Welcome back friends!
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We are in Daniel Chapter 2.
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We are discovering some
fascinating things here James.
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Powerful truths.
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I am just noting here
that the character of Daniel,
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the attitude up Daniel and
the actions of Daniel toward his
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captors, his enemies, is
revealing to us the heart of God
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toward Nebuchadnezzar and toward
the captors of Israel, those who
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have enslaved God's people.
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I think it is beautiful in
Chapter 2:24 where Daniel says
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Do not destroy the
wisemen of Babylon.
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Take me in before the king,
I'll give the interpretation
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of the dream, that is the heart
of Jesus, that's the heart of
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God, do not destroy
even those who hate me.
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My enemies, it reminds me
of Jesus hanging on the cross
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and crying out, "Father forgive
them," they don't know what
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they are doing.
This is the heart of God
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towards sinners.
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What a powerful lesson
for political leaders today.
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You look at Daniel, you look at
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even this situation, he is in a
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political situation here,
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and yet going past the
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mudslinging, going past all of
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the digging through garbage
that we see in our world today,
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a political scenario, Daniel
just goes right past all of
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that, he ignores it,
and again how does he do it?
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He does it by the
influence of the grace of God
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on his heart.
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He himself is deeply impressed
back in verse 18, with the
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mercies of God, he knows
God to be the kind of God he can
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come to with his petitions
in knowing God in this light
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Daniel's heart is soft
towards even his enemies.
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do not destroy the
wiseman of Babylon.
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Even though they have taken
me captive, I'm enslaved to this
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foreign nation.
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So then Daniel
comes in before the King.
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If it would have been reversed
do you think the wisemen
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would have been
saying that about Daniel?
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Well later on in the book of
Daniel it is evident that they
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are trying to trap him and sent
him up and get Daniel out of
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favor with the King. Exactly!
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So no, if the tables were turned
his enemies would pursue to
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take his life, but
Daniel doesn't respond unkind.
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Is all the
influence of God. Yes!
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So Daniel is before the king
now and it is amazing that the
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King is looking for
an answer to his dream.
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He doesn't want niceties, all
he wants is what is the dream?
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What is the
interpretation of the dream?
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So Daniel is brought
before king Nebuchadnezzar,
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and he begins by immediately
telling the king the secret
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which the king has demanded.
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The wisemen, the astrologers,
the magicians, the soothsayers,
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cannot declare to the king.
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No one can reveal
what the king is asking.
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Yeah this is powerful.
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It is set up because Arioch,
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who is the guy that is suppose
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to be over all the wisemen,
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Arioch when Daniel comes to him
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and says I will show
the King the interpretation.
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Arioch runs in before the
king and brings Daniel in haste
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verse 25, and he
says I found the man.
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I found a man, so what
you have here is a stage
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being set up here.
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Arioch is directing
attention to Daniel.
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I found a man, in a sense he is
taking a little glory to himself
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You know? I found the man!
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Really Arioch were you searching
day and night for this guy?
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Was it something
that took a lot of effort?
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No, Daniel was the one
that actually made himself
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known to Arioch.
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I found the man, and then
Nebuchadnezzar directs his
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attention to
Daniel, Are you able?
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Then Daniel immediately directs
the attention of Nebuchadnezzar
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and the rest to the failure
of all his wisemen for a reason.
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Not to contrast himself with all
the wisemen, but rather, as we
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would think, we would think
oh he is going to show that all
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these wisemen couldn't do it,
and now he is going to direct
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the attention to him, No! He
steps completely out of the way.
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Daniel becomes invisible.
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He directs the attention
from the wisemen that failed and
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bypasses himself, and
directs the king to God.
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Verse 28, "But there is a God
in heaven who reveals secrets
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and He has made known to
King Nebuchadnezzar what will be
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in the latter days. "
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I love it! Yeah so
Daniel deflects all
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attention to the Lord, the
contrast that we see here as a
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contrast between all the wisdom
all the wise of this world,
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and the wisdom of God alone.
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The contrast is not between
the wise men of Babylon and
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and wise Daniel. Right!
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This is the theme that follows
us through the book of Daniel.
