The God of Daniel – Part 1
Daniel 2:1-23
May 1, 2016
Last week we were introduced to a young Jewish refugee
Who had a heart for God.
• Taken captive by the Babylonians and put into a program meant to assimilate him, Daniel stood his ground.
• It was a very simple decision not to defile himself with unclean foods, but to step out on a limb and do things God’s way.
• Of course we learned last week that the decision paid off and God not only came through for Daniel, but also promoted Daniel to a position of influence inside the king’s council.
• As we saw last week, Daniel would spend the next 70 years of his life in faithful service to God while living on foreign soil.
Tonight we begin to see God at work through Daniel.
The first item of business is to reveal the message
That God would tell time and time again,
Which is a message regarding His sovereignty.
God is going to reveal who is really in charge.
Isaiah 40:21-24 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.”
And we are reminded that regardless of
How powerful a kingdom may become on this planet,
None are permanent; none will last forever.
1 John 2:17 “The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
Revelation 11:15-17 “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.”
As Adrian Rogers so perfectly put it:
“People ask all the time, ‘What’s this world coming to?’ I’ll tell you what this world is coming to, it’s coming to Jesus. Jesus owns this world, it was made by Him and the Bible says it’s coming back to Him.”
That is the continual message of the book of Daniel.
• Israel has been removed from the land.
• Israel’s kings have been killed and imprisoned.
• Israel’s nobles have been exiled to Babylon.
• Israel’s temple has been burned.
• Israel’s capital has been leveled.
• And for 70 years Israel will dwell under the leadership of the nations of Babylon, Media, and Persia.
Each of these kingdoms was supposed to last forever,
And none of them did.
The message of Daniel is that there is but one King and but one Kingdom.
It is a message that will be preached over and over.
And the first person who will receive this message is Daniel.
Now you could say, “No, the first person to receive this message is Nebuchadnezzar; after all, he had the dream.”
It’s true Nebuchadnezzar gets the dream, but he doesn’t get the point.
Yes, at the end of this chapter he makes a great statement.
Daniel 2:47 “The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
It seems like Nebuchadnezzar is on the right path;
That is until you read chapter 3 and find out that
The vision went to his head and he made a pagan statue
And tried to force even the Israelites to bow down to it.
Nebuchadnezzar’s day is coming, but it isn’t this day.
Today is all about showing Daniel who is in control.
Today is all about God solidifying who He is to Daniel.
And God does this by giving Daniel an opportunity
That most likely scared the socks off of him.
Perhaps you remember some of the statements Jesus made about the coming hardships for His followers.
Luke 12:11-12 “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Luke 21:12-15 “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. “It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. “So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”
Always interesting to me that Jesus used the word “opportunity” there.
• We are not genuinely inclined to see situations like that as opportunities.
• We tend to see them as horrible events that we simply want to be delivered from.
But those are the types of events that God uses
To reveal Himself both to His children and to a fallen world.
Daniel is going to get many of these “opportunities” in his life,
So it is important that Daniel know that
Through all of these instances that he can fully rely on God.
That is what he learns here.
There are three main points tonight that we will use as sort of an outline to work our way through this text.
#1 DANIEL’S DILEMMA
Daniel 2:1-13
First you notice that we have a relatively “green” ruler on the thrown.
“Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar”
This man was a new world ruler, but he had already had the audacity to
• Attack God’s city,
• Carry off God’s treasures,
• And exile God’s people.
Regardless of what type of man he appears to be,
We know that at the very least he is a man who DOES NOT FEAR GOD.
It is also apparent that God is going to introduce Himself.
This man “had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. The king said to them, “I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.”
So you see the situation.
• We have a pagan ruler who is quite rattled
• And he has turned to every form of worldly wisdom to get an answer.
Some have wondered why Daniel wasn’t there initially
And the answer seems quite obvious.
Daniel wasn’t a “magician” a “conjurer” a “sorcerer” or a “Chaldean”
Daniel was a personal servant of the king.
We learned last week that the king had found Daniel and his friends
To be 10 times better than all those men,
But regardless of the fact, they were not sought here.
Nebuchadnezzar sought out every form of worldly wisdom first.
We have a king filled with anxiety and fear
And seeking the world for an answer.
But you will notice that the king is no dummy.
