The Four Kingdoms and the Mountain
Focused not Frantic
Daniel 2:18
18He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Daniel 2:31-35
31“Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34While 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. 35Then 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.
The Four Kingdoms
Daniel 2:37-38
37Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
The Mountain
Daniel 2:35
35Then 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.
Daniel 2:44-45
44“In the time of those kings, 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. 45This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
Mt. Zion – which in the Prophets is synonymous with Jerusalem and the temple
Mt. Sinai – the mountain where Moses spoke to God as a friend would
Garden of Eden – Genesis 2:10 says the water flowing from Eden separates into four headwaters.
Ezekiel 28:13-14
. . . in Eden, the garden of God . . . the holy mountain of God
Mark 1:15
15“The time has come,”he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
“The full Gospel is not: ‘Jesus died for your sins, and if you will just believe this fact, then you will be forgiven and can go to heaven when you die.'”
“The full Gospel is not: ‘Jesus is all about love, so reach out to the poor and marginalized and love them to make God’s love known in this world.'”
“The full Gospel is not: ‘Center your life on the programs of the church and support it, and it will take care of you now and for eternity.'”
-Bill Gaultiere
The Gospel is the good news that God’s kingdom has come near in Jesus Christ, and through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, the powers of sin and death no longer have the last word.
Revelation 21:10
10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.