Matt Hagee - Too Big to Rig
When you consider the life of Daniel, many are familiar with it in parts and pieces. Some know the story of Daniel being cast into the lion's den. That happened in his old age. Some know the story of Daniel's three friends, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego who stood up when the rest of the nation bowed and were thrown into Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace. But when you look at the entirety of Daniel's life, you have to understand that his life story is a story of generational neglect. Daniel as an individual should encourage young people to live for God, but should also serve as a warning to an older generation not to neglect the needs of their children and their grandchildren by failing to do their duty in the hour in which we live.
You see, Daniel was a teenager, a 17-year-old young man, when Jerusalem was sieged by Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom of Babylon. In this siege, Nebuchadnezzar gave an order to take thousands of young people captive, and take them back to Babylon to serve before him in his palace. Daniel is 17 years of age. He's full of potential. All of his life is before him, and he's about to forfeit it all, not because of anything that he did, but because of those who came before him and what they failed to do. This is why it's important that you do not abandon your history because history is a compass that shows you how you got where you are and gives you direction on where you need to go in the future.
Right now, in this nation, we are doing everything we can to completely erase history. Good history and bad history. Don't erase any of it, learn from all of it. But in order for us to understand how Daniel got in his circumstance, we need to look back in the history of Israel in 2 Kings 20. 2 Kings 20, we read the story of king Hezekiah. King Hezekiah is a king that God, in his sovereignty, spared from Sennacherib and the Assyrians. Sennacherib and Assyria were a mighty army that was Marching all across the world conquering every kingdom that they came in contact with, and the City of Jerusalem, as small as it was, should have been nothing more than a minor military exercise for such a vast army. However, the God who keeps Israel does not slumber nor sleeps, and he protected his holy city then and he's protecting his holy city now.
In order to know what God did for Hezekiah, look at 2 Kings 19:35, you'll read there that the angel of the Lord went out at night, and he killed 185,000 Assyrians. That's a pretty good day of killing if you ask me. In this moment, Hezekiah goes from a victim to a victor. He goes from somebody who is not thought of, in the international world to being a household name all over the region because 185,000 dead Assyrians testify to the fact that there is a God in Israel who watches over that land. In the next chapter, 2 Kings 20, Hezekiah gets sick, and he sends for Elisha, or for Isaiah the prophet, and he tells Isaiah, "I don't want to die, I want God to extend my life". God hears his prayer and God says, "Hezekiah, I'm going to give you 15 more years".
Now, that's a pretty specific number. I mean, it might cause you to take out, like, a 20 year mortgage and not tell the bank, but. Don't follow my advice. During this time of illness, the Babylonians send a delegation to come see king Hezekiah because 185,000 dead Assyrians mean that you wanna be on Hezekiah's good list. Verses 12 through 19 give the details. The Babylonians send a prince, he's the son of the king, and they send a delegation with a letter from the king, it's an Old Testament "Get well" card. And when this delegation comes, Hezekiah's, kinda, flattered. "Wow, important people want to see me. World leaders think I'm important. If you like all that you see, why don't I show you more"?
And so, he takes them on a tour, and he shows them all of the treasures in his house, and he shows them all of the treasures in God's house, and he shows them all of the things that God had supernaturally given to him. He didn't give glory to God, he took glory from God, and God said, "I won't share my glory with anyone". So, when they leave, Isaiah the prophet shows up, and in verse 15, he asks this question of king Hezekiah. He said, "What have they seen"? And Hezekiah arrogantly answers, he said, "They've seen everything that's in my house. There's nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them".
And Isaiah tells him in verses 16-17, "Now hear the word of the Lord. The days are coming, when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, everything is going to be carried away to Babylon and nothing will be left. They are going to take your descendants and your descendants will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon". Now, what would you think Hezekiah's response to this would be? I mean, how should a king react? Shouldn't he fall on his face and beg for mercy? Shouldn't he repent of his pride and ask for God to spare his children and his grandchildren? No. In cowardly arrogance, Hezekiah says to Isaiah in verse 19, "'The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good'. For he said, 'will there not be peace and truth, at least in my day'"? He said, "I don't really care what God's going to do to my kids and my grandkids, at least there will be peace in my day".
