DANIEL 2 NEBUCHADNEZZARS DREAM2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Daniel 2 Nebuchadnezzars Dream

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

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By human knowledge, it had to be supernatural. And so those who deny the existence of God or deny the miracle or miraculous work of God, they just figure, well, it couldn't have been Daniel who wrote it. And so maybe it was written a long time later or, you know, there's all kinds of things that they tried to come up with.

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But the reality is what we're seeing here is the supernatural work of God in the life of Daniel. And as we look at these things, the whole book of Daniel really, I believe, is really good wisdom for the workplace. And I'll probably be reminding you of that as we go on through in our studies in the coming weeks. It's wisdom for the workplace.

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Because as you read this, as we spend time here, I would like you to consider that Daniel is not at the temple. And these things are not, you know, the revelation of the law or the testimony of the Ten Commandments. Daniel's at work. He is taken captive. He's there in Babylon. He's in a position of power there in the Babylonian kingdom.

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And he's doing his job and his job is to serve the king and to provide counsel and insight and to do whatever else the king says. And so there in his workplace, ministering to his employer are the things that we're reading about today. And I think it's important to understand it in that light because as you and I have employers, as we are in the workplace, we

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There's a need for the supernatural. There's a need for the work of God. And so many times we limit the idea of God or the opportunity

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opportunity for God to work to things that happen, you know, at this location or at a church or at a Bible study. But the reality is God wants to work supernaturally through us wherever we are. And Daniel is an incredible example of that. And so let's get started here in Daniel chapter two, looking at verses one through three. It says this,

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Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said to them, I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.

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King Nebuchadnezzar, he's the king of Babylon. He is the king of a very vast kingdom, a very powerful kingdom. He is the king of a nation, the nation of Babylon. And as king, he has basically unlimited authority.

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And so he's got all of this power. Now it's very early in his reign. It says it's the second year of King Nebuchadnezzar's reign. And so it's pretty early in his reign. He's kind of just beginning his journey there as king in Babylon. And as he's there, he's enjoying the reign. He's enjoying the power that he's been given. But he has a dream that begins to trouble his heart.

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He has actually a couple of dreams or perhaps it's the same dream over and over again and it's troubling him. It's causing him anxiety. He's not able to sleep. He's not able to rest because of these dreams that he keeps having.

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And so finally he decides, well, there must be a reason for these dreams. There must be more purpose to it. You know, it wasn't that I just had too much to eat late at night. It wasn't, you know, that my mind is just playing tricks on me. But there's something significant about these dreams. There's some meaning here. There's some purpose to it.

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And so King Nebuchadnezzar calls together all of his wise men. They're called the Chaldeans because that's the class of wise men that was there in Babylon. The sorcerers as well, the magicians. Everybody he could think of, his whole council. Everybody he would ever think to ask insight from. He calls them all together.

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And they're standing before the king and he says, listen, I need to understand my dreams. I need to know what it is that I'm dreaming. So we continue in verse 4. It says,

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The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, My decision is firm. If you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore, tell me the dream and its interpretation."

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And so he calls this great counselor together. He says, I've had these dreams and I want to know what they mean. And so they say, no problem. Tell us the dreams. What is it that you've dreamt? And then we'll tell you what it means.

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And so these wise men, as they're standing before King Nebuchadnezzar, they're desiring to know what he dreamed so that then they can go and find the particulars and say, oh, you saw this, and so this means that, and use their wisdom from all of their research and all of their studies and all of their sorceries or whatever methods they had to try to explain the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had.

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Now what we find here in this account is the wise men were really not that wise. And although they claimed to have these supernatural powers, in reality they did not. And so they wanted him to tell the dream so that they could make something up. They were faking it. They were going to make up a story, make up an interpretation that sounded good, that would seem to make sense, once Nebuchadnezzar would tell them the dream.

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But King Nebuchadnezzar desires, for whatever reason, to test them. He says, "If you just give me the interpretation, well, how do I know that that interpretation is real?"

