Daniel 2:1-23 Human Wisdom vs. God's Wisdom

It would be nice to have, and you definitely don’t want to be a fool, but wisdom isn’t something you strive after. Hunger for. Die of thirst just to get.

We don’t seek it like silver or search for it as for hidden treasures like the Proverbs command (Proverbs 2:4).

But here’s the thing. Wisdom isn’t just about being smart or respected.

Wisdom is ultimately about salvation in Christ.

Without wisdom, true wisdom, the wisdom that comes from above mankind is lost in their sin, destined to grope through this world in the dark of their own foolishness.

So wisdom is a matter of life and death.

And unless someone is born again through the wisdom of God, the cannot see the Kingdom.

They cannot be saved.

Here’s the BiG IDEA from Daniel 2.

Jesus Christ is the true wisdom and power of God to save everyone who believes.

Human wisdom is powerless to save.

Only true wisdom, graciously given by God through Jesus Christ can deliver us from our sin.

So wisdom is not just something that’s nice to have.

It is the beginning of genuine salvation in Christ and the foundation for our life in him.

But we will never have the wisdom of God as long as we hold on to the wisdom of man.

My goal in this sermon is for all of us no matter where we are at in our faith, whether you are not a Christian and you are hearing the gospel for the first time, or you’ve been following Jesus for as long as you remember, is to see God’s glory in graciously giving us wisdom, and more and more leave behind the bankruptcy of human wisdom, our limited understanding, and build all of our lives on the wisdom of God.

Let’s start with point number 1...

I. Human Wisdom is Powerless to Enter the Kingdom of God

Daniel 2:1-3 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”

Nebuchadnezzar had dreams.

More accurately you might even say Nebuchadnezzar had nightmares because his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.

Something Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed terrified him.

Now here’s what you need to understand.

In the Ancient Near East, kings believed their dreams were shadows of the future.

That the gods, fate, whatever it was, was trying to show the king something of what was to come.

And so interpreting a dream was important. The king could maybe take steps to avoid what was coming or at least be ready for it.

Because of this, kings had special dream interpreters on their payroll.

Wise men who could hear the dream, and go to book after book after book of past dreams and history to try and find a connection or parallel between the king’s dream and these dream histories to try and interpret what the future held.

So Nebuchadnezzar called his men to work.

The king commanded the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and Chaldeans to come and tell him the meaning of his dream.

Let me simplify this for you. Think of the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans wise men.

That’s how Daniel summarizes them later so all these men are different parts of one group: the wise men of Babylon.

These are the king’s advisors. The best of the best. The wisest men in all the kingdom.

The men the king trusted most when the stakes got high.

So Nebuchadnezzar calls them all together and says Daniel 2:3 I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.

Daniel 2:4-6 Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.”

Whoa. Its getting hot pretty quick.

The wise men come and say, O king, live forever! Tell us the dream and we will tell you what it means.

Just another day at the office. Just another day helping Nebuchadnezzar rule the world.

And then Nebuchadnezzar cranks it up to 11. The word from me is firm. Listen to me!

If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.

Literally, that’s your house will be made a dung hill.

What Nebuchadnezzar asks is not usual. Usually, the king would tell the wise men his dream and then they would interpret it for him.

Now Nebuchadnezzar is saying not only do you need to tell me the interpretation you need to tell me what the dream was itself.

And if you don’t, I’m going to rip you limb from limb. I’m going to kill you, and I’m going to kill everyone in your family so that your house will have nothing left.

What does the king do this?

Well remember that they believed dreams were shadows of the future.

And as we will see next week, Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t wrong. God gave Nebuchadnezzar this dream, and it absolutely terrified him.

Now this might make you ask, why would God give this wicked, pagan king a dream?

Well remember where we are at in human history. Nebuchadnezzar was king of an empire unlike anything the world had ever seen.

Daniel himself later says that Nebuchadnezzar’s greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and his dominion to the ends of the earth (Daniel 4:22).

And in the dream, God says that there are going to be other world empires that come after him.

So God gives Nebuchadnezzar this dream to tell him and every kingdom after him, that they are water in his hands.

He is the Sovereign. He is directing human history. He alone rules the world, and he is going to give the Kingdom to the glorious Son of Man who will conquer every other kingdom, crush them to dust and rule the earth under the blessing, righteousness, justice, life, and peace of the Kingdom of God.

