Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture - Daniel 1-4
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: It's good to see you today. Welcome to our journey through Scripture. My name is Philip Thomas, pastor of Journey here in Elgin, and we are going to be looking at ⁓ Daniel chapters one through four today. Remember last time ⁓ we got to the end basically of, in a way, the end of Judah. The Babylonians have now come in. They are beginning to take people, the best and the brightest, away from Jerusalem. So the country is just slowly collapsing. The temple hasn't been destroyed yet, but it will be soon. So Babylon has basically exerted its authority completely over Judah. And so we have the King of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar. It's also, you'll see it say the Chaldeans at times. It's the same empire that he is, his philosophy is to hey, take all of the people that can benefit me and bring them to Babylon so that they can be a benefit to my kingdom. And so that's what he started to do. So if you start reading in Daniel, these first few chapters really deal a lot with Nebuchadnezzar and the ⁓ interaction that he has with the people, specifically Daniel and then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. All right, so these four men are ⁓ the focus, if you will, of Daniel. They obviously were not the only exiles, but they ⁓ rose in ranks very quickly. If you read in Daniel chapter one, you'll ⁓ see that ⁓ quickly. ⁓ There in verse four, this is who the king is looking for. He was looking for young men in whom there was no blemish. good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge, quick to understand, had the ability to serve in the king's palace and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. So he wanted people who were going to be beneficial to him. So they would have probably been pretty young men, not children by any means, but young men. And the king gave them all the... the finer things. They gave him his wine, gave him the food that was better than the other people got. This brings the first challenge, because now all of a sudden, these young men are living in a place that does not acknowledge or does not necessarily really even respect their God or His rules that He has put in place. Some of those rules were dietary rules. Well, King Nebuchadnezzar didn't care about that. He was actually being helpful and nice to the exiles, to them because he wanted them strong. ⁓ But yet Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that they were not supposed to eat the meat that was being prepared the way that it was. And so they stood up for that and said, no, we're not going to do that. It's interesting as you read through here, I encourage you to do that. They had a good relationship with their, their captors. And it was actually one of the captors that was in charge of giving them food. He was like, if y'all don't eat and y'all start losing weight and, you know, looking pitiful, I'm going to be the one that gets in trouble. And so they tell him, well, just feed us vegetables and water for a week and we'll see how things turn out. And sure enough, after that, they looked better than the other captives, and so ⁓ everything worked out well. ⁓ says, ⁓ verse 20, in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus. So they were looked upon very highly, and they already are setting the precedent that they're going to stand up for their faith. They're going to stand up for the God of ⁓ Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ⁓ but they are also going to work for the king, ⁓ King Nebuchadnezzar. And we're going to see that that brings about some challenges, to say the least. So in chapter two, You have Nebuchadnezzar, specifically he kind of becomes a focal point for the next few chapters. Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and that I love what it says in verse one of chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. So he could no longer sleep. He was ⁓ very upset and he said, I have a dream and my spirit is anxious to know the dream. ⁓ And basically he told the diviners and magicians and things like that, I need someone to be able to interpret this for me. He said, the king said, my decision is firm. If you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made an ash heap. However, if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation." So he was wanting the people to not only tell him the interpretation of the dream, but tell him what he dreamed. A little unreasonable, right? But I guess if you're king, you can ask the unreasonable. Well, needless to say, the magicians and things like that and the wise people did not take him up on the offer because he was going to give them all of this stuff, but they had to tell him what he dreamed and what it meant. Well, they were like, ⁓ we're not going to do that. So then King Nebuchadnezzar gets upset and he says, well, I'm just going to start killing all of the wise men, right? All the people who claim to be able to do this. You know what? They, they're not doing a good enough job. They can't tell me what I dreamed. ⁓ it really comes across pretty arrogant guy. that he's going to just start having them killed. Well, word gets to Daniel. Daniel is in one of these categories. He's an advisor. He's ⁓ someone filled with wisdom. So he's in line to be killed because Nebuchadnezzar is just a jerk and is frustrated that no one will take up his offer that is completely unreasonable. So Daniel, as well as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they are mentioned in this as well. In fact, says, Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time that he might tell the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, made the