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But if you tell me the dream and then give me the interpretation, then I know that I can trust your interpretation. And so he sets up this test. He asks them, he requires of them to tell first the dream and then the interpretation. They have to know what he dreamed and then give him the interpretation.

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Now the Chaldeans don't like this. They want him to tell the dream because without the dream, they're unable to really answer him and tell him what had taken place in his mind as he slept. Verse 7,

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They answered again and said,

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The Chaldeans answered the king and said, ìThere is not a man on earth who can tell the kingís 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.î

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And so here the Chaldeans, they're saying, tell us the dream. We'll interpret it for you. Just tell us what the dream is. And the king's on to them. He's wise to their ways. He understands. He's like, you guys are just stalling. You're just trying to kill time. You're trying to wait until this whole dream thing is passed and I've moved on to something else. And you're just trying to stall, to kill time. And he says, here's what's going to happen. If you can't

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Tell me my dream and the interpretation, then you guys are going to be put to death. So now it's time. Tell me. Let me know. And the Chaldeans once again respond, it's not possible. There's nothing that we can do to tell you the dream. It's very difficult what you're asking us to do. They say basically only a God could do that. And as far as they know, gods don't make their dwelling in the flesh.

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They don't reveal themselves to mankind. They are not aware of the true and living God who has revealed himself. In fact, as John tells us, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God has dwelt among us. He dwelt among the Israelites in the temple, in the tabernacle. He dwelt among them in the person of Jesus. That was later on as far as this account is concerned. But

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But God's desire has always been to dwell with man. In fact, in the book of Revelation, when we get to the end where we're looking at the kingdom of God that is established and the eternity that God has in store for His people, the announcement is made there that the dwelling of God is with man. That's always been His desire. That's what God created mankind for, to dwell with Him and for Him to be with them. God desires that relationship with us.

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But these guys, these wise men, so-called, they had no idea about the true and living God. They didn't know him. They weren't aware of him. They didn't have relationship with him. And so as the king is asking this impossible request, they just figure that's impossible. There's no way for that to happen. We can't do that. Verse 12.

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Verse 1.

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Then Ariok made the decision known to Daniel. So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time that he might tell the king the interpretation. And so the command goes out now. The king's furious. These wise men, they're just stalling. They're just trying to get him to tell the dream so they can make something up.

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They have no real wisdom, no real insights. And so, furious in his fury, in his anger, he gives the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

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Now apparently Daniel and his friends, they weren't there. So those that King Nebuchadnezzar called didn't include Daniel. And perhaps it's because they were still in the training program that we dealt with last week. Or maybe it's another reason, but they weren't part of it. But now the command is to kill everyone, even those who weren't there that night for the interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. All of them in the kingdom, they're to be put to death.

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And so he sends out this urgent command. He's furious. He's so angry because they're unable to tell him the dream. And so the captain who's in charge of this, Ariok, he goes to Daniel.

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Because Daniel's on the list. He's one that is meant to be put to death by the king's command. And Daniel talks with him for a couple moments and says, what's going on? Why is this so urgent? What's happening? And Ariok explains to him what happened. King Nebuchadnezzar had this dream. The wise men weren't able to tell him the dream. And so Daniel here shows some incredible wisdom.

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He goes in and asks the king to give them time. He was respectful. He was tactful. We talked about that last week in chapter 1 verses 11 through 13. He used the proper channels and he goes before the king and he makes a request for more time. Just give us a little bit of time, King Nebuchadnezzar, and we'll get you the dream and the interpretation.

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Now again, I suggest to you that the book of Daniel includes for us wisdom for the workplace. Have you ever been in a difficult spot?

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in the workplace? Have you ever been in those situations? Just, you don't have to raise your hand, but consider. I'm sure most of us have been in a situation like this where, you know, the boss has asked for something that is impossible. Your boss ever expect that from you? That what you're supposed to do, what you're supposed to bring, what you're supposed to accomplish

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Everybody else around you saying, it's just not possible. There's no way we can do this. We can't get these things accomplished. We can't do it this way. But that's what the boss has said. Now, fortunately, we have some regulations and things so your boss can't just say, well, off with your head then. That's good.

