To Daniel chapter two. So Daniel chapter two as we continue our study, excuse me, in the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter two. We're gonna start reading here at verse 31. A little bit of this is gonna be overlapped from last week.

We'll review just a bit and then we'll jump into our focus on the coming kingdom of Christ in the latter verses of the chapter. So, of course, quick review before we get to verse 31. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. He told his wise men, astrologers, sorcerers, all these people, Chaldeans, pagan wise men, so to speak, to tell him the dream and the interpretation. Well, that was a problem.

They wanted him to tell them the dream so they could just make up an interpretation. But no, he wanted to test them and it seems maybe he had even forgotten the dream and so he said to them, want you to tell me the dream and the interpretation and they said, nobody can do that. Only the gods can tell you the dream itself. Nobody has ever asked anybody to do that before. That's just not possible.

And so, he demanded that they tell him or they die, and so they didn't tell him. So, the decree went out, they die. And it got to the year of Daniel and his friends who had not been in that particular meeting and but they were wise men so to speak, so they were under the same decree. And so, Daniel asked the captain sent to him, could you please consider giving me time and can I go ask the king? He said, sure.

He went and asked the king. The king said, sure, I will give you time. It must have already Daniel had grown in his reputation before the king because the king was willing to give him time. So he must have thought, well, maybe Daniel wasn't a fraud like the rest of them. So he did.

Daniel went back and what did he do? He prayed. He went to God. He brought his friends in. They had a prayer meeting.

They asked God to give them the dream and the interpretation. God did. God did. And then Daniel went back to the king. He praised the Lord.

He gave God the glory, and then he began to tell, the king the interpretation. What confidence and trust we see in Daniel as he went to the Lord, as his life was on the line, as he went before the king and began to tell the king what the Lord had told him. Indeed, of course, as we know, what he told him was what the king came back to the king's mind, what had actually happened in his dream. The Lord is ever faithful. We can trust him.

We can trust him with our what? We can trust him with our lives and we need to. So that brings us to verse 31. David begins Daniel begins with the dream and the interpretation. Thou king sawest and behold a great image, this great image whose brightness was excellent stood before thee.

The form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that was, that a stone was cut out without hands which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay and break them into pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, the gold, broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away and there was found there was no place found for them. And the stone that smote the image began became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Chaff is the part of the wheat that you don't want. It is the little tiny husks that are around each grain of wheat. You take and you beat it on the ground with a big fork like thing and the shells, little light shells fall off from the grains and the wind blows those really light shells away and you're left, when you remove the stalks, you're left with the grain. You can then pick up the grain and put it in the basket or whatever you're storing it in, but the chaff is so light, and that it is blown away by the wind and it is not useful for anything. And so, when the image struck the feet, when the stone struck the feet of the image, it all crumbled to dust basically and just blew away in the wind and wind and then where the image had been standing, there was nothing but a what?

But a stone. It was though the image had what? Never been there. And then the stone grew into a mountain that filled the whore. Okay.

That was Nebuchadnezzar's dream. And though we tend to focus on the gold which was Nebuchadnezzar, the silver which was the Medo Persian Empire to come hadn't come yet. That's why this is called prophecy, incredible prophecy as Daniel gives us history. What to us is history was him the future of the next hundreds of years. The Medo Persian Empire followed by the brass which was Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire followed by the legs of iron, which was the Roman, Empire followed by the feet, which was part iron, part part clay, which is sort of an extension or revival of that Roman Empire that we still see to some degree in Europe today, which is kind of the vestiges of what was the Roman Empire years ago.

It seems the Antichrist will somehow be part of that over there when he comes on the scene to try to set up his kingdom over all the earth in the power of Satan in defiance of Almighty God. That will fail because the stone will come and smash the feet made out of iron and clay and it will just all crumble and blow away. So following down to verse 36, Daniel explains this. This is the dream. We'll tell the interpretation thereof before the king, thou, O king, art a king of kings for the God of heaven hath given the kingdom and power and strength and glory.

