Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 811. Bible Study: Daniel 2 (Dreams from God, the Future Revealed)

Transcript

811. Bible Study: Daniel 2 (Dreams from God, the Future Revealed) · Faith by annm2705

0:00
From the book of Daniel chapter 2.
0:03
Dear God, please be with us as we read through the scripture.
0:06
Let the Holy Spirit give us wisdom, insight, and application
0:11
to our own lives. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
0:17
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream In the second year of his reign,
0:22
Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His mind was troubled and he
0:25
could not sleep. This is interesting to me.
0:30
So God uses people for his own purposes.
0:34
He can even use people who are not godly, people who have not
0:39
surrendered to him, because he is sovereign over all.
0:45
So Nebuchadnezzar, he doesn't worship God.
0:49
He's an enemy to the Israelites and God used him to the
0:58
discipline Jerusalem. So God used someone who doesn't
1:03
even worship him, who has other gods, and he used that person to
1:10
do something for his ultimate plan.
1:15
His plan was to bring the people of Judah to repentance.
1:22
They didn't listen to Jeremiah. Jeremiah kept warning.
1:25
So sometimes when God warns us through other people, through
1:29
other godly people, and we don't listen, then God will allow
1:34
hardship to hit our lives. And so it's, it's kind of like
1:39
how stubborn do you want to be? And if God reaches out to you,
1:44
he does pursue us. He's the one who loved us first
1:47
and he's waiting for that response back.
1:49
A lot of times our response is kind of to push God away.
1:53
And God is so loving and so merciful that he pursues us.
1:58
But there's a certain point where our, if our hearts are not
2:03
turned to him, if we really reject him, he doesn't pursue us
2:08
anymore and he'll turn us over to the things we chase after
2:13
that are not God. And that's a very scary place to
2:16
be because that will have an impact on where we spend time
2:21
eternally. So Nebuchadnezzar.
2:24
And then all of this still happens within free will.
2:29
So Nebuchadnezzar had it in his heart to conquer more things.
2:34
And so God used, God, allowed his own desires to flourish.
2:39
So God wasn't forcing Nebuchadnezzar to do this.
2:43
He was allowing Nebuchadnezzar's own desires to accomplish God's
2:49
will. That's how God uses people.
2:52
He allows us free will, but he can use our free will to
2:57
accomplish something that he has in mind.
3:01
So those free will, even though God is sovereign and he can stop
3:06
it too. So we'll get more into that
3:08
throughout the Scripture. But it's really interesting to
3:11
me to see how God operates by these examples that were given
3:16
in Scripture. So the king summoned the
3:19
magicians and enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to
3:24
tell him what he had dreamed. So here we see that he's not
3:28
confident in what he's seen, and it's something that is a mystery
3:35
to him. And so he goes to the people
3:37
that he thinks has the answer. And we find in scripture that
3:42
magicians and chanters, sorcerers and astrologers, they
3:45
get insight, they get information.
3:49
But when they get information, typically it comes from
3:54
something other than God. They are seeking something that
3:59
is, that is not God. I don't know whether it's fallen
4:05
angels, whether it's demons, but whatever it is, it's something
4:11
that is not God, that has power, but God is not behind it, and it
4:17
is evil because God. That's why God warns us not to
4:20
do astrology, not to do any of these things, sorcery,
4:24
divination, all those things, because he doesn't want us to
4:28
get entrapped by that other evil thing.
4:32
Whatever it is that does have information.
4:35
We have to remember that spirits are eternal and angels are
4:40
eternal. They've been around since
4:43
whenever they were created, and they're created being so they
4:46
aren't God, they are created beings.
4:49
They are messengers of God. But sometimes some of them are
4:53
rebellious to God and so they aren't necessarily messengers to
4:57
of God, but they portray themselves as messengers of God
5:01
to confuse people. So anyway, Nebuchadnezzar is
5:05
going to the wrong place to get answers.
5:08
When when they came in and stood before the king, he said to
5:12
them, I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know
5:15
what it means. Then the astrologers answered
5:18
the king. May the king live forever.
5:21
Tell your servants the dream and we will interpret it.
5:25
Now that's really a creative way to do it.
5:27
And and that's, you know, if we think about it, that's the way
5:32
the enemy works. Like the enemy can take
5:35
whatever. Here's something to think about.
5:37
So the evil that responds to people who practice astrology or
5:43
sorcery or divination or any of that, the because spirits or
5:48
angels are eternal, they've had a long time to watch history, to
5:55
see what's happened. They can be present without us
5:59
knowing, so they can watch and observe our life so they can
6:05
know things about us. So when we go to them, they can
6:09
know our history if they have been observing us.
6:13
And I don't know, you know why they would or why they wouldn't
6:17
observe us or what their purpose is in that regard.
6:21
But it this is this is truth. Like they can see and watch and
6:26
observe. So if we go to something like
6:29
that, they can know all of our past because they observed it or
6:34
they maybe communicate with one another in that way because
6:37
their whole purpose is to deceive us and ultimately to
6:42
destroy us. So they can give a word that's
6:45
like, you know, somebody goes to some, you know, source like
6:49
that, a medium or something like that, and it is spiritually
6:54
given. It's a spiritual revelation, but
6:57
it's not God. So these spirits could then let
7:02
the person know all these things about the person who comes to
7:06
visit the medium or astrologer or whatever, astrologist or
7:10
whatever, and can say something that's fairly accurate in that
7:15
person's life. And there the hook is put in.
7:18
It's kind of like a fish. They put the bait out there, you
7:21
bite on it, You're like, but they told me this about my life.
7:25
Well, yeah, because it's some spirit that's not good that's
7:30
trying to destroy you. So of course they're going to do
7:33
that because they want you to get hooked.
7:35
They want you to keep coming back.
7:36
And the more somebody comes back to it, the more deeper they get
7:40
into like a cultish evil practical.
7:43
And so that's why God warns us about it.
7:47
We find this through the Bible like he forbids that.
7:50
And it's very common in today's world.
7:54
And we it's just something that I don't if people don't read
7:59
their Bible, they don't know. And anyway, it's something we
8:04
see here that these astrologers are saying, you know, tell us
8:08
what it is and we'll interpret it.
8:09
Of course, they could do that because they've been, you know,
8:12
they have spiritual or spirits that probably have observed the
8:16
king and can say, well, you know, make up anything honestly.
8:23
So the king replied to the astrologers.
8:25
This is what I have firmly decided.
8:28
If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I
8:34
will have you cut into pieces and your house is turned into
8:38
piles of rubble. I mean, that's a pretty harsh
8:41
thing to. I mean, it's basically like mind
8:44
reading, unless you know what was given to me in a dream and
8:49
I'm not telling you, then if you don't tell me what it is, I'm
8:53
going to have you cut to pieces. I mean, that's pretty severe.
8:56
That would probably put these people on on high alert and
9:01
fear. And then it says, but if you
9:04
tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me
9:08
gifts and rewards and great honour.
9:11
So tell me the dream and interpret it for me once more
9:17
they replied, Let the king tell his servants the dream and we
9:21
will interpret it. Then the king answered, I am
9:24
certain that you are trying to gain time because you realize
9:28
that this is what I have firmly decided.
9:31
If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one penalty for
9:36
you. You have conspired to tell me
9:39
misleading and wicked things. So now it isn't this wild that
9:45
he is. I don't know if God gave him
9:48
like discernment that he is getting misleading and wicked
9:53
things. So you have conspired to tell me
9:57
misleading and wicked things hoping the situation will
9:59
change. So then tell me the dream and I
10:03
will know that you can interpret it for me.
