There are men who spend their lifetimes seeking
to prove that the Bible is not all
that it purports to be.
Their whole premise for their doctorates are trying
to take some aspect of the Bible and
show that it isn't all that it claims
to be.
One of the favorite tactics of these men
are to take the various books of the
Bible and to try to prove that they
are not written by those authors that they
claim to be written by.
And the book of Daniel has come under
this cloak of what they call higher criticism,
as there have been many who have tried
to prove that the book of Daniel was
not really written by Daniel.
And one of the basic premises for their
proof is that it would be impossible to
describe with such accuracy events that had not
yet taken place.
Therefore, it was written by some man a
couple of centuries later after the fact and
that he put the name of Daniel to
it.
And they, of course, take the fact that
there are about three Greek words in the
book of Daniel and there are some Persian
words in the book of Daniel.
And it is written partially in Hebrew and
partially in the Aramaic, the ancient language of
Assyria, which is like the Chaldean language.
And they use this as their basis of
proof that Daniel was not really the author.
But to me, the fact that he uses
some Greek words, Persian words, and both Hebrew
and Aramaic only go to prove that Daniel
indeed was the author and was all that
the book purports him to be, that is,
a wise man, a counselor, and in the
court of the king where he would have
met Greeks, he would have met Persians, he
would have met people from all over the
world in his capacity as an officer in
the Babylonian kingdom.
And I think that these endeavors by these
people to bring doubt upon the Word of
God has no value at all.
They have written their doctorates and many expositions
on it, but it's a waste of time
and energy to consider their arguments just to
say that with each argument they present, there
is a very powerful argument to refute what
they presented.
And when you look at the whole thing,
it turns out that indeed Daniel was the
author and they have not proved anything but
their own foolishness.
So I don't like to get all involved
in those areas of reproving that which is
already true.
Truth doesn't need to be defended.
And so we aren't going to go into
the arguments of the authorship of the book.
We'll just assume that it is all that
it purports to be, that Daniel indeed was
the author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and
we will leave the critics and those men
who love to tamper and dabble in those
things to their own follies.
One of the tragic things about seminary education
is that you learn all of these arguments.
In fact, you'll spend a whole semester in
seeking to determine the authorship of Daniel and
you'll study all of the papers that have
been written by the various people and the
arguments, pro and con, on the authorship of
Daniel.
And you can use a whole semester, the
study of Daniel, and the whole semester will
be involved in trying to determine authorship and
you'll never really get into what it says.
And that to me is a waste of
time.
What does God have to say to me?
That's what's important.
In the third year of the reign of
Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, the
king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem and besieged it.
So this would be the year 607 B
.C., the first siege of Jerusalem, when it
fell to Nebuchadnezzar.
And the Lord gave to Jehoiakim, king of
Judah, into his hand, with the part of
the vessels of the house of God, which
he carried into the land of Shinar, into
the house of his God, and he brought
the vessels into the treasure house of his
God.
And the king spake unto Aspenaz, the master
of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain
of the children of Israel and of the
king's seed and of the princes.
Now, this in itself is a fulfillment of
a prophecy in Isaiah chapter 39, verses 6
and 7, where Isaiah was speaking about how
that Judah was going to fall to Babylon.
And he declares, Behold, the days come that
all that is in thine house, he's talking
to the king, Hezekiah, and that which thy
fathers have laid up in store until this
day shall be carried to Babylon.
Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord, and
of thy sons that shall issue from thee,
which thou shalt beget, they shall take away
and they shall be eunuchs in the palace
of the king of Babylon.
Now, this was a hundred years earlier, actually
105 years in 712 B.C. Hezekiah had
been sick and he prayed to God and
he recovered from his sickness.
And there came certain emissaries from Babylon with
messages of congratulations that you're well again.
And Hezekiah showed these men from Babylon all
of the treasures there in the house of
God.
And so Isaiah came to Hezekiah and he
said, Who were these men that were here?
And he said, Oh, they're emissaries from a
country that's far away, a place called Babylon.
And he said, What did they want?
And he said, Well, they just wanted to
tell me that they were glad that I
recovered from my illness.
And he said, What did you show them?
He said, I showed them all of the
treasures in the house of God.
And Isaiah became angry and he prophesied that
these Babylonians would come back and they will
carry away all of that treasure to Babylon
and they'll take the young men and the
princes and carry them away captives.
105 years later it happened.
Nebuchadnezzar came and as the Scripture here records,
he carried away the treasures from the house
of God to put in the house of
his God in Babylon.
And then he ordered that they bring some
of these fine young men of the princes
and all from Israel in order that they
might groom them to stand in the Babylonian
court.
And so they had chosen children in whom
was no blemish, but well favored, good looking,
skillful in all wisdom, cunning in knowledge and
understanding science.
And such as had ability in them to
stand in the king's palace whom they might
teach the learning and the tongue of the
Chaldeans.
So they took the cream of the young
men.
They took those who were skillful in science
and understanding, good looking, strong.
And they carried them away to Babylon to
teach them the Chaldean language in order that
they might stand in the court of Nebuchadnezzar
as an advisor and as a counselors to
Nebuchadnezzar.
So the king appointed unto them the daily
provision of the king's meat and of the
wine which he drank.
And so he nourished them for three years
that at the end thereof he might bring
them before the king.
The idea was, of course, three years of
training, learning the Chaldean language, learning the customs
of the court and all in order that
they might stand in the court of the
king.
