Praise Our God in Heaven Who Reveals Mysteries

As soon as Daniel left the presence of the king he immediately went home, shared what had happened with the other three, and told them to seek mercy from the God of Heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed.

That’s not a hyper spiritual reason.

But there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to be destroyed. The situation was clear. Either get the dream and the interpretation, or lose your limbs.

This is an incredibly desperate situation. So what do they do.

Keep in mind that these are teenagers who have been displaced from their homes. Teens that are now praying together...

Let me challenge all of you, but especially the teens and young adults in the room for a moment. How do you know who your friends are?

They’re the ones who will pray with you and point you to Christ. It’s simple.

We’re all in need of companionship and friendship…but too many are willing to sacrifice what God wants in order to just fill a desire.

If there are people around you over here who will point you to Christ, and people over here who will pull you away, these are your friends, and that is the mission field. But you need friends like Daniel’s, who you can go to and say, we’re in trouble, I’m in a jam, let’s seek mercy from the God of Heaven. Let’s turn to the God of heaven.

And if, nobody is saying that in your circles, then YOU be the one who says it. Because that’s where your help comes from.

Psalm 121: I “lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

All your troubles, your debts and bills, your relationships, your marriage, your worries and fears, and most importantly the saving of the sinful soul, we need to seek the God of Heaven.

Jesus taught the same thing in His model for prayer.

“Our Father IN HEAVEN, Hallowed be your name.”

Family, our God is in the Heavens, high above the kings and kingdoms of the earth. Take your requests to him. Make them known to him, though He knows them already.

So they pleaded the mercy of God on their desperate situation, and...

v19. “Then the mystery was revealed”

As John taught us last week…this was effectual fervent prayer, and it availed. God gave Daniel revelation.

It came in a night vision. Could have been a dream, or a supernatural vision while he was seeking the face of God, but it was revealed to him. And immediately, Daniel blessed God...

Daniel had a relationship with God. He sought His face. God gave him revelation, and Daniel answered back with praise to God. His response was worship.

I want to just point out that revelation from God is something that comes straight from God. It’s a dangerous and even a blasphemous thing when a human leader claims to have received revelation from God as if they have a direct channel to Him that nobody else has, and then they use that as a platform to get praise for themselves.

If a man or a woman’s so-called revelation from God is making them rich and famous, they can say all they want that they do it for God’s glory, but I don’t believe them.

Let’s just walk through this little psalm that Daniel wrote and we’ll see a biblical response to revelation from God.

What we notice above all, is that Daniel exalts God. It’s a song about God, that blesses and praises God. Those are the best worship songs.

v20. Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.

His is the eternal God and his name is forever and ever. His name is I am, Jehovah, the God of all god’s and the God of salvation, and he is forever!

To him belong wisdom and might.

James 1:5 “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God.”

Because it belongs to him.

He is the forever blessed God to whom belong wisdom and might.

And then he mentions several actions of God that are still true today, and each one of them a reason to praise Him, even in hard times…even in exile. Maybe you need to hear one these, or maybe all of them.

1. He changes times and seasons

a. Praise Him, because he has that kind of sovereign power over time and history. He has YOU in a season. And only he can change that season. Praise Him for that! The season for all of us is one of temporary exile, but God will change that one day.

2. He removes and sets up kings

Every king and every ruler, with any level of authority of power over country or state, who has ever stepped in or out of power, was set there and removed by God. We praise Him for this. He has this sovereignty.

Remember that we only get small pieces of the picture. God sees everything. His reasons for allowing evil rulers are good reasons. He places his people, his remnant in hard places to be lights, to stand out as witnesses, to make His glory known.

Tyrants have been on the throne, and God’s people keep praising the God of Heaven. Why? Because we have an eternal home that is not bound or ruled by human hands, but by Christ.

3. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the understanding

Those who have been made wise by God, and those who have been given understanding, and then seek him for more wisdom and understanding, TRULY SEEK HIM, will receive it.

2 Tim 3:15 “from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Think about this for a moment. If you have Scripture, and you trust its truth, and seek God in the Scriptures, it is able to make you wise for salvation. There’s nothing more wise than that. Because in salvation through faith in Jesus, which in fact is the what Scriptures were written to reveal, we can know God, who is the GIVER of wisdom.

