The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:04 It's a long weekend because Monday is a holiday. So, we are the remnants, those who didn't go out station.
00:12 But it's good to see you in the house of the Lord. And once again, it's my joy and privilege to be here
00:19 sharing with you from the word of God. And today is the second installment of our new sermon series on the book of
00:25 Daniel. Last Sunday, Dr. Peter uh delivered the first installment on Daniel chapter 1 and this morning this
00:32 afternoon we are at Daniel chapter 2. We don't have time to go through all 49
00:37 verses in the chapter and so only about a third of the text was read to us now
00:42 by Victor. Thank you Victor. The title is a rather lengthy one. Um a
00:48 dictator's nightmare and God is still in charge. We will continue from chapter
00:53 one where Dr. Peter left off last Sunday and then examine Nebuchadnezzar's dream
00:59 and what it means and and then also the interpretation. Actually the dream itself is not all that important. We'll
01:07 of course look into the dream and its interpretation but more crucially we will want to uh draw lessons from this
01:14 account of the king's dream uh which to him was more like a nightmare. Uh this
01:19 book was written about 2,500 years ago and you'll be surprised
01:25 how relevant and how fresh uh the text can be for us today in the 21st century.
01:32 But historically the book of Daniel together with uh Esther and Ezekiel and
01:38 portions of uh Jeremiah they constitute what is known as the exelic literature
01:44 in the Bible. exelic from the word exile meaning they document uh the 70 years of
01:52 uh Jewish exile in the 7th century BC. But the book of Daniel stands out uh in
01:59 this exelic literature because it also contains many uh prophecies that are uh
02:05 yet to be fulfilled and uh in my thinking will be fulfilled soon which makes Daniel a really exciting book to
02:12 to study and hence our new sermon series on Daniel. But we before we begin shall we first
02:19 commit this time to the Lord. Let's pray.
02:26 41. We acknowledge that uh we are often confronted with challenges or even
02:32 turbulences not only at a personal level but also on a national or even global scale.
02:41 But you oh God are the sovereign Lord. You are the alpha and the omega who
02:46 authored the beginning and who will also write the ending chapters of human history. May we learn to stand firm on
02:54 the foundation of your word and to anchor our lives on your promises. May
02:59 these verses come alive this afternoon to shape the way we live. For we ask
03:05 this in Jesus name. Amen. Now about 10 days ago uh to on the 31st
03:12 August or Mika day to be exact uh my wife and I we bit farewell to our son
03:18 Jeremy who left for Dublin Ireland to further his studies. It will be away for
03:24 at least three years possibly four if we include the one-year internship that he
03:30 has to do before he graduates. This is uh a picture taken at KIA uh
03:37 late that night. It was close to midnight uh with family members including his grandma standing in the
03:43 center and two of his aunts and and a cousin. When a member of my SS19 live group saw
03:50 this, she asked me, "Why are you all smiling when your son is going away for
03:56 so many years? Aren't you all sad that he will be away uh for such an uh extended period of
04:04 time? I replied jokingly that we were happy because it was good reads.
04:12 Well, honestly, I don't know why we smile. I suppose uh it was because at a
04:17 subconscious level at the back of our mind we harbored this quiet confidence that he goes uh he really goes with
04:24 God's blessings and and under his care and we have nothing to worry about.
04:31 But there is a reason why I'm showing you this photo because it's related to our to our discussion today. Well, we
04:38 are not exactly sending Jeremy into exile,
04:43 but in some sort of a peril, he is like Daniel going to a foreign land of
04:50 spiritual darkness. And I'll explain this in a short while. Although I
04:55 hesitate to equate uh Jeremy with Daniel, but the parallel is there except
05:01 maybe for the part in Daniel 1 which describes Daniel as handsome and and showing aptitude for every kind of
05:06 learning because I'm not sure if our son can measure up in those terms.
05:12 The parallel that I'm talking about is that Jeremy has been brought up in a very sheltered environment. He grew up
05:20 in this church uh as a as a young boy and his best friends here are Christians
05:26 and now he's plunged into uh Babylonian kind of territory.
05:31 But why do I describe Europe to be like Babylon and this some there was some Europeans
05:39 in the first service I think maybe they took offense. Now for many years I I I I have warned
05:45 my children, my two children about the rising tide of secular liberalism
05:52 that have that swept the west. Liberalism from the word liberal and has
05:58 transformed its spiritual landscape from like uh day to night. This is a culture
06:06 that is largely godless or even anti- good in nature. It is a
06:12 culture that promotes self self-suffic sufficiency and self-righteousness.