10:06
I mean that was pretty wise by Nebuchadnezzar to put those kind
10:10
of parameters around it. So if anybody does do that, I
10:17
mean, this is a good way to test the spirits because I don't
10:22
believe that the spirits can read our minds.
10:27
I don't believe that. I'm not, you know, 100% certain.
10:31
But according to this example, it does not show that the
10:36
spirits can read somebody's mind.
10:39
So I believe our thoughts are private.
10:42
Maybe that's why God tells us to go in private and pray to him,
10:47
not to be really public about it.
10:50
Because that private conversation with God, it
10:55
doesn't need to be known to everybody.
10:57
It can be very private with God, and we can directly communicate
11:00
with him. So the astrologers answered the
11:04
king. There is no one on earth who can
11:07
do what the king asks. They know their limitations.
11:10
No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a
11:14
thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer.
11:16
What the king asked is too difficult.
11:19
No one can reveal to the king except the gods.
11:24
Isn't that crazy? And they do not live among
11:27
humans. So they know that there's
11:31
another power that they go to and but it's not among the
11:36
humans. So they they know that the only
11:38
way that they're going to get any kind of information like
11:42
this is from something superior to them.
11:48
This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the
11:51
execution of all the wise men of Babylon.
11:56
I mean, that's pretty severe just to get rid of.
11:59
I mean, I guess he's seeing through them.
12:01
They're not really the wise men that he thought of.
12:06
They were, you know, they're, they're in his opinion, like he
12:10
said, misleading and wicked things.
12:14
So the decree was issued to put wise, to put the wise men to
12:18
death. And men were sent to look for
12:21
Daniel and his friends, to put them to death.
12:24
So now Daniel and his friends who weren't really part of this
12:28
ask, apparently, I don't know, but they were men were sent to
12:34
put these people to death because they were, they were
12:38
studied. They were ones that were known
12:41
to be, you know, that were the best of the best, I guess.
12:46
So when Arioch, Arioch, the commander of the King's guard,
12:54
had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel
12:58
spoke to him with wisdom and tact.
13:02
This says a lot about Daniel, like he didn't get all riled up,
13:06
excited, but he spoke to him with wisdom and tact.
13:12
So he was respectful. And he asked the King's officer
13:17
why did the king issue such a harsh decree.
13:21
Aryoke then explained the matter to Daniel.
13:26
At this, Daniel went into the king and asked for time so that
13:31
he might interpret the dream for him.
13:34
Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter
13:37
to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaria.
13:42
He urged them to plead for mercy from God of Heaven concerning
13:48
the mystery so that he and his friends might not be executed
13:52
with the rest of the wise men of Babylon during the night.
13:57
So First things first, what Daniel does is he explains it to
14:01
his friends. And I think there's something
14:04
significant about this. So he has three other guys that
14:08
are his friends. So there's four of them.
14:11
And in Scripture, it tells us wherever two or more are
14:15
gathered in my name, I will be present.
14:16
So there is power in prayer together.
14:21
And all of these people that he's talking to, these were from
14:25
the tribe of Judah. They were probably the noble
14:27
people or royal family. And they were the ones, you
14:31
know, the best of the best that the king had set apart and had
14:34
trained them for three years for his customs.
14:38
They were the ones who ate the vegetables instead of the King's
14:41
choice meat and wine. So they were very obedient to
14:44
their God. They didn't want to defile
14:46
themselves. They were still honoring their
14:48
God. They hadn't turned away from
14:50
God. And so the first thing he does
14:53
is he goes to his friends and says, basically, we need to
14:57
pray. We need to get to know what this
14:59
is or we're going to be dead. And so that's what they do and
15:03
listen to what happens during the night.
15:05
The mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision.
15:11
So God speaks through visions and he revealed somebody else's
15:16
dream. It's interesting because in the
15:18
Bible you'll see how God will do that.
15:20
He will sometimes give a person, I think it was Peter, who was on
15:25
the rooftop. He gave Peter a vision and told
15:28
him the name of somebody he needed to meet with.
15:31
And then the person that Peter was supposed to meet with, he
15:34
also and somehow spoke to this person and told him he needed to
15:41
find Simon Peter. And so they they were able to
15:46
connect. And then God was God was
15:50
basically honored through that connection.
15:52
There were people who came to faith, came to belief.
15:55
This is from the book of Acts I believe or maybe the book of
15:59
Peter, I'm not sure which. But anyway it was it was one
16:04
example of how God does this. The same thing happened to Saul
16:09
or Paul on his Rd. on the road from Damascus where he was
16:13
blinded by his encounter with Jesus, that Jesus told him to
16:17
meet with a person. I'm forgetting the man's name
16:21
and and then his eye step would be restored and and the same
16:25
thing like Jesus made that connection.
16:28
So sometimes our paths cross with somebody and it's God's
16:32
purpose or intention that that happens when something godly is
16:38
a result of that or that somebody gets closer to God.
16:41
Like God puts people in each other's paths.
16:45
So that I mean, he wants to increase his Kingdom.
16:47
He wants more children in his Kingdom.
16:50
And that's what he was doing in these interactions was he was
16:54
bringing people closer in relationship to to him.
16:58
So God speaks in a lot of different ways.
17:00
He can speak in visions. There's lots of people having
17:03
visions, dreams and things that are related to God currently.
17:09
And you can, if you want to find them, you can search them on
17:12
YouTube. Now some, you know, you have to
17:15
be careful. Some people just make things up.
17:17
But it really, I believe it's happened.
17:20
Well, it's happened to me honestly.
17:22
The night of my baptism I started getting dreams.
17:25
So then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said praise be to
17:31
the name of God forever and ever.
17:34
Wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons.
17:40
He's in control of everything. He deposeth kings and raised
17:45
raises up others. I think that's what we need to
17:48
remember, like in all of this, Babylon wasn't a friend of God,
17:53
but that God did give, allow him to proceed with his desires and
18:00
conquer. And so God is still in control,
18:05
even though this was an ungodly person that was having success
18:12
and, and again, there was a purpose in it because the people
18:16
that God chose were not obedient to him.
18:19
They were unrepentant. Their hearts had turned away
18:21
from him. They were worshipping other
18:22
things. They were worldly and not
18:26
focused on God. So God is still in control.
18:30
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
18:35
He reveals deep and hidden things.
18:39
He knows what lies in darkness and light dwells with Him.
18:45
These are like spiritual realities, like the darkness is
18:48
evil and light is the goodness of God, the Holy Spirit.
18:54
He reveals deep and hidden things.
18:57
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors.
19:01
You have given me wisdom and power.
19:05
Now this is something that comes from the Holy Spirit, the
19:07
anointing of the Holy Spirit. A lot of people don't realize
19:11
the power that comes with the Holy Spirit because a lot of
19:16
churches don't talk a lot about the Holy Spirit.
19:21
But there is power. There is power to overcome
19:25
sinful behavior through the power of the Holy Spirit that
19:29
that one of the gifts of the spirit, are they the fruit of
19:32
the spirit is self-control. So that's, you know, the
19:36
overcoming of sinful things that would, you know, we may have
19:40
tried on our own to do things, but it didn't work out.
19:43
Well, it's because we're trying to do it on our own.
19:45
We're only flesh, we're only human beings, and we don't have
19:49
that power, but the power of the Holy Spirit, that is what that's
19:55
the power from God you're talking about, the power from
19:58
the creator of everything that is available to us, to
20:04
believers, that and we can operate in the authority.
20:07
And the power and wisdom also comes from the Holy Spirit.
20:11
So Daniel's recognizing you, God have given me wisdom and power.
20:17
You have made known to me what we asked of you.
