Daniel 2:31 “You, King, perceived a colossal statue. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was scary. Daniel 2:32 The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its midsection and thighs were bronze, Daniel 2:33 its legs were iron, and its feet were part iron and partly fired clay. Daniel 2:34 As you perceived this, a stone broke off without a hand touching it, struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them. Daniel 2:35 Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were shattered and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind lifted them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole land.
a scary statue
The statue Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream was colossal, tall, dazzling, and scary. We will learn as we keep reading that the figure depicted human empires and that they will be toppled by a divine reign — symbolized by the boulder.
Human history is filled with scary empires that swallow up nations and bring terror and shame to humanity. The more we know about these empires, the scarier they are. The good news for us as we look at today’s text is that there is a solution. It is not a political solution. It is not even a religious solution (in the sense of something the church can do). God’s plan to topple the mighty empires of the world is in his hands. His plan to rescue the universe requires a divine action — the return and reign of his Son.
Daniel 2:25 Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said to him, “I have found a man among the Judean exiles who can let the king know the interpretation.” Daniel 2:26 The king said in reply to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me the dream I had and its interpretation?” Daniel 2:27 Daniel answered the king: “No wise man, medium, magician, or diviner is able to make known to the king the mystery he asked about. Daniel 2:28 But there is a God in the sky who reveals mysteries, and he has let King Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen in the last days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay in bed were these: Daniel 2:29 Your Majesty, while you were in your bed, thoughts came to your mind about what will happen in the future. The one who reveals mysteries has let you know what will happen. Daniel 2:30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.
The king set up Daniel to get the credit for his wisdom, but Daniel changed the subject of the conversation. The question was not “Is Daniel able” — the question was “Is God able.”
You and I may have to wait for that one crucial opportunity to tell someone about the God in the sky. But we need to be ready when that opportunity comes.
Daniel 2:24 Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had assigned to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He came and said to him, “Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon! Bring me into the presence of the king, and I will give him the interpretation.”
what destruction means
Arioch had no intention to hold the wise men in prison and torture them perpetually. The king’s command was that they be killed. Theologians and preachers will tell you that in the Bible to be “destroyed” in hell means to be tormented forever. It does not. The Aramaic word destroy — אֲבַד (‘abad) here means to put to death. Hell is not perpetual torment. Hell is permanent destruction — the second death.
Daniel 2:17 Then Daniel went to his house and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about the matter, Daniel 2:18 urging them to ask the God of the sky for compassion concerning this mystery, so Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of Babylon’s wise men. Daniel 2:19 The mystery was then revealed to Daniel in a vision at night, and Daniel praised the God of the sky Daniel 2:20 and declared: May the name of God be praised perpetually, because wisdom and power belong to him. Daniel 2:21 He changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise men and knowledge to those who have understanding. Daniel 2:22 He reveals the deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light is released from him. Daniel 2:23 I offer thanks and praise to you, God of my ancestors, because you have given me wisdom and power. And now you have let me know what we asked of you, because you have let us know the king’s mystery.
what is in the darkness
Daniel declared that God is wise and powerful because he knows what is in the darkness. He had faith that God had revealed the mystery even before he went to the king with his answer. The four believers had prayed for compassion concerning the mystery, and God answered that prayer.
James wrote “if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a double-minded individual, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:5-8 NET).
All of us are deficient in wisdom regarding one thing or another. We have only so much light. The rest is darkness. But we need not fear, because God knows what is in the darkness. Through prayer, he can reveal it to us.
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when the impossible confronts
Daniel 2:12-16 (JDV)
Daniel 2:12 Because of this, the king became violently angry and gave orders to destroy1 all the wise men of Babylon. Daniel 2:13 The decree was issued that the wise men were to be executed, and they searched for Daniel and his friends, to execute them. Daniel 2:14 Then Daniel responded with tact and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon. Daniel 2:15 He asked Arioch, the king’s officer, “Why is the decree from the king so harsh?” Then Arioch explained the situation to Daniel. Daniel 2:16 So Daniel went and asked the king to give him some time so that he could give the king the interpretation.
What if Daniel had not chosen to intercede? He and his friends were in danger, together with all the wise men, because the king had asked them to do the impossible. Faith turns to God when the time of testing comes. Faith sees the impossible as an opportunity to seek help from the immortal. It is a gamble, but when crisis comes, God is all we have.
God may want to do something amazing with your life. You may be one impossible demand away from that destiny. Trust him, and pray.
LORD, keep us close to you so that we are ready to turn to you when the impossible confronts us.
Daniel 2:1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled his breath, and sleep turned against him. Daniel 2:2 So the king gave orders to summon the soothsayer-priests, conjurers, sorcerers, and Magi to tell the king his dreams. When they came and stood before the king, Daniel 2:3 he said to them, “I have had a dream and my breath is anxious to understand it.” Daniel 2:4 The Magi spoke to the king (Aramaic begins here): “May the king live permanently. Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.” Daniel 2:5 The king replied to the Magi, “My word is final: If you don’t tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be made a garbage dump. Daniel 2:6 But if you make the dream and its interpretation known to me, you’ll receive gifts, a reward, and great honor from me. So make the dream and its interpretation known to me.” Daniel 2:7 They answered a second time, “May the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will make known the interpretation.” Daniel 2:8 The king replied, “I know for certain you are buying time because you see that my word is final. Daniel 2:9 If you don’t tell me the dream, there is one decree for you. You have conspired to tell me something false or fraudulent until time changes things. So tell me the dream and I will know you can give me its interpretation.” Daniel 2:10 The Magi answered the king, “No mortal human in the land can make known what the king is asking for. Consequently, no great and powerful king has ever asked anything like this of any magician, medium, or member of the Magi. Daniel 2:11 What the king is asking is so difficult that no one can make it known to him except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”
a dream from God
The Magi who answered the king that day were Babylonians. The assumption of the Babylonian culture is that all of the gods are immortal. But the Hebrews had been taught something different. Daniel referred to his God as “the living God” who “endures forever” (6:20,26). He drew a distinction between his God and all the other gods.
