Daniel The Man Highly Esteemed by God — Zac Poonen

So we continue our study on the subject of new covenant men who lived in the Old Testament times. We've already considered Job, Abraham, Moses, Elisha, and these men they were not perfect. Job we see how he complained against God and of course God forgave him.

Abraham made mistakes calling Sarah his sister. Moses also made mistakes. He got upset with the people and struck the rock twice. And Elisha also we don't know much about his life but we know once when somebody made fun of him saying, go up, go up, you bald head.

Made fun of his bald head and said, why don't you also go up like Elijah. It says he turned around and I think he brought a curse upon them. And some says in Daniel 2 Kings 2 24 he cursed them and two female bears came and ate up 42 of those young people.

Now I wouldn't, I don't know whether that was right or not. I don't think it was, but however, so he made mistakes. Okay. But when we come to certain people in the Bible, it says almost nothing is recorded bad about them.

Joseph is one of them. But even with Joseph, I feel it was a mistake that he made in boasting about his dreams to his brothers that caused a lot of problems. But now we want to think about another man about whom I can't find any mistake at all in the Old Testament.

And that's Daniel. Amazing man. You read through the whole book and you don't find a single thing wrong that mistake that he ever did. Of course, he was a failing man like all of us, but he had an amazing testimony.

There's one thing written about Daniel in Daniel chapter 10 when an angel comes and says to him in Daniel 10 11, Oh, Daniel, a man of high esteem, a man who is very precious, desirable to God. Boy, what a testimony.

Daniel as a Guide Out of Babylonian Christianity

One whom God desires, just like men desire for gold things like that. God desired Daniel. And when he was a young man, a man highly esteemed by God, very precious in God's eyes, a challenge to us. And Daniel was the man who began the movement of God's people out of Babylon, back to Jerusalem.

He lived through the entire period of the captivity. He must've been a young man when the Israelites were taken in captives to Babylon, maybe 17 years old, 70 years later, when he's past 87, nearly 90 years old, he's still faithful praying that God's people will go back to Jerusalem.

He's a picture of those people whom God is choosing today to lead people out of Babylonian Christianity into a new covenant church. The Jerusalem is a picture of the new covenant church. Babylon is a picture of corrupt backslidden Christianity, where the preachers are all after money.

You read in Revelation 17 and 18, the fundamental principle of Babylon is money. In Revelation 17, you read the Babylon, the religious Babylon being hand in hand with the political leadership. And you find a lot of that in Christendom also today, religious leaders getting involved with corrupt political leaders for their own gain in some way, and thinking that they are serving God by influencing these political leaders.

But the political leaders we read in Revelation 17, they use Babylon just for their own purpose and they destroy them. Political leaders are using religious people, even Christians, just for their own purposes.

And we need to be alert to that, not be fooled by all these religious people who support politicians who are corrupt. And then in chapter 18, you read of Babylon as entirely a business system. Merchants of the earth weep when Babylon is destroyed, our profits are gone.

So whenever Christianity becomes a means of financial gain and profit, that is Babylon. Any preacher who has made money through preaching the gospel is part of Babylon. Paul never made money through preaching the gospel, he supported himself.

John Wesley, I think it was, who said that if you have become rich through preaching the gospel, you've gone astray. No, and yet so many people that are in the world today who make money through preaching the gospel, pastors and preachers, the best way to serve the Lord today is like Daniel, like Paul.

Daniel was not a full-time worker being supported by others. He supported himself. He was working in a government office and he was a prophet of God. And he was the main force that started the movement of God's people out of Babylon to Jerusalem.

And I believe that's the type of person God's looking for. Those who will work today, earn their own living, not be dependent on anyone financially. I'm not saying you cannot receive a birthday gift or any gift that people give you.

We are not legalistic, but we don't depend on people. That's the point. We must support ourselves. And that's, Daniel is a great example there. And yet he fasted and prayed and began the movement that started the process of the people of the Jewish people going back from Babylon to Jerusalem, though he never himself lived to reach there.

He started the process, which led to Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, all going and finally building the temple. So there's a great example for us. And he's also a picture of what the book of revelation calls overcomers.

You know, in all, to all the churches in Revelation chapter two and chapter three, the Lord speaks to the overcomers, to him who overcomes, I'll grant this, to him who overcomes, I'll grant this. So in that church, that was the church, they were all born again believers, but in the midst of the church, there were some who are overcomers.

