May 6, 2025 • 29 mins
What happens when a narcissistic king meets a faithful exile? Daniel chapter two unfolds as a dramatic confrontation between worldly power and divine sovereignty.
Nebuchadnezzar, drunk with his own authority, demands the impossible – his wise men must interpret a dream without being told what it was. The penalty for failure? Death for all wise men in Babylon. When innocent Daniel faces execution for others' failures, he demonstrates an extraordinary response that reveals the stark contrast between self-worship and God-worship.
The mysterious dream of a statue – gold head, silver chest, bronze middle, iron legs, and feet of iron mixed with clay – unveils the rise and fall of kingdoms throughout history. But the most significant part? A stone "not cut by human hands" that smashes the statue and grows to fill the whole earth. This prophetic vision reveals a profound truth: all human kingdoms are temporary, while God's kingdom endures forever.
The story resonates powerfully with our modern experience. We frequently find ourselves caught in circumstances beyond our control – exile moments where we suffer consequences of others' decisions or simply the brokenness of our world. Daniel's response offers us a template for maintaining faith when everything feels uncertain.
What makes this ancient text so relevant today is its unflinching portrayal of the human condition. Nebuchadnezzar, despite receiving divine revelation about the temporary nature of his kingdom, immediately builds a ninety-foot gold statue demanding worship. How often do we similarly miss the point, clinging to temporary power while ignoring eternal reality?
Daniel's life whispers a profound question across the centuries: Who do you worship? The answer shapes not just our eternal destiny but our present character – "you become like the one you worship." In your struggles today, will you choose self-reliance like Nebuchadnezzar or trust in God's sovereignty like Daniel?
Take time this week to reflect on areas where you need to surrender control and trust that God remains sovereign even when life feels like exile. Share this episode with someone facing their own impossible situation who needs this timeless reminder of hope.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey everyone, good morning, good afternoon, good
evening, maybe I don't know, hey.
So this is not normally,typically how I do this, but we
had some technical difficultieson Sunday morning so we were
unable to record the sermon asintended.
You know, the power being downlast week and Wi-Fi was down and
everything was kind of in adisarray.
(00:23):
We thought we had it allfigured out, but we must have
missed something along the way,and that happens, right, that
happens sometimes.
And to those of you who arehere, you saw it already, you
kind of know where I'm going.
But for those who catch thisonline, or maybe you listen to
it later through our podcast, Ijust want to kind of recap
Sunday morning for you.
So here's kind of the focus.
(00:46):
We're in Daniel, chapter two,and so we've been looking at the
book of Daniel and we'vestarted out last week just kind
of reviewing and understandingthat Daniel chapter one sets the
stage for Judah Jerusalem to bein exile.
They've been taken captive bythe Babylonians.
(01:07):
Nebuchadnezzar's the king he'skind of the powerhouse in charge
and really Daniel and hisfriends Jadrach, meshach and
Abednego that's their names thatthey get changed to after
they've been essentiallyabducted, right?
So Daniel and his friends comealong and they're taken captive
(01:31):
and their names are changed.
Daniel's name eventuallybecomes Belshazzar, which is
actually the god, one of thegods that the Babylon's worship,
which is kind of ironic, butyou know it's interesting when
you think about it.
Which is kind of ironic, butyou know it's interesting when
you think about it.
But so Daniel and his friends,they've decided to live a life
in Daniel chapter 1, and they'vedecided to honor God with how
(01:54):
they're going to live.
So they're not eatingsacrificed idols or anything
like that, and God is through.
That faithfulness has providedDaniel with an incredible gift,
right, so Daniel chapter two.
So Daniel chapter two is a hugecontrast between good and evil
(02:15):
in the world.
So Nebuchadnezzar is the king ofkings, right, he's the one in
charge.
He's taking people in exile,and Nebuchadnezzar is a textbook
narcissist.
Everything's about him,everything, and we're going to
find that out as you get intochapter three.
But Nebuchadnezzar, in hisattitude and his behavior.
(02:39):
God gives him a dream.
God gives him a dream, andNebuchadnezzar has no idea what
this dream means.
So what he does is he has thisdream in the beginning of Daniel
chapter 2, and he invites allof his astrologers and magicians
and all his wise people to comein and interpret the dream.
(03:02):
Now he doesn't call Daniel andhis friends.
For some reason he decides toleave them out.
So he calls them in and ofcourse he says listen, I had a
dream and you are the wisest ofthe wise, you are my people and
I need you to tell me what itmeans he's like.
But here's the thing, thoughI'm not going to tell you my
(03:25):
dream, you have to tell me whatit was and you have to interpret
it completely.
And so his wise men and hisastrologers.
And, by the way, if you haven'tread Daniel, chapter two, I
really want to encourage you todo that, because I'm just going
to kind of bounce around and hitthe high points, but it's only
(03:46):
49 verses somewhere around thereI don't think it's much longer
than that, so it's kind of brief.
But so Nebuchadnezzar tells hisrulers, astrologers listen, tell
me my dream, tell me what itmeans.
And of course, their reactionis oh, wise king, right, butter
him up.
Action is oh, wise king, right,butter him up, flatter him.
(04:08):
There's no one in the worldthat can do that.
What you ask of us is insane.
