God’s Kingdom: The Only Kingdom That Will Never Be Destroyed

Daniel goes to Arioch, the executioner, and tells him not to kill anyone. Instead, he should take Daniel to the king, “and I will give him the interpretation” (v. 24). His class in biblical dream hermeneutics had paid off.

Arioch quickly (ESV, “in haste”) brought Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, appearing to take some credit (“I have found”) for locating this Jewish slave who can solve the king’s problem. The king asked Daniel, also called Belteshazzar, if he could indeed tell and interpret the dream. Daniel’s answer is striking both in its honesty and in its humility, something from which we can all learn. He says, “No wise man, medium, magician, or diviner” can help you out (v. 27). To be blunt, they are impotent. On the other hand, “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has let King Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen in the last days” (v. 28; NIV, “days to come”). Daniel even details how and where God gave Nebuchadnezzar his dream (vv. 28-29)!

In addition to being able to reveal and interpret the dream, Daniel does another remarkable thing—the thing God’s man should always do. He gives all the credit to God. Daniel’s success comes not because he has more wisdom than anyone living. (I am not smarter, wiser, or more brilliant than others, Daniel admits.) Rather, this is all God’s doing “in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind” (v. 30). I love what Sinclair Ferguson says at this point:

This is the spirit of Jesus before the high priests and Pilate; it is the spirit of Elijah before Jezebel; it is the spirit of John the Baptist before Herod. Daniel is full of the spirit of truth. Even Nebuchadnezzar can recognize that. (Daniel, 52)

Verses 31-45 finally reveal the content and interpretation of the dream. They reveal a God who is absolutely sovereign in what he knows (omniscience) and what he will do (omnipotence). This God knows the future, has a plan for the future, and will accomplish that future. This is the God of Isaiah 46:9-10, where the Bible says,

Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and no one is like me. I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.

Making this practical and applicable to us today, David Jeremiah says, “You may not know what the future holds, but you know who holds the future. Since the whole world is in God’s hands, your world is in God’s hand” (Agents of Babylon, 52–53).

God revealed the content of the dreams (2:31-35). God showed the king a great image or statue that was powerful and bright (NIV, “dazzling”) and frightening (NIV, “awesome”) in appearance (v. 31). Its appearance was fourfold: (1) a head of gold, (2) chest and arms of silver, (3) stomach and thighs of bronze (v. 32), and (4) legs of iron with feet “partly iron and partly fired clay” (v. 33). However, something happens to the statue: “A stone broke off without a hand touching it [a divine stone!], struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them” (v. 34). Then the whole statue or image crumbled “and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors.” Gone. Disappeared. “Not a trace of them could be found.” In stark contrast, “the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (v. 35). This is the dream God gave the Babylonian king.

God provided the interpretation of the dreams (2:36-45). Daniel, by God’s enablement, has told the king his dream. Now, by that same divine power, he gives its interpretation (v. 36). The beginning of his explanation is plain (vv. 37-38). The rest is more vague until the end (vv. 39-43, 44-45). Still, most evangelical scholars who believe in predictive prophecy agree on what the various parts of the statue represent.

Babylon is the head of gold (2:37-38; cf.2:32). Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar his exalted status as king of the vast empire at that time was a divine gift. The language, which recalls the authority and dominion that God gave Adam in the garden of Eden (Gen 1:28-30), emphasizes the magnitude and magnificence of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar (2:37-38). He is the head of gold, the representative of this awesome empire. However, he would be followed by a succession of weak and incompetent rulers. The great Babylonian kingdom would only last a mere sixty-five years (605–539 BC). This mighty empire came to an end in a hurry. Daniel 5 records its demise at the hand of Darius the Mede (probably another name for Cyrus).

Medo-Persia is the chest and arms of silver (2:39; cf. 2:32). Medo-Persia would follow Babylon in 539. It was inferior in its totalitarian rule. However, it would also be a vast empire and last for more than two hundred years (539–331 BC).