06:18 It is also a society that condones gay marriages. And I shall elaborate uh on
06:25 this shortly. But but this is the world that our son suddenly finds himself in.
06:31 similar to what um uh Daniel was facing having been plucked out of his familiar
06:38 environment in Jerusalem to Babylon, a place that stood for everything against
06:43 what he believed in. The immediate question is this, how is
06:48 Jeremy going to conduct himself as he moves from his Jerusalem to a kind of
06:54 Babylon? Here I would like to do a quick recap of Dr. Peter's sermon last uh Sunday on
07:01 Daniel chapter 1, he had three main points. Number one, exile is sometimes inevitable. Two, exile is an opportunity
07:09 for faith. And three, God always goes with us in exile. I wish my son was here
07:15 last Sunday to hear the sermon. Uh but thanks to uh modern technology, I'll have him uh listen to Dr. Peter's sermon
07:23 from FBC's website. So in chapter one, we saw how Daniel kept his faith and we
07:28 saw how God was with him. But I would like to focus something specific that Dr. Peter mentioned last
07:35 Sunday and that is we are all in exile.
07:41 Now let me expand on this in order to set the stage for our study of Daniel chapter 2. Now some of you may may
07:48 remark, oh I don't feel that I'm in exile. I feel very comfortable right here in my Jerusalem.
07:55 Well, even if you don't feel that you're in exile, let me tell you this. Slowly but surely, exile is coming to you. Now,
08:03 what do I mean? Now, let me explain. At the SS19 life group of which to which I
08:09 belong, I have uh been teaching from the book of Revelation and we are almost at the end of our study.
08:16 And earlier earlier on in the group I had uh described to them two main forces
08:24 uh engineered by Satan to try to derail God's plans as we approach the end
08:30 times. And these two forces against us are number one liberalism
08:37 which I just mentioned and number two Islamism.
08:42 And I will I will I will elaborate uh this in a short while even though I
08:47 could talk about this for hours. But as I explain to you just afterwards, you will see that exile is gradually
08:55 coming to us if we are not already there. But before I get into these two
09:00 uh uh minor topics, uh let me just quickly add that sometimes it is good
09:06 for us not to be too caught up in our little world and to be too engrossed with our petty issues and struggles
09:13 which may seem very big to us. Rather, we should also look around us from a
09:19 broader perspective and see what is happening nationally or even globally
09:24 and to appreciate what God is doing on a much larger scale. Now that will help us to enlarge our
09:30 vision of God and to understand who he really is and then perhaps our problems
09:36 will seem smaller. Now the book of Daniel is one book that will help us to do that because it tells us how God is
09:43 moving through the pages of history. It tells it speaks of his power and and and sovereignty.
09:50 Now I said there were two forces. The first one, the first major force acting
09:55 in opposition to our faith is liberalism. Now, as mentioned just now, it is
10:01 largely godless or even anti- good in nature. Its central doctrine is that we
10:08 we all can make the world a better place and mankind can do it provided certain
10:14 conditions are met. It places man right in the center of the universe.
10:20 God is not needed. In fact, God has been put into some kind of exile.
10:26 Liberalism has its uh roots in the communism and socialism. It is a long
10:31 study, you know, of of of the 20th century history. It came out of Europe
10:37 and has largely taken over Europe and now it is, I think, sweeping North America. It might it may not have fully
10:44 arrived at our shores yet, but it will. through western culture that comes like
10:49 title waves in the form of uh music, movies, uh advertisements, news
10:57 and this is a huge topic. We don't have time to dwell on this too much but very briefly the liberal agenda wants to do
11:05 away with class distinction. You know we all different belong to
11:11 different classes. They don't like that. Okay, which in itself is is is sound because we also believe uh uh uh uh uh
11:19 in the equality of human beings that all uh human beings are created in equal in
11:24 the sight of God. So they have a very noble goal to try to abolish uh uh class
11:30 distinction and often the goals of liberalism they are noble in nature but
11:36 the results of the actions in to achieve those goals are sometimes disastrous if not outright unbiblical and I shall
11:44 offer you two examples one big and one small one
11:49 now number one because the liberal agenda wants to abolish class distinction it hates to see the gap
11:56 between the rich and the poor, the halves and the have nots. That in itself
12:02 is a noble goal. But it also explains why western countries with with strong liberal
12:10 climate, they they all have extensive welfare programs. The government will will help you will
12:17 take care of you if you're unable to work for some reason. Now this is uh uh
12:22 this photo shows a long line of people waiting patiently to receive their
12:27 welfare benefits. And of all places uh this photo was taken in Dublin.
