Episode Transcript
Daniel chapter 2 verses 19 through 21, the title of the message this morning is, "The Secret Revealed, Part 1."
"The Secret Revealed, Part 1."
Now in the previous verses last week, Daniel's death sentence was postponed long enough for him to go home and pray and get his godly companions to pray. that God would show him the king's dream and the interpretation of it.
So Daniel went home, he asked his godly companions to pray, and they poured out their heart to God that God might reveal that dream to Daniel.
He and his godly companions, God willing, would not be killed with the pagan wise men of Babylon.
So they prayed to God and if you'll look in your text this morning in verse 19, "Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel."
"Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel."
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
I thank you for the wonderful time we had in Sunday school this morning.
I thank you Lord God for the people who are here today to hear your word.
I pray Father that all eyes will be upon you this morning.
And you'll feed us, Father God, with your precious word, Lord.
We look to you in Jesus' wonderful name.
Amen.
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel.
Now the word translated "revealed" here has the idea of taking the cover off of something.
Most of us have seen, if not in person, we've seen videos of statues of famous people.
And there's a sheet, a veil over those statues.
Y'all ever seen that before?
And boy, they're going to have this big unveiling.
And then all the people around, they pull the veil off, they pull that sheet off.
And when they pull that cover off, there's the statue and everyone goes, "Oh!"
And they all clap and all that good stuff for it.
And so that's the idea that we have here with the word revealed.
You can see the artwork is there.
You can see the shape and you can see the size of the image, but you can't see the details of it as long as that cover is on there.
And then suddenly and dramatically the cover is pulled away and the details of the image are revealed.
You see, the images that Nebuchadnezzar had in his dream, they were covered by God with divine mystery.
The dream was like a parable.
By the way, the same one who gave Nebuchadnezzar the dream is the same one who gave us the parables.
Same God, same Savior.
And so it's like a parable, but it was in a dream.
The story was told, but it wasn't explained.
The heavenly vision was seen but it was shrouded in unexplained mystery.
And so now to further God's kingdom agenda, God pulls the sheet off the vision and lets Daniel see all of its glorious details.
Now why is this so important to us today?
Because God is showing us how He works.
He gives the image, He gives the dream, He gives the artwork, and under the artwork you see the size, you get the idea, but it's not until you pull the sheet off that you get the message behind the idea.
It's not until you pull the sheet off that you get the message behind the story that was told.
The Bible speaks of the Old Testament being like a veil covering Moses.
It covers, but if you pull the veil away, if people will turn to Christ, the veil is ripped away and you see all the glorious details of that Old Testament story which points us to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And by the way, this dream is about the Lord Jesus Christ.
How wonderful then for us to be able to understand this going in to this dream.
So God pulls the cover, pulls that sheet off the dream, and now He gets the message.
This morning I had the privilege of teaching on the Day of Atonement next door.
And boy did we have a good time learning about the Day of Atonement.
And you know what happens?
We teach about the Day of Atonement. and come over here on the day of atonement, you get all the basics, you get all the concepts.
Look, man's a sinner.
You got to confess these sins.
They got to be transferred to this goat.
That goat has to go away into the wilderness where man doesn't live.
And a fit man, a big strong man has to take that goat out into the wilderness.
And then another goat has to die and the blood has to be placed on the mercy seat.
And then you learn when you get to the New Testament, the bell just goes, pulls it off.
You see the message behind all of it.
It's two goats, but it's one sacrifice, representing the one sacrifice of Christ with two aspects.
In one goat, the goat was presented dead before the Lord.
In the other goat, he was presented alive.
On the cross, Jesus was presented dead.
Out of the tomb, he was presented alive.
And when he rose out of that tomb, he took our sins away, where they'll never come in contact with man again.
He put them away forever, the Bible says, by the sacrifice of himself.
And so as we teach that New Testament in relation to the old, we get the statue, we get the sheet and we get all the cheering and applause when that sheet's ripped away by the New Testament.
And that's what we're seeing here with Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
Now God rips that sheet away from the dream.
Look here back in your text.
He does it in a night vision.
You see that?
in a night vision, which means God used a common occurrence to give an uncommon revelation.
God used a common occurrence, a dream, to give an uncommon revelation.
God didn't reveal the secret in a day vision.
He revealed it in a night vision.
God could have used a number of ways to reveal the secret to Daniel.
He could have called Daniel up to heaven.
He could have put him in a trance.
He could have done whatever.
He could have come to him in person and told him something, but he revealed it to Daniel in a dream when Daniel was asleep.
My guess is, I bet old Daniel was just worn out.
He probably prayed himself to sleep.
All that Babylonian drama that he had endured during the day.
