Daniel – Day 2
The central issue in Chapter 2 concerns Daniel’s response to a startling dream that Nebuchadnezzar had during the second year of his reign. Nebuchadnezzar’s position in the story, and even the book of Daniel is a reminder that God calls every one of us to salvation and the knowledge of him. The dream, as we shall see, speaks to all of us. “Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar was so troubled that his sleep left him. Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said to them ‘I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.'” Daniel 2:1-3.
Difficulty arose, not simply because the king requested the interpretation but for two other reasons. First, the counselors asked the king to tell them the dream, but he refused and demanded that his counselors tell him the dream first and then provide the interpretation. Second, the king told the counselors that if they failed to tell him the very dream itself and then provide the interpretation, he would have them cut into pieces and make their houses an ash heap. Needless to say, this concentrated the minds of the counselors. Because they could not tell Nebuchadnezzar the dream and its interpretation, he issued a command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. Embedded within the king’s request, of course, was the question that troubles us all: What is the purpose of life and existence? What is its direction? Will life be marked by instability and conflict and without purpose? Answers to such wisdom questions come from a source greater than ourselves.
Hearing about the king’s request and understanding the stakes for all the wise men of Babylon including himself, Daniel enters the scene and takes decisive action. But Daniel acts not simply to save himself or simply to save the lives of his fellow wise men. Daniel acts out of faith in God and in the belief that God is at work in the dire circumstances. Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, his companions, that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven (Daniel, 2:16-20). Daniel praised God for the answer to his prayers and acknowledged that wisdom and might are God’s and that God removes kings and raises up kings (Daniel 2:20-21).
The powerful revelation that Daniel receives through the supernatural power of God, the pre-existent one, is a lesson to all of us. We can receive revelation from God. The dream and interpretation also provide a powerful lesson: the dream proclaims the coming kingdom of God on the earth. More specifically, Daniel sees a huge beast with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze and feet made of a mixture of iron and clay. The feet of clay testify to the weakness of all human achievements in history because as you watched the beast, “a stone was cut out without human hand, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:34-35). On one view, it was not simply the weakness of the feet of clay that led to the demise of the beast. Rather, it was the fact that the whole structure stood in the way and blocked the progress of another kingdom, the kingdom of God that must come and fill the future and implies that because this future kingdom is approaching and because its triumph is inevitable that Nebuchadnezzar’s empire which stood at the top of the beast would be broken up. In this interpretation, wonderfully rendered by Ronald Wallace, the dream foretold is one of Christ’s Kingdom breaking into human history, which suggests that new life and healing can only come to us when we find our purpose in pursuing the glory of God.
The king’s response to this dream of the coming kingdom and the demise of his dynasty, is striking. He fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and revealer of secrets” (Daniel 2:46-47). The question becomes, “Could Nebuchadnezzar maintain this place of humility before the God of the universe?”
Key Verses:
“Then Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, his companions that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise mean of Babylon. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.” ~ Daniel 2:16-19
Questions:
- What was so important about Daniel’s willingness to ask his companions to seek mercies from the Lord?
- When we seek wisdom and revelation from the Lord, do we respond like Nebuchadnezzar did or do we only respond favorably, when the answer to our request is what we wanted in the first place?
- What are you seeking the Lord for and do you trust God to provide the right answer?
