Participants: Ty Gibson & James Rafferty
Series Code: DBOTB
Program Code: DBOTB00001A
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00:21 Hello, friends and welcome to Books of the Book.
00:24 We're studying the book of Daniel, 00:26 my name is James Rafferty. 00:28 And I'm Ty Gibson, this is going to be 00:29 our first study in the book of Daniel in a series of 13. 00:34 And James what we decided to do in this first program, 00:37 is to do an overview of the entire book of Daniel. 00:40 We won't give any details, 00:42 but we're going to do an aerial view. 00:44 We're gonna fly over the terrain of the book of Daniel, 00:48 but we're not going to 00:49 specifically land and give the details. 00:52 We're going to look at Daniel from the air, 00:55 what do we have here in Daniel's 12 Chapters 00:58 and then in the future programs we're going to backup 01:01 and we're going to look in 01:02 greater detail at each Chapter. 01:04 You know, this is a significant thing to do, 01:07 is to look at the aerial view, 01:08 because Daniel is a powerful book 01:11 of prophecy and relationship. 01:14 And we're going to see those two aspects 01:16 of the book of Daniel come together and direct us 01:19 to what we understand to be the New Covenant 01:21 or a New Covenant experience. 01:24 Daniel Chapter 1 through 6 01:26 is primarily dealing with relationship, 01:29 Christian experience, the walk of a believer, 01:33 a follower of God. 01:34 Daniel Chapter 7 through 12 01:37 is primarily dealing with prophecy, visions, 01:41 predictions of the future, history of the world, 01:43 past, present, and future. 01:45 And these two come together and bring to us 01:47 a powerful picture of the Christian experience, 01:50 the Christian walk and how we can have faith in God. 01:53 I appreciate the fact, James, that you've pointed out 01:56 that Chapters 1 through 6 of Daniel 01:58 primarily deal with our relationship 02:00 with God emphasis on primarily, 02:02 because in fact there are some prophecies that unfold there. 02:05 And then when we come 02:07 to the second half of the book of Daniel, 02:09 you've pointed out that, 02:10 it primarily deals with prophecies. 02:13 But it's also a very, very beautiful thing 02:16 that Daniel's experience with God continues to deepen, 02:19 to unfold into enlarge 02:21 in the second half of the book as well. 02:24 Absolutely, so you've got a primary aspect 02:26 or focus on relationship in 1 through 6 02:29 but there is prophecy. 02:30 And then you got a primary application 02:32 or unfolding a prophecy in 7 through 12 02:35 but there is still relationship. 02:36 And each one of those comes together 02:38 and forms a beautiful picture, 02:40 a beautiful prophetic picture of who God is 02:43 and what He is calling us to as believers 02:45 Okay, James, let's take the journey then. 02:47 Let's begin with Daniel Chapter 1 02:49 reminding those who are studying with us 02:51 that we're not going to get into details, 02:53 we're just gonna move through the entire book. 02:55 In the first segment of our program, 02:56 we'll try to get through Chapters 1 through 6. 02:59 In Daniel Chapter 1 the book opens by showing us 03:05 that Daniel and his people have been taken captive 03:08 to a foreign country, that country is Babylon. 03:11 Yes, here is a man, has been devastated, 03:12 he's lost his family, he's lost his sovereignty, 03:16 he has been separated from his country, from his kinsmen. 03:19 This Chapter tells us that we can survive the worst calamity 03:24 that can come to us if we have faith in God. 03:27 Daniel Chapter 1 is directing us 03:30 as we look at Daniel 03:31 to a young man actually a teenager, 03:33 he was probably 15 or 16 years of age to a teenager 03:37 who though his life seems devastated, 03:39 he has made a unique in this court of this heathen king. 03:43 He has this trust in God, his purpose is to follow God 03:45 no matter what and through that he is able to deal with 03:50 this terrible trail and calamity 03:51 that comes into his life. 03:52 You notice in Chapter 1 that there are 03:54 two primary characters in the onset of the story 03:59 and they are, King Nebuchadnezzar, 04:00 the king of Babylon and Daniel, 04:03 this captive lad in a foreign land. 04:06 You would think that King Nebuchadnezzar would 04:07 just be peripheral to the story 04:09 and that there wouldn't be 04:10 specific attention given to him, 04:13 but it's incredible as the story unfolds 04:16 that you begin to realize as you read Daniel, 04:18 that wait a minute, not only as God concerned 04:21 with His captive people in Daniel as this, 04:24 this young man that he is going to work medially 04:27 through to unfold this prophecies. 04:29 But you begin to get the sense in this prophecy 04:33 that God is very interested in Nebuchadnezzar himself. 04:37 And so Chapter 1 as it begins to unfold, 04:40 we realize that God is laboring 04:43 for the conversion of King Nebuchadnezzar, 04:46 this despotic ruler that is, 04:49 not in a positively light at all 04:52 for most of the book of Daniel, 04:54 but eventually we see that he is brought 04:55 to the worship of the true God. 04:57 And that must be what God impresses Daniel to understand. 