Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

The psychic Jean Dixon became a household name years ago. She became famous for supposedly predicting the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

In 1956, she was interviewed in Parade magazine. And here's what she said, the next election, the 1960 election will be won by a Democrat. And he will die in office. And Kennedy was elected. And Kennedy did die in office. But she actually had a very bad track record of predictions. She said that after JFK was assassinated, his wife Jackie would never marry again. She did. She said World War Three would start in 1958. It didn't. She said the Soviet Union will be the first nation to put a man on the moon.

They weren't. And so she had a bad track record. Why? Because she's trying to predict the future. But she didn't know the future.

Would you listen to me? God does not predict the future. Because God already knows the future. From God's vantage point, past, present, and future, he sees the whole thing. And periodically, God chooses to reveal, to give us a glimpse of what's going to happen in the future. And we see that here in Daniel chapter two.

Now it's kind of interesting. Now I want you, this is, Daniel, the book of Daniel is written, Daniel lived around 500 years before Christ, 500 B.C. 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Daniel is predicting what is going to happen, pardon me, Daniel is reporting God's revelation of what is going to happen in the future. And skeptics look at this and they say Daniel could not have been written in 500 B.C. Because he is so precise in his prediction, somebody later on must have written the book of Daniel and said that they were Daniel. But this is too precise.

The evidence is very clear. Daniel wrote this in 500 B.C. Now remember the background, Pastor Chris preached a great word last week, week before that, we were in Daniel chapter two. And remember in Daniel two, Nebuchadnezzar is a dictator, he's a tyrant, he is the head of Babylon, he has a dream that upset him. All he knows is he wakes up in the morning and he's upset because of a dream but he can't remember the dream.

Has that ever happened to you before? You wake up in a bad mood because it's something you dream but you can't remember what you dreamed. So he calls the intellectual elites, the wise men, the magi of the kingdom, Daniel is one of them, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are also part of that and he says, I want you to tell me what I dreamed and I want you to tell me the interpretation.

The elites, nobody can do that. Nobody can tell you what you dreamed much less the interpretation. We can't do that. And remember Nebuchadnezzar said, if you don't do it, I'm going to have everyone to be tortured and killed. Do you remember that? And so Daniel goes and he prays and God reveals to him what Nebuchadnezzar dreamed and he also reveals to him the interpretation. And so let's read the actual dream first. Look at verse 31. Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, you, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great image, that image which was large and of extraordinary splendor was rising up in front of you and its appearance was awesome. The head of that image was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze and its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

So you get that? Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and it looks something like this, this large statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, a belly of bronze, legs of iron and then feet mixed with clay. And then Daniel does this. Daniel gives the interpretation. Not only does he give the dream, here's what you dream, here's the interpretation. And the dream, watch this, is all about the rise and the fall of empires throughout human history.

That's what this dream is about. And Daniel says something very interesting in verse 37. He says, you, O king, are the king of kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory. Who gave it to Nebuchadnezzar? God.

That's a very important idea. Nobody is in governmental power unless God has put them there. Daniel 2, 21, God raises up kings and presidents and vice presidents and he deposes them.

Proverbs 21, 1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and God turns the king's heart whichever way God wants it to go. And so, listen, God even raises up wicked pagan people and God puts pagans in authority. You do understand that, right? So here's what I'm saying to us this election season, just calm down. God's in charge, he's in control, God knows what he's doing, okay?

And so that's a very important concept. But then, look, Daniel, he gives the interpretation and look at this picture. First of all, the head of the statue, I want you to see this. The head of the statue symbolizes the Babylonian empire. That's the empire that Nebuchadnezzar is now overseeing. Verse 38, you are the head of gold. So watch it, put that picture back up again if you don't mind. So the head of gold, label this, the head of the gold is the Babylonian empire. I had this thing so worked out and so we'll get all worked out for second service here.