12:34 Now it would have been fine if if the people in the line consists mostly of uh
12:39 of the physically handicapped or the or the elderly but you look carefully they
12:44 are mostly ablebodied men. The unfortunate result of this
12:49 uncontrolled welfare system is sheer laziness.
12:54 And on the other hand, the the Bible teaches us that we need to be hardworking.
12:60 Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, for even when we were with you, we gave you
13:05 this rule. The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat. And furthermore,
13:10 Proverbs 6:6 says, take a lesson from the ends, you lazy bones. learn from
13:15 their ways and become wise. Now the second bigger example is more
13:21 frightening in their efforts to achieve a classless classless utopia. The liberals champion
13:30 gender equality. Why should a woman be paid less than a man for the same work? Now again this
13:38 itself is a noble goal but liberalism takes it to the extreme and tries to
13:43 blur the distinction between a male and female towards most of us is either a
13:49 male or a female but not to New York City a very liberal place to New York
13:56 City there can be many shades of of gender in
14:01 between and they have now officially recognized 31 21 different gender
14:08 identities besides woman and man, which I circle for you. I've never even heard
14:13 of many of these other terms. But what does the Bible tells us about
14:19 gender? Genesis 1:27. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he
14:25 created them. Male and female he created them. God didn't create a third gender or a fourth or a fifth.
14:34 There is nothing in between. It is either male or female. So clearly what is happening in this world can be seen
14:40 as a veile attempt to distort God's creation order. Now to stretch this a
14:45 little further, this preoccupation with gender helps to explain their tolerance or even embrace of the LGBT agenda. What
14:54 is LGBT? Stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, which also
15:01 explains their support for same-sex marriage. And many liberals are very passionate about these issues. And hence
15:08 on 25th June nu uh 2015 just last year when the US Supreme Court legalized
15:15 same-sex marriage across America, the liberals celebrated this decision,
15:21 including Obama and his Democratic Party. And this is what President Obama said
15:27 after the the Supreme Court made uh uh its landmark ruling. He said this ruling
15:34 is a victory for America and later in the same speech he also declared what an
15:40 extraordinary achievement meaning achievement for his liberal
15:45 agenda. Now my heart trembled when I heard these words because God greatly
15:51 detests the sin of homosexuality. It is an abomination to God. The Bible speaks
15:58 strongly against this sin. Leviticus 18:22, "Do not practice homosexuality,
16:03 having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin." And Paul
16:10 also has strong words against the sin of homosexuality. In Romans 1:27, men did
16:15 shameful things with with other men and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they
16:21 deserved. So following the Supreme Court ruling in June last year, the White House was
16:29 lighted up in the colors of the rainbow which is the symbol of the LBGT
16:36 movement. So this is my advice to you. When you if you go to America or Europe, please don't carry an umbrella with rainbow
16:42 colors. You know, people will think you're gay.
16:48 Now this is hugely significant because the White House is is the seat
16:53 of the greatest political power on earth. Now so it shows that samesex
16:58 marriage is no longer just a social issue. It has now is is enjoying a political backing.
17:05 Now the city of London also stood in solidarity with Washington DC. The
17:10 famous London landmark, the London Eye, which some of you may have visited, was also lighted up in rainbow colors.
17:18 And another famous landmark in Berlin, Germany, the Brandenburgg Gate was also
17:24 similarly lighted as if to say, "We Germans are with you." In fact, many
17:29 buildings in Western countries were lighted up in similar fashion immediately after the Supreme Court's
17:35 decision to show their support for same-sex marriage.
17:41 My dear brothers and sisters, the world is changing and the greatest danger is that it is
17:48 happening very subtly and very quietly. Now some of you may may still think oh
17:55 these phenomena are largely confined to the west. They will never get here.
18:01 Just wait and see. Well, if the dangers of liberalism do not impress you, maybe
18:07 the next point will wake you up. Now I mentioned two major forces. The second force
18:13 that is hostile to our faith is Islamism. And I use the word Islamism to
18:19 differentiate it from Islam which is a set of beliefs uh religion and also and
18:25 I use the word is Islamist to differentiate from Muslim because when
18:30 the religion Islam becomes an ideology then it becomes
18:37 Islamism or political Islam of which the most notorious example is this.
