This was a catastrophe that was going to affect four young men that God had placed in the centre of His will.

Through no fault of their own they were facing death.

When Nebuchadnezzar had this brilliant idea in 1:3-5 it was in the plan of God that these four particular young men (v.6) would be chosen.

God’s plan for the children of Israel in Babylon hinged upon these four. They were so important! How could that same plan go ahead under dire circumstances?

Yes, their future looked so limited. Because of the antics of the magicians and the astrologers they faced a terrible death … that was coming upon them so rapidly.

Where do we find them? What do we find them doing? We find Daniel coming to them for the express purpose of seeking the face of God.

These were dark, dark days. Who was to know where the wrath of this cruel and powerful Nebuchadnezzar would end up!

“Why should God choose us out for the task in ch.1 in order for His plan to be destroyed?”

Have you ever found yourself being confronted with you felt very definitely was God’s will for you, and then a short time later it seems everything is caving in; but nevertheless at the beginning, all the signs, all the passages of Scripture you read, all the pointers seemed to be taking you along a very definite road … and you stepped out in faith?

Pearl and I were married just about a year when we decided to go across to College in Paris.

	Many of our friends thought we were being silly, “Why don’t you go to a college in Belfast? What do you have to go away to France for?”
	We left … and the Lord had simply provided us with the airfare to London, the train fare to the south coast, the boat fare to France, the train fare to Paris and on to the College.
	We had the £400 each for the first term’s fees. What about the second term, and the third term?
	But we believed that was where God wanted us at that time, … and He provided the funds for the second term, and the third term and everything we needed in between.
	And if that wasn’t good enough … we came back with £100 in our pockets!

On 1^st October, 1987 we were leaving our home and coming out the front door we had a phone call from the Principal of the Baptist College in Glasgow, “Are you still coming across?” he asked. Yes, we had everything packed in the lorry outside,

	“Why not stay in Northern Ireland and get a church? … stay among your own people!”
	The Saturday before we left I was in the back of an army land rover and one of my friends said to me, “I suppose you have all your arrangements made.”
	But we hadn’t. We had looked into them … but we hadn’t them made. … But we believed God was directing us across to Scotland, even though I hadn’t been called to a church!
	From the Saturday until the following Thursday evening the Lord provided the lorry to bring us across, at a rate far below what we could have imagined, with all the fares (boat, petrol and diesel) paid, and with £1500 in our pockets. When God opens the doors He provides!
	With my meningitis it seemed, - according to the doctors, - that I wouldn’t be fit to continue in the Ministry. … God had other plans!

When God’s people seek God’s face, no matter how uncertain the moment God can turn it round to suit His purposes and plan.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah knew where to turn. The king was going to put them to death … but then the Sovereignty of God stepped in!

They believed God had a plan and purpose for bringing them into the closer counsel of the king Nebuchadnezzar and they turned aside to seek the face of God.

Have you proved God? I’m sure you have, because I have.

When you trust Him He doesn’t turn away.

Surely, if you as a Christian were to win the lottery and go and buy yourself a beautiful big pub and nightclub in the heart of Edinburgh … He would turn away from you …

 But when you follow Him down the road that He leads you along, … even though you can’t see round the next corner … you can trust Him!

And that is what Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah had learned, … and that is Who they were placing their trust in when they came before Him to pray (v.18).

Here is the next lesson we learn: when God’s people seek God’s face …

That’s a promise! Once again, consider their surroundings,

	… the beauty and glory of Babylon,
	… the splendour of its gardens and great halls,
	… the wisdom of its occupants.

But we don’t find our four friends going before Nebuchadnezzar and falling on their knees begging for him to save them.

Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t their last chance; no … instead, they came face to face with God’s glory.

Read this again, … as Daniel was in the quiet place God came to him in the night vision.

20 Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: 21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: 22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. 23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.

When all the other magicians and astrologers were quaking in their sandals Daniel was on his knees!

He wasn’t praying to a puny, impotent god made from wood or metal; neither was it a ‘last hope’ God (“I’ve tried everything else, now I’m trying Him!”)

This God to Whom he was speaking was the eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, in control, God Who reveals His will at the most appropriate time, … and Daniel believed that no situation is so dark that the light of God will not fail to shine through it.

This was no idol, engraved in stone or wood, - this was Jehovah God Who had reached down into the life of Daniel and brought him into His service, v.23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.

This episode in Daniel’s life was the basis for the rest of this fantastic book because this was when Daniel and his friends saw a fresh vision of God … in the place of prayer.

Where do God’s people see God’s glory?

