The Statue and the Sorcerers
Daniel 2
October 13, 2002
Intro:
A. A QUESTION DURING CRISIS
In a cartoon, a man was phoning his pastor during a crisis.
With a fraught look, the man asks the minister: "My wife has left me, my kids are on drugs, and my life is falling apart. Can you explain to me the difference between amillennialism, postmillennialism, and premillennialism?"
B. I think most of us are interested in what the Bible has to say about end times, but I’m not sure we’re all that interested in the technical theological arguments that go along with it.
1. Today in the second chapter of Daniel we are going to learn some very important things about Biblical prophecy.
2. Daniel is going to teach us some fundamental things about interpreting Bible prophecy.
3. I will give you a thumbnail sketch of what is going on in this chapter.
4. But I believe there are some practical things that all who are Spirit-filled can apply to our lives today.
5. Today we will look at the statue and the sorcerers.
I. The Statue
A. The background
Daniel 2:1-23 (NIV), In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. 2 So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, "I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means." 4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it." 5 The king replied to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. 6 But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me." 7 Once more they replied, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it." 8 Then the king answered, "I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: 9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me." 10 The astrologers answered the king, "There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. 11 What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men." 12 This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death. 14 When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. 15 He asked the king’s officer, "Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. 16 At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him. 17 Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven 20 and said: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. 21 He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. 22 He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. 23 I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king."
1. King Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king who was having a recurring dream that was from God.
2. The dream troubled him and he couldn’t sleep for fear of having the dream as well as worrying about what it all meant.
3. So Nebuchadnezzar called in all the wise men of the kingdom and demanded that they both tell him the dream and its interpretation.
4. The punishment was that they would be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to piles of rubble if they weren’t able to do what the king demanded while the reward for doing what he asked would be gifts, rewards, and great honor.
5. Of course, the wise men were terrified because the king was asking them to do something that was humanly impossible.
6. The wise men all had different methods of attempting to interpret dreams through magic, enchantments, sorcery, and astrology, but none of them had anyway of discerning what the dream was without being told.
7. The king became infuriated because the wise men kept telling the king that it was impossible to do this unless he told them the dream so he followed through with the threat and ordered the execution of all the wise men in Babylon.
8. When word got to Daniel about this, Daniel went straight to the king and asked for time so that he could do what the king asked.
9. Daniel returned to his three friends and asked them to start praying to God for mercy concerning this dream and to save all of the wise men’s lives.
10. God did give Daniel the dream and the interpretation that night.
11. And in verses 19-23, Daniel praised God for giving him this knowledge.
B. The dream
Daniel 2:24-35 (NIV), Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, "Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him." 25 Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means." 26 The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?" 27 Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these: 29 "As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. 31 "You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue--an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
1. The dream that king Nebuchadnezzar had was of an enormous, dazzling statue.
2. There was the enormous statue and then a rock struck the statue on its feet and smashed it.
3. The pieces were all swept away by the wind while the rock became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
4. I have inserted an artist’s rendition of the statue into your bulletin.
C. The interpretation
Daniel 2:36-45 (NIV), "This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. 39 "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron--for iron breaks and smashes everything--and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. 44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands--a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. "The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."
1. Now we have the interpretation of the dream.
2. And I would point out that the interpretation of this dream is very important to us as we study the rest of the supernatural dreams that occur throughout this book as well as all other end times prophecies including Revelation.
3. This statue is actually a timeline.
4. So let’s look at this interpretation a little.
5. First we find out that the statue represented something else and that something else was different kingdoms.
a. The head of gold represented Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.
b. It was a worldwide kingdom.
c. Daniel said that God had given him dominion and power and might and glory over all mankind and all animals and all the earth.
d. On your diagram, you might want to write in the word “Babylonia” beside the head of gold because Daniel has already told us that that it represented the Babylonian Empire.
6. But after Nebuchadnezzar, another kingdom would arise.
a. The kingdom would be somewhat inferior to Nebuchadnezzar’s.
b. In was represented in the statue by the chest and arms of silver.
c. Daniel doesn’t tell us yet who this kingdom was, but we will find out as we continue to study this book.
7. After that kingdom, there would be a third kingdom illustrated in the statue by the bell and thighs of bronze.
8. After that there would be a fourth kingdom that was illustrated in the statue by the legs of iron.
9. Now there is some differences of opinion when it gets down to the bottom because we don’t really understand all of this yet.
10. There are some who interpret the feet of clay as a fifth kingdom, while others say that the feet of clay with the ten divisions (toes) is just an evolution of the forth kingdom.