Why would you do such a thing?
And Nebuchadnezzar responses.
He says listen, this is whatI've decreed, this is what I've
determined.
And I think I think you'retrying to buy yourself some time
because you realize that I amfirmly decided.
(04:30):
This is what I'm going to do.
And then he says listen,honestly, I think you want me to
tell you the dream, because ifI do, you could probably make
something up.
You could probably, you couldprobably butter me up and
flatter me and tell me what Iwant to hear.
But I don't want you to do that, because I think you're trying
(04:52):
to deceive me.
I want you to tell me my dreamand then I want you to tell me
what it means.
Oh, and, by the way, if youdon't, I'm going to murder you.
Oh, and, by the way, if youdon't, I'm going to murder you.
What so?
Not only is Nebuchadnezzarasking for something that's near
(05:15):
impossible, he's threateningthem, says if you don't do this
for me, I'm not only going tokill you, but I'm going to kill
all of the wise men in the worldin Babylon.
And so let's talk a little bitabout Nebuchadnezzar's attitude.
(05:38):
If you've ever been aroundsomeone and on Sunday morning I
use the word shady because Ithink that's a fun word, right,
if you've ever been aroundsomeone who you would deem shady
.
They tend to have a certainpersonality about them.
They're not trustful.
They don't trust other peoplevery much.
(05:58):
They're always looking out forthemselves.
They tend to be focused on onlytheir wants and their needs,
and they think that everyone'sout to get them Again.
Narcissus 101, right, it's allabout them.
And so Nebuchadnezzar is not agreat human being.
He might be a good king, hemight even be a great king, but
(06:23):
he's not a good person.
He's probably lied, he'sprobably manipulated, he's
probably found ways to bedeceitful in order to gain his
position of power, and now he'slording it.
He's positioning himself overthe wise rulers and threatening
them death.
If you don't give me what Iwant, I'm going to kill you.
(06:43):
Death.
If you don't give me what Iwant, I'm going to kill you.
And again, their response isthat doesn't even make sense.
There's at some point in thetext they say that only the gods
can interpret this dream foryou.
But they don't live among manwhich, by the way, is an
interesting point and we'll talkabout that later but they had
(07:07):
this realization that there wasgods lowercase who could
probably interpret this dream ifhe really wanted it, but there
was no way in their humanstrength and their human
knowledge they would be able todo this and their human
knowledge, they would be able todo this.
And so, as Nebuchadnezzarpromised, he sends out his chief
(07:29):
guard to murder every wise man,to round them all up to take
their life.
At some point in the text hesays he was going to cut them
from limb to limb and make theirhouses a rubble.
So he's not just killing them,he's going after their families.
This is what evil people do.
(07:52):
When people who are evil don'tget what they want, they force
it or they abuse their power andthey abuse their privilege, and
they don't care who gets hurtand listen.
In this case, nebuchadnezzarreally doesn't care, because
Daniel and his friends, whoaren't even part of this
conversation, the chief guard,goes to their house and says
(08:14):
listen, this is the decreeNebuchadnezzar has said.
Because these wise men overhere couldn't interpret this
dream, your life is now at risk.
Talk about an unfair world,talk about an unfair situation.
(08:35):
I mean, what did Daniel do todeserve this?
He had nothing to do with it.
It wasn't his fault.
No one asked him if he wantedto go into exile.
I mean Jerusalem, you knowJudah.
They had messed up, they hadfallen away from God.
We talked about this last weekwhen, back in Isaiah, that
(08:55):
there's.
You know, there's about 150,200 years prior to this moment
that Isaiah is prophesyingsaying listen, you're going to
lose all of this.
And so, 800 years prior toexile was the Exodus, when they
were set free from Egypt and Godbrought them out of captivity
and they walked right back intoit.
It wasn't an overnight thing.
(09:18):
It took time, it took decisions.
But Daniel and his friends,they were young men.
What could they have possiblyhave done to deserve this?
And it's even more interestingbecause, if you think about it,
their prayer life, as it getskind of revealed throughout the
text, was incredibly significant.
(09:39):
Daniel seemed to be a man afterGod, a man blessed by God,
actually.
So what did Daniel do to deserveexile?
And listen, I don't know thewhole story of Daniel, but I
would assume he probably didn'tdo much.
But he had to suffer theconsequences of an unwise ruler
(10:05):
like Nebuchadnezzar.
He had to suffer theconsequences of broken, sinful
people who turned away from hisGod.
He had to suffer theconsequences of a king drunk
with power, taking all captives.
And here we find Daniel.
(10:36):
His life is at risk simplybecause the king is asking for
an impossible thing to be done.
You ever feel like that, thatyou're in a situation in your
life where you ask yourself howdid we get here?
What did we do?
What mistake did I make?
What sin did I commit?
And listen, sometimes there'san answer for those questions.
Sometimes there's not.
Sometimes the downside toliving in a broken world is you
(11:02):
and I have to deal with thebrokenness of it.
Nebuchadnezzar is a broken man,a narcissist, a ruler who's
bent on destruction.
And so the, the captain guard,comes to Daniel's house and says
I have to kill you.
And Daniel says hold on, giveme an audience with the king,
(11:27):
just give me five minutes.
