Exploring My Strange Bible - Faithfulness in Exile: Daniel Part 1 - Dreams and Idols

Episode Date: January 29, 2018

This first message explores chapter 2 of Daniel. Daniel is a weird book that has a misconception that it is only about ends of timelines. In fact, there is a lot of hope in Daniel too. This episode addresses a story that develops themes from page 1 of Genesis. Get ready for surprises! Let’s dive in…

Tim Mackey, Jr. utterly amazing and worth following with everything that you have. On this podcast, I'm putting together the last 10 years worth of lectures and sermons where I've been exploring the strange and wonderful story of the Bible and how it invites us into the mission of Jesus and the journey of faith. And I hope this can be helpful for you too. I also help start this thing called The Bible Project. We make animated videos and podcasts about all kinds of topics in Bible and theology. You can find those resources at thebibleproject.com. With all that said, let's dive into the episode for this week. All right. Well, we're going to begin a new series with this episode. This is going to be five messages, teachings I gave exploring different parts of the book of Daniel in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament. I don't know what you know about the book of Daniel or what associations you have.

For some church traditions, the book of Daniel only gets brought out when it's time to talk about end timelines and charts and so on. That's unfortunate because while the book of Daniel is one of the last books of the Old Testament to be written, it does relate to the future hope that the whole story of the line is building towards. What it wasn't meant to do was get God's people debating and angry at each other about timelines. It was meant to culminate the whole storyline of the Bible and project it out towards a bold hope of God's kingdom and resurrection, new creation hope for the world. So, also, this book has a strong line of critique towards the way that humans organize themselves in nations and kingdoms and then deify or treat their culture and language

and religion as if it is God. And it results in just horrible, horrible human behavior, Exhibit A, human history. So, this book actually combines a whole bunch of things that are really surprising and really profound. This first message is going to be exploring chapter two of Daniel, which will kind of set the story, and then we'll explore chapter two, which is actually a story that itself is riffing off of and developing themes from page one of Genesis about humans being made in the image of God. So there you go. Get ready for surprises. The book of Daniel is so legitimate.

And yeah, there you go. Let's dive in and learn together. The book of Daniel tells a story about a handful of Israelites who were taken captive when the empire Babylon came and attacked Jerusalem. And there were a whole bunch of people who were taken captive. And these four young men whose story is in Daniel, that's what they focus on. So imagine the situation. And these four young men whose story is in Daniel, that's what they focus on. So imagine the situation. This has happened to many people over the course of history.

My hunch is that for most of us in the room, we have no clue, have never experienced, and won't ever experience anything like this. An empire from a faraway land invades your city, takes all of the people who govern the place, all of the financial leaders, all of the cultural, religious, political leaders, takes them all captive, and you're in that group, and you're put in stocks and chains and put on some sort of cart and wagon, and you begin a two-month-long prisoner journey across the desert, and you were relocated to a refugee camp,

or you're relocated to a new city, new language, new culture, new dress, and this is your life for the rest of your life. My hunch, I mean, just try and imagine that scenario. And that's precisely the scenario that these four main characters in the book of Daniel are in. Now, their privilege, they were part of the kind of royal class in Jerusalem. And so they actually get recruited to serve in the government in Babylon. And this whole book is about their struggles

to maintain faith and hope and faithfulness to their God in the midst of this new and foreign land. This is a very, very powerful book. And the reason why we wanted to explore it is because this message has so much to teach us. Because for most of history, God's people have always found themselves in being in the place of a minority in a dominant culture that surrounds them. And what's going to happen for Daniel is true of what happens for most of God's people through history, is that the dominant culture, the language, the value system, the cultural pressures, it's all working against an attempt to maintain faith and hope in our God. And there are these cultural pressures that are constantly

pushing against us, and it creates this persistent battle of what does it mean to be faithful in this new and foreign situation and land. Think of it this way. I don't know how many of you have ever swam in the Willamette River. For health reasons, a whole bunch of you may never do that. And that's good for you. That's right. Some of us are already contaminated, I guess.

