Fearful and alarming
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Peaceful times?
Peaceful times?
Everyone likes to enjoy peaceful times, tranquil times, but often times those times don’t last do they? Our passage this morning will go from peace to fear and alarming. Much we can glean from this passage, so let’s get started.
Peace after revelation (Dan2:46-49)
Nebuchadnezzar has as dream, has a fit and Daniel has revelation so to reveal the dream and the interpretation
This ends in the king acknowledging the God of Gods and the King of Kings
Peace after seeing the unbelievable (Dan3:28)
A fiery furnace and a hot time in the city brought about seeing the unbelievable and bringing another proclamation about the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego.
Peace that brought identification, proclamation and elevation (Dan1:20; Dan2:46-48; Dan3:28-30) e
Nebuchadnezzar found the boys to be 10 times better than his current advisors (wise men)
Proclaims their God the God of Gods, Lord of Lords
Promoted them above all the other wise men
Now, feeling secure in himself and his position, and in pride he built a statute and demanded worship, but God humbled Him and he comes to acknowledge the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. Now the king has another dream this time not troubling, but fearful and alarming.
Have you ever had times when you felt secure in your doings only to have things shaken up to know God is the one in charge, control not you?
Have you ever had a dream where you were fearful or alarmed?
Peace in self and self-will is not secure (Lk12:15-21; 1The5:3)
In the parable of the land of a rich man where there was abundance he wanted to keep for himself, the Lord required his very soul that day.
But quickly one verse to look at, well an interpretation not a translation but I think you will get the point.
3 About the time everybody’s walking around complacently, congratulating each other—“We’ve sure got it made! Now we can take it easy!”—suddenly everything will fall apart. It’s going to come as suddenly and inescapably as birth pangs to a pregnant woman.
As you will see in our passage Nebuchadnezzer was content, at peace, at rest and God brings a fearful and alarming dream to him, so now turn to Dan4:1-18 and read the passage then break it down
1 Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth: “May your peace abound! 2 “It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me.
3 “How great are His signs And how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom And His dominion is from generation to generation. 4 “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.
5 “I saw a dream and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. 6 “So I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.
7 “Then the magicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners came in and I related the dream to them, but they could not make its interpretation known to me. 8 “But finally Daniel came in before me, whose name is Belteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream to him, saying,
9 ‘O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream which I have seen, along with its interpretation. 10 ‘Now these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great.
11 ‘The tree grew large and became strong And its height reached to the sky, And it was visible to the end of the whole earth. 12 ‘Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, And in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, And the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, And all living creatures fed themselves from it.
13 ‘I was looking in the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an angelic watcher, a holy one, descended from heaven. 14 ‘He shouted out and spoke as follows: “Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit; Let the beasts flee from under it And the birds from its branches.
15 “Yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground, But with a band of iron and bronze around it In the new grass of the field; And let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, And let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth. 16 “Let his mind be changed from that of a man And let a beast’s mind be given to him, And let seven periods of time pass over him.
17 “This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers And the decision is a command of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, And bestows it on whom He wishes And sets over it the lowliest of men.” 18 ‘This is the dream which I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, tell me its interpretation, inasmuch as none of the wise men of my kingdom is able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for a spirit of the holy gods is in you.’
What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?
So, now let’s break it down. Here is my suggestion.
King’s proclamation (Dan4:1-3)
King’s circumstance (Dan4:4-5)
King’s request, a repeat performance (Dan4:6-9)
King’s dream contents revealed (Dan4:10-17)
King’s request (Dan4:18)
Kings Proclamation
Kings Proclamation
So the proud king, the king of all peoples makes a great declaration. A declaration that we too should be ready to make and make often in our walk and our life that is found in Christ.
First comes identification (v.1)
How does the king identify himself?
Who is the king identifying himself to?
What is the kings desire for the identified people?
Then comes declaration (v.2)
With the declaration there is the personal touch, what the Most High God had done.
What do you remember, think, the Most High God had done in the king’s life already.
He appointed him
He gave the Israelites to him
He gave him dreams, and gave someone to tell and interpret dreams
He made him witness of the unbelievable
Why did the king make the declaration?
Because he thought it was good.
Declaration, have you ever had to make a declaration before?
Do you declare things that are good in your life, do you declare what God has done in your life and through your life? (this is an encouragement, not really a question)
And proclamation (v.3)
Tell be about the elements of the proclamation?