Now, the king's meat was meat that no
doubt was sacrificed to his pagan gods.
In those days, a person, whenever they butchered
a lamb or a cow or whatever, they
would usually offer it as a sacrifice to
their gods and then they would go ahead
and eat it themselves.
In other words, you sort of roast it
and you take the fat and burn it
unto the gods.
But it was offered as an oblation or
a sacrifice to the gods and then you
ate it.
The butchering was sort of a religious ritual
and this, of course, carried on far beyond
the Babylonian period on into the New Testament.
It was a common practice among the Greeks
and all to have the same type of
a religious ritual in the butchering of any
animal.
So you would butcher it and offer the
blood and all as an oblation unto your
god and then they would take the meat
and serve it in the restaurants or they
would sell it in the butcher shops and
all.
And it was a real problem for a
Christian who wanted to eat meat.
You know, you wouldn't want to eat meat
that had been offered as a sacrifice to
some pagan god.
And so it was a real problem because
it was hard to buy meat that wasn't
killed in a ritualistic way.
So Paul the Apostle, in order to help
the Corinthians, said, hey look, when you go
to the butcher shop to buy a steak,
don't ask the butcher, was this offered to
a god?
He said, just buy it, don't ask any
questions, you know.
And for your conscience sake, buy it and
take it home and enjoy it.
And if you go out to eat dinner
at somebody's house, don't say, you know, was
this offered to a god as a sacrifice?
He said, just eat what is set before
you asking no questions.
And that's where that comes from.
It's when you are visiting someone and they
offer you a roast beef or something, just
eat what is set before you asking no
questions.
For conscience sake.
Because, he said, we realize that it really
doesn't make any difference.
You know, we receive everything with thanksgiving and
all things are to be received.
But Daniel did not want to have any
part of eating meat that had been sacrificed
to pagan deities.
And so he requested that he be freed
from this particular portion that the king offered
in a few moments.
But that's to give you the reason why
Daniel did not want to eat the king's
meat.
Now from the children of Judah, there was
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
In the Hebrew, these are actually beautiful names.
All of them relate to God.
But Daniel means God is judge.
Hananiah is beloved of the Lord.
What a beautiful name, Hananiah.
Some of you young parents wondering what you
might name your next son.
It's really a beautiful name.
Beloved of the Lord.
I love that name.
Mishael, who is as God.
And Azariah, the Lord is my help.
And so they have beautiful names all relating
in some way to the Lord.
But the prince of the eunuchs gave them
Babylonian names that all related to the Babylonian
deities.
And so to Daniel he gave the name
of Belteshazzar, which means Belle's prince.
Belle was one of the gods of the
Babylonians.
To Hananiah he gave the name of Shadrach.
And Shadrach means illumined by the sun god.
To Mishael he gave the name of Meshach,
which means who is like Shaq.
Shaq was another one of the Babylonian deities.
And to Azariah he gave the name Abednego,
which means the servant of Nego, which was
another one of the Babylonian deities.
So, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Belteshazzar, these are all
the profane names that were given to them
by the eunuch in Babylon as they took
away from them their Hebrew names which related
to God.
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he
would not defile himself with the portion of
the king's meat nor with the wine which
he drank.
Therefore, he requested of the prince of the
eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Daniel did not want to defile himself with
this meat offered to pagan deities with the
wine.
And so he requested that he not have
to eat it.
Now, God had brought Daniel into favor and
tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.
And the prince of the eunuchs said unto
Daniel, I fear the Lord, the king, who
has appointed your meat and your drink.
For why should he see your faces worse
liking than the children which are of your
sort?
Then shall you make me in danger of
my head before the king.
Now look, Daniel, I am fearful of the
king.
I respect him.
And he gave me command to feed you
this stuff.
And if you don't eat this and you
guys get thin and skinny, then my head
is in danger because I'm the one in
charge of making sure that you're strong and
healthy when you come to stand before him.
Then said Daniel to Melzar, who was the
prince of the eunuchs, he said, let's just
have a testing period for ten days.
Let them give us paltz, which is a
grain cereal to eat, and water to drink.
Then let our countenances be looked upon before
thee in the countenance of the children that
eat the portion of the king's meat.
And as you see, deal with your servants.
So he consented to this matter.
And for ten days, and at the end
of the ten days, their countenances, that is
Daniel and his friends, appeared fairer and fatter
in flesh than all of the children, which
did eat the portion of the king's meat.
So Melzar took away the portion of their
meat and the wine that they should drink,
and they were able to eat the grains,
the vegetables.
Thus Melzar, and for these four children, God
gave them knowledge and skill in all of
the learning and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding
in all visions and dreams.
Now at the end of the days, that
is the three years that they were in
this training period, the king had said that
they should bring them in, and then the
prince of the eunuchs brought them before Nebuchadnezzar,
and the king communed with them, and among
them all, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, Azariah, that stood before the king, and
therefore they were brought to stand before him.
And in all matters of wisdom and understanding
that the king inquired of them, he found
them ten times better than all of his
magicians and astrologers that were in all of
his realm.
And Daniel continued through the entire reign of
Nebuchadnezzar and his grandson Belshazzar, and even into
the first year of King Cyrus, so on
through the reign of Darius and King Cyrus.
Now in the second year of the reign
of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit
was troubled, and his sleep was taken from
him.
Then the king commanded to call the magicians
and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the
Chaldeans to show the king his dream.
