A Stone Not Cut by Hands

A king sits up in bed, sweating, his heart pounding. He has had a dream. A huge, shining statue. A stone flying out of nowhere. And now no one in the whole of Babylon can tell him what it means.

Nebuchadnezzar is the most powerful man in the world. His Babylon is a city of massive walls, glazed blue gates and towering temples. But the dream troubles him so much that he calls in all his wise men, magicians and astrologers and demands something impossible: tell me what I dreamed, and what it means. They protest that no human being could do that. Only the gods could, and they do not live with people. The king orders them all executed. Among the wise men is a young Jewish exile named Daniel. He asks for time, and with his three friends he prays to the God of heaven. That night, God shows Daniel the secret.

Daniel stands before the king. No wise man can show you this secret, he says. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown you what will happen in the days to come. Then Daniel describes the dream. You saw a great image, O king. Huge and dazzling and terrifying. Its head was fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver. Its belly and thighs bronze. Its legs iron. And its feet part iron and part clay. As you watched, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them to pieces.

Then the whole statue collapsed. Iron, clay, bronze, silver and gold, all crushed together, became like chaff on a threshing floor in summer, and the wind carried them away until no trace of them was left. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. That was the dream. The king is speechless. Every detail is right. Now Daniel gives the meaning. You, O king, are the head of gold. The God of heaven has given you your kingdom. After you will come another kingdom, lesser than yours, then a third of bronze, then a fourth, strong as iron, that crushes everything. But it will be divided, mixed like iron and clay, partly strong and partly brittle.

And then the stone. In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. It will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces all these kingdoms, and it will stand for ever. Just as you saw the stone cut from the mountain without hands. The great God has shown the king what will happen. The dream is certain and its meaning sure. Nebuchadnezzar falls on his face before Daniel. Truly, he says, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.

Nebuchadnezzar was a real king who ruled Babylon for over forty years, from about six hundred and five to five hundred and sixty-two BC. He rebuilt his capital on a grand scale, and his name was stamped on huge numbers of its bricks. Part of his city survives today: the Ishtar Gate, covered in blue glazed bricks with dragons and bulls, was excavated and rebuilt in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

A stone not cut by hands. You can read it in Daniel chapter two, verses thirty-one to forty-five. The empires of gold and silver and iron all came and went. Christians read the stone as the kingdom of God, which Jesus came to announce. At his birth, the angel told Mary that of his kingdom there would be no end. So here is a question to carry with you. Kingdoms rise and fall, but God's kingdom lasts for ever. What do you build your life on?