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Daniel Chapter 2
Dan 2:1 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep
broke from him.
Dan 2:2 Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and
the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came
and stood before the king.
Dan 2:3 And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was
troubled to know the dream.
Dan 2:4 Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O king, live forever:
tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.
Dan 2:5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me:
if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye
shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
Dan 2:6 But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall
receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor: therefore show me the dream,
and the interpretation thereof.
Dan 2:7 They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream,
and we will show the interpretation of it.
Dan 2:8 The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the
time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
Dan 2:9 But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree
for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till
the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can
show me the interpretation thereof.
Dan 2:10 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man
upon the earth that can show the king's matter: therefore there is no king,
lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or
Chaldean.
Dan 2:11 And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other
that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with
flesh.
Dan 2:12 For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to
destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
We see here a hasty judgment coming from the king against all who call
themselves seers and wise men who can foretell the future and interpret dreams.
Almost every ancient kingdom had religious priests, wise men and astrologers
that the kings would use to keep the people in bondage and unite their kingdom
using fear and intimidation. Many times the king was thought to represent God
and to disobey the king would incur the wrath of the gods. Religion and state
was always mixed, one power using the other to gain control of the people. The
magicians and astrologers were held in high esteem by the people. They claimed
superior knowledge into the world of the spirits and claimed to speak for God or
for the gods. They had the people and the king thinking that there was no way to
know the will of God except through them. They used their religion to deceive
and keep everyone dependent upon them. There are even Christian religions today
that do that.
True religion will get people to God and to the place where they can be right
with God and speak to God themselves. True religion will avoid all dependence
upon man. Concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are to preach, teach and do
all we can to bring people to Jesus Christ (the only way to God) and then step
aside to let them serve God. We can teach the word, exhort and worship with them
but we must encourage new believers to establish a relationship with God on
their own and not depend upon their mentors. The only mediator between God and
man is Jesus Christ. Not Mary, not a priest, not a prophet but Jesus. Before
Christ we needed the other ones but after Christ the roles of prophets changed.
Now their role is to teach, lead and be the example but not to lord over and
become a mediator between them and Christ.
The religious men in Babylon now were called to give an account of what they
claimed previously to be able to do. They are exposed before the king as frauds
and impostors. They even admit to the king that only the gods that do not dwell
with men could do what he requested.
Dan 2:13 And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and
they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
This rash commandment of the king would have also included Daniel and his
friends because they were considered intercessors for God too but they
represented the real God.
Dan 2:14 Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain
of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:
Dan 2:15 He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so
hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
Dan 2:16 Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him
time, and that he would show the king the interpretation.
Daniel had nothing to lose since he would have died anyway but his request held
off the execution of the wise men until he had a chance to prove himself.
Daniel's intervention not only saved his life but also all the false wise men in
Babylon.
Dan 2:17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
Dan 2:18 That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this
secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise
men of Babylon.
Now we see the power of prayer where two or three were gathered together to call
upon God for their salvation and to give them an interpretation of the king's
dream. Daniel didn't once trust in himself to
be the great savior. He depended upon God.
Dan 2:19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then
Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
Dan 2:20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever:
for wisdom and might are his:
Dan 2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and
setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that
know understanding:
Dan 2:22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the
darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
Dan 2:23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given
me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee:
for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.
Before Daniel got up to leave, he gave thanks to God for answering his prayer.
This is what we fail to do enough. It is still very important to praise God and
be thankful for everything He does for us. Sometimes we can even be thankful for
prayers He does not answer if things turn out better in the long run than if He
would have done what we asked at the time.
I remember reading once of a missionary who had brown eyes. As a child she
prayed for God to make them blue but failed to receive an answer. When she was
grown up she was a missionary in a country where she had to disguise herself and
enter into a place with her identity hidden. If her eyes had been blue, she
would have been discovered for the average person in that country had brown
eyes.
We have every reason though to be thankful because if it wasn't for the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His mercy upon us, none of us would be saved
neither would we have learned of the gift of salvation, the baptism of the Holy
Spirit and many gifts God gives to us when we repent of sin and believe in Jesus
Christ as our savior from sin. What if we had never heard? We would be just as
lost as Adolph Hitler.
Dan 2:24 Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to
destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the
wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king
the interpretation.
It is a good thing that Arioch was not a hot head that was too quick to obey
orders. Perhaps he sought to find a way out of the orders of the king.
Dan 2:25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said
thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known
unto the king the interpretation.
Dan 2:26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art
thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the
interpretation thereof?
Dan 2:27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which
the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the
soothsayers, show unto the king;
Dan 2:28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known
to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the
visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
Daniel was quick to give God the glory for this interpretation, giving no glory
to himself. If only we could remember that. If God ever uses one of us to lay
hands on a sick person and that sick person recovers, would we think it is by
our own holiness or would we give glory to God alone?