18:46 Now I think it's no coincidence that the ISIS flag is black. To me the color
18:52 symbolizes the other growing darkness enveloping the world today. And they
18:58 have caused havoc uh not only in Syria in Iraq where many Christians have been
19:03 uh persecuted and slaughtered. Their tentacles of destruction have also reached Belgium, France, America, Turkey
19:12 and even Bangladesh. And less than two weeks ago, around the time Jeremy left, Malaysian police
19:19 apparently fought a planned ISIS attack right here in Koala Lumpur.
19:25 And I chanced upon yesterday's uh Star newspaper which uh headlined the
19:31 confession of an exis militant. He's Malaysian.
19:36 So it is no longer a question of if it will happen or rather when it will
19:42 happen. And what is even more worrying is that there are so many groups and individuals around the world who have
19:49 pledged allegiance to ISIS including people here in Malaysia and this is
19:55 their plan for a global caliphate.
19:60 Now even if you don't think of ISIS as an imminent threat to our faith you
20:05 think this will will not take place. Islamism as a trend is very very real in
20:13 this country. You will agree that our government, our institutions and our
20:19 society have undergone a lot of Islamizations over the past 20 to 30
20:25 years. If you're not convinced, check out the history books, history textbooks that are using in our schools today.
20:32 You'll be alarmed. You'll be shocked. Now to underscore this to to to really
20:39 impress uh this upon your hearts, let me show you a picture uh that may that may
20:45 you may find amusing. Someone sent me this. This is a a
20:50 Guinness Stout advertisement. Uh I want to tell you Guinness is Irish.
20:56 Okay. So I told Jeremy, please drink a lot of guinea stout.
21:03 Now this is a Guinness Stout advertisement. that that was in Malaysia in some kind
21:09 of magazine in 1968. It featured a who? Look carefully. A
21:15 Malay couple promoting beer. You'll never see anything like this
21:23 today. Unthinkable today. And how much Malaysia has changed over
21:28 the past few decades. Now to put all of this across in a nutshell, the world is increasingly
21:36 being Babylonized. If I could use the word Babylon as a verb.
21:41 You don't have to go to Babylon because Babylon is coming to you. And so it is
21:48 not just Jeremy who has to ask how I'm going to deal with this new environment. We too have to ask ourselves how are we
21:54 going to respond to this new reality that exile is already upon us.
22:00 In other words, how are we to conduct ourselves as believers in an increasingly unbelieving world? How did
22:07 Daniel and his three friends conduct themselves in Babylon? Now, uh Dr. Peter touched on this last Sunday, but I wish
22:13 to elaborate in order to set the stage for Daniel chapter 2. Now interestingly
22:19 in the field of sociology there is this Barry's culturation model developed by
22:24 this professor John Barry uh which describes what happens when a culture finds itself in another bigger culture
22:33 and basically it is either marginalization or separation or assimilation or integration in that
22:40 order but let's put margin marginalization aside. So, do we uh
22:45 separate or do we assimilate or do we integrate?
22:51 Now, to answer this, let's take a look at what the Israelites did when they arrived at Babylon. Now from the book of
22:58 Ezekiel u and also some archaeological sources
23:03 some some of the diggings they did in Iraq we know that exiles were settled uh
23:08 in this along this Kbar river which is not shown here but it is near a site called Nepor which is shown here uh
23:15 which is a short which a short distance from the city of Babylon and this map will give you an idea of where they were
23:21 about 60 mi southeast of the city in this place called Nepole. Their first
23:28 instinct when they arrived was to separate themselves and not to assimilate into the pagan culture of the Babylonians. They even had leaders
23:35 telling them, "Don't go into the city. You know, have nothing to do with the city. Don't mix with these pagans." And
23:42 there was even a a false prophet by the name of Haniah who told them falsely that God would soon destroy the
23:48 Babylonian Empire in about two years time and they could all go home to to Judah. And this is recorded uh in in
23:54 Jeremiah 28. In other words, folks, uh, you know, don't let the exile get into you, you know, separate from them
23:60 because we all going home soon. But God has had other plans and often God does
24:06 things contrary to human wisdom. So he instructed uh Jeremiah who was in
24:12 Jerusalem at that time to send an urgent letter to the Israelites in exile. And someone carried the letter to the
24:18 Israelites in Babylon. And this letter takes up a big part of Jeremiah 29. And
24:24 but the gist of the letter is from verses 4 to7. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says to
24:29 those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and settle down, plant gardens, and eat what
24:38 they produce. Increase in number there do not decrease. Also seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have
24:44 carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it. Pray to the Lord for it because
24:49 if it prospers, you too will prospers. Prosper. Now in other words, they were not supposed to separate themselves
24:55 completely from the Babylonians. They were supposed to participate uh in their economy. They were even supposed uh to
25:02 to pray for a city for its peace and prosperity and not pray against it.
