requested of the king and he set Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. He said I got three guys I'd like to be my vice regents and he brought his friends into strategic places to be used by god. Some people have denied the whole book of Daniel on this one basis. I read some critics of Daniel who denied the entire book on one basis. Kings don't bow to their captives therefore this is a forgery. You want to know something? Kings do bow to god.

This is not a forgery. You never have to work to get what you want in this world if you just obey god he'll put you beyond what you ever dreamed. Isn't that true? Now if Daniel had sat in his little place over there in Jerusalem and said now I got to figure how I can get to be the prime minister of Babylon. First I got to go to the right school then I got to meet the right people. I got to marry the right girl. Strategy. Now Daniel said I don't care what the king says I'm not eating that stuff. And he would have said oh Daniel that is not the strategy and Daniel became the prime minister of Babylon because god put him there. And if he didn't put himself there he didn't have to worry about staying because it wasn't something he wanted anyway it was what god gave him and as long as god gave it to him god had let him keep it until his time was done. Don't seek things but god gives them to you as you obey his will. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. Today John continued his look at God's sovereign control over rulers and nations. It's a compelling look at biblical prophecy that John calls the rise and fall of world powers. John, thinking about what we've just heard, the dream, the statue, and what all of it means, in your own study of the Bible do you find prophecy any more difficult to sort through and understand than any of the other areas of theology? Well I think prophecies of the Old Testament would be more difficult to understand if we didn't have the New Testament and that's why Peter said that even the writers of the Old Testament looked at what they wrote to try to understand what person and what time these things would be fulfilled.

So if all we had was the Old Testament we could understand what we could understand but we wouldn't understand fulfillment. But when you get to the New Testament then you have the historic fulfillment of many of the prophecies. Literally hundreds of prophecies concerning Jesus were fulfilled in his first coming.

There are many more to be fulfilled in his second coming. So there are things about the second coming that we don't yet fully understand but we have the New Testament which lays out details of his second coming. For example, in his sermon on his second coming primarily Matthew 24 and 25 and particularly in the book of Revelation. So if you have the Old Testament and the New Testament and carefully interpret both in light of each other you can come to some pretty clear understanding of what prophecy is actually saying. And of course in order to do that you've got to have some source to explain these passages to you and that's where the MacArthur Study Bible comes in. You have the Bible in your hand, you have up to 25,000 footnotes explaining the meaning of the text.

If you're in a prophetic text in the Old Testament, if you're in the book of Daniel you'll find in the footnotes explanations there. And you'll find a lot of cross references that would take you to the New Testament, to Jesus preaching on his second coming, even to the book of Revelation. If you have a MacArthur Study Bible you're not going to only have explanations of prophetic passages but all the rest of the passages as well. You need to get a copy of the MacArthur Study Bible. It's a library of Bible interpretation right in one volume. You can get it in the New King James Version, the ESV, the NAS, which is what I use.

You can get it in English, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Italian, Chinese, Arabic, and Portuguese. You can order them from Grace To You today. And friend, as you study God's Word with John's notes, even the most confusing parts of the Bible can become more clear, and that will help you apply more of Scripture's life-transforming truth to your life. To order the MacArthur Study Bible, contact us today. Call us at 800-55-GRACE or visit our website, gty.org. The MacArthur Study Bible would be an ideal gift for any student of Scripture.

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When you visit gty.org, make sure you take advantage of the thousands of free resources that are available there. That includes Grace Stream. It's a continuous broadcast of John's verse-by-verse teaching. We begin in Matthew chapter 1 and go all the way through the end of the book of Revelation. Grace Stream is just one of the numerous resources available for free at gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson reminding you to watch Grace To You television this Sunday. And make sure you're here next week when John looks at the incident that gave rise to the expression, The Handwriting is on the Wall. John's study is called The Rise and Fall of World Powers. Tune in starting Monday for another thirty minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.