And so Daniel goes toNebuchadnezzar and he says
listen, I cannot interpret yourdream, nor can I reveal it to
you, but I know a God who canAgain contrast right, the
(11:50):
astrologers, the magicians.
They talked about their gods,but their gods were disconnected
.
Their gods weren't among men,their gods were somewhere up in
space, uninvolved with them.
But Daniel says listen, I knowa God who can do this.
Give me the night, give me thenight.
(12:10):
So Daniel goes back and he goesback to his friends and says
listen, I need you to pray formercy, I need you to pray for
grace, I need you to ask God togive me not only this dream, but
the interpretation of thisdream.
I need them to show me, I needGod to reveal to me, because our
(12:39):
lives are at risk, the lives ofall the men here are at risk.
And again you see the contrast.
Nebuchadnezzar is trying tokill people.
Daniel is trying to save notonly his life but the lives of
the other wise men, because herealizes that this is an unjust
(13:05):
situation to be in.
He understands this, so Danielprays.
That night God shows him thedream and the dream.
So he goes back toNebuchadnezzar and says listen,
god showed me what you saw.
And he talks about this greatstatue of the head of gold.
(13:27):
And he starts to, as it breaksdown, everything kind of lessens
in value.
And so it starts out with goldat the top.
And again I read Daniel 2,starts out with gold at the top
and ends up with clay and ironat the bottom.
And so Daniel says toNebuchadnezzar now I'm going to
(13:49):
tell you what it means.
And he praises him, says you,oh, great king, that's you at
the top.
You're sitting at the top ofthe throne, but there's coming a
kingdom after yours that willbe inferior, and then there's
going to be a kingdom after thatthat will be even more inferior
(14:10):
, and there's going to be afinal one that's even worse than
that.
And if you do a little bit ofresearch, you'll find out that
David or Daniel man I get thosenames mixed up all the time
Daniel is actually speaking ofwhat's about to come in the next
roughly 500 years, thateventually the Persians would
(14:31):
come in and overthrow Babylon.
The Greeks would come in andoverthrow the Persians and
eventually end up with theRomans who would overthrow the
Greeks.
And so Daniel is telling ofthis prophetic dream of the
future to come forNebuchadnezzar.
And then Daniel says but inthis dream there's also a giant
(14:51):
rock, not cut by the hands ofman.
At the end of your dream, thatrock comes down and it smashes
all of these other.
It smashes the statue to pieces, leaving nothing behind except
for this rock.
And Daniel says let me tell youwhat that means.
(15:15):
He says, king, you're in charge, you're the ruler, but your
kingdom won't last, and neitherwill a kingdom after yours or
the kingdom after that, becauseyou see, that rock represents
the kingdom of God and thatkingdom, that kingdom will last
forever.
It's going to destroy all otherkingdoms, actually, you know.
(15:44):
And so Daniel gives thisincredible dream to
Nebuchadnezzar andNebuchadnezzar's response is to
bow down and worship Daniel forhis wisdom, which is kind of
ironic, because who's Daniel?
Daniel's nothing more than aman who's being used by the God
(16:06):
who created him.
But again, nebuchadnezzar can'tsee past this.
So he's worshiping Daniel, heappoints him.
But again, nebuchadnezzar can'tsee past this.
So he's worshiping Daniel, heappoints him and his friends
Shadrach, meshach and Abednego,they kind of sit on this high
place in the kingdom and hegives them everything they want.
And then Daniel, chapter threeNebuchadnezzar decides to build
a statue made of gold.
(16:26):
Because why wouldn't you?
And in his arrogance, witheverything that just happened,
the realization that his kingdomwas going to fall, the guy goes
and builds a giant gold templeof him, 90 feet tall, and says
worship this statue.
He missed it.
(16:47):
He missed the entirety of it.
All he could think about isthat gold statue is me.
And all Daniel could tell himwas yeah, but that gold statue
won't last.
Your kingdom won't last, youknow.
We get back to Daniel, chapterone.
(17:10):
Chapter one really does twothings.
One, it teaches us thesovereignty of God over our
lives, right, and there'snothing God's not aware of,
there's nothing God can't do,there's nothing God can't help
you and I with.
The struggle is sometimes thosestruggles are exile.
(17:32):
We talked about this last weektoo.
You know Jeremiah 29, 11,.
Everyone loves that verse.
I know the plans that I havefor you, not to harm you, but to
prosper you, right, butJeremiah so he's a contemporary
of Daniel.
So the same time that this ishappening, jeremiah is
prophesying alongside Daniel'slife, and so that verse in
(17:54):
context Jeremiah 29, 11, isactually being written to men
and women who are in exile.
Can you imagine being in thedarkest moment of your life and
you hear God say I have a planfor you, not to hurt you, not to
harm you, but to prosper you.
Listen, I can say I've beenthrough moments like that and my
reaction is yeah, but do I haveto be here?
(18:15):
Can't you just make all this goaway?
And again, I think that's thehuman side of us, right, we want
God to fix it, fix it.
(18:38):
But Daniel 1 shows us God's incharge.
Daniel 1 also helps understandthat our identity is grounded in
who God is.
That's important.
That's significant, reallysignificant.
Actually, throughout the restof the book of Daniel it's going
to show itself.
