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More Things Are Wrought by Prayer . . .

We’re studying through Daniel in this month-long series. And as the days roll by, I’m going to show you how each story in the first half of the book, holds the key to understanding a prophecy in the second half of the book. If we get the key point of each story, we’ll know what to look for when we get to the corresponding prophecy in the second half of the book. So the stories are very, very important. They’re not just “stories!” And that brings me to a contemporary story to begin today.

In 2005 American Lance Armstrong won the French 2,300-mile Tour de France for the seventh time, then retired to spend more time with his children. A short time later he was riding with the President at his ranch in Texas.

Back in 1996 Lance learned he had cancer that had spread to his abdomen, lungs, and brain. He wrote his will, and seriously questioned he’d ever ride another race. But he almost never gave up hope. He suffered the rigors of chemotherapy, and after each series got right back on his bike, and in an almost unbelievable comeback won cycling’s most prestigious ward, the Tour de France, more times than any other cyclist in history.

Which is a reminder that all of us are in a great race. But ours is not a road race, it’s an interplanetary race. And as we approach the end of this race, the pressures increase, and our concentration needs to be undisturbed. In an important way, Daniel chapter 2 (which we opened yesterday) is about this race. I believe that none of the chapters of Daniel (not one of them!) is to be viewed primarily through the lens of world history, world empires, world leaders, or world events. Daniel’s chief focus is not the world. That’s just background, window-dressing if you will, an interest grabber. His real point is to paint pictures of Jesus that will arrest our attention. Daniel wants you to see Jesus in all His caring, inviting ways, to be intimately acquainted with His intercessory grace because that’s fundamental to getting through each day. He wants you to know He’s your very personal friend who’s in this race with you. He’s your Coach, your must enthusiastic supporter. And He’s an intimate of God the Father with whom we all desire to worship at the end of the age, and with Whom you can talk in prayer every day.

Yesterday we noted that when king Nebuchadnezzar, the new king of Babylon, had a dream, he asked his wisest advisors for help. They could not help, and the king was urged to turn to the recent POW Daniel, who said his God could tell the king the meaning of his dream. All he needed was a little time to talk to his God. When Daniel returned to his rooms and talked to his fellow POWs Shadrack, Meshak, and Abednego, they immediately turned to God in prayer.

When in desperation, isn’t that what we all do—or should do? These four Jewish teenagers spent some time in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, while the king waited impatiently, I imagine, for Daniel to return and give the meaning of his disturbing dream. Daniel records some of what happened as he prepared to stand before the king of the Empire of Babylon. Listen to the beautiful hymn sung by these four young men after God answered their prayer for knowledge and understanding. It’s recorded here in Daniel 2:20-23.

Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever,
Wisdom and power are his,
He changes times and seasons,
He sets up kings and deposes them,
He gives wisdom to the wise,
And knowledge to the discerning,
He reveals deep and hidden things,
He knows what lies in darkness,
And light dwells in him,
I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers,
You have made known to me what we asked of you,
You have made known to us the dream of the king.

Only after a time of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving did Daniel return to the royal chamber while his three friends continued in prayer.

When Daniel stood before the king, he explained the meaning of one of the best-known dreams ever recorded. In his dream, Daniel reminded the king that he had seen a sculpture, or statue, of a man. The various parts of the sculpture were constructed of different metals: head fashioned from gold, chest and arms from silver, lower torso from brass, legs from iron, and feet a hopelessly crumbling mixture of iron and common clay. While the main body gleamed in the glow of brilliant sunshine, the king had seen a massive boulder carved out of a distant mountain, which flew at the statue and struck it in the feet. The statue shattered, and the bolder grew to encompass the entire planet.

The king confirmed that this was precisely what he had dreamed.

Daniel continued—and I’m reading Daniel 2:36–44.

"This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king . . . You are that head of gold. "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay . . . And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
"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.”
And from our perspective looking back, there’s no way we could improve on this remarkable summary of history from 600 BC down to our own time. And all revealed in answer to the prayers of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in their private rooms in the royal palace of Babylon. In a later dream or vision in Daniel chapter 7, Daniel named the first three of these kingdoms, Babylon, Persia, Greece, which we know was followed by Rome, then on through centuries of chaos and division, war and political manipulation during the Christian era. And so it will be until God says, “No more. You’ve had your opportunity with your little petty kingdoms, you’ve tried your hand at bringing meaning to life in the world and it’s been hopelessness from start to finish. Now, it’s my turn.”
Nebuchadnezzar was deeply touched by the explanation. He knew now for certain that his empire would not be eternal, that others would replace it; that there would be changing patterns of political life. But he also saw history moving to a fixed and inevitable end. God will have his way, God will establish his kingdom, and He still invites each human being to be part of it.

In the New Testament Jesus picks up the two key points of this epic and builds on them. From Daniel, Jesus took the metaphor of a “kingdom” not an earthly one but a heavenly one, and proclaimed it everywhere he went. Over 100 times in the Gospels you read the expressions “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God.”

Jesus also took the metaphor of the stone. He told the disciples that he would build his church on a rock or great stone. And He told the church authorities that the great stone rejected by ecclesiastical authorities was in reality the cornerstone, the key foundation for the building of his kingdom, the kingdom of grace, in preparation for the kingdom of glory at the end of time. Yes, Jesus is the rock. And using the language of Daniel 2, He once spoke and explained,

“He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed” (Matthew 21:44, NIV).

There it is, Daniel’s language precisely.

The central focus, the core meaning, the heart of Daniel 2 is Jesus! You can get the history right and miss the message!

Which brings us back to the place where we began, Lance Armstrong’s magnificent win at the Arch de Triomphe. To paraphrase the well-known words of Hebrews 12:1, 2: You are being watched by a great crowd throughout the cosmos, and all of them are intensely interested in how you are doing in the race of your life. So prepare carefully, and daily, by keeping your eyes on Jesus. He’s your coach and your Friend. And because of His connections, the two of you will soon have an audience with the King of kings!