So they came and they stood before the
king, and the king said unto them, I've
dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled
to know the dream.
So the Chaldeans spoke to the king in
Syriac, and so part of this book is
written, and in fact at this point, from
chapter 2 verse 4 on to chapter 7
verse 28, this book is written, because it
says they spoke to him in Syriac, the
book is written in this language of Aramaic,
which was the ancient Syrian language.
O king, live forever!
Tell thy servants the dream, and we will
show you the interpretation.
The king answered and said to the Chaldeans,
I've forgotten it.
If you will not make known unto me
the dream with the interpretation, you'll be cut
to pieces, and your houses shall be made
a dunghill.
But if you show the dream and the
interpretation thereof, you shall receive from me gifts,
rewards, great honor.
Therefore, show me the dream and the interpretation.
They answered again and said, let the king
just tell the servants his dream, and we
will show you the interpretation.
And the king answered and said, I know
of certainty that you would gain the time,
because you see that I have forgotten the
dream.
But if you will not make known unto
me the dream, there is but one decree
for you.
For you 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 you can show me the interpretation
thereof.
And the Chaldeans answered before the king and
said, Look, there's not a man on the
earth that can show the king's matter.
Therefore, there is no king, lord, nor ruler
that has asked such things of any of
his magicians or astrologers or Chaldeans.
Ah, come on, king.
You know, let's be fair.
No man knows what a man dreams.
No man can show you this.
Look in history.
No king has ever demanded such a ridiculous
thing from his counselors.
It's a rare thing that the king requires.
There's none other that can show it before
the king except the gods, whose dwelling is
not with flesh.
Now, they were dealing with the wrong man
because Nebuchadnezzar is a hothead.
He was always becoming angry and very furious
until his conversion.
For this cause, the king was angry and
very furious, and he commanded that all of
the wise men be destroyed.
And the decree went forth that the wise
men should be slain, and they sought Daniel
and his fellows to be slain.
Now, we notice the tremendous power of Nebuchadnezzar.
Autocratic control.
He was the final word.
His word was law.
He could order these men all eliminated, cut
them to pieces.
His word was law.
When we get into the next empire, as
we get into chapter 5 and 6, as
we get into the Medo-Persian Empire, we
notice that when the king made a decree
and signed it, that he was subject then
to the law of the Medes and the
Persians, which once a decree had been signed,
it could not be changed.
He did not have the same type of
autocratic control and power as did Nebuchadnezzar.
Probably no man has been vested with so
much power in the history of mankind as
was Nebuchadnezzar.
So much control over the world and over
the lives of people.
That is why in the interpretation of his
dream, he said, your kingdom will be replaced
by an inferior kingdom.
Not inferior as far as strength.
The Medo-Persian Empire was very powerful and
a very wealthy, but as far as the
control by the king, much less.
He was subject to the laws of the
land, whereas Nebuchadnezzar was the law himself.
His word became law.
So he was very furious.
He ordered the execution of his wise men
and Daniel answered with the counsel and wisdom
to Ariok, who was the captain of the
king's guard, who was commissioned to go out
and to slay all of the wise men.
And he said to Ariok, why is the
decree so hasty from the king?
Then Ariok made the thing known to Daniel.
Daniel went in and he desired of the
king that he would give him a little
time and he promised to show the king
the interpretation.
Then Daniel went to his house and made
the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
his companions, that they would desire mercies of
God of the God of heaven concerning this
secret that Daniel and his fellows should not
perish for the rest of the wise men
of Babylon.
So Daniel went into the king and he
said, look, give me a little time.
I'll come and I'll tell you the dream
and interpretation.
Then he went to his buddies and said,
hey, it's time for a prayer meeting, fellas.
We got to get some information, you know,
our necks are on the line.
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in
a night vision.
Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
Now it is, I think, important to the
story and for us to know that Daniel
at this point was probably around 19 or
20 years of age.
He was probably around 16 years old when
he was carried as a captive to Babylon.
Just a very young man.
Just a very young man when he purposed
in his heart he wasn't going to defile
himself with the king's meat.
It shows that somewhere along the line, Daniel
had excellent training in the ways of God
and in the things of God.
That even by the age of 16, these
things were so deeply embedded that as he
is carried away to a far country where
he is away from the influences, the spiritual
influences under which he grew up, still he
maintains such integrity in spiritual matters.
Absolutely glorious to behold.
And to realize that even as a very
young man he had such high principles, high
ideals.
And the depth of his spiritual character is
expressed here after God reveals to him the
dream and the interpretation.
As we read Daniel's response to God and
realize here's just a young man in a
far country, but he shows such depth of
spiritual character.
Daniel answered the Lord 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 sets up kings.
He gives wisdom unto the wise and knowledge
to them that know understanding.
He reveals the deep and secret things.
He knows what is in the darkness and
the light dwelleth with Him.
I thank Thee and praise Thee, O Thou
God of my fathers, who has given me
wisdom and might and has made known unto
me now what we desired of Thee, for
You have now made known unto us the
King's matter.
And this to me is just a marvelous
expression of praise and thanksgiving unto God which
shows a real depth of spiritual character in
such a young man.
I think that a lot of times we
perhaps think, well, you know, he's too young
to really have much spiritual maturity or to
be able to share much in spiritual things.
But I look at Daniel.
I look at Jeremiah.
These young men who started their ministry so
early and the depth of spiritual understanding that
they had, even while young.