He prays himself to sleep and now God, as He has done many times in Scripture, He reveals a prophetic message to Daniel in a night dream.
This is a great passage of Scripture because it shows us how God uses common occurrences, again like dreams, in uncommon ways sometimes.
As far as I know, every dream in the night that I've ever dreamed has always been fascinating to me.
I've always been fascinated with dreams.
Why do we have dreams?
You know, why does God make our brain do that?
They're quite entertaining to me, by the way, when they're not scary.
But out of all the dreams I've had, I've never once felt that God was communicating to me in a dream.
Dreams are common occurrences.
He revealed the dream to Daniel in a night dream.
He revealed the secret in a night dream.
Dreams are common occurrences, but prophecies are not.
If prophecies were common occurrences, Daniel probably would have had the dream before Nebuchadnezzar did.
He'd have been dreaming prophecies all the time.
He wouldn't have to pray for it.
He'd just been going to sleep and dreaming a prophecy.
But dreams are common and prophecies are not.
We have to understand that all true prophecies are without error.
And they are given by the inspiration of God.
On the other hand, our dreams are full of nonsense and they're given by the imagination of men.
A few nights ago, I'd been listening to Brother Doug preaching at his nursing home ministry and that morning and a few nights ago that crossed my mind shortly before I went to bed.
And I was thinking about what a blessing Brother Doug's nursing home ministry was to all those people there and to me.
And how, you know, if I was old like that and I was in a nursing home, I'd be so thankful that someone came in and held church services for me.
I thought about that right before I went to bed.
And later that night, I dreamt that I was working as a police officer at a nursing home.
And I was trying to unlock the door for someone in my dream.
And Brother Doug, that's how much influence you have over my life, Brother, you see.
And I had the hardest time unlocking that door, And I was trying my best to twist that little locking mechanism and get that door unlocked in my dream, when all of a sudden I heard Tammy say, "Stop it!"
And little did I know that in that dream, I'd been trying to unlock my wife's armpit the whole time.
She said, "I didn't want to wake you up, but I finally thought, 'No, this is irritating me.'"
Now, was that dream a prophecy?
No, that dream, like all of our dreams, it was ridiculous, wasn't it?
So, when you read things like this in the Old Testament, don't get caught in the trap of trying to understand and interpret your dreams, Because they're common occurrences.
Prophecies are very rare.
And if you do get caught in the trap, like a lot of charismatic people do, now sometimes they just lie about the dreams they have.
No doubt in my mind about that.
But if you get caught in the trap of trying to make your dreams into a prophecy, then you'll be making prophecies out of nonsense.
Don't do that.
Now there may come a time at the end of the world right before Jesus comes, when it becomes advantageous for God to speak to people in visions again.
But in the Bible, in the Bible, the times of prophecy when they're given even in the Scriptures are always very rare in special occasions, such as Daniel's time here.
So God revealed the dream to Daniel in that vision.
You can look back in your text, "Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven."
He blessed God for revealing the dream to him that he and his Christian friends would not die.
Now Daniel could return to the king and Daniel could tell the king his dream that he saw and he could give the king the message, explain the message of that dream.
And when the Bible says that God, that Daniel blessed God, that word "blessed" in the In Hebrew it means to kneel.
It means to kneel.
And Daniel was gratefully acknowledging God for the blessing that God had given him by revealing him this dream.
And this blessing belonged to whom?
Who did this thanksgiving belong to?
The God of heaven.
He blessed the God of heaven, who alone is the one true God.
He didn't bless the false gods of Babylon.
He didn't bless the starry host like they worshiped back then.
But He blessed the God of heaven who created all things.
Now, the fact that this dream caused Daniel to bless the God of heaven lets us know that this dream was something that we should all be thankful for.
Daniel's blessing God.
Daniel's thank you, God, for this incredible, wonderful dream.
This dream contained a message that was encouraging for the people of God.
Now remember what we've learned in the book of Daniel, what we learned in the book of Hosea, what we've learned as we've studied the Old Testament, and we've gone throughout these wonderful books.
Remember what God says to Israel, He says to us.
What God says to Israel, He says to us.
Israel's gospel is our gospel.
Israel's Savior is our Savior.
And Israel's prophecies are our prophecies.
Whether they directly refer to us or not doesn't matter.
The prophecies still belong to us.
That truth is still given to us by God.
And this prophecy was an encouragement to Daniel.
And that means it is given to be an encouragement to us as well.
Now listen to how Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
In verse 20, Daniel answered and said, "Blessed be the name of God..." for how long?
Forever and ever.
Now the word "answered" means to respond.
It doesn't mean that God said something and Daniel says something back necessarily, but it means this was Daniel's response.