And we'll continue to do it because whatever, it's the river that we know to swim in. Or you can go up to the Columbia. But any river. Have you swam in a river before? Let's just start there. Forget the Willamette. But it's funny, it's the river that we know to swim in, or you can go up to the Columbia. But any river. Have you swam in a river before? Let's just start there. Forget the Willamette. But it's funny, it's the closest one, you know. So, you know, about any river of large, large width and really great size, it's deceptive

because you actually, it's swift. It's moving. For the little creek that's swift or a small stream, it's really strong. You can see it. With a huge river, it's very hard to see just how strong the currents are of this thing. If you go hop into the Willamette River,

which some of you will never do, if you wanted to, you could. You could go right out to the middle. All of a sudden, you would reach the middle and then you would look to see where you started from, and it would be like way over here. And the current of these huge rivers in the northwest, they're so strong. And so depending on how fit you are, you know, you could maybe last, I don't know, five, ten minutes, you know, swimming. Depends on if you passed all your swimming classes as a kid or something. But you could probably make headway and stay in the same spot

if you kept your eye on the shore. You could do that for a little while. But eventually, your body would give out at some point. And you would just have to give up and you would be carried along. It takes no effort to go along with the current. All you have to do is stop trying. And then you just go. And then what's actually even more deceptive, if you're out in the Willamette, is that you actually can be trying

your hardest to go against the current, but despite your best efforts, and unbeknownst to you, you're still getting carried downstream. And that's something like what the book of Daniel is trying to capture and explore for us. Is what does it mean to remain faithful to God? In the new and foreign culture where everything is working against you, the currents and the pressures are pushing you to compromise and abandon your faith and commitment to God. And it was Daniel's struggle. It was a struggle for the early Jesus movement. I mean, the early Jesus movement in its first decades and centuries

was just a small persecuted minority in the sea of the ancient Roman Empire. And history has changed, and a lot of things change over time. But let's just make it very simple. Is following Jesus difficult? So say yes. Say yes. And the moment that yes is my instant answer, I know that I'm probably not following Jesus.

You know what I'm saying? Like there's the core of what Jesus is calling his people to at any time and point in history. It demands all of us and it challenges us to the core. The moment I'm comfortable with Jesus is the moment I'm almost certainly not following him very faithfully. Are you with me here? It's hard.

And that's just following Jesus, much less living in a culture and a time where all of the currents are pushing against us, where it's difficult to be faithful to him. And so that's why the book of Daniel is so powerful. It's tracing the stories of how these young men navigated the knife edge of faithfulness in a culture that had currents going against them. And so what was interesting, again, if you weren't here last week, all I can do is summarize, but they get to Babylon,

and here's what's interesting. Some people might think, well, if you're a religious minority, if you're truly going to be faithful, then you just need to cloister and withdraw and just maintain all your traditions and keep it all the same. But that's not what the heroes of our book do. Daniel and his friends, they receive Babylonian names and they accept them. They begin to learn to speak Babylonian.

They take up Babylonian dress and fashion, as we're going to find out throughout the book. They get government jobs, for goodness sakes. They're working and serving the Babylonian government. And none of this is viewed as unfaithful in the story. But then there come moments, moments where some matter of faithfulness to their God does come up, and all of a sudden they have to swim upstream.

And so in the opening chapter, it was food, which may not seem like a big deal to you, but for Jewish communities throughout history and still today, food is one of these symbols in Jewish tradition of faithfulness to their God, certain eating practices. And so Daniel says, no, we're not going to compromise there. It puts him in danger. And he wins on that one, right?

He succeeds, and it works out well for him, but that's just round one. Like it's just, this is going to be the rest of his life, is navigating what it looks like to be faithful when the currents are pushing against you. So swimming in the Willamette, being a Christian, being an ancient Jew in Babylon, it's exhausting. Like it's just really exhausting. And it takes so much intentionality. Here's the question that, as we dive into the next story today, is what on earth is going to fuel and motivate long-term faithfulness over the course of a whole life? What's going to motivate that for you and I? You know, you've got

family members who think you drank the Kool-Aid or whatever because you're a Christian, or you have co-workers that think you're an idiot, and they are totally fine letting you know that, you know? And, right, you've got people all around you here in Portland, right, and they think you're stupid. And that starts to wear on you over time. And then there's just like the way people think and the way culture works and the messages and the stories and it all. And you begin to wonder like,

yeah, maybe following Jesus, maybe I'm being too serious about this. You know, I'm being too extreme. Maybe I can follow Jesus, but actually not do like the whole bunch of these things that he said that this is what we're supposed to do. And how do you maintain faithfulness? You have to have some kind of mindset or some kind of vision of hope

that keeps you going each day. And that's what Daniel 2 is all about. It's the vision of hope that generates and empowers Daniel's faithfulness. Daniel chapter 2 is one of the longest chapters in the book. It's also one of the most entertaining and lively stories that you'll read anywhere in the Bible. And so I wouldn't normally do this, but I just, we're just going to read it. We're just going to read the whole story. And just trust me. Will you trust me?

