The First Dream Series

Daniel: The First Dream (5)

Text: Daniel 2:31-49

If you will, please take your Bibles and open them up to Daniel chapter 2.

Now if you missed last Sunday, I’ll give you a quick re-cap as you’re turning there, but I urge you to go back and watch the sermon on YouTube, and also, to read through this chapter, because if you miss, you might be out of the loop. Especially as we get deeper into this book.

So, what we’ve seen so far was that King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream… or more likely a series of dreams… or reoccurring dreams. And he was greatly troubled by them. So much so that he couldn’t even sleep at night. And so, he was looking for answers, and he called all his magicians and sorcerers and wise men and asked them to tell him not only the interpretation of the dream, but to tell him what the dream was. He was testing them.

And of course, they couldn’t.

The world has no solutions for the REAL problems and issues facing humanity.

And so Nebuchadnezzar says, “Ok, I’m going to have all of you killed. What use are you to me anyway?”

But Daniel hears about this, and makes it known that “there is a God in heaven” who can do what the king asks, and he goes to his friends and asks them to pray.

So, we’re in Daniel 2 and we’re going to be looking at verses 31 – 49 this morning… let’s go ahead and read through that (READ TEXT).

So, right there in verse 31, is the answer as to why the king couldn’t sleep. The dream was of an image and the image was mighty, of exceeding brightness, and its appearance was frightening.

This thing was scary looking. I don’t know, maybe it grew out of the ground and stood over Nebuchadnezzar… or maybe it was just there… this giant, looming, statue. Whatever it was, it was unnerving.

And Daniel describes it. Head of gold, chest and arms of silver. It’s torso, down to the thighs are made of bronze, and then the legs and feet are made of iron and clay… and I love what else Daniel says right there in verse 31… “You saw, O King…”.

In other words, in all of this, you, King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful king alive at the time, are just a spectator. With all of your might and power, and wealth, and all your armies and influence… you’re not the one controlling history. All you can do – at best – is be a spectator. You can watch it unfold.

God has a way of humbling the proud.

Church, God is sovereign! He is sovereign over history and the affairs of man – whether it’s the most powerful rulers, or the homeless guy on the street. God can turn fortunes on a dime if He so chooses. He raises up kings and empires and He brings them down.

Now that’s not to say that God is causing people to sin, and act wickedly. God’s not causing people to steal, or hurt one another. He’s not behind the evil that men do. But at the same time, He permits it. And that might mess with some of you.

It’s an issue that you have to deal with as you study theology. Historically it’s been called “The problem of evil.”

So here’s the thing. God does not cause evil, He is not the Agent of it, or the Cause of it… but He does permit it, and He permits it in order to bring about good from it, and in order to accomplish His sovereign and good will.

Think about it. The most evil act ever committed in all of human history was the murder of Jesus on the cross. God permitted that… and even ordain that… He didn’t cause the evil in the men’s hearts who were responsible… but He used it to bring about the greatest good ever done in all of human history – the salvation of lost sinners. The reconciliation of lost sinners back to Himself.

What men intended for evil… and DID as evil… God worked for good.

We don’t always understand it, but we trust that God is sovereign, and that He is good. That’s what faith is all about. Now if you want to get a much more in-depth teaching on that, come to evening Bible study, and we can go over it in depth… But we’ve got to move on.

So… Daniel describes the dream, and I hope you noticed that the metals from head to toes, decreases in value. And I think that’s important here. Yeah, when we get to the Roman Empire – it’s strong. Its military might was unequaled… But it didn’t have the brilliance of Babylon. Mankind is not evolving, it’s devolving.