Daniel 2:1-23: Mission Impossible

Amen. Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles once again to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 2, and we'll read down to verse 19. Daniel chapter 2, starting in verse 1. Hear now the inspired word of God.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream and the Failure of Babylon’s Wise Men

Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. The king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams.

So they came in and stood before the king. The king said to them, I had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream. Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic. O king, live forever.

Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation. The king replied to the Chaldeans, the command from me is firm. If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be made a rubbish heap.

But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor. Therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation. They answered a second time and said, let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.

The king replied, I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that the command from me is firm, that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you, for you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed.

Therefore, tell me the dream that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation. The Chaldeans answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer, or Chaldean.

Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh. Because of this, the king became indignant and very furious, and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain, and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them. Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Ariok, the captain of the king's bodyguard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon.

He said to Ariok, the king's commander, for what reason is the decree from the king so urgent? Then Ariok informed Daniel about the matter. So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king.

Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, about the matter, so that they might request compassion from the god of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the god of heaven. Let's pray. Father, we bow before you, and our prayer again is very simple, that you would open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts, that we would see and hear and then understand what you are telling us in this passage of scripture.

Father, we pray that as your word goes forth, that just as you have promised, you would not return void, but would accomplish every purpose for which you send it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

Mission Impossible and the Gospel’s World-Changing Commission

I'm going to give you a little piece of trivia. In 1950, less than 18 of American homes had television sets. Television technology was very much in its infancy, and the number of shows were limited by this lack of technology and the availability of programs suitable for television.

In 1954, WOR TV, Channel 9 in New York, premiered the Million Dollar Movie. Now let me give you a little idea. It played the same movie twice a day, every night, and four times on Saturday and four times on Sunday.

It was an extremely popular show, despite the poor quality of the television sets. But programming was dominated by Western sitcoms and variety shows, because in those early days, special effects and whatnot were very, very basic.

But by the mid -1960s, advances in technology expanded the number and the variety of the shows. One of my all-time favorites debuted at this time. It was Mission Impossible, the TV show, not the movies.

Each week, the Impossible Missions force was given a new assignment. It was considered too difficult for the established run-of-the-mill spy agencies. Mr. Phelps would be given an audio recorded message with the details of the mission, and he was always warned that if they were caught or killed, they would be disavowed by the secretary.

The message then would self-destruct in a few seconds, and then the show would begin with that ominous Mission Impossible theme song. There's only a slight similarity between that TV series and the Tom Cruise movies.

The movies are more action thrillers with death-defying stunts and lots of special effects. The TV show relied more on deception and scheming and planning and psychology. That's what drew me to the show.

But the name of the show set the stage. Mission Impossible. That's the title of the message today. But can you imagine being given a job to do and told, It's impossible, but now go do it. Well, probably not that, but did you ever work for a boss who had unreal expectations?

I worked for one boss. In fact, he was former naval intelligence, which I'm told is an oxymoron. That's what we used to tell him anyway. But I worked for this boss. He was so unreasonable that behind his back, everyone had a nickname for him that called into question his sanity.

Imagine then how the advisors to King Nebuchadnezzar felt when he called them to interpret his dream, but won't tell them what the dream is. They tell him, that's an impossible mission. Before we get into the mission, we need to set the stage with a few more details and observations.

In the first sermon on Daniel, I mentioned that this was a fantastic book in more than one way. In this chapter, we will see that God lays out the course of history, the history of the world from the time of Nebuchadnezzar right down to the coming of Christ and bringing in the new covenant era.

One of the interesting facts about this vision is that it was not given to the king of Judah, but it was given to a pagan king. And the prophecy of the statue and those later on are important for the people of God to know and to understand.

God's sovereignty is over the whole world, not just the church and not just over Israel. And Nebuchadnezzar plays an important role, not just the history of the world, but including redemptive history.

God has raised him up at this time to be the most powerful man on earth. And God gives this important prophecy to him. Kind of reminds me of Joseph in Egypt, doesn't it? Joseph is used by God to save his people during a worldwide famine.

