God’s Word for You
Daniel 2:45 The Rock
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, September 16, 2025
45 just as you saw the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the king what will happen after this. The dream is certain and the interpretation is trustworthy.”
Jesus was talking with the scribes and Pharisees during Holy Week, and he quoted the Psalm: “The stone the builders rejected as become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:22-23). Of course he was talking about the way that the scribes and Pharisees had heard him preaching and teaching, they had questioned him and heard him answer everything that they asked without making a single error, and in their blind jealousy and hatred of him, they rejected him anyway, plotting to kill him.
Then he brought that passage together with this one from Daniel. He said: “He who falls on this stone [the stone the builders rejected] will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Luke 20:18). This was too much for them. They began to plot right away how they could have him arrested for any charge—it didn’t matter to them what—so that they could hand him over to the Romans and to Pilate in particular. From there they thought that they could manipulate things so that they could force Pilate to have him killed in some way. And of course, we know that they were right. That’s exactly what happened. What they could not know is that this was the plan and the design of God all along. Not that they in particular would do this. That was their own doing. But the Lord knew that he would be handed over to be crucified. He has foreseen this and he had even prophesied about it. “The Son of Man,” he had said, “will be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” (Matthew 20:18-19).
Christ was the stone that Nebuchadnezzar saw. He was cut out from the mountain—probably standing for the believers of Israel—but cut by the hand of God, and not by human hands. He came to overthrow the power of the devil, the cursed inclination of the whole world to tip us all into sin, and the sinful wickedness of our human flesh, which are far more powerful enemies than any of the kingdoms depicted in the dream of the king. Those kingdoms have long since crumbled into dust and have been blown away by the winds of time.
Perhaps someone might wonder about the change in the order of the statue’s materials here. It probably doesn’t matter since they are all present, but perhaps we could notice that the two metals that are the most fearsome or precious, iron and gold, are mentioned first and last. Also, the iron feet are what were struck by the stone. Then the bronze and silver, placed here second and fourth, are not forgotten, and are reversed in their order to show (perhaps) the jumble of the damage made by the smashing stone of Christ. Then, in the weakest position and standing in some ways for all of the weakness of man compared with the strength of Almighty God, the clay appears in the middle, just as smashed and pulverized as everything else. Nothing was spared at all. The Great God has accomplished everything he intended.
Lastly, Daniel gives reassurance to the king: “The dream is certain and the interpretation is trustworthy.” The dream, for one thing, is “true, reliable; certain” (as in Daniel 7:16, “the true meaning”). The dream that Daniel describes is, the prophet is certain, exactly what the king saw. By this time we can be certain that Nebuchadnezzar was just nodding his head in awe and in full agreement. And as for the interpretation, “It is trustworthy.” The king could rely on Daniel’s explanation as the correct, and the only correct, explanation of the mysterious dream.
Daniel also said, “The Great God has shown the king what will happen after this.” He means, after the time of Daniel and of Nebuchadnezzar. He is presenting some of the consequences of the Final Judgment. These include (1) The bringing of the godly into Paradise. (2) The burning of heaven and earth (2 Peter 3:10-12; Revelation 20:11). (3) The destruction of the earthly nations and kingdoms. (4) The complete abolition of death (Hosea 13:14). Also, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:26). (5) Christ will hand over his kingdom to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24). (6) The conclusion of the ministry of the church. “No longer will each man teach his neighbor” (Jeremiah 31:34). And others follow (such as the creation of the new heavens and new earth, the eternal glorification of God, and so on).
We will enter into the final judgment without fear, for we have Christ. Others will shudder in terror, for they rejected Christ, lost sight of him, were horribly kept from him by wicked parents or governments, or gave in to despair. But we know that for us and for our salvation, Christ came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and became truly and fully human. He did this to live the perfect life demanded of all of us (Leviticus 19:2) and to die an atoning sacrificial death to remove the guilt of all of our sins, forever (Hebrews 10:10).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.