A number of years ago, I found myself explaining to my oldest grandson how the wise men (Matthew 2) became wise and the story of how their predecessors became students in the Christian school Nebuchadnezzar founded for Babylonian wise men. (Daniel 2)
It was Nebuchadnezzar’s famous statue dream (Daniel 2) which brought Daniel front and center in the Babylonian Empire.
Daniel detailed the elements of the dream. From the golden head, to the fragile toes, to the stone not cut with human hands.
It was a picture of the sequence of kingdoms from Nebuchadnezzar to Rome. Divine eschatology was clearly revealed when the stone demolished each of statue’s sections (empires) and turned them to dust.
The stone (Christ) became a great mountain and filled the earth. Of course, at the advent of Christ, Rome entered a stage of decline which indeed gave way to what we know as Western Civilization.
A couple of chapters later, King Nebuchadnezzar sent a communique regarding Christ to “all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell on the earth: Peace be multiplied to you … How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:1-3)
One of history’s early Christmas cards
from one of its great leaders.
Daniel made such an impression on Nebuchadnezzar that he made Daniel “ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.” (Daniel 2:48)
And the rest, of course, is history.
The “wise men” of Babylon became schooled in the Christian eschatology Daniel provided. The foundation of Matthew 2:1 re-connects us with Daniel when it records, “Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?’”
Of course, “he” is Jesus, the stone which would come in the midst of the Roman Empire, and fill the whole earth. (Daniel 2:35)
Isaiah, writing prior to the days of Daniel, had already revealed the incarnation of Jesus when he said that “the government shall be upon his shoulder … of the increase of his government … there will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)
All this builds on the promises to Abraham that “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.” (Genesis18:18) The “filling the earth” portion of the divine vision to Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel was made the central focus of Christ’s prayer training to the church for the ages when he told us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be cone, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10)
It was at the core of the final commission of Christ to his people when he commissioned us to “make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19, 20)
Abraham is not only the father of the church (Romans 4:16), but also the father of the nations (Romans 4:17)
This Christmas season, Handel’s Messiah will
be played in concert halls all over the world.