Daniel knew who God was, so hewas confident in who he was.
He was confident in his faith.
He trusted God.
Again.
When he goes to Nebuchadnezzarhe says Listen, I can't do this,
(18:58):
but I know a God who can Giveme a day.
So chapter 2, daniel shows usthat God is sovereign over all
things.
You know the culture we live in, the times we live in now can
seem overwhelming.
(19:19):
War, rumors of war Listen, I'mnot trying to get like prophetic
here, so don't take this anyfurther than it needs to be.
I know Daniel and where he'sheaded.
Further than it needs to be.
I know Daniel and where he'sheaded.
But again, daniel is helping usunderstand that God is in
charge of everything the world.
It doesn't matter who's inpower, it doesn't matter who the
(19:41):
current sitting president is,it doesn't matter who's in
charge of another country.
Ultimately, those people are inpositions that God has allowed
them to have for one reason oranother.
That's his decision, not ours.
But Nebuchadnezzar had to bereminded that his kingdom will
(20:02):
not reign or last forever, it'llcome to an end and be replaced
by the one who's eternal.
That's significant Because atthe end of this life, everyone
will bow to the creator of theuniverse, whether you do it
(20:23):
willingly or you do it becauseyou have to.
That's what the beauty of Godbeing sovereign is he's in
control even when we feel likehe's not.
That's what exile, by the way,teaches us, or should teach us
that God's in charge.
That's what difficultcircumstances in our life should
(20:45):
teach us that God's in charge.
So some of the hardest thingswe might go through, whether
we're through exile, whetherwe're going through the loss of
a loved one, the loss of a job,financial struggles, the loss of
a marriage, loss of a child,the brokenness of families, like
(21:08):
all of those things are reallyhard for you and I to go through
.
But God is still sovereign,he's still in charge and at the
end, no matter which way thisworld goes, everyone has to
answer to him.
He's going to take over.
He's already reigning, alreadyraining.
(21:39):
You and I just are.
We're living in the in-between.
We're not there yet.
Some of us are still trapped inexile.
And listen, that doesn't justmean here, I mean you talk about
other countries that there areChristians all over the world in
persecution.
Some of them don't know ifthey're going to make it out
tomorrow.
Daniel was granted great favorin the eyes of the king.
(21:59):
His life was spared more thanonce.
Sometimes that doesn't happen.
Sometimes death comes,sometimes brokenness comes,
sometimes prison comes.
We see that as you jump in theNew Testament, Paul specifically
, and Peter and most of thedisciples, that they suffered
(22:20):
for the cause of Christ.
But again, daniel 2 teaches usthat God is in charge.
That matters.
No king, no power, no, anythingwill ever overthrow him.
In the end, hell does not win,it never will.
(22:43):
In the end, whatever countrythinks they're in charge
currently is only there becauseGod allows it.
God is sovereign, you and I asChristians.
That's an incredible truth tostand on, because at the end of
(23:07):
my life, at the end of your life, hopefully, you realize that
God's in control, that it'sgoing to be okay, that God is
able to do so many more things,that when God says in Jeremiah
29, 11, that I know the plansthat I have for you to prosper
you, to not to harm you, even topeople in exile, he means it.
(23:29):
By the way, we see that kind ofunfold later in the Old
Testament, but in exile.
It's hard In stress, it's hardIn moments of doubt and fear.
It's hard to remember that Godis sovereign.
But Daniel understood who Godwas and because Daniel
understood who God was, danielknew who he was.
That's important.
(23:57):
You become like the one that youworship.
I read that a couple weeks ago.
I thought that was powerful.
You become like the one youworship.
So who do you worship?
Because here's the thing Again,daniel 2 is a contrast.
You have Nebuchadnezzar whoworships himself.
(24:19):
It's all about him.
Giant, 90-foot statue of gold.
Praise me, worship me, do whatI tell you or I'm going to kill
you.
That's a narcissist.
That's someone who worshipsthemselves, and we might not all
be that bad, but we worshipourselves a lot.
We worship our families a lot.
We worship our jobs a lot.
(24:40):
We worship our activities, ourskills.
Those things can become idolsfor you and I.
Those things can distract usfrom the bigger picture.
Because here's the thing at theend of your life, none of that
stuff matters anyways, becauseGod is sovereign.
So you can either worshipyourself, like Nebuchadnezzar,
(25:01):
or you can worship God likeDaniel did.
Daniel trusted God.
He prayed to God, not just inthe moment Daniel's prayer life
had been built into who he was.
You don't pray three times aday by accident.
That's a choice.
Daniel spent so much time inrelationship with God that he
(25:26):
trusted him and ultimately heknew that God was in charge
anyways, and as we continuethrough the book of Daniel,
you're going to see this unfoldKings come, kings go, countries
come, countries go, dictatorscome, dictators go, dictators
(25:49):
come, dictators go.
God lasts forever.
That that's important, becauseI don't know what you're
struggling with right now.
But I know that God can be incharge of your life.
I know God wants to be incharge of your life, and not
because he wants to lord it overyou.
(26:09):
That's the opposite, because heknows the plans he has for you.
He wants to protect you,prosper you, watch over you.
He wants those things for youand me because we're his
children, and that's what hedesires.