11. Be that as it may turn out, there is a final kingdom that is represented by the rock.
a. The rock will come and smash the whole thing.
b. That rock or kingdom will grow to fill the whole earth.
c. That kingdom will never be destroyed.
d. That will be a kingdom that will last forever.
e. And you can probably guess Whose kingdom that will be.
12. As we continue to study the rest of this book, Daniel will tell us who the other kingdoms are.
13. But now we’ve already got a feel for how Bible prophecy works.
Transition:
1. I know that prophecy is an interesting subject, but I have honestly explained all that is here in this chapter.
2. And I really believe that there is some application that we can make form this chapter that will be far more valuable to us than just the knowledge that we have gained from the dream.
3. So let’s turn our attention to…
II. The Sorcerers
Question: Why was Daniel able to do this when the sorcerers were not?
A. Daniel spoke with wisdom and tact
Daniel 2:14 (NIV), When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact.
1. One characteristic of a spirit-filled person is that they speak with wisdom and tact.
2. It only stands to reason that this would be true.
3. If a person is filled with the HS, they will have wisdom.
a. The will have God’s wisdom.
b. It only makes since that Daniel would have wisdom since his was filled with the Spirit of God.
4. It also stands to reason that the person will have tact as well.
a. Why would there be any reason to be rude, if you were saying and doing what the Spirit wanted you to do?
b. Why would there be any reason to be rude, if you are filled with the love of God.
c. That’s not to say that you won’t ever speak pointedly, Daniel certainly did when it was necessary, so did Paul and everyone else that we read about in the Bible.
d. But a spirit-filled person will speak the truth in love.
e. A spirit-filled person will not speak in a manner that is self-promoting.
f. A spirit-filled person will have no need to loose their temper because they know that God is in control no matter what happens.
B. Daniel urged his small group to plead for mercy from the God of heaven.
Daniel 2:18 (NIV), He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
1. Daniel had a small group of friends whom he trusted and leaned on.
a. Daniel did not think about going this alone.
b. Daniel knew the wisdom for this would have to come from God.
c. Daniel did not call a board meeting of all the wise men to try to figure out what to do.
d. Daniel didn’t call all of the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to a huge convention to try to harness all of their combined powers to come up with the dream.
e. Daniel knew he had to go to God.
f. But Daniel also knew he needed all the people praying that he could get.
g. Daniel had a small group of friends whom he trusted and leaned on.
h. We’ll learn in this book that Daniel had a habit of going to his room and praying three times a day.
2. That’s how Spirit-filled people are.
a. Spirit-filled people know the power of prayer.
b. Spirit-filled people know the absolute necessity of prayer.
c. Spirit-filled people know that they can consult humans or books or anything else, but the real wisdom and power is going to come from God.
d. Spirit-filled people also know that the more people praying the better.
e. Spirit-filled people have a small group of friends who they rely on and trust.
f. Spirit-filled people share their concerns and they pray together for one another.
g. Spirit-filled people don’t hesitate to pray.
h. Spirit-filled people see prayer as a way of life.
i. Spirit-filled people don’t see prayer as a last resort, but as the first priority.
C. Daniel received a vision.
Daniel 2:19a (NIV), During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision.
1. Daniel received a vision from God that would satisfy the death threat hanging over the head of all the wise me.
2. Daniel was given the dream and the interpretation when no one else was able to get it.
3. Daniel had the mystery revealed to him.
4. Spirit-filled people don’t always receive visions, but some do.
a. Spirit-filled people eventually learn (if they persevere) to understand what the HS is telling them.
b. Sometimes the Spirit speaks in dreams, sometimes in visions, sometimes in that still small voice, but the Spirit finds ways to communicate with Spirit-filled people.
D. Daniel praised the God of heaven.
Daniel 2:19b-23 (NIV), Then Daniel praised the God of heaven 20 and said: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. 21 He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. 22 He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. 23 I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king."
1. Daniel could have skipped this of course.
2. Unfortunately, that’s what a lot of people do.
3. They cry out to God when things look bleak and then when God rescues them, they simply walk away and go on with their life until the next trial comes along.
4. But Spirit-filled people make a habit of praising God.
5. Daniel had an extraordinary reason to praise God, but Spirit-filled people don’t need much of an excuse to praise God.
6. Spirit-filled people praise God regularly.
7. In fact most Spirit-filled people will tell you that the way they were filled with the Spirit in the first place was through prayer and praise.