Don't you think that we're doing the same thing in this generation today? Oh, we talk about the secular progressive agenda, but we just, kinda, flip our hands at it and say, "What's a guy to do"? We ignore how they're indoctrinating and enslaving our children and our grandchildren. We don't wanna rock the boat because maybe there will be some peace in our time. We hope somebody else might come along and solve the problem, but we're not going to do anything to solve it ourselves. You see, right now, as a nation, we're at a crossroads. This crossroads is between democracy and socialism. This crossroad is between liberty and tyranny. This crossroad is between law and order or lawlessness and chaos.
And if you don't think that the crossroads is a strong enough analogy, then let me tell you, we are on the edge of the cliff. We are standing on the platform about to bungee jump and we don't have a bungee. Why am I saying this as clearly as I can? Because just like Isaiah came in and warned Hezekiah, I feel like a watchman compelled by God to come in and warn this generation. If we do not make the right decision today, we are going to forfeit our children's life, their liberty, and their pursuit of happiness for tomorrow. They are going to be enslaved by a system that is going to dictate every detail of their existence.
Like Hezekiah, we are being warned. Like Hezekiah, we have an opportunity to make a decision today not to throw away our future for our present comfort. Like Hezekiah, we are where we are as a nation, not because we earned it, but because God blessed us. Not because we deserve it, but because God has spared us. When we stand at this crossroad, do not see yourself as the individual who would live under your decision, but look into the eyes of your children and your grandchildren, and recognize that if we do not have a revival of righteousness in this nation, this nation will be lost.
We must have a humbling and a repentance, not in the White House, but in your house. Not just in your house, but in the church house. We must stand against the Godless, immoral, corrupt evil that has saturated our culture. We must take our churches back to the preaching of the gospel and the word of the Lord with Holy Spirit conviction, and without apology. If his truth makes you uncomfortable, get over it, but don't stop declaring what God has already decreed to be true. We must take our cities back to law and order, to truth and justice. We must take our schools back to training up our children in the way they should go, and teaching them, not indoctrinating them. We must take this nation back to "In God we trust" or we will be a nation gone under. Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered.
Because if we don't do this now, we are going to forfeit the future of our children. If we don't do this now, I say this so that you understand how important and how crucial this decision is, we are going to neuter their potential. You say, "What"? That's in the Bible. Daniel is 17. A young man full of potential. A young man who should be looking for a wife, waiting to start a family. A young man who has studied to show himself approved. He's excellent in every way. And yet, in 2 Kings, Isaiah tells Hezekiah, "Your descendants will become eunuchs. Their potential's going to be gone. Their vitality is going to be removed". Daniel 1:3-4, "Then the king," this is Nebuchadnezzar, "Tells Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel, the king's descendants who are noble, without blemish, good looking, gifted in wisdom, possessing knowledge and understanding that they may serve in the king's palace".
Daniel was one of these who was chosen because he was noble, he was without blemish, he was of the king's descendants, he was gifted in wisdom, possessing knowledge, and having understanding. He was the best and the brightest, and now his life is forever forfeited as to what it could be, not because of what he did, but because of what Hezekiah did. Daniel's serving in Nebuchadnezzar's court, and the first test that he has is that he's going to eat food that is offered to idols. In Daniel 1:20, it says that after this time of testing, the Bible says, "In all matters, the king," Nebuchadnezzar, "He found Daniel and his friends ten times," somebody say, "Ten times".