Guys, there should be on the PowerPoint a little thing, there you go right there. So that's the Babylonian empire. And the Babylonian empire lasted roughly for 70 years, from 612 B.C. to 539 B.C. You don't understand. Before Christ, you count backwards. Did you know that?

Okay. So we're counting backwards. Roughly 70 years, the Babylonian empire was in power. That's the first kingdom. The second kingdom is symbolized by, do you see this, chest and arms of silver. That's verse 32. That's the empire that comes right after the Babylonian empire. Verse 39, but after you, there will arise another kingdom inferior to you.

So look at the next one here. The next one is the Medo-Persian empire that followed the Babylonian empire. Now notice this, as the statue goes from head to toe, the materials get less and less valuable and precious.

Started with gold, now we're at silver. And we know that after the Babylonian empire, the Medo-Persian empire took over. And it's interesting, the statue has two arms. This empire was actually a co-regency. The Medes and the Persians both ruled together. And so that was roughly around 539 B.C.

to 331 B.C. Then the next empire, he says, I see the Babylonian. And then after that, the Medo-Persian empire, and we know from history that's exactly what happened. And then there was a belly of bronze.

Do you see that? Verse 39. Then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule with power over all the earth. We know that is the Greek empire. We know that the Babylonian empire was destroyed by the Medo-Persian empire. The Medo-Persian empire is now taken over by the Greek empire. And that Greek empire was led by a very charismatic young man. Anybody know who headed up the Greek empire? It's Alexander the Great. And actually later on in Daniel chapter 8, he will go into great detail about what Alexander the Great is going to do.

Great detail. Now keep in mind, this is 200 years before Alexander the Great and the Greek empire comes on the scene. Daniel here says the Greek empire is going to take over. And Daniel 8, he gets very specific.

200 years. Which is interesting because have you ever heard of this ancient Jewish historian named Flavius Josephus? Josephus said that when Alexander the Great was starting to take over the world, he actually came to Jerusalem to destroy Jerusalem.

They opened the city gates. Alexander the Great comes in. He's going to destroy the whole thing. And the high priest says to Alexander, Alexander before you destroy us, I want you to read one of our prophets. His name is Daniel. And he unrolled the scroll and had Alexander the Great read Daniel chapter 2 and read Daniel chapter 8. And the precision with which Daniel predicted Alexander the Great 200 years before he was even born blew his mind.

And he spared the city of Jerusalem because he realized God has spoken through this Jewish prophet named Daniel. So you've got the head of gold, that's the Babylonian empire, that is taken over by the Medo-Persian empire, the chest and arms of silver. Then the belly of bronze, the Greek empire comes and takes over. And then number 4, look at this. There were legs of iron.

Do you see this? Verse 33 says the legs of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed were made of iron. Look at verse 40. There will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things.

So like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. Now what empire is this? What empire took over the Greek empire?

Anybody know? The Roman empire. And the Roman empire was ruthless.

They were brutal and that's why they are symbolized by just raw iron. It started around 168 B.C. and it's interesting, just like this statue, there were two legs of the Roman empire and again, this is 500 years or so, 400 years before the Roman empire is even thought of. Daniel is already predicting this and he says there will be two legs to this empire. The western leg of the Roman empire was based in the city of Rome and that fell in about 476 A.D. The other leg, the eastern part, was based in Constantinople or modern day Istanbul and that fell in about 1453 A.D. There are two legs of the Roman empire just like Daniel predicted. And even the element, the iron that he uses to describe that empire is prophetic. The most prestigious legion of the Roman empire was the sixth legion.

They were called the legio sexta frata or the sixth iron legion. And this is the last global empire that we've experienced. Others have tried to come and create their own global empire. Napoleon tried to do that in France.

Bismarck and Hitler tried to do that in Germany. Stalin tried to do that in the U.S.S.R. Other leaders have tried to raise up their own global empire but they have all failed. The Roman empire was the last global empire. But then there's also a fifth or final empire. In Nebuchadnezzar's dream he sees an empire in the future. This empire has not taken place yet.