8. Immersing ourselves in prayer and praise is one of the first steps towards being filled with the Spirit.
9. Prayer and praise are priorities of Spirit-filled people.
10. There are countless reasons to praise God, but look at the ones Daniel gave here…
a. Daniel praised God after he learned the mystery because he knew that all wisdom and power belong to God.
b. Daniel praised God because he changes the times and the seasons.
c. Daniel praised God because God enthrones kings and dethrones them.
d. Daniel praised God because God gives wisdom and knowledge to people.
e. Daniel praised God because God reveals deep and hidden things.
f. Daniel praised God because God knows what lies in darkness.
g. Daniel praised God because light dwells in God.
h. Daniel praised God because God had given him wisdom and power.
i. Daniel praised God because God made known what THEY (not he) asked for.
11.Spirit-filled people know the power of praise.
E. Daniel gave credit to the God of heaven.
Daniel 2:27-28 (NIV), Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:
1. When Daniel went in to the king and the king asked him if HE was able to tell him the dream and interpret it, Daniel said that no man could do that.
2. Sure would have been easy for Daniel to say, “Yep, I sure can!”
3. But Daniel didn’t take any of the credit and he didn’t try to make himself look better than the other wise men.
4. It also would have been easy to try to make himself look better than the other wise men since he was able to do it and they weren’t.
5. Daniel said no human could do this, but there is a God in heaven who can!
6. Notice the humility of Daniel displayed in verse 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
7. Spirit-filled people have no desire to take the credit for the supernatural things that God does through them.
a. If they receive a vision from God, they give the glory to God.
b. If they speak in tongues, they give the glory to God.
c. If they prophesy, they give the glory to God.
d. They are not better or more spiritual or wiser or more righteous than anyone.
e. They know that no human can do this, but there is a God in heaven that can!
F. Daniel was rewarded.
Daniel 2:46-48 (NIV), Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, "Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery." 48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.
1. The king of the world fell prostrate before Daniel.
2. The king of the world paid honor to Daniel.
3. The king of the world ordered an offering and incense be given to Daniel.
4. The king of the world said that Daniel’s God was above all gods.
5. The king of the world placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts upon him.
6. The king of the world made Daniel the ruler over the entire province of Babylon.
7. The king of the world placed Daniel in charge of all the wise men.
8. Spirit-filled people do receive rewards.
a. But Spirit-filled people know that earthly rewards are not their real reward.
b. Most of the things the king said and did here were short lived.
c. The king got what he wanted for the moment and soon went back to life as usual.
d. He soon forgot about Daniel and his declaration about God.
e. But Daniel was rewarded.
f. Just to be privileged to even receive what he got from God was obviously a reward.
g. I’m sure he enjoyed the gifts and money he received for a while.
h. But we all know that his real reward would come from the real King.
G. Daniel remembered his small group.
Daniel 2:49 (NIV), Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.
1. Daniel did not forget his small group through all of this.
2. Daniel could have moved into his new position of power and forgotten his friends.
3. Lots of people forget about the people that helped them to get a leg up.
4. But Daniel IMMEDIATELY remembered his friends and asked for high positions for them.
5. That’s what a small group of intimate friends are to those who are Spirit-filled.
6. Spirit-filled people know the strength there is among friends who believe alike and pray for each other and support one another.
Conclusion:
A. Now I believe we are beginning to see what the difference was between Daniel and the sorcerers and the other wise men.
1. Now I believe we are beginning to see why Daniel was enabled to tell and interpret the dream while the others were not.
2. The book of Daniel records five times where it is said of Daniel that the spirit of God was in him.
3. Now I know there are people who want to think that the HS didn’t come until much later in the book of Acts, but that just isn’t true.
4. The HS was there at creation and the Spirit of God was in Daniel and that is why Daniel was able to do what he did.
5. And I believe these are some important things that we can learn about Spirit-filled living today.
B. D L Moody was once asked why he urged Christians to be filled constantly with the Holy Spirit. "Well," he said, "I need a continual infilling because I leak!" He pointed to a water tank which had sprung a leak. "I’m like that!" he said. It’s a fact that living in this sinful world we do need to be replenished by the Spirit.
1. Do you need a fresh touch from God today?
2. Do you need to be filled again today?
3. Do you need to come and be prayed for for some type of healing?
4. Do you need to start developing a small group of friends that you can share your spiritual life with?
5. Do you need to start your own private praise and prayer time?
6. How do you need to respond to the message of God today?
