Bad news for the king
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Tell me!
Tell me!
(Telephone ringing slide)
_ _ _ _ _ _ do not read below_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wise men were not very wise were they? But God’s wisdom was made known to Daniel and now time to let the king know the meaning of the dream.
(Intro/illustration) You went to the doctor, you told him your symptoms, he did testing, he consulted and now your phone rings . . . (expand on this)
(intro/setting) The king has had the fearful, alarming dream (vv.4-5); he did as he had done before he consulted the world and it’s wisdom (vv.6-7) to no avail; then came the man who would seek God and His wisdom (vv.8-9) dream stated (vv.10-17) and the request made known (v.18)
(intro/questions) Have you ever done that, did the same thing time and time again and expected different results? The king, well, he did the same thing, got the same results, turning to the one who has faith to believe in God who will give results.
Today may I suggest the breakdown like this:
The Passage (Dan4:19-27)
Hesitation with Bad News (Dan4:19)
Bad News presented (Dan4:20-26)
Bad News can bring Good News (Dan4:27)
The Passage
The Passage
May we look at the entire passage, see what we can glean from it then look at some points regarding the bad news after that.
19 “Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was appalled for a while as his thoughts alarmed him. The king responded and said, ‘Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.’ Belteshazzar replied, ‘My lord, if only the dream applied to those who hate you and its interpretation to your adversaries!
20 ‘The tree that you saw, which became large and grew strong, whose height reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth 21 and whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and in whose branches the birds of the sky lodged—
22 it is you, O king; for you have become great and grown strong, and your majesty has become great and reached to the sky and your dominion to the end of the earth.
23 ‘In that the king saw an angelic watcher, a holy one, descending from heaven and saying, “Chop down the tree and destroy it; 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 of the field until seven periods of time pass over him,”
24 this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king:
25 that you be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.
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.
27 ‘Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.’
What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?
(Glean from the scripture picture here)
How was Daniel (Belteshazzar) feeling(v.19)
Have you ever had anyone know what you are feeling by your face or your demeanor?
In your own words what was the king saying to Daniel (v.19)?
What was Daniel’s desire in response to the king (v.19)?
Again, i think no one likes to give bad news and in this case Daniel wishes that the bad news was concerning someone else and not the king.
You can see a description of the tree in (vv.20-21) and we will look at that description shortly.
Then comes the explanation, definitions before interpretation
What does the tree represent (v.22)?
What can you tell about the “watcher” (v.23)
Holy one, coming from heaven
Gave instructions to chop down tree
Gave instructions to leave trunk and roots
Now we get to the interpretation starting in (v.24) and it is about the king
what is going to happen to the king (v.25)?
why is this to happen to the king (v.25)?
what is the promise to the king(v.26)?
What is the advise of Daniel (v.27)?
What was the results (v.28)?
Hesitation with bad news
Hesitation with bad news
No one likes to be the bearer of bad news and Daniel has no escape from it since God has given him the wisdom to interpret the dream.
19 “Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was appalled for a while as his thoughts alarmed him. The king responded and said, ‘Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.’ Belteshazzar replied, ‘My lord, if only the dream applied to those who hate you and its interpretation to your adversaries!
Daniel wishes it to be good news, but it is not.
The king wants the interpretation and Daniel not to be astonished, or in some versions it says appalled.
Have you ever been appalled by something, appalled means
(insert Appalled slide here) -read the definition from the slide
Have you ever had something, someone that astonished you or appalled you? Daniel was appalled and he was leery to give the bad news. He was even alarmed by it.
Bad News Presented
Bad News Presented
So you are going to be the deliverer of bad news. You have been commanded to tell it, encouraged to tell it, now is the time to tell it. Pay attention to how Daniel tells it.
20 ‘The tree that you saw, which became large and grew strong, whose height reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth 21 and whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and in whose branches the birds of the sky lodged—
22 it is you, O king; for you have become great and grown strong, and your majesty has become great and reached to the sky and your dominion to the end of the earth. 23 ‘In that the king saw an angelic watcher, a holy one, descending from heaven and saying, “Chop down the tree and destroy it; 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 of the field until seven periods of time pass over him,”
24 this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: 25 that you be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.
