God in the Impossible

Daniel: In the Fire

“God in the Impossible”

 We are continuing our teaching series in the OT book of Daniel.

• In Daniel 1, God’s people were exiled by King Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, where eventually the prophet Daniel proved himself worthy to be called into the king’s royal service.
• Although not a follower of Israel’s God, Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed with Daniel’s wisdom and ability to interpret and judge matters that he elevated Daniel within his empire … even above his own seers.
• But friends, the story of Daniel is not about the prophet’s impressive skills and value in the king’s court.
• Rather, it’s about God and Daniel’s choices to live for God with integrity and faith, no matter his circumstances.
• Daniel is our model of godliness in the fires of life.

• And in Daniel 2, we see more of who God is and more of who Daniel is under pressure.

I encourage you to grab your Bible or open up a Bible app and find Daniel 2 toward the end of the Old Testament.

• The year is 605 BC and one night King Nebuchadnezzar has a reoccurring and alarming dream.
• The king calls in his national sorcerers, magicians and astrologers to help him understand the meaning of his dream.
• Nebuchadnezzar takes the dream so seriously that he tells his team of seers that they must first tell him what the dream was and then tell him what it meant…
• And if they failed to do both of these steps correctly, they would be put to death.

The magicians and sorcerers balk at step 1; saying that no one on earth can possibly get inside the king’s head and tell him what he dreamt that night … only the “gods” could do that and they don’t live on earth with people.

• Knowing that they were stalling, Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t concede and eventually he decrees (vs. 12) “that all the wise men of Babylon be executed.”
• Unbeknownst to Daniel, this includes him and his friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
• …We pick up the story in Daniel 2:14,

¹⁴ When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. ¹⁵ He asked Arioch, “Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?” So Arioch told him all that had happened. ¹⁶ Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time to tell the king what the dream meant.

¹⁷ Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. ¹⁸ He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹ That night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven. ²⁰ He said,

“Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power.
²¹ He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.
²² He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness,
    though he is surrounded by light.
²³ I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded.”

Daniel finds himself in a life and death situation and doesn’t doubt that God knows the King’s dream and its meaning.

• He goes straight to Nebuchadnezzar to ask for time and then he goes straight to his friends and says, “We need to pray and ask God for divine revelation.”
• God answers! And Daniel, before he does anything else, thanks and praises God.
• Daniel acknowledges that God is in control; that God is the source of all wisdom; and that God holds the future of all humanity, even for human kings and kingdoms.

²⁴ Then Daniel went in to see Arioch, whom the king had ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him, “Don’t kill the wise men. Take me to the king, and I will tell him the meaning of his dream.” ²⁵ Arioch quickly took Daniel to the king and said, “I have found one of the captives from Judah who will tell the king the meaning of his dream!” ²⁶ The king said to Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar), “Is this true? Can you tell me what my dream was and what it means?” ²⁷ Daniel replied, “There are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune-tellers who can reveal the king’s secret. ²⁸ But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed.

²⁹ “While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events. He who reveals secrets has shown you what is going to happen. ³⁰ And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wants you to understand what was in your heart. ³¹ “In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight. ³² The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, ³³ its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. ³⁴ As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. ³⁵ The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.

³⁶ “That was the dream. Now we will tell the king what it means. ³⁷ Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. ³⁸ He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the wild animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold.

³⁹ “But after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise to rule the world. ⁴⁰ Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth one, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes. ⁴¹ The feet and toes you saw were a combination of iron and baked clay, showing that this kingdom will be divided. Like iron mixed with clay, it will have some of the strength of iron. ⁴² But while some parts of it will be as strong as iron, other parts will be as weak as clay. ⁴³ This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage. But they will not hold together, just as iron and clay do not mix. ⁴⁴ “During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. ⁴⁵ That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain.”

Daniel concludes God’s message to the king and Daniel lives to see another day.