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But they have this urgency because, of course, their life's at stake. And so Daniel, notice he's respectful, he's tactful. And as we deal with those situations in the workplace or wherever we might be, it is important to show that same character and nature, that we show respect. And he makes requests. He goes before the king and he makes the request to have some more time.

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Now again, this was not at the temple. This was not, you know, about God's law or anything really about the scriptures. Daniel's at work. This is where he lives. This is where he works. This is his job. And so in the midst of his employment, God is going to do an amazing work through him. Verse 17 says,

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Then Daniel went to his house and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning the secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

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Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness and light dwells with him.

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I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers. 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 demand. Here Daniel now goes to his friends. We talked about his friends last week, Kenaniah, Mishael, and Azariah.

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These are his friends that are also faithful to the Lord. He says, here guys, here's the situation. And this is what the king demands. And this is what happens if we aren't able to meet his demands. And so they begin to pray. Now, it's interesting to note, I think it's important to point out, why are they praying? Well, they're praying to seek the mercies of God. It tells us there in verse 18.

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so that they would not perish along with the rest of the wise men. They're not praying so much that, you know, God, we want to have these supernatural powers. We want to declare visions. What are they praying? Why are they praying? What's their motivation? Lord, we don't want to die. We want to live. And so with that in mind, as they come to prayer, it's with urgency. That they're fighting for their lives.

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They're desperate. They're praying to God. They're asking God because their lives are on the line. It's a shame when that's the only time that we go before the Lord. But listen, you should never be ashamed to go before God in times of desperation. Certainly, we should be involved in a relationship with God that extends beyond the desperate times when we call out to Him.

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But don't let the fact that you've not really been following Him or walking with Him stop you from calling out to Him in the desperate times. It's okay. God knows. We, you know, start to feel guilty or the enemy will use those things and make us feel like, hey, you can't call on God now. I mean, you haven't called on Him for 75 years. Now you're going to call on Him? But the reality is in desperate times, God invites us to call on Him, to look to Him.

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Now it'll make it more difficult if we're not continually walking in that relationship with Him. But that doesn't mean we can't come to God in those desperate times. And so here they are in a desperate time. Their lives are on the line and they're calling out to God, Lord have mercy, show us this secret, show us and resolve this situation for us. And then it tells us in verse 19 that the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.

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And so God gives Daniel the understanding of this dream. He tells him what it is, probably gives him the dream itself, and then gives Daniel the interpretation of the dream, which we'll read about in a few more verses. And so Daniel and his friends, they go to pray, and God answers their prayer. And then as God answers their prayer, they begin immediately to rejoice, to celebrate, to praise God and give Him glory.

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As God reveals the dream to Daniel, it brings them to praise the Lord and to bless the Lord. It says there in verse 20, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are His. Wisdom and might are His.

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Wisdom belongs to God. Daniel's recognizing the source. He's not suggesting, oh, good thing I'm so smart. Or good thing I'm so spiritual. Good thing I'm so wise. No, wisdom and might belong to the Lord. Blessed be His name. He's the one.

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Daniel is very careful throughout this whole chapter to give God the glory. And that's very important. As we pray and as God answers, that we give God the glory. That we don't take the credit for the things that God does.

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Daniel declares wisdom and might are his. You know, James tells us in James chapter 1 verse 5, he says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. And so Daniel's recognizing he's received wisdom from God. And why did he receive it? Because he asked for it. James tells us, look, if you lack wisdom, ask God.

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He will give you the wisdom that you need for the situations that you face.

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What are the situations that you face as you are here this evening, as you're listening to this, as you're looking at Daniel chapter 2 with us? What is it that you're facing? What is it that you need wisdom for? Do you have a lack of wisdom where you need the answer, you need resolution? Listen, God can reveal someone else's dream to Daniel. He can show you what you need to know so that you can handle the situation that you face.

