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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I left you yesterday with the most powerful man in the world 2600 years ago, King Nebuchadnezzar, as he was receiving a briefing from young Jewish captive Daniel regarding a dream the King had. This historic event is found in Daniel 2, and I believe it is important for us to understand because, as you’ll see, our generation, our time, is in this dream! Can you believe that?
Why would God give a dream to a person 2600 years ago that has significant relevance to us in 2025? That’s what we’re going to discover as we join Daniel as he continues his explanation. And today we’ll add historical perspective history has taught us over the past 2600 years! Are you ready my friends?
Daniel had described the details of the dream accurately and now was beginning to explain the significance of the dream to King Nebuchadnezzar. The dream focused on a large statue in the shape of a man. (Daniel 2:31-33)
The head of the statue was pure gold and yesterday we discovered Daniel explained to King Nebuchadnezzar that HE was represented by that golden head of the statue. Why? Because God wanted Nebuchadnezzar to know that eternal God Himself, the Creator of the universe, had placed Nebuchadnezzar in the role of the most powerful, most important man in the world at that specific time in human history.
In fact, Daniel said “Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory…over all.” (Daniel 2:37,38) But this was not an indefinite assignment from God. Nebuchadnezzar was not immortal. Like us all, he would grow old and die. God wanted Nebuchadnezzar to understand that no matter how powerful, how significant he was, time was passing and soon he’d be gone, but after Nebuchadnezzar was gone God would still be Sovereign over all and working to accomplish God’s great plans in the world! Pause a few seconds. Do you and I understand that truth and how it applies to us?
So, Daniel continued: “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours.” (Daniel 2:39) It’s only one small statement but it represents a very significant swath of human history. Nebuchadnezzar died, in the year 561bc, almost exactly 40 years after this experience with Daniel.
After his death Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son and several other men who led the Babylonian empire but with each their power declined and finally in 538bc King Cyrus the Persian led his army to conquer the great city of Babylon and the Babylonian empire collapsed. The new empire was actually a dual empire, the kingdom of the Medes and the kingdom of the Persians, and this united empire ruled the world for about 200 years.
Of course, on the day Daniel was explaining the dream to Nebuchadnezzar no one in the world imagined any power could ever overthrow the dominance of the great Babylon, but then again that has been the attitude of every world dominating power down through all time, right? And that calls us, all of us, no matter where we live in the world, to consider our own mortality and the reality that any leader, of any organization or even nation, anywhere in the world, is only temporary, but God is eternal and sovereign over all things, at all times! So, whatever is happening in your city or country at this moment, whoever the powerful people are…it’s only temporary and God is Sovereign over it all, do you believe that?!
Now as Daniel explained the statue’s appearance to King Nebuchadnezzar he said, “The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver...” (Daniel 2:32) Do you know what the historical significance of that is, my friends? The Babylonian empire dominated the world under one supreme leader who had all authority. For 44 years that supreme leader was King Nebuchadnezzar.
The empire which conquered the Babylonians was actually two great kingdoms working together as one. This great empire’s first world leader was King Cyrus and yes, he is the one who in 538bc, upon conquering the great city of Babylon, received counsel from Daniel. Daniel??
Yes, this very same Daniel, who had been captured as a teenager in Jerusalem in 605bc, even though an old man by 538bc when the Babylonian empire collapsed, this Daniel was still advisor to the Kings of the Babylonian empire and became advisor to conquering King Cyrus, the Persian!
It was Daniel who explained to King Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon, that Almighty God had predicted his rise to global power! And furthermore, God had named Cyrus, by name, more than 150 years before he was born! (Is. 44:28)
And God had predicted, through Jewish prophets, that Cyrus would issue an amazing edict that all the Jewish captives would be set free and permitted to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their city and especially the great Temple of God!! Yes friends, ALL those things really happened, as God predicted, and we’ll look at them in detail in Ezra, a few weeks from now, as we continue following this great story of God found in the Bible.
I think we need to pause right here. How can you and I apply this dream of King Nebuchadnezzar to our lives today? Do you remember Psalm 139 is all about God’s Sovereignty and God uniquely creating each of us and God’s full knowledge of our life stories even before we live life?
Just as God knew and predicted King Cyrus 150 years before he was born, so God knew about you long before you were born! And just as God knew all about King Nebuchadnezzar and his future, so God knows every great leader in our world today and their future, as well as the future of your city and mine! God knows how you and I fit into the story of our city today both today and the future.
Does that excite you? Does it awaken in you a desire to discover your purpose… God’s purpose for your life? Join me here again tomorrow as we keep discovering exciting things in this Daniel 2 dream! And here’s a great worship song for today. . .
Today’s Scripture: Daniel 2:32, 38.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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