But I want you to look at this. He says 41 through 43, he says I see the feet of this statue and the feet represents the final global empire. There's going to be one more empire. Unless you're polydactic or whatever, how many toes do you have?

You've got ten toes. This final empire is going to have ten nations that's going to rule the world. Ten nations in this final empire that will be overseeing planet earth before Jesus Christ comes back. Now here Daniel calls it ten toes, the ten nations, that final empire.

It's interesting, jot this down and you can look at this later on. In Revelation 17, John who wrote the book of Revelation, God gives him a glimpse into the future and he sees ten nations ruling planet earth right before Jesus Christ comes back. But he doesn't call them ten toes, he calls them ten horns. He says it's like there's this big monster with ten horns and those ten horns represent the ten nations that will be in power before Jesus comes back. Out of that ten horn confederation, one horn will rise up and rule them all and we call that global leader the anti-Christ. Daniel sees these ten final nations as ten toes, John sees them as ten horns, but the Bible is teaching that before Jesus Christ comes back, the earth will be ruled by ten nation confederation. And what is that ten nation confederation?

We don't know. It could be that before Jesus comes back, the entire world is combined into ten zones, maybe that's what happens. It could be the revived ten nations of the Roman Empire, currently we know that as the European Union, there are twenty-seven nations in the European Union, but people are dropping out left and right all the time. So maybe before Jesus Christ comes back, that twenty-seven nations of the European Union is now down to ten and it's those ten who rule the world, we don't know. It could be the United Nations Security Council, currently there are fifteen nations who are on the United Nations Security Council, maybe that's whittled down to ten and they rule the world, we don't know. But it's interesting, the track record Daniel has is perfect.

We know that the Babylonians were taken over by the Medo-Persians, who were taken over by the Greeks, who were taken over by the Romans. If he's right about that, I'm convinced he's right about the fact that before Jesus Christ comes back, there will be ten nations ruling planet earth. Now, I've thrown a lot at you, to me this stuff is absolutely fascinating.

Why would you ever doubt the Bible when you have stuff like this? It's amazing, all right? So let me think, are you with me on that?

Does that make sense? Okay. Now, can I, if you think that was weird, watch this. Hold my beer, although I don't drink alcohol, whatever.

You think that's weird? Hold my beer, watch this. All right, so I want you to look at verse forty-three here, okay? Verse forty-three is a very interesting verse.

It's actually a very perplexing verse. Verse forty-three says, Daniel is talking to Nebuchadnezzar and he says, and in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men. Now, I want you to see that word clay.

There's going to be a combination of something with clay. Throughout the Old Testament, clay represents humanity. I give you a dozen verses where clay is representative of the human race, okay? In fact, even the word Adamah, Adam, or man, means dust, dirt. So clay represents the human race. Seed of men, do you see that in verse forty-three? That also represents the human race. It's interesting. It says, they will combine with clay.

Who's they? It can't be something human because the human race is already described as clay and the seed of men. Something non-human in the final days will combine with the seed of man or the human race. It can't be human because clay and seed of man are human, so this is something non-human that combines with them. Now, in fact, some scholars say that word combine in the Aramaic, this is one part of Daniel that's not written in Hebrew, this is actually written in Aramaic, combine symbolizes or implies marriage.

In fact, if you have the English Standard Version Bible, how many of you all use the English Standard Version Bible? Here's how the English Standard Bible puts it. Not, they will combine with clay, it says this in the English Standard Version, they will mix with one another in marriage. So in this final ten-nation kingdom, there will be a phenomenon where something non-human is mixing with something human as in marriage. Where's the other place in the Bible where you see something non-human marrying, mixing with something human? Genesis 6, where demonic, supernatural, satanic entities come down and mix with human beings and this hybrid called the Nephilim, you've heard me talk about that before, are produced from that. Could that be what Daniel's talking about here? Because Jesus himself says in Luke chapter 17 that the final days will be like the days of Noah and then he specifically mentions some kind of mingling, some kind of marriage, have you read that before? So it could be, I'm not going to build a whole doctrine on this, but it could be that this is a prophetic picture, that what happened in Genesis 6 where there were these human, satanic hybrids created, it could be that Daniel is saying that's going to take place again before Jesus Christ comes back.