But who does God give the vision to save the people of God? To Pharaoh. Granted that Pharaoh didn't understand what it meant. Joseph had to interpret the vision, but God didn't give the vision to Joseph.

He used Pharaoh and we see similar circumstances here. God gives this vision to Nebuchadnezzar. He doesn't understand it. He needs Daniel to interpret it for him. But what does this mean for us? Well, very simply, we need to understand that Christianity was never meant to be a secret religion.

That was just kept practiced in the dark or kept for just a few of us alone. Remember what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 10, 27. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light. What you hear, whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.

And then don't forget the primary commission that Jesus gave to his church in Matthew 28. Verse 18, Jesus came up and spoke to his disciples, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

You know, if you really look at that, that too sounds like an impossible mission, doesn't it? Except, of course, that the one who gave the commission has all authority and all power. And he has given the church everything it needs to accomplish that mission.

Oh, and here's another good news, too. If we're caught or killed in that mission, he'll never disavow us. We see this same type of thing. Remember when Paul was in Thessalonica and the leaders were searching for him in Silas.

And remember what they said about Paul and Silas. They said, these men who have upset the world, literally turned the world upside down. No, you don't hide a light under a bushel. The church is described by Jesus, it's a city on a hill.

It can't be hidden. And now those are only a few verses to show that the gospel message itself is a world changer. Now, there's an interesting change that takes place during this chapter. Chapter one, if you remember, I said was written in Hebrew.

Same thing with the beginning of chapter two. But when we read in verse four, then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic. Not only does the text say they spoke in Aramaic, but from this point on for several chapters, the text of Scripture is written in Aramaic.

We're not told why this change, but there are several reasons that make sense. One commentator offers a very plausible reason. He says, one answer is that Daniel two to seven records the course of world empire and God's judgment upon it.

Chapters two and seven describe the course of empire. Chapters three and six show an attack upon God's people by servants of the empire and the victory of God's servant over them. And at the center, chapters four and five show God's judgments upon the rulers of the empire.

Hence, this section of Daniel is a message about the world and is written in a more worldly language. Those of you who are students, maybe have been attending our Sunday school, will notice what was written here.

This is written in a chiastic form. Let me offer another possibility that's consistent with this one. Aramaic was the common trade language of the day. Just as Koine Greek would become the common language, the trade language of the Greek Empire years later, and Latin would become the same in the Middle Ages.

And so we know that Nebuchadnezzar was taking the best of the young captives from all the lands that he conquered. And that means they would all understand Aramaic. So it could be either of those two reasons or both, or maybe there's another.

Nevertheless, they did speak to the king in Aramaic. As we're setting the stage for the king's mission, we must return to the end of chapter one, which we only looked at briefly last week. Verses 15 to 21 of chapter one provide a much needed backdrop for the whole book of Daniel.

For in it we have the clear vision between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of men. Daniel had convinced the commander to allow him to set his diet as opposed to eating the king's food and drinking the king's wine.

The wisdom of God was the clear winner. No surprise there, of course. But the results of Daniel's faithfulness were clear. In verse 17 of chapter one we read this. As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom.

Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. That's part of the important information in chapter one. It also gave them an audience with the king. Look at verse 18 of chapter one. Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar.

The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the king's personal service. God had granted them favor with the commander of the chief of Nebuchadnezzar's staff.

But now they have a personal audience with the king. And they have entrance into the king's personal service. Don't underestimate the value of such service in that era. So you can see now why Daniel is often referred to as a second Joseph.

Once again all these little details will pave the way for what is contained in the remainder of the book. Because look at verse 20 of chapter one. As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.

And I just want to pause and address verse 21 for a minute. It says, and Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king. If you read that, it almost sounds like an afterthought. Or a, oh by the way.

But it's not. It's a very significant phrase. It's a very significant sentence. See we know from our series in Proverbs, God's wisdom is not short-sighted and it's not easily attained. Let me just bring you back to Proverbs for a minute.

