Lent day 5

 Daniel Interprets the Dream

24Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon! Bring me before the king, and I will give him the interpretation.”

25Arioch hastily brought Daniel before the king and said to him, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who will tell the king the interpretation.”

26The king responded to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me what I saw in the dream, as well as its interpretation?”

27Daniel answered the king, “No wise man, enchanter, medium, or magician can explain to the king the mystery of which he inquires. 28But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these:

29As you lay on your bed, O king, your thoughts turned to the future, and the Revealer of Mysteries made known to you what will happen. 30And to me this mystery has been revealed, not because I have more wisdom than any man alive, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.

31As you, O king, were watching, a great statuec appeared. A great and dazzling statue stood before you, and its form was awesome. 32The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, 33its legs were iron, and its feet were part iron and part clay.

34As you watched, a stone was cut out,d but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. 35Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation.

37You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength, and glory. 38Wherever the sons of men or beasts of the field or birds of the air dwell, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

39But after you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours.

Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule the whole earth.

40Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; for iron shatters and crushes all things, and like iron that crushes all things, it will shatter and crush all the others. 41And just as you saw that the feet and toes were made partly of fired clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom, yet some of the strength of iron will be in it—just as you saw the iron mixed with clay. 42And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so the peoplese will mix with one another, but will not hold together any more than iron mixes with clay.

44In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever. 45And just as you saw a stone being cut out of the mountain without human hands, and it shattered the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, so the great God has told the king what will happen in the future.

The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Nebuchadnezzar Promotes Daniel

46At this, King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, paid homage to Daniel, and ordered that an offering of incense be presented to him. 47The king said to Daniel, “Your God is truly the God of gods and Lord of kings, the Revealer of Mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.”

48Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. 49And at Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king’s court.

Lots to think about here.

1) Neb is really troubled by this dream.  Dreams can be powerful and disturbing and they stay with people in glorious technicolour for a long time.  Even ungodly people know that dreams can sometimes  be trying to tell us things.  Having the  gift of interpretation is important for the church - especially as in the last days we are explicitly told our young will see visions and old will dream.  Daniel asked for mercy and for his life to be spared. His answer was that he saw the dream the King dreamed. 

2)Daniel was humble - took no credit and explained that his God was the one who was able to reveal the truth.  

3)  This blows me away  V37  You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength, and glory.

I find it incredible that young Daniel and his companions had the grace and humility and discernment to accept that God was saying this king, who had ransacked their homeland, robbed the temple and kidnapped them from their homes was in fact appointed by God.  We know the OT scriptures tell us that God appoints and anoints Kings, but what about when it comes to the despots and the tyrants?.  The Mugabes and the Sadams and the Ghengis Khans and Hitlers?  Daniel wasn't flattering the King to wriggle out of a tricky spot.  He had seen the vision and understood it.  Nebuchadnezzar was a ' golden' king according to God.  Hmmmmmmm.  

4) I love the fact that Daniel states that the dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy BEFORE he gets any feedback from the King!!!   Thats faith for you! 

5) Old Neb is so gobsmacked he worships Daniel. This is what can happen when the gifts and anointing of God are evident in our lives. People think we are fantastic.  It happened to Paul In Lystra (Acts 14 :12)  It can happen to us too.  Not that people worship us, but they can see us as much more wonderful than we really are.  Many a leader has fallen for the 'love' of someone in their congregation after they have become a hero in their eyes through their ministry.   The saving grace for Neb is that he acknowledges where the gifts and anointing have come from.  We need to make sure that people really do see Jesus and not us in everything we do.

6) Daniel gets promoted and rewarded.  That's what God does. He promotes and rewards us, not because we have been good boys and girls, but because sometimes that's what He needs to do in order to position us in the right place for whats coming next.  Its OK to enjoy the rewards of God.  In fact He gives them to us for us to enjoy. With big gifts come big responsibility though.  Just saying 😊