25:08 But neither should they assimilate. Rather, they must keep their faith because further down in verse uh 13 in
25:14 this chapter, they were told to seek God with all their hearts. So it was not supposed to be complete separation nor
25:20 was it supposed to be total assimilation. Perhaps the best word from that chart just now is integration
25:28 which was what Daniel and his three friends did. They kept the faith while at the same time embracing uh the host
25:33 culture, art, literature, etc. And that's why they were able to rise through the ranks in the king's court
25:39 and be counted among the king's wise men or advisers which sets sets the stage uh
25:45 for Daniel to interpret uh Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter 2. You see he was at the right place at the
25:51 right time because he was so well integrated into the Babylonian system.
25:56 But before you write up this part of the sermon, let me offer you some points of application with regards to living in
26:02 exile. Remember what I said earlier about uh that the fact that exile has already come to us and earlier I I I
26:08 asked how should we we believers conduct ourselves in an unbelieving world to me
26:14 a world of increasing darkness brought about by the subtle spread of liberalism
26:19 and also the rapid rise of Islamism. Are we
26:24 retreating more and more into the confines and the comfort zones of the church or are we integrating well with
26:32 the people and culture around us? Now my take of the situation is this that while
26:38 we participate in the local economy uh uh uh that's for sure we also tend to
26:45 surround ourselves with people uh whom we are comfortable with people who share
26:50 uh our culture values and faith. In other words, we practice a high degree
26:58 of separation from the majority culture. You will agree with me. So let me
27:04 suggest a few specific things that we can do. Some of them simple things to help us break out of our coconut shell,
27:11 you know, and be more connected with the majority people of this country.
27:17 Practical suggestions for you. One, if you are a business owner,
27:23 do not hire only those who are of the same race or religion as yours.
27:30 Uh, I'm speaking to some of you. Number two, if you're working in a big
27:37 office, do not befriend only those who are of the same race and religion as
27:43 yours. I'm speaking to more of you. Number three, do not patronize only
27:51 shops or businesses owned by people who are of the same race and religion as
27:56 yours. I'm speaking to all of you. Number four, start conversations with
28:03 people who are not of the same race or religion as yours, taxi drivers, bank
28:09 tellers, waitresses. And lastly, this is the hardest, learn
28:15 to speak fluently the language of the majority people in this country.
28:23 Sometimes integration is not something you want to do or feel like doing. Sometimes integration is
28:29 something you have to do or you must do. And I once had such an experience on the
28:35 2nd April 1979 37 years ago at the age of 19. I left uh
28:42 for my further studies in Japan much like Jeremy left for Ireland about 10 days ago. He was also 19. So it's
28:50 history repeating itself. And this is a picture taken on that day 1979 with
28:56 three of my my best friends. Now I look very very young.
29:02 The difference is that uh this was Sububang airport. Oh those days
29:07 international airport no because Ka didn't exist back then. And the other
29:13 difference is that taking a flight was a big deal in those days you know and
29:18 that's why I wore a coat and a tie.
29:24 Do you see the difference now? 37 years apart. Now they go in t-shirts.
29:34 How things have changed over the years. Now when I ar when I arrived in Tokyo in 1979, the only Japanese words I knew
29:41 were Yamaha, Toyota, Suzuki, you know.
29:47 But in the five years I spent in Japan, I I I had to learn the language. I say something you must do and embrace the
29:53 culture. And by the end of my stay, I was so fully integrated that I could walk into a restaurant and nobody could
29:59 tell that I was a foreigner because I spoke like them, I dressed like them, I behaved like them. And some people tell
30:05 me that even now my mannerism is still very Japanese.
30:14 Now coming to the uh second part of the sermon uh let us now draw some lessons
30:20 from Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2 which I hope will give us some some impetus to to carry out some of the
30:26 practical suggestions I gave you just now in in August uh or maybe I should
30:31 skip this. So in our text here we we have uh King Nebuchadnezzar who who also
30:37 who who said something like this in verse three I have had a dream. Now the problem is that he refused to
30:43 say what the dream was and this happened in the earlier part of the chapter which was not read to us. We skipped that. He
30:51 was troubled by by the dream and so he summoned all his wise men to interpret the dream for him and so that he he
30:58 could be sure that they were not cheating him or you know taking from a ride taking for a ride. So the king wanted them to also tell the dream
31:06 but of course they couldn't. And this went back and forth for a while until the king was was was so furious in verse
31:14 12 that he ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be executed. Now if you recall how Daniel and his three friends
31:20 were al were so well integrated that they rose through the ranks and were serving as wise men in the king's court.
