The Mountain Kingdom and the Kingdoms of Rust

You will remember that last week, on Good Friday, we reflected on the interaction of Jesus and Pilate. Jesus being interrogated whether he really was a king or at least the king of the Jews. And Jesus telling him that I am a king, but you have no idea what sort of king. We see then on Easter Sunday, and we reflected on that, that Jesus rose from the dead. He shows himself to his disciples, especially Thomas, who we so resonate with, who had to see Jesus, who had to touch Jesus to believe, to know that Jesus truly had come back, that he had really won this victory that he declared.

We see in Jesus at that time that he is the God of the scars. Jesus with his battle scars now healed shows that he has indeed won the kingdom and that it has been established through his death and his resurrection. But I thought that today, in the shadow of Easter, we might also spend some time to reflect on the nature of the kingdom that Jesus, the king, had won. This realm that he established, where he says he has all authority and all power. Where is it, this kingdom?

Where is it located? What is there a place where his kingdom rests? And who belongs to this kingdom? Who makes up this kingdom? And so, this morning, with you, I want to go to a place in scripture that we might think is a bit surprising to hear about this kingdom of Jesus.

Because we're not going to look this morning at the gospels in his teaching where we might suspect his definition of the kingdom would have come from. Indeed, he did talk about his kingdom many times in the gospel accounts, but that's not where we're going this morning. We're not going to go to Paul the Apostle who comes after Jesus and explains in profound, clear ways how the kingdom is established and how it looks like around us. This morning, we're going to go to the Old Testament. And we're going to go to the book of Daniel, in fact, where we find a vision of this kingdom.

But we don't find it even necessarily located in the words of a prophet or in the declarations of a priest at the temple. This kingdom is found in a vision that comes from a pagan unbelieving king, emperor Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians. So this morning, we're going to turn to Daniel chapter 2, the second half of Daniel there, and we're going to reflect on that together. Daniel chapter 2, we start from verse 31. Daniel explains to the king Nebuchadnezzar, this is what you've seen.

You saw, O king, and behold, you saw a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. And as you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were 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 image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, and into whose hands He has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all.

You are the head of gold. Another kingdom inferior to you shall rise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And 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 firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.

Just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, a great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation sure. Then Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and 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. Then the king gave Daniel high honours and many gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

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. So far the reading. Just in context for us to understand what's going on here, Daniel was a faithful believer in God who during the exile is taken captive by the Babylonians from Jerusalem and taken into the courts of Babylon. By accounts, Daniel was an exceptionally gifted, intelligent man.

He was probably of noble birth and that's why he ended up being part of the king's court and even being allowed to be considered one of the wise men, the advisers of the king. King Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest, most powerful man on earth at that time, has a troubling dream. And he knows that he has counsellors and wise men who will attempt to interpret this dream that he believes is from God or a God. But Nebuchadnezzar refuses to explain what this dream is and instead says, I want to know who is truly speaking on God's authority by not only telling me the interpretation of the dream, but telling me what the dream was first without me telling them. And Nebuchadnezzar does that at the point of death.

He says, if no one can tell me, I'm going to kill all the wise men in Babylon. So you can imagine the pressure on Daniel to perform that day. And Daniel prays, he fasts, and he hears from God that this is what the king has dreamt. And he shares that dream and its interpretation with Nebuchadnezzar. Now, for us, we have to ask a few questions.

Firstly, we have to deal with and look at what is this dream? What is the statue and its layers? What is it trying to tell us? Well, Daniel explains that at each level of this image, this statue, we find a progression of empires that would come after the kingdom of Babylon. Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar that the empire of Babylon is the head of gold.

You are the head of gold, Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar in verse 38. Now I'm sure old Nebbie is pretty impressed by that. That's pretty good. He's the head, the most honoured part of the statue. He's the wealthiest, most precious metal in that statue.

Daniel explains that Babylon is indeed an impressive empire, majestic and glorious, beautiful and powerful. Some of the archaeological evidence that we have of that ancient empire suggests that Babylon was the absolute zenith of education and technology in that time. They were leaders in mathematics. We use some of the axioms that were discovered in those days today in our mathematics and our astronomy. They were the leaders in economics and trade.

Culturally, they were also impressive. One of the seven ancient wonders of the world were the Babylonian hanging gardens. Beautiful, creative, technologically advanced creations. Babylon certainly was a magnificent empire. But the vision doesn't end with a golden head.

Daniel goes on to say, and I would have loved to have picked Nebuchadnezzar's brain with this. He goes on to say that this isn't going to last forever. A kingdom will come after Babylon. In fact, there would be another three successive kingdoms or empires to come. Now, standing on this side of history, we're able to actually pretty easily identify what those empires were in the Middle East.

