“And About That Statue in the Dream . . . .” – Daniel 2:27-45

Our plan was to preach the events of Daniel 2 this Sunday at Harderwyk.  That includes 49 verses, all related to a single event, so I knew I’d want to focus clearly on the central point of the passage and what the Spirit would have for us there.  I planned to communicate the dream and it’s interpretation, vss 27-45 pretty succinctly so I could give adequate focus to the larger message of the narrative.

Then I did a quick google search for a graphic representation of the statue.  Yikes!  Friends, I don’t recommend you do that on this one.  Let me explain why.

It’s crazy out there!  Most of the graphics went well past what the text said and began to connect different materials in the statue to different historical empires that would follow.  The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans.  The Roman Catholic Church.  Great Britain.  The United States.  There were “prophetic interludes” to stretch the statue over centuries of human history. Where would it end?!?

I actually found one graphic that presented the statue, and the different materials of its construction (this is in the text, so I’m good thus far) and then began to connect each material to different known historical civilizations that followed (not uncommon, but stepping beyond what is written, so I’m starting to get a bit wary) and ends by pointing to the United States as the New Jerusalem (Honestly!  I had not every realized that there is a “U” and an “S” and an “A” together in the word “Jerusalem”!) and the Rock was a “Stone Mountain”  that made me think of the laser light attraction by that name outside of Atlanta, GA.  I’m not including the link to this graphic.

So be careful!  Daniel, with its dreams and visions, is one of those books that seems to gather wild speculation and secret meanings that invite one to a feeling of special knowledge and the prideful sense of spiritual superiority that follow along.  The Apostle Paul warns us saying, “avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.” (Titus 3:9, II Timothy 2:33, Colossians 2:4)

The dream and its interpretation are part of the story, and there are things to learn here, for example: 

• God has history under control.  He knows empires before they rise and fall because history is moving at His direction.
• Things are headed downhill.  The empires that follow will be increasing less valuable and stable.
• There is something important coming though - “the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands” - that is clearly a foreshadowing of Christ and the Gospel.

As we work our way through Daniel in the weeks ahead, we will deal more with dreams and visions and how best to understand what they mean for us.  Part of that is learning to discern and separate interpretative schemes and perspectives that actually obscure the Gospel.  We want to keep “the main thing as the main thing.”  And frankly, the “main thing” in the Bible is not about arming me with some secret knowledge that puffs me up (I Cor 8:1) with a sense of self-importance that obscures Jesus and His Gospel.

 Make sure to join us for worship, by livestream or by recording as Aaron, Kyle and I try to make that “main thing” compelling, alive and life-giving this Sunday. 

CLICK HERE for Harderwyk LiveStream page on our website.