Daniel 2:12-30 | What Prophecy Actually Is

All right let's get started with Daniel. Chapter 2 verses 12 to 30. Rick would you mind opening us in a word of prayer.

We thank you for this beautiful day. Thank you for the opportunity to come and look into your word pray that you would reveal some of its mysteries to us just as Daniel revealed mysteries to Nebuchadnezzar.

We thank you for this opportunity to dig in a little bit and thank you for Jeff's preparation in Jesus.

Name amen amen. Last week we saw the exposing of false prophets these astrologers and chanters necromancers Chaldeans that worked for the king were impotent when it came to something actually verifiable or testable he came to the point where he the king decided that he would not want to hear their interpretation but wanted them to tell him first of all what he dreamed.

Now there's some people that say that actually he had forgotten what he dreamed. Some commentators read that way Matthew Henry took it that way. I don't think that's the case. I think he came to a breaking point and realized if I tell them what I dreamed they're simply going to make up an interpretation and just make it fit.

So he because the reason I say that it seems that way he's very angry with that and it seems that something has snapped in his mind that these guys have been cheating me all along and he wants to test them.

And therefore what he's noticing is that they're false prophets. That they're false prophets. And that led me last week to introduce the false prophecies of one named Brian Simmons who's associated with Bethel Church and how he claims to have brought a new translation of the Bible.

But it's very much driven by his emotion and his dreams and his visions his unorthodox interpretations of Scripture and himself being really the only scholar although he says he consults a couple others from time to time.

But really it's his translation of the Bible. He calls it a new dynamic form. The problem with Brian Simmons and the quote-unquote prophecy that he brings is that it's very subjective to his own feelings and whims.

It's not grounded in Scripture today. What we're going to do is move on from Daniel 2 1 to 11 where we see what passes for prophecy and move on to the genuine thing. And in contrast to a very prophet centered Brian Simmons Simmons centered vision of prophecy.

What you'll notice in the verses that we see today is a very God centered theology. It's very centered on God. And Daniel's approach to this is not exalting himself at all. It's very humble. The humility of Daniel is evident in what we see.

So over against all this false prophecy today we're going to see the genuine thing which I much prefer to false prophets. I don't know about you but get very tired of hearing the opinions of men and would like to hear from God.

So let's dig in. We left off at verse 11. And Rick if you.

Could read for us verses 12 to 16 and very curious and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. So the decree went out and the wise men were about to be killed and they saw Daniel and his companions to kill them.

Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Ariok the captain of the king's guard who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He declared to Ariok the king's captain why is the decree of the king so urgent.

Then Ariok made the matter known to Daniel and Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint a time that he might show the interpretation to the king. Very good so.

Prudence, Discretion, and Humble Seeking of God

Before we have anything prophetic anything supernatural happening here I want you to notice the discretion the prudence of Daniel. This is a man operating according to the book of Proverbs. This is a man who has wisdom and discretion.

He's not hot-headed he's not emotional. In fact his very ability to curry favor with the king to be able to go into him and talk to him is related to his prudence and the way he carries himself. He's not just fanciful.

And and why is it that the king does want to see Daniel when he has so much anger. Daniel was at first lumped in with the others and he was set for the chopping block. And yet Daniel can walk in to see the king.

Well there's some debate on the timeline of what's happening here. If you notice back in chapter 2 verse 1 we're told this occurs in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Now how long was Daniel preparing before he was brought in as a wise man to the king.

Three years. So wouldn't this only be his second year of training. There are some that take it that way. But I actually think what's happening here is that there's an overlap between the father of Nebuchadnezzar and the the reign of Nebuchadnezzar solo.

So this is referring to Nebuchadnezzar reigning solo. Not in in partnership with Nebuchadnezzar. So Nebuchadnezzar is Nebuchadnezzar's father and he'll die in 605 BC. But there's a period of time from 608 to 605 where there's some overlap.