20:22
You have made known to us the dream of the King.
20:26
So God is pretty awesome with what he does and how how
20:31
merciful and loving he is to those who seek him.
20:34
He just wants us to seek him. So he reveals things and I did a
20:42
scripture search about revealing things and I'll read there's
20:46
like a few different ones I'll read.
20:49
So in Numbers 23, verse 3, Then Balaam said to Balak, stay here
20:57
beside your offering while I go aside.
21:00
Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me.
21:02
Whatever he reveals to me, I will tell you.
21:05
Then he went off to a barren height.
21:08
Now Balaam was a prophet, but he was, I think getting he was like
21:14
involved with ungodly things. He was reaching out to multiple
21:19
gods like the true God was one of the the entities he was going
21:27
to for information but somehow he still had a connection with
21:31
God. But he also was known for other
21:37
seeking other sources and and God rebuked him for that.
21:41
I mean that's a very interesting story.
21:43
I guess read Numbers 23 and the chapters thereafter to find the
21:46
story. It's very interesting where God
21:49
uses an animal to speak to Balaam, to warn him.
21:54
He makes a donkey talk. I mean, it's really interesting.
21:57
So if you've ever seen Shrek, that made me think of that.
22:00
You know, it's like there's some spiritual things in that movie,
22:03
Shrek, but let's not get sidetracked.
22:06
So Job 12/22. He reveals the deep things of
22:09
darkness and brings utter darkness and delight.
22:12
That's pretty much what Daniel was saying.
22:15
So the book of Joel Job is supposed to be the one of the
22:17
oldest books. That's what I've heard.
22:20
And it's uncertainty about when it was first or when it was
22:25
written or lots of information about it.
22:29
But he reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter
22:35
darkness into light. So that's spiritual.
22:38
He the darkness, the spiritual darkness.
22:41
He reveals that and he brings darkness into light.
22:46
He exposes it. Daniel 2/22.
22:50
He reveals deep and hidden things.
22:52
He knows what lies in the darkness, and light dwells with
22:55
him. So God is light and anything
22:59
other is darkness. And then Daniel 228 says, but
23:04
there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.
23:07
He has shown Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.
23:11
Your dream and the visions that pass through your mind as you
23:14
were lying in bed are these. And it goes into that, but I
23:17
won't read that. So Amos, the another prophet in
23:21
chapter 4, verse 13, he who forms the mountains, who creates
23:25
the wind and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns
23:31
dawn to darkness and treads on the heights of the earth.
23:35
The Lord God Almighty is his name.
23:39
So if we have questions, God, it says here like he reveals these
23:44
things. So we need to pray now sometimes
23:48
and we'll see. I think it was, yeah.
23:50
In the book of Daniel, too, where Daniel prays and he
23:53
doesn't get an answer right away.
23:55
And an Angel finally comes to Daniel.
23:58
These are in, this is in later chapters.
24:00
And the Angel says we, you know, as soon as your word went up, we
24:03
were trying to get to you, but we were held back.
24:07
And it gets into the spiritual realm where there are actually
24:11
like spirits. That kind of prevented the
24:13
message from getting back to Daniel.
24:16
So we'll talk about that more when we get to that chapter.
24:19
But, you know, so if you are not getting an answer right away, it
24:23
could be some spiritual battle that's not getting to you right
24:27
away. But you can believe and trust
24:31
that your prayers are going up to God.
24:34
There's another example of prayers going up to God.
24:38
He of course knows everything, but he sent 2 angels.
24:41
And I think it was actually Jesus before Jesus was
24:44
recognized. But I think it was the Lord, the
24:46
Angel of the Lord the way it's described.
24:49
But he sent 3 to Sodom and Gomorrah to see if the prayers
24:54
of the people were what was happening in reality.
24:58
And of course, this was also when I believe it was Jesus who
25:03
told Abraham and Sarah that they were going to have a child at
25:08
this moment. So that's another interesting
25:10
story. But again, it was God hearing
25:15
the prayers, and he responded to the prayers by sending Jesus and
25:20
two angels with him. And then it was true what people
25:25
were praying about. And so God destroyed the evil,
25:28
but he spared a few people. So that's an example.
25:32
In the Book of Revelation, it also uses incense as a metaphor
25:40
for the prayers of the people. It tells us that the incense is
25:45
the prayers of the people. So there's a lot of symbolism in
25:49
the Book of Revelation, but one of the things that's symbolic is
25:53
that prayers are called incense that goes up to God.
25:58
So the prayers do go up to God. God hears them.
26:02
He doesn't always answer, and he's not I, I always think about
26:06
this thing that I heard from Rick Warren's messages was that
26:11
he's not a genie. He's not there.
26:13
So we can ask him, grant me this, give me that.
26:17
I mean, that is not God's purpose.
26:19
If God's going to do something, it's going to be in accordance
26:22
with his will. It's going to be in accordance
26:25
with the Bible. It's will be in accordance to
26:29
truth. It'll be in accordance to good.
26:34
I mean, it'll be good. It's not.
26:37
He's not going to misdirect us, but and he doesn't always answer
26:44
the prayers the way we ask or what we ask for because we don't
26:48
know everything that God knows. So whenever our prayers are not
26:53
answered, we just need to trust God and know that he has
26:58
something better. There's something that we don't
27:00
know that maybe he's protecting us from.
27:03
So unanswered prayers are just. They are.
27:09
They're also moments of testing for us.
27:11
So do we keep our faith? Do we keep seeking God?
27:15
And then there's another woman who is the persistent widow
27:19
where she keeps asking and asking and asking for the same
27:24
thing. And then it's granted to her.
27:28
So that's another thing that God wants us to keep pursuing and
27:32
keep asking in a, you know, what I found is it has to be in
27:36
accordance with the Bible. If we're asking him to accept
27:40
something that he calls sin in the Bible, he's, he's not going
27:45
to he, you know, we have to understand that.
27:48
So the best thing is for us to know what's in the Bible and
27:51
know what things we can pray for and know what things God
27:56
typically answers because the Bible gives us clues to those
27:59
things. So, but in all things, I mean,
28:02
just bring everything to God no matter what.
28:04
But I think it, you know, we can have more confidence in some
28:07
being answered and less confidence and other things
28:10
being asked if they aren't in, in alignment with what the Bible
28:15
tells us. So God answered Daniel's prayer
28:19
and he revealed to Daniel the dream of the king.
28:23
So I'll continue. Daniel interprets the dream.
28:26
Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to
28:31
execute the wise men of Babylon and said to him, do not execute
28:35
the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king and I will
28:38
interpret his dream for him. Arioch took Daniel to the king
28:45
at once and said, I have found a man among the Exiles from Judah
28:49
who can tell the king what his dream means?
28:52
The king asked Daniel also called Belteshazzar.
28:57
That was the name the king gave him.
28:59
Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret
29:04
it? Daniel replied.
29:06
No wise man, enchanter, magician are diviner can explain to the
29:12
king the mystery he has asked about.
29:14
But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.
29:20
So this is really important too. Daniel doesn't take the
29:24
information and make himself like puffed up like he doesn't
29:29
use it for his own benefit. He doesn't say, oh, I know the
29:33
answer. I'm smart.
29:35
I'm better than all these guys. He doesn't do that.
29:38
He's like, and nobody can do that.
29:41
There's only one who can do that and that's God.
29:43
So he's giving credit to God, which I think is really
29:47
important for us to to do if we ever received from God anything
29:53
like that. And to have discernment over
29:56
other people who say that, you know, you have to look at how
30:02
somebody reveals something that supposedly they got from God.
30:06
If there's any kind of pride in it or they are elevating
30:10
themselves, it's probably not from God because God hates
30:14
pride. So Daniel doesn't have pride.