Why is God giving this dream to Nebuchadnezzar. To make it clear to everyone He is not just a tribal deity over the Jews. He is God Almighty. Creator of Heaven and Earth. The Only God and Sovereign of all things.

Nebuchadnezzar’s gods were vain delusions. Dead idols.

That’s what’s behind Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and that’s why it terrified him so much.

He needed to know without any doubt, what the dream meant, because it filled him with the dread of the Lord. And the only way he could know is if the wise men told him what the dream was before giving him the interpretation.

If they didn’t he would kill them. If they did he would give them gifts, rewards, and great honor.

Verse 7...

Daniel 2:7-12 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change.

Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.

The wise men answer the king and say what you are asking is impossible. No human wisdom could ever tell the king what he dreamed.

No man could do what you are asking for Nebuchadnezzar. Only the gods could do it, and they don’t dwell with the flesh. How would we even ask them?

Because of this Nebuchadnezzar was angry and very furious. He was enraged and commanded every wise man in Babylon be put to death.

And here is where we need to zoom out and get to the heart of why God put this in the Bible.

All Scripture is God breathed, and God could’ve just said Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and Daniel came and interpreted it for him.

That’s where we are going to end up.

But why all this drama behind it? What is God wanting to show us?

To answer that, I need to peel the curtain back a little bit and look ahead to what the dream actually is.

In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream there are four kingdoms. Four world empires. And there is a small stone not cut with human hands.

That stone strikes the Four Empires and crushes them to dust.

Then that stone grows. And it grows and it grows and it grows until it is a great mountain that fills the whole earth.

That stone is Christ the King of the Kingdom of God. Christ conquers every kingdom of men to establish God’s Kingdom, God’s perfect sovereign rule, over all the earth.

That’s why the dream terrified Nebuchadnezzar. He was the ruler of the epitome of the Kingdom of Darkness.

And everything he had accomplished would eventually fall to dust and blow away. Just another kingdom in a line of kingdoms that would eventually fall before the Kingdom of God.

And the wise men of Babylon, the best of the best, do not have the wisdom, knowledge, access to the truth, to reveal to Nebuchadnezzar his dream. They go so far to say it is impossible.

So this story is not Daniel vs. the wise men. Its God vs. the wise men.

God is showing us that His wisdom and His power are greater than the wisdom and power of the world.

That God has a plan for human history to bring His Kingdom to earth through his Son who is reconciling all things, to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross (Col. 1:20).

But human wisdom and human power, even the wisdom and power of the wisest wise men of the most powerful empire the world had ever known, cannot see the Kingdom of God much less enter into it.

That’s what this Royal Drama is all about. The Kingdom of God, Salvation in and through the work of Jesus Christ, is utterly beyond human wisdom and human power.

Like the wise men of Babylon We cannot see the Kingdom of God through our own wisdom and even if we could we would be powerless to enter into it.

If we are going to see the Kingdom of God, much less enter into it, we need a powerful work of God’s grace because if it was up to us and our wisdom and our strength we would be torn limb from limb under the wrath of God.

God must do it. We need God to give us true wisdom to open our blind eyes and overcome all of our sin by His amazing grace point because point number 2...

II. God Alone Holds All Wisdom and Power

Daniel 2:13-18 So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?”

Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king. Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Arioch came to kill Daniel, and Daniel says “Why is Nebuchadnezzar’s decree so urgent?”

Literally that means why is his decree so harsh, severe, or cruel.

And after Arioch tells him, Daniel requests a meeting with the king to show him the interpretation.

I love Daniel’s faith here.

We have already been told what the king has asked is absolutely impossible.

And yet, Daniel doesn’t panic. Even though it looks like everything is chaos and he’s about to be killed because the king had a bad dream, Daniel knows his life is in God’s sovereign hands.

He knows that his life is not chaos, but that God is always working in the good and the bad to glorify His name.

That’s an encouragement to us. Even when it looks like all things are falling apart, tearing at the seams, we know our life is not ruled by arbitrary chaos but the sovereign hand of God.

And in faith, before he knows the kings dream or its interpretation, Daniel says I will show him. God will answer me.

And so he went home and got Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, we need to pray. We need to seek mercy from the God of heaven to show us the dream and save our lives.

Verse 19...