31:26 It turned out that they too were to be executed along with the other wise men from verse 13. In the verse 18, Daniel
31:34 together with his three friends pleaded with God for mercy. And that very night in verse 19, God revealed the mystery to
31:41 Daniel, which brings us to, sorry the words are so small. It brings us to verse 24 uh text, the beginning of the
31:48 text that was read to us. In the first two verses, we see Daniel approaching Arioch, the king's commander who was to
31:55 carry out the executions. And he asked Arioch to arrange for him to see the king so that he could interpret the
32:01 dream for the king. And Arioch did accordingly. In the next group of verses, we're just going through the
32:06 verses. The next group of verses from 26 to 30. So Daniel appeared before the king, but he quickly pointed out that
32:12 his ability to tell the dream and to interpret it was not on his own. Was not his own, but he and he gave all credit
32:18 to God whom he described as the revealer of mysteries. And he said it twice in
32:23 verses 28 and 29. And the dream that Nebuchadnezzar saw
32:29 turned out to be a prophetic vision because the Daniel described it as uh as
32:34 things to come and and what is going to happen in verse 29. And he then proceeded to tell uh in that
32:42 chunk of verses uh he proceeded to tell the dream to the king from verses 31-35
32:48 which consisted of two parts. So I marked for you the two parts. In the first part the king saw a large statue
32:53 with five sections. In the second part of the dream, he witnessed a rock smashing the statue uh to pieces. Now,
33:01 let us first examine the statue. Okay. Uh this picture uh shows you what it
33:06 might have looked like. The statue in a dream. It had the head of gold, a chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of
33:14 bronze, uh legs of iron, and lastly, uh the feet made of a mixture of iron and
33:21 clay. from verses 32 and 33. Now the the statue was described as enormous and dazzling and awesome and
33:29 experience uh from verse 31. So I don't think it was this statue in the dream
33:34 that was troubling Nebuchadnezzar because it looked beautiful and majestic. He might even have been inspired by the statue in the dream to
33:41 actually build one later in chapter 3 to honor himself. And so the statue in the
33:46 dream didn't frighten him in my opinion. Rather, it was the rock that smashed his
33:52 statue that got him very disturbed what or who was this rock. He wanted to
33:59 know desperately. And besides the statue also needed some interpretation. Why was it made from different different metals?
34:07 From verses 36 to 43 uh which was skipped during the uh scripture reading. Uh Daniel proceeded to interpret the
34:14 dream um the meaning of the statue for the king. Now there are five sections.
34:20 Now let's go back to the earlier slide. Uh five different sections from head to toes representing five different empires
34:28 one after the other. Five different types of materials were used each one
34:34 harder than the one before it. Meaning each subsequent empire will be stronger than the previous one. So in verse 38
34:42 Daniel identified the first empire represented by the golden head. This was the Babylonian Empire of which
34:47 Nebuchadnezzar was the supreme ruler. And I'm sorry the words in this uh slide is really too small and I found another
34:55 uh diagram that that makes the whole thing much clearer. So the the first first empire uh
35:02 represented by the golden head that lasted only less than 70 years starting from 606 BC.
35:09 um by u 538 539 BC the Babylonians were
35:14 conquered by by the middle Persian Empire the second one represented by the silver chest and arms
35:22 and so when when king heard this interpretation he must have thought oh
35:29 so short of my empire I'm going to defy this I'm not going to accept this and it
35:34 might explain why when he actually built the the the 90 foot statue in In chapter three, he built it from of gold from top
35:41 to bottom, you know, hoping that his empire will last much much longer. But no kingdom or empire or nation lasts
35:48 forever. The second one, middle Persian empire, it was it was uh more powerful
35:54 and they soon took over. They lasted about 200 years. Now the two silver arms
36:00 are significant because this second empire was actually a fusion of two empires. the Median Empire and the
36:07 Persian Empire. That's why we call it Meo Persian Empire and hence the two arms.
36:12 But in 331 BC, Alexander the Great came along and destroyed the middle Persian
36:18 Empire and he established the Greek Empire represented by the bronze uh
36:24 belly and ties. But the Greek the Greek empire also didn't last and by 31 BC
36:29 this the even more powerful and even bigger Roman Empire was already in place. was represented by the two iron
36:35 legs. And by the time Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Romans were the unchallenged rulers uh in the known
36:42 world. But why uh the two legs? Yeah, because the Roman Empire was later
36:47 divided into two halves. The Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire if you if you are into history,
36:55 which brings us to the fifth and last section of the statue, the the the two feet made of a mixture of clay and iron.