Praise God that me gives wisdom. If you need it right now, then ask him for it, and seek him for the understanding, but seek it through faith in Jesus Christ.

4. He reveals deep and hidden things

Praise God that he is omniscient. An incredible characteristic of God, that HE knows all things. Nothing is hidden, no secrets, no mysteries whatsoever.

Hebrews 4:13 “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Utter exposure before God.

Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, his deep secrets, unknown by Daniel and all the soothsayers of Babylon, are perfectly known to God. It’s the same with you and me.

Daniel knows this, so he seeks him, and petitions for his revealing.

Do you know this? What mysteries are you trying to uncover, what do you need to figure out? What direction do you need that seems like you’re peering into the darkness with no ability to see? And in those moments are we petitioning the God of heaven?

5. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him.

Where does light come from? Both physically and spiritually speaking, God is the source of light. Darkness does not scare God! I don’t mean like a dark closet, or creepy basement. No, real DARKNESS. Sin. Evil. Godlessness. God knows what is in all of these places, and he can expose them for the good of His people, and His glory.

These are reasons to praise, Church. We praise or God who is forever, and ever…who has all wise, omnipotent, sovereign over the kings of the earth, changer of seasons. We praise Him for he is the giver of knowledge, and wisdom and understanding. He is light, and the darkness cannot comprehend him, yet he comprehends all that is in the darkness. He is AWESOME!

Daniel gives him thanks for these things. God saw into the darkness and the secrets of the king, and gave Daniel the exact dream, and the interpretation to that dream. Small, and seemingly insignificant Daniel, because he would not compromise, is being used by God to make the God of heaven known in Babylon.

We need this today!

People need to know the God of Heaven. The maker of all things and the revealer of truth. And he does this through people who seek his mercy and praise him in everything.

In v24. Daniel goes before Arioch, the executioner, and he shows great concern for the wisemen of Babylon.

This compassion is noteworthy. Would you be so concerned for them? He hears the word from God, goes to Arioch, and the first thing he says is don’t destroy THEM.

Love your enemies, and pray for them, looks something like this.

Daniel is standing in the gap at this point.

“I have the dream and the interpretation!”

Look what happens next in v25. ARIOCH tries to take the credit. “I have found among the exiles a man who can tell you the interpretation.”

SO the King inquires, Can you do this?

v27.

Let’s first understand the gravity of the situation. NO ONE ON EARTH CAN DO THIS THING YOU ASK.

BUT There is a God in Heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known what will be in the latter days.

This is what the rest of the book of Daniel is going to cover. Things future from THIS point. The context of Daniel is primarily to reveal to the people of God the arrival of the Messianic kingdom in the first century.

Daniel tells him the purpose of the first dream: God is telling Nebuchadnezzar what is going to happen to his empire and rule. Probably something that the king thought about every night.

Now look at the humility of Daniel. v30. “But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.”

Standing before the king of the most powerful kingdom on earth, Daniel gives all the credit to God. All Glory to God. And all of this before he even tells him the dream. What if he’s wrong. This is how much faith Daniel has. He’s praising God, thanking God, giving glory and credit to God in front of the king, caring for others, and showing compassion. May we do the same in every situation.

Church, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. What we’re going to see next week is that this dream contains information about the coming of Christ who will establish a Kingdom without end.

But there is a mystery that a person can know today that was never revealed to the prophets of old. It’s called the mystery of Christ. or the mystery of the Gospel. It’s not a mystery like a puzzle that needs to be solved. But a mystery that has been uncovered already, and needs only to be believed in.

Here’s the mystery. There will always be a Babylon existing side by side with the Kingdom of Christ. In fact, every person is born with the spirit of babylon…rebellious, self-centered, prideful, and evil. Another exile from the tribe of Judah entered into the kingdoms of man, stood before rulers, spoke the truth, and gave glory to the father while even dying for His enemies. Because of His death, the darkness in each of our hearts, the spirit of Babylon has been struck down and a new King has been enthroned. God can be known by both Jew and Gentile who come to him by faith, and trust in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God.

Ephesians 3:6 “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

There is a God in Heaven, and this God reveals mysteries.