So what this is referring to I think is the solo reign of Nebuchadnezzar beginning in chapter 2 verse 1. So Daniel has completed his three years of preparation. Now he's been functioning as a wise man and the king has taken notice of him.

So he's able to go into the king because he's earned that respect. And the king is beginning to realize that this is a man that has prudence and discretion. And of course that's exactly what's pointed out in verse 14.

Nothing supernatural happening here. There is simply prudence and discretion. Verses 17 to 18 Barbara.

Would you mind being my next reader? 17 to 18? Yes. Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah he urged them to plead for mercy from God of heaven concerning the mystery so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Okay the next mark of true prophecy the first being prudence and discretion. This is a person who is operating with wisdom not wild-eyed you know crazy hair with. You know this prophetic appearance. As you might see on one of the television shows.

There's a there's a prudence there's a discretion and a credibility that comes. But the second thing is a humble seeking of the Lord. Notice. In verses 17 and 18 he goes to his companions and told them to seek mercy.

Mercy which cannot be demanded. It is a seeking of God. That word seek is important because it's not coming from a place of presumption. The Prophet does not see himself as above everybody else and having in themselves some great wisdom or power.

But it's a seeking of mercy from the God of heaven concerning the mystery so that Daniel and his companion companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Here you see humility.

Daniel does not have confidence in himself. He knows he needs a gift from God. In first Corinthians chapter 14 verse 1 we're told to pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. Especially that you may prophesy.

That's interesting. What is it in the New Testament that we do prophetically. What is referred to in first Corinthians 14 1. We're told where to pursue prophecy. Correct the very next verse. Right. First Corinthians 14 2 tells us the encouraging the comforting the edifying of the church.

It doesn't hear it referred to some special person in the church who is the Prophet of the church. The Prophet Joseph Smith the Prophet David Koresh the Prophet Chris Balaton the Prophet etc etc. Balaton would be with Bethel Church.

There is a humility and it is to bring forth the prophetic word to bring application of what God has said. Having sought God through his word. To make application of that to our lives. It is a more modest claim than the one who sets himself up as the Prophet.

Even Daniel who Jesus in the New Testament calls a prophet who is a prophet he has the opposite prophet. Although the Hebrew Scriptures will arrange Daniel not with the prophets but with the K2 beam with the writings.

In our arrangement of the Old Testament he is arranged with the prophets and he is a prophet. Jesus said so. And yet he's not operating in and of his own strength. The first thing we see in him is the humility to go call friends and to say we need to seek the Lord.

There is a God-centeredness to Daniel first of all discretion and a humility that comes with that office in his prudence his wisdom. But here now he is in a bind. He doesn't have the resources in himself.

It says he went to his friends to seek mercy from the God of heaven. There's a humility there. Yeah.

I think as with Jesus there is not only humility but authority that comes from.

His relationship with God. Yeah yeah. The authority. What do you mean by authority.

There well he uses he goes to the word to declare the truth and yes he has received truth from the father. That's a perfect transition to the next point.

Because what Daniel is going to receive in verse 19 is revelation. Yeah. But Daniel is a prophetic writer of Scripture. He's given something that that you and I would not have access to this prophetic word.

Daniel is going to be given it for the purpose of building up the the church later Israel. In this context Daniel is given a mystery. It's an unveiling. Okay so let's look at 219. A. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.

I think that came to him. How do you picture that happening. I think so a lot of people think that the commentators are divided. They leave it as an open question. But it would make sense that if if Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream and it's a vision of the night that he was having a dream that he fell asleep resting in God and he had the very dream that Nebuchadnezzar dream.

Yes very well could have been in the night. And it could have been that he refused to sleep but was seeking the Lord in the night which is a very common thing for Daniel to do in the book. So he's staying up praying.

But in any case he sees a vision. It could be right before his face like Peter saw it just looked like a veil being dropped from heaven and the sheet with all the animals on it. He's seeing that as if it's happening right in front of his face.