In all of those seven churches, the message of the Lord is to him who overcomes, I'll give this. And Daniel is an example of those overcomers. Those overcomers are pictured in Revelation chapter 14 as the 144 ,000 who stand with the lamb on Mount Zion, who follow the lamb wherever he goes.

There's a difference between that and the group mentioned in chapter seven, which is a great multitude. The main difference is that it's not a question of numbers, but in Revelation seven, it says a great multitude, which cannot be numbered.

Revelation seven, nine, heaven is going to consist of a great multitude. And I think many of them were babies who died and were aborted. And they're all there from every nation, tribe and tongue standing before God, millions and millions of people.

But what can they say? Our salvation is due to the lamb. We washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Verse 10 and verse 14 of Revelation seven, that's all their testimony. But when it comes to the overcomers in Revelation 14, that's a much smaller number.

The number 144 ,000 is not the point. The point is, this is a number that can be counted compared to the other number, which cannot be counted. There are many people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but the overcomers who accomplished God's purpose are a small number that can be counted.

And they are the ones who were not defiled by the earth and not defiled by corrupt Babylonian Christianity, and who followed the lamb wherever he went. They were redeemed from out of the earth. Wonderful passage in Revelation 14, one to five.

Daniel is a forerunner of that category. And because we see a similar situation there in the Old Testament. And he was a young man. Many people were called by Jesus, by the Lord when they were young. Joseph was 30 and he was 17 when God called him.

And Jeremiah was a young man. We read in chapter one, Ezekiel was 30 years old when God called him for a ministry. And Daniel was probably only 17 years old when God called him, between 17 and 20. And as a young man, we read here, you know, the Bible says it's good for a man to bear the yoke when he's young, Lamentations 3, 27.

So all of you young people, I want you to be challenged by this example of Daniel. It says here in verse eight, a decision that all young people should take and all believers. He made up his mind that he would not defile himself.

Daniel one verse eight, with the king's choice food or with the wine, which he drank. What was he concerned about? There were laws given by God through Moses in the book of Leviticus chapter 11, that they should not eat certain types of meat.

They should not eat meat, which has got the blood inside it, Leviticus 17, 10. And they should not drink wine when it is fermented and stirring itself up in the cup, Proverbs 23, 31. There were verses like this, forbidding you from drinking fermented alcoholic wine and certain meats, which are not good.

And he studied the word. That's the main thing we see there. He would not have known this if he had not studied God's word. He knew what the law said, and these are all small commandments. These are not the big 10 commandments.

In the 10 commandments, there's nothing about food. So it's not enough just to keep the big commandments. He studied the small commandments and he didn't say, well, this is against the 10 commandments, but he said, no, God's word forbids me from drinking this wine, which is fermented.

God's word forbids me from eating this pork, which is provided here in this food with the meat, with the blood in it. I'm going to avoid it. Now people are going to say, don't be legalistic, man. These are all silly rules.

It was given to Israelites when they were in the wilderness. No, they were God's laws. And that's the primary mark of an overcomer. He is careful about God's laws, even the smallest one of them. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5 and verse 19, whoever cancels one of the least of these commandments, why did he talk about the least?

Because the test of a person's obedience is not that he keeps the big commandments, don't murder, don't commit adultery. No, the test of a person's obedience is in keeping the small commandments. Whoever cancels one of the least of these commandments and teaches others saying, oh, well, that's not serious.

Don't worry about keeping that. That's not the main thing in scripture. He will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches these smallest commandments will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

So even if you're not a great preacher, why don't you become great in the kingdom of heaven like this? By keeping the smallest commandment, of course, that includes the biggest ones and teaching others to keep the smallest ones.

You find in Christendom today, there's such compromise. For example, Jesus has taught very clearly against divorce and remarriage, but there are so many believers and so many pastors who divorced, remarried, divorced people, remarry, and they even become pastors and preachers.

Where is Christendom gone? Or for example, take a commandment like women should pray with their heads veiled. Very small commandment. You look around all the churches around in most countries and you don't see them veiling their heads.

And even in places where they do veil their heads, it's just a ritual. They don't understand what it means. And men who don't veil their heads, they don't understand what that means that their head is unveiled.

