God is in Control of Who is In Control: Daniel 2 (2:1-49)

Daniel 1 – 605 BC after 490 years rebellion God allows Babylon/Nebuchadnezzar, invades & enslaves, walk 700 miles, eunuch, vegetarian, teenager

  • Spirit of Babylon (Rev. 14, 16,17,18) vs Spirit of God

The Problem

Daniel 2:1-3 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. 2 Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”

  • 2nd year – first year was “ascension” so this is year 3 (e.g. Kindergarten)
  • Vision (awake Daniel) Dream (asleep Nebuchad.)–“seers’ like watching movie
  • Dreams are from 1). Demonic Counterfeit 2). Imagination 3). God
  • Charismatic vs Cessationistic
  • My visions & dreams – past year Gateway, worship hire,
  • Persuasion & Power – 2 ways people convert
  • The WH Cabinet
  • 2:4-8:1 in Aramaic

Daniel 2:4 Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell  your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” 5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. 6 But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” 8 The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— 9 if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” 10 The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. 11 The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” 12 Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. 13 So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. 14 Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. 15 He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 16 And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.

Nebuchadnezzar

  1. People who never under authority or told “no” are impossible
  2. We are all like Nebuchadnezzar and having varying degrees of success
  3. A man who can conquer anyone and anything is easily conquered by God
  4. Everyone needs God’s help
  5. He likely knows what the dream means & is terrified

Counterfeit

1.    A counterfeit spirituality/religion doesn’t work when you need it most like death

2.    The demonic an only interpret the demonic

3.    Demons rule until the Spirit of God shows up

4.    Total failure of human wisdom apart from God, education, spirituality, gov’t

5.    This is why we love religious liberty and separation of Church and State

= God reveals Himself to unbelievers (e.g. dreams Muslim countries & Iran)

The Prayer

Daniel 2:17 Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.

1.    A sense of urgency ramps up our prayer life – here up late

2.    6:10 prayed 3X day, 9 big prayer answered by Gabriel

3.    Ist response to crisis panic/prayer. Not intelligence, education, theology system

= Life Group – called his buddies to join him in prayer. Crew before crisis

The Praise

Daniel 2:19 Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.

21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;

22 he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. 23 To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise,

for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.” 24 Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.” 25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” 26 The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: 29 To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. 30 But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.

  • That king not like our King, you could only enter his presence if welcomed
  • This is in the “throne room” = counterfeit
  • Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.”
  • Because Daniel knelt before the King of Kings, he could stand before a king
  • Glory and gratitude (Daniel gives glory to God so others have gratitude for him)

= Revelation comes in the context of prayer and worship

The Prophecy

Daniel 2:31 “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

How God works

1.    Priests – family, formally educated, assigned a church, peoples needs to god

2.    Prophet – write & speak. Not scripted preachers, Spirit, urgency, authority (20 yrs)

  • Around 200 “sovereign states” today w/fixed boundaries
  • In the ancient world win wars is to expand, lose wars is to retract boundaries.

= Open Hand (4 Kingdoms) Closed Hand (Jesus Kingdom)

IMAGE SUMMARIZING THIS NEXT SECTION

1.            Babylon

Daniel 2:36 “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold.

  • King Nebuchadnezzar II ruled 605-562 BC, most significant pagan King in Bible 90X
  • “My servant” Jer 25:9, 27:6, 43:10; “the lowest of men”
  • Saturated with gold, even more after plundering Tempe in Israel
  • 90+ mile wall 375 ft high surrounded by moat you could run and turn 4 horse chariot on

2.            Medo-Persia

Daniel 2:3939 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you,

  • Conquered Babylonian Empire as Esther describes and ruled from Persia
  • 2 arms in the statue are the divided empire into Medes & Persians

3.            Greece

Daniel 2:39 and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.

  • Ruled by Alexander the Great who conquered Persia
  • Called the Bronze Age – soldiers bronze helmets, breastplates, shields, swords

4.            Rome

Daniel 2:40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. 41 And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

1.    60 yrs before Christ succeeded Greece as the world superpower

2.    Overtook many nations, cultures, peoples

3.    Ruled in Jesus day, crucified the King of Kings

4.    Eventually fell apart into 10 toes  -scattered nations and cultures (AD 476)

5.    2 legs may refer division Roman Empire AD 395 into Eastern Byzantine headquartered Constantinople & Western Roman empire headquartered Rome

6.    Deteroriating of metals to clay may indicate devolution of human life on the earth

7.    History – focused on Jesus so 1st and 2nd coming collapsed in timeline

8.    Rome conquered the world but could not control itself. The same is true of us.

9.    The point was that God allowed the Roman Empire to exist so that Jesus would be born into that world with peace and free travel to go global

= The God who wrote the Word rules the world

 

The Promise  

Daniel 2:44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

1.    Stone = Jesus Ps 118:22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

2.    Made without human hands may be 1). virgin birth 2). Kingdom

3.    Jesus Kingdom started small & ends huge

4.    Kingdom of God already/not yet. In Unseen Realm. Coming Seen Realm

= CBC vs Espn Classics. News vs History Channel

The Promotion

Daniel 2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. 47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.

Nebuchadnezzar

  1. You can revere God in your mind but not receive God in your heart
  2. Big difference between admiring God’s power and experiencing God’s power
  3. People are free. God is the captain of ship.
  4. The king bowed before Daniel like he was a god – people worship people

Daniel

  1. Be a good citizen up to the point that you can no longer be a good Christian
  2. Your faith is to be public not private
  3. Spirit-filled like Jesus = signs and wonders follow those who follow the Lord
  4. Faith is building your life on God’s character and control even when you don’t see what He is doing, don’t like what is happening, & don’t agree w/His timing
  5. He’s in the Jesus seat maybe around 20 years old

Close 

  1. Luke 1:32-33 [Gabriel] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no
  2. Wise Men – descendants magi (magicians) looking for Jesus (600 yrs later)
  3. We live on the threshold of the end
  4. One day Jesus will return as King and set up kingdom
  5. You will raise from death
  6. One day you will get a seat to rule the Kingdom from like Daniel
  7. Until then 1). Surrender to the Spirit of God so you can War against the Spirit of Babylon 2). live Kingdom Down 3). Get Bible teaching out to Babylon and see what God does until we see our King Jesus Christ!

En este sermón de Daniel 2, se presenta un problema, Daniel responde con oración y adoración, esto que resulta en una profecía y promesa, y finalmente a su promoción.

TRANSCRIPT

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