A DREAM FROM THE GOD OF ALL TIMES AND SEASONS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 14, 2024 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from April 14, 2024 from Daniel 2:1-49

Theme: The God of heaven completely rules over the times and seasons of human history.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Have you ever woken from a dream that was so real to you that you had a hard time getting over it? I’m sure almost all of us have. And depending on the dream, it can be a rather disturbing experience.

In Daniel 2, we learn the story of just such a dream. In fact, based on the language that was used to describe it, it appears to have been a repeated dream. And the man who had this particular dream had a very hard time getting over it. What he saw in it was so astonishing to him that it was robbing him of his ability to get any further sleep. He became obsessed with a need to know what it meant.

Now; this was no ordinary man who was suffering from this dream. He happened to be the ruling monarch over an empire that ruled the world in his time. His name was Nebuchadnezzar—the king of the mighty Babylonian empire. And his obsession with this dream was no ordinary obsession either. He was a rather brutal king; and he was so disturbed by the dream—and so desperate to know the meaning of it—that he was prepared to put several people to death if they didn’t explain its meaning to him. And what’s more, the dream itself was no ordinary dream. It was a dream that was being given to him by Almighty God.

It would be right to consider this particular dream the greatest dream ever dreamed by a human being in all of human history. And what’s more, this dream was—itself—about human history. In it, God was authoritatively revealing to this king His basic plan for the history of the Gentile nations—from this king’s time about six hundred years before the birth of the Lord Jesus all the way to the fulfillment of what Jesus called ‘the times of the Gentiles’ just before His second coming to this earth.

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Now; the story of this dream—and of its interpretation and significance to our understanding of human history—is told to us in the second chapter of the amazing Book of Daniel.

But I’m faced with quite a challenge this morning. It’s a long chapter; and every detail in it is fascinating and significant. We dare not rush through it or leave anything out. But it’s also the kind of story in God’s word that we really can’t break up into parts. To understand the significance of what it’s telling us, we need to take the story in as a whole unit.

And so; this morning, I’m going to ask that we look at the whole story together; and, if the Lord wills, we’ll save the specifics of the amazing prophecy that it gives us until next week. When we look at that prophecy—presented to us by Daniel through his God-given interpretation of the dream—we’ll see that, in it, God has revealed to us His sovereign plan for the Gentile nations. It shows us that human history on this earth is on a course set for it by God Himself; and that it will culminate with the second return of the Lord Jesus and His bodily reign as the true ’King of kings’ for a thousand years.

But in the story of the dream through which this great prophecy is given, we see a lesson set before us. And that lesson is what I ask that we concentrate on this morning.

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Now; the lesson that the story of this dream teaches us is truly an important and practical one about the sovereignty of our mighty God. You and I, dear brothers and sisters, have grown to value God’s sovereignty over our personal lives in many ways. We’ve been taught to trust Him in respect to His sovereign and good control over all the details of our lives—even the things that seem difficult or inconvenient to us. We’re learning to trust Him when an unexpected bill comes in the mail. We’re learning to trust Him when the traffic light changes yellow and slows us down. We’re learning to trust Him in the midst of both the enjoyable blessings and the difficult trials of life; because we remember that He is sovereign and works all things together for our God.

But we easily forget to thank Him and trust Him for His sovereign hand over the much larger things of history, or over global politics, or over city-wide or nation-wide concerns. We easily forget to trust Him when a major election doesn’t seem to go the way that we think it should. We easily forget to trust Him when nations rise against nations, and when kingdoms threaten one another. We easily forget to trust Him for the seemingly out-of-control movements of history and culture. And yet, those things are also under His sovereign control. Even they are worked together by Him for the good of His people. We need to thank Him and trust Him in them as well.

And that’s a lesson that Daniel 2 teaches us. The story of this dream teaches us that the God of heaven completely rules over the times and seasons of human history. We can be confident that He will bring about His perfect plan and decree for the nations—all the way to the reign of His Son Jesus Christ on this earth.

So; let’s jump right into Daniel 2, and begin by considering …

1. THE KING’S TROUBLING DREAM.

We’ve already been introduced to this king—and to the first year of his reign—in Chapter 1. Verses 1-3 of the second chapter then tell us;

Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit 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” (vv. 1-3).