Because they are careless. If you read 1 Corinthians 11, it's very clear. Who obeys these small commandments? Those who are overcomers. And who insists that in your church, you must keep these commandments.

When you pray and prophesy, a woman must veil her head and a man must not veil his head. Those who obey little commandments, they're called great in the kingdom of heaven. There's an attitude I find among Christians.

Oh, that's small. It doesn't matter. Jesus said, baptizing the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20. But there are people who baptize in the name of Jesus. Okay, it doesn't matter.

That's not a serious thing. Okay. Well, you disobey the commandment of God, you're going to be least in the kingdom of heaven, even if you get there. But Daniel was concerned about the smallest commandment.

That's the first lesson we need to learn from the life of Daniel. A man was highly esteemed by God, because he kept the smallest commandment. You can follow in his footsteps. He determined in his heart that he would not compromise, even in the smallest little things.

And it's not just that I won't bow down to idols. That's fine. But I will obey God in the smallest things. So you find here that even when everybody else, you know, all the other Jews around sitting at the table, they were eating everything.

They were probably telling Daniel, come on, man, don't be so sticky. Don't be a legalist. It's thinking about these small things. You know, you can get abused like that, that you're being a legalist when you try to be concerned about the small obedience to God's small commandments is not being legalist.

No, the question is not whether the command is big or small. The question is who commanded it. If it's almighty God, ruler of heaven and earth was commanded, if it's my heavenly father was commanded it, I don't care whether it's a small one or a big one.

That's what makes the commandment important, who commanded it. That's Daniel's attitude. And if you want to be an overcomer, begin there, stand up for God in the midst of all the opposition, all the people at the table, there were many people, Jews selected, and they enjoyed it, all that food.

Daniel said no. Now I want you to see here, because Daniel said no, we read here that three other people, Hananiah, Daniel 111, Mishael, and Azariah also joined him. We know them today as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they're Babylonian names, but they were originally Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Daniel 111.

A New Covenant Church Formed by a Faithful Remnant

Here's a picture of how a New Testament church gets formed, New Covenant church, tremendous lessons in the book of Daniel. One man takes a stand for God, and God brings out most out of the woodwork, three people who stand for him.

Now Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah did not have the courage to stand on their own. They were waiting for a Daniel to take a stand. And when they saw one man take a stand, they said, hey Daniel, we're joining you.

I believe around the world in every country, there are many Hananiahs, Mishaels, and Azariahs who really want to obey God, really want to start a New Covenant church, really want, are fed up with Babylonian Christianity, but they don't have the boldness and the courage and the anointing to start a New Covenant church.

What are they waiting for? They're waiting for one Daniel, and there are very, very few Daniels. But if a Daniel arises somewhere, the Hananiahs and Mishael and Azariahs will come and join him. And where two or three are gathered together, there is a local church there, and that can grow and grow and grow with wholehearted disciples.

That's how we saw the work begin in Bangalore in India 45 years ago. It wasn't a big number, it was two or three that God brought together, and that's how the church started. And that's we see here, we can say this is a picture of a New Covenant church, four people.

The number didn't matter because those people influenced the nation of Babylon, influenced the nation of Medo-Persia later on, which all the other Jews could not. A small group of a New Covenant church can be a tremendous influence for God, not influencing a country today, no.

But in influencing the church in the battle against Satan, we want to shine as a light before Satan, a light in a world controlled by Satan, that God has a remnant here that stands true to him and obey him in everything.

You see, the devil is always taunting God saying, you don't have people who will obey you in everything. They'll obey you in the big things, and they'll ignore all the small things you're commanded. And the Lord says, no, but look at this group there, maybe the only four people there, but they obey me 100%.

That's what he would say in Babylon there. If the devil were to say, look at all these Jews, they're all supposed to be descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the devil says, but God, none of them are obeying you in all the little details.

When they see good food, they just enjoy it. They don't care whether it's against your laws or not. But God says, hang on, look at those four, look at Daniel, and those three, they're obeying me even in the little things.

And I believe it's the same today that God can point out to Satan. Do you see here in this country, in that country, not many, but a few, three, four people here and three, four people there who are obeying me 100%.