• Once again, he has proven his worth to Nebuchadnezzar.
• What an opportune time to rub it in the face of the king’s magicians and sorcerers … perhaps elevate his own flag and pat himself on the back.
• But when we look at how Daniel conducted himself throughout this event, we can surmise that’s not what happened.

• When put into the fire, Daniel relied on and humbly responded with three key truths/practices that we as God’s followers can live by today:

First, Daniel believed and acted on the truth that only God can work in humanly impossible situations.

• The king’s team of seers said it was humanly impossible to know what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt.
• They believed that only “the gods” could know that info and “the gods” didn’t live on earth to relay that knowledge.
• But Daniel believed His God was not limited and could do the impossible.

Friends, sometimes God allows us to be pushed to the edge of our limits, where there is no human path forward.

• But he doesn’t leave us stranded in that place…
• That’s when he says, “Wait … I’ve got this.”
• Or when he says, “Move … I’ll lead you.”
• And he does … so that we realize afresh that He’s in control and that He can be trusted.
• Daniel was on the precipice of death and he relied on the truth that God is in control of dreams and kings and kingdoms and, God does guide his people.
• Daniel had prepared himself with this truth and when pressure mounted, he didn’t panic; he immediately went to prayer and looked for God to take over.

Friends, when we are in the fire, so to speak, the second truth we must rely on is prayer.

• No matter how severe the circumstance, our most effective source of stability is prayer.
• Not just because of whom we pray to, but also whom we pray with.
• God hears us whether we’re praying alone or in a group… but he provides additional comfort and encouragement when we can pray with a group of trusted friends.
• Daniel immediately turned to his 3 friends and asked them to pray with him.

And then third, when God answers and works, as he did with Daniel, there’s no room for pride, only praise.

• Immediately upon waking up and receiving his answer, Daniel offers up a psalm of thanks to God!
• He didn’t run to his friends and say, “I’ve got it! I did it. I figured out the mystery.”
• Rather than pride, there’s humility and praise flowing out of Daniel.
• Daniel immediately honors God and then continuously points to God as the source of knowledge and power.

• Friends, praise is the appropriate way of recognizing who God is and what he does in our lives.
• Daniel was specific in pointing Nebuchadnezzar to who God is and what God was and would be doing in the future.
• So, whether we are in the fire or finally out on the other side, we honor God by giving him the credit and glory for his specific working in our lives…
• And we leave the outcome and legacy of that to God…

⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar threw himself down before Daniel and worshiped him, and he commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn sweet incense before him. ⁴⁷ The king said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is the greatest of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret.”

⁴⁸ Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men. ⁴⁹ At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king’s court.

Daniel’s outcome can be summarized by James 4:6-8,

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ So humble yourselves before God… ⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you.

Friends, like Daniel, we are in turbulent and pressure-filled days.

• In Daniel 2, and we’ll see it again next time when we look into Daniel 3 … Daniel reminds us that even thought the circumstances are different, we are living with the same God who Daniel lived with!

• Our God can handle anything…
• Our God can work through anyone…
• Our God continues to reveal himself, especially during the impossible.

Our worship team is going to lead us in two songs as we continue to worship God.

• Perhaps you are feeling like you have reached your limits and are facing the impossible.
• I encourage you to click the prayer button and one of our pastoral staff will be there to listen and pray with you.
• Friends, let’s sing and pray together.

Sending/Benediction

 As we end our time together, I send you with the praise that Daniel offered God in the midst of the impossible:

 ²⁰ “Praise the name of God forever and ever,
    for he has all wisdom and power.
²¹ He controls the course of world events;
    he removes kings and sets up other kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to the scholars.
²² He reveals deep and mysterious things
    and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light.
²³ I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors,
    for you have given me wisdom and strength.
You have told me what we asked of you
    and revealed to us what the king demanded.”

 May the God of Daniel, who is also our God today, give you wisdom and strength. Amen.