When we’re told that his spirit was ‘anxious to know the dream’, we shouldn’t think that he had forgotten it. We’ve all had that experience with dreams; haven’t we? We’ve woken up from them and were startled by them, but we afterward had a hard time remembering them. But this wasn’t so with this dream. Nebuchadnezzar remembered it vividly. In fact, it haunted his thoughts and robbed him of any further rest. What he wanted to know was, not the dream itself, but rather the meaning of it. I believe that he sensed very clearly that it was more than just a common dream.

Now; he was a pagan king. He had no relationship with the one true God. So, to satisfy his need to know the interpretation of this dream, he called upon pagan sources. They were magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers—all kinds of enchanters and incanters and scholars of the mystical arts. They were summed up in the general name ‘Chaldeans’. Verse 4 says,

Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation” (v. 4).

But that’s when the king sprang a terrible surprise on them. It went forth from him as an absolute, unalterable decree:

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation” (vv. 5-6).

Why would the king demand such an impossible thing as this—and in such a way as this? I suspect that part of the reason was because he didn’t trust these mystical advisers. He wasn’t the one who had appointed all of these magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers to the royal court. He had inherited them from his royal father, and he began to suspect that they were all frauds. And so, the only way that he could be sure that they could give him a true and reliable interpretation of this dream—a dream that he absolutely and desperately needed to have explained to him—is if they could first tell him the dream itself. Then he’d be assured that they really could give a true interpretation of it.

And this made the group of pagan advisers very afraid.

They answered again and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.” The king answered and said, “I know for certain that you would gain time, because you see that my decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you! For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation” The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh” (vv. 7-11).

Now; they were correct in what they said. The thing that the king demanded was not possible for human beings to give. But as far as the king was concerned, they went too far in saying it. They had dared to challenge his absolute authority over them. And this raised his already-aggravated anger and desperation to a deadly level.

For this reason the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men … (vv. 12-13a).

I believe that this mighty king had now realized how useless all of these pagan advisers were when it came to something that only God could reveal. And think of what a catastrophic turn of events this was! Nebuchadnezzar was—as history shows us—a very brutal king who reigned in very brutal times. And his angry decree would have caused terror all through his palace and his kingdom. The king’s obsession with knowing this dream was truly becoming a nightmare for everyone.

But that’s where Daniel comes in. We were introduced to Daniel in Chapter 1. He and his three close friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah had all been taken captive in Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem; and they had begun to be trained as Jewish servants to the king’s court. The king’s horrible decree of mass executions would have included them. And we’re told at the end of verse 13;

… and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them (v. 13a).

It’s interesting to notice that the officers of the king had to go and seek them. And that was because they weren’t among those pagan advisers. Daniel and his three companions were of a completely different spirit and character than the magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans; and in their service to the king, they kept separate from those who followed pagan ways.

And because they had kept themselves separate unto God, they were able to turn to God in a time of need. And so; as we go on, we read of …

2. DANIEL’S HUMBLE PRAYER (vv. 14-23).

Verses 14-15 go on to tell us;

Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon; he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel (vv. 14-15).

Daniel—who had grown to have a position of leadership and influence over the other three Jewish men—didn’t panic when he heard of this terrible decision. In Chapter 1, we already saw how he was a reverent and God-fearing young man who responded to challenges such as this with calmness, with respect, with prudence, and—always—with a reverent trust in the God of Israel. He asked for time … so that God could work.

So 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 men of Babylon (vv. 16-18).

By the way; where did this idea come from? We’re told in Daniel 1:17 that God had given Daniel and his three friends knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom. But we’re particularly told that “Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams”. Did Daniel interpret visions and dreams before this time? We’re not told that he did. But he would certainly have known the stories of the history of his own people—how God had spoken through dreams and visions to such godly patriarchs as Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. And so; having kept themselves separated unto the Lord, Daniel and his three friends knew where to go to receive the interpretation of the king’s dream.

And their prayer was answered. It wasn’t revealed through another dream; because a dream is a very natural and human thing. Rather, it was revealed to Daniel in a vision; which would have identified it as a unique and clear revelation from God. We’re told;

Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.
He reveals deep and secret things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And light dwells with Him.

“I thank You and praise You,
O God of my fathers;
You have given me wisdom and might,
And have now made known to me what we asked of You,
For You have made known to us the king’s demand” (vv. 19-23).