Because we need to constantly be referring back to the book of Proverbs when we talk about wisdom. Listen to what Solomon says. Proverbs 2 verse 1. My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding.

For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden wisdom, hidden treasure, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Wisdom is not easily attained. You have to search. It's like silver and gold. You have to seek for her, find for her, discern, discover, treasure.

All of these adjectives are used. Verse 21 shows God's wisdom through Daniel is going to be around for a long time. From chapter 1 to the first year of Cyrus is about 70 years. The book of Daniel gives us only the highlights of Daniel's ministry.

But he served God for 70 years till he was about 90 years old. That's an important piece of information. And again, remember in Daniel, we're only given the brief highlights. How could you summarize 70 years of ministry in just a few pages?

But so now we come to our text for today. And chapter two opens by giving us a peek. If I can use a modern analogy, we're getting a peek into the oval office of Nebuchadnezzar. And now this is not an unusual occurrence.

In fact, the Bible does this frequently. Through the divinely inspired scriptures, we get a glimpse of what has taken place behind closed doors, even the secret palaces of powerful rulers. Think of the encounters with Moses and Pharaoh.

We're privy to those discussions, world changing discussions. We not only know what the actions of Pharaoh were, but we know the motivations of his heart because it's given to us. How about Ahab and Jezebel?

Same thing. David, Solomon. We know so much about them because the Lord has given us that privy. In Job, the veil of heaven, the very veil of heaven is pushed aside. And we and we are privy to a dialogue between God and Satan.

So we should not be surprised that we're getting a peek into the chamber of Nebuchadnezzar. And the first piece of information we receive is that this is the second year in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.

Now, this is an important piece of information and not just for dating the dating timeline. But it tells us that Nebuchadnezzar was a new king and relatively inexperienced. And from what we know about from exodus history, he was probably fairly young.

That means he was inexperienced and likely to have a need for the counselors in his office more than an older man. Notice, but notice how his counselors are described. Magicians. Conjurers. Sorcerers.

Chaldeans. Ancient Babylonian worship was steeped in both cultic and occultic practices. It was idolatrous. It was heavily used astrology, as did most of ancient religions. And the counselors were practiced in the magic arts, including sleight of hand and misdirection.

Much like the psychics today, they were masters of manipulation. And with their smooth words, they could perceive what the king wanted to hear. And then they would give him the answer that he wanted and wrap it in mystical language.

In other words, they were professional charlatans. And don't rule out that demonic forces were involved in the practice of the magicians either. But on this particular day, these counselors were about to be tested in a way that they had never been tested before.

For what we read, look at verse 1. Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. Do you ever have a nightmare that was so real that when you woke you were disoriented, not sure what was real and what wasn't?

Imagine if you can what the king must have been experiencing with this divinely inspired dream. How real it must have seemed for him to lose the ability to sleep. So he calls for help from what was the normal course in Babylon.

Bring in the advisors, the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans. Normal procedure. We're not told how the advisors reacted, but they had come before the king before and had given advice based upon their particular craft.

So verse 2 tells us that they came and stood before the king. And the king cuts right to the chase. Look at verse 3. King said to them, I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream. I don't want to read into the scripture, but it seems to me that the Chaldeans were pretty confident in their ability in the mystic arts.

Because notice how they respond in verse 4. Oh, and by the way, remember, this is exactly the switch to Aramaic in the text.

But listen.

Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic. And look at what they say. Oh, king, live forever. Tell the dream to your servants and we will declare the interpretation. Hear what they're saying? Tell us the dream.

We will declare the interpretation. The wording is that of confidence. We will interpret the dream. We will declare the meaning to you. How can they be so confident? Well, if they are the interpreters of the dream, who is there to refute their particular interpretation?

They are, in actuality, worthy experts in such matters. So they have free reign to give whatever interpretation they please. Unless, of course, the sorcerers disagree with the Chaldeans and the magicians disagree with both of them.

But even if they all agree, how does he know if the interpretation is true? You know, we're often faced with similar dilemmas in our society. Let me give you one from my personal experience. A man is arrested for a vicious homicide.