… when they take time to earnestly seek His face in prayer.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah would only see God’s glory when they sincerely met Him in the place of prayer.

Our prayertime this evening is the place where we can bring before God those who are ill in the fellowship (and it’s altogether right to do that); we can bring before Him the meetings of the week and the weekend; we can bring before Him what we hope to be involved in next week …

But perhaps what is the most important is this: … catching a sight once more of Who God is, - not simply of what He can give us, - but of Who He is.

Don’t we need to capture again that it is simply not the way of it that God is there for us (in the same way that you rub the magic bottle and out pops the genie); God is not a ‘magic fix’; surely, what He wants to see again is His people there before Him!

… In just the same way Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah approached Him,

They gloried in Him, they trusted Him for their future, they praised Him as being high above all His creation.

Throughout the Bible you will find … when God’s people seek God’s face … God’s people see God’s Glory.

Let’s remember that in our prayertime this evening.

	He wants to hear how we love Him, - and each true child of God has the ability to tell Him,
	He wants to hear how we trust Him, and know that He has all things under His control.
	He wants to hear that we are not confident in ourselves or in our own abilities but we are looking to Him because we believe that our God is Sovereign.

This society in Babylon was idolatrous to the core. It had conquered so much of the then-known world and it had chosen the best of all religions on offer.

Babylon was in control, - its enemies had fallen, their lands had been captured, their peoples imprisoned.

It was Nebuchadnezzar’s intention to rule from the throne of Babylon for many, many years to come.

Into this society were brought a people from a small country, whose capital was Jerusalem,

	They were a people who had already suffered severe captivity in Egypt,
	They had to fight for every inch of ground that had belonged to them following their settlement in the Promised Land,
	They had their own God, and perhaps they were the only nation to have been monotheistic, - they were indeed a people different to all the other nations that had fallen to Babylon.

But God had placed His people in Babylon, - they had sinned against Him and this was their punishment in order to bring a remnant out of them back unto Himself.

They had not wandered aimlessly into Babylon, and neither were they there because of the powerfulness of Nebuchadnezzar; they were there because of …

Why did God allow such a wicked nation as the Babylonians to overrun His own beloved people?

Habakkuk asked this question also. He couldn’t understand how God could allow it (see Hab. 1).

But God set the mind of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem and the walls of the city were torn down, the temple desecrated, the people dragged off into captivity.

God had warned the children of Israel that He would bring about such judgement but time and time again they ignored the warnings his true prophets had brought and they chose instead to believe the false prophets who brought them the message they always wanted to hear.

God’s Word was fulfilled in Babylon. What He had spoken through the prophets had come to pass. The plan of God was performed and no-one was able to interrupt it or to change it in any way.

Now, central to the plan of God at this time was the people of God. The reason they were in Babylon was because of their disobedience to Him, and through these sets of circumstances we now find before this pagan king … in a dream …

Here is what was troubling the king: even though he had set up all kinds of idols he had now come face-to-face in a dream with an image, the likes of which even he had never seen before.

This was not an idol, as such, but a statue in human form. It is made up out of different components, but essentially it is a human form that is about to be described.

It is true and accurate to say that essentially all the world powers are as one since they are human in nature, … and it also is understandable that Nebuchadnezzar saw this image as being ‘terrible’, - human beings have caused more destruction and terror than any other of God’s creation.

Daniel begins to describe the image:

	(v. 32) You will notice that it begins with finery and beauty but quickly deteriorates.
	Its head was made of pure gold,
	Its chest and its arms were of silver,
	Its belly and its thighs were of brass, - bronze or copper.
	(v.33) Its legs were made of iron,
	Its feet were made partly from iron and partly from clay.

This image was completely formed and finished.

Then something happened: a stone was cut out (v.34) without hands, in other words, an outside ‘influence’ – God – initiated a work to destroy this image.

This stone smashed the feet of the image and broke them to pieces (v.34) and then the rest of the image came thundering down on top (v.35).

All the gold, silver, brass, iron, clay lay in a pile of dust, which the wind blew away (v.35b).

The stone that smote the feet of the image then became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

After having relayed the dream to Nebuchadnezzar Daniel now sets out to interpret it.

Thou art this head of gold (v.38). This man Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful king. Great and all as the Pharaohs of Egypt were their authority compared to his was only on a local scale.

Out of the new world order that Daniel was beginning to describe Nebuchadnezzar was this powerful head of gold.

He had authority second to none; he had wealth second-to-none; he had conquered nations that had never been conquered before.

This man and what he had done was ‘a legend in his time’.