It could have been like that. Yes. Yes later in the book we'll see he has multiple visions. Yeah. Whether this happens in sleep or waking in either case he knows without a doubt that God answered the prayer.

It's an unveiling as we read from chapter 2 verse 4 all the way through chapter 7 verse 28 there's a shift in the text. Now the Old Testament is written. In which language. Hebrew. But when you get to chapter 2 verse 4 it suddenly splits and begins in Aramaic.

Notice at 2 4 then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic Oh King live forever. And from here from that verse on we're actually receiving revelation in Aramaic. Isn't that amazing. What would that tell us about this section of Scripture.

Very good. It's pertaining to the Gentiles. Yeah prior to this in through verse chapter 2 verse 3 it's pertaining to the Jewish people. What will happen in this vision is a picture of what's going to happen in these pagan Gentile countries.

Caldean so he's Babylonian Aramaic could be very well spoken by them. But in any case it's not Hebrew. It's the jet. It's a Gentile tongue. And that's actually what he's hearing them speak. So it seems like the Chaldeans whoever they are they speak Aramaic.

And the king certainly understands Aramaic because that's the language he's hearing this in. Yeah right. So it's a it's a Gentile tongue that they speak. And it could well be that that's the predominant language.

There in Babylon I think there's something for us to take that when we go to other countries we try to learn their language we put the gospel in their language. Okay he's reading this God saying it it's.

All about. Yeah. What's that like Aramaic. Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep. That was. And then Greek ultimately would overtake the Roman Empire. But prior to that this is probably the most ubiquitous language the present everywhere.

Aramaic. So that's interesting. But it's not without meaning. Why would that be the case. Because this is dealing with the Gentiles. One of the problems with the subjective false prophecies that we're getting from these modern-day so-called prophets is that they come right out of the mind of the individual.

They're very subjective. And he then just tells you what it means. What we have in contrast here with this real genuine prophecy is that it's testable it's verifiable it's clear. And this is very important.

It corresponds and correlates with other scripture. So the way we interpret scripture is with scripture. The Bible knowledge commentary makes this point here. He said. He said the author of the Bible knowledge commentary here at this point says the Prophet is seldom left to his own ingenuity to discover the truth.

He seldom left to his own ingenuity to discover the truth. What does that mean. Daniel here is not left to his own ingenuity to discover the truth. Yeah. And what do you mean by ingenuity though creativity his mind.

It's subjective to his own thought. And trying to connect dots. Oh this could mean that or that. No it could. It corresponds to other scripture. So one of the things that the Bethel movement has been pushing through this false prophet whose name is Brian Simmons is that they're the next event on the prevent prophetic timetable is not the rapture of the church.

It is according to them the glorification of the church. What's the glorification of the church. Not the rapture. You know what they say this it is this outpouring this unveiling this reason this opening of an understanding of who the church really is and taking up that mantle to take Dominion.

It's Dominion. Yeah kingdom now theology that there's. And they were very big on this in 2020 because they thought that 2020 was the tribulation of the church. And so with all of these horrible things happening you know with the Kobe.

But really the government response to that was what was so oppressive and the the medicines that they were pushing all of these things were man-made. But they were interpreting that as the tribulation of the church and it was preceding what will be happening any time now in their timetable the glorification of the church where people begin to realize through their canonic theology Jesus had done nothing except by dependence on God that all of his miracles are repeatable.

The greater things of the book of John are not the salvation of souls but that we would do the very kind of miracles that Jesus did because Jesus had in the kenosis had emptied himself of his divine prerogatives.

And his miracles are the very things we're going to do so in the the visions and the dreams of Chris volatile Brian Simmons the Bethel movement and a lot of this Pentecostal world. The next step is the glorification of the church where we're going to see the raising of the dead.

Which is why when they had a boy die in their church might have been a girl when they had a child die was a girl. Yeah they prayed and they prayed for days for her to be resurrected until it wasn't a week later they finally buried her as she was decomposing right there in the.

Church. Oh wow yeah you know ultimately they're trying to usher in the kingdom.