Great signs, mighty wonders, everlasting kingdom, everlasting dominion (implied)
God gave Nebuchadnezzar the kingdom, the people, the authority, and the power, but power can go to your head can’t it. His pride built the statue (chp. 3) though he had moments of humility displayed too (Dan3:46) he fell down.
We need to come from a place of humility, a place of gratitude and thankfulness for all the Lord has done in our lives and through our lives and be sure to do it pointing to Him that He gets all the glory.
Now that leads us to our present circumstance that the king finds himself in.
King’s circumstance
King’s circumstance
The king now moves on to describe the current circumstance he is in.
A time of peace and rest (v.4)
The king had seen the power of Most High God now on several occasions and now he is at rest at home, at peace with himself and it seems he has forgotten the Most High God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego
A time of flourishing at home (v.4)
Can when things are going good lead to a time of lethargy?
God brings on a time of being afraid and being troubled (v.5)
Where was the king when he became afraid and troubled?
Where are you most often when that happens to you, if it happens to you?
At night, when the mind is at rest Satan tries to bring in things to trouble you, to bring about fear.
Even after he had seen the power of God, the wisdom of God, the protection by God may he became lethargic. We can do that same and need to be careful not to and to have the faith, resolved faith, active faith like Daniel and the boys!
King’s request; a repeat performance
King’s request; a repeat performance
As you look at this section, you will see the King did not learn the first time and now requests a repeat performance of something that did not work the first time. Just like last time it ends with the same, a young man resolved by faith stepping in at the king’s call.
Insanity - Doing the same things over again and expecting different results (Dan4:6-7)
What did the king do (v.6) - issued a decree
Who was the decree issued for (v.6) - bring the wise men in
Why was the decree issued (v.6) - Tell me the interpretation of the dream
What was the response to the decree (v.7)? - the wise came, but could not answer the king.
Previously it did not end well for those who could not do it. Because they wanted the dream to make the interpretation, they were told had to know the dream and the interpretation or else death sentence.
Here this time the king tells them the dream, still they could not answer him. Do you think they may have fear of death sentence again?
Memory kicks in and calls for one who bears true wisdom from above (Dan4:8-9)
Notice how the king addresses Daniel, both Jewish name and Babylonian name
What does the king acknowledge about Daniel (v.8)? - Spirit of God is in him
What else does the king acknowledge in (v.9) - Knows nothing troubles Daniel and knows he can tell him the interpretation.
So we have the king who asked the worldly wise and they could not interpret and now turns to the one who has godly wisdom knowing he can. Do you wander where was Daniel? Why did he not come when the wise men were summoned. Was he not the chief of the magicians?
Remember the king already proclaimed the Most High God but now turns to Daniel and petitions him and not the Most High God. Knowing does not mean you have a relationship does it? Knowing of, and knowing are two different things.
So calling, acknowledging and encouraging the king is ready to reveal the dream.
King’s dream content revealed
King’s dream content revealed
A dream filled with some symbolism, some things we can know from the dream, some we will have to wait for the interpretation to be given, but let’s briefly look at the contents of the dream.
The dream is about a tree (Dan4:10, 11)
The tree is described (Dan4:10-12)
Tell me about the description of the tree? - Great height, Strong, visible to all, pleasant to look at, it was fruitful, it provided shade
The command about the tree is given (Dan4:13-15)
He sees a watcher who gives a command for the tree to be cut down, but to leave the trunk and the roots. Also to put a band around it.
What can we know about the watcher (v.13)? - he comes down from heaven
The reason for the command given (Dan4:16)
what is the reason for the command (v.16)? a changed heart. from a man to a beast, and that the change would be for a period of time
The authority is proclaimed (Dan4:17) the
The authority is in the form a decree and the king knows that decree’s must be fulfilled and that it is going to happen. It was going to be, and for a purpose so the living would know the rule, reign of the most High God.
The interpretation promised (Dan4:18)
The king knows Daniel can do it and now calls for Daniel to do it since the wise men of the world could not do it, the wisdom of God would through Daniel.
The king saw, knew and came to believe in the faith of Daniel; can people see our faith so they can come to have faith of their own? The king had faith in Daniel not in the God of Daniel. We want people to come to a knowing faith in Jesus not in us.
Prayer, close