Therefore Daniel went in unto Ariok, 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.
Then Ariok brought in Daniel before the king
in haste and said unto him, I have
found a man of the captives of Judah
that will make known unto the king the
interpretation.
The king answered and said to Daniel, whose
name was Beldeshazzar, Art thou able to make
known unto me the dream which I have
seen and the interpretation thereof?
And Daniel answered in the presence of the
king and said, The secret which the king
has demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers,
the magicians, the soothsayers show unto the king.
But there is a God in heaven that
revealeth secrets and makes known unto the king
Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.
Thy dream and thy visions of thy head
upon thy bed are these.
Now, first of all, make note that Daniel
does not take personal credit for the interpreting
of the dream.
King says, I understand you can make known
to me the dream and the interpretation.
Daniel says, look, the wise men, the astrologers,
none of them can do it.
But there's a God in heaven who reveals
things and he gives credit to God for
the interpretation, for the understanding and interpretation of
the dream.
I think that this is something that if
anyone is at all interested in becoming involved
in the work of the Lord, it is
important to note this particular aspect of Daniel.
That he was not about to take credit
for what God had done.
He immediately points to God as the source.
And he gives credit to God.
He does not let the king give him
credit or give him honor.
But he points the king to God.
There's a God in heaven who reveals things
and he has made known.
Secondly, the dream is for the latter days.
So it is a dream that has prophetic
significance.
The things that are going to come to
pass here on the earth.
But as for me, now notice he's not
taking credit.
As for me, this secret is not revealed
to me for any wisdom that I have
more than anyone else.
But for their sakes, that shall make known
the interpretation to the king that you may
know the thoughts of your heart.
God didn't do this for me because I'm
something special.
Because I have anything over anybody else.
He's not trying to exalt himself in this
at all.
He does seek to exalt God.
But not seeking to promote or exalt himself.
And so important for anyone involved in any
kind of ministry, not to try to exalt
yourself, but to just seek to bring glory
to God.
Now, he tells the king what he dreamed.
But notice he said, Thou, O king, saw
and behold a great image.
And this image, whose brightness was excellent, stood
before thee, and the form thereof was awesome.
So you saw this great image.
Awesome.
Bright.
The image head was of fine gold, his
breast and his arms of silver, his belly
and his thighs of brass, his legs of
iron, his feet part iron and part of
clay.
And you were watching till a stone was
cut without hands, which smote the image upon
his feet that were of iron and clay
and broke them in pieces.
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass,
the silver, the gold, broken to pieces together
and became like the chaff of the summer
threshing floors.
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.
So this was the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had
that troubled him.
This is the dream, Daniel said, and we
will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
Thou, O king, art a king of kings,
for the God of heaven has given you
a kingdom, power, strength and glory.
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the
beasts of the field, the fowls of the
heaven, hath He given into thine hand and
hath made thee ruler over them all, for
thou art this head of gold.
Now, we skipped a verse, and it is
an important verse.
I want to go back to it.
Verse 29, he said, As for thee, O
king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon
thy bed.
What should come to pass hereafter?
And he that reveals secret is made known
unto thee.
What shall come to pass?
Before Nebuchadnezzar had gone to sleep, he was
wondering in his mind, what's going to happen
to the world?
What does the future hold?
And so, this dream pertains to the future.
God is in this dream, giving him history
in advance as he lays out the kingdoms
that would rule over the earth.
The first world-governing empire, the Babylonian empire,
the head of gold.
But after thee, there shall arise another kingdom
that is inferior to thee and another third
kingdom of brass, which will bear rule over
all the earth.
Notice, these are world-dominating empires bearing rule
over all the earth.
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as
iron, for as much as iron breaks in
pieces and subdues all things, and as iron
that breaks all things shall it break in
pieces and bruise.
And whereas you saw the feet and the
toes, part of potter's clay and part of
iron, the kingdom shall be divided.
But there shall be in it of the
strength of iron for as much as thou
sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
And as the toes of the feet were
part of iron and part of clay, so
the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly
weak or brittle.
And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry
clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed
of men.
That is, there would not be a monarchy,
but there would be more of a democracy
kind of a thing, a confederacy of states,
but not a strong dictatorship or monarchy as
such.
You saw the iron mixed with the miry
clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed
of men.
And they shall not cleave one to another,
even as iron is not mixed with clay.
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.
For as much as you saw that the
stone was cut out of the mountain without
hands and that it broke in pieces, the
iron and the brass, the clay, the silver,
the gold, the great God hath made known
to the king what shall come to pass
hereafter, the dream is certain, the interpretation is
sure.
So this great image, the head of gold,
representing the Babylonian empire, the first world dominating
empire, which was to be replaced by an
inferior empire, the arms and chest of silver
or the Medo-Persian empire, which was to
be replaced by the brass stomach or the
Grecian empire, which was to be supplanted by
the legs of iron, the Roman empire.
But then he saw the feet of iron
and clay with ten toes, weaker than just
the iron because you have the mixture of
iron and clay, not a strong monarchy but
more of a confederacy and yet it is
related to the Roman empire because it is
part iron.
So because of this and of course the
subsequent vision of Daniel in chapters 7 and
8, in which Daniel declares that the second
empire will be the Medo-Persian and the
third will be the Grecian and of course
we know from history that the fourth was
the Roman empire, Bible scholars for years
have been looking for a confederacy of European
nations to join together with treaties that would
become and will become the final world governing
empire.