The first one that came after Babylon is one that Daniel actually witnessed as he became older. He actually saw the transition from Babylon to this next empire, and that was the empire of the Medo-Persians. Daniel lived through this transition. And he says that this is the silver empire, which will make up the arms and the chest of the statue. After the Persians came the rise of Alexander the Great of the Greeks.

He would lead an empire that lasted three hundred years. This, Daniel says, is the empire of bronze making up the belly and the thighs of the statue. Then there is a fourth kingdom, a kingdom hard as iron. A kingdom that is aggressive, probably by its definition or illusion. And that is the kingdom of the Romans led by Augustus, forcibly taking the power from the Greeks in January, lasting about four hundred years, well into the March.

And they are represented as a mixture of iron and clay. And they make up the legs and the feet of this statue. But then, then Daniel says, there is actually another kingdom, a fifth kingdom. Now, it doesn't form part of that statue, but Daniel says this kingdom is actually equated to as a stone cut out of a mountain, not by human hands. And this stone, this rock strikes the statue like a massive wrecking ball, and the entire statue comes crashing down.

All the empires represented by it are reduced to dust. Like wheat chaff on a summer threshing floor, it is taken up by the wind and blown away. And Nebuchadnezzar hears Daniel saying all of these things and he is amazed. And firstly, he congratulates Daniel and he honours him saying, you've not only explained exactly what I saw in that dream, you have interpreted it correctly. You must have.

This is only been given to you by the God who gave me this dream. So that is the statue. That is the layers of this statue. But then I want us to think about this fifth kingdom, this mysterious kingdom that is so powerful. Verse 44 says, in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.

It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it shall stand forever. Now, Daniel says this is the kingdom of God. And what is exactly this kingdom that would be set up? When would it come? If the fourth empire, the empire of iron and clay was the Roman empire, and it lasted into the three hundreds AD, does it mean that this empire came then in the fourth or the fifth century?

Are we still waiting for this empire to come? Some people say that we're still, in some way, the Roman empire. We still, in some way, belong to that way of thinking. When does this kingdom arrive? This fifth kingdom?

Or perhaps some people will argue, it's the final arrival of Christ, when Christ comes and he establishes his kingdom. Well, it's about six hundred after Nebuchadnezzar that a man from a backwater place in the Roman Empire, a place called Judea, a man by the name of Jesus starts declaring, a kingdom has arrived. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus burst onto the scene in chapter 1, the first chapter verse 15. And he says, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news.

And then throughout the three year ministry, Jesus speaks about this kingdom. And Jesus equates it with this eternal kingdom of God that cannot be overcome. Jesus speaks about how people should live in this kingdom. Jesus speaks about what this kingdom looks like. He speaks about the kingdom and how it works alongside the other kingdoms of the world.

And then Jesus dies and he proclaims that he has risen from the dead and then he ascends to heaven. And the question is, what has happened to this kingdom? Well, this giant boulder, this massive stone not cut by human hands, this giant wrecking ball that would smash the conglomerate of gigantic world empires, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, all of them would come to dust. And where is this kingdom? Who is this king?

Well, like we said last weekend and like we celebrated at Easter, John 18 verse 33, Pilate asked Jesus, are you the king of these Jews? And Jesus replies, I'm a king, but my kingdom is not of this world. Jesus says, my kingdom is from another place. And I'm sure when those disciples heard the account of this interrogation, as John the Apostle was reflecting on this, as he's writing this gospel account, I'm sure he thinks back on the vision of Daniel. Daniel sees in his vision explaining it to Nebuchadnezzar that this is a kingdom established even while Rome is in power.

He says it in verse 44. Have a look at that again. Daniel says, and he opens with this phrase, in the days of those kings of that fourth empire, while they still think they are running the show, the eternal kingdom of God is arriving. Jesus says to Pilate, this kingdom is not of this world. Daniel says, it's a stone cut out of a mountain not by human hands.

Jesus says to Pilate, you have no authority over me apart from that which is given to you from above. Daniel says, this kingdom will not be given to another people. It belongs firmly to God. When is this kingdom coming? Jesus tells Pilate, it's arriving right now.

This powerful kingdom, however, is advancing and is entering into the reality of mankind in ways completely different to those of the other empires that came before it. This everlasting kingdom was not going to conquer and smash the kingdoms through military might like the Romans or through a cultural supremacy like the Babylonians. Even though it is a wrecking ball rock that seems so violent and so destructive, don't get me wrong, the kingdom in some way does come through violence. In fact, it comes through bloodshed and death, but it's the blood of one man, Jesus.

Three days later, Jesus rises from the grave and he doesn't return to his disciples anymore as their teacher and their friend. He doesn't come and sit with them anymore and just go on like nothing has changed. We see with Thomas and that account in John 20 that Jesus comes back as God and king. Forty days later, he ascends to heaven and he goes and he says to his disciples that he is going to sit down on his throne. And as he does that, sitting down on his throne, a king doesn't do that unless he knows that he is one.

