King Nebuchadnezzar was wise in taking a stand that was fool
proof on getting a true interpretation of his dream. He demanded of
the interpreter that he also produced the dream. Too many people in
history have been gullible and they have accepted the lies of men for
the leading of the Spirit. Some objective test like he required is just
about the only protection there is against subjective revelations that
lead to dead ends. Many who have such revelations are sincere, and
they are anxious to be led of God. Like the woman in the nursing
home who felt it was the leading of God to not take any of the
medicine the nurse tried to give her. Her condition worsened, and
then she thought the Lord let her down. She had a purely subjective
experience, but she was sincerely wrong. We need to beware of
taking subjective revelation too seriously.
Gideon is the man to follow when it comes to personal
revelations. He tested the spirit to see if it was truly from God. He
was skeptical and cautious to the point where he even feared that
God might be angry with him. When God promised him he would
deliver Israel by his hand Gideon was not satisfied until he had
objective evidence. He heard the voice, but he did not want to take
any chances. He put out a piece of fleece asking that God would give
him objective proof of his revelation by filling the fleece with dew
while all the rest of the ground remained dry. When he woke in the
morning he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl while the
rest of the ground was dry. Even one miracle was not enough, and so
he asked the Lord to reverse the process so he could be sure this was
not just an amazing coincidence. When this was also fulfilled he was
confident that the Lord had spoken, and so he marched in obedience.
Those who do not test and see if the message is truly from God
caused great grief for themselves and others. Joanna Southcott, for
example, heard voices and started a movement and gained a
following he England, Ireland and America. In 1794 the voice
revealed to her that she was the bride of Christ spoken of in the book
of Revelation. Later when she was 64 years old she said it was
revealed that she was to give birth to the Messiah. Her followers
were greatly excited when she actually showed signs of pregnancy.
When the time passed and she did not give birth she became ill and
was confined to bed. She confessed, "It all appears a delusion." She
died apparently of a broken heart. She sincerely believed she had
revelations from God. Had she been more objective she never would
have allowed herself to be so deceived. Her movement continued and
it led to British-Israelism, which has a large body of strange
interpretations of the Bible.
Nebuchadnezzar was a smart enough man to demand objective
proof of revelation from God, and Daniel was the man through
whom God produced it. Notice how Daniel keeps himself out of the
picture and gives all the glory to God. Daniel is concerned lest the
king think that human wisdom had anything to do with this. No wise
man could ever have fulfilled the kings demand, but he says in verse
28 that there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and that he
has chosen to reveal to the king what will be in the latter days. The
Pulpit Commentary says, "No nation in ancient times was so addicted
to the study of the stars of heaven and to the future as were
the Chaldeans." They looked to the heavens for guidance, but Daniel
now calls the kings attention to the real source of all wisdom, which
is the one true God of heaven who made the stars and all that is in
the heavens.
J. A. Montgomery wrote, "That there is a God in heaven, as
against man-made gods and deified men, is the supreme theme of the
book, even as it is the cardinal principle of the Bible." Daniel here is
being the strongest possible witness to the true God. If he can
convince the king that Jehovah is the true God he will have
accomplished a great service for the world. We see in the boldness of
Daniel what each of us needs to be in order to have an adequate
witness for Christ. That which made Daniel the great witness he was
is the same thing that made Peter speak boldly before the Jews. The
difference between a weak and a bold witness is found in a personal
encounter with God. Daniel was brave and confident because he had
just had a marvelous spiritual experience, and Peter was likewise
bold because he had just had a personal encounter with the Living
Christ. A man is bold when he is sure of his message, and certain of
his relationship to God.
A weak witness is evidence of a lack of constantly growing in the
knowledge of God, when we slow up and ease off onto a plateau of
mediocre spiritual experience, then we cease to witness, for we have
no dynamic power to make us effective. We are like a salesman who
has lost interest in his product and who doesn't use it any longer
himself. He cannot get very excited about anyone else using it. A
good witness, like a good salesman, has to be sold on his product and
excited about others discovering its value. Daniel was excited about
the God of heaven and he wanted to point the king to Him. When we
are excited about Christ and what He has done for us, and what He
can do for others, we will have no trouble finding ways to witness.
Before Daniel conveyed to the king the dream and its
interpretation he made sure that God would receive the glory.
Before we look at the dream we want to consider what Daniel
stresses here, and how God was concerned that the king know the
meaning of the dream. That alone accounts for his being able to
interpret it and not any unique wisdom of his own. The question is:
Why would God give such a revelation to a pagan who was not
among his own people, and who did not even believe in Him? We
know God spoke to Cornelius in the New Testament, but he was at
least a very devout believer in the one true God, though he did not
know Christ. Nebuchadnezzar was not in the category of Cornelius
at all. He was an oriental tyrant with the typical cruelty of such men.
He had Zedekiah the king of Judah blinded after he was made to
witness the execution of his sons. (II Kings 25:7). In this very
chapter we have seen his anger, which was willing to kill every wise
man in Babylon because they could not tell him his dream. And yet
God gave him a special revelation about the future.
What this teaches us is that we ought to be aware of the
superficial view that limits the actions of God to his own people. God
can and does work with an through and for those who are
unbelievers. We cannot an dare not confine God in our thinking, for
to do so does not limit God, but it does limit our own recognition of
the sovereignty of God in the world. God does not leave himself
without a witness anywhere, and we cannot doubt that, for in the
most unlikely places, and by the most unlikely means, God is
working in the world.
I read Bertrand Russell's book Why I Am Not A Christian. It is
a book by an atheist that can be used of God to enlighten His
children. It is valuable to see what the Christian life looks like
through the eyes of a non-believer. It reveals how blind they can be
to the essence of Christianity, but it also reveals legitimate areas of
failure, which ought to be corrected if we expect to communicate the
truth of God to the world. If we really believe in a sovereign God
who is working in history, then we need to act like it and seek to find
values for a life of service and praise out of all the negatives as well
as the positives. God gave His people messages through pagan kings,
and God is still a God of history today working through leaders of
non-Christian nations.
Luther credited the devil with being one of his best teachers to
make him a worthy minister. Samson found his honey in the carcass
of a lion, and Luther found sweet lessons in the roaring lion of Satan.
He wrote, "I did not learn to preach all at once. It was my
temptation and my corruption that best prepared me for the pulpit.
The devil has been my best professor of exegetical and experimental
divinity. Before this great schoolmaster took me in hand, I was a
sucking child and not a grown man. It was my combats with sin and
with Satan that made me a true minister of the New Testament."
The point is, don't even waste the devil's roar in your life. God
works in all things for good with those who love Him and who are
called according to His purpose.