Now we think this is crazy. Come on, demons can't interact with humans. Throughout the majority of church history, Christian leaders understood this could happen. Augustine of Canterbury, St. Augustine, not the St. Augustine of North Africa, this is St. Augustine of Canterbury. This is someone that helped establish Christianity in England. He lived in 600 AD. He recounted incidents of demonic entities having intercourse with women in England while he was leading the church. In the 1600s, a Franciscan scholar named Ameno wrote a treatise on this and he said, quote, to theologians and philosophers, it is a fact that from the intercourse of humans with the demon, human beings are sometimes born. I was talking to two doctors about this.

One is on leadership in a major medical school. The other is a nationally recognized expert in the field of reproduction. They're both Christians. And I said, this sounds crazy.

Do you think this could happen? And they said, as Christians, we are convinced this could actually happen. And so Daniel is trying to tell us that in the last days, before Jesus Christ comes back with this ten-nation confederation, some very weird, strange, supernatural things are going to take place. Now, watch what happens to these kingdoms. Verse 34, Nebuchadnezzar, as you were dreaming, you see this statue, the statue representing all these powerful empires of human history. Nebuchadnezzar, here's what you saw in your dream. Verse 34, you continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found, but the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Who do you think that stone is?

Your Lord and your Savior, Jesus Christ. In the end, Jesus returns from heaven. He is a stone not made with human hands and he bursts the kingdoms of this world.

He destroys these empires and Jesus takes over forever and ever and ever. Jesus is called the rock or the stone throughout the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 10, 4, Jesus is called a rock. Matthew 21, 42, Jesus is called a stone. Acts 4, 11, Jesus is a stone. Romans 9, 33, Jesus is a rock. This prophetic picture that he has of this rock that comes is Jesus Christ coming back and taking over the world. In fact, here's how he says it in verse 44. And in those days of those kings, the God of heaven will cause a kingdom to rise up that will never be destroyed.

That kingdom will not be left for another people, but it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself stand forever. And that's our hope right there, church. In fact, when Gabriel goes to a little peasant girl in a little backwater town that nobody knows about, says to her, you're about to conceive even though you've never been with a man.

This is going to be God's baby. And he says about that baby, Luke 1, 33, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and there will be no end of his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar hears Daniel and he says, you're right.

That's what I dreamed. Now I remember. And he hears Daniel talk about the rise and fall of empires. He hears him implies that there may be some type of Nephilim transhumanism in the last day.

He hears Daniel throw all this stuff out at him. And did you know what Nebuchadnezzar does? Verse 47, he praised God. He blessed the name of God.

I think you and I could learn from that pagan king right there. Instead of getting so caught up in what's going to happen in the last days, is the church going to be right after before or after the tribulation and who's going to be the antichrist and, you know, what is the theological significance of the left pinky toe of the beast coming out of the sea? Instead of worrying about all that kind of stuff, maybe we ought to just focus on Jesus and praise Jesus and lift up the name of Jesus.

Now let me say this because I'm about to be misunderstood. So let me say this very, very clearly. We need to get out and vote biblically. So don't, what I'm about to say, don't let it negate this. As a Christian, I want you to vote because when you vote, you're actually speaking prophetically, okay? So I want you to get out and vote. You know, I'm reading a book now. It's kind of a controversial book.

