The Origin of True Wisdom

Chapter 1 lays the backdrop, and chapters 2-7 form these primarily narratives that form this chiasm. 2 and 7 are parallel accounts of 4 kingdoms replaced by a 5th, chapters 3 and 6 are the testing of God’s servants the lions den and the fiery furnace. 4-5 are the accounts of proud kings being humbled.

Man has always been searching for the holy grail, the fountain of youth, the gold rush the Indiana Jones searching for the lost ark. But most people go searching never to find what they were looking for because the are looking in the wrong place. We have searched for wisdom the answers to life’s toughest questions. From the very beginning man

The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. Richard Dawkins

Daniel was not panicked because He knows where the source of true wisdom lies, and the one who holds the future.

The Plague of false wisdom

Daniel 2:11 ESV

The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

False wisdom comes by thinking that the gods are the source of wisdom, by thinking that we can divine some sign by them.

The Babylonians believed that the gods would communicate through dreams, that dreams were kind of like shadows revealing the master plan of the gods for the world. These dreams could then be deciphered through codes and through the stars and various mediums.

There is great danger in putting our trust in the things of this world.

Because as we are going to see the so called god’s are nothing, they don’t care about the affiars of men, they are mostly misceif and selfish beings. Only doing those things that are beneficial acting often on a whim, even at times playing tricks on the human realm.

Nebuchadneezar was in panic mode.

This is very reminiscience of the story of Herod and the wisemen. That when Herod was troubled at the coming of this Child King, and all of Jerusalem was troubled with him. Because when tyrants are troubled and perplexed you know that heads are going to start rolling. “If momma ain’t happy ain’t no body happy” applies especially to the realm of kings.

Life in the court of the king can be rather plush and nice until the kings is in a bad mood. Nebuchadneezer had a problem and his problem was the problem of the his wisemen. He call in the best of the best of his wisemen. But he requested something that no other king had done before.

It like having a problem with something in the house, and what do you do you call the professional , but you don’t expect them to ask you to diagnose the problem, all you know is that the A/C stopped working. If they ask you you would that’s your problem,you would likely say thats what you are here for, to diagnose and fix my problem and its already 100 degrees in here so if you don’t fix it now you might get torn limb from limb and your house made desolate. Just kidding don’t be like Nebuchadneezer.

Unfortunately for the wisemen of Babylon the task at hand was an impossible one.

Neb was in a panic. Like a piranna tank at college

Nebuchadneezar was perplexed.

vs 22 God knows what is in the darkness.

Psalm 2:1–3 ESV

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

Nebuchadneezer was left in the dark. He was in true panic mode. So he was grasping at anything and everything that he could to relieve himself of the burden, but could not.

Illustration of the boiler.

The Patience of True Wisdom

Daniel 2:27–28 ESV

Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these:

These words must have been like medicine to Nebuchadneezer like when David would play his harp as it was the only thing that could calm the troubled soul of Saul when the Spirit of God had left him.

The prayer of Daniel

Daniel knew were to go.

“I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.” Billy Graham

I know not what of good or ill   May be reserved for me, Of weary ways or golden days,   Before His face I see.

But “I know Whom I have believed And am persuaded that He is able To keep that which I’ve committed   Unto Him against that day.”

“I Know whom I have Believed” by Daniel Whittle

You have to know where to look. And Daniel knew where to look. God gave the dream God will interpret.

Story of the captains ship looks fine to me.

The praise from Daniel

The private praise from Daniel

This story would flow nicely if it flowed from verse 19 straight into verse 24 but the author wants us to see that Daniel was not in a panic. That Daniel went and told his friends to pray and ask the one in whom holds the wisdom and the power not only to give but to tell the meaning of dreams. He records for us a portion of that prayer in these verses.

The public praise from Daniel

The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail 3. Theological Testimony

There is a story told of Charles Spurgeon when he witnessed to a woman and she was on the verge of salvation she said, ‘Oh, Mr Spurgeon, if the Lord saves me, he shall never hear the end of it!’14 That should be our attitude—and even the way Scripture is written is designed to reinforce that pattern.

Daniels response was not that he could but that “there is is a God in heaven.

Here we see that the Lord answered the prayers of Daniel and his friends and most of us would be ready to hurry on to the next thing.

There is a parable in Luke 17 where Jesus heals the 10 lepers who asked Him for mercy, and they were healed but only one turned back to give thanks. So too we often times after hearing the answer to our prayers or seeing God work in some wonderful way how often do we stop to turn back and offer up the praise of Daniel.

History is not circular but linear

Example of a Dice. The world without God cannot know the outcome of history. To them the world is circular it just repeats itself and goes in this circular motion, kingdoms fall and kingdoms rise, all at the role of a dice, whoever is stronger or wiser. But for the believer, history is heading somewhere, history has an origin and it has an end goal. It all points to Christ. For Christ is the wisdom of God. He is the one who holds all things and the one who tabernacled among us.

The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail (3. Theological Testimony) It is not coincidental that the chapter ends with Daniel and his friends promoted to responsible positions within the Babylonian system … These men didn’t isolate themselves from the kingdom of this world as they waited for God to establish his kingdom; rather, they poured themselves into seeking the welfare of their temporary home in Babylon. Ian Duguid

Jeremiah 29:5–7 ESV

Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.