Verse by verse teaching - Daniel 2:35 "A Stone Becomes a Mountain"

Now Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 2, how many of you are enjoying our study of the book of Daniel? Man, I tell you what, I get through studying sometimes and I'll finish my sermon and I'll think, "Boy, I hope there is going to enjoy this as much as I have." Because boy, is it so rich, so rich. Daniel chapter 2 verse 35 is what we'll be expounding this morning. The title of the message is "A Stone Becomes a Mountain." "A Stone Becomes a Mountain." Get ready to get blessed. Here we go. Now we've had an amazing time learning about King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The image represents Satan. Its various body parts represent the various world powers. And the degrading material from gold to silver to brass to iron and then iron of clay represents the degrading power of Satan's kingdom over time. And as your eyes move down the image from the head to the toe, the world powers move forward in time. It's such an amazing piece of communication from God and His Word to man. Now we saw last week in Nebuchadnezzar's dream that God cut a stone out of a mountain. Not man, it was cut out without hands, remember. God cut a stone from a mountain. And that stone then struck the image on its feet and then broke it to pieces. Which symbolizes Jesus, we learned, who is the stone. Destroying the rebellious world system at the end of this world. So we can study verse 35 in context this morning. We're going to begin reading in verse 32. Daniel said in verse 32, "This image's head was of fine gold, his breasts 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, Nebuchadnezzar, sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your precious Word. Thank You for those who've tuned in this morning, those who've come this morning. Thank You for all the workers. Thank You for the volunteers. Thank You for the teachers, the servers. Thank You for those who just come faithfully to give, and to listen, and to learn. And Father, I pray all eyes will be on You this morning, And I pray you'll bless the hearts of your people and glorify the name of your Son. His name we pray, Amen. So the stone comes down, smites the image on the feet and breaks them to pieces. Verse 35, we continue now with our verse this morning. Then, that is after the stone smote the feet and broke the feet into pieces, Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together. Now remember the term "broken to pieces" means to be utterly and irreparably destroyed. Remember again that as we move down the different parts of the image, The head of gold, chest and arms of silver, the abdomen and the thighs of brass, and the legs of iron, and the feet of iron and clay. As we move down the different parts of the image, remember we move down the chronological timeline of this world. In the major world powers that Satan uses to promote his rebellious form of government, There was a head of what? Gold. There was a chest and arms of what? Silver. There were a belly and thighs of brass. There were legs of iron and then feet that had some clay mixed with iron. Now, I want you to notice in verse 35 that all the pieces of this image are now recited in the opposite direction. You notice that? They're now recited in the opposite direction of time. As you go down the image, you progress in time. Therefore, as you go up the image, you go back in time. So while we were once viewing the progression of time into the future going down the image, verse 35 is now viewing the progression of time into the past. Take your pen and underscore the phrase "broken to pieces" underscore the word, I'm sorry, circle the word together. Underscore the phrase "broken to pieces together" and either put a double underline or a circle or something to emphasize that word together. So what do we have here? These pieces are named individually, but they are destroyed collectively. You see that? The pieces are named individually, but they are destroyed, broken, collectively, jointly, together. You see, the stone strikes the feet. That's the end of the image, right? The image ends at his feet. Man, if you go from my head to toe, we say that all the time. From the head to the toe, don't we? How can we stop at the toe all the time? Because that's the end of us. And so this image, that's the end of the image, that's the end of the devil's reign, that's the end of the godless world system, the Bible calls the times of the Gentiles. It's the end of it. And so the stone strikes the feet at the end of the image because it is at the end of this age. And the feet are different than the legs and the thighs and belly and the chest and arms and the head of gold. But when the feet are destroyed, the whole image is destroyed backwards in time. And that's because there's one enemy who is behind every part of that image. One enemy. The stone isn't simply striking the enemy's feet. He isn't simply destroying the world power that will exist in that day at the end of time. He is striking the enemy behind our enemies. I started to title this message "The Enemy Behind The Enemy". But I thought, no, I'd rather talk about the stone that becomes a mountain. But, that would have been a good, a good title. So, he strikes the enemy behind the enemy. It's one image with many parts, because you have one devil and many kingdoms over time. Make sense? So, when the enemy is struck on its feet, its head breaks in pieces as well. The same devil who influenced the godless kingdom of Babel in the book of Genesis under Nimrod. The one when God told him to scatter over all the earth, he said, "Nah, let's stay here, let's make a name for ourselves, let's build us a tower, we'll do