(READ 2:4-9)
The king is a little skeptical and with good reason.
• He has seen more than his share of people who are willing to make up any sort of story in order to gain his favor.
Anyone can take a newspaper and start giving out explanations
For why it all happened, or what it all means,
But that doesn’t mean they are right.
I remember after hurricane Katrina Pat Roberson went on television and said that God had told him Katrina happened because abortion and homosexuality.
• I would be far more inclined to believe Pat Roberson actually heard from God
had he predicted Katrina ahead of time and warned the abortionists and
homosexuals to repent or else.
• I would have been even more convinced had only abortionists and
homosexuals died in Katrina.
You get the point…
Anyone can do what these people were willing to do.
Heck, tell me your dreams I’ll interpret them for you.
I can make something up as quick as the next guy.
Nebuchadnezzar knew it to, and at this point he is rattled enough
That he isn’t interested in an amusing story.
Nebuchadnezzar wants the truth.
• There are times that we see people in this world with “itching ears” who only want to be told something they like, but that is not where this man is.
• He wants the truth and the only way he can be sure that one of these people has access to it is if they can first identify the dream.
THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM FOR MERE MORTAL MAN.
(10-11) “The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer or Chaldean. “Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”
THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY CORRECT THERE.
• There is no man on earth who could do this.
• This is certainly a matter for God.
The problem the Chaldeans had was
They didn’t know of any God
Who would we be willing to help out mortal man.
“there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”
DO YOU SEE THE STORY BUILDING?
Everyone realizes the problem.
The king is demanding something only the gods can supply,
And it is common knowledge that gods won’t help the people out.
It is a big dilemma.
AND THE KING IS FURIOUS
(12-13) “Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them.”
That is what we call Daniel’s dilemma.
• The king has a problem that Daniel wasn’t consulted about.
• All the wisest in the kingdom said it to be impossible,
• And now there is a death sentence in which Daniel is included.
DON’T MINIMIZE THE DIFFICULTY OF THE SITUATION.
Daniel’s only hope is if his God is willing to do for him
What no one else’s god is willing to do for them.
This is a terrifying scene,
I promise you Daniel has wondered more than once
As to just what kind of God he actually has.
And may I remind you of the facts?
• Daniel has seen God’s army fall to Babylon
• Daniel has seen God’s temple robbed by Babylon
• Daniel has been exiled by Babylon
God has chosen to seemingly set by and just allow all that to happen.
I have to think Daniel would have been a little afraid.
But that doesn’t stop Daniel from exercising his faith.
Daniel’s Dilemma
#2 DANIEL’S DECISION
Daniel 2:14-18
Think about what is happening here.
• Daniel runs in to the man who has been ordered to kill him,
• But if you will recall, God had already given Daniel wisdom.
Daniel 1:17 “As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams.”
God had made Daniel intelligent,
And it is obvious that Daniel uses that God-given intelligence here.
“Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king.”
If you’re keeping score you will remember
That the king already rebuked the other wise men for seeking to buy time.
• But it is obvious that the king truly wanted to know the meaning of the dream, and that Daniel in his appeal must have convinced the king that he could surely deliver the truth to him.
And then Daniel makes his decision.
(17-18) “Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.”
They went in “so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven”
It wasn’t a question of whether or not
God knew the meaning of the dream,
It was a question of whether or not this God would help,
Or if He would just be like all the others.
Daniel is putting it all on the back of God here.
I liken this to events like Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac.
• After Abraham was stopped by God and saw the ram caught in the thicket, he named that place, “The LORD Provides”
The idea being that Abraham might have realized that God was a provider,
BUT ON THAT DAY IT WAS ABSOLUTELY SOLIDIFIED.
This is sort of the education of Daniel.
God is about to reveal Himself to Daniel.
GOD IS ABOUT TO PROVE HIMSELF TO BE DANIEL’S GOD
HERE IS THE LESSON
• God is going to prove His compassion (for He will answer)
• God is going to reveal His faithfulness (He comes through for Daniel)
• God is going to reveal His wisdom (for He will interpret the dream)
• God is going to reveal His sovereignty (that is what the dream reveals)
In this terrifying moment
Daniel does what none of the other wise men would do,
Daniel seeks God.