Since the Roman empire there has not been
a world governing empire.
It was of course Hitler's dream to become
a world ruler and he sought to establish
a world governing empire through the super race
but he never accomplished his dream.
It is the goal of communism to develop
a world dominating empire.
The communist will not fulfill their dreams but
Bible scholars and I can show you books
that were written back in the twenties, back
in the thirties, by Bible scholars, Dr. Talbot,
Arnold Gableen, William Newell, who all
in their books predicted that there will arise
in Europe a confederacy of ten nations who
will link themselves together with treaties and that
this ten nation federation in Europe will become
the final world dominating empire.
Because the ten toes are part iron, the
nations that become are joined together will be
related to the Roman empire or nations that
were involved in the Roman empire.
But because there is also the mixture of
clay so that you have a democracy among
them, the nations having equal parts that won't
be one nation ruling over them all but
the nations ruling together as a confederacy.
So that we as Bible students have been
watching Europe for the development of a ten
nation European community.
And of course at the beginning of this
year among the Bible scholars there was tremendous
excitement as Greece signed the treaty and became
officially the tenth nation of the European community.
Now the thing that is especially relevant and
significant is verse 44 of chapter 2 where
the Lord said, And in the days of
these kings, that is the ten kings, when
this ten nation European confederacy has been formed,
in the days of these kings shall the
God of heaven set up a kingdom which
will never be destroyed.
So that he does declare that the coming
of Christ will take place during the time
of the rule of these ten kings of
the European community.
The fact that the European community has been
formed is extremely significant from a biblical standpoint.
Now there are many other passages that relate
to this in the scriptures.
The ruler that will ultimately arise from this
ten nation European confederacy, the power that will
be given to him and his rule over
the earth as is described in other passages
throughout the Bible as well as Daniel gives
us quite a bit of insight towards the
latter part of the book of Daniel concerning
this man of sin that is going to
arise.
But to me, the really exciting thing is
that we in seeing the formation of the
European community could very well be seeing exactly
what Daniel was prophesying here as we see
the Roman Empire in a sense being revived
in the European community.
And we see its growing strength especially in
economy.
And we see its industrial might as it
is being developed.
The European community has a potential G.M
.P. that is double that of the United
States.
And it is certainly one of the most
powerful forces in the world today as far
as economic and industrial.
It is not yet a military force.
That will come later.
But I'm always excited to realize that it's
during the time of the ten kings that
the God of heaven shall set up a
kingdom which will never be destroyed.
The coming of Christ and the kingdom of
Christ upon the earth.
The stone not cut with hands that grows
into a mountain to cover the earth.
And to realize that we're coming to those
days.
It's just almost incredible that we see the
ten nation European community being formed.
Now they say, but Spain and Portugal want
to come in.
That is correct.
Then there will be twelve.
Well, there will be ten.
Maybe Greece will drop out or maybe the
Lord will come before Spain and Portugal can
get in.
But there will be ten.
We will get in Daniel chapter 7 a
corresponding vision of Daniel in which it will
amplify just a little more fully this ten
horns that come out of this Roman Empire.
And the little horn that arises and destroys
three and all.
But we'll get to that when we get
to chapter 7.
Nonetheless, I cannot read this second chapter of
Daniel and look at what's happening in the
world today without getting extremely excited.
Because we're coming right down.
And like the Lord said, the dream is
certain and the interpretation is sure.
And it has followed the very sequences that
were predicted.
And it is significant that since the Roman
Empire, you have not had a world governing
empire.
And yet there will be one final world
governing empire.
Ten kings related to the Roman Empire.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and
worshiped Daniel.
And he commanded that they should offer an
oblation and sweet odors unto him.
And the king answered 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 that
you could reveal this secret.
Then the king made Daniel a great man
and gave him many great gifts and made
him a ruler over the whole province of
Babylon and a chief of the governors over
the wise men of Babylon.
And then Daniel requested of the king that
he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the
affairs of the province of Babylon.
But Daniel sat in the gate of the
king.
So Daniel spoke to them about his three
friends and got them important positions.
Now in chapter three we find Nebuchadnezzar defying
the revelation of God.
Remember in his dream he saw the image
with a head of gold.
Thou art the head of gold.
But it had a chest of silver for
the Babylonian Empire was to be replaced by
an inferior empire, the Medo-Persian Empire.
But Nebuchadnezzar in defiance of God and the
revelation of God made an image of gold
whose height was three score cubits or sixty
cubits and the breadth thereof was six cubits.
You're getting into the sixty-sixes here.
And he set it up in the plain
of Dura in the province of Babylon.
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together
the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges,
the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all
of the rulers of the provinces to come
to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar
the king had set up.
Then the princes and governors, captains and all
gathered together and a herald cried aloud to
you it is commanded, O people, nations and
languages, that whatever time you hear the sound
of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the
sackcloth, the psaltery, the dulcimer and all kinds
of music that you fall down and worship
the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has
set up.
And whoso will not fall down and worship
the same hour will be cast into the
midst of a burning fiery furnace.
So Nebuchadnezzar not to be messed with.
You have your choice either bow down to
it or be cast into the burning fiery
furnace.
Therefore at that time when all the people
heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp,
sackcloth, psaltery and all kinds of music all
the people and the nations, languages fell down
and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the
king had set up.