this." And they're going to have this false worship and then have a kingdom that defies God and then God confuses their voices, their languages, and scatters them over the face of the earth. The same devil who influenced the godless kingdom of Nimrod in the book of Genesis was also behind the godless kingdom of Babylon, the book of Daniel, and behind every other godless empire and kingdom since that time. So when the image is struck on the feet, its head break in pieces as well. And when that happens, Daniel then recites the pieces of the image backward. It's almost like you could see, "Poom, poom, poom, poom, poom, poom." They break, they break, they break, they break, they break, poom! recites them backwards. You see what's happening here? When Jesus comes, He's not just going to stop the damage that sin is causing. He is going to eradicate the damage that sin has caused. All the way back to the very first time that Satan ever exercised any power in this world. And that was the Garden of Eden. It's going to go all the way back. And God is going to recover and redeem everything that was lost over time, all the way back to the Genesis. The image was smoked by Jesus on the feet, look back in your text, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. Now chaff is the whole part of wheat. You know, I love watching our birds get on our bird feeder. And they're very good at taking the chaff off of whatever grain of seed you've got. The little bitty seeds, they'll just take that beak and they'll spit that chaff out and they'll eat that seed. And so, in this particular case, it's the chaff of the grain. Let's say wheat, for example. And to put it in modern terminology, if you're not familiar with grain, if you're a younger person, it'd be similar to the shell on a peanut. And you've got to remove it before you eat the nut, right? The shell is no good. You throw the shell away. So to separate the chaff or the shell, you have to thrash. We call today thrash. You have to thrash or thresh the wheat to knock that shell loose and then separate that from the grain. In the Old Testament, they would put the wheat on the threshing floor and then they'd give it a good old-fashioned threshing. They'd beat that wheat, and they'd knock it loose, and thrash it, and God told Israel through the prophet Isaiah, speaking of the end times in Isaiah 41, verses 15 and 16, He said, "Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth. "Thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small." Notice what's happening here. God's speaking to His people and He's saying, "I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument." He's not saying, "I'm going to give you a new sharp threshing instrument." I'm going to make you. You're going to become a threshing instrument. And that threshing instrument is going to have teeth. You shall thresh what? The mountains. Now how many of y'all have ever threshed mountains before? Ever threshed mountains? What is the Lord talking about here? In Bible prophecy, a mountain is a kingdom. You might want to write that in your margin. In Bible prophecy, a mountain is a kingdom. You'll thresh mountains. I'm going to make you a threshing instrument. And you're going to thresh mountains. So, what he's saying is, I want to make you a victorious, powerful force. And you're going to go out and you're going to give the nations a good old fashioned thrashing. You're going to thrash mountains and beat them small. Beat them small. Now isn't that the same thing the stone's doing to the feet? Beating it to powder. Isn't this the same thing? Watch. and beat it small, and shall make the hills as chaff." You're going to destroy all your enemies. Israel couldn't get them destroyed under David and under Solomon and all of them. Man, they could never eradicate them, but under King Jesus. They'll eradicate them through the power of His cross and resurrection. The gospel will give them the power to overcome all enemies, in everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. In every rebellious kingdom in this world, every rebellious power is going to be put down when Jesus comes. Going to be beat small and made those hills, those mountains that seem so strong, those nations that seem so strong, that have been oppressing the people of God, become like chaff. Chaff. Now when they would beat the wheat and the chaff would come off of it, my little... It's getting hung up here. And the chaff would come off that wheat. What would happen is this, the wheat's heavier than the chaff. And so when the wind blew, and they'd have a windwing fan to get to throw it up in the air and when the wind blew, just blow the chaff away. It's similar to when you have a chimney and you're burning wood. The wood is so big and heavy when you put it in there, but when it's on fire, it turns to smoke. It goes out the chimney and you can see it and then suddenly it can't be seen no longer. That's how it's going to be when Jesus comes. The enemies of God will be seen no longer. We will be the victors in Jesus' name. Now watch what he says now in verse 16. Go to the next one. Thou shalt fan them. Talking about like a windwing fan. In the wind shalt carry them away. In the whirlwind shalt scatter them. "Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel." See, when Jesus comes back, it'll be destruction for the ungodly. It'll be deliverance for the godly. They'll be whining, we're going to be rejoicing. So the act of thrashing symbolizes the severity of God's judgment upon the ungodly. by which the chaff, that is those who do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, those chaff are separated from the grain. Those who do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this