Luke 2.1-20
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, nearly five-hundred years before Christ’s birth, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream. In his dream he saw an image of a man. The man’s head was fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver. Its belly and thighs were made of bronze. Its legs were iron, its feet partly iron and partly clay. Then Nebuchadnezzar sees a stone being cut, except the stone isn’t cut by human hands. The stone strikes the image at its feet. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth (Dan 2:31-35).
God gives knowledge of the dream and its interpretation to His servant, Daniel, and Daniel interprets the dream for Nebuchadnezzar. He is head of gold. After him, a kingdom will arise which will be inferior to his kingdom. This is the image’s silver chest and arms. Then another kingdom will follow the silver kingdom, inferior to it as bronze is inferior to silver. A fourth kingdom will arise which will be as strong as iron, and it will break in pieces and crush all the others (Dan 2:40), but it will also be partly fragile, as iron and clay do not adhere to one another. It is the days of the fourth kingdom that the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever (Dan 2:44).
The first kingdom was Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, Babylon. The second kingdom, inferior to Babylon as silver is inferior to gold, was the Medes and Persians, who conquered Babylon. The third kingdom, inferior to the Medes and Persians as bronze is inferior to silver, was Alexander the Great and the Greeks who ruled after him. The fourth kingdom, with the strength of iron, yet the fragility of clay, was the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar began the process of changing the republic into an empire, but that was interrupted by his assignation. His grand-nephew and heir, Gaius Octavius, finished the job in 29 BC and two years later was given the title Augustus. He established peace throughout the empire and economic prosperity for all the peoples under rule.
As Augustus establishes his kingdom among men, God goes about establishing another kingdom. This kingdom is not of gold, silver, bronze, or iron. It is of stone, specifically a stone which Nebuchadnezzar saw cut from mountain not by human hands. It is an everlasting kingdom that will break all earthly kingdoms, outlasting them all. The stone, which is cut from the mountain but not by human hands, is our Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father begets a Son from eternity that is of the same substance, so that the Son is stone from stone, God from God, light from light, true God from true God. God the Son becomes man without human involvement, either. He becomes flesh by being conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary by the power of God the Holy Spirit. As true God and true man, He will build a kingdom Himself, not relying upon the shoulders of slaves and servants, tax revenue and machines of war. “The government will be upon His shoulder.” He will establish it Himself. He will maintain it Himself by His divine power. “Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever.” The kingdoms of this earth may be gold, silver, bronze, and iron, but this stone—cut from the mountain without human hands—will strike all of them down and become a great mountain which fills the whole earth.
And how is He brought forth? How does He enter the world to establish His reign over all kingdoms of the world? Like this: “And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Christ enters the world in humility, poverty, and insignificance. Everything the world despises, thinks little of, and works to avoid, He embraces. He is king of kings and Lord of lords, yet his mother and guardian are subservient to Caesar. The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein (Ps 24:1), yet there is no room for them in town of Bethlehem, so that Mary must give birth where the animals are kept, and Christ’s first bed is a feeding trough. Even though in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col 2:9), He conceals His divine power under human frailty and weakness. He gives a glimpse of it when He is twelve years old, and during His ministry in His miracles, but otherwise, He lives a completely human life, except without sin.
From a worldly perspective this is not how you establish a kingdom, a reign, a rule over people. But His kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom is not a tract of land, a sovereign state, or even a millennial reign on earth. Jesus says in Luke 17[:20-21], “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” St. Paul says that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking—meaning, the things of this life like bodily sustenance and government—but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). Christ reigns over men—in men’s hearts—by His gospel, the good news that He has come to call sinners to repentance, so that they may daily enjoy the forgiveness He earns for all mankind by His death on the cross. He reigns in the hearts of believers through His Holy Spirit so that they have peace of conscience, for they believe their sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. He reigns in the hearts of believers through His Holy Spirit so that they have joy of heart which no one or no thing in this life—even suffering and death—can take from them.
Those whose hearts are set on the things of this world cannot receive this kingdom. Those who imagine that if they have the things of this life in abundance, then they have a God who is good and gracious, cannot enter into it. Those whose concern is for eating and drinking—the things of this life like bodily sustenance, wealth, and government—will only be disappointed at the kingdom Christ establishes. For in this life, His kingdom looks small, insignificant, and despised, just as it did during the days of His earthly life. This is why the angel did not appear to the rulers or the rich, but shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night, some of the lowest people on the pecking order. Only the humble before God can receive Him rightly and enjoy the blessings of His kingdom. Only the spiritually poor can appreciate that the government is on His shoulders, that He bears their burden and gives them all things because they have nothing to offer. It is also why after they see the child, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them, for they received the kingdom through faith in God’s word, were given righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Many will have none of this, their hearts set on the kingdom of this world. But the words of the psalmist are true: “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:22-23). Christ is the stone that struck the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Though He came in lowliness, He is the rock of our salvation, and His kingdom goes forth whenever His Word is purely preached and His sacraments administered as He commanded, because through these He enters men’s hearts and establishes His reign in them. The kingdoms of this world will come, and they will go. But blessed is the one in whom Christ reigns daily for repentance from sin, for forgiveness, for righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