It's called Shepherds for Sale and this lady says that the left will hear guys like me saying get out and vote and they're saying, oh, Pastor Chad just wants political power. This is not, I don't care about, it's not about political power. I don't care about political power. I just don't think men should be playing in women's sports. I just don't think children should be mutilated because of some weird gender ideology.

I just don't think full term babies should be slaughtered in the womb. And another issue is now starting to surface. I think we're now dealing with freedom versus totalitarianism. I don't think you know who you're dealing with here.

They're now willing to put political opponents in prison and now they're coming after the rank and file. I had lunch with a Christian business leader this past week and he said, Chad, does Cross Assembly have access to a good lawyer? I said, we got some good doctors. We got good professionals. I don't think we have any lawyers here. If you're a good lawyer, let me know. Good lawyer.

I said, but why? He said, again, this is not a wacky guy. He served in church leadership.

He's legitimate. He said, one of my best friends is a homeschool father, homeschool mother. I won't tell you how many kids they have because I don't want to out these people. They got a lot of kids.

And two weeks ago, law enforcement burst into their house with guns drawn and arrested the dad right there in front of the kids. Why? Because the family had gone to Washington, D.C. to pray at January 6th. I've had some of y'all tell me, pastor, pray for me.

Why? Because I was up in Washington praying on January 6th and I'm afraid they're going to come after me. That should not be taking place in America where we're now coming after our political opponents. Does that make sense? We're dealing with serious stuff, but you don't care, do you?

As long as your college is being paid for and you get $25,000 to buy your new house, that's all that matters. I'm telling you, there's some things at stake here that we really better pay attention to, okay? So have I made my point? I believe in getting out and voting. I believe in going in and around the world. Let's just keep sending young ladies like this to share the gospel. Let's do all this stuff to get ready for Jesus. Jesus says, look, occupy, be busy till I come back. So let's do all that good stuff. Here's my concern. My concern is that we can get so busy doing all of that stuff that we forget about the rock that's going to come down from heaven and take over this world. We forget about Jesus because we're doing all this stuff for Jesus. For example, I like big weddings.

Again, don't get me wrong. Some of the funnest times I've had as your pastor is going to some of the big weddings y'all have had. I love the excitement.

I love the joy. I am not against big weddings. What I am against are families getting so focused on wedding plans that they get mad at each other, they're at each other's throat, they're stressed out, and they're angry.

And I've seen this happen before. They stress out over the venue, they stress out over the florist, they stress out over the food, they stress out over the guest list, and the bride and groom get lost in the shuffle. The problem is they focus more on the preparations than on the people. And I'm convinced that if we're not careful, we can get so caught up in the preparations for Jesus' second coming, the voting, the gospel, the this, the that, we can get so busy with the preparations that we forget the person. Nebuchadnezzar, this pagan wicked king, teaches us a lesson. Don't get focused on all this end times prophecy stuff to the exclusion of the rock, Jesus Christ, who comes back and makes everything right. Beloved, are you with me on that? And so what I am finding, hey, here's a great verse.

You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind has stayed on you, steadfast on you because he trusts in you. And there's got to be a fixed point out here. If your fixed point is the Republicans, the Democrats, Trump, Kamala, whatever, you get focused. I'm not trying to be, I'm really not. I always mess this up. If you get focused on the person, you're going to be all over the place. They up in the polls, you're up in the polls.

They down in the polls, you're down. Why don't we get our eyes back on Jesus? I'm convinced that anything good can take our eyes off of Jesus, even in times prophecy.

Isn't that crazy? We get more focused on the antichrist than the Christ. And I'm reading a book now, just jot this book down. It's We Would See Jesus by Roy Hessian, H-E-S-S-I-O-N. Roy Hessian, I read this this week, it convicted me. He said, here's what we do in the church. We get more passionate about prayer than we do Jesus.

What has happened? Jesus has been taken over by prayer. And how long do we pray? How loud do we pray? How many people listen to us?