morning, in your... can we get a mic on here? Let's see here. How about yellow? Can we get yellow on? This morning, in our memory verse, I want Brother Doug to recite our memory verse again. Can you get it back out, please? I'm getting the microphone for y'all, but also for the folks online. "And ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." You see that word sever? That word sever? That's what we're talking about here. He says, "Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them. And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord." You're going to be a thrashing. You're going to be separating the wheat from the chaff is what I'm going to be doing when I come. And that's that severing. When you sever that wheat from that chaff. That's what God's judgment is going to do. So there's going to be a complete severing when Christ comes. The ungodly will go to their place. We'll never see them again. And the godly will be brought into the barn like grain. Speaking of Jesus in Matthew 3.12, John the Baptist said, "Whose fan," that's his winnowing fan with the chaff and the wheat, "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat," that's us, "into the garner, but he will burn up," remember this morning in Genesis to Jesus, how the judgment would be like fuel of fire, All right? All this is going to come together. He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So when the image is smitten, the unbelievers who belong to its kingdom are smitten right along with it. Jesus says, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and come again, I will receive you unto myself. Can you all say the end with me? That where I am, there ye may be also. When Jesus comes back, where He is, there we will be also. He's our King. But it goes the same with Antichrist. Where he is, there his followers will be also. That's why the book of Revelation says they were cast into the lake of fire of the devil and his angels. Where He is, there they'll be also. They're going to be driven away like chaff. The stone broke all the images, parts, and the pieces. Look back in your text in Daniel. And the wind carried them away. Just as the wind carries the chaff away from the threshing floor. Speaking of people who love God's Word, the Bible says in Psalm 1, 3 and 4, "And he that is the man who loves the Lord's word shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Look now in verse 4, "The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." So these mountains that were beat down just a minute ago and become like chaff and then they get blown away, that's the ungodly world powers that come to a complete end. Because Jesus when He returns, He's not sharing His kingdom authority with anybody. Nobody. When Jesus comes again, He's not just going to deliver the righteous, He's going to annihilate the wicked and remove every last one of them from the earth. Hosea chapter 13 verse 3 says, "Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney." You see it? You see the morning cloud, you see the fog, you see the smoke coming out of the chimney, you see the chaff before the wind blows, you see the dew when it's on the grass, but it doesn't take long and you don't see any of it. Chaff's blown away, the dew's dried up, the fog lifts. Daniel said, "The wind shall carry them away, not being the wheat that belonged to Christ's kingdom." It carried them away so thoroughly in fact, look back in Daniel, that no place was found None! Meaning after Jesus restores this world, you'll be able to search every place in this world. You'll be able to go to remote islands. They've got islands now that... They've got some places where the tribes have never been visited by normal people, regular people. They're wild people. They don't pay taxes. All they know is they're just still walking around and foraging like their ancestors did thousands of years ago. They don't know anything about God, but you know what's going to happen in the end? You'll be able to go to the most remote places of the world. Look under the rocks. Climb up high. Go down deep. Go in any place in the world you want to go. And you won't find a single person who does not love God and His Word, and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoices in the great salvation He's given. There was found no place for them. Speaking of that day, Psalm 37, 9 and 10 says, "For evil doers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place. You wonder where is the wicked? Where can I find the wicked? And it shall not be. You won't be able to find them anywhere. There will be no place found for them. Look back in your text. And the stone that smote the image that is on the feet became a great mountain. Oh wow! Is that good or what? Now taking what we've learned already this morning. The stone comes back, smites the image on the feet. God's people then become threshing instruments. And in the power of God, we overcome our enemies. And the mountains, the ungodly kingdoms, are beat down small, like powder, like chaff, are blown away. Those mountains, those kingdoms are no more. But now this stone that smoked the image on the feet, it doesn't remain a stone. Now the stone that was cut out of the mountain becomes a mountain. Now if that stone becomes a mountain, if the mountains that were beat down like chaff and powder, if those mountains were the ungodly kingdoms, what does this stone becoming a mountain signify? Huh? Kingdom of God. He's going to become King. Now there'll be no place found for the ungodly. You can't find any more. All you're going to find is a stone that set his people free, that destroyed the enemy, that broke the yoke off of their neck, off of our neck. That stone