Now Nebuchadnezzar becomes in Scripture what we call
a type of the Antichrist who we read
in Revelation chapter 13 makes an image and
he gives power unto this beast or this
image to speak.
And he demands that the whole world worship
this image that has been given power to
speak.
We've been reading a lot about the advancement
of our science and especially of the capacities
of computers.
There is even talk of creating computers that
will be smarter than men and will perhaps
one day rule over man because of their
wisdom.
Within computers there is already developed the capacity
of chips, voice chips so that they have
little calculators that you can buy and as
you punch the numbers it will give you
the number but then it will speak the
answer as well as display it.
Already in dialing wrong numbers you get the
operator that says what number did you dial
and you tell them the number and then
you hear the number 6462575 has been changed
to and it gives you the new number
and it's a computer that is a voice
computer.
Power to speak.
Now up until just you know the last
few years it seemed to be a totally
impossible thing to make some kind of an
image and give that image the capacity to
think and to speak.
It could very well be I don't say
that it is but it could very well
be that the image that has been created
by this man of sin that is going
to arise will be a highly sophisticated computer
which will be used to govern the world.
Nebuchadnezzar made an image 60 cubits high, 6
cubits broad and demanded that everyone worship that
image and anyone who refuses to worship the
image would be put to death.
The man of sin the beast that arises
out of the sea in Revelation 13 makes
an image and demands that everyone worship the
image and if anyone refuses to worship the
image he has power to put to death.
We see an interesting parallel.
There were three young men Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego who refused to bow to the image
but God miraculously preserved them through the fire.
In the book of Revelation we read of
144,000 that God is going to seal
and take safely through the great tribulation the
fiery judgment of God that is coming upon
the earth.
Now, the big question here when Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego were reported to Nebuchadnezzar that they
did not bow and worship the image the
question what about Daniel?
Do you think that Daniel bowed to the
image?
I think not.
Daniel had purposed in his heart he would
not defile himself with the king's meat.
His commitment to God was so complete I
am certain that Daniel did not bow.
Then why wasn't Daniel reported with Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego?
Obviously, Daniel must not have been there.
He was probably away on business of the
affairs of state.
For had he been there he surely would
not have bowed.
That of course becomes extremely interesting in that
Daniel is a type of the church and
when the great tribulation the fiery judgment comes
when the Antichrist is demanding that people bow
down and worship the image that he has
created the church won't be there.
It's gone.
It won't go through the fiery furnace.
It's been delivered.
Caught up to meet the Lord in the
air and forever with the Lord and thus
will not be here when the Antichrist makes
the scene and creates the image and demands
that the image be worshipped.
The church, Daniel, is out of the picture
but it is the faithful remnant of the
Jews who turn to Christ after the rapture
of the church that God will seal as
the three Hebrew children and take them through
the fire.
So a very beautiful typology in this story
in Daniel.
Now in verse 8, chapter 3, at this
certain time the Chaldeans came near and they
accused the Jews.
They spake and said unto King Nebuchadnezzar, O
King, live forever!
Thou, O King, have made a decree that
every man when he hears the sound of
the cornet and the music and so forth
shall fall down and worship the golden image.
And whoso does not fall down and worship
that he would be cast into the midst
of the burning fiery furnace.
Now there are certain Jews whom thou hast
set over the affairs of the province of
Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and these men,
O King, have not regarded thee.
They serve not your gods nor worship the
golden image which you have set up.
Then, O hothead Nebuchadnezzar, his rage and in
his fury he commanded Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and they brought these men to the king.
This guy's always in a rage.
And Nebuchadnezzar spake unto them and said, Is
it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
Do not ye serve my gods nor worship
the golden image which I have set up?
Now if you're ready, that at the time
that you hear the sound of the music,
you will fall down and worship the image
which I have made, then all will be
well.
But if you do not worship, you will
be cast the same hour into the midst
of a burning fiery furnace.
And who is that god that shall deliver
you out of my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to
the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not even careful
to answer you in this matter.
If it be so, our god whom we
serve is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace.
And he will deliver us out of your
hand, O king.
But if not, be it known unto thee,
O king, that we will not serve thy
gods nor worship the golden image which you
have set up.
Now, God is able.
The god that we serve can deliver us
out of your burning fiery furnace.
He will deliver us out of your hand.
And even if he doesn't, we're still not
going to serve your gods.
We're still not going to bow down to
your image.
Now, we're not even careful how we answer
you in this.
This is a set matter with us.
We're just not going to do it.
These guys had such commitment, such commitment to
God that God is able, if He wants
to deliver us, if He doesn't want, we're
still not going to bow.
Our lives are in God's hands.
He can do with us whatever He wants.
But we're going to be faithful to God
and true to God and God will be
faithful to us.
And whatever God does with us is fine.
We're not worried.
We're not concerned, Nebuchadnezzar, about your decrees or
your threats at all.
You don't scare us, Nebuchadnezzar.
You don't move us because our trust is
in God.
The God that we serve is able to
deliver us.
And if He doesn't, we're still not going
to bow.
Then old Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and
the form of his visage was changed.
I mean, his whole attitude towards these three
fellows was changed completely.
And he spoke and commanded that they should
heat the furnace seven times hotter than it
was ever heated before.
And he commanded the most mighty men that
were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego and to cast them into the
burning, fiery furnace.
And these men were bound in their coats,
their hoes, their hats, and their other garments
and were cast into the burning, fiery furnace.