That's not a little better, that's a lot better. "He found his friends ten times better than all the magicians and all the astrologers in all of the realm". The point is God still blesses the obedient, even in a Godless world. If your allegiance is to the King of kings, God's allegiance is with you. So, in Daniel 2. Nebuchadnezzar has a troubling dream. He cannot sleep. And he calls all of these wise men, and magicians, and astrologers of whom Daniel is numbered, and he tells them, "I've had a dream, and I can't sleep. And I want you to interpret this dream and tell me what it means. But in order for me to trust your interpretation, in order for me to know that the results are 'too big to rig'. I'm not gonna tell you what the dream was. You're gonna tell me what I dreamed, and then when you tell me what I dreamed, I'll tell you whether you're right or you're wrong, and then if you're right, you can give me the interpretation, and if you're wrong, you're gonna lose your job".
That's a milder version of how he put it. But if you look at a modern context for just a moment, consider all these magicians and astrologers and wise men to, kinda, be like the bureaucrats in a government. They were not elected, they were appointed, and they were appointed for a purpose. And rather than do their purpose, they complain that they don't have enough resources to do their job. I mean literally, that's what it says here in the Bible, Daniel 2:10, the wise men say, "There's not a man on earth that can tell the king in this matter," I mean, isn't that just like a government agent that just when you want them to do what they're supposed to do, they come up with a reason why they can't do it and they're "Monitoring the situation," and maybe they'll give you an update, and details. "Well, we'll get back to you with that".
So, Nebuchadnezzar's response? He says, "I'm gonna drain the swamp". Here's how he said it, Daniel 2:5, he says, "If you don't make this dream known to me and its interpretation, you shall be cut into pieces and your house shall be turned into an ash heap". I mean, it's not bad enough that I'm gonna chop you up, after I'm done with that, I'm gonna burn your house down. Now, I know that some of us think we're in a hostile work environment, but trust me, your hr department doesn't roll like that. So, a decree is sent out, start killing all the wise men. And since Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego are numbered amongst them, soon, Nebuchadnezzar's human resource officer knocks on the door and says, "Guys, we're downsizing your department one piece at a time. Sorry. Here's a gift card".
No. When Daniel hears the decree, he goes and he asks the king for some more time because he wants to pray to the God of heaven and ask the God of heaven to give him, Daniel, the interpretation of the dream. When Daniel goes before the God of heaven, God not only gives him the details of the dream, but he gives him an accurate interpretation in such vivid detail that 2,600 years later, not even atheist or agnostics who deny the Bible will deny the accuracy of this 17-year-old boy's dream. He goes to see Nebuchadnezzar. He goes to see him in the sixth century. Six hundred years before Jesus Christ is born. He says, "King you had a dream, and in this dream, there was a head of gold, and then there was a breastplate, and an area of arms of silver, and then there were loins that were gird in brass, and then there were legs of iron, and then there were ankles and feet of iron and clay".
Daniel tells it to Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar says, "That's it. What does it mean"? Daniel says, "I'll tell you what it means. King, you are the head of gold. You are the first empire to rule the world. You, at this moment in history, are the king that is higher than all kings here on the earth, but you're not higher than the king of heaven".
Now historically, Babylon came into power in 586 before Christ, and they ruled until 539. Daniel served Nebuchadnezzar and his descendants in this time period, but he tells Nebuchadnezzar that there's a kingdom that's going to come after his and overtake his, and this is represented by the arms and the chest of silver. This is the Medo-Persian empire, which in history, came into power in 539 after the Babylonians. This is the story in the book of Daniel when they see the writing on the wall, and Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar's grandson. He says, "You've been weighed, and tonight you're going to die".
Trust me, when you go see the king and you tell him your ticket's punched, you got some courage. But the Medo-Persian empire takes over against the Babylonians and rules until 332. Daniel served in the Medo-Persian empire under king Darius. Darius is the king that threw him into the lion's den. So, maybe you could say, "Well Daniel knew about the Babylonians and Daniel knew about the Persians". Well then how did he know about the Greeks? The Greeks came to power in 332 BC, hundreds of years after Daniel is dead. The Greeks came to power when Alexander the Great and his swift army began conquering all of the known world. Not only did they have military success but their culture, and their knowledge, and their intellect spread and is even impacting the world to this day.