He's our dad.
He's our father.
(26:29):
He wants to protect us and takecare of us.
So, whatever your struggle is,trust him, trust in him.
He's in charge.
Nebuchadnezzar was just a man,god's eternal Since the
beginning to the very end.
(26:50):
His worship is deserved becausehe's the only one who truly
rules this world.
There might be some peoplealong the way that look like
they do.
They don't.
They're only there because Godlet them be there.
There is coming a day, though,when he's going to finally
(27:11):
return in clean house.
For those of us who follow him,that's going to be an
incredible experience.
For those of us who don't,that's going to be hard.
Every knee will bow, everytongue will confess.
That's what to be hard.
Every knee will bow, everytongue will confess.
(27:33):
That's what scripture says,that's what we learn through
Daniel's life that you eitherworship God or you worship
yourself, and only one of thosethings lasts forever.
Alright, you guys, have a goodafternoon Later.
Hey everyone, good morning, good afternoon, good
evening, maybe I don't know, hey.
So this is not normally,typically how I do this, but we
had some technical difficultieson Sunday morning so we were
unable to record the sermon asintended.
You know, the power being downlast week and Wi-Fi was down and
everything was kind of in adisarray.
(00:23):
We thought we had it allfigured out, but we must have
missed something along the way,and that happens, right, that
happens sometimes.
And to those of you who arehere, you saw it already, you
kind of know where I'm going.
But for those who catch thisonline, or maybe you listen to
it later through our podcast, Ijust want to kind of recap
Sunday morning for you.
So here's kind of the focus.
(00:46):
We're in Daniel, chapter two,and so we've been looking at the
book of Daniel and we'vestarted out last week just kind
of reviewing and understandingthat Daniel chapter one sets the
stage for Judah Jerusalem to bein exile.
They've been taken captive bythe Babylonians.
(01:07):
Nebuchadnezzar's the king he'skind of the powerhouse in charge
and really Daniel and hisfriends Jadrach, meshach and
Abednego that's their names thatthey get changed to after
they've been essentiallyabducted, right?
So Daniel and his friends comealong and they're taken captive
(01:31):
and their names are changed.
Daniel's name eventuallybecomes Belshazzar, which is
actually the god, one of thegods that the Babylon's worship,
which is kind of ironic, butyou know it's interesting when
you think about it.
Which is kind of ironic, butyou know it's interesting when
you think about it.
But so Daniel and his friends,they've decided to live a life
in Daniel chapter 1, and they'vedecided to honor God with how
(01:54):
they're going to live.
So they're not eatingsacrificed idols or anything
like that, and God is through.
That faithfulness has providedDaniel with an incredible gift,
right, so Daniel chapter two.
So Daniel chapter two is a hugecontrast between good and evil
(02:15):
in the world.
So Nebuchadnezzar is the king ofkings, right, he's the one in
charge.
He's taking people in exile,and Nebuchadnezzar is a textbook
narcissist.
Everything's about him,everything, and we're going to
find that out as you get intochapter three.
But Nebuchadnezzar, in hisattitude and his behavior.
(02:39):
God gives him a dream.
God gives him a dream, andNebuchadnezzar has no idea what
this dream means.
So what he does is he has thisdream in the beginning of Daniel
chapter 2, and he invites allof his astrologers and magicians
and all his wise people to comein and interpret the dream.
(03:02):
Now he doesn't call Daniel andhis friends.
For some reason he decides toleave them out.
So he calls them in and ofcourse he says listen, I had a
dream and you are the wisest ofthe wise, you are my people and
I need you to tell me what itmeans he's like.
But here's the thing, thoughI'm not going to tell you my
(03:25):
dream, you have to tell me whatit was and you have to interpret
it completely.
And so his wise men and hisastrologers.
And, by the way, if you haven'tread Daniel, chapter two, I
really want to encourage you todo that, because I'm just going
to kind of bounce around and hitthe high points, but it's only
(03:46):
49 verses somewhere around thereI don't think it's much longer
than that, so it's kind of brief.
But so Nebuchadnezzar tells hisrulers, astrologers listen, tell
me my dream, tell me what itmeans.
And of course, their reactionis oh, wise king, right, butter
him up.
Action is oh, wise king, right,butter him up, flatter him.
(04:08):
There's no one in the worldthat can do that.
What you ask of us is insane.
Why would you do such a thing?
And Nebuchadnezzar responses.
He says listen, this is whatI've decreed, this is what I've
determined.
And I think I think you'retrying to buy yourself some time
because you realize that I amfirmly decided.
(04:30):
This is what I'm going to do.
And then he says listen,honestly, I think you want me to
tell you the dream, because ifI do, you could probably make
something up.
You could probably, you couldprobably butter me up and
flatter me and tell me what Iwant to hear.
But I don't want you to do that, because I think you're trying
(04:52):
to deceive me.
I want you to tell me my dreamand then I want you to tell me
what it means.
Oh, and, by the way, if youdon't, I'm going to murder you.
Oh, and, by the way, if youdon't, I'm going to murder you.
What so?
Not only is Nebuchadnezzarasking for something that's near
(05:15):
impossible, he's threateningthem, says if you don't do this
for me, I'm not only going tokill you, but I'm going to kill
all of the wise men in the worldin Babylon.