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And maybe it is because your boss is asking for the impossible. Maybe there is some type of situation within the workplace that you're facing. Listen, don't grumble and complain and freak out like everybody else. Go pray. Get a couple friends together who also believe and trust the Lord and pray and ask God to give you wisdom. And then as He does, give Him glory. Worship Him. Praise Him. Bless His name.

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That's what we see modeled for us in Daniel here. He says there in verse 23, I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers. You have given me wisdom and might. God gave him wisdom because he asked for wisdom. Again, James says, if you lack wisdom, ask God. Ask God. Now that doesn't mean just you need wisdom for understanding what Daniel chapter 2 is all about. But you need wisdom for dealing with that situation in your home. Ask God.

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You need wisdom for dealing with that situation in the workplace. Ask God. You need wisdom for dealing with that situation, whatever you might be, or whatever you might be involved in. Ask God. You see, God's way interested in our lives. Not just in, you know, here at church and the limited time that we're here in this place. But He's interested in all aspects of our lives. And He wants to help us and for us to be with Him.

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in every aspect, in every element of our lives. From the time that we wake up to the time that we go to sleep and everything in between. He wants to be involved in our lives. He loves us dearly. He's crazy about us. He wants that fellowship with us. He wants to empower us, to strengthen us. And He wants to work through us so that others around us will get to know Him as well. And that's what's happening here in Daniel. He's at work. And God gives him wisdom

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to fulfill this impossible request that King Nebuchadnezzar makes. Verse 24, Therefore Daniel went to Ariok, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him, Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation. Then Ariok quickly brought Daniel before the king and said thus to him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation.

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The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?

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Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said,

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As he's given this revelation from the Lord, he goes to that guy who is scheduled to or commanded to kill all the wise men. He says, don't kill anybody else. I have it. I can answer the king. And so Ariok takes him before the king. And I love what Ariok does. It's very typical in the workplace, isn't it? He says, I have found a man of the captives of Judah. I did it.

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You can congratulate me. Thank you. I'll take a raise now. I did it. Now, it's really Daniel who said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You know, let me go pray. And then he comes, he finds the area. Okay, I've got it. Now, let's go. But, you know, things being the way they are in the workplace, you know, it's important to look out for yourself. That's what unbelievers think. That's the way that they think. And so, hey, taking the credit. I did it. I got this guy. All right, King Nebuchadnezzar. Here's the guy. He can answer your question.

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And so King Nebuchadnezzar, he's a little bit skeptical. He's all, can you tell me the dream and the interpretation? And Daniel, he says, look, all the rest of your guys, now he's being nice. I would have said all these fools, they can't answer the king. It is impossible what you have asked. They can't declare it to the king, but there's a God in heaven. And so from the very beginning, again, Daniel is very careful to give glory to God through all of this.

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He says to the king, there's a God in heaven. Now imagine for just a moment, if you were to have that conversation with your boss. As the impossible demand, as the difficult situation is there. And everybody else is freaking out. They can't handle it. But there you are. And you're saying, I can take care of it. I can do it. I can handle it. These guys can't. Because it's impossible for us. Listen boss, there's a God in heaven.

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Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that boldness? That openness? Daniel's making sure here to give glory to God. There is a God in heaven. He reveals secrets. He's made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

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And so now Daniel is giving him some insight about this dream. You're right, King. This isn't just an ordinary pizza dream. This is a dream that has significance about the end days, the end times, the latter days. This is a dream that has significance about the days that are to come. It's prophetic. There's some important things that God wants to speak through these. Verse 29. Verse 29.

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He says,

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Now Daniel, again, is making it very clear. Again, he's going to great lengths. You need to understand, King, this isn't because I'm so wonderful. This isn't because I'm so smart. This isn't about me. Here were the thoughts that were on your mind. This is what you were thinking about as you went to sleep. And God gave you the dream as an answer to those questions that you were asking. You were thinking about, well, what's it going to be like after this?

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My kingdom is done. What's it going to be like after Babylon is over? What's going to happen next? That's what his thoughts were. And God gave him this dream in answer to those thoughts. But he says, look, it's God who reveals secrets that has made known to you what will be. And he says, look, it's not because I've got so much more wisdom than everybody else.