So in response to God revealing this message of the dream to him, Daniel says, blessed be the name of God and this is the key phrase forever and ever.
You see this dream had an eternal message for a temporary time.
I'll repeat that again.
This dream had an eternal message for a temporary time.
Daniel was in a temporary time.
Daniel was in a time when he was taken captive by Babylon.
He and his friends had been yanked away from their homeland, away from the life that they knew and they loved, and now they're here serving these Babylonians, and now their life has been threatened.
It was a temporary time for Daniel.
And in this uncomfortable, temporary time, God reveals to Daniel an eternal message.
This dream caused Daniel to bless the name of God forever and ever, because this dream revealed that Daniel's affliction in Babylon was temporary, but his blessing in Jesus Christ was forever and forever.
Here's the kingdom truth for you this morning.
We must learn to view our temporary afflictions in light of our eternal blessings in Christ.
We must learn to view our temporary afflictions in light of our eternal blessings in Jesus Christ.
Daniel said, "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever."
Why?
For wisdom and might are His.
You might want to take your pen and underscore in your Bibles the word wisdom and might.
Might want to underscore forever and ever too.
But wisdom and might, when you're going through a difficult time as Daniel was, you remember, you view your temporary affliction in light of your eternal blessings in Christ.
And you remember that wisdom and might belong to God.
That's what God is showing Daniel in this dream.
He's showing him that his affliction is temporary, and that in that affliction, God has wisdom, and God has might.
Through this dream, the Holy Spirit taught Daniel that two things belong to God, wisdom and might.
Wisdom and might.
When your life is suddenly turned upside down like Daniel's was, always remember that wisdom and might belong to God.
When panic sweeps over you, because of something that you're going through, remember God's wisdom in might.
Wisdom.
God has a plan.
Might.
God is in control.
That's what Daniel's saying here.
He's got an eternal vision given to him.
God is showing to Daniel His eternal plan for the people of God, which includes Daniel, which includes us.
So in this dream that we're going to be studying in the weeks to come, God is showing He has an eternal plan for His people.
His people who are alive on earth today are living in temporary times, but in those temporary times, God lets us know He has an eternal plan.
And in those temporary times of affliction, we get to see God's eternal plan, and we get to remember that God has a plan, and no matter what we're going through in this life, God is in control.
Doesn't matter who's in the White House, doesn't matter what's going on in the trade, and doesn't matter what's going on with tariffs or anything else.
God has a plan, And God is in control and not only that, verse 21, "And he changeth the times and the seasons."
"And he changeth the times and the seasons."
Underscore times and seasons.
Times and seasons.
The dream that God has given, it concerns times and seasons.
This is what Daniel is saying in his blessing of God here.
Daniel is prefacing the dream.
You know what that means?
It means Daniel is giving a preface, kind of like in a book.
When you read the message before the message in the book, that's what Daniel is doing.
He's giving us an outline, he's giving us an idea of what this dream is going to consist of in the message that we should be getting from it.
And this dream consists of times and seasons.
It's addressing times and seasons.
The time Daniel was living in was uncomfortable.
The season of Daniel's life was unsettling and in Daniel's season Babylon was in control.
Nebuchadnezzar was in control.
In Daniel's time, the Jewish people were afflicted.
How does this dream encourage him?
Encourages by knowing all that's going to change.
All that's going to change.
Just because you're in a situation now, just because you're in a situation in this life, you have to understand that the way things are are not the way things are always going to be.
Because we have a God who has wisdom, He has a plan, He has might, He's in control.
And God changes times and God changes seasons.
That's the good news here.
That the time and season Daniel was in was bad, but God changes the times and the seasons.
Whether you're struggling with this life, no matter what you're struggling with, you always remember two things.
Your struggle in this world will soon end, if you know Christ.
And your promise in the gospel never will.
If you know Jesus, your struggle in this life will soon end.
But your promise in Jesus Christ never will.
God changes the times and the seasons, but He never changes His Word.
Isn't that the wonderful thing?
The dream concerns God changing times and seasons.
But the dream will never change.
God's plan for this world in Christ, His gospel redemptive plan of making all things new, of executing judgment upon the ungodly, and bringing the redeemed to Himself to be forever made conformed to the image of His Son, that plan will never ever change, but our temporary circumstances that we inherited in Adam will.
Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8 says, "Our hope in the gospel is founded upon Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and what?
Forever."
Or we could say forever and ever.
That's how come Daniel could say, "Blessed be the name the Lord forever and ever."
Because of Jesus, the same yesterday and today and forever."
This was the great promise that Daniel saw in the dream that God gave him.
Because Jesus is the same forever.