And so let's talk a little bitabout Nebuchadnezzar's attitude.
(05:38):
If you've ever been aroundsomeone and on Sunday morning I
use the word shady because Ithink that's a fun word, right,
if you've ever been aroundsomeone who you would deem shady
.
They tend to have a certainpersonality about them.
They're not trustful.
They don't trust other peoplevery much.
(05:58):
They're always looking out forthemselves.
They tend to be focused on onlytheir wants and their needs,
and they think that everyone'sout to get them Again.
Narcissus 101, right, it's allabout them.
And so Nebuchadnezzar is not agreat human being.
He might be a good king, hemight even be a great king, but
(06:23):
he's not a good person.
He's probably lied, he'sprobably manipulated, he's
probably found ways to bedeceitful in order to gain his
position of power, and now he'slording it.
He's positioning himself overthe wise rulers and threatening
them death.
If you don't give me what Iwant, I'm going to kill you.
(06:43):
Death.
If you don't give me what Iwant, I'm going to kill you.
And again, their response isthat doesn't even make sense.
There's at some point in thetext they say that only the gods
can interpret this dream foryou.
But they don't live among manwhich, by the way, is an
interesting point and we'll talkabout that later but they had
(07:07):
this realization that there wasgods lowercase who could
probably interpret this dream ifhe really wanted it, but there
was no way in their humanstrength and their human
knowledge they would be able todo this and their human
knowledge, they would be able todo this.
And so, as Nebuchadnezzarpromised, he sends out his chief
(07:29):
guard to murder every wise man,to round them all up to take
their life.
At some point in the text hesays he was going to cut them
from limb to limb and make theirhouses a rubble.
So he's not just killing them,he's going after their families.
This is what evil people do.
(07:52):
When people who are evil don'tget what they want, they force
it or they abuse their power andthey abuse their privilege, and
they don't care who gets hurtand listen.
In this case, nebuchadnezzarreally doesn't care, because
Daniel and his friends, whoaren't even part of this
conversation, the chief guard,goes to their house and says
(08:14):
listen, this is the decreeNebuchadnezzar has said.
Because these wise men overhere couldn't interpret this
dream, your life is now at risk.
Talk about an unfair world,talk about an unfair situation.
(08:35):
I mean, what did Daniel do todeserve this?
He had nothing to do with it.
It wasn't his fault.
No one asked him if he wantedto go into exile.
I mean Jerusalem, you knowJudah.
They had messed up, they hadfallen away from God.
We talked about this last weekwhen, back in Isaiah, that
(08:55):
there's.
You know, there's about 150,200 years prior to this moment
that Isaiah is prophesyingsaying listen, you're going to
lose all of this.
And so, 800 years prior toexile was the Exodus, when they
were set free from Egypt and Godbrought them out of captivity
and they walked right back intoit.
It wasn't an overnight thing.
(09:18):
It took time, it took decisions.
But Daniel and his friends,they were young men.
What could they have possiblyhave done to deserve this?
And it's even more interestingbecause, if you think about it,
their prayer life, as it getskind of revealed throughout the
text, was incredibly significant.
(09:39):
Daniel seemed to be a man afterGod, a man blessed by God,
actually.
So what did Daniel do to deserveexile?
And listen, I don't know thewhole story of Daniel, but I
would assume he probably didn'tdo much.
But he had to suffer theconsequences of an unwise ruler
(10:05):
like Nebuchadnezzar.
He had to suffer theconsequences of broken, sinful
people who turned away from hisGod.
He had to suffer theconsequences of a king drunk
with power, taking all captives.
And here we find Daniel.
(10:36):
His life is at risk simplybecause the king is asking for
an impossible thing to be done.
You ever feel like that, thatyou're in a situation in your
life where you ask yourself howdid we get here?
What did we do?
What mistake did I make?
What sin did I commit?
And listen, sometimes there'san answer for those questions.
Sometimes there's not.
Sometimes the downside toliving in a broken world is you
(11:02):
and I have to deal with thebrokenness of it.
Nebuchadnezzar is a broken man,a narcissist, a ruler who's
bent on destruction.
And so the, the captain guard,comes to Daniel's house and says
I have to kill you.
And Daniel says hold on, giveme an audience with the king,
(11:27):
just give me five minutes.
And so Daniel goes toNebuchadnezzar and he says
listen, I cannot interpret yourdream, nor can I reveal it to
you, but I know a God who canAgain contrast right, the
(11:50):
astrologers, the magicians.
They talked about their gods,but their gods were disconnected
.
Their gods weren't among men,their gods were somewhere up in
space, uninvolved with them.
But Daniel says listen, I knowa God who can do this.
Give me the night, give me thenight.
(12:10):
So Daniel goes back and he goesback to his friends and says
listen, I need you to pray formercy, I need you to pray for
grace, I need you to ask God togive me not only this dream, but
the interpretation of thisdream.
I need them to show me, I needGod to reveal to me, because our
(12:39):
lives are at risk, the lives ofall the men here are at risk.
And again you see the contrast.
Nebuchadnezzar is trying tokill people.
Daniel is trying to save notonly his life but the lives of
the other wise men, because herealizes that this is an unjust
(13:05):
situation to be in.