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But it's because you threatened our lives and God's preserving our lives. He's taking care of me and that's why he's given me the revelation, the understanding. It's not because I'm so spiritual. It's not because I'm so wise. It's because you threatened my life and God desires to preserve my life. Now again, he's speaking very openly, very boldly to the king. And imagine if you were able to speak in such a way to your employer.

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As your job is on the line or as this situation is intense or that difficulty is faced and you go before the Lord and God gives you insight. He tells you what to do and you handle the situation and so you get, you know, awarded there at the company and make sure you give God glory. Make sure you recognize. Make sure you declare. This is not because I'm smart. This is not because I have wisdom. This is because there's a God in heaven and He told me what I need to do.

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We need to make sure that we give glory to God. This is wisdom for the workplace, guys. This is how to resolve situations, how to handle those things that come across our way. This is Daniel's example for us that we might go before the Lord to ask for wisdom, but then to make sure when He gives us the wisdom that we need, that we give Him the glory that He deserves.

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Well, now Daniel will go on to describe the dream and we'll talk about the interpretation as well. In verse 31 it says, You, O king, were watching, and behold, a great image. This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you, and its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

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Verse 2.

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Here's the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. You can tell it's not a normal dream. It's something that was, well, it was unordinary. It was unusual.

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It wasn't, you know, the normal dream that Nebuchadnezzar, you know, you're running away and as fast as you tried to run, you know, you weren't moving and, you know, those kinds of dreams that we all know and we have, you know. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, you dreamed that you were falling and then you woke up, you know, and you're kicking the clothes off of you or the covers off of you, you know, you were startled when you woke up. It wasn't, you know, one of those normal dreams. This is something interesting. There was a statue, an image that you were looking at.

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And it had all of these different elements to it. There was gold and silver and bronze and iron and iron and clay. And then there was this rock that was cut out, but there was no hands. And it struck the statue and it became dust and just went into nothing, went into oblivion. And then this rock that struck the statue grew and filled the whole earth.

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That's quite an interesting dream. That's pretty significant. And King Nebuchadnezzar, there's meaning to it. Verse 36, This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. Verse 37,

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You, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. And so I have what possibly might be a picture of what the image that King Nebuchadnezzar saw. And he starts from the top.

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And there in verse 36 and 37, he tells the king, you're the head of gold. You are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. He says, wherever there in verse 38, the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the fields, or the birds of the heaven, he's given them into your hand and has made you ruler over all them. You are this head of gold.

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So the head of gold actually represents the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian Empire ruled by King Nebuchadnezzar at the time, but continued on into about 539 BC. Now we'll see the end of the Babylonian Empire in the book of Daniel when we get to Daniel chapter 5.

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And so this head of gold represents the Babylonian empire. Now the king of Babylon had power like no other kings after. And the nations that would come after Babylon, none of them had power like the king of Babylon had power. He had unlimited power. Whatever he said went.

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Now here in our government, you know, there's checks and balances and the one who's in charge can't just do whatever they want. They have checks and balances to keep them accountable to the things that they do. And the same is true for pretty much every other nation.

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The king of Babylon, however, his kingdom was far-reaching. It was a world empire of the day, and he had unlimited power. And so he could say, kill all the wise men, and then all the wise men would be killed. That's the kind of power he had. Now, the kingdoms that come after, just like the medals in the image,

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diminish in value, the kingdoms that come after the head of gold will diminish in value or they'll diminish, they'll be inferior to the kingdom of Babylon. And so verse 39, it says, but after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.

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So he describes the next two kingdoms very quickly here in verse 39. The silver there of the chest and the arms, and then the bronze there in the belly and the thighs. And so those two metals represent the Medo-Persian Empire, which came immediately after the Babylonian Empire. It's the Medo-Persian Empire that conquered Babylon. And again, we'll talk about that in a little bit more detail in Daniel chapter 5.