Daniel blessed the name of God forever.
Daniel said, look back in your text, "He removeth kings and setteth up kings."
This is what the dream is going to be about.
It's going to be about God taking kings who are currently in power in this world and removing them from their positions of power.
It's going to be about God then setting up kings to take their place.
And then ultimately at the end of the dream, God sets up a king who will never be replaced.
And the king who will never be replaced is Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Daniel, understanding the dream, looks to the end of God's wonderful plan and says, "Bless your name forever and ever."
And as Daniel is blessing God, it's on account of God in the dream showing how he's going to bless Daniel.
How is he going to bless Daniel?
Through the Savior, through the Christ, through the King that he sets up forever.
And by blessing Daniel through that King, he then fulfills the promise God gave to Abraham. that in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed."
And it is that blessing that Daniel sees in the dream that causes him to say, "God, bless your name forever."
And no matter what circumstance you're in, you can look forward in time and see the end of your circumstance.
And you can bless the name of God forever and ever.
Daniel was taken captive by the king of Babylon, But Daniel was reminded in his dream that God removes kings.
Daniel's kingdom was conquered on account of the ungodly king in Israel.
But Daniel was reminded that God sets up kings according to his wise and perfect plan and he'll one day set up King Jesus who will never be removed.
When God sets up Jesus as king, Daniel will never have to worry about being captured again.
God not only removes and sets up kings, but look back in your text as we close, "He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding."
He gives wisdom to the wise, knowledge to them that know understanding.
Now notice what Daniel did not say.
He did not say that God gives wisdom to the unwise.
And then he gives knowledge to them that don't know anything.
So, and it's true, if you're unwise, you can ask God for wisdom.
He will give you wisdom.
And if you don't know, you can ask God for knowledge and He will give you knowledge.
But that's not what Daniel is referring to here.
He's saying he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding.
And so what he's saying is this.
He says, "Any wisdom and any knowledge that men have, it comes from God."
It comes from God.
You can have the sharpest, you can have a genius on the throne.
People love talking about Trump and the art of the deal and all this stuff.
Let's say that you've got another king in another nation.
Let's say he's smarter than Trump.
Let's say, boy, he's thinking many steps ahead, like in a chess game.
And let's say he's trying to manipulate and make things turn out better for his nation.
You know, that could be possible.
And then you got someone over here, and he's working some back deal over here, and he's going to come around, and he's going to get America, and he's going to conquer our country.
The wonderful thing is this, God sets up kings, God removes kings, and God gives the wisdom to the people who have wisdom.
And the people who have knowledge, God gave that to them.
All wisdom that a leader has, that a ruler has, that a king has, and all knowledge that a king has, that the leaders of this world have, All that came from God.
They didn't get it on their own.
It was given to them by God.
"Our earthly rulers therefore will never outsmart our heavenly King."
"He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the no understanding."
You know what?
That includes the devil too.
Any brilliance the devil has, any life the devil has, Any corrupted wisdom the devil has?
Now God didn't give him corrupted wisdom, he corrupted his wisdom.
By reason of his brightness, the Bible says.
He says, "Your wisdom was corrupted by reason of your brightness."
But you know where his wisdom came from?
It came from God.
He corrupted the wisdom God gave him, but God gave him the wisdom.
And without God there is no wisdom.
Without God there is no knowledge.
So it doesn't matter if all the kingdoms in this world join hands and hands together.
It doesn't matter if the devil empowers them.
It doesn't matter if the unholy spirit of the devil comes in and manipulates the whole world in unison.
They form a one world government together and they come to stand against the people of God and against His Christ.
They can't out think, out plan, out strategize our God in heaven.
They cannot do it.
He gives wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that no understanding, no world leader can out think or out maneuver our God.
And it didn't matter what King Nebuchadnezzar had in mind.
It didn't matter what his plans were for the Israelites.
God gives wisdom and knowledge to the wise and according to His wise eternal plan.
And no man can be wise and powerful enough to stop what God has planned for you.
They can't.
What God has planned for us in Christ Jesus.
And with that hope and with that knowledge, we can be like Daniel.
Say, "God, thank you."
I don't just thank you today.
I thank you forever, because your plans for me will never change, and nobody can undo what you've done for me in Christ.
Amen.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious Word.
Oh Lord, how wonderful the preface to this dream is.
Thank you for revealing these things to Daniel.
Thank you for taking the sheet off and letting us see the dream.
And Father, Lord, thank you for the beautiful, wonderful, glorious details having the name of Jesus on them.
And I pray you'll continue to give us your truth, your understanding, and feed us, Father, in your word as we continue into the next verse next week.
In Jesus' wonderful name we pray, Amen.