30:16
He's very humble and says, I, I can't do this, but there's a God
30:21
in heaven who did. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar
30:24
what will happen in days to come.
30:26
Your dreams and the visions that pass through your mind as you
30:30
were lying in bed are these. As your majesty was lying there,
30:34
your mind turned to things to come and the revealer of
30:38
mysteries showed you what is going to happen.
30:42
I'm going to pause here. So right there that dream was
30:47
from God. God gave that dream to
30:50
Nebuchadnezzar. This happened another time with
30:54
Abraham and Sarah when they were traveling into a land and there
30:58
was a king and Abraham's let fear take over and he told them
31:03
that Sarah was his sister. And so the king then took Sarah.
31:10
He was probably going to bring her in as a wife or a concubine
31:13
or something like that. And but the Lord gave that
31:21
authority, that ruler a dream and prevented him from doing
31:27
anything with Sarah because she was supposed to be with Abraham.
31:34
And and so that ruler authority went to Abraham and said, why
31:38
did you lie to me? Why did you tell me this was
31:39
your sister? And so he let her go and he sent
31:42
him away with gifts. But he was really upset by that.
31:44
But here we see another example. This was a ruler who was not
31:48
godly that God gave a dream to and, you know, didn't know the
31:53
true God. We're also today hearing about
31:58
Muslims who are having dreams of Jesus.
32:01
Now, Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet.
32:04
What they don't believe is Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus died
32:10
on the cross and his sacrifice is what enables us to get into
32:14
the Kingdom of God. However, Jesus is revealing
32:17
himself to people who don't know who he truly is.
32:22
They only know a portion of him, but he's revealing his full self
32:26
to them. Talk about the mercy of God and
32:30
God working through dreams and people that don't pray to him
32:34
that don't submit to him and God still does this like that just
32:39
shows the God's God's compassion and his mercy.
32:42
And it does say in Scripture, I'll have mercy on whom I want
32:45
to have mercy and compassion on whom I want.
32:48
It's it's not for us to say this person is worth it.
32:51
That person's not God decides who he's going to show his mercy
32:58
to, and thank God that he's shown his mercy to all of us by
33:03
sending his Son to die for us so that we can, if we choose to
33:07
follow Jesus, be in the Kingdom of God.
33:10
And if we receive the Holy Spirit, as Jesus said, you know,
33:13
Jesus took care of the hard part because none of us could do it
33:17
to enable ourselves to get into the Kingdom because we're
33:20
sinful. But because Jesus did that on
33:23
the cross, that made it possible.
33:26
But the next thing is we need the Holy Spirit because Jesus
33:30
himself said, unless you have the Holy Spirit, unless you are
33:33
born again, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
33:36
That's found in John, the book of John chapter 3.
33:40
So going back to where we are in this book.
33:44
So God reveals mysteries to people, sometimes even ungodly
33:50
people or people who don't know him.
33:52
He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to
33:56
come. Your dream and the visions that
33:58
pass through your mind at oh, I read that already, sorry.
34:02
OK, so he's the revealer of mysteries, showed you what is
34:07
going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been
34:13
revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone
34:17
else alive. So here Daniel's being very
34:19
humble again, but so that Your Majesty may know the
34:24
interpretation, that you may know the interpretation, and
34:28
that you may understand what went through your mind.
34:33
Your Majesty looked and there before you stood a large statue,
34:39
an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance.
34:44
The head of the statue was made of pure gold, it's chest and
34:49
arms of silver, it's belly and thighs of bronze, it's legs of
34:56
iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.
35:02
I'm going to pause here. So if we can imagine this, it's
35:06
so helpful to look at a figure drawing a depiction of this.
35:11
But it starts, you know, up at the head and goes down to the
35:14
toes. There's a statue and there's
35:16
different materials and these materials represent it'll, it'll
35:20
tell us later represent different kingdoms.
35:23
But and it's like first, second, third, fourth, you know, it goes
35:26
down to all the way down to the feet.
35:29
And this is really interesting and important and it affects us
35:36
today. There's information about our
35:39
future in the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had in what, the
35:44
five, 500 BC time frame. But it's still like future for
35:50
us. Very interesting.
35:51
So anyway, there's all these different materials.
35:54
While you were watching, a rock was cut out by, but not of human
36:00
hands. Now, isn't that interesting?
36:02
But not of human hands. While you were watching, a rock
36:05
was cut out, but not of human hands.
36:11
So God cut out a rock, right? I mean, and I'll show you other
36:18
scripture where this supports this.
36:21
It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed
36:27
them. That's really important.
36:29
It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed
36:34
them. So something else that we see
36:37
here is that the the rock that's cut not by human hands smashes
36:42
the toes. That's the last Kingdom.
36:45
So it doesn't smash the head, it doesn't smash the body, it
36:49
doesn't smash the legs. It hits the toes at the very
36:54
end. So this is again, this, this is
36:59
Jesus. I'm giving you the answer, The
37:00
rock, you know, and I'll show that in Scripture too.
37:04
So it it struck the statue on his feet of iron and clay and
37:08
smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the
37:11
bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and
37:17
became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer.
37:21
So Jesus actually does threshing when his wrath, when he comes,
37:25
when he returns in the wrath of God, unfolds.
37:29
The wind swept them away without leaving a trace, but the rock
37:34
that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the
37:39
whole earth. That's Jesus.
37:42
So I'm going to read. I don't know if I should.
37:46
I, I don't know. I guess that's a good point
37:48
about the rock and all of these things.
37:50
So I searched through Scripture going to blueletterbible.org and
37:55
I searched rock cut if you want to do the same.
37:58
So in Daniel, let's see, in Daniel 234, that's where we
38:08
started to read about it. And then later on, which we
38:12
haven't got to yet, this says this is the meaning of the
38:15
vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, not by human hands, a
38:19
rock that broke the iron. OK, so it does break the iron,
38:23
the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
38:27
The great God has shown the king what will take place in the
38:32
future. The dream is true and its
38:35
interpretation is trustworthy. So I misspoke because it does
38:40
say that it broke down all of these things.
38:41
So I don't know if there's like a portion of that Kingdom that
38:44
still, you know, it's just saying that God wipes out all
38:49
when Jesus returns, he and it it says he struck the toes and the
38:55
toes I think is significant. The feet were struck, but the
39:00
whole thing comes tumbling down like everything, I guess
39:03
everything it was built on, because I do believe that there
39:07
is a spirit behind all of this that is trying to set up its own
39:13
Kingdom. But Jesus smashes it, brings it
39:17
down, and that goes back to I think it's Genesis 315, if my
39:22
memory is correct. I'm going to look that up
39:25
because I think you know, all the way from like God knows the
39:28
beginning from the end or the the end from the beginning is
39:32
what I meant to say. And I, I want to see if this is.
39:37
Yeah, OK, so this is it. So Genesis 315 and I will put
39:41
enmity between you. God is talking to the serpent or
39:45
Satan and the woman that's Eve that he's talking to and between
39:50
your offspring and hers, he, Jesus will crush your head and
39:56
you will strike his heel. So very much like the, you know,
40:00
this is this is Satan's. It says Satan is the ruler of
40:04
the air. He is the ruler of this world
40:07
before a short period of time. So right now, anything worldly
40:12
is Satan's Kingdom and Jesus is coming back to crush that just
40:18
like it was prophesied. By God, it was told.
40:22
It was foretold, I should say foretold by God, both to Satan
40:27
and to Eve. This is what's going to happen.
40:31
Yeah, you're going to strike his heel, but he's going to crush
40:34
you. And so think about this.