I want to ask you whether you're one of them, or you're one of the big crowd who calls everybody legalists and you compromise thoroughly because it's to your advantage. Well, if you look at Christian history, you'll find that God has always begun a new movement through one man, whether it's John Wesley or William Booth or different people through the years, one man, Paul.

And like that through the years, it's always been one man who stood up for God, and then two or three gathered, and then one man will be hated, persecuted, made fun of, called the devil and all types of things.

But around him, there gathers a few people, initially only two or three, but gradually the number increases. And that's how a new covenant church is formed. That's how it's been formed throughout history.

Any movement of God, anyone who stood up for the whole truth of God, anyone, for example, John Wesley stood up for holiness. And then in the 19th century, there were people who stood up for water baptism and for coming together in simplicity as a New Testament church, and for evangelism among the down-and-outs like William Booth did.

There's always a small group and around them came people who wanted to join up with that and stand for God. And then more in this century where the truths of the baptism and the Holy Spirit and becoming a New Testament church, all these truths came up in the 20th century.

It's always been that God finds one man somewhere and gathers other people around him. That's the lesson from Daniel. And what I want to challenge you, my dear brothers, are you willing to be that one man?

Not for honor. Daniel didn't do it for honor. He didn't even know what was happening, but he said, I want to live for God. I don't care if nobody joins me. That's the attitude. Not, I want to have the honor of starting a new covenant church.

God will never use you like that because he doesn't use people who are seeking their own honor. He doesn't use people who want to get a name for themselves. He uses people for whom who want to exalt Christ and who want to exalt Christ in the church.

So Daniel was like that. I want to show you some, an amazing thing, not only about his wholeheartedness and standing for God, but his humility. See, God had such confidence in Daniel's humility that he could say some amazing things about him.

Daniel’s Humility and Spiritual Wisdom

Remember there was a prophet in Babylon at that time called Ezekiel. Daniel was much younger than him, probably 10 years or more younger than him. And Ezekiel was 30 years old and Daniel was probably 17 or 18.

And God tells Ezekiel, listen to this. In the prophecy of Ezekiel, God says in Ezekiel 14 and verse 13 and 14, he says, if a country sins against me and so on, I will destroy it. But if there are three men in that country, Ezekiel 14, 14, Noah, Daniel, and Job, they will save themselves by their own righteousness and nobody else.

Noah died hundreds of years earlier. Job died hundreds of years earlier, but Daniel was alive. Imagine including Daniel, a living young man, 20 years old, and God includes him along with Noah and Job when he says, these are the three most righteous men I can think of right now.

How could God say that if he felt, oh, Daniel will get all puffed up when Ezekiel says that? Because Ezekiel was in Babylon just along with Daniel and he was prophesying. And Daniel heard that and it did not puff him up.

Imagine if you heard something like that, that God included you along with Noah and Job and your name. Would it puff you up? Oh, it's wonderful. It means a tremendous challenge that God had such confidence in Daniel's humility that he knew that he would not puff him up.

God's choosing for people who will never seek their own, who will not care about their own name, who are not interested in exalting themselves, who will not get puffed up even if great prophets praise them, will fall on their face before God all the time like John and say, Lord, I'm a sinner saved by grace.

That's all I am. And it's your mercy and your grace that's brought me very up. God had that confidence in Daniel. And then I want to tell you another thing Ezekiel said about Daniel. Listen to this. In Ezekiel 28, we read about the origin of Satan.

He was in Ezekiel 28 and verse 12. Satan is called the king of Tyre. There was a ruler in Tyre, but the real king behind that ruler was the devil. So Ezekiel 28, 12, he talks about the devil saying, you had the seal of perfection.

You were in Eden, the highest of the angels. He was in the garden of God and he was the anointed sheriff. Verse 14, Ezekiel 28, 14. He was on the holy mountain of God until pride was found in you and you were cast down.

Your heart was lifted up. Verse 17, you know, that's how the highest angel became the devil. But there's one thing said about this Satan. Ezekiel says concerning Satan, verse 3, Ezekiel 28, verse 3, you are wiser than Daniel.

Not wiser than Solomon. Solomon was supposed to be the wisest man, humanly speaking, of human wisdom. But when it came to spiritual wisdom, God says, Daniel is number one. And Daniel was alive there. He was a young man and Ezekiel could say such things about him.