And Daniel stood before him and told him all that he had was because of the purpose of God, v.37 the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.

But notice too that this ‘head of gold’ referred to more than simply the man Nebuchadnezzar, it also referred to the ‘kingdom’ he ruled over.

The word ‘kingdom’ is an important one because v.39 emphasises it again, - it is not merely a king that is being brought to the fore … but a ‘kingdom’.

In v.39, after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

The second kingdom is made of silver, the third of brass, and the fourth of iron and clay, - it is becoming less and less pretty/ornate as time passes, … but notice that the intention remains the same, v.39b shall bear rule over all the earth, i.e. world domination (it is the basis of the image to fulfil its desire of world domination).

Regarding the head of brass, - that simply refers to the kingdom of Babylon (v.37). We are not yet given the meaning of the rest of the image, - that comes later in chs. 7,8,10.

But there is an interesting note here in these ‘kingdoms’ that pursue world domination.

Babylon is represented as the head of gold, - it is unified, it is not divided up into many different sections, - it is one,

It is not sectioned into the ears, nose, eyes, - it is taken all as one (v.32a).

However, there is a breakdown that begins with the second kingdom for it consists of the breast and his arms (v.32b),

The third section is also divided, his belly and his thighs (v.32c)

And the fourth, legs and feet and toes (v.41).

There is a continuous breaking up of the world’s powerbase as we follow down through the symbolism of the image.

Its interpretation.

	v.32 This image’s head was of fine gold, - Babylonian empire
	his breast and his arms of silver, Medo-Persian empire
	his belly and his thighs of brass, - Greek empire
	v.33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay, Roman empire.

Notice that seen as a whole, this image is ‘Gentile’ in nature, i.e. in opposition to the people of God. They all combine together to form an image in opposition to God (firstly) and His people.

As the image progresses it becomes more base and more desperate, - the head of gold and the feet of clay, vv.40-43.

It also becomes more divided, - i.e. toes, there is great diversity in this ‘kingdom’, and that is also alluded to with the mixture of iron and clay (v.41).

As iron crushes so does this ‘kingdom’.

The head of gold (Babylon) was crushed by the ‘silver chest and arms’ of Medo-Persia, which in turn was crushed by the ‘brass belly and thighs’ of Greece, which in turn was smashed by the iron of the Roman empire.

Also during the fourth ‘kingdom’ there will be a further break-up, because v.42 as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

It’s an alliance that shares a weak basis for human co-operation (also v.43) and will eventually crumble.

Something happens now that is completely unconnected with the image; during the rule of the fourth ‘kingdom’, - the Roman Empire, - v.34 a stone was cut out without hands

To what/Whom does the stone refer? Simply … Mt. 21:42 The stone which the builders rejected … the Lord Jesus Christ.

During the ‘reign’ of which of these ‘kingdoms’ was the stone cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces (v.34)?

It was during the reign of the fourth ‘kingdom’, that symbolised the rule of the Roman empire.

When was Jesus born? Lk. 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. This was when the Lord Jesus came to our world and the Gospel of Grace instituted.

Since that time the people of God have been saved and brought into the Kingdom of God and have been separate from the kingdom of the world’s dominion.

And look at v.44, in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

God’s Kingdom, of which we are now apart, has been established by Him,

There is no fear that it will ever be destroyed, - the kingdoms of the earth shall come and go, but God’s Kingdom will never fall or be defeated.

	It is an eternal Kingdom for it shall stand for ever.
	It will completely triumph … v. 45  Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold.

There is no obstacle to God’s almighty power and authority.

I believe very definitely and very sincerely we are presently witnessing the latter part and development of the fourth ‘kingdom’, - but we’ll come back to it again as Daniel elaborates throughout the rest of his visions.

It teaches us that the plans and authorities of men and kingdoms are continuing throughout history … until the present day.

Their plans have never changed, - they aspire after doing away with any need of the Sovereign God and replacing Him with the fulfilment of their own human ambitions.

The crowds who built the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11) have never gone away and have continually resurfaced in opposition to God; these four kingdoms are testimony to that.

As Daniel’s visions develop and unfold we shall see they have much in common with man’s desires for our present world.

On the other hand, the stone shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Daniel and his friends were testimony to this: they tried to burn them, throw him into a den of lions, they told lies about him,

He, - if you like, - was a type of a little stone that neither Nebuchadnezzar or Darius could destroy, and the people for whom he contended God has kept them until this day.

God’s plans are God’s business. He always sees them fulfilled.

He is the Sovereign God and His people are the instruments He uses even in the midst of the rule of the four ‘kingdoms’.