Daniel’s Dilemma, Daniel’s Decision
#3 DANIEL’S DECLARATION
Daniel 2:19-23
What encouraging words there!
“Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.”
We’ll get to the specifics of that vision in our text next week, but the main point here is that God came through!
• God did what no other god could do or would do.
• God did what the other wise men said He would not do.
• God answered Daniel and gave him the facts about that dream.
“Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven;”
I would imagine so.
And what we notice is that Daniel learned two great truths about God.
1) GOD IS THE SOURCE OF WISDOM (20-21)
“Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.”
If Daniel didn’t know it before, he knows it now.
Daniel knows that “wisdom and power belong to Him.”
Paul wrote:
Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
God isn’t just wise, God owns wisdom.
He is the source of it.
There is no wisdom apart from Him.
We looked at this not too long ago in Job, but
TURN TO: JOB 28
It is the reminder that wisdom is a commodity
That you can’t just pull out of the ground,
It only has one source and that is God.
Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 3:18-20 “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”; and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.”
Any wisdom you can gain from this world
Is of absolute no value before God.
In fact compared to God’s wisdom it is actually foolishness.
God is the source of wisdom.
Think about it.
• Daniel spent all that time in the Chaldean’s training.
• Daniel was educated
• Daniel was assimilated
But none of that helped him or anyone else
When the king wanted information that only God could provide.
Such it is in this world.
• I’m not knocking education, everyone seems to understand that education in the world helps you succeed in the world.
But education in the world will not help you
Succeed in eternity or in spiritual matters.
That is a wisdom that only comes from God, and Daniel praises God for it.
And that brings us to the second reality
God is the Source of Wisdom
2) GOD IS THE SHARER OF WISDOM (22-23)
“It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him. “To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom and power; Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”
God not only knew all the answers,
But this is what made God especially important to Daniel;
God revealed the answers!
“To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom…You have made known to me…You have made known to us…”
Daniel found out that not only did God have wisdom,
But if you pray to Him, God will share His wisdom.
James 1:5-8 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
James 3:13-18 “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
Luke 21:12-15 “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. “It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. “So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”
That is precisely what God did for Daniel.
God came through!
If Daniel had any doubts as to God’s faithfulness or involvement,
He does not have those doubts any longer.
This event was the purpose of teaching Daniel that He is in total control.
I CAN CERTAINLY UNDERSTAND THIS PASSAGE HERE.
• Every week there are two sermons and a Sunday School lesson that are my responsibility.
Every week I remind God that I don’t understand,
And every week I see Him come through.
He has proven Himself to me in this regard time and time again.
He knows what the text means, and He is always faithful
To share that information with me.
He continually comes through.
I’ve probably shared with you before the passage that has proven itself to me over and over.
Proverbs 2:1-6 “My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
I have found that to be true far more times than I can count.
Perhaps you have an area where God has continually proven Himself in your life. (My parents continually spoke of His provision)
And you should know that
The area where God has proven Himself most faithfully to you
May just be the area where God plans to use you.
Daniel would be called upon on more than one occasion to share wisdom.
It was vitally important that he first learn
The source and sharer of all wisdom.
GOD WILL DO THE SAME IN YOUR LIFE.
Think of David for a moment.
1 Samuel 17:33-37 “Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, ” Go, and may the LORD be with you.”
Goliath wasn’t David’s first battle,
God had proven Himself here for David many times before.
• We’ve certainly talked several times about all the times God proved to Abraham that Isaac was the son of promise before God ever asked Abraham to sacrifice him.
• How many times did God prove Himself to Moses before asking Him to stand before Pharaoh or to walk through the Red Sea?
• How many times did Jesus prove Himself to Peter before using Him to preach to the masses at Pentecost?
THE IDEA IS SIMPLE.
Before God asked Daniel to proclaim God to the world,
God first proved Himself to Daniel.
He was proving to be Daniel’s God.
Think about those areas where God has already proven Himself to you.
• His faithfulness
• His provision
• His protection
• His comfort
• His wisdom
• His compassion
• His mercy
• His forgiveness
The areas where God has most revealed Himself to you
Could very well be the areas
Where God most desires to use you to reveal Him to others.
This is clearly what He is doing with Daniel.
Before asking Daniel to reveal that
He was the Sovereign God in control of all things,
He first revealed it to Daniel.
