Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Matthew 10:16–26 (NKJV)
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.
You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.
But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak.
For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
“Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.
And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.
But he who endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in this city, flee to another.
For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!
Therefore do not fear them.
For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.
Jesus told these words to His disciples and we read them last week at the end of the sermon.
Daniel, his three friends, and all the wise men of Babylon were about to be killed by order from the King.
The King had many restless nights after having a dream.
He had called in his wise men to tell him the dream and the interpretation.
No one was able to tell what the dream was and Nebuchadnezzar was not going to tell it.
Therefore he knew them to be lying people and ordered their death.
Daniel and his three friends were also to be part of this group.
Last week, Daniel and his three friends did what they knew they should, they prayed.
They went before the LORD God in prayer and God revealed the dream and what it meant.
Daniel praised the LORD for the answer in a Psalm before going to the King.
Daniel still has no idea how the King will respond, but God had given him the answer.
An Audience Is Given (Daniel 2:24-25)
Reading these verses I pictured that scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and three friends go to see the Wizard down that long hallway.
Yet, while they are scared I believe Daniel was more steadfast (not cocky or prideful).
He goes back to the body guard for the king who was to be the executioner of the wise men of Babylon.
The deed had not yet started.
There had been a delay thanks to Daniel.
He was the person who was standing in the gap for his three friends, all the wise men of Babylon, and himself.
As a mentioned last week, Daniel’s gift from God of getting on the right side of people is a blessing.
He was able to get on the side of the chief of the eunuchs, the servant of the chief, and now with the Body Guard of the King.
He is just a teenager, but God was the one who was given him favor with these people.
His message to Arioch:
Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon (or cause the wise men of Babylon to perish / be destroyed)
Take me / Escort me (NET) to the King.
I will tell the King the interpretation
Once again, Daniel is putting himself out on the line.
He had put himself out on the line asking for more time and now he was putting himself out on the line by asking for an audience with the King.
Daniel has the answer from God, but how the King will respond he does not know.
Arioch takes Daniel in haste before the king.
There is no delay in bringing him to the King.
The Greek word (from the LXX) is spoude (spouday) and it sounds like a word meaning speed.
Daniel is announced by Arioch.
Man (young man)
Of the Captives (from the Captivity) of Judah
He will make known to the king the interpretation
The stage is set.
The spotlight is on Daniel as he approaches the throne.
God’s Got This.
Response of the King (Daniel 2:26)
Nebuchadnezzar speaks first before Daniel says a word.
We are reminded that here in Babylon he goes by Belteshazzar.
The King asks him a simple question that the wise men were asked.
Can you tell me the dream AND its interpretation?
Sometimes we are asked questions that we do not know how to respond to.
Daniel didn’t know how to respond to this question BEFORE he prayed with his friends.
He needed the answer from God.
His own skills and knowledge was not going to save him.
He needed God’s guidance.
We need that too.
Yet, how does he respond when speaking truth to power.
Truth to Power / Glory to God (Daniel 2:27-30)
Imagine that you are in front of the President of the United States one on one and he has asked you a question that if you get it wrong you could be killed for it.
Daniel is in the court of the most powerful King in the world (the known world).
He has influence across what we call the Middle East into Northern Africa.
He is powerful.
Yet, Daniel has come come to the King in the name of the Lord of hosts.
Daniel begins by stating what the Wise Men had said.
Daniel 2:10-11 “The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.
It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.””
Daniel says that the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers could not declare this secret / this mystery (mysterion) in LXX.
Nebuchadnezzar already knew this, hence the decree to kill them all.
His patience is already at a tipping point.
Daniel then points to the answer.
Whereas the wise men had said that the only ones who tell the king the dream were the gods, Daniel declares that there is A GOD in Heaven.
Daniel points back to the One true God before he answers the King.
God is the One who had given the King the dream in the first place and God was the One who gave Daniel the dream and the meaning.
All glory and honor to God.
God reveals or uncovers the secrets.
In the LXX it is not the exact same word, but has the root of same Greek word where we get the name Revelation or Apocalypse (Greek word for unveiling, revealing, uncovering).
This is the Revelation of God to King Nebuchadnezzar.
What God has made known to the King is what will be in the latter days.
But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future.
Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: 29 To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.
There is a build up before the dream is revealed.
Joseph speaks truth to Pharaoh
Genesis 41:9–16 (NKJV)
Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day.
When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, we each had a dream in one night, he and I.
Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream.
Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard.
And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream.
And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened.
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