INTEGRITY TESTED BY THE SWORD
Series: Against the Grain
Limestone Baptist Church, Bedford, IN
Rev. Michael Wilhite
February 17, 2008 at 10:30am
Daniel 2:1-23
OPENING THOUGHTS
· Times of crisis will come upon us in this life. Many of you know about this quite well. This past year has brought trials to many of us at Limestone. The big question in our Christian walk is not whether trials will come our way, but how we will react during those trials.
· We are guaranteed that trials will come our way as Christians. In fact, Jesus Himself told us that we shouldn’t be surprised when people persecute us, because they persecuted Him.
· Paul tells us in Romans 5:3 that we are actually to glory in our trials. Now that is a concept that we don’t like to think about, isn’t it? I mean, who really wants to find joy in going thru a tight spot in life? But that’s what Paul tells us we are to do.
· Romans 5:3 goes on to tell us the reason why we are to glory in our trials. Trials bring about perseverance, it tells us. And perseverance brings about proven character. Not character that we just say we have. Character that has been proven. It’s been tested, tried and found to be true character.
· I would argue that God allows trials come our way for one reason. What is that reason, you ask? Because God wants us to grow in our Christian walk with Him.
· It’s nice to be on the mountaintop. That’s where everybody wants to be, isn’t it? I mean, who really wants to be in the valley? But it’s in the valley that you grow closer to the Lord. When you are on the mountaintop, you have the danger of becoming prideful and thinking you don’t have to rely on God anymore. But in the valley, you are forced into reliance upon Christ to get you through it.
· Now when trials come our way, I think there are two basic ways people react to it. Some will react to it by blaming God and saying things like, “well, God could have stopped this, but He didn’t. He must not love me.” And then they’ll just turn away from Him and maybe even abandon their faith and become apostate – denying He even exists. And certainly we saw a lot of people doing that after Sept. 11, 2001, didn’t we?
· On the other hand, rather than letting trials push you away from God, the other option is allowing those trials to draw you closer to God. God allows things to come upon us to test our character. It’s thru those trials that we grow in our walk. We don’t learn much on the mountaintop. It’s in the valley that we draw closer to God if we’ll let Him work on us. That’s why the Bible calls it proven character in Romans 5.
· James 1:2-3 go on to tell us that we are to:
2 Consider it joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
· Not only are we to glory in our trials, we are to be joyful about them. That’s not something that is easy to do. We have to keep trying each and every time we go through something.
· But, the Bible does give us a pretty good model to follow. For the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at the life of Daniel and his three friends, Hannaiah, Mishael and Azariah. We’ve seen how they were taken into captivity in Bablyon and how they showed integrity in chapter one by standing up for the truth and refusing to back down from it.
· And because of their firm stand, God rewarded them greatly. At the end of chapter one, we saw that they were the only ones out of the 75 or so that were taken who went into service for the king.
· Now, we come to chapter two and we are coming to a story that, quite frankly, scares the heck out of some people. This is the first of a series of visions about the future and the end of the world that Daniel is going to receive in this book. Now, next week we’ll look in detail at the prophecy, but for today we are going to look at the background information and draw some great principles out of this text about how to live a life of integrity when things aren’t going your way in life.
THE PLIGHT
· We’ll see three things in specific today: the plight, the petition and the praise. First, the plight. The plight.
1 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.
· The Bible tells us that in the second year of the reign of king Nebuchadnezzar, he couldn’t sleep very well and he had a dream that troubled him. But I want us to briefly examine this concept of the second year here, because this can be a bit confusing.
· In chapter one, we saw that Nebuchadnezzar had come to Judah to overthrow it and make it a vassal state. At that time, Nebuchadnezzar was actually a general in his father’s army. His father was Nabopolassar, the king of Babylon. However, when he came to destroy Judah, Nabopolassar got sick and Nebuchadnezzar was called away back to Babylon to assume the throne.
· And so for all practical purposes, Nebuchadnezzar was the king when he conquered Judah. However, Nabopolassar lived for about two more years and was very ill. So Nebuchadnezzar actually reigned as king for his first two years as kind of a co-king with his father. For all practical purposes, Nabopolassar’s was reign was symbolic by that time.