And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of field, the fowls of heaven hath he given into thine hand and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. Notice the emphasis in Daniel's interpretation here. God made you. He placed you, he gave you this.

Okay? Why? Because God is higher than who? Nebuchadnezzar. And all that Nebuchadnezzar has, all the authority that he has, it comes from God.

God could end it in just a snap of his finger, which we'll see a little later on. Nebuchadnezzar has to learn that the hard way. Okay? But moving on, we first verse 39. After these shall rise another kingdom inferior to thee, that's the Medo Persian Empire, another third kingdom of brass, that's Alexander the Great in Greek, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron for as much as iron breaketh in pieces, subdue with all things and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. Thus, the Roman Empire. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided as Europe is today and shall be in it yet shall be in it the strength of the iron for as much as thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron with mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another even as iron is not mixed with clay.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. The kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever. Quickly, just a few things as we read these verses. In the days of these kings, k, that is these kings that are represented by the feet and the 10 what? And the 10 toes of that statue, which yet would be future probably to us if not in part, we may not know be taking place even at this time.

Those 10 kings and their kingdom that will eventually be headed up by who? The Antichrist during the tribulation. And we aren't there yet because for two reasons. One, what hasn't happened yet? The rapture.

Okay? The rapture of the church from scripture, it would seem is going to precede the beginning of the tribulation. Therefore, we who are in Christ today will be watching this from the same place John was watching this in Revelation in his vision. And where was John watching it from? He's watching it from heaven.

Therefore, we, the church, will likely also be watching the tribulation, events of the tribulation from heaven as John was in the book of Revelation. The second thing is the antichrist signs a treaty with who? With Israel and that actually marks the beginning of the tribulation, the seventieth week of Daniel from Daniel nine, we'll get there in a little bit. That hasn't happened yet either. Though we may be working up to something like that in the near future seen as once again the whole world, the whole world is focused on where?

On Israel and what is taking place there and people are picking sides and people are telling Israel to do this or not to do this or do that. And so our focus again is is all upon that. If if war breaks loose all in the world because of what is going on even today over there, eventually there will be somebody that comes on the scene and says, I will bring peace. But watch out for that person may likely be who? The antichrist.

So and so anyway, back to our thing. The in the days of these kings, the 10 kings, God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall what? Never be destroyed. Okay? And what happened to all these other kingdoms?

They were what? They were destroyed. Just they were gone. Okay. They were destroyed one by one.

One kingdom passed on to another another kingdom, another rule. Okay. This kingdom, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. The kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever. For as much as thou sawest the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, the gold, the great God hath made known to the king, what shall come to pass hereafter and the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof short.

Wow. God saw fit for some reason to give this king and Daniel a prophecy that was going to foretell the next hundreds of years of history and into eternity with the return of Jesus Christ and his coming kingdom. So much of the plan of redemption is revealed here just in these verses about what will lead up to the coming of the stone who is Jesus Christ, and then his coming kingdom that will follow. So just a few things to note here in regards to this before we conclude this evening. We come deceiving to focus on the most important kingdom of all, the kingdom of Christ.

When this period of Gentile rule is over, represented by the statue, and the antichrist kingdom defeated, which is the feet with the toes, Christ will rule over all the earth for a thousand years and then over the new heaven and new earth for all eternity. There will be not another kingdom ruled by men or Satan ever because once the stone comes to knock down the statue and grind it to dust and build his kingdom, it shall be the times of the Gentiles and the kingdoms of men will fall to the eternal kingdom of who? The son of God, the stone, who is Jesus Christ. While the kingdom of Satan is seen yet standing, the stone is cut from the mountain. Okay?

In the image, the stone is cut from the mountain while the statue representing the kingdoms of men and the Gentiles in opposition to the king of kings is still standing. Okay? The mountain has always been there. Okay? Now at the beginning of the vision, all of the focus is on the what?