The prosecution brings in an expert witness, a psychiatrist, who testifies this man is absolutely sane and competent to stand trial. The defense brings in another psychiatrist, another expert, who testifies this man is criminally insane and definitely not competent to stand trial.

So much for the experts. You can see the dilemma. The text indicates that Nebuchadnezzar, though young and perhaps somewhat inexperienced, he was perceptive. He understood this dilemma from prior, prior encounters.

Because look how he responds to the Chaldeans. In verse 5 he says, the command from me is firm. If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap.

The king knew that this was no frivolous dream and he was desperate for the answers. So he ups the ante. Tell me the dreams first. Then you can tell me what it means. You know, if this scene were portrayed in the movies, this would be a perfect time for Daniel Powder to be singing in the background.

So you had a bad day. This was a really bad day for the sorcerers and the Chaldeans. Obviously the king had had enough of their placating and manipulation. So he says failure to bring forth both the dream and the interpretation means death.

And not the very pleasant one, being torn limb from limb. But he does give the alternative side. But if you do declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor.

Therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation. It's not an overstatement to say that this was in fact a matter of life and death. In the next part of the narrative, we can see that the king was more perceptive than the Chaldeans had given him credit for.

And the next move they make is very understandable. In verse 7, they answer the second time and said, Let the king tell the dream to his servants and we will declare the interpretation. You can see the desperation.

They've already been told that if they don't come up with it, they're going to be killed. So they plead with the king one more time. Because they know they don't stand a chance at guessing what the king dreamed.

But they did stand a chance at convincing him their interpretation if he told them the dream. At least so they thought. Because the next words of the king were extremely sobering. Look at verse 8. The king replied, I know for certain that you are bargaining for time.

Inasmuch as you have seen that the command from me is firm. That if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed.

Therefore tell me the dream that I may know that you can declare its interpretation. What did the kid say? Busted. The king, though he was young and inexperienced, he had them. At this point the facade is gone.

The mess have come off. And the king says, I know who you are. And I know the game you're playing. You're a pack of liars. You're all in collusion with one another. You're stalling for time. And none of these tactics is going to work.

There's only one course of action for you. Tell me the dream. And if you do, then I will accept your interpretation. At this point, there's nothing left but sheer desperation. Look at verse 10. The Chaldeans answered the king and said, There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king.

Inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer or Chaldean. Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult. And there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.

Mission impossible. Once again, the desperation we see is very understandable. But their final plea does not have their desired result. This is one of the reasons I believe the king had had enough of their manipulation, even before this dream.

And so we read in verse 12. Because of this, the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. Now notice that up to this point, Daniel and his three friends were not involved in any of these proceedings.

Only those who had been the king's wise men previously. If my calculations are correct and accurate, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were still in the midst of their three-year study program. So I don't think they were called.

Whether that's the reason or they were just excluded doesn't matter either way. Because when the decree goes out from the king, everyone is included. Look at verse 13. So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them.

Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Ariok, the captain of the king's bodyguard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. He said to Ariok, the king's commander, for what reason is the decree from the king so urgent?

Then Ariok informed Daniel about the matter. There's a couple of items that are noteworthy in these verses. When Ariok, the captain of the king's bodyguard, approaches Daniel, notice the scripture says that he replied with discretion and discernment.

We've seen this before in Daniel in chapter 1. Remember when he objected to the king's food? His approach was one of humility and respect. Remember, Daniel, though he is young, has already developed some godly Christian character.

That has helped him in his captivity and we'll see that continue to help him. So far in the book, we've seen God granting him favor with those who are in authority over him. And now we see it again with the captain of the king's bodyguard, Ariok.

When Daniel questions the captain about the urgency, understand this, Daniel's a captive, this is the chief bodyguard. He's under no compulsion to explain anything to Daniel. He could have said, what did you ask me?

Get lost, kid. But he does, he explains it. And then even more surprising than that, the bodyguard allows him to see the king. And then even more surprising, the king says, yes, I'll see him. I want to remind you that even the subjects of the king didn't just walk into the king's throne and say, hey, how are you doing today?