Greece is the stomach and thighs of bronze (2:39; cf. 2:32). The middle section of the body and the thighs of bronze, “which will rule the whole earth,” represented Greece, built by Alexander the Great. He would conquer the known world and then die at the young age of thirty-three (356–323 BC). This kingdom would last for 185 years (331–146 BC).

Rome is the legs of iron with feet of iron and clay (2:40-43; cf.2:33). The fourth kingdom is mighty Rome, a great and powerful empire that was “strong as iron,” because “iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others” (v. 40). Rome, of course, is the greatest of history’s empires. It lasted by some accounts and in some form from 146 BC to AD 1476 in the West and AD 1453 in the East. Sixteen hundred years later, its influence is still with us today, especially in Western civilization.

Verses 41-43 are vague and their meaning is uncertain, which calls for great humility by interpreters of this apocalyptic vision. Good, faithful students of the Bible are all over the place in how best to understand them. Following the insights of Stephen Miller, in part, I think we can at least make the following observations (Daniel, 98). First, Rome will be incredibly strong but also vulnerable and unstable, with numerous nations and divisions making up its empire (vv. 41-42). Historically, this was the case. Second, although various people groups and nations constitute the one Roman Empire, their unity was a tenuous and imposed unity. They are mixed in their union—not really one—and eventually they “will not hold together.” This is true whether you date the dissolution of Rome at AD 395, 476, 1054, 1453, or 1476. The Roman Empire is gone. Whether it will be revived in the last days as a part of the empire led by the one the Bible calls the antichrist or the beast is a good and interesting question, but it is best addressed in other texts of Scripture.

The Stone that smashes and becomes a great mountain is Christ and the kingdom of God (2:44-45; cf. 2:34-36). These verses show us where the dream is pointing all along. Some understand the verses as pointing to the end of the age, when Christ comes again to establish his universal and visible kingdom (see Rev 19:11–20:6). Others believe they are pointing to his first coming and the inauguration of his kingdom. I believe both are in view (cf. Isa 61:1-2). They are pointing to his first coming and the inauguration of his kingdom, while also looking to and anticipating his eschatological kingdom. Like twin peaks with a hidden valley between, the kingdom is inaugurated at Christ’s first coming and fully realized at his second. Old Testament prophecy often functions in this way.

2). The vessels of God, as trophies of war, were transported to Babylon and placed in the house of a pagan god in Babylon—probably Marduk, the chief god of the Babylonians. This was a way of saying, “Our god is better and stronger than your god.” Daniel, on the other hand, says, “Not so!” The people of God have sinned, and the real God is judging them. In the process he is extending his presence among the nations. God is at work even through the sins of his people. Ps 1:4-5), “the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom [by his Messiah, see Dan 7] that will never be destroyed” nor be given or left to another people or empire (v. 44). In fact, the kingdom of God “will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end.” God’s kingdom will “endure forever” (v. 44). He will do this by the stone that broke “off from the mountain without a hand touching it,” a stone that will break and shatter and scatter like chaff “the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold.” That this language of breaking and shattering recalls the language of the messianic Psalm 2 is not accidental or coincidental, for as we will see at the end, this stone is Christ! His kingdom is coming, and it will never end.

Daniel brings his interpretation to a close with two resounding affirmations: (1) a great God has revealed this, and (2) “the dream is certain, and its interpretation reliable” (v. 45). You can count on it! You can take it to the bank.

The ESV Study Bible provides a helpful note in summarizing the significance of the vision of this great image God gave King Nebuchadnezzar:

Another point being made in the dream is that each earthly kingdom has its own glory but also its own end: both have been assigned to it by God. The progression of world history is typically not upward to glory and unity but rather downward to dishonor and disunity. Thus the statue progresses from gold, to silver, to bronze, to iron, and from one head, to a chest and arms, to a belly and thighs, to feet and toes of composite iron and clay. (This list of metals shows a progressive decrease in the value and splendor of the materials but an increase in toughness and endurance.) Some commentators understand this to indicate a general decline in the moral quality of the governments and an increase in the amount of time they lasted. In contrast, God’s kingdom grows from humble beginnings to ultimate, united glory as a single kingdom that fills the whole earth forever. The stone that will break in pieces all these other four kingdoms is most likely Christ (see Luke 20:18). He is the mystery of the ages, the one in whom God plans to unite all things in his glorious kingdom (Eph. 1:9-10).^[1]