On the statue. The mountain is sort of out of the picture, but is the mountain there? Yes. The mountain is there. The mountain has always been there.

Okay? And what does the mountain represent that the stone is cut out of? That mountain represents the sovereign rule of creator God over the entire what? Entire world. Entirety of his creation.

Though it is unseen at the time we begin looking at this vision and seeing the kingdoms of man. God is there. God is ruling. He is maybe unseen, but he is not uninvolved. He is there.

He is ruling. He is sovereign. God is still on the throne. He was on the throne. He is on the throne and he will forever be on the throne.

The mountain is there whether you see it or not. In Psalm two, let me read for you from Psalm two. Psalm two. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, that is they set themselves against, as we'll see here the Lord.

They set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. Now, as David is writing this, he is the Lord's anointed. He is the king of Israel and he does have many in opposition to his rule. But there is another anointed that is to come who is a descendant of David who we call the Messiah. Okay?

And as we'll get down here in the bottom, we see that more clearly. They take counsel, that is the kings of the earth against the Lord against his anointed saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure.

So they set themselves in opposition to God and God what? Laughs. Okay? He's not laughing bits. It's not a laugh as in, you know, it's it's hilariously funny.

It's a laugh in that, you know, they can do what they want, but they're not gonna they're not gonna be God. There there there's there's absolutely no competition here at all. The kingdoms of men are no competition for God for God in heaven. He says, yet I will set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. God set David there at the time.

One day, his son Jesus Christ will sit there. I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shall break them with a rod of iron, thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, oh ye kings, be instructed ye judges of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. The statue is there, it's gleaming in the sunlight. But what you don't see just outside that frame is the mountain.

And the statue is very small in comparison to the mountain that sits beside it. The kings may think they are in charge, but really God is in charge and Jesus Christ, his son is in charge. But he won't remain unseen forever, will he? The stone is cut out of the what? The stone is cut out of the mountain and it comes into the scene.

However, for a time, man has been given a certain amount of sovereignty and free will on the earth as the God declared when he made him. Sadly, it didn't go well. Genesis one twenty six says, and God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. When God created man, he gave him dominion over what?

All the all the earth. Okay? It says actually says here, over all the earth. So God does give man a degree of authority in a realm of sovereignty, so to speak, over the earth. These kings do establish their kingdoms.

They do rule. They do rule some of them with great authority and power. But sadly, they do not rule well. And when it comes to our dominion and supervision over the earth, in pretty much every one of those areas to some degree, we have failed. We have failed.

Praise God. When Jesus Christ who is both man and God comes back, will he fail? Will he fail? No. He's gonna set things he's gonna set things right.

Whereas Adam and us and Adam fail, Jesus Christ won't. Verse 45. Verse 45 in Daniel two again. For as much as thou sawest as the stone was, what? Cut out of the mountain.

Okay? It was cut out of the mountain, it says here, without hands. The stone did not just pop into existence. Okay? The stone was not fabricated.

The stone was actually cut out of the what? It was cut out of the mountain. So the stone originally was part of the what? It was part of the mountain. Okay?

And it was cut out of the mountain and then hurled at the feet of the what? Of the statue. Okay? Why didn't it just appear out of nowhere? Why is it that the the the stone isn't, you know, fabricated somebody made it with hands and made it?

Why the emphasis on being cut out of the mountain without hands? Well, I believe it is this. Obviously, the stone is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ the word is God. Okay? The stone is part of the what?

It's part of the mountain. Okay? The mountain is God. The stone is part of the mountain. Jesus is God.

He is not a created being created by God. There are some cults and false teachers who teach that he is the archangel Michael or that he is some other hybrid. Jesus Christ is God. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. Okay?

All things were created by him. Okay? So Jesus Christ is not the creature, he is the Creator. Okay? He is not less than God, he is God.

Okay? He is the second person of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the the Holy Spirit. He has always been God. He will always be God. And yet, Jesus Christ cut out of the mountain comes into view.

