Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro: Tonight we’re continuing the book of Daniel

Author

The prophet Daniel, whose name means “God is my judge,” is the author of the book of Daniel.

Not only did Daniel claim authorship (Daniel 12:4), but Jesus also stated that Daniel wrote the book (Matthew 24:15).

Date Written

Daniel wrote his book in Babylon, probably sometime after 536 BC...

About

The book of Daniel offers some of the most astonishing and views of the prophetic past and future in the Bible.

Daniel fits in both the prophetic and historic sections of Scripture, chronologically linking the time between the reigns of the kings in 2 Chronicles and the restoration of Jerusalem in Ezra.

The book of Daniel begins by describing what is called the “Jewish exile to Babylon” and ends with Daniel’s vision of the seventy weeks.

The historical events in the book of Daniel are the same events that took place during the lives of the prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah.

Daniel was a captive in Babylon, along with thousands of other Jews.

He lived and ministered in Babylon for close to seventy years, probably from about 605 to 536 BC.

During his captivity Babylon passed through the hands of at least four major rulers: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, the Median king Darius, and the Persian ruler Cyrus.

The Layout:

1-6 Historic Providence - which is as far as we’ll get tonight...

7-12 Prophetic preview

1-6 God’s Providence

Chapter 1

Daniel opens by setting the historical context: the siege, destruction, and pillaging of Jerusalem.

Nebuchadnezzar is named as the agent of the city’s downfall, but God was the architect: “The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into [Nebuchadnezzar’s] hand” (1.2) So even though Nebuchadnezzar was a mighty king...he was only a pawn on God’s chessboard.

The predictions made by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others had come to pass.

God handed His people over to their enemies as punishment for their persistent idolatry and hardheartedness toward Him.

Beyond that, however, God also had plans for this young man Daniel, contrasting light to in the darkness of this land…All of this would be clearly seen though Nebuchadnezzar social engineering plan

Nebuchadnezzar’s program included selecting the cream of Judah’s crop, its finest youth from its best families, and indoctrinating them in Babylonian language and culture (Daniel 1:3-5).

Daniel and three of his friends—Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—were among the chosen.

They were immediately given Babylonian names to rob them of their Jewish identity and conform them to the king’s standards.

Daniel was called Belteshazzar and his friends were renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

Part of this pagan programming involved bringing in the finest chefs in the royal court to cater decadent meals so that these young men would see how good things could be in Babylon...Where it appeared that their God had abandoned them, Nebuchadnezzar would step in and show them how good it was to serve him and his gods.

Daniel wasn’t buying it.”

He stayed true to God and resisted temptation, and God gave him favor with the people in charge, enabling him to show his intelligence and skill while living on a humble, kosher diet.

His star began to rise...

App: God said through another young man Samuel “I will honor those who honor me” and this is true…God will always honor you if you chose to live in a way that honorable to him

It may be in this life or it may be in the next…but It will happen

Chapter 2

So here’s the picture: After some time passed, God gave Daniel an opportunity to get into Nebuchadnezzar’s personal good graces.

The king was feeling the pressure of the power he had accumulated, and more money and power usually equals more problems…to the point where he had huge issues during the night

He would eventually call the guys he employed to sort out that type of issue—his magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers...They played it safe, asking him to provide the details, which they would interpret.

But Nebuchadnezzar was smarter than that, he knew they were stalling so he did what any ruthless king would do…he threatened them upon pain of dismemberment.

Daniel sees that thier lives are in danger so He goes to the king and says “i can interpret your dream.”

Daniel went on to tell the king about the image in his dream: there was this magnificent statue with a gold head, silver chest and arms, bronze belly and thighs, iron legs, and iron and clay feet—all of which was, in the end, shattered by an enormous boulder (Daniel 2:31-35)....Nebuchadnezzar’s astonishment must have grown with every passing detail—and even more so when Daniel laid out the dream’s meaning (vv.

36-45).

In essence, Daniel told the king, “Your power has made you sleepless and worried about your future, you’re wondering how long you’re going to be top dog, and what will come after you.

God is giving you a glimpse of the kingdoms that will follow.”

Then Daniel begins to tell of the major empires of the world up to the establishing of Christ’s kingdom at His second coming represented by the great stone “cut out of the mountain without hands” (v.

45)—God’s “kingdom which shall never be destroyed” (v.

