Preparing the Province
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If you have your Bibles, you can take them an open them to Daniel 2. Last week, we worked our way through the interpretation of the troubling dream that Nebuchadnezzar was having. This dream was of a statue made of different metals. We concluded that each metal represented a different nation that would rise taking over the nation before it. The gold head representing Babylon, the silver arms representing Medo-Persia, the bronze middle and thighs representing Greece, and the iron and clay mixed legs and feet representing Rome. The entire statue would be destroyed by a rock, that is carved out of the side of a mountain, and a final kingdom that would be eternal will be established, and we saw how that was the Kingdom of Heaven with Jesus as the King ruling and reigning over both heaven and earth in the end times.
This morning, we make it to the last paragraph of chapter 2, focusing on verses 46-49. What we are going to find this morning is not only a God who gives dreams and reveals them, but also a God who prepares lands and all who are in it for his divine purpose. This divine purpose of God, as we saw last week, is to establish the throne of God, the Son, making all his enemies a footstool, but how we get to that point is also determined by God. God, using his vessels, Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, is stirring the hearts and sovereignly putting them in a place, to begin a long succession of Israelites influence to the thrones, but this begins by God preparing the province of Babylon for the accomplishment of his work. So if you will, stand as we read Daniel 2:46-49.
Body
Body
(1) Preparing Hearts: v. 46-47
a. Acknowledging God’s Vessel
b. Acknowledging God’s Glory
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
Application:
Two connections:
The dangers of a false confession.
James 2:19- You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
James 2:17- So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
The believer’s purpose in serving God is always to bring acknowledgement to God for him to receive the glory.
(2) Preparing History: v. 48
a. Providential Positioning
b. Providential Influence
Daniel’s Influence on Nebuchadnezzar
Esther’s Influence on Xerxes/Artaxerxes
Nehemiah’s Influence on Artaxerxes
Application:
Understand that God has you where he has you for a reason. You are not in your positions for no reason. Whether it be that you are a teacher, mechanic, plumber, medic, stay-at-home mother, it makes zero difference. You are placed by God, to be used by God.
(3) Preparing Redemption: v. 49
a. A Familiar Promise
Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
b. A Familiar Pattern
You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”
Application:
A call to believe
A call to witness
Conclusion
Conclusion