Just trust me. This story is so awesome. And we're going to read through it. And, you know, we'll kind of observe some things as we go along. But more we'll just kind of read it and then reflect on it for a little bit afterwards. But nothing for it. Daniel chapter 2. You guys with me? Open it up. Turn it on it for a little bit afterwards. But nothing for it. Daniel chapter 2. You guys with me?

Open it up. Turn it on. Whatever you're going to do. Daniel chapter 2. In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, he had dreams. His mind was troubled and he couldn't sleep. It's one of those nights, yeah? So the idea is he had a terrible dream, it wakes him up,

and now he can't sleep anymore. So the king summoned magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. Now when they came in and stood before the king, he said to them, I had a dream. It troubles me. I want to know what it means. So the astrologers answered the king, may the king live forever. Word to the wise, you may never meet a king in your life, but in case you ever do, here's what you should say. May the king live forever. Tell your servants the dream and we will interpret

it. Now the king replied to the astrologers, this is what I've decided. If you don't tell me what my dream was and then interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your house is turned into piles of rubble. All right, somebody's grumpy. Somebody's grumpy this morning, and I'm making light of it, but think of the depiction here, right? We're talking about a man who's so intoxicated with his own power, that he can wake up grumpy and heads roll today. People will die because I'm in a bad mood. That's Babylon. But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive gifts from me, rewards and great honor.

So tell me the dream and interpret it for me. rewards and great honor, so tell me the dream and interpret it for me. Now once more they replied, let the king tell his servants the dream, then we'll interpret it. The king answered, I am certain that you're trying to gain time because you realize that this is what I've firmly decided. If you don't tell me the dream, there is only one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things. You're hoping the situation will change. So then tell me the dream, and then I will know that you can interpret it for me. The astrologers answered the king, there's no one 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 astrologers it? The king asks. No king. However great and mighty has ever asked such a

thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologers. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods. And you know, they don't live down here. The gods don't live down here with us. What you're asking is something that humans aren't capable of. Only superhumans can do that, and superhumans don't live around here. This made the king so angry, so furious, that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. What main character of the book has not even appeared yet in the story? It's Daniel.

Yeah. But at the end of the last chapter, Daniel and his friends were installed in what job position in Babylon? The wise men, the counselors in the cabinet of the king. So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and so men are sent to go looking for Daniel and his friends to put them to death. Good story? It's a good story. Now, when Ariok, 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 intact. So many practical lessons in this story. If royal assassins ever come looking for you, speak with wisdom intact, apparently. He asked the king's officer, why did the king issue such a harsh decree? And Ariok explained the matter to Daniel. And so Daniel went into the king to ask for time. So he might interpret the dream for him. Then Daniel went to his house and he explained the matter to his friends, his other three Israelite friends, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah.

He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he and his friends wouldn't be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. And during the night, the mystery was revealed. Daniel praised the God of heaven. And he said, and so here, pay attention, does your Bible on your phone or print, does it format what follows as poetry in poetic format? Good. That's good. That's great because that's what it is. It's a musical.

Daniel's a musical and he's breaking into song right now. And this is a very common technique that the biblical authors use as they weave their stories together. Whenever you see a poem embedded in a biblical narrative, stop and reread it at least four times. And go have a cup of tea and think about it. So this is the author's way. These poems are pausing the story and then slowing down through poetry to give you the key themes of what the story is all about and the key words and vocabulary, right? So pay attention. That's what I'm saying right now. Pay attention. What did Daniel sing about?

Praise be to the name of God forever and ever. Wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons. He deposes or brings down kings and raises up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what lies in darkness

and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors. You've given me wisdom and power. You've made known to me what we asked of you. You've made known to us the dream of the king.

What the king asks is too difficult. No one can interpret and give you this dream, king, except the gods, and they don't live down here. But the gods, or the God of heaven and earth, can be accessed through prayer, through God's covenant people. And so here's Daniel. He sings this poem after the dream is revealed to him. What's this poem about? Did you catch it? Wisdom and power belong to who in the universe? God.