Now, in Israel today, you
see these various Orthodox Jews, and there are
some of them that have these little black
hats and their black coats and black hosiery.
They wear sort of knickers with black hosiery
and they have long curls.
They're the Hasidics and they have these long
curls down the sides of their heads here.
And when he describes binding them with their
hats and their coats and their hosiery and
all, I get a picture of some of
these Hasidic Jews that you see over in
Israel.
Probably didn't look like that, but that's the
mental picture that I get as he binds
them with their hats and their hoes and
their coats and casts them into the midst
of the burning, fiery furnace.
Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent and
the furnace was exceeding hot, the flame of
the fire killed those men that took up
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
And these three men fell down in the
midst of the burning, fiery furnace.
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and he
rose up in haste and he spoke.
And he said to his counselors, Did not
we cast three men bound into the midst
of the fire?
And they said unto the king, True.
He answered and said, Lo, I see four
men loose and they're walking in the midst
of the fire and they have no hurt.
And the form of the fourth is like
the Son of God.
What a marvelous, exciting experience.
Hand of God, the God that we serve
is able to deliver us out of your
burning, fiery furnace.
So here they are walking around in the
midst of the fire.
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of
the burning, fiery furnace and he spoke and
said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of
the Most High God, come forth.
Come on out.
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth from
the midst of the fire and the princes
and the governors and the captains and the
king's counselors being gathered together saw these men
upon whose body the fire had no power.
Nor was a hair of their head singed.
Neither were their coats changed.
Nor the smell of fire had passed on
them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the
God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who has
sent his angel and delivered his servants that
trusted in him and has changed the king's
word and yielded the bodies that they might
not serve nor worship any God except their
own God.
Do you see Nebuchadnezzar making another proclamation here?
Therefore, I make a decree that every people,
nation, language which speak anything amiss against the
God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be
cut in pieces and their houses shall be
made a dunghill because there is no other
God that can deliver after this sword.
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
in the province of Babylon.
So, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, quite an interesting character in
his wrath and in his decrees.
Now Nebuchadnezzar the king, a proclamation unto all
the people, nations, languages that dwell in all
the earth, peace be multiplied unto you.
I thought it good to show the signs
and wonders that the high God hath wrought
toward me.
How great are his signs and how mighty
are his wonders.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and his
dominion is from generation to generation.
Listen to these words of Nebuchadnezzar.
Sounds like a convert.
And I personally believe he was.
He tells now his story.
I am going to tell you his story.
He said, I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in
my house.
I was prospering in my palace and I
saw a dream which made me afraid and
the thoughts upon my bed and the visions
of my head troubled me.
Therefore, I made a decree to bring in
all of the wise men of Babylon before
me that they might make known unto me
the interpretation of the dream.
There came in the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and
all the soothsayers and I told them the
dream, but they could not make known to
me the interpretation.
But at last Daniel came before me whose
name was Belshazzar according to the name of
my God in whom is the spirit of
the holy gods.
And before him I told the dream saying,
O Belshazzar, master of the magicians, because I
know that the spirit of the holy gods
is in thee, no secret troubles thee.
Tell me the visions of my dream that
I have seen and the interpretation thereof.
And thus were the visions in my head
in my bed.
I saw and behold there was a tree
in the middle of the earth.
It was very tall.
The tree grew and was strong and the
height thereof reached into heaven and the sight
thereof unto the end of the earth and
the leaves thereof were fair and the fruit
was very much.
And in it there was meat for everyone.
The beast of the field had shadow under
it.
The fowls of the heaven dwelt in the
bowels thereof and all flesh fed from it.
And I saw in the visions of my
head upon my bed and behold a watcher.
Now this is interesting.
And a holy one, a watcher and a
holy one came down from heaven.
And he cried aloud and said, Cut down
the tree.
Cut off his branches.
Shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit.
Let the beast get away from under it
and the fowls from his branches.
Nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in
the earth even with a band of iron
and brass in the tender grass of the
field and let it be wet with the
dew of heaven and let his portion be
with the beast in the grass of the
earth.
Let his heart be changed from a man's
and let a beast's heart be given unto
him and let seven times pass over him.
This matter is by the decree of the
watchers and the demand by the word of
the holy ones to the intent that the
living may know that the Most High rules
in the kingdom of men and gives it
to whomsoever He will and sets over it
the basest of men.
This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen.
Now thou, O Beldeshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof
for as much as all of the wise
men of my kingdom were not able to
make known the interpretation, but you are able
for the Spirit of the Holy God is
in you.
Then Daniel, whose name was Beldeshazzar, was astonished
for about one hour.
His thoughts troubled him and the king spoke
and said, Beldeshazzar, don't let the dream or
the interpretation thereof trouble you.
And Beldeshazzar answered and said, My lord, the
dream is for those that hate you, and
the interpretation is something your enemies will enjoy.
For the tree that you saw, which grew
and was strong, whose height reached into heaven,
and the sight of all that were upon
the earth, whose leaves were fair and the
fruit was very much, and in it was
meat for all, under which the beasts of
the field dwelt and so forth, it is
you, O king, that have grown and become
strong, for thy greatness has grown and reaches
unto heaven and your dominion to the end
of the earth.
And whereas the king saw a Watcher and
a Holy One coming down from heaven and
saying, Hew down the tree and destroy it,
yet leave the stump of the roots thereof
in the earth, even with a band of
iron and brass, till the tender grass of
the field, and let it be wet with
the dew of heaven, and let the portion
be with the beasts of the field till
seven times Passover.