The Hebrew poets spoke of their God standing in the god assembly and rendering judgment upon the other gods (psalm 82:1). Asaph discovered something about them:
“I thought, ‘You are gods; all of you are sons of the Most High.’ Yet you will die like mortals; you will fall like all the other rulers.” Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth! For you own all the nations” (Psalm 82:6-8).
The Hebrews and Babylonians understood that all human beings are mortal, like animals. The Hebrews learned that even all the gods are mortal — except one.
The apostle Paul wrote that “He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see” (1 Timothy 6:16). Since immortality is the exclusive attribute of the God of the Bible, eternal life is not an innate attribute for us, but by God’s grace, we can put on immortality at our resurrection when Christ returns (1 Corinthians 15:53-54).
The dream that Nebuchadnezzar had was not given to him by the gods. It was from the one God, who had a plan to show that he rules the heavens, not the spirits pretending to be gods.
Daniel 1:17 God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every class of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind. Daniel 1:18 At the end of the time that the king had said to present them, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 1:19 The king interviewed them, and among all of them, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they began to attend to the king. Daniel 1:20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king consulted them about, he found them ten times smarter than all the soothsayer-priests and conjurers in his entire kingdom. Daniel 1:21 Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
These fantastic four exiles provide a lesson for believers today. They have been taken out of their world and the world they live in is trying to conform them to it. It is ironic that Judah had been put into exile because its people wanted to be like the nations around them. But now these four heroes take a stand. They will live among the Babylonians, even taking on Babylonian names, but they will be distinctive. They will be different. Their standards will be higher than their world.
LORD, make us people of a higher grade, a greater standard.
Daniel 1:8 Daniel set his heart on not defiling himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. So he sought permission from the chief eunuch not to defile himself. Daniel 1:9 God had granted Daniel loyalty and compassion from the chief eunuch, Daniel 1:10 yet he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and drink. What if he sees your faces looking thinner than the other young men your age? You would forfeit my head with the king.” Daniel 1:11 So Daniel said to the guard whom the chief eunuch had assigned to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Daniel 1:12 “Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Daniel 1:13 Then examine our appearance and the appearance of the young men who are eating the king’s food, and treat your servants based on what you see.” Daniel 1:14 He agreed with them about this and tested them for ten days. Daniel 1:15 At the end of ten days they looked better and healthier than all the young men who were eating the king’s food. Daniel 1:16 So the guard continued to remove their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables.
when commitment is challenged
Daniel had made a commitment, and his three fellow Israelites agreed to that commitment. But the chief eunuch challenged that commitment because he feared the consequences. Often when we dare to make a commitment, it will be challenged for the same reason. We should do as Daniel did — try to find a way to keep our commitment without condemning those who challenge it. The real war is not with flesh and blood. There is a contest going on in the unseen realm.
Daniel 1:1 In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took control of it. Daniel 1:2 Yahveh gave into his hand King Jehoiakim of Judah, along with some of the equipment from the house of God. Nebuchadnezzar carried them to the land of Babylon, to the house of his god, and put the equipment in the treasury of his god. Daniel 1:3 The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and from the nobility – Daniel 1:4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the Chaldean literature and language. Daniel 1:5 The king assigned them daily provisions from the royal food and from the wine that he drank. They were to be trained for three years and at the end of that time, they were to take their stand in the presence of the king. Daniel 1:6 Among them, from the Judahites, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Daniel 1:7 The chief eunuch gave them names; he gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel, Shadrach to Hananiah, Meshach to Mishael, and Abednego to Azariah.
These four young men had seen the horrors of invasion and occupation. They knew about all the atrocities performed by this evil king and those who obeyed his wishes. After all they knew, I cannot imagine them not saying to themselves “Why would God allow this?”
Around the world today, there are people with the same thoughts. If you read history, you know how cruel and evil people can be toward those they envy, hate, or fear. If you are honest with yourself, you sometimes wonder what it would take for you to be one of those holding the gun or the noose.
These four men could have defined themselves as victims. They did not. They decided to be part of the new reality. They would yield to the tyrant’s wishes — even allowing themselves to be renamed. But they would not become what the tyrant wanted.
Every day we face similar choices. We need to decide who our God is, and who we are.
Philemon 1:21 Since I am confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. Philemon 1:22 Meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, since I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you. Philemon 1:23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings, and so do Philemon 1:24 Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my co-laborers. Philemon 1:25 The favor of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your breath.
David Jeremiah writes, “Paul and the other apostles knew that God might well withhold certain of His blessings from them if they and their fellow believers neglected to pray. Therefore they prayed, and they recruited others to pray, never wanting to curb what God might be pleased to do” (46).
Who knows the blessings we could experience if we simply made a habit of praying for them. Paul was praying that God would remove the obstacles keeping him from visiting his friend. Do you have friends or relatives you have not seen for a long time? Why not pray for a reunion?
Jeremiah David. The Prayer Matrix. Multnomah 2004.
Devotions 