Seasons and Kingdoms: Stories of God’s People
Daniel 2 July 2, 2006
Intro:
(I’m indebted to Kent Berghuis and “theologywebsite.com” for some of the ideas for this sermon). This past week, I’ve been thinking about seasons. We finally finished the hockey season, we had our church annual meeting (which, by the way, was quite exciting as we unanimously approved our 3 year missions partnership with the Bolivian Baptist Union, heard a positive finance report, and learned a little about the search committee’s work in looking for a new pastor to join us on staff), we ended a season of school, I’m headed into a season of vacation and rejuvenation with some holiday time, for which I am very much feeling the need, and summer hit us full and strong with a week of heat that saw us scurrying to the basement. For those of you who have found the heat somewhat uncomfortable, and at Alex Wien’s request, let me share this:
and this:
Bridge:
As I reflect on seasons, I wonder if God doesn’t look down at human history, and our own lives, a little bit like we look at the snowman. It is transient, temporary, impermanent; the Psalmist recognized this when he wrote Psalm 102:11 – “My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass”, and Psalm 103:15 – “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more”, and also Psalm 144:4 – “Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.” This is not to say that our days are not important, but that they are fleeting.
This morning’s story of one of God’s people is from Daniel 2, and we see these fleeting kingdoms. Now, since it is a long story I’m not going to give you a lot of background except this: it is about 600 years before Jesus, and the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had invaded Judah and carried God’s people into exile. Among those in exile were Daniel and his three friends. Here is the story:
Daniel 2
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. 2 So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, "I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means. "
4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
5 The king replied to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. 6 But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me."
7 Once more they replied, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
8 Then the king answered, "I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: 9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me."
10 The astrologers answered the king, "There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. 11 What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men."
12 This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
14 When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. 15 He asked the king’s officer, "Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. 16 At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.
17 Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven 20 and said:
"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. 21 He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. 22 He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. 23 I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king."
Daniel Interprets the Dream
24 Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, "Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him."
25 Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means."
26 The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?"
27 Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:
29 "As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
31 "You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
36 "This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39 "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, "Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery."
48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. 49 Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.”
Dreaming of an Eternal Kingdom
Quite the dream, don’t you think? Since it is a long story, I won’t dive into the historical details of which kingdoms were the ones of silver, bronze, and iron mixed with clay, and I’ll dive right to the crux of the dream: “44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.”
This is the Kingdom of God, which Jesus brought, and into which you and I are invited. In the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, as they begin the story of Jesus, they both emphasize the same theme in Jesus’ preaching: Matt 4: “17From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."” This was the heart of Jesus’ message – a new Kingdom, with a new King – a Kingdom which takes everything in our human world and turns it on its head – enemies are to be blessed, wealth is to be given away, to live a full life we must live not for ourselves but for others, the last will be first, selfless love must always come first, mercy triumphs over judgment, the old must go and the new must come, external actions or appearances or facades are not as important as the attitude of our hearts, a King who humbles Himself unto death, even death on a cross, death defeated by love, it is all completely upside down, and it is the Kingdom of God, and it is here. Now.
Every earthly kingdom has passed or is passing away. Only one thing “will endure forever” – as Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar: the Kingdom of God.
For Now:
As much as we long for the Kingdom of God in its fullness in the next life, Jesus never intended it to be only a hope for the future – Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom of God on earth – here and now, for you and for me, if only we will conform our lives and be transformed by the Spirit of God at work within us.
Maybe it is because I am tired and needing a holiday, but I’m longing for more of that Kingdom in the here and now. I’m angry at cancer – not only at its horrible physical consequences but even more by the fear and paralysis it brings. I’m upset at depression, which robs people of the “full life” which Jesus said He came to bring. I’m fed up with being sucked into the lies of my culture which tell me that the ache and longing within us would be satisfied by, like Calvin’s snowman, a “big screen tv”. Because I know there is more, so much more, which is so much better, if only we will live the way that Jesus taught us to live. To have faith in Him – to “not worry about tomorrow, for each day has enough trouble of its own.” To not build up treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but to build up treasures in heaven. To love God above everything, and then to love others ahead of ourselves. To take the lowest seat, to serve the humblest person, to give with unbounding generosity, to live day by day by walking with the Holy Spirit to fill and to empower and to make our lives significant and meaningful and full of belonging.
When we live like that, we are living in the Kingdom of God. Certainly we are not exempt from the struggles of this world, and of our sinful nature, but we find that we walk through all of those with God’s Spirit at work in us and bringing the presence of God right beside us through any and all struggle – shaping us and molding us and filling us with the life that Jesus promised.
It is a familiar passage of Scripture, from John 10:10 – “10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” The thief is our world and our culture and the devil at work making it seem so normal, so attractive, so irresistible that we just blindly stand by and be robbed. The Kingdom that Daniel saw, that Jesus brings, is so much more –
but we have to choose to live in it. we have to ask, we have to seek, we have to knock, we have to allow ourselves be filled by the Spirit of God so that we can live as a child of God in the Kingdom of God.
Let me tell you what I believe that Kingdom will look like here at Laurier, in our lives and in our relationships – it will look like a group of people from all walks of life, from many nations, with many gifts and perspectives and histories, joyfully choosing to put relationships of love ahead of every other consideration. Living beyond ourselves. Gladly putting others’ needs ahead of our own. Eager to serve according to our giftedness. Keeping no record of wrongs. Forgiving even before being asked. Looking first at the plank in our own eye. Going the extra mile, even with the person who drives us nuts, because we know that our every action towards another person is an action done towards Jesus – “whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.”
I’m ready for a new season that looks like that – when we begin to really discover the Kingdom of God. In Nebuchadnezzer’s dream, he sees a rock, cut not with human hands, which destroys all the other kingdoms and then becomes a mountain that fills the whole earth. I can’t help but see in that Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:18: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
God builds His church upon that rock. You and I are the bricks, the mortar, the doorways, and the windows and everything else, if only we will let God be King and not us. If we will live His way and not the way of our world. If we will love God, and then love others. Then we will see our prayers answered, our hearts full, our world moved to justice, and Jesus’ desire become reality: “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Will you join me in dedicating your whole life to us becoming that kind of church? That is what we need – that is what God has commanded us to be – and that is the only hope for our world. To that end, let us pray.