He understands this, so Danielprays.
That night God shows him thedream and the dream.
So he goes back toNebuchadnezzar and says listen,
god showed me what you saw.
And he talks about this greatstatue of the head of gold.
(13:27):
And he starts to, as it breaksdown, everything kind of lessens
in value.
And so it starts out with goldat the top.
And again I read Daniel 2,starts out with gold at the top
and ends up with clay and ironat the bottom.
And so Daniel says toNebuchadnezzar now I'm going to
(13:49):
tell you what it means.
And he praises him, says you,oh, great king, that's you at
the top.
You're sitting at the top ofthe throne, but there's coming a
kingdom after yours that willbe inferior, and then there's
going to be a kingdom after thatthat will be even more inferior
(14:10):
, and there's going to be afinal one that's even worse than
that.
And if you do a little bit ofresearch, you'll find out that
David or Daniel man I get thosenames mixed up all the time
Daniel is actually speaking ofwhat's about to come in the next
roughly 500 years, thateventually the Persians would
(14:31):
come in and overthrow Babylon.
The Greeks would come in andoverthrow the Persians and
eventually end up with theRomans who would overthrow the
Greeks.
And so Daniel is telling ofthis prophetic dream of the
future to come forNebuchadnezzar.
And then Daniel says but inthis dream there's also a giant
(14:51):
rock, not cut by the hands ofman.
At the end of your dream, thatrock comes down and it smashes
all of these other.
It smashes the statue to pieces, leaving nothing behind except
for this rock.
And Daniel says let me tell youwhat that means.
(15:15):
He says, king, you're in charge, you're the ruler, but your
kingdom won't last, and neitherwill a kingdom after yours or
the kingdom after that, becauseyou see, that rock represents
the kingdom of God and thatkingdom, that kingdom will last
forever.
It's going to destroy all otherkingdoms, actually, you know.
(15:44):
And so Daniel gives thisincredible dream to
Nebuchadnezzar andNebuchadnezzar's response is to
bow down and worship Daniel forhis wisdom, which is kind of
ironic, because who's Daniel?
Daniel's nothing more than aman who's being used by the God
(16:06):
who created him.
But again, nebuchadnezzar can'tsee past this.
So he's worshiping Daniel, heappoints him.
But again, nebuchadnezzar can'tsee past this.
So he's worshiping Daniel, heappoints him and his friends
Shadrach, meshach and Abednego,they kind of sit on this high
place in the kingdom and hegives them everything they want.
And then Daniel, chapter threeNebuchadnezzar decides to build
a statue made of gold.
(16:26):
Because why wouldn't you?
And in his arrogance, witheverything that just happened,
the realization that his kingdomwas going to fall, the guy goes
and builds a giant gold templeof him, 90 feet tall, and says
worship this statue.
He missed it.
(16:47):
He missed the entirety of it.
All he could think about isthat gold statue is me.
And all Daniel could tell himwas yeah, but that gold statue
won't last.
Your kingdom won't last, youknow.
We get back to Daniel, chapterone.
(17:10):
Chapter one really does twothings.
One, it teaches us thesovereignty of God over our
lives, right, and there'snothing God's not aware of,
there's nothing God can't do,there's nothing God can't help
you and I with.
The struggle is sometimes thosestruggles are exile.
(17:32):
We talked about this last weektoo.
You know Jeremiah 29, 11,.
Everyone loves that verse.
I know the plans that I havefor you, not to harm you, but to
prosper you, right, butJeremiah so he's a contemporary
of Daniel.
So the same time that this ishappening, jeremiah is
prophesying alongside Daniel'slife, and so that verse in
(17:54):
context Jeremiah 29, 11, isactually being written to men
and women who are in exile.
Can you imagine being in thedarkest moment of your life and
you hear God say I have a planfor you, not to hurt you, not to
harm you, but to prosper you.
Listen, I can say I've beenthrough moments like that and my
reaction is yeah, but do I haveto be here?
(18:15):
Can't you just make all this goaway?
And again, I think that's thehuman side of us, right, we want
God to fix it, fix it.
(18:38):
But Daniel 1 shows us God's incharge.
Daniel 1 also helps understandthat our identity is grounded in
who God is.
That's important.
That's significant, reallysignificant.
Actually, throughout the restof the book of Daniel it's going
to show itself.
Daniel knew who God was, so hewas confident in who he was.
He was confident in his faith.
He trusted God.
Again.
When he goes to Nebuchadnezzarhe says Listen, I can't do this,
(18:58):
but I know a God who can Giveme a day.
So chapter 2, daniel shows usthat God is sovereign over all
things.
You know the culture we live in, the times we live in now can
seem overwhelming.
(19:19):
War, rumors of war Listen, I'mnot trying to get like prophetic
here, so don't take this anyfurther than it needs to be.
I know Daniel and where he'sheaded.
Further than it needs to be.
I know Daniel and where he'sheaded.
But again, daniel is helping usunderstand that God is in
charge of everything the world.
It doesn't matter who's inpower, it doesn't matter who the
(19:41):
current sitting president is,it doesn't matter who's in
charge of another country.
Ultimately, those people are inpositions that God has allowed
them to have for one reason oranother.