Who ultimately is the king of history? So Nebuchadnezzar, he's the king of the world. He wakes up grumpy and you're dead. That's how things work in Babylon. And then all of a sudden, Daniel comes to this realization that he was taken captive to this land and now he's working in the court of this king, the king of the world.

And then he's reminded, and he realizes, oh, no, actually Nebuchadnezzar's not the king of the world. He's a king. But the true king of the world, the maker of heaven and earth, he's actually the one who's orchestrating the flow of history. And he's given humans immense freedom, but also immense responsibility. who's orchestrating the flow of history. And he's given humans immense freedom,

but also immense responsibility. And Nebuchadnezzar has a limit, and he's about to pass them. And God is the one who's ultimately responsible for Nebuchadnezzar coming and going, and that's what this is all about. Daniel is reminded by who's really in control of history. So Daniel went to Ariok, verse 24, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon.

And he said to him, don't execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king. I'll interpret his dream for him. So Ariok took Daniel to the king at once and said, I found a man among those exiles from Judah. Remember those people, right? You decimated and took a whole bunch of prisoners? One of them.

And he can tell the king what the dream means. So then the king asked Daniel, and reminder, nobody actually calls him Daniel anymore. What's his Babylonian name? Great boy name, by the way, Belteshazzar. Belteshazzar. Lots of young parents here, right? So consider it. Consider it. Are you able, Belteshazzar, to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it? Daniel replied, no wise man or enchanter or magician or diviner can explain to the king the

mystery that he's asked about. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He's shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and your visions that pass through your mind as you were lying on your bed are these. Your majesty was lying there, and your mind turned to things to come. And the revealer of mysteries, he showed you what's going to happen. Now, as for me, this mystery hasn't been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive,

but it's so that your majesty might know the interpretation and understand what went through your mind. And here's the dream. wisdom than anyone else alive, but it's so that your majesty might know the interpretation and understand what went through your mind. And here's the dream. Your majesty looked and there before you stood a large statue. Or some of your translations don't have statue, you're reading what? Image. Image. Okay. So last week, Josh played the Bible project video that we made for the book of Daniel that is still not quite public yet. So you saw it here first. But let's go to the, so this is the overall poster of it. And sorry, let's focus in on chapter two. That's what we're looking at today. So just so you can have the visual image of what's going on here as we play out the dream.

So your majesty looked and there before you was a large image. Enormous, dazzling, awesome. The head of the statue was made of gold. The chest and the arms of silver, the belly and the thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly iron, partly with baked clay.

And while you're watching, a rock was cut out, not by human hands. Then it came and struck the statue on the feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron and struck the statue on the feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron and the clay and the bronze and the silver and the gold were all shattered to pieces. They became like chaff on the threshing floor in the summer

and the wind came and swept them away. No trace that these things were ever here. See, but that rock that struck the statue, it became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. That's the dream. It's a freaky dream. Yours involve elephants or zebras or something like that. So here's this guy's dream.

Now I'm going to interpret it for the king. Your majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory in your hands. He has placed all humanity, beasts of the field, the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he's made you ruler over them all. Nebuchadnezzar, you are the head of gold. It's probably improving his mood a little bit, right? What a great dream. I'm the king of the world, right?

But then after you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours, and then a third kingdom, a bronze, that'll rule the earth. And then finally, there's a fourth kingdom, like iron, strong, like iron breaks and smashes everything. And it'll break everything to pieces and crush and break the others. But just as you saw the feet and the toes that were partly clay and partly iron, this will be a divided kingdom.

And it'll have some of the strength of the iron in it, but also the iron mixed with clay, and the toes will be partly iron and partly clay. So this king is quite detailed. I mean, he's really getting into details here. It'll be partly strong and partly brittle. Now just as you saw iron mixed with clay, so this people will be a mixture.

They won't remain united any more than iron mixes with clay. 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, God's kingdom, will endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of that rock cut out of the mountain, but not by human hands, the rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. Now God's shown, the great God has shown the king what will take place. The dream is true. Its interpretation is trustworthy. Now you have to imagine. I mean, Daniel is going on faith that this is actually what the dream was.

And then he interprets, are you with me? It's kind of like, so then it's like, all right. What's going to happen? Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel, paid him honor, ordered that offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, surely your God is the God of gods,

the Lord of kings, the revealer of mysteries. You were able to reveal this mystery. So the king placed Daniel in a high position, lavished gifts on him. He made him ruler of the province of Babylon, placed all the wise men in his charge. And then Daniel gets to request that his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, become administrators along with him over Babylon while Daniel remained in the royal court.