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Consistently human
nature wants to attribute to the
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man some glory,
some credit. Yes! Yes!
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Over and over again the
men of Babylon and Media Persia
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try to attribute to Daniel the
glory and the credit and Daniel
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is continuously reflecting,
deflecting all of that and
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putting the attention, or
focusing the attention to God.
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It's evident here that God has a
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plan, not only to reveal world
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history in advance for all
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future generations,
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but God has a plan to reach
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the heart of Nebuchadnezzar.
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I mean Daniel is the Prophet
here, Daniel is the Israelite.
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Daniel is God's man, so to
speak and Nebuchadnezzar is a
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unbelieving king.
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Why would God give the
dream to Nebuchadnezzar?
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Why not give
the dream to Daniel?
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If it is just a utilitarian
objective, just to get the
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information on the table so
the world can study this world
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history in advance,
there would be no point,
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it is more than that.
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What God is seeking to do
is help Nebuchadnezzar feel
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his own need, his personal need
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for God that goes beyond what he
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has in this world with its
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riches and its wealth,
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and its wisdom.
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So God says I could give the
dream to Daniel, but I'm going
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to give the dream to an
unbelieving King and through
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giving him this dream, I'm
going to reach his heart and
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turn him to Me,
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Also Daniel is helping
Nebuchadnezzar recognize his
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own need, and his need is
to deal with his uncertainty
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about the future.
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Now all of us have that friends.
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Every one of us has an
uncertainty about the future.
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What does the future hold?
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Not just the future of
our country, the economy, the
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world's economy, but the future
itself because the Bible says
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that God has put
eternity in our hearts.
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We were made to live for ever.
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But there is an
uncertainty there.
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Sin has placed uncertainty
in the future of our own hearts.
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So we tremble when we
think am I ready for the future?
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What is the future?
What happens after death?
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kept God wants to awaken that
realization and then he wants to
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satisfy an understanding
that He alone has of what that
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future, the hope of that
future, has for each one of us.
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James, check out verse 30.
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Here were Daniel continues on
in his discourse before the King
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Obviously, as you pointed out,
all the attention is on Daniel.
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Daniel is on the stage.
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He's the man, so to speak.
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Then he says okay, verse 30,
"but as for me," he does have
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something to say about himself.
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"as for me, he says, this secret
has not been revealed to me
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because I have more wisdom then
any one living but for our sakes
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who make known the
interpretation to the king
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and that you may know
the thoughts of your heart. "
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Yes, yes, yes I'm going
to reveal these things to you
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God is saying to
Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel.
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I'm going to reveal these things
and Daniel my son and Meshach,
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Shadrach and
Abednego, they are going to be
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preserved through this, but
also King Nebuchadnezzar, I want
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you to know, I want you
to know your dream and it's
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interpretation I am
communicating to you
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Nebuchadnezzar, I'm the God of
heaven, I'm communicating to you
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I want you to
know about the future.
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That is the
question mark you have.
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That you know about the
future. What I want you to know
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about future is not just
that there is a future, but that
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it is limited and you
need to be aware of it.
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You need to be prepared for that
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because there are some things
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that you need to do and know
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in order to be a part of
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the future and hope I have
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for you, God has a future
and hope for each one of us.
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But their future and hope can
only be realized in God and in
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our belief in God.
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So then comes the dream
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and the interpretation.
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Daniel from verse 31 onward
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unfolds to the king his dream.
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He says King you saw a great
image, that image had a head
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of gold, it had a chest
and arms that were of silver,
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it had a belly and thighs
were of brass, it had legs
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of iron and feet that were
a mixture of iron and clay and
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then you saw, in your
dream King didn't you?
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You saw a great stone
smite the image at the feet.
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Grind it to powder and
grow into a great mountain.
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At this point Nebuchadnezzar
is amazed and that's my dream.
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That's exactly my dream.
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He says I can't
believe this. Yes!
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You did it,
this is unbelievable!
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He's ready for
the interpretation.
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Now what does that mean?
Daniel basically tells him
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this great image is a
representation of kingdoms.
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You're the first kingdom,
you're the head of gold.
