Daniel 2:12-16 – The king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. 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.
The mightiest king of the greatest empire on earth was toppled with a single dream sent from God. Unable to sleep, anxious, and angry he demanded that the spiritual leaders working for his kingdom both tell him his dream and its interpretation. Unable to meet the request, a death sentence was pronounced on an entire department of the nation of Babylon. Included in that number was Daniel and his godly friends. They were finishing their third year of forced studies in demonology and the occult and under a death sentence.
From this series of events, we learn the following five things from king Nebuchadnezzar:
- People who are never under authority or told no are impossible tyrants.
- We are all like Nebuchadnezzar and having varying degrees of success trying to build our own kingdom, get a big home, amass a harem, and have other people serve us.
- A man who can conquer anyone and anything is easily conquered by God.
- Everyone needs God’s help. The rich and poor, powerful and powerless, wise and simple all have one thing in common – they need God.
- If you do not know the God of the Bible, no matter how great you have it on earth, you should be terrified of the fate that awaits you after this life.
From this series of events, we also learn five things from demonic counterfeits:
- A counterfeit spirituality or religion doesn’t work when you need it most. This is most true during life’s crises and upon death.
- The demonic can only interpret the demonic. The reason why the counterfeit spiritual leaders cannot know or interpret the king’s dream is because it came from God. Only God can reveal and interpret the true and the demonic realm cannot.
- Demons rule until the Spirit of God shows up. For generations, demonic spirits ruled in Babylon until the Spirit of God showed up and used four young slaves to shake an entire empire.
- All human wisdom apart from God – including education, spirituality, and government – are revealed to be a total and complete failure.
- God reveals Himself to unbelievers in supernatural and unexpected ways. Some people wonder what happens to people who have never heard about the God of the Bible and the truth is we really don’t know who has heard. As we see throughout Daniel, God can get a believer into a closed country as a missionary, send a dream or an angel, and do miracles to reveal the power of His presence. Just because we do not know all that God is doing does not necessarily mean God is not active and present in places like Babylon and Persia mentioned in Daniel 1-2, which are modern day Iraq and Iran. Today, descendants of the Babylonian empire are reportedly coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ through a common dream. It is frequently reported that devout Muslims go to bed and during the night have clear dreams about dying to stand before Jesus Christ for judgment. Many are being converted and the church in Iran is strong and growing according to many reports.
Please pray for the Christians in Iraq who are being persecuted and driven from their homeland, as well as the church in Iran which is growing strong, sending out church planters, and contributing to the mass protests to overthrow a demonic regime lead by the Spirit of Babylon.
In addition to this introduction to and overview of Daniel, you can find the corresponding sermons, daily devotions, men’s ministry resources, and hundreds of additional sermons and Bible teaching resources for free at markdriscoll.org or on the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.
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