Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture:  Daniel 2: 24 -35                 

August 4, 2024

Message: “The God who Knows the Future!”          

By Pastor George Gnade

Intro: 1. Last week we began a new series on the Book of Daniel. In chapter one, he was taken along with others into captivity by the Babylonians and trained to serve the king. 

a. In the process, he and his three close friends took a stand for what they believed and God blessed them for it. He gave them wisdom that exceeded all the others, causing them to rise in rank.

b. In Dan. 1: 21, it says: “And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.”

2. Cyrus the Great from Persia conquered the Babylonians. So this was God’s way of telling us that Daniel was going to be around for a long time.

a. Obviously we can only learn the highlights of his career. Chapter 2 explains how he distinguished himself above the others. 

b. God gave him the ability to interpret dreams. He was able to do this when all the other wise men couldn’t. 

A.  Consider the first time Daniel did this. It sets the stage for the rest of the book.

1.  King Nebuchadnezzar had a bad dream that scared him. He believed there was a special meaning behind it. But he didn’t trust those who had helped him in the past. He felt they were faking their answers. 

a. So he did something that had never been done before. He called them in, told them he needed their help, but refused to tell them the dream.

b. He commanded them to tell him the dream and the interpretation. That way he would know he could trust what they said.

2. They were dumbfounded by the request, said that was impossible, and insisted on him telling them the dream.

When they kept on refusing, the king became angry and impatient with them, and threatened to kill them all.

a. That is when Daniel found out what was going on, and asked the king for a little bit of time before he had them all killed.

b. In Dan. 2:27, he returned to his house and explained the matter to his three friends. He urged them to “plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery.” As they prayed, God answered. That very night God told Daniel the dream and the interpretation.

3. As he stood before the king, in vs. 27, Daniel affirms what the other wise men had said. “No wise man … can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown the king what will happen in the days to come.”

a. Critics of this book claim Daniel could not do what he did.  He explained things that would happen many years later. Therefore, the author must have lived many years later.  But isn’t that exactly what a true prophecy is? 

b. The Bible is full of prophecies of events that happened hundreds and even thousands of years later.

Obviously, if our God can do that, then He could also tell Daniel the dream itself as well as the interpretation.

4. That is what makes the Bible, including the Book of Daniel, different from any other book. It was written with the help of God Himself. 

a. In II Tim. 3: 16- 17, it says: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

b. Nebuchadnezzar could not trust the others because they just made things up as they went along. Daniel proved he could be trusted. 

B. Secondly, consider the dream and the interpretation. 

1. In the dream, the king saw a statue with a head of gold,  its chest and arms of silver, a belly and thighs made of bronze, with legs made of iron and feet made of iron and clay (Dan. 2: 31-32).

a. When suddenly a rock was cut out (of a mountain) without human hands, and it struck the statue and crushed it into power that the wind drove away. 

b. But the rock itself grew and grew until it became a mountain. In fact, it kept growing till it filled the whole earth (Vs. 34-35). 

2. Then Daniel explained what it meant.

a. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, reigning over the world around him.

b. Another nation would arise – what we now know was under the control of the Medes and the Persians – represented by silver. 

c. The third nation, represented by bronze, stood for the Greeks, and the iron followed by iron mixed with clay represented the Romans. 

3. But the Rock, formed without human hands, that came and crushed the entire statue, represented the kingdom of God led by the Lord Jesus Christ.

a. Born of a virgin birth, He was formed in the womb of Mary without the help of human beings.

b. During the days of the Romans, He established His kingdom. That kingdom is still growing and filling the whole earth.  And someday all other kingdoms will fall and be crushed.  But the kingdom of God will last forever and ever.

In conclusion: 1. All nations eventually rise and fall. Of course, that includes the United States of America.  Please observe, Daniel is not told how long each kingdom will last. Only God knows that. But it is a warning from God Himself to make sure we all get right with Him while we can. 

2.  Who would have guessed that our Leader would suffer and die on a cruel cross and rise from the dead before ascending into heaven where He continues to lead His church to victory? 

3. How can anyone explain how an unprotected group of people who have been persecuted and killed for their faith in Jesus have not only survived but grown until there are now Christians in almost every country on the face of the earth?

4. Obviously God keeps winning even when it looks like He is losing! He uses insignificant people to accomplish His mission.  God told Daniel this would all happen in His time. Daniel wrote it all down, not to prove how great he was, but to prove how great our God truly is.

a. It was also written to prove to us how unique and awesome the Word of God truly is so that we will trust what it says, even when we don’t always know or understand the details. 

  b. In John 17: 17, Jesus was praying to His Father in heaven. He was praying for us. He said: “Sanctify them by the Truth; Thy Word is Truth.”

5. When God speaks, we ought to listen. He alone knows how everything will happen. But what we do know in faith is that in the end, Jesus will reign over all who love Him in a new world where all God’s enemies will have been defeated.  Daniel wants us to know we can count on it. Amen.