decision known to shatter at Meshach and abandon his companions, that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So, I think this is interesting. So Daniel is trying to save himself as well as all of the other wise men in Babylon, right? And so he takes the challenge, but I mean, he's going to probably be killed one way or the other. But he goes to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and he says, hey guys, let's pray about this. We need God's mercy here. And God does answer. And I love Daniel's response. This is Daniel's prayer. It's in ⁓ ⁓ Daniel chapter 2 ⁓ verse 20 says, this is Daniel's prayer in response to God answering his prayer. He says, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His, and He changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things. He knows what is. ⁓ what is in the darkness and light dwells with him. I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers, and you have given me wisdom and might, and now you have made known to me what we ask of you, for you have made known to us the king's demand." All right. So in this prayer, Daniel is acknowledging that God is the King of kings, right? That God places kings in power, that God is the God of wisdom. So Daniel is in great humility understanding that the only way that they're getting out of this, the only way that this interpretation is happening is because God is wise and God has given Daniel this knowledge. ⁓ And I think that's important for us to always be very mindful that God is the King of Kings. He is above all others. He's above any of our earthly... ⁓ situations, our earthly institutions, our earthly leaders, all pale in comparison to the power of Almighty God. So then Daniel goes and he explains the dream, but he makes it very clear to Nebuchadnezzar where this is coming from. He says in verse 28, he says, but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in later days. ⁓ And then he continues on, He says, for you, O King, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed about what would come to pass after this. And he who reveals secrets has made known to you what it will be. But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living. But for our sakes, who make known the interpretation to the King and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. Right? So he's again, giving credit to God saying God is the one doing this to keep you from basically wiping out hundreds of people. ⁓ So he talks about ⁓ a statue that is made up of different ⁓ materials. You can read through there. Most people consider this kind of a timeline ⁓ from Babylon. Babylon is going to then become Persia. Persia is going to be destroyed by the Greeks. And then the Greeks are going to be overcome by the Romans. So it's kind of talking about the great empires that are going to follow. And that's what the dream is talking about. So the king obviously is impressed by this. The king answered, Daniel said, truly your God is the God of gods. Isn't this interesting? Verse 47, truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, the revealer of secrets since you could reveal the secret. Then the king promoted Daniel, gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over the wise men of Babylon. Also, Daniel petitioned the king and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat in the gate of the king." All so all four of these men have now been elevated. They have a relationship of some sort with Nebuchadnezzar. They are looked highly upon. And now Nebuchadnezzar, he... He does, he's at least acknowledging there's something about this God, this Jewish God, but he's never going to fully grasp what that means. ⁓ And we see that immediately in chapter three. This is the fiery furnace of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I actually preached on this on Sunday. So if you want to listen to the Sunday message just from two days ago, we looked at this passage. ⁓ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ⁓ they refused to follow an order that the king made. So the king had a statue made of himself that was gold. Kind of interesting whenever you connect that with the dream that he just had, he was represented by the gold, the head of that statue that he had ⁓ in the dream that he had. So now he actually decides, yeah, you know what? I'm just going to build me a statue. And he wants everyone to worship that statue when the band starts playing. And so it's kind of making a big deal each and every day. Well, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to do this. ⁓ And they are pointed out. There's some people that clearly want to bring them down a notch, probably didn't like that these Jewish guys had been put in charge of so much there in Babylon. And so they tell Nebuchadnezzar what's going on. So Nebuchadnezzar said, it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, if you're ready at the time to hear the sound, you should fall down and worship the image I have made good. But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. So this is interesting. He didn't care that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego worshiped God. The only...when he got mad is when they wouldn't worship his gods and they wouldn't worship him. That is when he got upset. He was perfectly willing to let them worship their God as long as it didn't cross the line. Well, now it's crossed the line. And he was saying, you're going to have to choose who you're going to serve because this was a threat to his... leadership, it was a threat because they were showing allegiance to God, not to Nebuchadnezzar. And I talked a little bit about that on Sunday. know, the earthly leadership, earthly governments, the thing that is the biggest threat to them is ⁓ people having an allegiance to something bigger than that institution, than that leader, than that government. Right? That can be a threat. