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One golden head, ten fragile toes, and all the imagery in between were kingdoms who would relinquish rule to the stone not cut with human hands. Vaunted empires would turn to dust.
Christ the Divine stone would become a great mountain and fill the earth. At the Divine advent, Rome indeed entered a stage of decline and gave way to Christendom and Western Civilization.
A couple of chapters later, King Nebuchadnezzar sent a communique regarding Christ. He announced that:
“All peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell on the earth: Peace be multiplied to you … How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:1-3)
One of history’s early Christmas cards from one of its great leaders.
Daniel made such an impression on Nebuchadnezzar that he made Daniel “ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.” (Daniel 2:48)
And the rest, of course, is history. The “wise men” of Babylon became schooled in the Christian eschatology Daniel provided. The foundation of Matthew 2:1 re-connects us with Daniel when it records, “Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?’”
Of course, “he” is Jesus, the stone which would come in the midst of the Roman Empire and fill the whole earth. (Daniel 2:35)
Isaiah, writing prior to the days of Daniel, had already revealed that at the incarnation of Jesus, “the government shall be upon his shoulder … of the increase of his government … there will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)
All this builds on the promises to Abraham that “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.” (Genesis18:18) The “filling the earth” portion of the divine vision to Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel was made the central focus of Christ’s instructions to the church for all ages when he told us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10)
It was at the core of the final commission of Christ to his people when he commissioned us to “make disciples of all nations.”
Abraham is not only the father of the church (Romans 4:16), but also the father of the nations (Romans 4:17)
This Christmas season, Handel’s Messiah is being played in concert halls all over the world. The church has been mantled to employ those cultural pathways to make disciples of all the people of the world.
Join us January 10 as we welcome the 2024 season.
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