37:04 what do they represent? Now, this is the most interesting uh question. It's a subject of much debate
37:11 and and speculation. Now, in his interpretation, Daniel emphasized a lot on the 10 toes of the feet uh which
37:18 points to a divided kingdom. He mentioned the word divided kingdom from verse 41. Now I've read so many views on
37:24 this and I believe the most plausible angle is that the tentos collectively uh
37:30 represented represented modern day uh present day uh Europe that is why I put the Europe
37:37 with its many nation states uh which took shape gradually uh in the aftermath
37:42 of the collapse of the Roman Empire and now we are entering the realm of speculation. Hence, I don't wish to to
37:48 dwell too much on this, but Daniel did mention in verse 42 that that this was a
37:53 mixture of iron and clay, meaning a mixture of the strong and the weak. And he interprets it as a as that some
37:59 states in this divided kingdom will be strong, some will be weak, which seems to support the the Europe theory because
38:05 among the countries of of Europe, some are strong like like Britain and France. Uh some are weaker like Austria and
38:12 Belgium. Now, I'm not trying to sell you this theory, except to say that it's rather convincing. Some even add USA and
38:19 Canada as part of the feat of iron and clay because they see these two countries as extensions of Europe.
38:28 Now, some of you who are serious students of Bible, you may have other views as to the identity of this fifth
38:33 empire, and you may be right. Whatever it is, uh it it too will not last. Now
38:39 we're ready to look at the last the second part of the dream. The rock which seems to come from nowhere. It flew in
38:45 and smashed the statue. And this is the key. The rock is the key that will unlock chapter 2. But before you do
38:52 that, I want to draw an important lesson from what we have understood so far from the interpretation of the statue. And
38:57 the lesson is this. Kingdoms come and kingdoms go. Empires come and empires
39:04 go. You know Adolf Hitler, he thought that his third right would last a thousand years. He was so confident but
39:11 it lasted only 12 years. No power on earth can last forever.
39:17 Rather, it is a sovereign Lord, the ultimate ruler who dictates the rise and
39:23 fall of nations and governments. kings and presidents and political leaders.
39:28 They may think that they the ones writing the pages of history, but it is Almighty God who determines the cause of
39:35 human history. Indeed, the well known saying rings so true that man proposes,
39:43 God disposes. It means that human beings, they can make whatever plans they want, but it is God who ultimately
39:50 decides because God is always in control. There is nothing that has happened or is happening that or will
39:56 ever happen that is outside his sovereign will. And hence when we look
40:02 at ICE the rise of ISIS we know with confidence that God is in control. And
40:09 when we see a powerful head of state who is utterly corrupt I don't to tell you
40:14 who he is. We know for sure that God is in control.
40:20 God is still in charge which is part of today's sermon title and this is the first main lesson from Daniel 2. Let us
40:27 now quickly turn to the second part of the of the dream. The rock which which is from verses 34 and 35. Now according
40:34 to Daniel uh the rock struck the statue and smash it to pieces which become
40:40 which become like like chef or or the husk of uh of grains only to be swept
40:46 away by the wind leaving nothing behind. And then the rock became a huge mountain
40:52 and filled the entire earth. Now the ni the NIV is not very clear about how this
40:57 rock struck the statue. But if you check other translations, I check many other translations, the rock actually hit the
41:04 statue at its feet of iron and clay. Now this may be meaningful in that the
41:11 rock would destroy the last empire on earth, Europe and US if you like. and to
41:16 and and together with all the early empires, they will all be wiped away from the pages of history. In other
41:23 words, they will be forgotten in the aftermath of the coming of the rock.
41:29 Now, what or who is this rock?
41:34 Nebuchadnezzar was desperate to know. Now if you think in terms of kingdoms in
41:39 a sequence from past to future to past to present to future,
41:44 what kingdom will this rock represent? Now after interpreting interpreting the
41:50 the the statue uh uh Daniel proceeded to interpret the rock for the king from from versh 44 the last two verses 44 and
41:57 45. Now he gave he gave two clues as to the identity of the rock. Now firstly it
42:03 says that the the rock represented a kingdom that God himself will set up and it will never be destroyed. Remember it
42:10 will never be destroyed uh that will last forever and so it will be an
42:15 eternal kingdom. And secondly uh the second clue is that uh the rod was cut
42:21 out not by human hands uh repeated uh from verse 34. Meaning that the kingdom
42:28 will not be one that is established by human beings. Rather it will it is a it
42:33 is it is going to be a divine kingdom a theocracy if you like.