And in the New Testament, we learn a little bit more about that, about Jesus Christ, the Son of God coming from heaven. The Son of God becoming a man. John one one tells us, the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. In verse 14 it tells us, and the word became what? Flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth, born as a babe in a manger, growing up to be a man, ministering to his people, preaching the word, the kingdom, and dying on the cross for their sins and ours, and rising again from the dead and ascending back to where?

To heaven where he is today at the right hand of the father. In a manner of speaking, once again unseen, but yet seen in who? Seen in us. Seen in us, his children who have been saved by his grace and who are indwelt by his Holy Spirit. Philippians two five and six.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God. Okay. Now don't get confused by that word form. What that phrase means is who being God. Okay?

Thought it not robbery to be equal with God. In other words, it was true. It wasn't something he was attaining to, wasn't something it's something he someone he already was. He was God, deity, equal with who? The father.

But he made himself of no reputation. He took upon the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of man and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. Jesus Christ is the stone. Now in the in this book I'm I'm using for a good bit of my reference in my study, the handwriting on the wall. He brings out a little bit about the stone here.

We'll take a few minutes, to look at in some more detail. The stone is a representation for Christ throughout scripture. There are several times that Christ is likened unto a stone or to a rock. Okay? And so we'll look first at the smitten stone, the smitten stone.

Here in Exodus seventeen five and six, it says, and the Lord said unto Moses, go on before the people, take with the e take with thee of the elders of Israel and thy rod wherewith thou smote us the river, taken thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee upon the rock in Horeb and thou shalt smite the rock and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So Moses went with his staff, he struck the rock at the foot of Mount Horeb and water gushed out of the rock and provided needed water to quench the thirst of the Israelites. In first Corinthians ten three through three and four, Paul says this, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, he's speaking of Israel, and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ.

That rock represents Christ. Okay? He is the smitten stone. Moses was commanded to smite the rock representing the smiting of Jesus Christ on the what? On the cross for us.

And by his stripes, his shedding of blood are we healed spiritually from sin and restored in our relationship with the Lord. Jesus Christ the stone came first before he destroyed the kingdoms of men. He first came into the scene in history as the smitten stone. The one who took upon himself our sin and died there that he might bring spiritual sustenance to us, his righteousness whereby we are healed. The water of life as he said, the living water as he spoke to the woman at Samaria.

He first was the smitten stone. And then he is referred to both in Isaiah and hereby Paul in Romans nine thirty three as the stumbling stone. As it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. The stumbling stone again is Christ. Christ came unto his own and his own received him not.

They stumbled over the stone because they were looking only for the rock that was gonna what? Destroy the image and destroy the kingdoms of men and set up his reign in Jerusalem. They weren't looking for the stone that was going to be smitten and die first. But in order for us to be part of God's kingdom someday in our hearts today, he first had to make a way because we were separated from God by our what? Sin.

We were not part of his kingdom nor would we ever be had it not been for the death of who? For the death of Jesus Christ, the smitten stone over which many have stumbled and sadly have not received, particularly who? Particularly Israel. Yet, as as a people to accept their Messiah, instead they have stumbled over him. He is the foundation stone or the cornerstone.

Isaiah twenty eight sixteen, therefore saith the Lord, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste. Christ is the cornerstone of our faith. He is the foundation stone upon which our salvation and eternity rests. Jesus Christ.

He is the rock upon which Christ has built his what? His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. When Jesus said unto Peter, I will build upon this rock I will build my church. He was not talking about Peter himself, he was talking about the profession of Peter. And what had Peter just said in response to the question, who am I from Christ?

Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Upon this church, the identity and work of Jesus Christ is his church built. Not built upon a man except the man who? Jesus Christ. Okay.

He is the stone upon which his church is built. And then here in the passage, we see Christ as not the smitten stone, but we see him as the smiting stone. He is on the opposite side of this now. As the stone which is cut out of the mountain is hurled at the feet of the kingdoms of men representing the return of who? The return of Christ.

