October 2023 - Caesar Salad anyone?
Here’s a little word association game for you. What’s the first thing that comes into your mind when you hear the word ‘Caesar’? For me it’s ‘salad’. I guess ‘dog food’ runs a close second. I find that really telling. You see if you were around in the 1st Century you would have undoubtedly answered ‘Rome’. Julius Caesar was the Roman general and politician who named himself dictator of the Roman Empire. Caesar was also used as a title and form of address for Roman emperors. For Christian believers back in the First Century, Rome is all you knew. In the days before long distance travel, you couldn’t escape its clutches. It was all you could see both up ahead and in your rear-view mirror. Would there ever be a time when this wasn’t the case? Well, our little word association game would indicate that there would be.
What is true of Caesar in the First Century BC is also true of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon in the Sixth Century BC. Daniel and his friends find themselves in Exile. They have been taken away from their homeland. The rod of Babylon is what they have just experienced and the might of Babylon is all they can see. Would there ever be a time when this isn’t the case? Well, Daniel chapter 2 invites them to look beyond the present to both see and play the long game. Here is an invitation to trust the promise making and promise keeping LORD who from everlasting to everlasting is God.
Who’s still reigning in the present?
Nebuchadnezzar had a bad dream. No doubt this was the type that wakes you up in a cold sweat. It shook him up and he wanted answers.
You can tell that from the fact that he summoned all the wisest owls (v.2) from his Kingdom to try and help him uncover its meaning. There was even the added threat that they’d be torn limb from limb (v.5) if they couldn’t tell him the answer. No pressure then lads. However, no amount of hocus pocus or compus mentus could bring them an answer. They were stumped and would soon be chopped! Step forward Daniel. He knew, worshipped and sought the God who changes times and seasons and removes and sets up Kings (v.21). When man is spent on resources this God is only just beginning to dip into His. He is the revealer of deep and hidden things (v.22). Message to Daniel’s readers? Whilst everything else may suggest otherwise, the Lord is still sovereignly reigning in the present. His rule is not confined to Israel’s now swallowed up borders - he rules over everything!
Who’ll still be standing in the end?
But back to the dream. God might have revealed the meaning to Daniel but he still had to convey that to the King. That’s a scary prospect! What if the interpretation is wrong? What if the King is in denial or doesn’t like it? Regardless, Daniel speaks. Not only does he know what the dream was, he knows what it means. The mighty statue made of gold, silver and bronze (v.31) will be broken in pieces. It’s quite the image. These represent not just Nebuchadnezzar’s Kingdom but also a second, third and ever fourth Kingdom that will follow his.
Two things are key to see. All of these Kingdom’s will be, in time, smashed (v.35). The rock by which they are smashed will become a great mountain that will fill the whole earth. In the Empires version of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Rock beats gold, silver and bronze. Message to Daniel’s readers? The LORD’s Kingdom is the everlasting Kingdom. All others will fall, but His will remain.
In response the King gives homage to Daniel’s God of Kings and Lord of Lords (v.47). Imagine being an original reader of this and discovering the most powerful person alive at the time confess that. Daniel is honoured and promoted. Presumably Daniel has saved, not only his own life, but also the wise men of the Kingdom from their date at the gallows.
What can you see as you look out on our world today? Do our cultural moment with its trends and values cause you to despair? Will there ever be a time when this wasn’t the case? Well, take a minute to think about Daniel’s Rock kingdom. Years after Nebuchadnezzar’s dream Paul would write to the church at Philippi, who themselves we’re living under the power of Rome, about the crucified and risen Jesus;
‘Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.’
(Philippians 2:9-11)