What an example Daniel is to us! When something comes upon us that is humanly impossible—when we need to know the mysteries that are hidden from human understanding—we should never turn to the false sources of the devil for the information we need. We should immediately turn instead to God. As James 1:5 tells us; “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

And this leads us then to …

3. THE DREAM’S AMAZING INTERPRETATION.

Verse 24 says;

Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation” (v. 24).

We don’t know if the king’s horrible decree had begun to be carried out yet—or if so, how many had already been put to death. But Daniel was plainly a man of godly compassion. Once the vision had been given to him, he sought immediately to bring an end to the execution decree. This must have been a great relief to the king’s officer … who certainly wouldn’t have wanted to have to carry out that horrible decree!

Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, “I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation” (v. 25).

Do you notice that Arioch didn’t just say, “I have found a man from among the wise men”? Instead, he made a distinction: “I have found a man of the captives of Judah”; that is, among those who didn’t worship pagan gods or follow the wicked practices of the occult. He found them from among those who feared the one true God. What a testimony that would have been to the king! We can bear a good witness to the world when we keep ourselves separate from the things of this world.

Now; this might have surprised King Nebuchadnezzar. After all, Daniel and his three friends were very young men at this time—only perhaps 20 years old or so. They hadn’t even finished their three-year training for service in the king’s court yet.

The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?” Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart (vv. 26-30).

With these words, Daniel began to tell the king what God had revealed to him and the others. And I believe, dear brothers and sisters, that as he did so, the king’s jaw began to drop in amazement.

“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, 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” (vv. 31-35).

With these words, it may have been that the astonished king began to rise to his feet. Perhaps everyone in his court saw his reaction and knew—without a doubt—that Daniel was revealing to the king what had been hidden within his own heart. This young Jewish man Daniel was doing what no man can do except with God’s help. He was telling the king what it was that he had dreamed. The king could now know that the same God of heaven who had revealed the dream to Daniel could also give a true and authoritative interpretation. Daniel—with his three friends at his side—then went on to say;

“This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold” (vv. 36-38).

This is just as God had told the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 27:6; “And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.” Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold—the first king of the first world empire represented in his dream of that dazzling statue. Daniel went on;

“But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay” (vv. 39-43).

God was telling Nebuchadnezzar that after him would come the Median-Persian Empire from Darius the King—the arms of silver. And then after that would come the Grecian Empire through Alexander the Great—the thighs of bronze. And then after that would come the fearsome Roman Empire—the legs of iron that dominated both the East and the West. There would then be a space of undisclosed time after which the Roman Empire would be divided into ten kingdoms. We’re living in that undisclosed period of time right now—and the ten kingdoms of a revived Roman Empire are yet to appear on the stage.

And then, Daniel says this in verses 44-45:

“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold …” (vv. 44-45a).

And the image of that all-conquering, all-overcoming ‘mountain’ is describing to us the glorious reign of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth. That’s the promise of His kingdom rule that will begin at His second coming—and that will overwhelm all others and will never end.

That’s where history is going. That’s the story of the fulfillment of “the times of the Gentiles”. And Daniel concludes with these words:

“—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure” (v. 45b).

And that leads us to …

4. THE KING’S CONFIRMING RESPONSE.

We’re told in verses 46-49;

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. Also Daniel petitioned the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king (vv. 46-49).

This doesn’t mean that Nebuchadnezzar became a follower of the God of Israel yet. As we read on, we’ll find that he was still very pagan. But eventually, he does bow the knee in whole-hearted reverence and worship the God who had revealed these things through Daniel.

Truly, Daniel’s God is the God of Gods, the Lord of kings, and the revealer of secrets.

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So; the great lesson of this story—as it pertains to you and me, dear brothers and sisters—is that we should give thanks to our mighty God and trust Him in all things over which He holds sovereign rule. We should not only trust Him and praise Him with respect to the small areas of our own personal lives, but also trust Him and praise Him with respect to the flow of history, and with the movements of nations. We should acknowledge what it says in Acts 17:26-27; that

… He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him … (Acts 17:26-27a).

We should confidently pray for the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations of the earth—looking ahead to the promised day when King Jesus will rule over all the earth.

And we should especially worship the God who holds absolute power over the times, who reigns over kings, and who gives wisdom to those who seek Him. As Daniel himself prayed …

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.
He reveals deep and secret things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And light dwells with Him.”

AE