Okay? To establish his kingdom as the smiting stone is hurled at the feet of the statue. It hits at the feet and then it all just crumbles and it's like it was never ever there. Christ is the stone. He is the stone cut out of the mountain for he is part of the the mountain, which when he comes to rest where the kingdoms of men were, that stone grows into a one, into a huge mountain that fills the that fills the earth.

The stone that hits the image at its feet causing it to crumble and vanish away, representative of what Christ did as what Christ will do as he returns. And he finishes the job that he started at his first coming. At his first coming, he defeated the serpent by providing a means to destroying Satan's kingdom and restoring God's kingdom. Okay? By his death on the cross, he defeated Satan's plan to hold captive who?

You and me. And therefore made a way for the coming kingdom of Christ on earth with us as his subjects. He will return and he will finish the job. He will annihilate the kingdoms of men and the dominion of Satan once and for all. His is a conquering kingdom.

Look if you would in Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19. It is a conquering kingdom. He will conquer all in His path. There will be none that will stand before the stone when he returns.

Verse 11, and I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. He that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. Unlike the kingdoms and the kings of men, he is faithful, he is true, and he is what? Righteous in his judgment. That can't always be said for kings on earth.

His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns. Not one crown, but many. And he had a name written that no man knew, but he himself. He's unique. Nobody like Jesus.

No king, no man. Jesus is unique. He is the only one. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. The armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

I think that we are among those as we return with him after the tribulation. Out of his mouth go with a sharp sword, with it he should smite the nations. He's the smiting stone. He shall rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God.

He hath on his vest vesture and on his thigh a name written, king of kings and Lord of lords. Those that went before him were short lived, trivial by comparison. He is the king of all what? Kings. He is the ultimate authority before whom all all fall.

I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice saying to the fowls that fly in the midst of the heaven, come and gather yourselves together under the supper of the great God that you may eat of the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and them that sit on them, the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. Kind of a gruesome explanation there, but a, one that is sure to establish the finality and the completeness of his of this battle that Christ wins. All of the kingdoms, all the armies of men will be slain there who are gathered together in defiance of God. It will be a gruesome battle.

It won't be a long battle, not when Christ returns. It will end suddenly. It will end quickly. The beast was taken with him the false prophet, that would be the antichrist and the false prophet, who brought miracles before him which with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped the image. These both were cast alive in the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which the sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. This is John's account of the stone landing on the feet of the what? Of the endage representing the kingdoms of men and it completely turning to dust and blowing away. There will be no vestige of the kingdoms of men or of Satan. Christ will do away with it all.

And then he will set his kingdom having conquered all of his foes. It is a conquering kingdom. It is a sudden kingdom. Matthew 24. Matthew 24.

We read in verse 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angel of heaven, but my father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also shall the coming of the son of man be. Whereas in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage until the day Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so also so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Man will not be ready.

He won't be prepared. When Christ comes, it will be sudden and it will be final and it will be complete. That that that image will be gone in the blink of an eye. It is a supernatural kingdom. A supernatural kingdom.

Isaiah nine six and seven, I really this is one of my favorite passages of scripture because I could preach seven messages from just these two verses. Isaiah nine six and seven, for unto us a child is born, that is Christ, and a son a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder, the authority, the government. His name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. And notice that the child which is Jesus, his name shall be called among other things, the mighty God and the everlasting father.

So don't tell me that Jesus is not God, because Isaiah makes it clear here, the son that will be born is Jesus, the son will be called the mighty God and the everlasting father. Verse seven, of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no what? No end. Unlike the kingdoms of men that come and go and come and go, Christ's kingdom will be eternal. Once Christ returns, that ends the kingdoms of men.

They will be no more. Christ will rule and reign forever. It is eternal. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order and establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. It is eternal.

It is a just. A just kingdom. Christ will rule in righteousness. How about Nebuchadnezzar? Did he rule in righteousness?