Not just anyone could get an audience with the king. Remember Queen Esther? She had to get permission or even the king's bride walking into his chamber could be put to death. This is a major accomplishment for Daniel to get an audience with the king on that short notice.

God has continued to grant Daniel favor with the rulers of Babylon. So verse 16. So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king.

First time I read that, before I had finished the rest of it, I read that and I said, uh-oh, the king had already run out of patience. He basically threw the other guys out of court and said, I'm not giving you any more time.

Do it now or you're being put to death. Now Daniel comes walking in, can you give me a little time? And what happens? He grants it to him. Do you see God's sovereign hand over Daniel? The favor that he's given him?

It's just a continuation because of his godly character. Something else. Think about this too. Now Daniel had no part in any of this. He very easily could have tried to rationalize and everything. By the way, king, can you exclude us from this?

We had nothing to do with this. But he doesn't. In fact, we see from the text, he actually pleads for the lives of the conjurers and the Chaldeans. So what does he do when he leaves? When he leaves the king's presence.

Verse 17. Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about the matter. So that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery. So that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

What's he do? He organizes a prayer meeting. And the purpose was to request compassion from God Almighty. Not to complain about his circumstances being unfair. Not to whine and say, why me God? Why I didn't do anything?

Well, I don't deserve this treatment. Daniel's faith is unwavering. And so they go to prayer and they request for God's intervention. Let me pause for a moment. How often do Christians reserve prayer as a last resort?

Everything else has failed. Let's pray. With Daniel, it's his first priority. We're in, there's trouble here. Let's pray. He seeks out his friends. And so what happens next then should be no surprise.

They pray. And verse 19 says, after they finish praying, then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. The power of prayer. Daniel's prayer is answered. And the text says, Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

And I want to close our study this morning by reading what Daniel's prayer. Then some brief comments before we close. Look at what Daniel says after their vision is revealed to him. Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever.

For wisdom and power belong to him. It is he who changes the times and the epochs. He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. It is he who reveals the profound and hidden things.

He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him. To you, oh God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise for you have given me wisdom and power. Even now you have made known to me what we requested of you.

For you have made known to us the king's matter. The TV series Mission Impossible became very popular. Actually, it aired all the way from 66 to 73. And what made it so popular was the elaborate schemes to take down very bad people who thought they were untouchable.

And the recent movies pick up on that theme and add the high adventure and the death defying stunts. There was one scene that struck me particularly ironic. Ethan Hunt is speaking to his handler and he's been given his mission.

And he looks at his handler and says, you understand this is very, very difficult. And his handler says, well, then it should be easy for you because you're the Mission Impossible team. Have you ever been given what seems like an impossible task?

Then you can imagine how the Chaldeans felt standing before Nebuchadnezzar that day. Their hearts were melting inside as they knew the task was impossible for mortal men. But enter Daniel, who never batted an eye.

He took the problem directly to the one who specializes in the impossible, God Almighty. Sometimes it seems like the church is engaged in Mission Impossible, doesn't it? And from a human standpoint, that's true enough.

But what is impossible for man is not even difficult for God. Now the story is not over yet. We haven't even gotten to the dream. We'll get to that next week, maybe. No, probably two weeks. But for us, there are still so many lessons in this.

Let's take a lesson from Daniel's faithfulness. His unwavering trust in God. His lack of complaining when things were getting tough, when things looked bad, when things looked bleak. His devotion to prayer, making prayer the first item of business.

We can all take a lesson from him on that. If you're here today and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, you are facing Mission Impossible and you stand actually with the Chaldeans and their fate. Come to the one who can solve all your...

What's impossible for you is possible for God. Repent of your sin. Come to Jesus Christ and be saved. Let's pray. Father, we do bow before you and we thank you for the example of Daniel, for his faithfulness, for his devotion to you in prayer.

And Father, we pray that you would help us to be more like Daniel, which would bring us closer to Jesus Christ. We pray in his name. Amen.