Daniel |
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Daniel Chapter 2
Nebuchadnezzer had a dream that caused him to awake out of sleep very troubled in spirit. He couldn't get back to sleep. He also couldn't remember what the dream was. He expected the sorcerers and magicians to interpret the dream without him telling them what the dream was. We see here a hasty judgment coming from the king against all who call themselves seers and wise men who can foretell the future and interpret dreams. The Chaldeans were included in this. They were highly educated in arts, science and were highly thought of as wise in learning. When they couldn't tell the dream and what it meant without knowing what the dream was, it caused the king to think they were fakes trying to gain time to make up something. In his anger he decreed that they were all to be killed. This would have included Daniel even though we know Daniel heard from God and was not a fake. We see from this that fortune tellers and demonic sorcerers were limited in their power. The Chaldeans spoke Syriac which is an Aramaic language. I'm sure all of them must have been frightened by this time for the king's word was law in that country in that time period. Almost every ancient kingdom had religious priests, wise men and astrologers that the kings would use to keep the people in bondage and unite their kingdom using fear and intimidation. Many times the king was thought to represent God and to disobey the king would incur the wrath of the gods. Religion and state was always mixed, one power using the other to gain control of the people. The magicians and astrologers were held in high esteem by the people. They claimed superior knowledge into the world of the spirits and claimed to speak for God or for the what they thought were gods. They had the people and the king thinking that there was no way to know the will of their so called gods except through them. They used their religion to deceive and keep everyone dependent upon them. There are even religions including some that have called themselves Christian religions that have done that also. True religion will get people to God and to the place where they can be right with God and speak to God themselves. True religion will avoid all dependence upon man. Concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are to preach, teach and do all we can to bring people to Jesus Christ (the only way to God) and then step aside to let them serve God. We can teach the word, exhort and worship with them but we must encourage new believers to establish a relationship with God on their own and not depend upon their mentors. The only mediator between God and man is Jesus Christ. Not Mary, not a priest, not a prophet but Jesus. Before Christ we needed the other mediators but after Christ the roles of prophets changed. Now their role is to teach, lead and be the example but not to lord over and become a mediator between them and Christ. True religion is one that we willingly choose. Being born against by the Holy Spirit is nothing we can force upon anyone. Only God can change a sinner into a born again saint by the power of His Holy Spirit. It cannot be forced on anyone. The religious men in Babylon now were called to give an account of what they claimed previously to be able to do. They are exposed before the king as frauds and impostors. They even admit to the king that only the gods that do not dwell with men could do what he requested.
This rash commandment of the king would have also included Daniel and his friends because they were considered intercessors for God too but they represented the real God.
Daniel had nothing to lose since he would have died anyway but his request held off the execution of the wise men until he had a chance to prove himself. Daniel's intervention not only saved his life but also all the false wise men in Babylon. There may have been some that died before Daniel intervened but that we don't know for sure. We do know that Daniel appealed first to the captain of the guard, Arioch, then Daniel went to the king himself. We see that God blessed Daniel with boldness and with a zeal to save lives.
Now we see the power of prayer where two or three were gathered together to call upon God for their salvation and to give them an interpretation of the king's dream. Daniel didn't once trust in himself to be the great savior. He depended upon God. We see that Daniel did not trust in his own wisdom to get them out of trouble but knew that he and his three friends must first spend time with the Lord for direction. We can really learn from this ourselves. They waited on God for an answer. God came just in time.
Before Daniel got up to leave, he gave thanks to God for answering his prayer. This is what we fail to do enough. It is still very important to praise God and be thankful for everything He does for us. Sometimes we can even be thankful for prayers He does not answer if things turn out better in the long run than if He would have done what we asked at the time. I remember reading once of a missionary who had brown eyes. As a child she prayed for God to make them blue but failed to receive an answer. When she was grown up she was a missionary in a country where she had to disguise herself and enter into a place with her identity hidden. If her eyes had been blue, she would have been discovered for the average person in that country had brown eyes. We have every reason though to be thankful because if it wasn't for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His mercy upon us, none of us would be saved, neither would we have learned of the gift of salvation, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and many gifts God gives to us when we repent of sin and believe in Jesus Christ as our savior from sin. What if we had never heard? We would be just as lost as Adolph Hitler or some evil dictator of the past.
It is a good thing that Arioch was not a hot head that was quick to obey orders. Perhaps he sought to find a way out of the orders of the king. King Nebuchadnezzar was a hot head and very rash to decree crazy things in the spur of the moment instead of thinking things through.
Daniel was quick to give God the glory for this interpretation, giving no glory to himself. He also wanted to reveal to those in his hearing that the magicians, soothsayers and astrologers had no power that God alone had. If only we could remember that. If God ever uses one of us to lay hands on a sick person and that sick person recovers; would we think it is by our own holiness or would we give glory to God alone?
The image represented world powers that existed then and what was to come. The head was the king of Babylon and the kingdom of Babylon. This also was one of the heads on the beast in Revelation and is symbolized in later chapters in Daniel as a lion. Babylon was actually the 3rd kingdom that oppressed the nation of Israel. The first two were Egypt and Assyria. God sets up kingdoms, allows them to exist for a season but if they continue in evil and pass the point of no return, God will replace them with others. Evil will not continue forever. Most visions and dreams in the bible have to do with the nation of Israel. We must try to avoid placing the church where Israel is supposed to be. Sometimes examples given in the Old Testament can apply to us as a church but they primarily refer to Israel in every case. For instance if God punishes Israel for idolatry and we as a church commit idolatry, we can be assured that we will face the same judgment if we do not repent. Having no other gods is still a commandment for the church as well as Israel.