05:01 One of the ways that we can make it through 05:02 trails friends in this life, 05:04 is to get our focus off ourselves 05:06 and to get our focus not attention on ministry 05:09 and reaching out to somebody else. 05:11 And this is a principle we find in Daniel Chapter 1. 05:14 Well, Daniel, can be overwhelmed 05:15 and maybe even just want to forget the rest of his life 05:18 at this point in this experience. 05:21 He allows God to, to imbue him with His spirit, 05:24 with the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ. 05:26 He allows God's will to be done in his life 05:29 and he becomes a vessel, a channel through which 05:31 God's love can be communicated to this heathen king. 05:34 So, so as Daniel continues his experience in Chapter 1. 05:39 He emerges as this young man who purpose is in his heart, 05:44 he is determined to maintain faithfulness to his God 05:48 in this captivity situation 05:50 and then Chapter 2 opens up, James. 05:53 In Chapter 2, we find Nebuchadnezzar man 05:56 who is all powerful, a man who is, 05:58 is the wealthiest man in the world 05:59 having a dream that troubles him 06:01 and basically this dream troubles him so much and that, 06:04 and no one can help him understand this dream 06:07 that he is fraught with anger. 06:10 He wants to annihilate all the wise men of his Kingdom 06:12 including Daniel at this point because he is recognizing 06:16 or realizing that no matter how powerful you are. 06:19 And no matter how much you have of this world's good. 06:22 That no matter how many counselors 06:24 and wise men you have around you 06:26 that nothing of this earth can satisfy your deepest needs. 06:29 James, in Chapter 2 of Daniel, 06:32 it's evident that God is achieving two goals. 06:35 On the one hand he wants to reveal 06:37 world history in advance. 06:39 He wants to give a prophecy that can be studied 06:43 down through the ages and especially 06:45 at the end time of human history. 06:47 But at the same time God is achieving the goal of reaching 06:51 into Nebuchadnezzar's heart in laboring for his conversion. 06:55 Nebuchadnezzar is a heathen King. 06:58 Why doesn't God just give the prophecy to Daniel, 07:01 Daniel is a prophet after all. 07:03 Daniel is faithful to God, but God gives a vision, 07:07 a prophecy to someone who isn't even a believer. 07:11 Nebuchadnezzar at this point 07:12 needs to feel his need and he doesn't. 07:14 He just conquered all the world, 07:16 he has taken Daniel's God into captivity 07:19 basically the vessels of his sanctuary, 07:21 so he doesn't feel his need at all 07:22 and so this is the way that God helps Nebuchadnezzar 07:25 to feel his need through this dream 07:26 that cannot be understood 07:27 or interpreted by any of his wise men. 07:30 Nebuchadnezzar comes to the place 07:31 where he is so frustrated that he gives up 07:33 all hope at anything that is of earthly wisdom around him 07:37 and in that point God steps into the picture 07:40 and Nebuchadnezzar realizes at least intellectually 07:43 that there is something bigger, something better, 07:45 something more than anything that he is accustom to, 07:48 anything that is known to him. Yes. 07:50 In the realm and the world that he has been living 07:52 and that's exactly what God wants to be for us friends. 07:54 He wants to at times breakup our ease or prosperity 08:01 or satisfaction with the things of this world. 08:04 He allows us to experience trouble 08:06 as Nebuchadnezzar did with his dream, 08:08 so that he can awaken in us 08:10 the real need that we have for him. 08:12 So relationship begins in Chapter 2 08:15 between Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, 08:16 because Daniel is the one who is called in 08:20 to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. 08:23 We're gonna look at the dream specifically and breakdown 08:26 what it reveals of world history in advance 08:29 as we deal with the prophecy 08:31 specifically in a future program, 08:33 but then we come to Daniel Chapter 3. 08:35 This Daniel Chapter 3 is incredible, 08:37 because here is the king who has intellectually 08:40 acknowledged the interpretation 08:42 of the dream of an image of three different, 08:45 four different types of metals and then he goes 08:48 in Chapter 3 he goes on to in a sense 08:51 turn away from the light 08:53 that has been given to him from God. Yes. 08:55 And created image that is all of gold. 08:57 Now, what this does really is 08:59 it reveals to us our deepest need and fear. 09:02 Nebuchadnezzar recognized in the first dream himself, 09:05 his kingdom, it was the kingdom of gold, 09:08 symbolized by the head of gold, 09:10 but in Chapter 3 he is in denial, 09:12 because he wants his kingdom to continue on forever. 