26 ‘And in that it was commanded to leave the stump with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is Heaven that rules.
(insert - You are the tree slide here)
The tree is You! - Nebuchadnezzer you are the tree! - then look how he describes the tree before delivering the bad news (Dan4:20-22)
Strong, reaching to the heavens, seen by all (v.20)
The tree is abundantly fruitful providing food for all; provided protection and housing to the beasts and the birds (v.21)
Then Daniel describes it as the king and the kingdom (v.22)
Nebuchadnezzer had demonstrated his pride previously by building the statue to be worshipped instead of the God who gave him the kingdom.
Tree in other scriptures is an illustration of pride (Isa2:12-13; Eze31:3-17)
12 For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and lofty And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased. 13 And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan,
In Ezekiel 31 you can see the illustration of Egypt and the pride of the nation as a tree that was going to be cut down.
Another good illustration of pride is in Nathan telling king David of his sin and telling him “you are that man!” in 2Sam12.
God’s message from God’s messenger seen (Dan4:23-24)
Today we have God’s message in the Bible, complete, the full counsel of God.
To the proud the message can be convicting, humbling, converting, transforming, perfecting.
God’s message may not seem like Good News to the world, may even seem like bad news, but it is truthful news and should be heard and adhered too.
God’s message explained to the king (Dan4:25-26)
You will be driven away from - Home, kingdom
You will live like a beast
It will be a for seven periods of time
some believe it is 7 years
Some believe it is 7 days
the number 7 in bible is the number of completeness so until the purpose is fulfilled is where I tend to come in on this. Until the lesson is learned!
You have an assurance still (Dan4:26; Isa10:33-11:5)
The stump, the roots, the iron band is God’s assurance that your kingdom would remain and be restored to you at the end of the lesson, when the lesson is learned.
May I challenge us to turn to and look at even a greater assurance found in Isa10:33-11:5.
33 Behold, the Lord, the God of hosts, will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash; Those also who are tall in stature will be cut down And those who are lofty will be abased. 34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
The coming Messiah after a time of judgment!
Don’t miss out on the lesson learned (Dan4:26; Ps32:9; Act9:4-6; Act26:14)
26 “And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you, after you come to know that Heaven rules.
When Nebuchadnezzer realizes that God in heaven rules and is in control then the kingdom would be restored. So he had no place to get prideful, but should be boastful of the Most High God.
The great lesson for him, is the great lesson for us today that God alone is sovereign; God will not allow man to usurp His throne or take credit for His works.
We are the created, He is the Creator
He is the king of kings, we are the works of His hands and are subjects to Him and His authority
Nebuchadnezzar lived like an animal, there is another example of one like an animal.
9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you.
David after his pride and choices when it came to Bathsheba. Like a stubborn mule in delaying the confession of his sin and repenting. There is another example found regarding Saul of Tarsus
4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6 but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”
14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
People today can rebel, kick against the goads, when it comes to God’s truth, God’s sovereignty and act like animals separated from God, separated from the kingdom due to sinful choices-lifestyle
Nebuchadnezzar had a lesson to learn, and we may have lessons to learn too.
(transition to next point) bad news ends here with an exhortation, some good news!
Bad news can bring Good news
Bad news can bring Good news
We know the gospel is Good news, but it is only because there is bad news that makes the good news possible. Daniel gives application on what to do.
27 ‘Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.’
Turn from your sins
Do what is right
Show mercy
Daniel does not separate truth from responsibility
Know the truth, apply the truth (Jm1:22-27; 2Pt3:11-18)
Knowing the truth and not doing anything with it avails nothing and we are deceiving ourselves (Jm1:22-27)
We are challenged through the word to be responsible and obedient, look at this passage
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
grow, grow, grow by application and give God the glory along the way. The news was bad for the king, but it had hope at the end. We know the bad news and the Good news, be sure to apply the good because of the bad.
(Prayer)