The kingdom that came after Babylon with breast and arms of silver was the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. This was also symbolized later in Daniel by a bear. The kingdom of brass which was the belly and thighs of this image was the Grecian Empire headed by Alexander the Great. In chapter 7 of Daniel this kingdom is represented by a leopard which is swift. Notice it is said he rules all the earth but the Grecian Empire did not totally control every part of the earth but the part known to those living at that time in the vicinity of Israel. This may be a hint that the future beast or anti-christ may not get power over the entire earth but only the old Roman Empire territory and whatever territory that Babylon, Media-Persia and Greece once controlled. The use of the word "all" may not mean all in the sense that we think but was a figure of speech like we would say, the whole city came out to the fair, when in fact every single person did not come out to the fair, it just seemed as if the whole city was there. Again this is my speculation. The day we live in is full of modern technology where in the future it might just be possible to rule the entire earth but again, we don't know for sure. Our comfort is that beast kingdoms including the future one that will be the worst of all of them but will not last long before Jesus Christ brings them all crashing down.
This fourth kingdom of iron and fourth beast that was described as terrible in chapter 7 was the Roman Empire.
In the latter days in which we live now, the Roman Empire is no longer in existence but is split between different countries which some are strong and some are weak. It is believed by some bible theologians that in the latter days these shall be revised under the anti-christ which is represented by the beast in the book of Revelation as a revised Roman Empire and also revised Greece, and revised Babylon all contributing to this Empire in the last days just before the coming of Jesus Christ a second and final time.
We can easily see weak and strong countries even today and some broken. Some believe this describes Europe. I will add here that one school of thought is that instead of Europe, the latter day countries that are part of the iron and clay mixture are the enemies of Israel we see in the Middle East now. I'm not going to say whether it is European countries from which the antichrist rises or the Middle East but all of this should be studied thouroughly for further study. In doing that though, we must continue seek the Lord for understanding and not rely on our own speculation or what someone has previously written. We must learn to pray and seek God on our on as well. Some believe that studying the early church fathers is the best way to figure out truth by those that lived closer to the times of the apostles. I disagree with that somewhat. There arose some called the gnostics that brought in false teaching. Some of them were the means of the church falling away and denying the power or gifts of the Holy Spirit and began to substitute doctrines and commandments of men exalting one above another. It seems to me that for those that genuinely seek to know and understand these passages of scripture no matter what generation they live in, can know what they mean. Also it makes more sense to me that the closer we get to the fulfillment of these scriptures would be the time the Lord reveals to His faithful followers, the truth of their meaning. In saying that though, we know from the words of Paul and Jesus Himself that there will arise false teachers too, so discernment but with the heart of God is necessary. Seek, pray, fast, walk in love, and desire truth. Never exalt one's self over other believers. As we get closer to the return of Christ, we will receive more wisdom from the Lord if we seek to know and understand. The Lord told Daniel that the wise shall understand in Daniel 12 verse 10. In James 1:5 we are told that if any of us lack wisdom we are to just ask of God.
This would describe Europe but also any of the Middle Eastern countries, they are not united. Sometimes people mistakenly think unity is good but I see the exact opposite in the bible. God usually breaks up unity because power corrupts and persecutes the weaker ones. The only unity we should seek is the unity of the spirit which brings forth love and dependence upon God. We do not need any ecumenical movement to unite churches either. That will lead to the same corruption that occurred during the Middle Ages.
This is the kingdom of Jesus Christ and the only time in the history of the world that a godly unity can be achieved. All unity before this event is a false unity. We must not be partaker of the false. Lets wait for the LITERAL return of Jesus Christ. It is not some spiritual or mysterious return, it will be real and in person.
Mankind and all efforts of human men or women will not cause the final kingdom to come to pass. This is an act of God that is out of our control. Jesus will come and break apart all former kingdoms and there is nothing any person, great or small can do to stop it. We can plan, raise committees, call the United Nations and have all the summit meetings we want but nothing shall stop the coming of Jesus to set up His literal kingdom upon the earth.
I'm sure Daniel did not accept his worship although it is not stated here, but perhaps silence was advisable so that he could intervene on behalf of his friends and have them set over affairs in the kingdom. Having godly leaders is beneficial to everyone and works to the good of the whole country. If Daniel had of robbed God of His glory, He could not have had any help from God later for God would have frowned upon anyone worshipping Daniel. However we shall see in later studies that an angel referred to Daniel as, "beloved" in chapter 10 showing that he did not lose the favor of God. What happens also in later chapters concerning his worship of God would surely be a reminder that he still needed the protection of God. We must never got so big and powerful that we think we can "do it ourselves" and have no dependency upon God. When the Middle age church forgot that, they acted in the place of God instead of depending on God. I say this also with caution because we have to assume those that wrote church history were accurate and unbiased. We must never forget how much we need Jesus. The church's failure during the Middle Ages is what gave rise to false religions, athiesm and other things to deceive people so that they do not find the real God through faith in Jesus our Lord Jesus. We were supposed to spread the gospel that saves the soul which is the true gospel of the kingdom. We were never told to conquer nations and use forced conversions to a religion we call Christianity or any other name. Too bad that Nebuchadnezzar forgot this time of being humble
before God, for just a few years later he remembers this dream but
exalts himself and sets up an image to worship. DC |
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