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There will be
another kingdom after you.
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It will be inferior
to you, Media Persia.
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And another kingdom
after that inferior, Greece.
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And another kingdom, Rome.
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Then there are the 10
toes, a division, a dividing
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of those nations that make
up Europe that for many years
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controlled most of the world.
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So you have all this world
history from Babylon onward down
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to the dividing of the European
nations, the fragmenting of
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the Roman empire. All
that world history foretold
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in advance which does a
couple of things for us.
00:10:05.72\00:10:08.82
Number one, it confirms
our confidence in Scripture.
00:10:08.85\00:10:11.88
It is phenomenal that the
Bible reveals that secession of
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kingdoms in advance
before it ever took place it is
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revealed right here.
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Which can be
confirmed in any history book.
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Yes that is right!
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Secondly, what this does for
us is that it takes us to the
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crucial period of human history
where Daniel points out to
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King Nebuchadnezzar, there is a
final universal eternal kingdom
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that is going to be set
up and it is not Babylon.
00:10:39.32\00:10:42.04
It's not your kingdom
Nebuchadnezzar, it is the
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kingdom of Lord God Almighty
and His kingdom is going to be
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ultimately
established and will be eternal.
00:10:48.58\00:10:51.53
It is the kingdom of
Jesus Christ, He is the Stone,
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He is the Rock, and that
is the kingdom that's going
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to be set up.
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Nebuchadnezzar when this
all gets done, Nebuchadnezzar
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is so impressed, now
this is what truth does.
00:10:59.44\00:11:02.05
Truth impresses
Daniel, it changes him.
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It powerfully impacts him.
00:11:07.12\00:11:08.97
Truth affects Nebuchadnezzar,
a king, not even a believer.
00:11:09.00\00:11:12.97
It changes him, it transforms
him and so when this is all
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finished,
Nebuchadnezzar is impacted.
00:11:16.97\00:11:18.51
Verse 46, it says he fell down
on his face and he worshiped
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Daniel and he offered him
oblations and odors and said,
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in verse 47, of a truth it
is, Daniel, your God is the God
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of gods, the Lord of Kings,
and the revealer of secrets.
00:11:31.39\00:11:35.10
What a transition from a
God who is puny, I can take him
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and put his vessels in my other
gods now who is the God of gods
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and the Lord of lords,
and the revealer of secrets.
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This is a radical transformation
in Nebuchadnezzar.
00:11:47.50\00:11:50.90
But we also need to recognize
00:11:50.94\00:11:52.42
that at this point it is
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pretty intellectual,
00:11:54.34\00:11:56.11
it's pretty intellectual because
00:11:56.14\00:11:57.54
as we are going to see in our
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next program it opens up in
Chapter 3 with Nebuchadnezzar
00:11:58.94\00:12:04.35
defying the image
that God gave him.
00:12:04.39\00:12:07.14
That's right, in fact when
you look at this whole book
00:12:07.18\00:12:10.33
is developing this character
transition that is taking place
00:12:10.36\00:12:16.49
in Nebuchadnezzar's
heart and experience.
00:12:16.53\00:12:17.92
Nebuchadnezzar is like,
in a sense, we look at today,
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we look at Christians, we
look at Muslims, Nebuchadnezzar
00:12:21.30\00:12:24.58
is this king of today it would
be Iran, and he is a man that
00:12:24.61\00:12:29.77
has a different belief
system, maybe then Daniel does.
00:12:29.80\00:12:32.59
and now he is intellectually
convicted of a truth of a
00:12:32.63\00:12:36.57
different God then
the one he worships.
00:12:36.60\00:12:38.26
We see him beginning to
make this transition but the
00:12:38.29\00:12:41.18
transition takes time.
00:12:41.22\00:12:42.19
With all of us friends, it takes
time and God patiently reveals
00:12:42.20\00:12:47.60
His goodness to us, works
with us and draws us to Him.
00:12:47.63\00:12:50.29
so that we can at last
see Him in who He really is.
00:12:50.33\00:12:52.95
That is our prayer for you.
00:12:52.99\00:12:54.01