· So here we are in chapter two and we see that it is Nebuchadnezzar’s second year and what that actually means is his second year of sole reign over the kingdom. Nabopolassar, his father, had died two years ago when we come to this point in the Bible.
· And so, this is actually Nebuchadnezzar’s fourth year of total reign, but second year of sole reign. And this is what the Bible is saying to us here. So, when we encounter Daniel here, this is actually four years into his captivity. He’s now about 18 years old.
· We see that Nebuchadnezzar had a bad dream, shall we say. Let’s read verses 2 thru 12 to get the context surrounding our story today:
2 Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.
3 And the king said to them, "I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream."
4 Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation."
5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, "The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.
6 But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation."
7 They answered a second time and said, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation."
8 The king answered and said, "I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm--
9 if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation."
10 The Chaldeans answered the king and said, "There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean.
11 The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh."
12 Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.
· So we see that Nebuchadnezzar was no fool here, was he? He knows how these Chaldeans work. Now who exactly are these Chaldeans the king is speaking of? Let’s examine verse 2 a little more closely:
2 Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.
· We see 4 types of people in this verse and depending on the translation that you personally use, you may see various wording here. These are four distinct professions within the Babylonian Empire.
· First we see magicians as the ESV which I am using says. Literally, the Hebrew word here is khartome and means a horoscopist. So the magician we see here means black magic and not someone with cool card tricks.
· Second, we see enchanters and this is a pretty good translation. The Hebrew word here is ashshawf and means “one who practices enchantment.” The KJV uses astrologer here and that’s probably not the best rendering of this word.
· Third, we see sorcerers and this is a translation that most all agree on. The Hebrew word kawshaf used here means “one who whispers a spell”. And so sorcerer is pretty accurate in this instance.
· Fourth, we see Chaldeans and this is the hardest to identify of the groups. Some think that this refers to the original group of the Babylonian Empire. I tend to disagree with that, however, because Daniel is identified with this group and Daniel is a Jew.
· It’s most likely that Chaldeans here just refers to the learned of Babylon. This group was the group that had the immense knowledge of the old semitic languages and had been formally trained in the latest philosophies and contemporary thoughts of the day.
· In essence, what we see Nebuchadnezzar doing here is assembling his best and brightest people from all the nations he had conquered. The Chaldeans were those he had trained from the nations he had conquered. Most think the magicians, or horoscopists as I prefer to say, came from Media and it is highly possible that the enchanters and sorcerers were from other nations as well.
· At any rate, the king isn’t dumb. He’s calling anyone he can to help him understand what’s going on with this dream. And what does he tell them? Verse 5 and 6 tell us:
5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, "The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.
6 But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation."
· So the command was firm. Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t going to be pushed over by these guys. He knew full well they’d lie to him and say anything to get out of this penalty. So he wanted them to tell him the dream AND the interpretation of the dream. And how did they respond to him?
· Verse 10 tell us:
10 The Chaldeans answered the king and said, "There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean.
· Notice that it is the Chaldeans who are speaking here. This indicates to us that they were the highest in status among these four groups. And they tell the king, simply put, that it can’t be done. They said there “is not a man of earth who can meet the king’s demand.”
· Now this should be no surprise to us, beloved. Those who practice black magic and sorceries have no real power from God. They can do some things because the enemy is behind them giving them the power.
· But Isaiah 47 gives us a great reminder of the inability of these false prophets to reveal dreams. Much like today’s situation where we have palm readers and people who will read tarot cards to us and supposedly tell us what lies in our future, there is no real power there.
· Isaiah 47 is a prophesy about the destruction of Babylon. God knew what was going to happen. It was in His sovereign plan long before Babylon ever even existed. And verse 9 tells us one of the main reasons God destroyed Babylon after He was done using it to fulfill His purpose:
9 These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.
· Let us be very clear. God hates false magic. God hates witchcraft. And He hates it because it is purely of our enemy, the devil. Sorcery and witchcraft and black magic and all of these so-called “black arts” can NEVER be able to deliver out of God’s hands. It is God that causes the nations to rise and fall according to His plan.
· And that’s why we shouldn’t be all that concerned about even the great ‘ol USA, beloved. That isn’t to say that we shouldn’t vote our conscience or that we shouldn’t be involved in politics. But we need to realize that redemptive history has always been about a Kingdom and not any one nation. God’s people have existed thru many nations, but there is only one divine Kingdom and that’s all that is really going to matter in the end of this age.
· Back in Daniel, we see that the king got so mad that he decided that everyone of these guys should be executed. You have to wonder, though, where was Daniel during this? We really don’t know. He could have been away on official business or it could have been a Jewish holiday and he was privately worshipping elsewhere. We really don’t know. We just know that he wasn’t there.
· We know he wasn’t there because verses 13 thru 16 tell us:
13 So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them.
14 Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.
15 He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, "Why is the decree of the king so urgent?" Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel.
16 And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.
· Daniel was sought after to be killed by Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard. And by that, it means the king’s personal bodyguard. So Nebuchadnezzar was serious about this. His own personal bodyguard would have been the best in all of Babylon. And it was this very bodyguard that he sent out to capture all of these people and kill them.
· Now I really want you to put yourself in Daniel’s position here. What would you have done if you just found out that you were going to be killed? That wouldn’t be very easy to take, would it?
· You know, we think we have trials come upon us when we have to face the loss of a loved one or a financial crisis. Talk about a trial! Daniel was about to be killed! What was he going to do? What would you have done if you were Daniel?
· Well think about that carefully and let’s see what Daniel actually did do. At the beginning of our time together today, I stated that there are basically two ways that we can react to trials such as Daniel is going through in chapter two. We can draw even closer to God or we can run away and blame God for our bad fortune in life.
· Daniel didn’t blame God, though. And he serves as a great model for us to follow when in times of crisis in our lives. Daniel did exactly what he should have done. He went to God. He had a plight in his life and look at what he did. He went from the plight to the petition. The petition.
THE PETITION
· Look at verses 17-18 with me.
17 Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,
18 and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
· How often in our own lives do we do this? When trials come upon you, what is your gut reaction? Is it to blame God? Is it to have a pitty party on yourself? Or maybe is it to hide your head in a hole in the ground like as ostrich and just pretend that it didn’t happen?
· Romans 5 tells us that trails that come our way are to drive us to holiness in our lives. They are allowed to happen so that our character will be proven. Are you allowing God to prove your character or are you hiding from trials?
· What Daniel did serves as a great role model for us. Daniel didn’t hide and pretend it would go away. Daniel went to God first thing. This trial drove Daniel to his knees, and beloved, that’s exactly what trials should do to us as well.
· But I want you to notice something here. Daniel didn’t pray alone. He went and found his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. There is something really powerful to be learned here. There is power in corporate prayer. We don’t have to bear our burdens alone.
· In fact, Galatians 6:2 tells us:
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
· What is the Law of Christ? It’s love. Love fulfills the Law perfectly! And bearing one another’s burdens is the loving thing to do. We are one body as a church. When one part of the body hurts, we all hurt. We are called to love on each other and pray for each other.
· And Daniel knew this. His first gut reaction wasn’t to run away from the problem. His first reaction was to go to God about his problem with his dear brothers and let God be in control of his life.
· It’s not a mystery what we are supposed to do in the Christian life. God has left us instructions in His Word. After all, isn’t the BIBLE really the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth? This sacred Book is our guide in life. But how often we don’t follow it!
· Now, if we are really honest with ourselves, I think we’ll all find that our prayer lives aren’t exactly what they really should be. And that’s especially so if we aren’t driven to prayer first before anything else in our lives.
· But having said that, most of us DO pray about our problems. But how many of us really expect that God will answer us in a favorable way? We might all like to think that we do, but again, if we are totally honest with ourselves, we’ll find that we don’t.
· If you still don’t believe me, then just think about how often we forget what we pray about. If prayer really meant that much to us, we’d remember to keep lifting the same thing up quite often, wouldn’t we?
· James 1:5-7 tells us:
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;.
· We are called to ask in faith, without doubting. Now most of us just tend to make a quick prayer and get it over with. But is that really God-honoring? Does God really want us to just get on with the rest of our lives and push prayer to the back burner?
· No, beloved. Prayer needs to be the steering-wheel of our lives. But sadly, I think most of us regard it as a spare tire, only to be used when needed or absolutely necessary.
· A life of character that is full of integrity demands that we are earnest in our efforts to pray. Prayer is hard work, beloved. We have a real enemy that does not want us to pray. In fact, Peter tells us that he goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
· The devil does not want us to pray in faith and to pray fervently. There is REAL power to be found in prayer and so of course he doesn’t want us to pray. That’s why prayer is such an exhausting task when it is done right. Prayer is our very life-line to God. It is absolutely essential.
· But most of us give up on prayer after the first or second try. I saw a wristband one time that said PUSH. It was an acronym for Pray Until Something Happens. And I think that serves our purposes today quite well. Most of us don’t PUSH enough in our lives.
· But Daniel wasn’t this way, beloved. Daniel is a great example for us to follow after. Daniel did pray until something happened. He got his friends together and had a prayer meeting right in his house. Who knows, maybe it was a Wednesday night!
· At any rate, look what happened. God honored that prayer of faith offered up by those four young boys. But I also clearly want us to see WHY God honored that prayer.
· God honored their prayer because they honored God with their lives! They were living right. They lived a life of integrity. They had real character. And that is something that God will always honor. As I said last week, sin brings doubt, but purity brings faith.
THE PRAISE
· And so they went from the plight to the petition and now to the praise. The praise. Look at verses 19-23 with me:
19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20 Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.
21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;
22 he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
23 To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter."
· Because Daniel was living a holy life, a life of integrity AND because he just believed that God would answer him, God did answer Daniel. And look at Daniel’s reaction in verse 19.
· The Word tells us that Daniel blessed God for His answer. We’re all familiar with blessings. We all like them, right. But the word bless here really means to praise and give thanks. So Daniel praised God for giving the answer and delivering him from death!
· How often do we do that in our times of prayer? We pray for something and then forget that we even prayed for it, don’t’ we? It’s hard to bless God for something when we don’t even remember that we prayed about it!
· Daniel isn’t alone in the Bible in this praise. You may recall that Simeon “blessed God” when he saw Christ presented at the temple after eight days from birth.
· Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he wouldn’t taste death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ come. And Simeon took Jesus into his arms and blessed God for allowing him the privilege of seeing Christ.
· Incidentally, the Hebrew word here for blessed in Daniel 2 indicates something about posture too. It’s related to the Hebrew word for knee and indicates that praising God also had something to do with the idea of bowing in submission before God and giving thanks to Him in such a posture of humility.
· Now in verses 20-23, we have what I think are probably the greatest praise prayer in the entire Bible. Did you realize that God wants us to praise Him in our prayer time for the good things He has done for us?
· But notice that Daniel not only praises God for His qualities, as in verse 20 “to whom belong wisdom and might”, but that Daniel also praises God for what God does in His workings.
· God wants our praises. When we pray, it shouldn’t always be about OUR needs and OUR laundry list of to-do’s for God to get us out of. God wants us to recognize Him for Who He is and what He does for us – even those things that we don’t see or realize!
· But I want you to notice that in verse 23, Daniel makes this personal. Daniel transitions from referring to God in the third person form of “HE” into referring to God in the second person form of “YOU”.
· 23 To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter."
· Prayer should always be personal. It’s an intimate thing that we do. We don’t serve a God who is distant. We serve a God who loves us intimately and wants a personal relationship with us.
· Do you get how mind-blowing that is?!? God actually wants to pursue a relationship with us. God wants us to be personal with Him. He loves us. He cares about us. And we should love Him and care about Him too.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
· Well there is certainly much more we could say about this great chapter of Daniel. And next week, we’ll see more into chapter two when start to explore what the dream was and the interpretation of this dream.
· Beloved, dare to be a Daniel. Trials will come your way, but you know how to handle them. Just look at what Daniel did. He didn’t hide. He didn’t run away from them. He met them head on. He went from a plight, to the petition to the praise. And that is our model for handling those plights that come upon our lives too.