44)”Later, Daniel would have his own nighttime vision that corroborated Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 7), but at this point, the king was blown away...Nebuchadnezzar praised God and made Daniel a provincial governor and overseer of the wise men

Application 1: Daniel in a way spoke of something that we often forget…Jesus is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords…every earthly king will eventually answer to him

God is sovereign over ever department of your life

Application 2: Notice that God used Daniel in what would be considered a highly secular environment, accomplishing a highly secular task…yet this was God’s plan

We often think that there is this “secular and secret split” when it comes to the ministry of the Lord…But here we see God using Daniel in a way that is out of the box…don’t think that because you ability is out of the church box..it can’t be used for God…God gave it to you…and He can use you in that ministry

Now, one of the things that Daniel makes to the king is that although he is the head of Gold on this statue, his kingdom will come to an end…so how does Nebuchadnezzar respond>

Chapter 3

It’s an account that probably everyone in this room has at least heard of.

It’s the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego getting thrown into the fiery furnace.

By the beginning of Daniel 3, sixteen years had passed.

Nebuchadnezzar had grown in power and pride, and made a gigantic statue, probably of himself, out of gold and demanded that everyone worship it.

This was his way of telling God…His kingdom is going nowhere...

The statue was ninety feet tall; he had it set up on the plain of Dura and commanded everyone that, once they heard the Chaldean Orchestra kick in, it was either bow or burn then He adds this “And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands”(15)

Now perhaps by now, he believed that these Jewish boys had forsaken their God and his Laws by now But they hadn’t.

Commandments one and two were still at the forefront of their minds and actions: no other gods and no making or worshipping manmade images.

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah just weren’t going to go along with bowing down before a giant statue of the boss

Notice their response...

Sticking up for God all these years had made these guys some bitter enemies in the royal court, and some Babylonians ratted them out to the king, who first threw a fit and then threw Shadrach, Meshech, and Abed-Nego into a huge, superheated furnace—so hot that it killed the men who threw them in.

Or KNJV SAYS “Like the Son of God” - So he looks in and spotted a fourth man with them in the flames Some scholars think this was a Christophany—a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus…and what was wild is that their was not one hair on their heads that was singed

Here’s the picture: These guys could not avoid the furnace…Jesus didn’t rescue them from the furnace…but he did stand with them in the furnace

Application: There are plenty of furnaces in this life

The ones we make

The ones satan makes

The ones God makes

God can keep from the furnace…But whenever you go through it…know that he’s with you in it

Don’t spend your life trying to avoid the furnace…spend you time getting to know God so that you can recognize him in the furnace

Chapter 4

So through out the last few chapters we’ve seen Nebuchadnezzer have these moments…moments where he’s blown away and humbled by God, and then he “flip flop” and wants to building statures of himself and force people to worship…and here again he’s praising God and but it wouldn't last

What is he a picture of?

Someone who knows God, but has not surrendered themselves to him as sovereign Lord...

Then something very unique happens, This pagan, Gentile king pens part of a chapter in the bible

And he speaks about another Vision he has in which his magicians couldn’t help him again, so he goes to Daniel and He interprets the dream

The dream, however, was different.

In it, the king saw a tree so tall it could be seen from one end of the earth to the other.

It was beautiful to behold; full of fruit; a shelter for animals, birds, and people.

The tree was Babylon, but there was an even higher authority, represented by “a watcher, a holy one” (v.

13), who shouted down from heaven to cut the tree down to its stump....and then the watcher—an angelic being of some sort—proclaimed that the one the tree represented would “graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth.

Let his heart be changed from that of a man, let him be given the heart of a beast, and let seven times pass over him” (vv.

15-16).

Then Daniel said this

Dan 4:24-25

No one could figure out the meaning of the dream until Daniel arrived.

He told the king, “I wish this wasn’t you, O king, but it is.

You’re going to be driven out into the fields like an animal until you understand that ‘the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses’ ” (v.

25).

Daniel encouraged him to repent in the hope that God might lengthen the time before

Think about this: Daniel is saying these things to a guy who can cut you up into pieces and turn your house into a mountain of dung.

But he doesn’t care.

He loves this guy enough to tell him the truth.

Did he? look

So Neb dosn’t heed Daniel’s warning but instead continues to exalt himself and so God’s vision comes true...

So God who had been a part of the rise of king brought him lower then all could have thought was possible at that time…now he would be restored but this time he would be very different, he was humbled and had a sense of reverence towards the sovereignty of God

And looks what accomplished because of it…

God brought him low so that he could truly be humbled and broken before the Lord…and see him as God…not just with his words but his heart

Here’s what we learn:

God is in complete control of all things

He go to extreme measures to break us of our pride