Good story? Come on. That had you. That really, yes, wonderful. It's an amazing story. What does it have to do with anything? It's a great story. So it's the point of Daniel 2. Pray that God will give you the ability to interpret dreams for the mayor of Portland. Like what? What? What's this mean? You know, it's great and it's... So what's happening here? The question, here's the question. Daniel and his friends, they're a minority, but they are now, their life is woven into the culture

in the city of Babylon. And then they find themselves in these very difficult situations where they're trying to figure out what it means to be faithful to God in this moment. And there'll be some things that it's not a big deal. I can dress like a Babylonian. I should learn the language

and I can eat certain kinds of meals here. But then there'll be certain moments with food, nope, not going to go that route. And then tension, right? That's hard. It would be much easier to just forget your identity and forget that you're an Israelite and just fully assimilate. But that's not faithfulness. And it takes no effort to do that, just like it takes no effort to stop swimming and you just get carried downstream. So what vision of the world, what hope do you have that's going to fuel and empower that faithfulness? And that's exactly what Daniel 2 is about.

So who's the king of the world, according to this dream and the interpretation? Who's the real king of the world? It's the God of heaven and earth. So it's interesting, Babylon and the king of Babylon gets called here the king of kings. That's what Daniel says, God made you the king of kings. And some of you might have, you know, maybe you're like, I think I've heard that line before about God. I thought God is the king of kings. Well, yes, that's exactly right. But God is the one who raises up kings and brings them down. So God is the true king of history, but then there are kings under God's authority, and Nebuchadnezzar is one of them. Now, you know, he was really excited by the end of the story, Nebuchadnezzar is one of them. Now, you know, he was really excited by the end of the

story, Nebuchadnezzar was, but basically what he just got reminded of is that he's not as big a deal as he thought he was. And as we're going to see, he's going to forget that by the next chapter. All right, so how is this a vision of hope? Well, first of all, it's a vision of hope for Daniel that the culture and the nation in which he finds himself living isn't God. It's a wonderful place. He's going to make his home there. There are things that are really screwed up about it, really, really screwed up.

There are things that are great about it. But the leaders of this kingdom have this really exalted view of their own power and authority. And for Daniel to maintain hope, first 101, king of Babylon is not my true king. I follow a different king. And that king tells me to put myself under Nebuchadnezzar's authority, king. And that king tells me to put myself under Nebuchadnezzar's authority, but ultimately, who I'm following is the king, the great king of kings. Nebuchadnezzar is not the true king. He's an image of the king. Think of what this dream is. I mean, look at that thing. It's a whole dream about a statue, or some of your translations again had image.

Now stop and think about that. The author of Daniel here is laying little clues and hints for you to see what's happening in Daniel as part of a much bigger unified story that the Bible's telling. Can you think of another place in the Bible? This image is all about symbolizing ruling kingdoms. Can you think of another place in the Bible. This image is all about symbolizing ruling kingdoms. Can you think of another place in your Bible where you hear it about images of God ruling the world? Anybody?

Oh yeah, page one. Page one of the Bible. If you're around me very long, this will become old hat to you. Wherever you are in the Bible, it has some theme or idea that always started on pages one, two or three of the Bible. That's just the way that this story works. You guys know what I'm talking about.

What are humans on page one of the Bible? When humans, the nature and purpose of humans, what are they as they come into the story on page one of the Bible? They're the image of God. The Hebrew word for image or statue, there it is. Anyone want to take a crack at it? Selim. Yeah, we have to put a T and an S

together. In Hebrew, there's just one letter that makes that sound. Tselem. Tselem. And its most basic meaning is image or statue. And here's the famous line here. So God created humanity in his own tselem. In the image, or in the tselem of God, he created him, humanity. Male and female, he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and

increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, over every living creature that moves on the ground. Do you remember in the interpretation, Nebuchadnezzar is told that God made him the head of all. In Nebuchadnezzar's hands, he gets to rule humanity

and the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky. Nebuchadnezzar rules the turkey vultures flying around in Mesopotamia? Like, what? Why are we talking about that? Page one, that's why we're talking about it. So here's the vision here, the image of God. When you hear this phrase, humans are made in the image of God, in Western Christianity, most people have tried to think about abstract qualities