now becomes the mountain. One mountain. kingdom here on earth. That's what's taking place here. The stone, Jesus, becomes the mountain. So after Jesus restores this world, that stone that smote the image, Jesus is going to become a great mountain and that great mountain represents the kingdom of God and Jesus rule as king over the world. Zechariah chapter 8, Zechariah chapter 8 verse 3, prophesies of Jesus' return saying, "Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion." Wow! God is returning. He's gone. He came to Zion the first time and they crucified Him. And he's gone. But he's saying, "I'm coming back." This is the Old Testament, folks. It's in the New. So God has... The only way God can return to Zion is if He leaves Zion. If He comes to Zion, then leaves, then comes back. So he says, "Thus said the Lord, I am returned unto Zion." Zion is the capital of Israel. Zion is a mountain. Mount Zion. And as a mountain, it signifies the Kingdom of God, the capital of the world. Right? So he says, "I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called..." That is Jerusalem, where he comes back to. "That city shall be called a city of truth." And what? "The mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain." The mountain of the Lord of Hosts. So he says, I'm going to return. I the Lord am coming back. When he comes back, he's going to smite the image on the feet. Image is going to be destroyed. That stone is going to be a mountain. And so now he says, Jerusalem is going to be called the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, the holy mountain. Psalm 48. Psalm 48, verse 1 and 2. Also prophesies of Jesus' glorious reign as king, saying this, "A song and psalm for the sons of Korah, great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised." Where's he going to be praised at? In the city of our God. In the mountain of His holiness. for situation. The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north. The city of the great king. Stone becomes a mountain. He's going to be the great king. Situated in Jerusalem. Coming back to Mount Zion where David first reigned as king. Why is he coming back to Zion where David reigned, because God promised David he would sit on his throne. Jesus is a stone cut from the mountain of God, coming to earth to judge this wicked world and reign on his throne. And his kingdom or his mountain will cover the entire world, because the world will be his jurisdiction. He's going to take, He created the world, so He's going to reign over the world. He had no help creating it, He's going to have no help reigning over it. He's going to be King of kings and Lord of lords and His kingdom or His mountain is going to cover the entire. So Daniel said the stone smote the image, look now in your text, verse 35, the last part and filled what? Part of the earth? Most of the earth? The whole earth? The whole earth, the kingdom of God, from sea to shining sea and then some all the way around, top to bottom, is going to be ruled by God and His kingdom. Zechariah chapter 14 verse 9 prophesies of this very thing saying, "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth." You all see that? When he says the Lord shall be king over all the earth, that means the great mountain fills earth. God's going to rule as king over this world one day. The way he was intended to from the beginning. In that day, Zechariah says, shall there be one Lord in his name one. In other words, no competition. Who's the Lord? Well, that's King Jesus. There won't be any other Lord, no false god, no nothing. Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1 through 5 prophesies of this as well as we close, saying, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I, that is Isaiah, saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." Isn't it amazing? He's on a throne, but his train fills the temple. Do you know why? He rules on the basis of the covenant of Jesus' sacrifice. His train fills the temple. That's so good. "Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, with twain he did fly. And one, that is one seraphim, one angel, cried unto another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried. The house was filled with smoke. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." One day that King, the Lord of hosts, is going to, the whole earth is going to be filled with His glory as Isaiah said. The stone will come back, but He won't remain a stone. You see right now, Jesus is the stone. He's the babe in the manger that grew up. He was cut from the mountain, He was God who came in the flesh. He didn't come as the mountain, He came as a stone. But when all is said and done, it won't be the little babe in the manger that's reigning on the throne. It will be the Lord God Almighty who reigns on the throne, who Jesus is. Praise God, praise God, praise God. I am part of that kingdom because I believe on the King who died for me. Father, we thank you so much for this amazing, amazing book that you've given us called the Bible. Lord, you're so revealing. You're so kind and gracious to us, Lord, to teach us your Word. Thank you. You are the great teacher of man. Thanks for caring about us. Thank you for giving us your word so we can know what to expect. Lord, even though we have enemies today and even though the mountains, Father God, seem so strong and we so long for prosecution and judgment and justice in this world that seems to never come. But Lord, through your word, we know it's coming. And the mountains that are against God will be ground to powder and found no more. And the mountain that is God shall fill the earth and foreshall ever be. We thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.