The Words of God
Living in Babylon • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Prayer
A record-low 20% of Americans now say the Bible is the literal word of God, down from 24% the last time the question was asked in 2017, and half of what it was at its high points in 1980 and 1984. Meanwhile, a new high of 29% say the Bible is a collection of "fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man." This marks the first time significantly more Americans have viewed the Bible as not divinely inspired than as the literal word of God. The largest percentage, 49%, choose the middle alternative, roughly in line with where it has been in previous years.
I have dedicated my life to increasing that percentage of people who will believe that this is not just the inspired word of God, but it is the actual words of God. That He is the author. And today, as we finish Daniel Chapter 2 I want us to reflect upon the impact of whether or not we take these words as God’s or not.
Recap where we have been.
605 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar came and besieged Jerusalem, carrying of exiles into Babylon, which included 4 teenagers, Daniel, Mishael, Azeriah and Hananiah. Then a few weeks ago we looked at how Satan is still at work today and his tactics haven’t changed. The enemy tried to isolate, indoctrinate, assimilate and confuse these young men into a new culture and give them a new identity, but they were staying true to their God and their Jewish heritage. Two weeks ago we looked at what it means to take a stand for Christ. That though we are in the world, because he has sent us here, we do not live as this world does. And then last week we looked at how we have a God who steps in on our behalf. But God.
And that brings us to this week, were we examine the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar was having and the interpretation that God gave to Daniel.
24 Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.” 25 Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.” 26 The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” 27 Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these: 29 “As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. 31 “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. 36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. 39 “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. 44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.” 46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. 49 Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.
Take some time and explain what we just read.
Daniel came into the court of King Nebuchadnezzar and boldly proclaimed what he believed God had revealed to him in a vision the night before. Daniel had his friends, Haniniah, Azeriah and Mishael pray that God would speak, and then Daniel had a vision, but how did he know those were God’s words?
Likewise, how do we know that these are God’s words?
We can quote verses all day long about the bible being the word of God.
Paul encouraged his son in the faith, Timothy saying…
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The author of Hebrews wrote…
12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Matthew records for us that…
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
The Psalmist proclaims…
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Jesus prayed…
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Jesus also proclaimed…
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Paul wrote to the church in Colossae encouraging them…
16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
And Isiah prophesies…
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
And I would have to bet that our church has a higher percentage of believers that know those verses and believes that this is not just the verbally inspired word of God, but it is in fact God’s word.
But I also know that there are some here who question that, those who are on the fence, so to speak. And maybe even those who completely disagree with the statements I have just proclaimed…
And rightfully so you have correctly identified that I am using circular reasoning to justify that this book was written by God.
Sure, you say that it’s God’s word because it says it’s God’s word. But just because it says it is something, how can you be sure you can trust it?
And even those of you who do trust it…how can you defend that it is the word of God without just quoting the bible saying it is the word of God because 1 Peter 3:15 says
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
Well, let me show you how. And let the Spirit of God testify to your Spirit the trustworthiness of His Holy Word.
Because the truth is this…
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Though the Bible was written, physically by over 40 different authors in 3 different languages over the course of 1,500 years…we claim that it was the very Spirit of God who breathed it into life. That Spirit is the spirit who told the authors what to write and that’s why as origionally written, the Bible was perfect, without any contradictions or errors. Yes, our translations are always being corrected and renewed, as language changes over the centuries, but in the origionally lauguages, the bible is perfect…it’s God’s Words.
And here is how you can trust it.
Today we are looking at the story of Daniel right. And Daniel was written by the prophet himself before his death in 535 BC…some scholars actually give that date to the writing of his book. So he penned these words around 535 BC. And here in Chapter 2 he shares with King Nebuchadnezzar the dream that the king had been dreaming.
And in his dream, he not only shares about this statue, but he also interprets the statues significance.
28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these:
God revealed this dream to the King as to what would happen in the days to come…
God showed Daniel the future, and Daniel wrote it down.
And this is exactly what happens…
36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. 39 “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.
SHOW THE IMAGE OF THE STATUE…
This is simply incredible if you think about it. How could a man, who prayed to God and God gave him a vision, then have the boldness to stand before the King and proclaim to him what he believed God had revealed to him as the Kings dream, accurately predict what would take place during the next 2,500 years?
There is no answer but the answer that Daniel gave to King Nebuchadnezzar…
28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these:
And why does it matter?
Well first it matters because there are so many prophesies that this book declared would take place for the Messiah, the savior of the world, thousands of years before he came.
In fact, lets look at statistical probabilities for just a few minutes…
In fact. When you look at the prophesies that were foretold about Christ, and the statistical probability of him fulfilling them, there is little doubt that Jesus is who He said he is and has done and will do what he said as well.
There are over 300 prophecies in the Bible of Jesus' first coming, all having come true. What would be the odds of just eight of these prophecies coming true?
(1) Messiah to be born in Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2)
(2) Messiah betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. (Zechariah 11:12-13)
(3) Messiah's clothes would be gambled away. (Psalms 22:18)
(4) Messiah's hands and feet would be pierced. (Psalms 22:16)
(5) Messiah's bones would not be broken. (Psalms 34:20)
(6) Messiah would be born in the tribe of Judah. (Isaiah 37:31)
(7) Messiah would be called from Egypt. (Hosea 11:1)
(8) Messiah would be buried in a rich man's grave. (Isaiah 53:9)
The odds of all eight coming true are virtually incomprehensible!
Consider this illustration-
Suppose we filled the entire State of Texas with 100 trillion silver dollars. That would make the entire state about two feet deep in coins. Then we mark only one coin.
Next we stir-up the state full of coins so they are thoroughly mixed and random. The marked coin could be anywhere in the state in the two foot deep coins. Finally we blindfold a man and let him travel the entire state to choose one random coin.
What would be the odds of him finding the marked coin in one try? He would have the same chance the prophets had for those eight prophecies being fulfilled. Which is virtually no chance.
But that was only eight of the over 300 prophecies! Figuring the odds of fulfilling all 300 Bible prophecies is ridiculously astronomical. Simply incalculable-- except that the real author of these prophecies knew the future.
The only answer is that God’s Spirit spoke through the prophets and it matters because there is still yet a prophetic ending to today’s story in Daniel.
The end of the prophetic dream and interpretation goes like this…
43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. 44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
Daniel predicted that there would be a kingdom established, not by human hands but my God himself. That the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed…it’s a rock cut out of a mountain, that rock that flew down and crushed the kingdoms of men.
Jesus himself fortold of his second coming…
1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time. 26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. 29 “Immediately after the distress of those days “ ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
And then John the Revelator saw a vision of the second coming…
11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.
There will be a day church, and we can trust him who is faithful and true…who is the very Word of God Himself. That one day he will come again. Just as he ascended to the Throne of God after his death, burial and resurrection. That he said he was going to prepare a place for us and that he would come again to judge the quick and the dead. There will be a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. The only question that arises on that day, is did you bow willfully before hand, confessing that Jesus is your Lord, or are you going to bow in terror of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as you recognize that He is Faithful and True.
As for me and my house, we have firmly landed on the fact that this is God’s spoken Word, and we will live our lives in simple obedience to the author and perfector of our faith.
Prayer