09:16 Now the danger in these friends is that 09:18 we need to recognize and God wants to show us, 09:20 that there is no forever without God. 09:22 God is the only one that has eternal life, yes, 09:24 and God wants you and I to have that eternal life. 09:27 He doesn't want us to be without that eternal life, 09:29 but in order to have it we need to recognize him 09:32 as the creator and the redeemer. 09:33 So Nebuchadnezzar is moving through 09:36 a progressively deepening experience with God. 09:40 Nebuchadnezzar doesn't even know 09:41 that God is pursuing him at this point. 09:43 He doesn't even know that he is entering 09:46 into a relationship with the Most High God of heaven. 09:49 All he knows is that he has received this troubling dream 09:53 and he wants to know what it means. 09:55 Daniel tells him the dream, interprets the dream 09:58 and at the end of Chapter 2 10:00 Nebuchadnezzar has acknowledged Daniel's God. 10:03 He is actually voiced praise and thanks to this God 10:08 and then he proceeds in Chapter 3 10:09 with this intellectual knowledge 10:11 that God has given him to defy that knowledge, 10:14 to create an image that goes contrary 10:17 to what God actually revealed to him through his dream 10:20 and Daniel's interpretation. 10:22 But God's not done with Nebuchadnezzar yet, 10:25 He is not giving up on this guy, 10:27 He sets up this image of gold and he exercises force 10:32 in his kingdom to demand, to command that 10:36 everyone worship the image of gold that represents 10:38 the perpetuation of the Kingdom of Babylon 10:42 for all time in eternity, 10:44 no doubt in Nebuchadnezzar's mind, 10:45 he just wants Babylon to go on and on and on 10:48 and even though he's defying the vision, 10:52 God doesn't abandon him. 10:54 God continues to draw close to Nebuchadnezzar 10:57 and gives him a second dream. 10:59 Daniel Chapter 4 reveals the second dream 11:02 and it's really interesting here when you study 11:04 or understand human nature, 11:06 lots of us want to have religion, 11:08 we want to intellectually acknowledge God, 11:10 we move past maybe the stage of atheism or unbeliever, 11:14 but we want God on our terms, not on Gods terms. 11:18 Nebuchadnezzar wants God on his terms. 11:20 Okay, I believe your God is the God of God's, 11:22 but this is the way I'm gonna worship God. 11:24 This is the way God can be part of my life and God says, 11:27 no, it can't be that way. 11:28 Daniel Chapter 4 is a revelation 11:32 of the truth of the matter and that is, 11:34 that nothing in this world is more important than God. 11:39 Nebuchadnezzar is still putting things ahead of God, 11:40 he's still, he's still placing worldly things 11:44 as more important than God. 11:46 By the time this vision is finished and by the time this, 11:50 we'll talk about it more, 11:52 the seven years passes over Nebuchadnezzar, 11:55 God is first and foremost and everything else 11:58 is secondary and that is 11:59 when Nebuchadnezzar's heart is filled with joy and peace. 12:02 So Chapter 4 of Daniel is a testimony 12:05 from Nebuchadnezzar that indicates his 12:08 for incomplete conversion to the Lord, 12:12 but then Chapter 5 unfolds and we see a contrast. 12:15 Yes, in Chapter 5, Ty, we have Belshazzar, 12:18 Nebuchadnezzar's grandson and he is exactly 12:21 the opposite in response to God that Nebuchadnezzar was. 12:25 Belshazzar is overwhelmed with the things of this earth, 12:28 the gods of silver, and stone, and wood, and iron, 12:31 and he does not acknowledge God, 12:33 he does not acknowledge that in Him, 12:35 we live, and move, and have our being. 12:37 He does not respond to the gospel, 12:38 the good news, and the love of God 12:40 and finally comes to the place 12:42 where he receives the judgment of God. 12:44 Chapter 5 of Daniel is a- the story of Belshazzar's 12:49 drunken feast and it is in Chapter 5 that we have the, 12:55 the body less hand that writes the words on the wall 12:59 at Belshazzar's feast "Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin" 13:04 you are weighed in the balances and found wanting. 13:07 And Chapter 5 brings us to the conclusion 13:09 of the Babylonian empire 13:11 and the Medes and Persians take over at that point. 13:14 Yeah, then we get into Chapter 6 the final Chapter 13:16 in this first half focusing again on relationship. 13:19 This one is an astounding 13:23 summary of Daniel's faith in God. 13:27 Here's the man who praise morning, 13:30 evening and at noon and prayer and communicating with God 13:32 is the most important thing friends. 13:34 Daniels testifies of that truth and even 13:37 when laws are passed that forbid him to pray, 13:39 he continues to pray and of course 13:41 we know the story so well, he ends up in the lions den 13:44 and there God delivers him from the mouth of the lions. 13:47 Daniel Chapter 6 is a powerful testimony 13:51 of how we can have faith in God in the toughest of times 13:54 and through the greatest of trials. 13:56 Don't go away, we'll be right back 13:57 to cover the second half of the book of Daniel. |
Revised 2014-12-17