How many signs and wonders do we sing? Jesus is no longer center, the prayer is the center. Prayer is not the center. Prayer draws us to Jesus Christ, but Jesus is still the center. We can do that with the study of the word of God. We get so focused on the word of God, so obsessed with the word of God, that we lose sight of Jesus.

The word of God points us to Jesus, but Jesus is still the center. I don't want to be like this big wedding, so focused on the preparations, and get stressed out over the preparation that we forget the person that it's all about, the groom, Jesus Christ. One of the most memorable weddings I have ever conducted was a young lady who was engaged to a Christian man who was in the military, and that man got his orders, you have been called up, you have been mobilized, you're going to go overseas into a conflict in a few days.

And this young lady called and said, I'm a believer, he's a believer, he's leaving me. Can you come and do the wedding? And the wedding was the most memorable wedding I think I've ever had. It was about 10 people, a side of a pond, a simple bride, a simple groom.

Not a lot of flowers, no flowers, no venue, no food, no whatever, just a bride and a groom. And their focus was on each other, not this stuff. Basically that bride was saying to that man that was about to be deployed, I know you're leaving me, I know you're about to go away, but I know you're coming back, and when you come back, I'll be here waiting for you. Maybe that ought to be our attitude to Jesus.

I know you've gone away, I know you're preparing a place for me, but lover of my soul, I know you're coming back, and when you come back, I'm going to be right here waiting for you. Church, we say this, but I fear we've lost the meaning of this. It really is all about Jesus. So can we just right now stand in an attitude of prayer, an attitude of worship, and can we forget for just a few moments about Tintos, Nephilim, demons, Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, UN, election.

Can we forget about all of that? Right now, I don't care a lick about that. All I care about is you, Jesus. I just want you. Nuru, Chad, I need peace.

We'll get a little secret here. When you have Jesus, you have peace. Chad, I'm so depressed, I just need some joy. You have Jesus, you got all the joy you need.

Chad, I just need some answers. You don't need some answers, you just need Jesus. When you have Jesus, that's all the answer you need. Don't sing a hymn right now. Raise your hands and sing a prayer right now.

Let's sing this to the Lord. When I rise in the morning, when I rise in the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. You can love all this world, so give me Jesus. When I come to die, when I come to die, when I come to die, give me Jesus. Jesus, give me Jesus. Jesus, give me Jesus. You can love all this world, and you can have all this world.

You can have all this world, so give me Jesus. Lord, it's an amazing thought to me. Right now, we're talking to the one who one day will rule this world. We're talking to the most important person in human history, the one that will make everything right.

Why we're all not just struck dead because we're in the presence of the Holy One. It's just your grace, Lord. You allow sinful creatures like us to come, crawl up into your lap, put our arms around you, and be in your presence. We bless you, Jesus. And Lord, as this world gets crazier and crazier, my prayer for me and my brothers and sisters is that we will be the most calm, joyful, loving people on the face of the earth because we have built our life on the rock, the same rock that's going to take over this world one day.

You are Jesus. We bless you. We exalt you now. We exalt you, Jesus.

People, God said amen. Hey, y'all believe his presence is here? We're two or three gathered in his name. He's here. He's here.

He's here. So here's what I want us to do. Elders, would y'all come forward and just stand down here? Man, y'all got to tap into the power. No, we're going to tap into Jesus right now. If you have a need, physical healing, financial healing, family situation, maybe something that's going on inside of you, if you need healing, the Bible says in James, and do this, call the elders of the church, let them anoint you with the law and pray over you. And so if you need God to touch you right now, these elders are going to be down front. The rest of you, I want you to raise your hands and receive this blessing from the Lord. And I mean that. I don't want you to leave here anxious and nervous. I want you to leave here bold and confident and strong because we know who we are and whose we are. Look, when you know how the movie ends, you don't get stressed out watching the movie.

I know how this movie ends. I just read it to you. So let's not be stressful. Let's be joyful. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that's at work within us. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.