How about Julius Caesar? Did he rule in righteousness? How about Putin? Does he rule in righteousness? Or we can go down the list of all these different dictators and rulers, the kingdoms of men throughout the world.

Each one is defective. Even David committed adultery and had Bathsheba's husband killed to cover up his sin. All the kings of men have failed. They have not been entirely just and trustworthy, faithful, and true, but that won't be the case with who? Jesus Christ.

As much as I love our republican, democratic, representative form of government, the greatest form of government is a theocracy and it's ruled by a king. And the king is who? And the king will be Jesus Christ. And it will be far superior to every other kingdom that has ever been on this earth because of who the king is. Monarchies fail because the kings are sinful, but not Christ.

His rule won't fail. It will be just, it will be forever. It is a conquering kingdom. He will rule with a rod of iron. And it is a supernatural kingdom.

The end of verse seven, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Why does Isaiah write that? Why does he write the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it? That's because the kings of Israel have tried again and again and again. And in every case they've what?

They failed. But God's kingdom will come. The stone carved out of the mountain will come. He will return. He will smash the feet, the antichrist kingdom during their tribulation.

And everything else above it will vanish and all that will be left is the kingdom of Jesus Christ for it will be a global kingdom. For every other king has tried to take over the whole world from Nebuchadnezzar to Hitler, each one has what? Each one has failed and so too will the antichrist, but not Christ. He will rule the earth with a rod of iron. His kingdom, that stone will turn into a mountain that fills the entire earth.

And for once, there will be a one world government, a good one when Jesus Christ is at the helm. I wanna conclude back in Daniel with the response of Nebuchadnezzar. So how is Nebuchadnezzar gonna respond to this revelation? Now remember, Nebuchadnezzar, thinks he can do anything he wants, and pretty much he can. He he defeats nations, he kills children and grandchildren before the kings he conquers, then puts their eyes out.

That's what he did with the last king of Israel. He declares all the wise men to be killed at a whim. For Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego in the next chapter be thrown into the what? Fiery furnace because they simply won't bow before some dumb statue that Nebuchadnezzar built. However, for a moment at least, Nebuchadnezzar, the king is humbled.

Verse 46, then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face. Now, do dictator, tyrant, kings fall on their face before another man? The answer to that is never. But here's Nebuchadnezzar on his face before who? Before the captive Daniel.

Daniel's the captive. Nebuchadnezzar is a king. But now the tables are turned and it's Nebuchadnezzar on his face before who? Before Daniel. Commanded that they should offer oblation offerings and sweet odors on to him.

The king answered unto Daniel and said of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings, a revealer of secrets seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. So for a moment at least, Nebuchadnezzar is humbled. God is exalted and Daniel with him. Then the king made Daniel a great man, gave him many gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors among all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested to the king and he sat Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon and Daniel sat at the gate of the king.

Daniel brought his friends with him. Probably out of loyalty to his friends, probably also because he needed people beneath him that he could what? That he could trust. All this happened because Daniel because Daniel worshiped the true God of heaven, didn't bow himself before, came who thought himself to be a God. Because Daniel stood up for God, because Daniel came to God when his life was in danger, and because Daniel trusted God is he came before the king and began to tell him what God had told Daniel.

The Lord exalts the humble, but he brings low the mighty. We see this throughout the story, the exaltation of Daniel and the humbling of Nebuchadnezzar, and we're not done yet. We're not done yet. But God will exalt us too if we will learn to humble ourselves. He will watch over us as we learn to trust him.

He will guide us and lead us that we might be a testimony in our realm that God has placed us in as Daniel was in his. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you Lord for your grace and mercy, your love toward us. Thank you for giving us this revelation that we might know what was and what is to come and that we might again fall before the feet of Jesus Christ our savior in faith and in all of him is who is who is overall. Of him will return one day, of him who is in yet control, who we can trust and follow for we are on the winning side.

In Jesus' name, do pray. Amen.