And Jesus goes to sit down on his throne and he waits for every one of his enemies to be conquered. His last words to his disciples before he goes is saying this, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All authority on heaven and on earth. That is the words of a king who has conquered an empire. But finally, from Nebuchadnezzar's vision, I want to ask this question.

What do we actually see about this kingdom? What do we actually hear about it? What is the nature of this kingdom of God, this kingdom of Christ? Well, the first thing is, it starts small, but then it fills the earth. In verse 35, the stone crushes and destroys the world's powers.

It crushes them into dust and then it grows into a great mountain, Daniel sees, and it fills the entire world. This kingdom that Jesus has established starts with a band of twelve men, and in fact, not even twelve, one less in Judas Iscariot. Two thousand years later, there is no belief system today which has spread and infiltrated so many cultures like Christianity. Islam is big. Buddhism is big.

But unlike Islam or Buddhism, Christianity hasn't stuck to just one culture. It hasn't stuck with one people group. It's not a Jewish ethnic religion that has started and stayed with Jews. It is not a Middle Eastern religion even though it started and took root in the Middle East. It is not a white man's religion even though European missionaries went to the Pacific Islands with it and to Africa.

Jesus once talked of this kingdom and said, it is like yeast in bread. Just like someone puts a few grains of yeast, just three grains to a bowl of flour and dough, it begins to rise and it begins to grow and it multiplies the size. Jesus says, in that way, my kingdom will grow. Silently, quietly, in a hidden way, but that growth is exponential. And empires, and dictators, and authoritarians have not realised until it's too late.

They have lost their kingdoms because of the power of this kingdom. And so it starts small. It's this wrecking ball that crushes the stone and then grows to fill the whole earth. But then it also becomes an unmovable mountain. Daniel says in his interpretation that this kingdom fills the earth and it becomes an unshakeable great mountain.

It's not just a mountain, it is a great mountain. It's not a hill. It's not a kopi. It's not a knoll or a rise. It is an awe-inspiring mountain.

Now, in Australia, I don't think we know mountains. Go to New Zealand and you'll see mountains. They leave you breathless. And that's exactly how we feel about the kingdom of Jesus. And I want to say to us that this kingdom gives us incredible hope.

Sometimes I think, as Christians, especially where we are right now in Australia, we're far too scared to believe that this thing we hold so dearly, this faith we hold to so dearly, we fear that it can somehow be destroyed. We fear that it can somehow be taken from us, that it can be robbed of us by politics and politicians, that it can be destroyed, crushed, disappointed by corrupt church leaders, that it will fizzle out by complacent Christians who don't live the Christian life. Perhaps some of us have even wondered whether it can be destroyed by a virus. But God tells His people through Nebuchadnezzar's dream, My kingdom is a mountain. The Bible, poetically, it's beautiful, really, talks about mountains as having roots just to really press down on how steadfast mountains are.

Not only are they massive above ground structures, they extend into the soil as well and they grip the earth. In other words, mountains will not be moved. And this is the type of kingdom that Jesus reigns over. Friends, we don't have anything to be anxious over. We don't have to fear that this kingdom can be destroyed or taken from us.

In fact, this vision tells us that those things that fling themselves against the mountain, they're the ones that are dashed to pieces. This kingdom cannot lose. And the Bible adds this promise in verse 45. Daniel says it to Nebuchadnezzar, this dream is certain and its interpretation sure. We will not lose the Christian gospel.

And then the last thing about the nature of this kingdom is that the greatest riches don't compare to this kingdom. Daniel says in verse 45 that this is a stone cut out by no human hands and that it crushes gold, silver, bronze, and iron. In fact, earlier in the chapter verse 35, it says that this is a statue that's turned into powder by the strength of this stone. Why are these precious metals mentioned? What does it mean for these human kingdoms to be represented by gold and silver?

Well, it's because they are precious. People understood that gold and silver are precious just like we do now. They are valuable. But isn't it also interesting that it is a humble, worthless stone that crushes them. It's not a diamond and they had diamonds.

And we all know that diamond is one of the hardest elements on earth. It's not platinum which is just that little bit better than gold. It is a humble, ordinary stone that turns gold, silver, bronze and iron into worthless powder. Why? Because the kingdom of Christ overhauls our entire understanding of what is valuable.

What we once thought was precious, Nebuchadnezzar that thinks, I am the golden head, the greatest. What we value and think is precious turns to ash and dust. What seemed ordinary becomes the most precious thing that we can ever behold. And Jesus, in his ministry, tells of another parable of his kingdom one day.