or spiritual qualities that set humans apart, like spirituality or rationality, the ability to relate or be in relationship or covenant. But Genesis 1 doesn't talk about it that way. Page 1 of the Bible tells us clearly what the image is. It's humans. In other words, the image of God isn't something that humans possess on page 1 of the Bible. The image of God is what humans are on page 1 of the Bible, the image of God is what humans are on page one of the Bible. And what specific thing

are humans here to do that images or reflects God into the world? Rule. The rule. Now, I don't know, that's not a word or a concept we even use anymore, because it's like a kingdom word. If you manage a subway, you don't rule it. You know? And you might think you do, you know, and your co-workers might think that you think that you rule the place, but you don't.

You don't. You manage it, right? But the idea here is ruling, is that God originates this world that is packed full of potential and opportunity. And then God rules the world by appointing image-bearing creatures, creatures who will reflect and themselves embody God's rule over the world by doing this. So by taking and harnessing all of that potential and then making more and new things

out of it. And as humans do that, they are imaging God. It's not something human beings have, it's what humans are. As they go about making more of themselves, and then they make more of themselves, and then they organize themselves into neighborhoods and communities and then cities, and all of that is talked about as ruling. But then here's what happens, is that when human beings do that, and then they have to

organize themselves, eventually a smaller number of humans will be those who govern and exercise authority over the bunch as they try and make decisions and navigate their life through the world. But here's what happens. When human beings get placed in that kind of... There's human beings ruling as a whole,

and then there's human beings that rule over the ruling human beings as the image of God. And what tends to happen to the human beings who get elevated to places of responsibility and authority over other human beings? What just is the general trend in human history? As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely. And all of this is depicted as the image. So King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream all about human kingdoms, and it's symbolized in what? An image, a human image. But this human image, something's gone dreadfully wrong. Dreadfully wrong. Because when this king wakes up grumpy, people die. That's how screwed up his rule has become. And so what this is a picture of, this is a picture of humans and human communities and the human story in the world is meant to image God.

But then something turns inside of us. And very few of us are ever going to be in places of authority over tons of other humans. But you know what this is getting at here. Because, you know, you rule over your apartment or over your little corner of the universe. You had a gerbil once and you played with, you toyed with it, you know? You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just that sense of, maybe you didn't, confessions of a gerbil abuse. Anyway, so, like, you know what I'm talking, something happens inside of us when you have authority over other living creatures. Something messed up happens inside of us. And all of a sudden, like it's these tendencies we have to act and make decisions that preserve and seek the interests of me and my group. And then eventually that's going to happen at the

expense of you and your group. And that's just how it's going to have to be. And it turns on something in us that's evil and selfish. Anybody. This human history. And all of a sudden, what was meant to be this pure reflection of God's character as humans organize themselves and go and cultivate the world, it becomes this idol. It becomes a distorted, wicked idol. Daniel chapter 2.

The human image of God in the world has become an idolatrous exaltation of power and selfishness. And who's the head of the idol? A guy who wakes up grumpy so people will die today. It's the ultimate distortion of human purpose. And so what is the king reminded of? Well, first of all, he may think he's the king of the world, but he's not. And also that his kingdom, he's exalted his kingdom to the status of idolatry. It's going to continue on in the story. kingdom to the status of idolatry. It's going to continue on in the story. And his kingdom's coming down. And actually, there's going to follow from Nebuchadnezzar a whole train of kingdoms.

And he had all the potential in the world. God gave you dominion over humanity and the birds and the beasts. And what have you done with it? And so what's going to follow is, from Babylon comes just the train and history of human kingdoms after it. And you notice the downgrade. What's the head made out of? And then it keeps silver, bronze. It just keeps downgrading. It's like the natural tendency of human kingdoms. Start with great dreams and aspirations,

but just give it enough time, and it just turns into silver, to bronze, to... Right? And for Daniel, this is good news. Do you see how this is like keeping Daniel afloat here? Because from his point of view, he got taken to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar thinks he's king of the world. And what reasons do I have to not just fall into this stream and the river and let it carry me along? And what this vision is getting at essentially is that it's an illusion. This permanence and power of human nations, it's an illusion. It's temporary. And things that are temporary and fleeting, like the passing, coming and going of kingdoms, that's a very dangerous place to ground your hope and your identity. It's the reason why, like when a new piece of Apple technology comes out now,

and you're like, should I get this one? Well, no, because version two's coming out in eight months, you know, and it'll be cheaper anyway. And so I'll just wait. You wait it out. And all of a sudden, you've made the right decision because you knew that like the whole buzz of I'll get the new this, it's just hype. It'll pass. Are you with me? When you know that something's temporary, it makes it much easier to resist. Remember that whole thing about Portland? That's the place where you move and then you dress like it was a hundred years ago? Remember that one? Is that still here? Is that still going on? I can't tell. But some of us never got it. We're like, I don't really get it, but it's already gone, I think.