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And then immediately after that came the Greek Empire. The Greek Empire came with Alexander the Great and it says there at the end of verse 39, "...which shall rule over all the earth." And so Alexander the Great, as you probably can remember a little bit, bits and pieces from your history classes in school,

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He conquered the whole world. He reached out to great lengths and then was very sorrowful because there was no more kingdoms to conquer. And so this vision, this dream that King Nebuchadnezzar has is important because it's not just about this statue, but God is revealing to him the things that are to come and the kingdoms that will come after Babylon.

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Well then, verse 40 it says, "...and the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything. And like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others."

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And so the kingdom that is represented by the iron legs is the kingdom of Rome, or the Roman Empire, which ruled the earth from around 63 BC to about 475 AD. And this empire was a strong empire. Like iron, broken pieces everywhere.

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and broke into submission the peoples and the lands, and brought peace by force, peace by great strength, by might and by power. And so iron is a very accurate description of the Roman Empire. Now, these things that we're talking about here, really, you don't have to be incredibly smart to understand these things. These are the world powers that...

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were in history immediately after each other from the time of Daniel through the Roman Empire in 475 AD. And so, it's not, you know, we're just making these things up and say, okay, well, this maybe could be the Roman Empire. In fact, later on in the book of Daniel, we'll find the Persian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, as well as the Greek Empire mentioned by name

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Hundreds of years before, they were even a really powerful nation. They existed as tiny communities, but not as world empires or anything close to that. In Daniel 8, verses 20 and 21, he'll talk about the Medo-Persian Empire and the Greek Empire and the battle that will take place between them.

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In Daniel chapter 11 verse 2 as well, he talks about the Medo-Persian Empire and the Greek Empire and the battles that will take place between them. And so these nations, these kingdoms that are to come are mentioned by name later on in the book of Daniel as well.

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Well then verse 41 it says,

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As you saw, iron mixed with ceramic clay. They will mingle with the seed of men, but will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. So the last element of this image is the feet and the toes, the ten toes. It was iron, like the iron of the legs, but it was also mixed with clay. It had this clay element to it.

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I'm not going to get into all the details of this this evening, but the feet here and the toes represent...

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Not a kingdom of the past, but a kingdom of the future. In fact, we call it the revived Roman Empire. It's the kingdom that will be established by the Antichrist during the tribulation period. It's a kingdom that we see the beginning works of. There is, as the Roman Empire, what it once was, those nations are...

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beginning or have been involved in an alliance for some time. Joining together the European Union is probably the foreshadowing of this revived Roman Empire that will be in place in those last days. And so these feet with the ten toes represent that. And we dealt with that as we went through the book of Revelation.

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In chapter 13, we talked about it, as well as a couple of other places as well. And so you can check out those studies for a little bit more detail there. But then Daniel now explains the stone in verse 44. It says, "...in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

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Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation is sure.

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And so Daniel explains the mountain or the stone that turns into the mountain. It's the kingdom of God. And this is the kingdom that we call, the time that we call the millennium. It's when Jesus comes back. And so in the time of those ten toes or the ten kings, in the time of that last kingdom that is established, Jesus will return. That's the second coming of Jesus.

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He will put an end to the fight there at the battle of Armageddon. He will set foot upon the earth and establish his kingdom upon the earth for 1,000 years. And so that's the stone that comes down that crushes all the previous kingdoms and then he establishes his kingdom which grows and grows

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becomes the kingdom of the whole earth. And so God is giving Nebuchadnezzar insight into those future world kingdoms. That's what Daniel says. These are the things that are going to happen after this. And he says, the dream is certain and its interpretation is sure.

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Thus far, up through the Roman Empire, the dream is incredibly accurate. In fact, again, so much so that people try to explain away the book of Daniel or say that Daniel was written hundreds of years after these events took place because there's no way that someone could be so accurate because they discount. Like the Chaldeans of Nebuchadnezzar's day. They figure that that just is not possible. But the reality is that we have a God who knows all things.

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We have a God who knows all things and not only that, but He desires a very real and close personal relationship with us. He desires to be involved in the details of our lives. He desires to be a part of the problems that we face. He desires for us to involve Him in the good times, in the bad times, in the tough times, and in the joyful times. He desires for us to involve Him in every aspect of our hearts and lives.

