Can Dreams Come True! Series

“Can dreams come true?”

Jan 29, 2012

Daniel 2:1-49

Introduction

Daniel the ABC’s of Bible Prophecy. Revelation contains the XYZs.

 I want/use history/Bible to show you/amazing this book is that you hold in your hands.

 If you aren’t yet convinced/Bible/supernatural book, you will be before we complete the study of Daniel.

Have you ever had a disturbing dream—one that you had over and over again?

How many of you have ever had a troubling, recurring dream? Sure—all of us have.

 Experts say everyone dreams—may seem/dreams last all night—

 We only dream about an hour/half out/eight hours we sleep.

And here’s something else—most of the times our dreams are just jumbled nonsense.

But there have been times when dreams have turned out to be very significant.

Joy’s dream….

Sermon

In the Bible there are examples of world leaders having dreams—dreams that were much more than dreams.

o Shall we not forget/baker/cup bearer/pharaoh……

o Dreams are God’s way of communicating significant truth—

o This morning we are going to study one of those dreams—and the events surrounding it.

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I’m referring/dream that Daniel tells us about/2nd chapter

 A dream Nebuchadnezzar had 2600 years ago

 A dream that has been coming true ever since.

 before we look at this amazing dream

 Remind you/Daniel/made up/two things: narrative prophecy.

1st six chapters/true stories/life of Daniel...familiar stories like the one we studied last Sunday.

 Last six chap/prophecies given to Daniel by God.

 2nd chapter/special/little both/narrative/prophecy.

Time won’t allow us to read it, so follow along as we study.

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A. The first verse gives us the setting.

o King Nebuchadnezzar/Babylon/2nd year/reign.

o Assyria, Babylon’s chief enemy, had completely collapsed 5 years earlier.

o This made Nebuchadnezzar/absolute dictator of an empire that reigned with unchallenged authority over most of the known world

o He was the first world leader to rule this much of the planet.

o He controlled/Greece—to Egypt—and eastward/India.

o He built a beautiful city, the ancient city of Babylon, the ruins of which are 40 miles from modern day Baghdad.

“[Ancient Babylon] included vast fortifications, famous streets like the Processional, canals, temples and palaces.

 Double wall of fortifications...adorned with rows of bulls and dragons in colored enameled brick.

 Nebuchadnezzar’s throne room/adorned/enameled bricks.

 There were hanging gardens, to the Greeks they were one of the seven wonders of the world.

Nebuchadnezzar says:4:30 ‘Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place by the might of my power and to the glory of my majesty?”

All this goes to show that Nebuchadnezzar was one of the greatest world leaders of all time.

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 Remember before the first Gulf War Saddam Hussein declared himself to be the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar.

 Saddam vowed to rebuild/ancient city/Babylon/restore it to world power status

 Which explains why he got/fight/bordering nations so often.

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But back to Nebuchadnezzar.

 He had it all: youth, strength, wealth, fame, and power unparalleled in this world.

 Huge armies at his command

 this was eclipsed by the fact that he couldn’t get a good night’s sleep

He couldn’t/because he kept having/recurring/troubling dream.

 This was much more than a DREAM

 Was/MESSAGE/God/Nebuchadnezzar/to you and me as well

 A message we need to hear and understand.

 “One man’s insomnia is another man’s instruction.”

And that’s how we’re going to look at Neb’s dream this morning.

 After having this same dream over and over and over again

 Nebuchadnezzar was understandably troubled.

 He wanted to know what this was all about.

 He wanted to understand the dream and what it had to do with him and his mighty kingdom.

B. So he called together his wise men.

 Cross between an astrologer/librarian

 as you read the story,

 You can see them falling all over each other eager for their master’s praise.

In their minds, this dream/golden opportunity for them to get in good with the king.

They thought they couldn’t miss out on this...

 Because they/tons of books about interpreting dreams..

 They were very good about SPINNING their interpretations to please Nebuchadnezzar.

They thought that once he told them his dream, they could then “cash in” on his insomnia.

But Nebuchadnezzar surprised them.

He basically said, “If you guys are so wise—then you tell me what I’ve been dreaming....and THEN give me the interpretation to boot.”

Obviously Nebuchadnezzar was no dummy—he knew anyone could fabricate an interpretation once the dream was disclosed

 He hungered for REAL truth.

 He wanted REAL answers.

He knew/dream/sent by God/revelation/things to come.

 His anger at the enchanters reveals his inner emptiness.

 Does this not correspond with the “God-shaped vacuum” inside every heart?

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Well, his wise men said they wanted to, they couldn’t interpret the dream because they didn’t know what it was—and in their explanation they said a very true thing.