Like, fashion's this way too, you know? Like, it's easy to resist a fashion trend if you don't get it at a fundamental level. And then it comes, and then it goes, and then you're none the worse for it. I just never did it, you know? Are you with me here? But see, that's on a short-term cycle. And what Daniel 2 is trying to cultivate, this mindset, is that's actually all of human history. That's the history of human kingdoms. And any time that God's people get too comfortable

tying their identity to a certain nation or kingdom, just watch out. That's the way of compromise. That's the way of getting carried downstream. Because you're locating your identity in something that is very important, how we govern ourselves in human kingdoms. But it is not the foundation of my identity as one of God's covenant people. Are you with me?

It's a dangerous game. And that's what's revealed in the dream here. And then ultimately, the human kingdoms, they come and then they go, and then what's their ultimate end? What comes flying like a meteor out of the sky? This rock. And it just destroys them all.

And we're told that this rock is God's kingdom. And then God's kingdom, it decimates all the human kingdoms, and then it grows into a huge mountain. Now, I don't know if you would think that that's good news or not. If you're Nebuchadnezzar, you know, maybe that's not great news for you. If you're Daniel, you know, you're thinking, well, human beings are super screwed up, and we've messed up the world. We haven't done a good job reflecting the image. And so God's going to come, bring judgment on all that we've done, remove evil, and set up his kingdom. Is that good news?

It's good news. But we might be uneasy with this image, right? Smashing. Here's what's interesting. Is that Jesus, the book of Daniel was very important to Jesus. If you were with us as we journeyed through Matthew, he quoted from it and took up language from it, like all of the time. It was a very important book to him.

And it was a very important book to lots of Jewish people in Jesus' day as they were under the thumb of the Roman Empire. Nebuchadnezzar came and went. The Romans eventually came in their place. And there was a historian, a Jewish historian, not long after Jesus, and he was trying to tell the story of why it is that the Jewish people began a guerrilla war against Rome. And ultimately, after Jesus, declared war on Rome. And it was just this violent, bloody mess. And the historian's name is Josephus. He says there was a passage in the Hebrew prophets that inspired the revolution of these freedom fighters,

or terrorists, depending on your point of view, right? If you're a Roman or not. There was a passage in the prophets, a mysterious prophecy, he called it, that compelled these freedom fighters to war against Rome. And can you guess what passage he names? Daniel chapter 2. This is a dangerous chapter, you guys. It's inspired revolution, violent military revolution before.

Because if what you're waiting for is for God's kingdom to come and annihilate Rome, I would be more than happy if I'm oppressed Jew, to help God along with that process for his kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Are you with me? So what do you do with this? Because this is going to repeat itself throughout. What, as followers of Jesus, what should I be hoping for? It's fine to say that, like, kingdoms are temporary, but to hope for their utter annihilation? What does that mean? And this is where we have to attend to how Jesus read and understood the book of Daniel and how he saw himself bringing God's kingdom. God's kingdom was the main theme

of Jesus' message. He rode into Jerusalem in a very public way, asserting that he was the king, bringing God's kingdom. Everybody hailed him as the Messiah. And then what did Jesus proceed to do? Well, he proceeded to go into the city and do none of the things that anybody was expecting, because he didn't launch a revolt against Rome. Instead, what he did is heal lots of sick and hurting and blind people and

condemn the religious leaders of Israel such that they conspired to murder him. And then on the last night in the Gospel of John on the last night before things go towards his execution what he tells his disciples

is he says, listen, I am the Messiah and King. That's what I am. And you're going to have lots of trouble coming your way very soon. His last words in John 16 are that, have peace, have peace, because I have conquered the world. And you're like, really? Jesus is conquering the world.