Daniel 2:19-23 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

God in His grace and mercy revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel.

So we get a clear picture here of salvation. God saved Daniel not by human might and not by human wisdom, but by His grace.

And so for saving his life and the life of the wise men, Daniel prayed and blessed God.

Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.

This is the key to the entire prayer, and really this is the key to this whole story.

Daniel says blessed be God forever and ever, to who belong wisdom and might. Wisdom and power.

This is what God is wanting us to see. His wisdom and His power.

And the rest of the prayer praises God for these two themes.

Changing times and seasons, and removing and setting up kings proclaim God’s power, and giving wisdom and knowledge, revealing deep and hidden things and knowing what is in the darkness proclaim God’s wisdom.

And here’s the point. Here’s the point of all of it: Ultimately God wants Nebuchadnezzar, the wise men, and all of Babylon to know God alone is the true God. God alone can save. And God’s Kingdom alone rules the world.

God is exalting himself over all mankind no matter how great their kingdom is, and over all their gods.

His power speaks to His omnipotence. He is all powerful. Almighty. He governs all things in the palm of His hand.

His wisdom speak to His omniscience. He is all knowing. He knows the future and more than that he determines the future.

When you put both of these things together what you get is an all knowing, all powerful God.

And if that’s true that means God alone is the only one who deserves the name God. He alone is worthy of all worship, praise, and adoration.

God himself even says that His wisdom and His might make Him completely unique from the false gods of the world.

Isaiah 46:5-10 To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.

God says those false God’s are powerless and known nothing. They do not hear the cries of their people.

God continues, Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”

The end from the beginning is God’s wisdom. Accomplish His purpose is God’s power.

So the thrust of this story, the reason why God gave the dream to Nebuchadnezzar and then directed Nebuchadnezzar to demand the impossible from his wise men was to show everyone in Babylon that He alone is God.

That what He has shown Nebuchadnezzar will come to pass.

And that He alone, and not the false gods men make for themselves, gives wisdom and has the power to save.

So Daniel’s prayer praises God for His wisdom and power that sets Him apart from the false gods of Babylon.

He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings;

Now at this point in the story, we don’t yet know the dream, but Daniel does.

And that dream is all about one kingdom conquering another kingdom until ultimately God establishes the Kingdom of His Son, Jesus Christ once and for all to rule over all the earth forever.

So this part of the prayer demonstrates God’s power. His Sovereignty. His plan for saving the world as far as the curse is found.

And here’s what that means for you. Human history is not random. Its not all happening by chance. History is His story.

Its going somewhere. God is guiding everything to the Kingdom of His Son. To ultimately reconcile all things to Himself through Christ and His cross and bring all the nations and all peoples into His Kingdom under His rule for their good and the glory of His name.

God alone is Sovereign, and all glory belongs to Him.

he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.

These verses are profound, and first I need to define for you wisdom and knowledge. There’s not a hard and fast definition of wisdom because it is a larger, philosophical concept, but I want you to stick with me.

In fact let’s start with philosophy. Maybe it will help if we build this from the ground up and not the top down.

The word Philosophy literally means the love of wisdom. So if you want to know what wisdom is, ask yourself what questions does philosophy try to answer.

The meaning of life. What is good, evil. Right, wrong. What is our purpose or destiny?

The problem is, mankind tries to answer those questions with human wisdom. We might call it false wisdom.

James says human wisdom, human answers to the meaning of life, good and evil, purpose and destiny is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic (James 3:15).

Its earthly because it can never get beyond what we can see, touch, feel. Its wisdom that appears wise, but goes about 6 inches deep.

Its natural or unspiritual, because its built on us. Spiritually dead sinners who cannot possibly know the true nature of God, ourselves, or the world.

And its demonic because it ultimately comes from Satan who blinds the minds of unbelievers with lies of did God really say? so that instead of truly knowing what God created us for we run off in the opposite direction.

So what is wisdom? It is the meaning of life, values for determining right and wrong, good and evil, purpose and destiny as defined by God. That’s true wisdom. Spiritual wisdom.

Let me say it like this. You could call wisdom the good life. The true life. The life that is in harmony with God, our Creator and who God has made us to be. In harmony with our purpose and destiny.

That’s why the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).

It is seeing, knowing, and understanding the true nature of everything. That God is Creator, we are His creatures and all of our lives are to be lived in accordance to His Word, His purposes, His will...His wisdom.