42:38 Now the question is who will rule over this eternal kingdom of God. So we know this rock represents eternal kingdom of
42:44 God. But who's going to rule over it? There can only there can only be one person who has the quality or
42:49 qualification to to rule over this this eternal kingdom of God
42:55 at the end of human history. There is only one person in my mind who fits this symbol of the rock and is none other
43:02 than Jesus Christ. But how do we know for sure? How can I just say that Daniel
43:08 didn't say that a rock was a person much less identified him?
43:13 Now to answer this question, we we we read further down in in Daniel and we find the answer in Daniel chapter 7
43:21 where God granted him another vision. And in that vision, God gave him more
43:27 details about this eternal kingdom in Daniel chapter 7. And in that chapter,
43:34 in the middle of that chapter, Daniel 7, Daniel saw something very specific in
43:40 his in that vision. And it says in in Daniel 7 13 and 14, two very important verses in the Old Testament, in my in my
43:48 vision at night, I looked and there before me was one like what? Like the
43:54 son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days, meaning
44:00 referring to God, and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory,
44:05 and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worship him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion
44:12 and will not pass away and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Remember, never be destroyed.
44:19 It says that all nations and people will worship him. That's why we had a rock becoming a mountain that filled the
44:24 entire earth. Now, this is an artist rendition of these two verses.
44:31 And what Daniel saw was a person who was going to rule over this eternal
44:38 kingdom. He used the term son of man. You know why? Because he didn't know his name at that time.
44:44 Just who is this son of man? If you go through all the four gospels, you will find that the term son of man repeated
44:51 78 times in the gospel. And they all refer to Jesus. In fact, when Jesus referred to himself, he preferred to use
44:59 the title son of man rather than son of God. We call him son of God, but he prefer to call himself son of man because he wanted the people to know
45:05 that he's the very person in the vision that Daniel saw in chapter 7.
45:12 And this brings us uh to the other main lesson from Daniel chapter 2
45:18 that there will surely come a time which I believe will be soon when God will
45:23 establish his kingdom on earth and Jesus will come and rule over this eternal
45:29 kingdom. So what if you know this? Some of you may ask. Knowing this should give us
45:36 hope. Hope. The kind of blessed hope that that
45:41 motivates us, that encourages us, that our present troubles, whether personal or national or global, will soon give
45:49 way to a beautiful and bright future when we shall be with Jesus in his
45:54 presence, safe in his arms for eternity. This is the future. This is the hope we
46:00 have and this future, this hope that we have is so vividly depicted in the last
46:06 chapter of the Bible, the end of the Bible in the revelations uh 22 12 and
46:12 13. Jesus himself says, "Look, I'm coming soon. My reward is with me and I
46:18 will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the
46:25 beginning and the end." So in closing, how do we then link these
46:31 two main lessons from Daniel 2 to our earlier lesson about living in exile? Remember uh what we learned about
46:36 integration. There are two ways we can link this. First,
46:43 our keen awareness that God is always in control should enable us to engage the
46:48 world with confidence and faith. Let me repeat this. Our keen awareness, we know
46:55 this for sure, awareness that God is always in control should enable us to engage the world with confidence and
47:03 faith. Two, the living hope of a blessed future
47:09 that we breathe should propel us to want to share it with people around us. And I
47:15 repeat this again. The living hope of a blessed future that we breathe should push us should propel us to want to
47:22 share it with the people around us. It is often said that we are in this in this world but not of this world.
47:29 Meaning that we don't belong to this world. Well, I agree with this statement. But it doesn't mean that we dissociate ourselves from the world.
47:36 Perhaps the better way of putting it is this. We are in this world. We are of
47:41 course not of this world but we are for this world in the sense that we are for the people in this world and we want to
47:46 we want them to know this God who is always in control and we want them to also share in the blessed hope that we
47:53 have. May we all go out and integrate and connect and spread the love of love
48:01 of Jesus and his gospel. Shall we close in prayer? our father in heaven. May the
48:07 lessons from Daniel chapter 2 cause us to move out of our comfort zones and push us not to separate but to integrate
48:16 with the people of the world at large starting from people in this country like what Daniel did. Grant us the
48:22 vision and the boldness to do so. For we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