After this, Daniel goes on to describe the legs of iron, which represent the Roman Empire. These legs of iron reflect Rome's strength, their power, and their might, and their division. How could Daniel know about the Greeks, and how could Daniel know about the Romans? The Romans came to power in 63 BC, and they ruled for almost 500 years after the death of Christ. How is it possible that Daniel knew that the Romans were going to be so powerful that they would pulverize every enemy that they faced, but that they would have a civil war, and there would be an Eastern and a western division of the Roman Empire until the fourth century when Constantine would reunite Rome. Not only does he describe the Roman Empire, but he goes all the way into the world today. And he says, "The ankles and the feet of this statue are made up of iron and of clay".
The reason that this represents the world today is because this represents a world where things just don't mix. And that's where we are right now. We live in a world where things just don't mix. We're all stuck together but we don't get along very well. Nations of iron economically are strong financially. Why? Because they have free market enterprise. Because they have capitalism. Because they have low government regulation. But those kinds of nations that have free capital markets, they don't mix with communist countries and socialist countries and dictatorships. Militarily, we have nations that don't mix. You have nations that are militarily strong, they have a massive amount of weapons, and you have nations that are militarily weak. And those who are strong are giving money and guns to those who are weak, and those who are weak are fighting proxy wars all over the world right now for those who are strong. We just don't mix. Socially, we don't mix.
Here in this nation, if you believe what the Bible says, you don't mix with a woke culture. People ask the question, "Can we find some common ground"? I'm sorry. In some places and spaces, we cannot. Why? Because if you believe what the Bible says, that God made them male and female, that doesn't mix with 39 pronouns and gender fluidity. If you believe what the Bible says, that marriage is between a man and a woman, that doesn't mix with same-sex union. If you believe what the Bible says that, "All life is in the blood," that doesn't mix with having an abortion on a demand and calling it essential healthcare. That's not essential healthcare, it is subsidized murder.
So, how do we fix this problem? How is the world that seems like it's about to fall apart from its feeble status come into a situation where it's strong, and steady, and secure? I'm so glad that you asked that question because Daniel answered it 2,600 years ago. Daniel said to king Nebuchadnezzar, he said, "King, this is the statue. There's a head a head of gold, there's a breastplate of silver, there's loins of brass, there's legs of iron, there's feet of iron and clay," he says, "But you, you saw the rock. You saw the rock that was cut without hands". He says that in Daniel 2:45. He said, "I'm getting ready to tell you about a situation, an outcome of an election in which the college of electoral delegates is not gonna make the decision, and the Supreme Court is not gonna rule on the decision, and there's not gonna be a group in the back room making the decision because this decision is way too big to rig".
You saw the rock. He was a stone that was cut without hands. He's called a precious stone elect in Zion. The builders of past empires rejected him, the kings of the world overlooked him, but this rock is the king above kings and the Lord above Lords. Nebuchadnezzar, with all his wealth, that's not my king. Persia, with all of its power, that's not my king. The Greeks with all of their culture and their intellect, that's not my king. Rome, with all of its brute force, that's not my king. Church, my king is the rock of ages. My king has been cut without hands. My king is the stone that Jacob rested his head upon. My king is the rock that gushed water in the wilderness. My king is where David said "He is a refuge, and he is a strength, and he is an ever-present help in a time of trouble".
My king is the king above kings and the Lord above Lords. He is the conqueror of death, hell, and the grave. He is the alpha, and he is the omega. He is the lamb for sinners slain. He is worthy of all honor, of all glory, of all power, because he is the soon coming king, and of his kingdom, there shall be no end! Give the Lord a shout of praise in this place today. Oh, come on, church. Magnify the Lord and let us exalt his name together. Glory, and honor, and power, and might be unto the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is worthy, he is worthy. Give him praise in this place.