So knowledge and understanding then are living with wisdom.

If you are wise in your own eyes you live according to yourself, your word, your purpose, your will.

But if you are truly wise, you actually live and order your life to be in harmony with capital T Truth. You live your life, and all of your life, in fear of the Lord.

Maybe the simplest way to say it is: Wisdom is understanding this is God’s world and being wise is actually living like it.

This is what the wise men were missing, and why it was impossible to see the dream of God’s Kingdom or to even understand it if they had.

Human wisdom will never have the power to save.It will never lead to true wisdom and repentance.

How can you even see the Kingdom of God and His plan for salvation in Christ, if you don’t even know there is a God or that you are a sinner who in every way has gone outside what God has created you for.

That’s why it was impossible for the wise men to know the dream and give its interpretation. All they had was human wisdom and that wisdom kept them blind from ever knowing God or understanding the glorious plan of His Kingdom.

Now back to the prayer, I want you to notice what Daniel says.

God gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.

This is not saying that being wise and having understanding are prerequisites or requirements for God to give you more.

As in you need to prove yourself worthy of true wisdom.

Instead, its saying men have no wisdom that God Himself did not first give.

Human wisdom is no wisdom at all. Its foolishness when held against the standard of the Truth: God Creator, Us creatures.

You could even say the sin of mankind is human wisdom. We think we know better.

We trust in ourselves and our wisdom instead of God and His wisdom.

Isn’t that what happened in the garden of Eden? Isn’t that how we got i this whole mess of damnation and judgment.

Adam and Eve wanted to be wise in their own eyes and determine for themselves what is good and evil.

They wanted to live by their wisdom and not God’s.

But God in His grace does not leave us in darkness.

God reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him.

In context the deep and hidden things are what is in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ and His kingdom.

It is deep because it is beyond our natural understanding. And it is hidden because we would be totally blind to it if it were not for God’s grace to show us.

He knows what is in darkness because he is the fountain, the source, of Wisdom.

Light dwells with Him. If we want to have wisdom, if we want to truly live for what God created us for, if we want to be saved, we have to forsake our earthly, unspiritual, and demonic wisdom and come to God for the living water of His wisdom.

And when we come to God in faith, empty handed because we know our wisdom and all of our strength is bankrupt, look how God responds.

To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”

For Daniel, God saved Him from a temporal judgment. From being torn limb from limb by Nebuchadnezzar by giving Daniel wisdom to see God’s plan and might to interpret it.

Don’t lose sight of the point of the story.

The wise men do not have the wisdom or the power to see God’s Kingdom. God’s plan for salvation in Christ.

God alone has wisdom and power and only through His grace can we see through the darkness.

Human wisdom will lead to death and judgment. To being torn limb from limb. But the wisdom and power of God delivers us.

And if we want to be saved from eternal death and eternal judgment, if we want to see the Kingdom of God and enter into it, then we must come to the True Wisdom and Power of God, Jesus Christ.

Number 3...

III. Christ is the Wisdom and Power of God For Salvation

This is what we have been building to all morning. Human wisdom and faith in human power can never save because 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.

1 Corinthians 1:18-20 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Remember our definition of wisdom. Its living in harmony with God and His world.

But there is a problem. Our sin. In our slavery to sin, we are in complete rebellion to God and His world.

And because of that, we are destined to perish.

That doesn’t mean vanish. It means come to complete and utter ruin.

You might say it is the eternal being torn limb from limb.

And Paul says, the word of the cross, the gospel message that God sent His Son Jesus to live a perfect and sinless life and die on the cross in our place for our sins, rise again three days later and ascend to the right hand of the Father where he now rules over the Kingdom of His salvation, in other words God’s wisdom, is folly, moronic, foolishness to those who are perishing, to those who trust in human wisdom.

But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. God’s wisdom in Christ is powerful to save us from our sin and transfer us from the Kingdom of darkness into His Kingdom of light.

Well why is the gospel foolishness to human wisdom. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

God wants to show that no human wisdom, no human striving, no human anything can save.

The only thing that can save is God’s wisdom of His grace in Christ that no one may boast, and God alone receive all the glory.

Then it says Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

In other words, God is asking where has human wisdom gotten anybody?

We saw earlier how it led to the fall of humanity into sin.