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are experiencing the result of that threat, which in this case was a fiery furnace. So I love their response in verse 16, says, Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter if that is the case. So basically Nebuchadnezzar laid it out, said, if you don't worship the statue, you're going into the fiery furnace. So they're like, well, there's nothing to talk about because we're not worshiping the statue. says, ⁓ our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us from your hand, O King. But if not, let it be known to you that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. So they're basically saying God can save us from this. He can change your mind, he can intervene. ⁓ But even if he doesn't, it doesn't matter. We're not going to bow down and worship. that golden idol. And I think it's important that I'm sure the moment that they were grabbed and started being hauled off to the fiery furnace, they anticipated that they were dead. That was the end. There's no indication that they would have thought that God was going to save them by allowing them to be thrown completely in the fire. That's not the way that they would have envisioned being saved from that situation. But yet that's just what God did. And of course, this neat picture of Nebuchadnezzar looking in and saying, hey, there's four people in there. I thought there was only three. It looks as a son of God. Some people have said that that was Jesus. We don't know for sure, but clearly it was God in there saving Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So then you have Nebuchadnezzar. It says, be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who sent his angels. And he said, no one is going to talk bad about them. And I love, he says, if anyone talks bad about the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they shall be cut into pieces and their houses shall be made in ash heap because there is no God who can deliver like this. That was also going to be the consequence for any wise man that couldn't tell him what his dream was. So he apparently, kind of liked to cut people in pieces and demolish their houses. Which I'm not sure why demolishing the house was necessary after you cut someone to pieces, but hey, to each his own. So then we have chapter four, which again, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. I just encourage you to read this. It's about a tree that is a wonderful tree and then the tree gets cut down. ⁓ And basically Daniel explains this dream and he's troubled by it because he doesn't like what the dream says, or he knows Nebuchadnezzar is not going to like what the dream says. But Nebuchadnezzar ensures him that he should go ahead and interpret the dream. And basically this was a dream ⁓ kind of trying to humble Nebuchadnezzar. I'm just saying, you're this great tree. and things like that, but your pride has gotten in the way. And so you will be cut down and you will face consequences. And so Nebuchadnezzar was humiliated by this starting in verse 26 or 27, says, therefore, King, let my advice be acceptable to you. This is Daniel talking to the King, Nebuchadnezzar. Break off your sins by being righteous and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity. So Daniel is basically telling him, maybe start responding and living ⁓ a more humble ⁓ life, ⁓ a more godly life, and maybe that will make things better for you. Well, then Nebuchadnezzar ⁓ starts, he obviously doesn't listen to that, says at the end of the 12 months, he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon, says, is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty." So he's still, everything he's seen, and he was, he was a powerful king and did unbelievable things with that empire. And he was very proud of that. And then things started to happen. And basically he was made to go insane. He went insane for a time. And then finally, it says, the end of that time, verse 34, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted my eyes to heaven, my understanding returned to me, I blessed the Most High, praised and honored Him who lives forever for His dominion is an everlasting dominion. Verse 36, at the same time, my reason returned to me and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me. I was restored to my kingdom and excellent majesty was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol the honor of the King of heaven, all whose works are truth and his ways justice, and those who walk in pride he is able to put down." Right? So Nebuchadnezzar is an interesting figure. Like, he does pay attention to God. He actually does respond to God at times. That doesn't mean that he ever fully gave his life to God in any way. But he is an interesting figure and something that's important because he never put God first, but yet he respected God. He respected the power that God wielded. But ultimately, he was very prideful and he learned some valuable lessons, but ⁓ ultimately, I think he chose to go his own way. I want to stop there for today. That's the first four ⁓ chapters of Daniel. They deal obviously mainly with Nebuchadnezzar. ⁓ Because we're going in a chronological order, we're going to jump back out of Daniel for now. we're going to talk, really, let's see, sorry. Jeremiah 52. Let's see. All right. So we're going to be back in Jeremiah. ⁓ 25 and 27, Jeremiah 48 through 52. All right. So Jeremiah 25 and 27. Yeah. Yeah. 25, really 25 through probably 28. Sorry. Jeremiah 25 through 28 and Jeremiah 48 through 52. All right. So we will be in Jeremiah on Thursday. All right. We'll see you then.