The Rock Became A Mountain

Daniel 2:31-45

Meditation and Devotional from David Niednagel, Pastor/Teacher, Evansville, IN.  (David uses the S.O.A.P. method for his morning devotional:  study, observe, apply, pray.  (Friends: David’s recent morning study has been to focus on passages in the Old Testament that proclaimed that God would establish His King and Kingdom in the earth.  That God would send a Messiah.  Jesus is that promised Messiah.  We will continue to follow David on this subject.)

This was written about 200 years after the Isaiah passages we shared previously.

Daniel 2:31  “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it …  44 … the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands. 

In this prophecy God told Nebuchadnezzar that his kingdom of Babylon would be replaced by the Medo-Persians, then the Greeks, then the Roman, and then His Messiah would come – who would smash and replace all earthly kingdoms with His eternal Kingdom. A picture of power and majesty above every earthly kingdom! So we can understand why after hearing the promise to David, and the ones through Isaiah and this one in Daniel, all the Jews, including Joseph and Mary would have expected a mighty king who would conquer all other world powers and exalt the nation Israel above all the others. And He will! But passages like Isa 53, (which we will look at next time) show God’s plan had more to it than the Jews could have imagined.

Lord, You are the Almighty One. Everything You say is true and will happen just as You said. I  praise You that Jesus will replace every human government with righteousness, mercy and justice. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is LORD to the glory of God! Help me never be discouraged by the evil in this world. May I live with purpose and confidence in You more than what I see around me. But help me also realize that how and when You fulfill Your promises may not fit my/our expectations and that You call us to trust and follow Jesus and all He endured. Amen