40:38
Thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago, this
40:41
crusher was talked about. The very beginning of the Bible
40:47
tells us about it. So then there's I thought this
40:55
was interesting and, and I could be stretching it a bit, but it's
40:59
just kind of interesting. The place where Jesus was
41:01
buried, it was a new tomb that he had cut out of rock.
41:08
This was, I forgot the name of the man, the wealthy man who let
41:12
Jesus be buried in something that he had owned, but he placed
41:15
it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.
41:22
Isn't that interest? I just think that's like
41:24
symbolic. I mean, it's a, it just, I mean,
41:26
it's a literal thing. Like there was actually a tomb
41:29
that was cut out of rock that Jesus went in when after he died
41:33
that, you know, they placed Jesus in.
41:37
So that's Matthew chapter 27, verse 60.
41:41
It said he rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the
41:44
tomb and went away. And again, this is Mark chapter
41:50
15, verse 46. It talks about placed it in a
41:55
tomb cut out of rock. So was this God early on?
42:00
You know, just like there's so many different ways, there's so
42:04
many different cross references in Scripture that are literal
42:09
and symbolic and prophetic. So again, you can read Mark 1546
42:15
and then the same thing, Luke 2353.
42:18
It refers to and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in
42:24
which no one had yet been laid. So this is like pure clean.
42:29
This is the first time anybody there's, it's not.
42:32
So again, this is something that just came to mind as I'm reading
42:35
through this right now. In Jewish culture, having any
42:38
connection with death defiles something.
42:42
So Jesus was not placed in a tomb that had been used before.
42:47
What I understand from studying is that in these tombs that the
42:51
Jewish people have, they will put a body in there in the old
42:55
times. I don't know how they do it
42:56
today, if they still do this, but they would put a body in
42:59
there and then when the body decayed, they would push the
43:02
bones to the back, or there was like a shelf and then, you know,
43:05
it would fall to the backside. So then other relatives could
43:08
also be placed in that same tomb.
43:11
And this is just interesting. Like I said this just like all
43:14
of a sudden this this came to me thinking about this was that he
43:19
was placed in a tomb that no one had ever been placed in.
43:24
It was a brand new tomb. So he was not defiled by Jewish
43:30
tradition. He was put into a clean place.
43:35
This is pretty amazing, kind of cool.
43:40
Let's see then. Another thing that I searched
43:43
was cornerstone, because that is how Jesus is referred to and
43:49
there are 12 times in the new in an international version that
43:55
cornerstone is used. I don't know about I wonder who
44:02
laid its cornerstone that's in Job.
44:04
I'm not really sure about that verse there, but the rest of
44:08
them which I could read, but I'll just read it because I
44:14
didn't. So this is when Job and God are
44:18
having this conversation and he's basically telling Job like,
44:25
hey, who are you? Brace yourself like a man.
44:27
I will question you. This is God speaking to Job, and
44:29
you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the
44:31
earth's foundation? Tell me if you understand who
44:34
marked off its dimensions. Surely you know who stretched A
44:37
measuring line across it, or what footings set, or who laid
44:41
its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and
44:45
all the angels shattered for joy.
44:47
Well, I think that really is referring to Jesus now that OK,
44:51
the oldest book in the Bible. Now this refers to Jesus Job 38
44:57
verse 6. God is saying who laid his
45:00
cornerstone? God did, he sent his Son here,
45:05
he laid the cornerstone. And it makes sense when you see
45:08
while the morning stars sang together and all the angels
45:13
shouted for joy. So, you know, in the Book of
45:18
Revelation, it's like Hallelujah, the Kingdom has
45:20
become, you know, the Kingdom. Jesus has the authority of the
45:24
Kingdom. The kingdoms been given to him.
45:27
And so all the angels sing and they're shouting for joy.
45:32
The when Jesus reigns here on earth, I mean, there is like so
45:37
much joy because evil is defeated.
45:40
Evil was technically defeated when he died on the cross.
45:45
But Jesus hasn't taken over his literal reign on earth yet.
45:49
He's, he has authority over everything right now.
45:53
So he does have that authority, but he's just not here on earth
45:57
dwelling with us and ruling as the king.
46:00
And that is what is going to come.
46:04
So again, the rock, this is, I think there's quite a number of
46:10
too many of them from, yeah, 115 times in 104 verses.
46:15
So. But when it's capitalized, it a
46:21
rock is, you know, something that people base themselves on.
46:25
So like in Deuteronomy 3032 verse 18, it says you deserted
46:31
the rock. Who fathered you?
46:34
You forgot the God who gave you birth.
46:38
So again this is relating God to the rock.
46:41
And furthermore it will relate Jesus to the rock.
46:46
And then it says how could one man chase?
46:50
This is Deuteronomy 3230. How could one man chase 1000 or
46:55
two put 10,000 to fight unless their rock had sold them, unless
47:01
the Lord had given them up? So that's interesting too.
47:07
And that could be a whole nother study.
47:11
And then it says in Deuteronomy 3231, for their rock is not like
47:17
our rock, as even our enemies concede.
47:21
So there are other like foundations that people set
47:24
their faith on, but it's not like ours, not like a believer,
47:29
not like the one who believes in the one true God.
47:32
And so there's again, there's just if you search this, because
47:37
there's so many of them, I won't read them all.
47:39
But the, the rock, you know, in Second Samuel, it says the Lord,
47:45
Second Samuel 22 verse 47, the Lord lives.
47:50
Please be to my rock exalted, be my God, the rock, my Savior.
47:57
So God saved us through Jesus. And so again, this is the
48:03
capital are in rock the way the Bible's written, the rock of
48:09
Israel is referred to. And sometimes you'll see a
48:12
literal and sometimes you'll see a metaphor about the rock.
48:20
I mean, in Psalm 1914, it says, may the words of your mouth, the
48:25
words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be
48:28
pleasing in your sight, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
48:35
So these are just, I mean, it's, it's worth it to read through
48:40
those. Another thing about the rock.
48:43
Oh, I think of this was really, I wonder if I, I, oh gosh, I
48:49
want to go back to a verse about the rock that I skipped over and
48:56
it was early on in the Bible, but it is Moses.
49:01
So it says in Numbers chapter 20, verse 8, take the staff and
49:08
you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together.
49:12
Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its
49:19
water. You will bring water out of the
49:23
rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.
49:30
Now this is a really critical moment in the Exodus story while
49:35
they were in the wilderness because this is where Moses
49:39
doesn't really listen to God. Instead, he strikes the rock
49:45
instead of speaking to the rock. And I believe this is one of the
49:52
reasons that Moses doesn't get to enter the promised land
49:56
because he was disobedient to God and he would, he was able to
50:00
see it, but he was not able to enter it the physical land of
50:04
Canaan that God was giving to the Israelites.
50:08
And I also think this is important, like God doesn't show
50:11
favoritism. So God, you know, loved Moses.
50:16
He did a lot through Moses. He gave him the 10 commandments.
50:18
He he used him to free his people from slavery in Egypt.
50:26
And so those are all like really great things, but and Moses
50:30
wasn't perfect. So why did he not, do you know,
50:35
when he's seen waters part by raising his staff?
50:39
Like why did he not just listen to God and speak to the rock?
50:43
Did was he confused? Did he think, well, I, I didn't
50:46
understand God, but how can I speak to something and then
50:49
water gushes out of it? You know, that doesn't make
50:52
sense. But he's relying on like common
50:55
sense rather than spiritual truth from God.
50:59
And so for whatever reason, it doesn't say why Moses didn't
51:03
listen to God. But God wasn't happy about that.
51:06
And we need to think about that too.
