Who is the most powerful man in the world? George Bush? Bill Gates? The Pope? All powerful people. Take President Bush he has enormous authority and responsibility. He could launch another World War, he makes decisions that effect not just Americans but the majority of people in the world.

Nebuchadnezzar if not the most powerful man in the world was certainly the most powerful man in the region. He had a vast empire that was still growing, and he is the sole authority, Babylon is no democracy it is an autocracy, he is its ruler and what he says goes.

Chapter 1 gave us a glimpse of his power, might and majesty but here in chapter 2 we see not power, might and majesty but fear, weakness and limitations. He is still in human terms a very powerful man but he is put into perspective, he is put in his place when compared to the all powerful God.

1. The all powerful King?
As we read Daniel it calls us to sort our perspective out. We live in a world where our senses tell us what is happening and how to respond and we can easily forget that reality is not found through our senses but through reading the Bible. There is more to the world than just what we see, hear, smell, touch, and feel.

It may look as if America is today’s superpower, just a Babylon looked then, it may look as if President Bush is the most powerful man on earth, just as Nebuchadnezzar looked then, but Daniel says reality is different. What we observe tells us one thing but what the Bible reveals is a different reality.

This chapter sets up a contrast between one king who thinks he is all powerful and the King who is all powerful.

Look at chapter 3, you see Nebuchadnezzar setting up a huge statue that the whole empire will have to bow down and worship. Or look at 4:30 "Is this not the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my power and for the glory of my majesty?" In ch2 it’s seen in the way he is addressed and the way he simply sentences the wise men to death.

Nebuchadnezzar is powerful, but his power has its limits, that’s what causes the outburst of threats. (1, 3) Nebuchadnezzar "had dreams, his mind was troubled and he could not sleep." It’s emphasized twice in three verses. This king who thinks he is all powerful is scared by his dreams.

The limits of his power are further emphasized (4-10) as his advisors cannot tell him the dream or its interpretation. There is a limit to what he can ask of others. And his response shows his fear and frustration. It’s like the petulant teenager, but instead of storming upstairs shouting about how unfair the world is Nebuchadnezzar sentences all the wise men in Babylon to death.

For all Nebuchadnezzar’s power he can’t find out, all we see is fear, failure and futility. But then as Daniel steps onto the scene (14) we see the contrast between the king who thinks he is all powerful and God who is!

The contrast is emphasized as Daniel having been in Nebuchadnezzar’s throne room where all is frustration, failure and fear then goes before God and in the praise he gives to God after his prayer is answered.

(20-23)"wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; He deposes kings and raises up others. 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 with him."

Do you see the contrast? Who would you trust in, the king who is fearful and frightened? Or the King to whom belong power and wisdom, who is unchanging, who reveals?

2. The King’s Kingdom
But that is not the only contrast there is also another contrast between Nebuchadnezzar and God and it is seen in the kingdoms they establish and rule over.

Daniel tells the king what his dream was and what it means. There is the statue with its gold head, silver chest and arms, bronze belly and thighs, legs of iron and feet of clay and iron. And then what happens? The statue is destroyed so that no trace is left (35) by a rock that becomes a mountain that fills the earth.

What is going on here? (37-9) "Your majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed all people everywhere. You are the head of gold. After you, another kingdom will arise."

The dream puts Nebuchadnezzar in his place. It tells him God has given him what he has and neither it nor he will last forever. The emphasis of the passage is that actually all these kingdoms are finite and will be overcome by a different kingdom.

What does that kingdom look like? A kingdom that doesn’t look important or valuable, it is a rock, but it is established by God (34, 44), overcomes the other kingdoms (34-35, 44), and it is eternal (44).

In contrast to Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom which will fall, God’s kingdom will be victorious, indestructible, infallible, universal (35) and eternal.