Proverbs 14:12 says There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Human wisdom does not lead to life, it leads to death. It leads to sin, and ultimately God’s wrath.

Look at Romans 1:22-25.

Romans 1:22-25 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

This describes every human person that has ever lived. We think we are wise. We think we know best. We think we know what leads to life.

But actually we are fools because we reject God and follow our wisdom so that we can satisfy the desires of our sin.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where has human wisdom gotten anybody?

Where have all our great thinkers, our philosophers, teachers, psychologists, counselors, scientist, economist, and government leaders gotten us?

Our culture has rejected Christ. They have forsaken the wisdom of God entirely in favor of vain human wisdom.

And look out at the world? Can anyone honestly say we are on the right path? That we are heading to a better Kingdom?

Human wisdom leads to sin, unrighteousness, injustice, and the wrath of God and leaves mankind lost, confused, corrupt, and on the brink of self-destruction.

This is why Paul says See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ (Col 2:8).

The wisdom of the world, leads to death, and only the wisdom of God in Christ leads to life.

Back to Corinthians...

1 Corinthians 1:21-25 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

The folly of what we preach is the simple gospel message the world sees as utterly foolish.

Why? Why is the world so drawn to human wisdom? And why do they see God’s wisdom as complete foolishness?

Because the gospel is a full frontal assault on man’s pride and independence.

The reason why men love human wisdom, vain and empty philosophies and religion is because we want to make much of ourselves.

We can figure it out, and we can save ourselves from hell and build a Kingdom of men that will bring life, blessing, peace, and, remove the curse of sin that torments us.

Our wisdom can get us there, and our power can make it happen.

And this is why the gospel is so offensive.

It says we could never save ourselves.We are absolutely, completely, unequivocally dependent on God’s grace and mercy in Christ.

The world rejects the gospel because its too easy. We receive God’s grace. Jesus lived. Jesus died. Jesus rose again. God forgives our sin because of Him. Not because of what we do.

And that’s why human wisdom can never see it. It doesn’t make sense, and it will never make sense. Its too simple, foolish, humbling for human wisdom to ever accept.

And that’s why it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

He alone gets the glory.

The only way to be saved exchange our wisdom for the wisdom of God.

To recognize our own bankruptcy from every saving ourselves and turn in faith to Christ.

To come to him empty handed and say I’m a slave to my sin. I followed my own foolishness and I have gotten myself into a mess that I can never get out of.

If you don’t save me, I will be torn limb from limb under God’s wrath.

And God in his grace will take our sin and give us Christ’s righteousness. Take our poverty, and give us riches. Take our death, and give us life.

But only if we stop trusting in ourselves and put all of our faith in Christ, the wisdom and power of God.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

When Paul says Jews demand signs he is talking about the kind of people who want God to prove to them He’s real.

They want God to show His supernatural power, before they believe in him.

And here’s what’s ironic. In the case of the Jews, Jesus showed them sign after sign after sign.

And today, God continues to show sign after sign after sign every where we look. Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

And ultimately God has shown His power to save in raising Jesus from the dead.

Demanding signs in the face of all the displays of God’s power is just another way justifying trusting in ourselves and hold on to our wisdom instead of submitting all of our life to God.

Greeks seeking wisdom is what we’ve been talking about.

Its people who seek man-centered self-salvation that appeals to all of our ego, pride, value and goodness.

A road map of human striving that leads to the good life and eternal salvation.

And the answer to both of these is Christ and Him crucified.

He is the power of God because he alone has the power to save sinners and deliver them out of darkness and into eternal life.

And He is the wisdom of God because He alone reveals who God is and what God made man to be.

He is the path to true life. True knowledge. True understanding

Or as Jesus himself said, John 14:6 I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

What did Daniel say? The light dwells with him.

Paul says, the light God dwells in is unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16).

The only way to God and life, the only way to wisdom is Jesus Christ.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Man will never be wise enough or strong enough to save themselves. The only thing that can save is God’s power and wisdom in Jesus Christ.

And the good news of the gospel and the good news of Daniel 2 is that God is so loving, kind, merciful and gracious to unworthy sinners that despite their foolishness and rebellion against him, that in Christ he freely gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him.

Jesus Christ is the true and only wisdom and power of God to save everyone who believes.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Col 1:15-23 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.

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