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December 3 - Daniel 2 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it's Wednesday, it's the 3rd
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  of December and you have tapped on play so that you and I can
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  pause in the midst of the madness of this Wednesday and we
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  can come before the living God of the universe to have him
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  speak into our hearts and our lives.
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  Well blow me down. Is that not the most amazing
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  privilege you ever did hear of? Yes it is and today we are going
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  to read a story that you have been hearing since, well if you
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  attended Sunday School you would have been hearing it since you
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  were a wee Tucker listening to your Sunday School teacher.
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  This is the story of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and
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  Daniel interpreting it for him. I bet yesterday when you heard
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  that God gave Daniel the ability to interpret visions and dreams,
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  he thought of all of the superpowers.
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  Why that one? Surely there'd be something more
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  useful. No, not a chance.
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  Because in that time in history, dreams and visions were really
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  upheld as a profound communication from something
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  beyond. And so they were always looking
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  to understand what they meant. And that is what we will read
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  today. Holy Spirit, open us to hear
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  your truth as we read Daniel Chapter 2.
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  One night during the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had
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  such disturbing dreams that he couldn't sleep.
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  He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and
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  astrologers, and he demanded that they tell him what he had
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  dreamed. As they stood before the king,
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  he said, I have had a dream that deeply troubles me, and I must
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  know what it means. Then the astrologers answered
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  the king in Aramaic. Long live the king.
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  Tell us a dream, and we will tell you what it means.
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  But the king said to the astrologers, I am serious about
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  this. If you don't tell me what my
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  dream was and what it means, you will be torn limb from limb and
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  your houses will be turned into heaps of rubble.
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  But if you tell me what I dreamed and what my dream means,
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  I will give you many wonderful gifts and honours.
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  Just tell me the dream and what it means, they said again.
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  Please, your Majesty, tell us the dream and we will tell you
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  what it means, the king replied. I know what you were doing.
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  You're stalling for time because you know I am serious when I say
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  if you don't tell me the dream, you are doomed.
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  So you have conspired to tell me lies, hoping I will change my
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  mind. But tell me the dream, and then
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  I'll know that you can tell me what it means, the astrologers
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  replied to the King. No one on earth can tell the
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  King his dream, and no king, however great and powerful, has
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  ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or
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  astrologer. The King's demand is impossible.
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  No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they do not
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  live here among people. The king was furious when he
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  heard this, and he ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be
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  executed. And because of the King's
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  decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends.
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  When Arioch, the commander of the King's guard, came to kill
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  them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and
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  discretion. He asked Arioch why has the king
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  issued such a harsh decree. So Arioch told him what had
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  happened. Daniel went at once to see the
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  king and requested more time to tell the king what the dream
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  meant. Then Daniel went home and told
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  his friends Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah what had happened.
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  He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by
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  telling them the secret so they would not be executed along with
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  the other wise men of Babylon. That night, the secret was
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  revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of
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  heaven. He said, praise the name of God
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  forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power.
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  He controls the course of world events.
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  He removes kings and sets up other kings.
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  He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.
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  He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies
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  hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light.
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  I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given
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  me wisdom and strength, and you have told me what we asked of
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  you, and revealed to us what the king demanded.
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  Then Daniel went to see Arioch, whom the king had ordered to
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  execute the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him, Don't kill
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  the wise men, take me to the king, and I will tell him the
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  meaning of his dream. Arioch quickly took Daniel to
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  the king and said, I have found one of the captors from Judah
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  who will tell the king the meaning of his dream.
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  The king said to Daniel, also known as Beltashazzar, Is this
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  true? Can you tell me what my dream
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  was and what it means? Daniel replied.
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  There are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or
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  fortune tellers who can reveal the King's secret, but there is
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  a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King
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  Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future.
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  Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you
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  lay on your bed while Your Majesty was sleeping.
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  You dreamed about coming events. He who reveals secrets has shown
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  you what is going to happen. And it is not because I am wiser
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  than anyone else that I know the secret of your dream, but
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  because God wants you to understand what was in your
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  heart. In your vision, Your Majesty,
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  you saw standing before you a huge, shining the statue of a
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  man. It was a frightening sight.
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  The head of the statue was made of fine gold.
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  Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were
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  bronze. Its legs were iron, and its feet
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  were a combination of iron and baked clay.
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  As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by
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  human hands. It struck the feet of iron and
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  clay, smashing them to bits. The whole statue was crushed
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  into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold.
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  Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a
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  threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the
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  statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole
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  earth. That was the dream.
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  Now we will tell the King what it means.
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  Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings.
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  The God of Heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength and
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  honour. He has made you the ruler over
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  all the inhabited world and has put even the wild animals and
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  birds under your control. You are the head of gold.
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  But after your Kingdom comes to an end, another Kingdom inferior
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  to yours will rise to take your place after that Kingdom has
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  fallen. Yet 1/3 Kingdom represented by
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  bronze will rise to rule the world.
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  Following that Kingdom, there will be a fourth one as strong
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  as iron. That Kingdom will smash and
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  crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes
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  everything. It strikes the feet and toes you
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  saw for a combination of iron and baked clay, showing that
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  this Kingdom will be divided like iron mixed with clay.
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  It will have some of the strength of iron, but while some
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  parts of it will be as strong as iron, other parts will be as
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  weak as clay. This mixture of iron and clay
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  also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen
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  themselves by forming alliances with each other through
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  intermarriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron and
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  clay do not mix During the reigns of those kings, the God
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  of Heaven will set up a Kingdom that will never be destroyed or
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  conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms
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  into nothingness, and it will stand forever.
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  That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though
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  not by human hands that crushes to pieces the statue of iron,
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  bronze, clay, silver and gold. The great God was showing the
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  king what will happen in the future.
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  The dream is true and it's meaning is certain.
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  Then King Nebuchadnezzar threw himself down before Daniel and
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  worshipped him, and he commanded his people to offer sacrifices
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  and burned sweet incense before him.
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  The king said to Daniel, Truly your God is the greatest of
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  gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you
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  have been able to reveal this secret.
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  Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him
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  many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the
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  whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise
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  men. At Daniel's request, the king
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  appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be in charge of all
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  the affairs of the province of Babylon while Daniel remained in
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  the King's court. My God, you are mighty, and the
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  sweep of your hands covers not just the world, but it covers
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  generations to come and generations past.
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  Here we see the truth laid out before you as though it were so
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  simple that you can see generations and generations into
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  the future and reveal them in this way, in this vision.
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  And Lord, through the midst of all of your great power and
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  knowledge of all things, you hold us as your chosen
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  possession, as your treasure, and you love us, and you invite
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  us into your family, and you call us your children and you
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  our Father, oh our Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for
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  this love and that you would save us by sending your most
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  precious Son to save us. So here we are, your redeemed
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  and loved people who are in awe of you and all that you are and
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  have done for us. So we pray all of this in that
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  loving and saving name of Jesus, your greatest gift, Amen.