And it is established as Jesus comes, as John preaches "repent for the kingdom of heaven is near", as Jesus preaches the gospel it is the "gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations"

Which kingdom do you want to be a part of? The challenge is to see history as it really is. For the Jews 60+ years of exile lay ahead, in ch 2 it did not look as if Babylon would ever fall, but it did. That is the great encouragement of Daniel, God is sovereign, he is the all powerful King and his Kingdom, established in Jesus, is victorious, infallible, indestructible and eternal, no matter what my sense tell me.

Maybe this morning you are struggling, with work, with family, with faith. Daniel keeps on telling us God is sovereign, calling us to live not by our senses but by revelation. Does life seem too difficult? God is sovereign and I am part of God’s eternal, infallible, indestructible kingdom and I will realise it fully one day.

3. Living to serve the King
So what? What difference should that make to the way I live? How is that supposed to affect the way I am tomorrow at work, school, Little Fishes or wherever?

What is it that defines you? Just think about that as we watch this clip from Batman Begins. In the film Bruce Wayne is struggling to work out who he is and what he is to do. What is that defines us? "It’s not what you are underneath it’s what you do that defines you."

Daniel does not work for a Church or a Christian charity or even have a Christian boss. His boss who has never heard of workers rights, he knows only of one severance package and it involves a sword and your neck.

What defines Daniel? His service of God. Daniel is a great example for us of how to serve God in a hostile environment, how to hold on to God’s sovereignty and the promise of his kingdom when all around screams otherwise. Daniel can live as he does because he has made his stand (1:8) and because he is convinced that God is sovereign.

a. Seeking God’s Wisdom
I don’t know about you but I find prayer hard. I have to make myself pray at times and it is a battle. One of the dangers of Daniel is that it can make us feel a failure. Daniel’s prayer life is not meant to discourage us, it is meant to encourage us and prod us to try it. We pray to the same God as we have read of (20-23), and we like Daniel have the privilege of bringing our problems to him. It is where they go when the crisis hits, and where the rest of the book tells us Daniel goes regularly.

It’s worth noticing however that when they come there is no sense of rights or entitlement (18) "He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven". It is not that they have a right to expect an answer but that they know God is the only one with the answer, their only hope.

b. Speaking God’s word
Daniel goes before a fearful king and tells him words that he would not want to have heard whilst he is on death row. Words that put him in his place, that tell him he is not as great as he thinks he is and that God gives and rules.

Chapter after chapter in Daniel we see him speak God’s truth to king after king even when it is unpopular, even when in ch5 it decrees imminent death for Belshazzar. How can he do it? Daniel is not superhuman, neither is he stupid he knows what the consequences may be. If Nebuchadnezzar threatens to kill those who can’t tell him anything what will he do to one who puts him in his place? But Daniel speaks God’s truth because he is serving God first even as he serves Nebuchadnezzar.

I find that a real challenge, will I speak God’s truth even in difficult places. It’s not a call to be tactless, Daniel is neither tactless nor inappropriate. And sometimes we can hide behind being tactful rather than truthful.

God’s sovereignty means I can speak God’s truth because he rules and his approval matters more than that of others.

c. Being God’s ambassador
Daniel and his friends are God’s representatives to the Babylonian court. In Daniel and co they see what it means to serve the Living God, what it means to live for him.

A couple of years ago a survey was carried out and it said that for every Christian in the work place there were 70 others who did not know Jesus, its similar if not worse in the classroom or at the school gate. This week you will find yourself in the same situation Daniel was in, you are God’s ambassadors to those who know nothing of God or of his kingdom.

And we can go in the confidence that God is sovereign and that he knows, he rules and you serve the King who will bring you into his kingdom because he promises he will as he gives his Son to establish that kingdom and enable us to be part of it.

1. Who do I put my trust in? Why?
2. What dominates my view of the world and life? It is what I observe or what God reveals?
3. What difference does it make that God is Sovereign and his kindgom eternal?
4. This week will I seek God's wisdom, speak God's truth and be God's ambassador? What will that look like and what difficulties will it bring?

Daniel