51:09
Because if God didn't let Moses get into that land, now I
51:12
believe Moses is saved because of his relationship with God.
51:17
But I, you know, he didn't get to go into the promised land.
51:22
And so now with us having Jesus giving us just like Joshua,
51:29
bringing us into the promised land, into God's Kingdom, making
51:32
the way possible for us to be in God's Kingdom, if we don't
51:36
listen to God, if we're disobedient to God, after Jesus
51:41
has done what he's done, Scripture does tell us that we
51:47
could lose that, that that land, that that eternal place that we
51:55
are seeking. So it was in Hebrews, I think it
51:58
was chapter 4, can't remember. But there, there is a warning to
52:02
us about disobedience. Of course, we're not going to be
52:06
perfect, but the Holy Spirit does that process.
52:11
The power of the Holy Spirit will help us with that.
52:15
We just need a close relationship with God.
52:17
And when we mess up, we just need to go to God directly and,
52:21
and ask for forgiveness for it. And God is merciful.
52:24
Thank God, he's merciful and and then he strengthens us.
52:29
But you know, we always get a choice because He doesn't take
52:31
away our free will. So by our free will, we can
52:35
resist His Spirit, we can say no to his Spirit.
52:38
We can choose to be disobedient and not lead be not be led by
52:43
the Holy Spirit. But if we do that, there is a
52:49
consequence. We could lose out on eternity if
52:52
we refuse what the Holy Spirit is telling us.
52:55
Just like Moses wasn't able to enter into that promised land.
52:59
So it's something we really need to take seriously.
53:04
But again, on this rock, when and when God says speak to that
53:08
rock and it will pour out its water.
53:10
This is another very symbolic, important thing.
53:14
And it says like how the water is going to go to the community
53:19
so that they they in the livestock can drink well water
53:22
is essential for surviving. And The thing is, Jesus gives us
53:29
the water of life. So in John chapter 4 verse 14 it
53:33
says, but whoever this is Jesus talking.
53:36
But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.
53:40
Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of
53:47
water welling up to eternal life.
53:51
So a literal event, again with Moses and the rock and the water
53:56
and pointing to Jesus and the water of life.
54:02
And then in the Book of Revelation, it talks a lot more
54:04
about the water of life. In Revelation 21 and 22, I'll
54:08
read those sentences from those chapters.
54:12
In verse 6 of 21, it says, he said to me, it is done.
54:17
I am the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end to the
54:21
thirsty. I will give water without cost
54:26
from the spring of the water of life.
54:29
Now this is really important. This is Jesus to the thirsty, to
54:33
those seeking Him. He will give water, the water of
54:38
life without cost, like it doesn't cost us anything, like
54:42
it's a free gift. His death on the cross was a
54:46
free gift to us. Now what do we do once we get he
54:51
gave us that gift though, and it's not by our I guess to
54:59
clarify, nothing we can do gets us into heaven, gets us into
55:04
God's Kingdom. It is what Jesus did that allows
55:08
us. But once we know what Jesus did,
55:13
it doesn't stop there. We need the Holy Spirit and the
55:15
Holy Spirit changes us. So then we, the way we act, the
55:21
way we operate, the way we live is evidence of having the Holy
55:26
Spirit. OK.
55:28
In Revelation 22, verse one, then the Angel showed me the
55:31
river of the water of life as clear as crystal flowing from
55:36
the throne of God and of the Lamb.
55:39
The Lamb is symbolic of Jesus. So this is another connection.
55:43
It's God's throne. The water of life is coming from
55:46
that. In Revelation 22 verse 17, the
55:50
Spirit and the Bride say come and let the one who hears say
55:56
come. Let the one who is thirsty come
56:01
and let the one who wishes to take the free gift of the water
56:06
of life. This is following Jesus, the
56:10
water of life and the free gift that Jesus gave us.
56:15
So let's see, I will continue back with Daniel chapter 2,
56:24
verse 36. This was the dream, and now we
56:28
will interpret it to the king, Your Majesty, for the king, for
56:32
you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you
56:37
dominion and power and might and glory.
56:41
In your hands He placed all mankind and the beasts of the
56:44
field and the birds of the sky, wherever they live, He has made
56:48
you ruler over them. You are the head of gold.
56:52
So let's remember that in verse 21 Daniel was praising God and
56:58
he said he changes times and season.
57:00
He deposes kings and raise raises up others.
57:04
So God lets people rule for a certain amount of time according
57:08
to his plans. So after you verse 39, after
57:13
you, another Kingdom will arise inferior to yours.
57:17
Next 1/3 Kingdom 1 of bronze will rule over the whole earth.
57:22
Finally, there will be a fourth Kingdom, strong as iron.
57:27
For iron breaks and smashes everything, and as iron breaks
57:32
things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.
57:38
Just as you saw the feet and the toes were partly of baked clay
57:44
and partly of iron, so this will be a divided Kingdom, yet it
57:51
will have some of the strength of the iron in it.
57:54
Even as you saw iron mixed with clay.
57:58
As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this Kingdom
58:04
will be partly strong and partly brittle.
58:09
And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the
58:14
people will be a mixture and will not remain united any more
58:21
than iron mixes with clay. So there's a lot of interesting
58:26
things about this, that last Kingdom.
58:30
I mean, I think we are in that last Kingdom right now.
58:34
And the iron mixed with clay divided Kingdom.
58:36
Look at how divided we are becoming.
58:39
And it's, you know, there's yeah, there's it's the materials
58:47
are interesting too, because all of these like metals that God is
58:52
talking about in the stream are showing the king.
58:56
These are all like strong nations that are happening.
58:59
But the clay, what is the clay? The clay is like nothing.
59:04
But think about the clay. In other parts of the Bible, God
59:08
refers to himself as the Potter. And we are the clay, of course,
59:14
every people. But what if these metals are
59:16
actual spiritual entities that are against God, which they are,
59:21
and then the clay are his people.
59:24
So there's a divided Kingdom. There's going to be some people
59:27
that are with the iron or with the enemy of God, and then
59:31
they're going to be the clay, other people who are really with
59:35
God, and it's divided. And a Kingdom divided can't
59:39
stand. Jesus says that.
59:42
So in the time oh, and the other thing that I thought was really
59:46
interesting, and I don't know if there is a correlation between
59:49
this, but the Bible kind of interprets and also relates to
59:54
other parts of the Bible. So in well, in the book of
59:58
Daniel later it's going to talk about this too, but the beast
1:00:01
with 10 heads or 10 horns or 10 crowns, but there's the number
1:00:08
10. It's associated with the beast
1:00:10
that comes up in a later chapter of Daniel, but that same.
1:00:15
Entity comes up in the Book of Revelation too, the same entity.
1:00:20
So this the beast in Revelation has seven heads, but I think 10
1:00:25
crowns and the reason they're 7 is because one of them conquers
1:00:31
3, so replaces 3. So there's like, but it's like
1:00:36
the very, very, very end is when this beast arises.
1:00:40
So I don't actually know like if we are probably maybe not in
1:00:45
that very final beast. I know we're not there yet, but
1:00:48
I that's where we're headed to those those 1010 kings are those
1:00:55
10 people of authority, but they only get authority for a very
1:00:59
short period of time before Jesus crushes them.
1:01:02
We are not there yet. And but that's like, I guess in
1:01:06
our future is this beast rising up out of the people.
1:01:10
But this is, you know, foretold to Daniel thousands and
1:01:14
thousands of years ago. So in the time of those kings,
1:01:17
the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom that will never be
1:01:21
destroyed, nor will it be left to another people.