That's his decision, not ours.
But Nebuchadnezzar had to bereminded that his kingdom will
(20:02):
not reign or last forever, it'llcome to an end and be replaced
by the one who's eternal.
That's significant Because atthe end of this life, everyone
will bow to the creator of theuniverse, whether you do it
(20:23):
willingly or you do it becauseyou have to.
That's what the beauty of Godbeing sovereign is he's in
control even when we feel likehe's not.
That's what exile, by the way,teaches us, or should teach us
that God's in charge.
That's what difficultcircumstances in our life should
(20:45):
teach us that God's in charge.
So some of the hardest thingswe might go through, whether
we're through exile, whetherwe're going through the loss of
a loved one, the loss of a job,financial struggles, the loss of
a marriage, loss of a child,the brokenness of families, like
(21:08):
all of those things are reallyhard for you and I to go through
.
But God is still sovereign,he's still in charge and at the
end, no matter which way thisworld goes, everyone has to
answer to him.
He's going to take over.
He's already reigning, alreadyraining.
(21:39):
You and I just are.
We're living in the in-between.
We're not there yet.
Some of us are still trapped inexile.
And listen, that doesn't justmean here, I mean you talk about
other countries that there areChristians all over the world in
persecution.
Some of them don't know ifthey're going to make it out
tomorrow.
Daniel was granted great favorin the eyes of the king.
(21:59):
His life was spared more thanonce.
Sometimes that doesn't happen.
Sometimes death comes,sometimes brokenness comes,
sometimes prison comes.
We see that as you jump in theNew Testament, Paul specifically
, and Peter and most of thedisciples, that they suffered
(22:20):
for the cause of Christ.
But again, daniel 2 teaches usthat God is in charge.
That matters.
No king, no power, no, anythingwill ever overthrow him.
In the end, hell does not win,it never will.
(22:43):
In the end, whatever countrythinks they're in charge
currently is only there becauseGod allows it.
God is sovereign, you and I asChristians.
That's an incredible truth tostand on, because at the end of
(23:07):
my life, at the end of your life, hopefully, you realize that
God's in control, that it'sgoing to be okay, that God is
able to do so many more things,that when God says in Jeremiah
29, 11, that I know the plansthat I have for you to prosper
you, to not to harm you, even topeople in exile, he means it.
(23:29):
By the way, we see that kind ofunfold later in the Old
Testament, but in exile.
It's hard In stress, it's hardIn moments of doubt and fear.
It's hard to remember that Godis sovereign.
But Daniel understood who Godwas and because Daniel
understood who God was, danielknew who he was.
That's important.
(23:57):
You become like the one that youworship.
I read that a couple weeks ago.
I thought that was powerful.
You become like the one youworship.
So who do you worship?
Because here's the thing Again,daniel 2 is a contrast.
You have Nebuchadnezzar whoworships himself.
(24:19):
It's all about him.
Giant, 90-foot statue of gold.
Praise me, worship me, do whatI tell you or I'm going to kill
you.
That's a narcissist.
That's someone who worshipsthemselves, and we might not all
be that bad, but we worshipourselves a lot.
We worship our families a lot.
We worship our jobs a lot.
(24:40):
We worship our activities, ourskills.
Those things can become idolsfor you and I.
Those things can distract usfrom the bigger picture.
Because here's the thing at theend of your life, none of that
stuff matters anyways, becauseGod is sovereign.
So you can either worshipyourself, like Nebuchadnezzar,
(25:01):
or you can worship God likeDaniel did.
Daniel trusted God.
He prayed to God, not just inthe moment Daniel's prayer life
had been built into who he was.
You don't pray three times aday by accident.
That's a choice.
Daniel spent so much time inrelationship with God that he
(25:26):
trusted him and ultimately heknew that God was in charge
anyways, and as we continuethrough the book of Daniel,
you're going to see this unfoldKings come, kings go, countries
come, countries go, dictatorscome, dictators go, dictators
(25:49):
come, dictators go.
God lasts forever.
That that's important, becauseI don't know what you're
struggling with right now.
But I know that God can be incharge of your life.
I know God wants to be incharge of your life, and not
because he wants to lord it overyou.
(26:09):
That's the opposite, because heknows the plans he has for you.
He wants to protect you,prosper you, watch over you.
He wants those things for youand me because we're his
children, and that's what hedesires.
He's our dad.
He's our father.
(26:29):
He wants to protect us and takecare of us.
So, whatever your struggle is,trust him, trust in him.
He's in charge.
Nebuchadnezzar was just a man,god's eternal Since the
beginning to the very end.
(26:50):
His worship is deserved becausehe's the only one who truly
rules this world.
There might be some peoplealong the way that look like
they do.
They don't.
They're only there because Godlet them be there.
There is coming a day, though,when he's going to finally
(27:11):
return in clean house.
For those of us who follow him,that's going to be an
incredible experience.
For those of us who don't,that's going to be hard.
Every knee will bow, everytongue will confess.
That's what to be hard.
Every knee will bow, everytongue will confess.
(27:33):
That's what scripture says,that's what we learn through
Daniel's life that you eitherworship God or you worship
yourself, and only one of thosethings lasts forever.
Alright, you guys, have a goodafternoon Later.
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