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And that's what we see here demonstrated in the book of Daniel. And here in Daniel chapter 2, as the king gives this impossible demand, Daniel, he responds with wisdom. He's respectful, he's tactful, he goes through the proper channels. He says, hey king, would you give me some time to take care of this? Well, I'm going to go pray and I'm going to pray that God will give me the interpretation and the dream for you. So he goes and he prays.

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And he comes back and he gives the answer that the king was looking for, but making very clear the whole time, this isn't me, king. This isn't my wisdom. This is what God has done. This is the amazing work of God revealing to you what is yet to happen. And history, although Nebuchadnezzar didn't live to see it, history has proven that that dream was sure, that the interpretation was certain.

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Verse 46, Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face prostrate before Daniel and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him.

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The king answered Daniel and said, Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal the secret. Then the king promoted Daniel and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. Also Daniel petitioned the king and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

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And so here, Nebuchadnezzar recognizes how amazing this has been. The understanding of the dream, but the telling of the dream itself. He realizes, Daniel, your God is the God of gods. Now here's what I want to challenge you with this evening. What if God wants to use you to bring your employer to the point where they make that same statement?

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What if God wants to use you to bring your boss to that same declaration? Your God is the God of gods. You see, God loves those people in our lives. Sometimes we don't really care for everybody in our lives, do we? There's some people we'd rather do without, but God loves them. Sometimes they're difficult and they're angry and they're furious and they say things that

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They hurt and they cause destruction. Like Nebuchadnezzar says, kill all the wise men in a moment of fury. But God wanted to reach him. And God wanted to reveal himself to him. And he wanted to use Daniel to do it. What if God wants to use you to reach the person that threatens your life or threatens your job? Or the person who has authority over you? The person you don't like so much. What if God wants to use you? King Nebuchadnezzar, he recognizes through this whole thing

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Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, the revealer of secrets. Now the result was he recognizes Daniel's connection with the Lord. He promotes him. He gives him a place of honor. Daniel also petitions him and he brings his three friends also into this role of prominence. But he's the one who's really in charge of all the wise men. He sits in the gate of the king. He has access and close connection to the king. But that's not what Daniel was seeking.

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You remember what he was seeking? He was just trying to save his life. He wanted to be faithful to God and he made it very clear along the way, this is the Lord, God's done this. He wasn't out from the beginning to say, I want that spot of power. I want to sit at the gate of the king. What was he doing? He was seeking first the kingdom of God and then God took care of all those other things. What if God wants to use you to bring someone around you

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Someone perhaps who's inflicting on you some difficult situation, some difficult problem, some difficult work. Maybe something impossible. What if God wants to use you to bring them to the point where they say, truly, your God is the God of gods. Daniel gives us here a wonderful example of wisdom for the workplace. God is interested in your life. He's interested in your situations. He cares deeply about

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about the things that are going on. And what he desires is for us to respond like Daniel, for us to pray. Again, remember what James says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. God wants to give you wisdom to handle the things that you face, to answer the questions that are asked, to deal with those things and those situations that

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that are pressing upon you. God wants to give you wisdom. So let's ask. The worship team is going to come up and lead us in some worship. And as they do, I want to encourage you. Let's take this time to ask God. Let's take this time to ask God for wisdom. Whatever is going on in your life, whatever might be happening, and it might be at the workplace, or it might be

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in the home, or it might be financially. Whatever the case may be, whatever situation you're facing, God has wisdom for you. He has insight. He has revelation to bring you that you would understand what it is He desires. So let's take this time.

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to ask God for wisdom. Now, just a quick word of caution. Please make sure as God speaks to you, as God gives you wisdom, please make sure as you go forth from this place, please make sure to give God the glory so that the people around you will come to the point of Nebuchadnezzar. Truly, your God is the God of gods. Your Lord is the Lord of kings. There really is a God.

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Let your life be a testimony to that. As God gives you wisdom, give Him the glory that He deserves. Let's worship the Lord together and ask Him for wisdom for those things that we face. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.