Truth to Stand Upon: Daniel 2:24-49 - Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Kennywood Park fans were stunned by a picture that recently went viral, showing a support beam of the beloved Racer rollercoaster, resting haphazardly on a cinder block.

Park officials quickly closed the ride while assuring the public that there was never unsafe. Still, the sight of something like this on a roller coaster that’s over 100 years old is concerning.

It reminds me of a home we toured. We noticed that the wood deck was sloping downward, away from the house. We then saw that the support beams rested on scraps of two-by-fours lying horizontally on the ground. Needless to say, we did not make an offer on that house.

Nothing can stand without a firm foundation, be it a roller coaster, a wood deck, a house, or a statue such as the one depicted in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in our first reading for today.

Photo by Iswanto Arif on Unsplash

Nebuchadnezzar was the notorious Babylonian King who destroyed Jerusalem and its temple and took God’s people into exile. Thousands of Jews were killed by his armies in the process.

The Book of Daniel tells the story of Daniel, and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego, who were taken from their families and forced to serve as Nebuchadnezzar’s slaves.

I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like to serve the man who murdered your fellow Jews and made a mockery of your God. They also knew that if they displeased the king, for any reason, he would kill them.

Nevertheless, God was with them, and they prospered in the king’s service.

In Daniel 2, our sermon text for today, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that terrifies him. He summons his royal astrologers and demands that they interpret his dream. They tell the king that they can’t, because the king refused to tell them what the dream was about! This threw Nebuchadnezzar into a rage. He ordered his captain of the guard to kill all the wise men of Babylon, including Daniel and his three friends.

When the captain comes to arrest Daniel, he tells him to tell the king that God will reveal the meaning of his dream.

Sure enough, Daniel described how the king dreamt of an enormous statue, with a head made of gold, a chest and arms made of silver, a belly and thighs of bronze, and feet made of iron and clay. A rock then struck the feet, and the statue collapsed and shattered into pieces.

Jeremy Park, Bible-Scenes.com

Daniel explains that the golden head represents Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, which had existed for nearly one and a half millennia and remains legendary for its wealth and opulence. The silver, bronze, iron, and clay represent four inferior kingdoms that will succeed his, until God casts a rock at the feet and the statue shatters into pieces.  

Surprisingly, Nebuchadnezzar is pleased with Daniel’s interpretation, even as it foretells Babylon’s inevitable doom. He immediately promotes Daniel and his three friends. But this does not spell the end of their troubles.

Still, the Book of Daniel communicated a powerful message to God’s people, who endured centuries of violent oppression, up through and even after the time of Jesus. God is present in the halls of power, even when those powers set themselves up in direct opposition to God and his purposes. Any power, be it an empire or ruler, who uses violence, enslavement, and plunder to amass wealth and power is like a golden statue with feet of clay. God needs only to hurl a pebble at its feet to bring the whole thing down.

I wish I could explain why God allowed rulers even Nebuchadnezzar, Hitler, Mao, and Stalin to enslave and murder millions of innocent people. But these men, despite their power to enslave and kill, are still subject to God—and God will not be mocked. And it is God’s power, and not the power of men, that will prevail.

No ruler can match the power that is the power of faith, working through people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego, the apostles, and you. And us. The very fact that we are being encouraged by what God accomplished through four ordinary people two and a half millennia ago is proof of this. This is God’s world, and God’s will shall prevail. No matter what anyone says or does…

During the past week, Christians around the world have expressed outrage over what appeared to be mocking The Last Supper during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. This performance was said to have depicted the Feast of Dionysus, and the artistic director apologized, insisting that it was never their intention offend anyone.

But let’s consider, for argument’s sake, that it was their intent to mock the Last Supper and Christianity. How should we respond?

Jesus was mocked, beaten, spit upon, stripped, and crucified.  In response, he cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” He didn’t use his power to lash out. He used his power to do God’s will and accomplished all things for our salvation.

We are not powerless at this moment in time. When we choose to serve the neighbor, to seek justice, to make peace, to pursue reconciliation, we exercise divine power. Lives, communities, and nations are transformed.

When times are bad, when the world’s gods tempt us, worldly powers threaten to undo us, we will pray. We will worship. We will serve. We will forgive. We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper and invite others to the feast. We will baptize new generations of disciples.

No ruler or worldly power can match the power of faith, working through people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego, the apostles, and you. And us. This is the truth on which we stand. This is God’s world, and God’s will shall prevail. No matter what anyone says or does…

Daniel 2:24-49

Therefore, Daniel went to Arioch, whom [King Nebuchadnezzar] had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will give the king the interpretation.”

²⁵ Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who can tell the king the interpretation.” ²⁶ The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” ²⁷ Daniel answered the king, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or diviners can show to the king the mystery that the king is asking, ²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has disclosed to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at the end of days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed were these: ²⁹ To you, O king, as you lay in bed, came thoughts of what would be hereafter, and the revealer of mysteries disclosed to you what is to be. ³⁰ But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me because of any wisdom that I have more than any other living being, but in order that the interpretation may be known to the king and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.

³¹ “You were looking, O king, and there appeared a great statue. That statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening. ³² The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its midsection and thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ As you looked on, a stone was cut out, not by human hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were all broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

³⁶ “That was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷ You, O king, the king of kings—to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory, ³⁸ into whose hand he has given human beings wherever they live, the wild animals of the field, and the birds of the air and whom he has established as ruler over them all—you are the head of gold. ³⁹ After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. ⁴⁰ And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; just as iron crushes and smashes everything, it shall crush and shatter all these. ⁴¹ As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the strength of iron shall be in it, as you saw the iron mixed with the clay. ⁴² As the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so will they mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴ And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, ⁴⁵ just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain not by hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has informed the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain and its interpretation trustworthy.”

⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, worshiped Daniel, and commanded that a grain offering and incense be offered to him. ⁴⁷ The king said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery!” ⁴⁸ Then the king promoted Daniel, gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.