In Matthew 13:44, he says, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found, but then covered up again. And in his joy goes and sells everything he has to buy that field. The point Jesus is making is that the kingdom established through his death and his resurrection is so valuable that losing everything on earth but getting the kingdom is the happiest trade off you will ever make. You will do it in your joy. When you understand what the kingdom truly is, all the gold, all the silver of the world cannot compare.

A man finds this treasure and in his joy, sells everything he has to purchase this field so he can have that treasure. And so this is what it means to be a Christian. The cost of discipleship is a true cost. The decision you make to be a Christian is a real decision. It is something you must weigh up.

No one inherits the kingdom because their parents once believed. No one can bequeath their faith to their grandchildren. The kingdom isn't drifted into through some Christian vibe, to quote the great Dennis DeNudo from The Castle. The vibe, your honour. Jesus says in Luke 9:23, whoever would follow me, let them deny themselves.

Let them take up their cross daily and then follow me. For whoever seeks to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for my sake, saves it. What does it look like to try and save your life and then actually lose it? Just to value the gold and the silver and the bronze kingdoms of this world, to be confused by their glory, to be swept up in their power, the impressiveness of their size, and is to sell your soul to pursue their lifestyle, believing that their pinnacles, their peaks are the greatest things that we will ever experience in this life.

Yet the kingdom of Christ is not a molehill like them. It is a mountain. The kingdom of Christ, in its supreme value, turns gold into rust. So friend, let me ask you, have you sold your soul to the gold and the silver of this world? Are you pursuing man-made kingdoms even as the kingdom of God is turning into a mountain all around you?

As Jesus reigns from his throne today and patiently, but resolutely conquers every opposition to his throne one by one, why have you decided to side with the kingdom of man? Friend, I want to tell you that they're not really kingdoms, even of gold and silver. They are kingdoms of rust and decay. Worldviews that will turn into dust will be useless to you when your life is measured by the true measuring scales of God's final judgment. The kingdom that you want is the hidden treasure under the soil, overlooked, undervalued, but glorious.

A true disciple is a true citizen of this kingdom. And they have found this treasure, and in their joy, have handed all things over to the king to receive this kingdom. The great joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the crucified and the risen king, is that this kingdom is free to receive. And it is free regardless of what you've done, regardless of what you feel or just how far you think you've fallen from God. Yes.

It's true. Jesus demands it all. You have to sell all to receive this kingdom. But it's not gold and silver. It's not the money in your pockets that he asks for.

Those things will also crumble to dust. The all that Jesus demands is not even our gifts or our talents, the work of our hands because this is a kingdom cut out of the mountain by no human hands. What Jesus demands by your all is the all of you. He demands that you bring him your sin. He demands that you bring him your pain.

He demands that you bring him your hope and your joys, your allegiance and even your rebellion. That you will bring him your fears, your doubts, your effort, your worship, and sure, offer him your gifts and your abilities, your sacrifices and your money. Bring him all of you. But do this not because you expect to somehow buy this kingdom. Bring all of you because you believe that Jesus is already king over it all.

No kingdom resists His. No power will defy Him. Eventually, all those things that we have used as reasons to resist, as reasons to avoid, all those things are crushed by the weight of His glory when He returns and He lays that final capstone on His kingdom. When that final trumpet is blown and He returns to the world, the same way as He ascended, that day He will be crowned by every eye and every tongue as the king of kings, the Lord of lords. May you be found to be in His kingdom, as His citizen that day.

May you be found welcoming and honouring and ushering Him down with lifted voice shouting, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb who was slain. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks, honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. O king of the kingdom.

O God of gods, Lord of lords, king of kings. We honour Your name. We praise Your nature and Your character. We thank you for Your grace and Your mercy. Lord, we want to be in that kingdom.

We want to be found among that throng of worshippers. For the empires of gold, silver, and bronze we have built up, or that we go to again and again. For the answers we seek in our own understanding, in the plans that we make that we know, Lord, are not truly Your plans. The solutions to our problems that we think may solve or ease the pain, but we know will just cause more. But we ask for forgiveness this morning.

We bring them to you as You demand it. We lay them before you as You tell us to. Will you receive it, wrap them up, and then throw them into the deepest sea where you will forget them and remember those sins no more. Lord, we ask that in our lives as citizens of Your kingdom, we will live as citizens, that we will honour the laws of the land, that we will honour the principles of that kingdom, that we will strive to be good citizens because it is our joy to do so. And so Father, grant us eyes to see those areas where Your Son's lordship, Jesus Christ, still does not reign completely.

Help us to identify that. Help us to chip away at those areas of resistance, those hard places, those footholds. And Father, more and more, present to Your Son Jesus Christ the throne that He deserves. We pray these things with the empowering of Your Holy Spirit who works holiness, strength, power in our hearts and lives. And we thank you even for His presence with us this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen.