Text: Daniel 2:24-49, Title: The Dream Giver 2, Date/Place: NRBC, 4/19/09, PM
A. Opening illustration: He’s the Ruler of Righteousness! Ill file,
B. Background to passage: we are picking up in the middle of a story here. God has orchestrated events that made the king dream a dream, be disturbed by the dream, and command all the wise men to tell him the dream then the interpretation. God has spoken to N and Daniel and created an impossible situation that only He can deliver from. Daniel prays, then praises, then God delivers, as we will see tonight. Remember that the theme of the entire book of Daniel is God’s absolute sovereignty over all things to His glory.
C. Main thought: And here again God shows N and the captive peoples that He alone is God!
A. The Revealer of Secrets (v. 27-28)
1. I love Daniel’s first statement to N—“but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets.” Again the truth is reiterated (as it will be a number of times in this text) that Daniel is not responsible for this revelation, God is. Daniel is in a very respectful way telling the king and all the hearers that all the gods of the Babylonian Pantheon are nothing, and only Yahweh is God. He directly attributes what we said was implied in the last message-these dreams came from God and only the interpretation can come from God. And the point of the dream is that God rules and reigns and raises up and tears down. It is a reminder to all of us that God is the One that knows and directs the future.
2. Ps 139:6, Job 11:7-9, 42:3, Rom 11:33, 1 Cor 2:10, 16, Pro 2:6-7, Jam 1:5,
3. Illustration: Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?" "Absolutely," the man replied. "It’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever." "How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked. The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy." Why don’t you ever see the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery"? 5% or about 11 million American adults consulted a psychic or medium for spiritual guidance in the past month.
4. Do we ever want to know the future? Anybody watch the evening news and weather? Stock marker speculation? Gun purchases. Do you ever call the psychic hotline or read your horoscope? God is the only true means of discerning the secrets about your life! Need help? God is the one to turn to. Many times we ask for the advice of a dozen friends before we get around to asking the One who really knows. Let God be your #1 source for spiritual guidance. And also know that if you are born again, you have the Spirit of God living within you. The NT says that you have the mind of Christ, and can know the deep things of God as you search with the Spirit’s guidance. And also remember that if you do seek the Lord and you do get it right, it is not you that did it, but Him!
B. The Promoter to Power (v. 37-40)
1. As I mentioned earlier, the whole point of giving the dream and the interpretation of the dream was to demonstrate to N that God is in control of kings and kingdoms. Daniel explicitly tells N explicitly that He has power, glory, etc, only because God did it. And the dream is that the kingdom of Babylon will come to an end, and God will raise up three more earthly kingdoms and a spiritual one in their places. Tell what they are. And He even describes them to an extent. Politics, nations, wars, weather, and everything else are under His loving sovereign watch care. His control extends to all aspects of life. It is God who works His will in this world to bring about His determined ends.
2. Dan 2:21, 4:17, Pro 8:15-16, Luke 1:51-52, Jer 27:5-7, Acts 17:26, John 19:11, John 15:5
3. Illustration: “We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety. This is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need to have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy, but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.” –Tozer,
4. Anything that you have in life—power, job, intelligence, children, family, possessions, strength, athletic ability, business skill, education, experience, etc., you were given. There is no room for pride, for in and of yourself you deserved nothing. Everything is grace. Every gift comes from above. There is joy in possessing nothing according to Tozer. Ever been promoted, God did it. Need to be promoted, God does it. Hold to things too tightly and He might take them away so that He might have first place in your heart. Also remember that no election results come in without God’s sovereign oversight. At the perfect times He will promote, and then at the perfect time He will remove. We trust in so many things.
C. The Orchestrator of Eternity (v. 44-45)
1. Daniel says that in the days of these kings, so simultaneously, God will be raising up a fifth kingdom. And it will be a special kingdom. It will not be destroyed, overrun, left to others, but stand forever. In fact, it will crush all the others to powder, and they will be blown away by the wind. Then it will turn from a stone not carved by hands into a great mountain that encompasses the whole earth. This last kingdom is the Kingdom of God. And it comes along with the Stone that the builders rejected. Christ is the Stone. He will come during the Roman Empire, and begin a new earthly chapter in the Kingdom of God called the church, which would encompass the whole world, and would be eternal and indestructible. So in the midst of this dream about the sovereignty of God, the interpretation comes that it is the Kingdom of God that everyone should be concerned about.
2. Matt 6:33, Col 3:1,
3. Illustration: “Life on Earth is a temporary assignment...To make the best use of your life, you must never forget two truths. First, compared with eternity, life is extremely brief. Second, Earth is only a temporary residence. You won’t be here long, so don’t get too attached. Ask God to help you see life on Earth as he sees it… In order to keep from becoming too attached to this Earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life—longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of eternity. We are not completely happy here because we’re not supposed to be! Earth is not our final home, we were created for something much better…You will not be in Heaven two seconds before you cry out, “Why did I place so much importance on things that were so temporary? What was I thinking? Why did I waste so much time, energy and concern on what wasn’t going to last?”
4. Whatever else you do in life know that the Kingdom of God is the most important priority organizer. God will always have the victory, and Jesus Christ is the supreme value in the universe. Only things that we do of value to the kingdom will last. All our works, words, attitudes, accomplishments, etc. will be tried by fire to see if they remain; if they are of kingdom value. We must make consistent assessments of our priorities in our lives, and decide if they are truly kingdom-oriented. Are lives changed? Is the gospel advanced? Is God glorified by my actions, money, attitudes, etc.? Of course, this is an awesome prediction of the future and of Christ and His coming.
D. The Recipient of All Honor (v. 46-49)
1. There were lots of things given to Daniel as a result of his revelation—offerings, incense, honor (prostration), gifts, position, authority, positions for his friends, prestige. Daniel benefited greatly from listening to God. But of course, the message of Daniel 2, in fact the whole book of Daniel, is that “there is a God is heaven” and He is the One to whom all honor is due. And in v. 47 that message is not lost on old Nebuchadnezzar. This would be a message that he would soon forget, but as for now, he attributes the credit where credit was due—the God of Daniel.
2. Matt 6:1-6, Isa 43:7,
3. Illustration: tell about the source of all talent devotion at baseball practice and the one about Isa 43:7-whom I have created for my glory, David Brainerd said to Jonathan Edwards once: "I do not go to heaven to be advanced but to give honor to God. It is no matter where I shall be stationed in heaven, whether I have a high or low seat there, but to live and please and glorify God.... My heaven is to please God and glorify Him, and give all to Him, and to be wholly devoted to His glory." Edwards preached a sermon one time called “The End for Which God Created All Things” talk about Tebow’s Heisman acceptance speech,
4. When we are bold and obedient to God, blessings will follow. Don’t think about it as a requirement, but as a general rule. Our motivation still should be to glorify Christ, but Christ used reward as a motivation on occasion. Whatever praise and honor we receive as individuals, make sure to do your best to acknowledge Christ, and His aid and providence in your life. Do your best to make Christ look good, for in reality anything that you have was given to you, therefore there is no room for boasting, nor pride in one’s own ability.
A. Closing illustration: Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