And then right from saying those words, he goes down to a garden where he's going to be arrested by Roman soldiers, and then he's going to be beaten and flogged and executed. That's Jesus conquering the world. Is it? When does Jesus become the king of the world according to the New Testament? When did Jesus receive his crown? As he was being beaten by the Romans. Remember that? He gets a crown. When did Jesus receive his royal robe? As he's being beaten by the Roman soldiers,

Jesus gets a scepter, and he gets lifted up and exalted up onto his throne, which we call the cross. And he gets a title, a placard, that tells the whole world who this man is. He's the king. He's the king.

who this man is. He's the king. He's the king. The way that Jesus brought this smashing rock of God's kingdom was a paradox to people in his day, and it's still a paradox to us that's so hard for us to get, that Jesus believed he was bringing this smashing rock to its fulfillment by letting himself be smashed by the kingdoms of this world. That God's kingdom would conquer by exposing the ridiculous sham of what human kings are all about. And one of my favorite places where a New Testament writer just puts this in a nutshell, it's Paul's letter to the Colossians. We'll close here. Paul says that God disarmed the powers and authorities. God made a public spectacle of the ruling powers of this world.

When did that happen? When he triumphed over them by the cross. This is just a fundamentally different vision of the world. This is a vision of the world that says the kingdoms of this world have idolatry.

We all do it, personally and on a corporate level. We make these idols of our national identities and of our kingdoms. And it inspires humans to do really, really horrible things to each other. And so when Jesus comes onto the scene and he brings God's smashing kingdom to the earth, what does he do? He allows the violence and the selfishness of our human kingdoms to smash him. And by so doing, he exposes their evil. Right? Rome was like the pinnacle of the human legal

system up to that point. Right? You have this Jewish kingdom that has these ancient roots, ancient religious roots, and the best of human kingdoms, what do they do to the Son of God? They execute him brutally when they know that he's innocent. That's human history. And what happens in the life and in the death and the resurrection of Jesus

becomes God's verdict, his victory. It becomes how God conquers human evil. Not by smashing it through revolution, but by letting it destroy him and then overcoming its evil through his resurrection from the dead. I don't know how you're doing right now, but this is a Christian story.

Are you with me? This is God's kingdom. And so the path that we're going to explore forward as we go through the book of Daniel is what does faithfulness to Jesus look like? Because it's not going to mean that we reject the culture and the kingdom we find ourselves in, but neither does it mean we allow it to define our identity

and value system for us. And it doesn't mean we try and take over the world and make everybody become Christians. Like it's going to be something totally different. Totally different. It's the path of faithfulness to the way of Jesus and his kingdom. And so here, let me land the plane as we come to take the bread and the cup into worship. Where in your life is the pressure point where it's most difficult for you to be faithful to Jesus? Like what part of following him, when you hear those teachings

of what he called us to as his disciples, you're going like, great idea, totally not doing that in my life at all. And it actually makes, you know those teachings of Jesus because they make you, you know the guilt thing that goes like, I really love Jesus but I'm really not doing that one. Am I the only person?

Okay, I'm not the only person. So you guys know what I'm talking, like where's that pressure point? Where are you feeling that there's a decision, right, in your life, there's a habit or pattern of behavior in your life and you know it's not what God's

calling you to. Everybody else thinks it's fine and you should just relax and stop being so extreme. But you know, for you to be faithful to Jesus, like this, no. I've got to swim upstream on this one. And as we come to take the bread and the cup,

this is where we come, to the cup of Jesus' suffering and of his broken body, where he took into himself the horror and the evil of what we all have produced in the world through our individual and corporate kingdoms. And we bring it to Jesus, we repent, we ask him to empower us

towards greater faithfulness and obedience in the week that lies ahead. Amen? Amen. Let me close us in a word of prayer. Jesus, thank you for this profound story. Thank you for the great wisdom that you open up for us

as you call us to follow you. You call us to love our neighbor, to love our city, to seek the good of the kingdom in which we live, but at the same time, you call us to swim against its currents. Jesus, each of us need great wisdom as to what that means. We want to be faithful to you.

Please inspire us again with this vision of hope of your great eternal kingdom, of the temporary passing nature of the world in which we find ourselves right now. Jesus, thank you for your promise and for your grace. We pray in your name. Amen. Yeah, amen. You guys, thank you for listening to Exploring My Strange Bible. I hope this was helpful for you. We're going to keep rocking the book of Daniel for about four more episodes. And holy cow, so profound and powerful. So thanks for listening again, and we'll see you next time.