1:01:25
So when Jesus returns, that's going to be the final Kingdom it
1:01:29
will crush. Remember the the head crusher
1:01:33
from Genesis 315. It will crush all those kingdoms
1:01:38
and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
1:01:44
This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of
1:01:47
the mountain, but not of human hands.
1:01:50
A rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver,
1:01:54
and the gold pieces. The great God has shown the king
1:01:58
what will take place in the future.
1:02:00
The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.
1:02:06
Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid
1:02:09
him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be
1:02:13
presented to him. The king said to Daniel, surely
1:02:18
your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer
1:02:22
of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.
1:02:27
So Nebuchadnezzar is acknowledging you got it right,
1:02:30
Daniel. Then the king placed Daniel in a
1:02:34
high position and lavished many gifts on him.
1:02:37
He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and
1:02:42
placed him in charge of all of its wise men.
1:02:47
Moreover, at Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach,
1:02:51
Meshech, and Abedneko administrators over the province
1:02:55
of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the Royal Court.
1:03:00
So think about this. He was faithful to God.
1:03:02
Daniel was faithful to God. And then God took an enemy who
1:03:07
made one of the captives, one of the people that he took hostage,
1:03:11
if you want to call it that, or captive, whatever, and made him
1:03:15
like, gave him authority over a lot of other people who were
1:03:19
Babylonians. Isn't that interesting, what God
1:03:22
can do? Or, you know, this was
1:03:25
Nebuchadnezzar's free will, but because Daniel proved himself,
1:03:31
Nebuchadnezzar put him in a in a powerful position.
1:03:37
So anyway, that's, that's just something to notice here, like
1:03:44
just how God will spare a faithful one.
1:03:47
And we'll see in the next chapter, we're going to see even
1:03:49
more so how God supernaturally intervenes in a situation that
1:03:55
never would have been possible without God.
1:03:57
And how again, Jesus, I believe it's Jesus is present and we'll
1:04:02
get into that too. But anyway, we are, that's the
1:04:08
end of this chapter. I did have a couple other
1:04:12
verses, but I don't know if I'm going to go over all those about
1:04:16
mountains and all of that. There is something that may be I
1:04:30
don't know how many another well, this is too many verses to
1:04:33
read right now, but in blueletterbible.org if you
1:04:37
search good news, that's another topic that is very relevant.
1:04:47
It goes back to like Isaiah chapter 40 verse 9.
1:04:50
You who bring good news to Zion, go up on the high mountain.
1:04:54
You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice
1:04:57
and shout, lift it up. Do not be afraid, say to the
1:04:59
sounds of Judah here is your God.
1:05:03
So the good news is being associated with God and
1:05:06
eventually it's associated with Jesus and Jesus.
1:05:12
It says Matthew 4 verse 23. Jesus went throughout Galilee
1:05:16
teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the
1:05:19
Kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among
1:05:24
people. In Matthew 935, it says
1:05:28
something very similar to that Matthew 11/5.
1:05:31
It talks about blind receiving sight, dead, dead or raised to
1:05:36
death here. I mean like he was doing these
1:05:38
tremendous miracles as he's proclaiming the good news about
1:05:42
the Kingdom of God. And then mark chapter one, verse
1:05:46
one, the beginning of the good news about G, about Jesus the
1:05:51
Messiah, the Son of God. So that is the way he starts
1:05:57
out. Let's see, as it is written in
1:06:02
Isaiah, the prophet, I will send my messenger ahead of you who
1:06:05
will prepare the way for you. A voice calling.
1:06:07
Well, he was talking about John the Baptist there, John who
1:06:11
baptized people. He baptized people for
1:06:13
repentance. But yeah, search good news and
1:06:18
read those segments because it's all about Jesus and the good
1:06:25
news. Let's see when you get into the
1:06:29
book of Acts, if you just want to search the book of Acts and
1:06:33
search good news. That's I had think I'm going to,
1:06:35
oh, actually there's that verse that I mentioned before in
1:06:39
Hebrews chapter 4. It'll end with that.
1:06:43
So I'm going to read about the good news from the book of Acts.
1:06:46
So the book of Acts is after the disciples received the Holy
1:06:51
Spirit and they received power. So day after day in the temple
1:06:58
courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and
1:07:02
proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
1:07:08
That's in the book of Acts, chapter 5, verse 42, and then
1:07:13
chapter 8 verse 12, when they believed Philip as he proclaimed
1:07:18
the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus
1:07:22
Christ, they were baptized, both men and women in chapter 8,
1:07:30
verse 35. Then Philip began with that very
1:07:33
passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
1:07:38
So it's about Jesus being our Savior and Jesus making the way
1:07:43
Jesus said he is, the way, the truth and the life, and no one
1:07:46
comes to the Father except through him.
1:07:48
We don't get into the Kingdom of God.
1:07:50
If Jesus hadn't died on the cross, it wouldn't be possible.
1:07:53
And that's what the good news is, that Jesus did that for us.
1:07:56
You know the message God sent to the people of Israel announcing
1:07:59
the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of
1:08:04
all. So Jesus Christ brings peace, He
1:08:09
alone brings peace. We will not have peace until
1:08:11
Jesus returns. There will be some false peace
1:08:14
that happens. The Bible warns us about that
1:08:16
when they say peace and safety or peace and security, then
1:08:19
comes sudden destruction. So the next piece that we think
1:08:25
or many think that we're having is not going to be real or long
1:08:29
lasting and that's found in Acts chapter 10 verse 36.
1:08:36
Let's see, I'm just kind of scrolling through to see there's
1:08:39
there's plenty more, but I will try and find ones that Acts 20
1:08:48
verse 24. However, I consider my life
1:08:51
worth nothing to me. My only aim as is to finish the
1:08:55
race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.
1:08:58
This is Paul talking the task of testifying to the good news of
1:09:03
God's grace. God's grace is that it doesn't
1:09:07
it didn't cost us anything what Jesus did.
1:09:11
Like Jesus, this was a free gift that he gave us on the cross.
1:09:15
But God's grace is also power through the Holy Spirit to
1:09:20
overcome a lot. So let's see, there's a few more
1:09:31
things that I think are good. Well, they're all good, but just
1:09:35
that we might have time for. So but Timothy has just now come
1:09:41
to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and
1:09:44
love. OK, so that's not the same good
1:09:45
news, but it's just positive news in that verse.
1:09:49
But in Hebrews 4 chapter 2 for we also have had the good news
1:09:57
proclaimed to us just as they did, but the message they heard
1:10:02
was of no value to them because they did not share the faith of
1:10:07
those who obeyed. So we, the whole thing about
1:10:13
works is, is just something like that's really confused by a lot
1:10:18
of people, but listen to this and just think about it and pray
1:10:22
about it. It says because they did not
1:10:25
share the faith of those who obeyed.
1:10:29
So our obedience shows that we have faith.
1:10:35
We are saved by faith. You're saved by grace.
1:10:40
But faith brings forth everything.
1:10:44
It's not by works. It's, you know, faith not works,
1:10:48
but the works or the obedience, really the obedience.
1:10:53
So I think works or something other works might be service
1:10:56
acts, like those aren't going to get us anywhere but the
1:10:59
obedience to God. That's really important.
1:11:02
And in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 6, this becomes very, very, very
1:11:06
apparent. And this is where I was talking
1:11:08
about how Moses didn't get into the land of Canaan because he
1:11:12
didn't, he wasn't obedient to God.