And this is the interpretational king, this is
the decree of the Most High, which has
come upon my lord the king.
They shall drive thee from men, and thy
dwelling place will be with the beasts of
the field, and they shall make thee to
eat grass as an ox, and they shall
wet thee with the dew of heaven, and
seven times shall Passover thee, till you know
that the Most High rules in the kingdom
of men and gives it to whomsoever He
will.
And whereas they commanded to leave the stump
of the tree roots, thy kingdom shall be
sure unto thee after that you have known
that the heavens do rule.
Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable
unto thee and break off thy sins by
righteousness and thine iniquities by showing mercy to
the poor, for it may be a lengthening
of your tranquility.
So he had this dream, the tree and
the whole thing.
And as Daniel interprets it, the tree is
you, Nebuchadnezzar.
You've become great and powerful and this great
kingdom is given unto you.
But you've been lifted up in pride Now,
the interesting thing to me is there are
watchers that are watching the whole affair.
Do you know that your life is being
watched?
That's sort of awesome.
These watchers from heaven who are down here
watching you.
And he had in this dream the insight
into these watchers who had come from heaven
and were watching him.
And he heard one of them say, Hew
down the tree, cut off the branches.
Until seven times, let him go out and
live with the wild beast until seven times
are passed over him.
The seven times are probably a year and
three quarters.
Referring to the summer, fall, winter, spring rather
than seven years.
And so for a year and three quarters,
King Nebuchadnezzar was to be insane.
He was to live with the oxen out
in the field.
He was to eat grass like a wild
animal.
This was to continue until he realized that
the God in heaven is the one who
rules over the earth as far as establishing
kingdoms and setting in power those whom he
will.
God still rules in the overall sense.
And sometimes God puts evil men into power
in order to bring judgment upon the people.
But God rules overall.
So after Daniel interpreted, he said, Now look
King, straighten up man, live right.
You know, it may be that you can
increase the days of your peace because you
know, this is going to come on you.
But maybe by living right, you can forestall
it a bit.
And so for a year, there were no
furies or rages.
The king was marching, watching his Ps and
Qs.
But all of this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar
at the end of 12 months as he
was walking in the palace of the kingdom
of Babylon.
Now, according to the ancient historians, Babylon was
just a place of marvel and beauty.
They described the hanging gardens of Babylon.
They were one of the seven wonders of
the ancient world.
They described the walls that surrounded the city,
the glory, the grandeur of this marvelous city
of Babylon.
And so Nebuchadnezzar was walking there in the
midst of the gardens, the beautiful city, the
palace, and the king spake and said, Is
not this great Babylon that I have built
for the house of the kingdom by the
might of my power and for the honor
of my majesty?
Boasting in himself that I have built with
my power for my majesty.
And while these words were in his mouth,
there fell a voice from heaven.
One of the watchers said, he'd been watching
him, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is
spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee.
And they shall drive thee from men, and
thy dwelling place shall be with the beast
of the field.
And they shall make thee to eat grass
as oxen.
And seven times shall pass over thee until
you know that the most high rules in
the kingdom of men and he gives it
to whomsoever he will.
And in the same hour was the thing
fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.
He was driven from men.
He became insane.
He did eat grass as the oxen.
His body was wet with the dew of
heaven till his hair was grown like eagle's
feathers and his nails like bird's claws.
And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven and
my understanding returned unto me and I blessed
the Most High and I praised and honored
Him that lives forever whose dominion is an
everlasting dominion and His kingdom is from generation
to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed as nothing.
And He does according to His will in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay His
hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou?
He came into a consciousness of the power
of God and the sovereignty of God who
rules over the universe.
And no man can say to God, What
are you doing?
At the same time, my reason returned unto
me and for the glory of my kingdom,
my honor and my brightness returned unto me.
And my counselors and my Lord sought unto
me and I was established in my kingdom
and excellent majesty was added unto me.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor
the King of heaven.
That sounds like conversion to me.
All whose works are truth and His ways
judgment and those that walk in pride, He
is able to abase.
So, this final proclamation of Nebuchadnezzar, a very
interesting proclamation of the faith that He had
come to as He believed in God and
in the power of God and in the
sovereignty of God over the universe.
Very exciting.
I think that we will hold off on
the remainder and next week we'll take chapters
5 through 8.
So, we'll cut Daniel up in four chapter
sections so we can spend a little more
time in it.
And fascinating, interesting book and you've got some
great reading next week as we get into
Daniel's chapters 5 through 8.
Exciting prophecies.
Father, we do acknowledge that You are the
Lord, the King, the Ruler over all the
universe.
We acknowledge Your sovereignty.
We realize, Lord, that none of us can
really challenge You to say what are You
doing because You do things after the counsel
of Your own will and after Your own
purposes.
God, we bow before Thee and we submit
our lives to Thee that we might be
ruled over by Thy Spirit.
Lord, we thank You for the commitment of
Daniel and of his three friends.
Lord, help us that we too might make
a full commitment of our lives unto Thee.
To have that same kind of confidence and
trust that Your ways are best.
Knowing, Lord, that You can do whatever You
want.
Take our lives now and use them as
You see fit to glorify Thy name.
Bless this week.
Lord, strengthen us.
Guide us.
Keep us in Thy love.
In Jesus' name, Amen.