Where the church is glorified first and that prepares the way for the coming of Christ. In many ways Bethel and this group holds to Orthodox theology. They still look to Jesus. And I think there are many people within the movement more so the the people that are you know just attending the supernatural school of ministry that are saved.

They're genuine Christians that are that are looking for Christ. But these dreams and these visions keep taking them off track. Chasing after these these illusions which are nothing more than subjective and it's not allowing scripture to interpret scripture.

They're coming now to the book of Revelation as if they have a new deeper unveiling. Do you know what they say. The locusts that come out of the smoke of the pit is no they say it is the religious who oppose them.

They're the smokescreen. The smokescreen that's keeping the veil over a majority of people not to see who they really are. Do you see that. It's very creative. Yeah. Yeah. And they're against the literal interpretation of Revelation now.

Realize what we're getting into now with these prophecies of Daniel the two are apocalyptic and they go hand and glove. You can't understand Revelation without Daniel. And you really don't have the full light on Daniel without Revelation.

To see how the time. Let's turn quickly to Luke 21 24. Janet if you could read that when we get there. But Luke 21 24.

There were miracles though in the book of Acts, following, I mean all performed miracles, and I can see why people might think they can reproduce that somehow, following through the early church.

If you start off with an error of this degree this magnitude right then down the line of course you've heard the analogy you're miles apart. Many of the errors that people in the charismatic world begin with are fairly small at the beginning but ultimately lead to a wide gulf further down the line.

So this canonic theology where someone says well Jesus emptied himself and they go too far in what he emptied himself of which is namely being in heaven and being worshipped with angels. Well no he left behind his ability to do miracles in and of himself you know emptied something of his divinity.

That's canonic theology. Now what you do is you take the next step and you say well everything Jesus did walking on water raising Lazarus after four days that should be part of our expectation for the church.

And so now what you have is a very man centered theology where you think the Holy Spirit is going to use you to the quality of miracles. That what Jesus did a small error in kenosis. What's actually a big deal theologically but it results practically in in wild things like what they're doing so yeah.

Okay this is what Jesus refers to as the times of the end. Right. Okay what will mark the end of the time of the Gentiles and God restoring and re-establishing his work with Israel. That's the final end of the times the Gentiles.

Yeah. Yeah I'm looking at the rapture the rapture of the of the church and then the restoration of the Daniel 70th week he resumes the program with Israel. Yeah right now we're in that gap period between the 69th and 70 we'll get to that when we get to Daniel chapter 9.

The reason I bring it up now though is because what Daniel is given. Let's look again. We'll go back to Daniel chapter 2 verse 19. Daniel is shown a mystery. We haven't seen what it is. We're going to get to that in chapter 2.

It's a mystery of the times of the Gentiles the times of the Gentiles what's going to happen in the Gentile nations. It's written in Aramaic and it is going to show Babylon and then the Medo-Persians and then the Greeks and then the Romans all of the the trampling underfoot of the Jews by these Gentile powers which is allowed by God until the end times.

And you can't understand what these things mean without Scripture. You interpret Scripture with Scripture. So what we have from Daniel here is a revelation. We're told that he received it but it's very objective and in order to understand it we're going to have to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture.

We'll leave it at that point for now. Now let's go on to verses. The second half of 19 through 23. Carol would you mind reading that for us to 19b through 23.

Then Daniel praised the God of heavens. Oh yeah that's it saying praise the name of God forever and ever for he alone has all wisdom and power he determines the course of world events he removes Kings and sets others on the throne he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars he reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in the darkness though he himself is surrounded by light.

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. Amen. Notice here. Praise.

And Thanksgiving it inspired genuine prophecy inspires praise. And Thanksgiving there are false prophets as we saw in chapter 2 1 to 11. And as we still see today. But that doesn't mean there aren't genuine prophecies.

Genuine prophecy one of the marks of it is what we see here. It inspires praise to Almighty God. It glorifies God. The result of Daniel answering bless be the name of God forever and ever. This delight in the things of God.