1:11:15
So Hebrews 46 says therefore, since it remains for some to
1:11:21
enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news
1:11:28
proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience,
1:11:34
so they were told the good news, but they didn't go in because of
1:11:40
their disobedience. So then it says God again set a
1:11:45
certain day, calling it today. This He did when a long time
1:11:49
later He spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted
1:11:54
today. If you hear His voice, do not
1:11:57
harden your hearts. Then it goes on to say, for if
1:12:03
Joshua had given them rest, Joshua was kind of, he was a
1:12:07
literal person, but he was symbolic of Jesus and Jesus was
1:12:10
actually, if you take Yeshua and translate it, it would be
1:12:14
Joshua. But I don't know, that's another
1:12:17
story. But so for if Joshua had given
1:12:20
them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.
1:12:26
So this was like Joshua gave them one, but again, it was
1:12:31
pointing to a future rest of people.
1:12:34
There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
1:12:38
That's the 7th day, a rest for the people of God, for anyone
1:12:44
who enters. God's rest also rest from their
1:12:48
works, just as God did from his. Let us therefore make every
1:12:54
effort. So there's some effort here,
1:12:57
right? Make every effort to enter that
1:13:00
rest so that no one will perish by following their example of
1:13:05
disobedience. We need to be obedient to God.
1:13:09
That's what our focus needs to be.
1:13:11
It doesn't mean that we're going to be perfect in it, but every
1:13:14
time we mess up, we go to God and ask for forgiveness and we
1:13:17
ask for more power from the Holy Spirit to overcome it because it
1:13:22
is possible to overcome things. In verse 12 it says, for the
1:13:27
word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged
1:13:30
sword. It penetrates even to dividing
1:13:33
soul and spirit joints and marrow.
1:13:35
It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
1:13:39
Nothing in creation is hidden from God's sight.
1:13:42
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to
1:13:47
whom we must give account. So All in all, this really shows
1:13:54
me that, you know, God foretells things to people.
1:13:56
He's told us the same thing over and over.
1:13:59
Repent, turn to him, obey him, listen to him, receive the Holy
1:14:04
Spirit and there's great rewards for that.
1:14:09
So I will read through questions and answers for chapter 2 and
1:14:15
then wrap this up. So what was the role of
1:14:21
magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers?
1:14:25
These were various types of wise men Babylon relied on to
1:14:29
foretell the future, advised the king, and influence such events
1:14:33
as harvest, droughts, and battles.
1:14:35
Magicians could refer to anyone involved in occult practices.
1:14:40
Enchanters may have been skilled in exorcisms.
1:14:45
Sorcerers cast spells. Astrologers were a class of
1:14:50
priests who claimed to receive special knowledge through the
1:14:55
movement of the stars. Some speculate that these
1:14:58
practitioners had demonic powers, but they seem
1:15:03
ineffective in the story of Daniel.
1:15:07
Why was the king so hard on astrologers?
1:15:10
He may have sensed this dream was more important than others
1:15:13
he'd had, and he wanted to test the interpreters powers before
1:15:17
accepting the results. He may have also doubted their
1:15:20
abilities, as he had inherited these fortune tellers from the
1:15:24
days when his father was king. In any case, Nebuchadnezzar's
1:15:28
personality seemed to dispose him to sudden rages and harsh
1:15:33
punishments. Why did the king give Daniel
1:15:36
more time after accusing the wise men of stalling?
1:15:39
The wise men had already admitted they could not recall
1:15:42
or interpret the dream. Having said there is no one on
1:15:45
earth who can do what the king asked in verse 10.
1:15:48
That's how the king knew they were stalling for time.
1:15:51
Daniel was so confident that he could answer the king that he
1:15:55
asked for time so that he might interpret the dream for him.
1:15:59
His confidence reassured the king that he was not stalling.
1:16:04
Is God responsible for bad government?
1:16:07
We might expect an all powerful God to place only righteous
1:16:11
leaders in offices, but he uses both good and bad rulers to
1:16:16
achieve his purposes. Nebuchadnezzar carried out God's
1:16:19
plan to discipline Judah, just as Roman persecution later
1:16:24
strengthened the church and advanced the spread of the
1:16:29
gospel. Make no mistake, God will judge
1:16:32
evil rulers, but for the reasons unknown to us, He allows sinful
1:16:38
leaders and sinful followers, including us, to live and even
1:16:43
prosper. Why was Daniel also called
1:16:47
Beltashezer? The Babylonians gave new names
1:16:51
to Daniel and his friends to assimilate them into Babylonian
1:16:54
society. Their old names, which referred
1:16:57
to the true God of Israel, were replaced with names that
1:17:00
referred to the false gods of Babylon.
1:17:03
Daniel's name meaning God is my judge was changed to
1:17:08
Beltashazzar meaning bell protect him.
1:17:11
He was known in the Babylonian court as Belteshazzar.
1:17:16
What kingdoms did the statue represent?
1:17:18
Most likely the head stood for the Neo Babylonian Empire, the
1:17:22
chest for the arms of the Medio Persian Empire.
1:17:26
That's to modern day Iran's area today, the belly and thighs for
1:17:31
the Greek Empire, and that's Yevon.
1:17:35
So it is a wide portion of land. You'd have to look that up and
1:17:41
the legs and the feet for the Roman Empire.
1:17:43
Some distinguish between the Medes and the Persians.
1:17:46
Omitting the Romans. The last Kingdom is the eternal
1:17:50
Kingdom of God established by Christ the Rock in verse 45.
1:17:57
Why wasn't Nebuchadnezzar angry with Daniel for delivering bad
1:18:00
news? Unlike the court astrologers and
1:18:02
magicians, Daniel was able to recall the King's troubling
1:18:05
dream and interpret it. The king knew that Daniel was
1:18:07
telling the truth so he could so he could prepare for what would
1:18:11
happen. He also was assured that his own
1:18:15
reign would continue. Just as I'm reading this, I'm
1:18:18
thinking about Egypt and Joseph. And the same kind of thing
1:18:23
happened. The Egyptian Pharaoh had a dream
1:18:26
with these cattle. They were like starving and, you
1:18:30
know, fat and then starving. And Joseph, he was a dreamer.
1:18:35
God spoke to him through dreams, and Joseph was able to tell the
1:18:41
Pharaoh what that dream meant, and he told them that they were
1:18:45
going to have three years of plenty and then three years of
1:18:49
famine. And so they were able to prepare
1:18:52
in advance for that. So another question did
1:18:56
Nebuchadnezzar convert to follow Daniel's God?
1:18:59
The king was impressed enough with Daniel's abilities to
1:19:02
declare Judah's God the top deity, but Nebuchadnezzar still
1:19:06
believed in many gods. The King's growing recognition
1:19:10
of the Most High God was an amazing declaration coming from
1:19:14
the most powerful Pagan on earth at that time.
1:19:18
But there is no evidence that the king abandoned his worship
1:19:21
of Babylonian gods. So let's see.
1:19:27
The king placed Daniel in a high position, says see Genesis 39
1:19:32
verse through 40, chapters 39 through 41 for the story of
1:19:36
Joseph, another godly captive who was rewarded for
1:19:39
interpreting A rulers dreams. So why place a foreign captive
1:19:44
in a position of authority? Daniel had proved his worth by
1:19:49
exhibiting wisdom, insight, courage and the means to
1:19:52
interpret dreams. Much like Pharaoh's trust in
1:19:55
Joseph, Nebuchadnezzar had confidence that Daniel would be
1:20:00
a good leader respecting royal authority.
1:20:03
And that is the wrap up of chapter 2.
1:20:07
So hope you, Oh my gosh, this is a long 1.
1:20:09
Hope you subscribe. And if you found this
1:20:12
beneficial, please share it with other people and come back for
1:20:19
each chapter as we go through and really try to dive deep into
1:20:22
God's Word and hope you come back.