Dan 2:29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed,
what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known
to thee what shall come to pass.
Dan 2:30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I
have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the
interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy
heart.
Dan 2:31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose
brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
Dan 2:32 This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver,
his belly and his thighs of brass,
Dan 2:33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
Dan 2:34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote
the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces.
Dan 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold,
broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer
threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for
them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth.
Dan 2:36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before
the king.
Dan 2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given
thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
Dan 2:38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and
the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler
over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
The image represented world powers that existed then and what was to come. The
head was the king of Babylon and the kingdom of Babylon. This also was one of
the heads on the beast in Revelation and is symbolized in later chapters in
Daniel as a lion. Babylon was actually the 3rd kingdom that oppressed the nation
of Israel. The first two were Egypt and Assyria. Most visions and dreams in the
bible have to do with the nation of Israel. We must try to avoid placing the
church where Israel is supposed to be. Sometimes examples given in the Old
Testament can apply to us as a church but they primarily refer to Israel in
every case. For instance is God punishes Israel for idolatry and we as a church
commit idolatry, we can be assured that we will face the same judgment if we do
not repent. Having no other gods is still a commandment for the church as
well as Israel.
Dan 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and
another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
The kingdom that came after Babylon with breast and arms of silver were the
kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. This was also symbolized later in Daniel
by a bear.
The kingdom of brass which was the belly and thighs of this image was the
Grecian Empire headed by Alexander the Great. In chapter 7 of Daniel this
kingdom is represented by a leopard which is swift. Notice it is said he rules
all the earth but the Grecian Empire did not totally control every part of the
earth but the part known to those living at that time in the vicinity of Israel.
This may be a hint that the future beast or anti-christ will not get power over
the entire earth but only the old Roman Empire territory and whatever territory
that Babylon, Media-Persia and Greece once controlled. The use of the word "all"
did not mean all in the sense that we think but was a figure of speech like we
would say, the whole city came out to the fair, when in fact every single person
did not come out to the fair, it just seemed as if the whole city was there.
Dan 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron
breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these,
shall it break in pieces and bruise.
This fourth kingdom of iron and fourth beast that was described as terrible in
chapter 7 was the Roman Empire.
Dan 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay,
and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the
strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
In the latter days in which we live now, the Roman Empire is no longer in
existence but is split between different countries which some are strong and
some are weak. It is believed that in the latter days these shall be revived
under the anti-christ or beast in Revelation as a revived Roman Empire and also
revived Greece, and revived Babylon all contributing to this Empire in the last
days just before the coming of Jesus Christ a second time.
Dan 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so
the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
We can easily see weak and strong countries even today and some broken.
Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle
themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even
as iron is not mixed with clay.
Sometimes people mistakenly think unity is good but I see the exact opposite in
the bible. God usually breaks up unity because power corrupts and persecutes the
weaker ones. The only unity we should seek is the unity of the spirit which
brings forth love and dependence upon God. We do not need any ecumenical
movement to unite churches. That will lead to the same corruption that occurred
during the Middle Ages.
Dan 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a
kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to
other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and
it shall stand forever.
This is the kingdom of Jesus Christ and the only time in the history of the
world that a godly unity can be achieved. All unity before this event is a false
unity. We must not be partaker of the false. Lets wait for the return of Jesus
Christ.
Dan 2:45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain
without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the
silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come
to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof
sure.
Mankind and all efforts of human men or women did not cause the final kingdom to
come to pass. This is an act of God that is out of our control. Jesus will come
and break apart all former kingdoms and there is nothing any person, great or
small can do to stop it. We can plan, raise committees, call the United Nations
and have all the summit meetings we want but nothing shall stop the coming of
Jesus to set up His literal kingdom upon the earth.
Dan 2:46 Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshiped
Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto
him.
Dan 2:47 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your
God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing
thou couldest reveal this secret.
Dan 2:48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts,
and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the
governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
Dan 2:49 Then Daniel requested of 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.
I'm sure Daniel did not accept his worship although it is not stated here but
perhaps silence was advisable so that he could intervene on behalf of his
friends and have them set over affairs in the kingdom. Having godly leaders is
beneficial to everyone and works to the good of the whole country. If Daniel had
of robbed God of His glory, He could not have had any help from God later for
God would have frowned upon anyone worshipping Daniel. However we shall see in
later studies that an angel referred to Daniel as, "beloved" in chapter 10
showing that he did not lose the favor of God. What happens also in later
chapters concerning his worship of God would surely be a reminder that he still
needed the protection of God. We must never got so big and powerful that we
think we can "do it ourselves" and have no dependency upon God. When the Middle
age church forgot that, they acted in the place of God instead of depending on
God. We must never forget how much we need Him.
Daniel Chapter 3
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