I'm amazed at the confidence that God had in Daniel to say such things about him when he was a young man, knowing it would not puff him up. Brother, if you're like that, you're a very, very blessed man.

Daniel’s Knowledge, Prayer, and God-Given Revelation

And so he takes a stand against the food and he discovers at the end of it that God honors him and he's selected to, he's appreciated by those who selected the ones to serve the king. And I wanted to see another thing in Daniel 117.

It says here that these four young men, Daniel and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, Daniel 117, God gave them, listen to this, knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and writing and wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, and Daniel even had understanding of visions and dreams.

God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature. Yeah, it's God who gives intelligence. If you're a young man, you got to study in a school or a college and you got to study hard and do well to be able to earn your living.

How can you do that if God doesn't give you ability? I remember when my four sons were young and in school, I put this verse on top of that table where they sat and studied, Daniel 117. God gave these young men knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom.

And I said to my boys, claim that for yourself. If God could do that for Daniel and his three friends, he can do it for you, four of you as well. So it's a good verse. If you train your children to be wholehearted disciples, it's not for every Tom, Dick and Harry.

For those who are willing to be wholehearted disciples, God gives you many other things as well. So that's a great verse and also spiritual vision as well. The wonderful thing here is that God says in verse Daniel 19, God granted Daniel favor in the eyes of officials.

And that's another thing we've experienced through the years. When God wants to give you favor in the eyes of earthly officials, he can do it. And he does it for his servants where needed. Of course, sometimes he allows us to be persecuted and killed.

That's another thing. Now we go on to Daniel chapter two, and we read about Nebuchadnezzar having a vision. And what does he do? He calls all these magicians and says, please declare my dream and its interpretation is, I don't know what the dream is because it's gone from me.

I don't know what the dream is. And the magician said, tell us what the dream is and we'll give you the interpretation. The king was shrewd. He said, these guys are crooks. If I tell them the dream, they'll produce something and call it the interpretation.

But I know if they're really in touch with God, let them tell me the dream. If they're in touch with God, they should be able to tell me the dream I had without my telling them. Yeah. Then finally, he said, got to kill all of them.

These fellows can't tell me my dream. And Daniel is also one of those leaders there. And the message went to Daniel saying, the king wants to kill you. So Daniel went in verse Daniel two 16 and requested the king, please give me some time.

I will declare the interpretation. He asked for time because he wanted to pray along with the others. And he knew absolutely certain that God would give him the dream and the interpretation. And what did he do?

He didn't stand alone. This is the new Testament church there as it were a picture of it. We're 17. He called his three friends. He's let's pray together. But two or three are gathered together in my name today.

Jesus is I'll be in the mix. This is a forerunner of that. They came together and they prayed to God for compassion. And so Lord show us this mystery. And we don't want to be destroyed. We want to be your witnesses here.

And verse 19, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. God does amazing things when he wants to fulfill something. He'll do amazing things if he finds a wholehearted group of young people.

It's a great encouragement to those who want to start local churches wherever they are. And see, this is this is the difference between these godly men. The to me, the magicians are a picture of these Bible school professors and people who get Bible school degrees who don't know a head or tail about revelation from God.

They only got head knowledge, academic knowledge of scripture, just like academic knowledge of history books, and all that and chemistry books and physics books. They go to Bible colleges and study and get degrees and doctorates and become professors.

They are like these Galian magicians. They do it for money. You pay them a salary and they'll be your pastor and then they'll find a better church and more salary. They go there. Daniel was not in that category at all.

He wasn't doing anything for money. He was seeking the glory of God. So there's a great example there of the contrast between Babylonian preachers and preachers who build the body of Christ. And Daniel comes and explains the dream and he exalts God.

And we read here. Finally, when when Nebuchadnezzar saw this, he was when he heard this, he was absolutely amazed. And listen, it says here in Daniel two and 46, Nebuchadnezzar fell down on his face before Daniel and offered incense to him as if he were a God and said, surely your God is a God.

And the king promoted Daniel and Daniel just walked away from there. He wasn't taken up with all that. He would not accept that worship or any such thing. Think of this. The king was the most powerful person in the world at that time, Nebuchadnezzar.

Imagine if the president of your country came and fell down before you. Oh, how many preachers would be delighted today. That's not like Daniel. They are Babylonian preachers. Daniel walked away from him and say, I don't I don't want you to worship me.

