God gives distressing dreams
Be Resolved! - Book of Daniel • Sermon • Submitted
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· 17 viewsGod uses a Pagan, Gentile king to demonstrate foolishness of man
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Restless nights
Restless nights
Have you ever wrestled with a restless night and not sure why? Maybe dreams, worries, concerns that you just can’t figure out? Nebuchadnezzar is having some restless nights because God is using him.
(restless night slide)
We all have dreams, different kinds of dreams, dreams as in goals, aspirations of things we want to do, accomplish in the future. Most dreams are when we are sleeping, some bring happy memories or hopes. Some may bring sadness or even fear. What about questions, have you ever had a dream, or dreams that brought about questions? - - - man wants answers and the world is very glad to try to give man answers that only God can give, Psychics make a living from trying to do what only God can do, and we are seeing people in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom trying to make a living doing what only God can do in our passage. God uses dreams, previously (i.e. Jacob in Gen28 with Jacobs Ladder) and will with others in the scripture.
Some
This morning we are going to look at God brings distressing dreams to disgrace the worlds wise men that brings about some drastic consequences.
I think you will see throughout Daniel that God uses many ways to show His grace and His justice.
So, let’s take an overall picture of our passage today.
1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. 2 Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.
3 The king said to them, “I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.” 4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.”
5 The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. 6 “But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.”
7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 8 The king replied, “I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that the command from me is firm,
9 that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” 10 The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer or Chaldean.
11 “Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.” 12 Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
dan2:7-8
13 So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them.
What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you.
spend a few minutes with general thoughts on this
God Distresses a King
God Distresses a King
God has spoken in many ways, in many fashions (Heb1:1-2) and God when speaking to the Gentiles oftentimes used a Jewish prophet to do it, in our verse God is speaking directly to a Gentile King, repeatedly.
1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him.
Maybe you are wondering how can it be the 2nd year of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel has finished his training (Dan1:18-20)?
18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service.
18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service. 20 As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.
20 As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.
In Jewish way of calculating time, it would have only had to be a partial of 1st year, all of the 2nd year, part of the 3rd year , but really it was the 2nd year of his reign.
Now looking at (v.1) you will notice dreams, plural, meaning the disturbing dreams were continuing and it to caused him to be sleepless, or restless.
Have you ever had troubling dreams, disturbing dreams that caused you to lose sleep?
We do not know really the content of the dream at this point, we can know it was about the future (Dan2:29)
29 “As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place.
Don’t we dream, think, ponder, worry about the future too? Shakespeare once said “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
12 The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.
God gave him a dream the distressed, troubled him but no interpretation. God had done that previously too.
God gave dreams to Pharoah in Gen41 and sent Joseph to interpret
God gave dreams to the Magi (Mt2:12) so they would go see the Christ child.
God gives dreams, God gives the interpretations too.
Maybe there are questions, “Can God still use dreams today to communicate?” the answer is yes, but that is not the normal means of communication today, speaking of which what is the normal way God speaks in the last days?
How God speaks in the last days (Heb1:1-2)
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
I think we need to pay attention to the words used here.
After He spoke long ago
In these last days “has” spoken, notice the tense used, past tense
God’s means of communicating today (in general) is through His Word and by His intuitive Spirit.
Why not dreams? For we do not know if they are from God, demonic forces can use dreams too (See Jer23:25-32) so it is dangerous to think all dreams are from God.
so it is
Purpose of distressing dream is so that God’s name would be glorified and Daniel and his friends would be honored and rewarded. Just so you know (Dan2:47-48).
47 The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
Sorry, I could not hold back, had to give that to you today, more will follow on that in future study.
God disgraces the world’s wise men
God disgraces the world’s wise men
Paul speaks of man’s wisdom vs. God’s wisdom (1Cor1:20, 25) and our passage now, God does not have to do it directly, the wise men do it to themselves.
I don’t want us to go back and read the entire passage again, but we do need to be able to glean from it to see how God uses the worlds wise to prove the wisdom of the world is fruitless compared to the wisdom from God.
Like any ruler the king calls for his advisors, those he counts on to give him information, direction and the like, so here Nebuchadnezzer does the same.
Who does the king call for (v.2)?
What is the reason they are called (v.2-3)?
What was the kings demand, promise and warning (vv.4-6)?
Notice, what was the response to kings desire (v.4)?
The king did not command them to just interpret the dream but demanded they tell him his dream, the consequences were grave if they did not do it.
Something to consider, do you think the king forgot his dream and that was troubling him?
If God gave him the dream, God would help him remember the dream so was the demand a test to see the truthfulness of the wise men?
It would seem this a test, a deadly test of his wise men, by the way do you see anyone missing from the wise men? - go ahead look again (v.2) - Daniel is missing, Daniel and his friends who were found to be ten times more wise (Dan1:20; we read a little while ago).
This was a test of their ability and their veracity (which means conformity to facts; accuracy)
21 “Present your case,” the Lord says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says. 22 Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; 23 Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
Notice what happens in (v.7) they are trying to buy time, or get the king to change his firm decision.
What is the kings conclusion about his wise men (vv.8-9)?
liars, liars pants on fire! They were going to lie to him and he knew it.
How do the wise men discount their wisdom (vv.10-11)?
No one can do it (v.10)
How do the wise men discount their wisdom (vv.10-11)? caNo one cNo one
Only a god can (v.11)
So what does that do to them and their wisdom?
They did not pass the king’s test here, but we know some who did pass the kings test back in chapter 1, tested with food (passed), tested with wisdom by king (passed) and this will lead to another testing that will be forthcoming when we continue this study next week, but still a little more I want to touch on this morning.
God knows how to deal with fools and foolish wisdom (Exo7-12; 1Kn18; Jer28 and Act13:1-12).
God dealt with fools with Moses, Aaron and Pharoah’s magicians (Exo7-12)
God dealt with foolish prophets of Baal with Elijah (1Kng18)
God deal with a false prophet Hananiah in his dealings with Jeremiah (Jer28)
Also with a problem person to Paul, Simon Bar Jesus the Sorcerer (Act13:1-12)
In the passage today we see that by the Chaldean’s own words they do away with the wisdom of man and are condemning themselves.
Drastic consequences
Drastic consequences
I think by now you can see the king was serious in his testing, remember it is God who is really doing the work here.
12 Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them.
What is the kings demand/decree (v.13)?
The king calls for his command to be carried out, death to salesmen, oh wait, death to the frauds, his advisors, the wise men. Even the wise men that were not there at the time too.
Why did he issue the decree (v.12)?
He was angry, furious because they were going to lie to him and could not answer his disturbing dream problem.
How did it, would it impact others (v.13)?
Up until this point there is no mention of Daniel and his friends
A death sentence was given to be carried out even without their knowledge.
We too were under a death sentence even if we did not know it, but God in all His grace and mercy gave an opportunity to change the death sentence to an eternal life sentence!
Remember Gods desire - all men come to repentance and be saved!