Click above to watch video.
OR
Click below to play audio and read along.
Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Do you like mysteries? Yesterday I left you in the most powerful throne room in the world 2600 year ago, with the most powerful man in the world. King Nebuchadnezzar was being given a briefing from a young Jewish man Daniel regarding a mysterious dream the King had experienced.
The record of this event is found in Daniel 2 in the Bible. Yesterday we looked at the miracle of young Daniel describing for King Nebuchadnezzar, in remarkably accurate detail, the dream the King had experienced. It was a miracle because the King had not told anyone about what he had dreamed! Daniel had received this insight directly from God Himself! (Daniel 2:19)
Daniel had told King Nebuchadnezzar “…there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.” (Daniel 2:28) That statement is remarkable and very significant, for in that Babylonian throne room that day not only did Daniel accurately recount to King Nebuchadnezzar the details of the dream he had experienced, but Daniel gave the King God’s explanation of the dream.
That, my friends, was one of the most significant moments in human history from the beginning of time to this moment, and today I’ll begin to show you why! Let’s make sure we understand the historical context of this remarkable moment.
King Nebuchadnezzar had an insatiable thirst for personal fame, wealth and power. He was determined to be the most important man, the most powerful man in the world, and he achieved that as the Babylonian kingdom he led dominated the world for almost 100 years. (626-539bc) Nebuchadnezzar was the world leader from 605bc – 562bc. But Nebuchadnezzar also knew that he, like all humans, would only live so long and he knew others both before him and after him had the very same global dominance desire. The Egyptian Pharaohs had built great pyramids and statues during their era of nearly 1000 years of world dominance. Many of those great structures still stand today.
Before Nebuchadnezzar, the Assyrian empire, with its great capital Nineveh, had dominated the world for nearly 300 years.
But God wanted Nebuchadnezzar to know that God is Sovereign over all time and Nebuchadnezzar’s time as world leader would be brief, with a great deal of important human history yet in the future which only God could see, and so Daniel began his explanation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s remarkable dream with these words: “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.“ (Daniel 2:36) Did you notice Daniel said “we“? Who is WE?
Daniel, you recall, had invited his three young, Jewish friends Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah to pray with him, seeking God’s miracle regarding this dream. (Daniel 2:17,18) But it was to Daniel that God revealed the mystery. (Dan. 2:18) However it appears Daniel brought his three friends with him into Nebuchadnezzar’s court for this moment of truth and explanation of the dream. While we have no record the other three men said anything, Daniel included them in this process and here told the King the interpretation of the dream was coming from all four men. WHY?
Perhaps it is Daniel’s humility; perhaps it was a declaration to the King that these four men were a team of Jewish men determined to follow and honor their God in all things; perhaps Daniel was led by God to include them because God intended for them to also be assigned very significant leadership roles by Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.
Daniel began his God given, miraculous, dream explanation: “Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands God has placed all mankind and the beasts of the fields and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live God has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold!” (Daniel 2:37,38)
Yesterday we saw Daniel explain to Nebuchadnezzar that he had seen a huge statue in his dream, the shape of a man, with a head of pure gold. I can see a big smile on Nebuchadnezzar’s face, can’t you? While we have no indication Nebuchadnezzar was a religious man nor did he have any interest in the gods worshiped by the peoples of the nations he conquered, including Israel, Nebuchadnezzar was I’m sure delighted to hear that the God of Israel viewed him as the most powerful man in the world at that moment in history and God was actually expecting Nebuchadnezzar to rule the whole world and rule it well! Very likely Daniel paused right there, giving Nebuchadnezzar a little time to bask in the limelight and wonder of it all.
Perhaps Nebuchadnezzar turned to his scribes asking if they were sure they recorded every word Daniel said exactly correctly. Maybe Nebuchadnezzar even asked them to read back to him what they had recorded! Let’s pause a few seconds to consider how we respond to applause or accolades? Do they feed our ego, our pride and motivate us to live a more self-focused, selfish life? Or do we quickly turn our hearts and minds to giving God all the glory and thanks for anything HE has enabled us and guided us to do that might be seen as helpful to our world?
That was the warning of Moses to the Hebrews as they prepared to leave the desert and enter the land of Promise, do you remember? “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land He has given you… when you build fine houses and settle down, when your flocks and herds grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God… But remember it is the LORD who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” (Deuteronomy 8:10-18)
I don’t know how long Daniel paused, but both Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar knew there was much, much more in the dream to be understood. Daniel continued: “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom…” (Daniel 2:39,40)
Let’s pause right here friends. It’s going to take us two or three days to unpack all that Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar. I’m sure you see God was giving Nebuchadnezzar a look into the future, a future totally unknown to Nebuchadnezzar but absolutely clear to God! As I’ll show you tomorrow, the future timeline God was describing to Nebuchadnezzar includes the year 2025 and even beyond into our future, did you know that?
Are you interested in knowing the future of our world, as God knows it will be? Then I invite you to join me here again tomorrow and for the next few days. For now, let’s reflect on the Sovereignty of God over our universe, our planet earth, our human race, for all time and eternity, with this worship song…
Today’s Scripture: Daniel 2:36-39.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.