He changes times and seasons. He removes Kings and sets up Kings as we'll learn. That's what this vision was about that Daniel had received. And Daniel understands it. He has received this wisdom from God.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things. There is a such thing as genuine prophecy. So on our left we have the higher critics who read the book of Daniel and try to naturalize everything.

And then they of course will come to this late date for Daniel and in the first century. Because how could Daniel have known what empires would come and fall unless it was a late day. And so they will push that date as far back because they're unbelieving.

They don't believe that God reveals hidden things. And then you have another wild extreme where people consider themselves to be prophets and are bringing new revelation. I think where we ought to sit is in the Word of God delighting in the prophecies that he's given in his Word.

Is this prophecy still fresh to you. I mean think about it if somebody came to your church with the new and fresh word from the Lord by the next Sunday. That's old hat. What's so new and fresh about it.

The minute it's given it's already in the past. Yeah. Well you're still thinking about its meaning. That's the nature of time. Did you ever. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. The point here is that what is given in writing and given to us is given for us to us and to our children forever.

We should have as much delight in God giving to Daniel a prophecy so many hundreds of years before Christ 400 some years as if he just spoke it to us yesterday. That's I think the big problem with these false prophets.

They're always looking for a new revelation something new and exciting something that no one else has ever seen before some new unveiling some new epic or era of the church. Because they're not content with what God has already said.

Your heart should be blessing God to realize that he's already given this prophecy through Daniel not through some some new guy running around the country through Daniel. Why is he not enough. This prophecy should inspire the same kind of praise in us as if it was just spoken yesterday.

And what makes it so amazing is that it was spoken so many hundreds of years before Christ ultimately reveals Christ in his kingdom and all things are fulfilled in him. So it inspires praise as we go through the true and the genuine prophetic as we have in the written word our hearts are filled with praise and delight in the God who reveals secrets deep and hidden things.

Yeah.

Except this until the fiery furnace right seeing the miracle of their.

Deliverance. Well actually when Daniel tells him because he's been so troubled by it so never can answer is kind of like a roller coaster. He this is his first peak. Right. When he gets this he had been so troubled he's amazed that Daniel could tell him what he dreamt and what it means that he actually believes.

That's what's going to happen. It's just that his kingdom is not going to fall while he's still there. So he's good and he is just through the roof excited. Then later he'll build a statue to himself because he's still an idolater.

And then he'll see the miracle of Daniel in the lion's den. And you know all of these things you would think this should have been enough. Yes. But it wasn't enough for him. Yeah he wasn't there yet. And it's questionable whether he was ever genuinely saved.

Yeah. Even though at the end of chapter 4 he will profess the sovereignty of God he's lost his mind for a time and he confesses it with his mouth. But is that the same way that Balaam and Balak they long confessed God.

And then he subsequently introduced sexual immorality to seduce the people from within. But when he was up on the mountain all he could do is bless Israel. So Balaam's not a true prophet. And yet he's blessing Israel.

I think in the same way it's more likely that Nebuchadnezzar is being forced by Almighty God to give praise and to honor his name. But in his heart he remains a wicked pagan king all his days. More than likely the case.

Not sure though. There's debate on that. And you'll read the commentators are are divided. What do you guys think. You think Nebuchadnezzar's ever genuinely saved. Well Daniel 434. Yes. Yeah. And that I think is even the thesis statement of the book.

As I said last week I think that is a crucial statement. It comes from the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the king of heaven for all his works are right and his ways are just and those who walk in pride he is able to humble which has just happened to him. Yeah so that seems like a pretty.

Definitive testimony. Yeah. But look at chapter 2. Yeah. If you look at chapter 2 verse 47 look what he's saying truly your God is God of gods and Lord of kings. That sounds like a true profession. And then the next thing he's doing is building a statue to himself and saying bow down and worship.