I'm not interested. He did not seek favor from the political authorities of his time. But he did help his friends. He says he made requests to the king and got jobs for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Daniel 249.

And that's good that we use whatever influence we have in the world to help our fellow believers, especially those who are wholehearted and standing with us. But we don't want any honor or anything from them.

Daniel’s Influence Through Discipled Companions

Wonderful example, Daniel. Then we go to Daniel chapter three. And here we don't see Daniel at all in this chapter. The king had ordered all the Shadrach prophet prefects, verse three, Daniel three, three governors, counselors all come because he set up a big idol and a huge idol and everybody is to fall down and worship.

And we find Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are there because they were also officers in the king's kingdom. But Daniel is not there at all. I often wondered where was Daniel? Either he didn't go or maybe he decided to go out of town that day.

And to avoid this situation, it's good to avoid situations where we may find ourselves trapped if we can. And so he was not there, but he had done such a first class job in training these three people that they stood for the Lord, even though Daniel was not there to support them.

That's the mark of a man of God who's starting a new covenant church that he trains others in such a way that they're not dependent on this man of God all the time. Even at the very early stage, he trained them, led them up to God and taught them God's ways and told them to be strict and follow the commandments.

And then Daniel can be far away and disappear. And these people are standing true to God, just like Daniel would. They said, no, we're not going to bow down. You can throw us in the furnace of fire if you like, but we will not bow down.

What a work he had done. A true man of God in a new covenant church trains other younger people quickly to stand for God, just like he does. Great examples we have of this great man, a new covenant man in an Old Testament time.

And when they went into the furnace, they found Jesus was standing there with them, talking to them. Boy, what an experience that was. Wonderful. And then we come to chapter four. Now the king, Nebuchadnezzar, has another dream.

But again, we read Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. It says in verse five, I saw a dream. Daniel 4, 5. And again, he doesn't call Daniel. He's again dependent on the wise men. Verse six, Daniel 4, 6. I call the wise men.

And see, by this time, Daniel is now an older man. He's about 53 years old or more than 50 years old. And he doesn't project himself when he hears the king had a dream. Hey, you remember many years ago, oh, king, I interpret him, call me.

No, he's there in the background. A true man of God is like that. He's not always hanging around political leaders and wanting their favor. He's always in the background. He says, if you want me, you'll call me.

But I'm not interested in coming there. And all these Bible school professors, they were called first, the magicians and the conjurers, verse four, seven, the Chaldeans, and all the pastors and all that.

And they could not reveal God's plan. How true of today. This is Babylonian Christianity. Corrupt. It does not stand true to God's word. That's interested in money and getting a salary. Jesus never got a salary.

The apostles never got a salary. No prophet in the Old Testament got a salary. No prophet went to a Bible school. Jesus didn't send his disciples to a Bible school. Where does this new thing come from?

Babylon. And the only person who went to a Bible school before he came to Christ, that's the apostle Paul. Jesus had to send him into the desert for three years to get all that chaff that Gamaliel taught him out of his head.

And yet, Christendom thinks that the only way to serve God is to go to a Bible school and get a salary. Well, then the apostles didn't serve God at all. They didn't go to Bible school. They never got a salary.

So you see that Daniel is a great example of a man who supported himself and revealed God's purposes. Daniel. So when this dream came, finally, it says in verse 8, Daniel 4, 8, finally, Daniel, all the others had failed.

They said, there's only one man here who can tell me. Nebuchadnezzar calls Daniel and says, please tell me what the dream means. And Daniel comes and tells him the dream. He prays. And it's interesting, the dream was a message of judgment.

The other one, the earlier one was something that almost exalted the king, but this was a message of judgment. He says, Daniel, when he saw the dream, his thoughts, Daniel 4, 19, his thoughts alarmed him.

And he told the king, don't let this alarm you. But what I've seen about you, O king, is that you, verse 25, you will be driven away from mankind and you will be with the beasts of the field. You eat grass like the cattle and drenched with the dew of heaven till seven periods of time have passed until you recognize that almighty God, the most high rules over the realm of men.

And you're not the one. And that stump that remained from the roots of the trees, your kingdom will be assured after you recognize that it is heaven that rules. See, to give a message of judgment to the world's top ruler and not to be a compromiser, where do we find men of God like that?