DANIEL 2:46-49

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5–7), Jesus said,

You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:14-16)

Daniel and his friends were indeed lights brightly shining in a dark place. Nebuchadnezzar could not deny the good works he saw in them. And even as a pagan king, he gave glory to the “God of gods,” the Father of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

The king acted in an unusual if not unprecedented manner: he fell facedown and “worshiped Daniel” (cf. Isa 49:7, 23). Further, he “gave orders to present an offering and incense to him” (2:46). Nebuchadnezzar treats Daniel, I believe, as a representative of his God (Lucas, Daniel, 77). Tremper Longman is right: “Daniel is honored because of what his God has done, not because of what he has done” (Daniel, 83). This is confirmed by the confession (though not a confession of conversion) of the king in verse 47: “Your God is indeed God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.” David Helms’s observation is helpful at this point:

Daniel’s God now shares the stage with the Babylonians’ deities. Given what we know of Nebuchadnezzar’s religiosity, this is truly amazing. The one who had been named for Babylon’s deity of wisdom, who prayed to Marduk at his coronation only one year previously, now gave space to a competing deity and even offered public words of praise to him. For the first time in Nebuchadnezzar’s life, Marduk had competition in his interior world—all because one godly man remained poised, prayerful and willing to speak truth to power. (Daniel for You, 42)

The king kept his word from verse 6 to give gifts and rewards and great honor to anyone who could cure his insomnia and make “the dream and its interpretation known.” In the process life improved dramatically for Daniel and his friends. Daniel received a promotion “and many generous gifts.” He became “ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon” (v. 48). Any way you slice it, this is impressive, and it was all the doing of Daniel’s God!

Daniel did not forget his friends. He asked the king to appoint them to positions of authority and significance, and he did (v. 49). Theirs was a high honor, too, but it would also be a dangerous and risky position. Those at the top are easy targets. The trio will find this out in chapter 3. Daniel will find it out in chapter 6.

That Daniel in this chapter is a foreshadowing of Jesus is easy to see. As David Helm points out,

God took a conquered Hebrew prisoner of war, and stood him confidently before the ruler and his own execution—a foretaste of what Jesus would later do for us, except that he not only faced but endured execution. (Daniel for You, 35)

However, the image of “the stone that struck the statue [and] became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (v. 35) should captivate our attention. The rock or stone imagery is rich and multifaceted in the Bible. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the rock on which he builds his church and his kingdom (Matt 16:18). Psalm 118:22 speaks of a “stone that the builders rejected,” which “has become the cornerstone.” Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10-11; Luke 20:17; and 1 Peter 2:7 all tell us the stone is Christ. Further, Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16 also use the stone imagery; and Romans 9:33 and 1 Peter 2:6 and 8 again cite these texts as pointing to Christ. But as Tremper Longman points out, we get a clear reference to Daniel 2 in Luke 20:18 (Daniel, 92–93). There Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22 and makes a direct connection to Daniel 2! The stone the builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone, is the stone that breaks and crushes everyone who falls on (i.e., rejects) that stone. Placing all of this in an end-time, eschatological context, Chuck Swindoll says it like this:

When Jesus Christ returns to earth to establish His Millennial Kingdom, He will “break [the nations] with a rod of iron. [He will] shatter them like earthenware” (Ps. 2:9). As the smiting stone in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the Lord will not absorb, restructure, or adapt to previous kingdoms; He will totally annihilate them and set up His own monarchy, which will be absolutely perfect politically, morally, economically, and religiously. And He will rule over all the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords (Isa. 2:2-4; cf. Rev. 19:11-16). (Daniel, 27)

Christ is the stone the world rejected. He is the stone God will exalt and use to build his kingdom, one that will never be destroyed.