So he's a wild card. Like I said he's a rollercoaster and we don't need to know. Do we. Yeah.

We'll find out yeah we'll know one day he's there or not. Yeah. Yeah. To see this that he should know who God is. Yeah. But when you look at two places when Christ came all the miracles he was doing and they didn't believe right in the day.

Yeah. And then we know in Revelation at the end they're all at the end of place many beliefs and they're gonna all go against the kingdom and they're going to.

Seek praise and yes yeah. And what's this theme of John that I've been stressing a lot. John 831 John 666. There's many who are disciples who believe but in the end they turn away because they're never actually truly genuinely converted.

Judas. Judas is a perfect example. Yeah good good word. Yeah yeah. That tells us the.

Distinction between having a head knowledge and a heart transformation.

Yeah genuine conversion has to have to be. Yeah. It'll affect the affections and your actions all right. So in 24 to 26 therefore Daniel went into Arioch whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon.

He went and said thus to him do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king and I will show the king the interpretation. Remember it. By his prudence and his his wisdom he had won the friendship and the trust.

Now notice this requires favor with Arioch because for Arioch to go to the king and say I got someone he's got to be convinced he's got it otherwise. Why didn't you just carry out my command. I told you to kill these guys.

They're all quacks. Now off with your head too. So God has granted this favor with men. Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him. I have found he wants a little credit here too.

I have found among the exiles from Judah and he did. He stepped up to bring him in got to give him credit. Where credits do. A man who will make known to the king. The interpretation. King declared to Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar.

Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation. He wants to be real clear. You're not about to pull the same ruse. You're saying you actually have the dream because he wants to hear that chapter 2 verse 27.

Daniel answered the king and said I love this. No wise men enchanters magicians or astrology. Astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked. And I like it because he's actually pretty aggressive here.

He didn't need that first preface. He could have said the God of heaven reveals this. But he couched it with an apologetic in church. This is another reason why apologetics is good and right. He actually tears down arguments before he goes on.

He sets the true God up over against the lies of the astrologers and the enchanters. We are told as Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 11 3 and 4 and 2nd Corinthians 10 verse 4. Time and again we are told to demolish arguments and every stronghold of pretense that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.

Take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. That's referring to apologetics the super Apostles. Today we have super Apostles running around our country and they're prophetic in their gifting and many people chase after them.

They really do. But we demolish arguments and take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. The amazing thing.

Is arguing against Christ. Yeah. Yep yep and that's the only way it's going to happen these.

Deceivers need for their own sake to be refuted if they have hope of coming to repentance. That perhaps God would grant them repentance. And coming to the knowledge of the truth after having been captured by the devil to do as well.

The way that's going to happen is if they're confronted with their lives. This is mercy to those astrologers. Look all your stargazing couldn't do any good. Now I'm going to tell you the truth. You see you have to tear down the lie at times.

You have to attack at the point of deceit. So he does that he says no wise man enchanter magician astrologer can show the king the mystery. But verse 28 29 I want you to notice as we read this where he gives the glory.

He is not even while he gives this great. He's a prophet. He's the prophet Daniel. He is the prophet Daniel. But look at the humility of his heart. There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these to you o King. As you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this. And he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.

Where's the glory. Amen. And it comes right at the beginning of verse 28. There is a God in heaven. There is a God in heaven. He's giving the glory. He's pointing up to God and not assuming. He's not posturing himself.

In fact he even says look God gave it to you just like he gave it to me. He gave you the dream first. Then he told me after he told you he doesn't. He doesn't grandstand himself. I love that about Daniel throughout the book.

He's so humble. He starts by going in prayer. He calls his friends and hey pray with pray with me. This is intense. But he's got this calm about him. He's humble before God. And when God gives him this prophetic gift he gives the glory back to God.

Then lastly in verse 30 for today. But as for me this mystery has been revealed to me not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living. If this is why I started this lesson the way I did it's because when I listen to the false prophets in our era it is always to present them as having the wisdom that we've been missing all along.