HopeLives365

Mark Finley: You'll recall last week we introduced the book of Daniel. Daniel is the only book in the Bible that Jesus specifically told us to study.

Guest (Female): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, a series in the book of Daniel, week one, part three. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up on past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Jesus said, "When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let him read and understand." Jesus made that comment in context with his great sermon on the last days of Earth's history in Matthew 24, where he talks about wars and rumors of wars, false Christs and false prophets, famines, earthquakes, pestilence, the rise of crime and violence, and the gospel going to the end of the world.

Jesus encourages us to study the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel was written for a specific time in Earth's history. Daniel 12:4 tells us the angel tells Daniel, "Shut up, seal the book even to the time of the end." Verse 9 of Daniel 12 says, "Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed and shut up till the end of the days." The last verse of the book of Daniel says that Daniel would stand in his lot at the end of the days. The specific purpose of the book of Daniel is to prepare people for the coming of Jesus.

Now, you remember that Daniel's name is unique. If you see a name in the Bible where the last two letters are EL, that has to do with God. So, the name Daniel means "God is my judge," "God is my vindicator," "God is the one who will set all things right." In this great controversy between good and evil, in this cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan, God is the one who will set all things right.

Last week, we found that Daniel was taken captive when he was about 17 years old, brought from the simplicity and godliness of his Judean home to the lavishness, immorality, arrogance, and rebellion of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, in 605 BC, attacks Jerusalem and takes young people captive. They were intelligent, good-looking, handsome, muscular, and brilliant. Nebuchadnezzar's intent is to educate them for three years in the University of Babylon and then bring them back to Jerusalem, to Israel, to be his puppet rulers.

We found that Daniel 1:8 purposes in his heart to serve God. As the result of that, Daniel, faithful to God, receives the blessings of God. Faithfulness to God brings God's blessings. Daniel and his friends are found 10 times better than all the wise men in the realm of Babylon. Daniel went through the three-year educational period in the University of Babylon, remaining faithful to God.

Chapter one ends with this magnificent text in verse 21: "Daniel continues to the first year of King Cyrus." Nations rise and fall, but Daniel continues. Kings come on their throne, but Daniel continues. He goes from one empire to the next. As we are faithful to God, making a commitment to Christ for these last days, we will go from the kingdoms of this earth—we could call them the Babylon of this earth with its sex-centered, thrill-jaded, morally twisted, ethically compromised society—to the land of glory caught up in the sky to meet Jesus forever.

Daniel is divided into two parts. The first six chapters deal with stories; they deal with integrity, honesty, purposing in the heart to serve God, prayer, faith, and character development. The last six chapters predominantly deal with prophecy. Though there is a little interlude in Daniel chapter 2 which blends prophecy and character. We look at that today in Daniel chapter 2.

If you have your Bible, I invite you to take it. This is an amazing chapter. I've studied Daniel chapter 2 for over 50 years, and every time I open the Bible, every time I study the book of Daniel, I find new insights. So, whether you are new in studying prophecy or whether you have studied it for many years, I pray today that God will give us new insight as we study. Let's bow our heads.

Father in Heaven, we thank you with all of our hearts for the Word of God. We thank you for the prophecies of the Bible. We thank you that Jesus is our Savior and our Lord and that He has promised to reveal the future to prepare us for the events that will burst upon the world as an overwhelming surprise. So open our hearts today and prepare us as we study Your Word. In Christ's name, Amen.

Daniel 2:1: "Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him." Just a short explanation: it says the second year of Nebuchadnezzar. If Daniel was captured three years before and Nebuchadnezzar was the king, why does it say second year? Because they have what they call the regal or the reign year that's not counted. So, the regal year is the first year not counted, then they start with what we would call the second year. Daniel was in captivity three years, but technically from the Babylonian standpoint, this was his second year.

His spirit is troubled; his sleep leaves him. He went to sleep, and verse 2: "Then the king gave command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, the Chaldeans to tell the king the dreams. So they came before the king." The king went to sleep and he had a dream. Have you ever gone to sleep at night and you've had a dream and you wake up in the morning and you can't remember it? Maybe you were eating too much pizza just before you went to bed. Probably not. I hope not.

But the king wasn't eating something; this was a God-given dream. A lot of our dreams have little or no significance at all, but this dream has great significance. So what does Nebuchadnezzar do? He woke up in the morning, couldn't remember his dream. Sometimes that happens to us. We remember we had a dream, but can't remember. So he calls in the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans.

Who are these? The magicians were those that would, for example, take the liver of a calf, cut it in half, look at the lining of that liver of the calf and try to predict the future. They would take a drop of water, drop it on oil, look at the patterns and try to tell the future. Who are the astrologers? Not astronomers, but astrologers. They would look at the stars and they would have Leo and the various star signs in astrology. As they looked up, they would try to tell the future by looking at these different star signs.

There are about 3,000 astrology columns in newspapers across America and many people guide their lives by them today. But the magicians and the astrologers let Nebuchadnezzar down and they will certainly let people down today. The sorcerers—who are the sorcerers? They are those who try to communicate with the dead. They are spiritualists, wizards. Chaldeans—Chaldeans is another name for Babylonian educators. They were the educated elite. So the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, the Chaldeans are called in, and they can't tell the king's dream.

Now, what does the Bible say about these folks, these kind of people? We're going to look at Deuteronomy chapter 18 because we learn a vital lesson about it today. Are there those today that are dominated by the psychic phenomena? There are. Are some of the best-selling movies having to do with wizards and hobbits? Have you ever heard of the Harry Potter books, all about wizards? You look at what's taking place in our world today: this interest in the supernatural, this interest in spiritualism, this interest in magicians and psychics, the renewed interest in astrology.

What does that tell you? It tells you that human beings have a longing, a longing to know about their own lives, a longing to know about the future, a longing to tap into the supernatural. What does God's word say? Deuteronomy 18:9: "When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or a daughter pass through the fire." That's one of the magicians.

"Or practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens"—that's like an astrologer—"or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For these things are an abomination to the Lord." They are false sources of wisdom. Isaiah 47:13: "You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from these things that shall come upon you. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame."

When we look to magic, sorcery, wizards, astrology, when we're fascinated by that, we prepare for deception. Just before Christ comes, the devil will manifest himself through false Christs, false prophets that will deceive, if possible, the very elect. So the idea of Daniel chapter 2, when Nebuchadnezzar calls in the astrologers, the soothsayers, the stargazers, calls in the magicians—when he calls these in and they fail, it is God's way of telling us clearly not to look to those sources.

Guest (Female): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world, so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence His life-changing truths with others. You can support this ministry and help us reach even more by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: So they come in and the king says to them, "I've had a dream. My spirit is anxious to know the dream." He's worried, he's troubled, he's tense. He knows the dream has real significance. They say, "O king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream and we'll give the interpretation." The king's too smart for that. In other words, you tell me anything you've dreamed and I can tell you the interpretation. It may not be right, probably isn't right.

You see, if a person has a dream and tells it to these psychics, they can make up any interpretation and you have no way of knowing that it's right initially. The king was too smart for that. He said, "Look, if you can't tell me what happened in my bedroom last evening, you can't tell me what's going to happen tomorrow either. Either you tell me or your life will be on the line. Either you tell me or you will face the death penalty."

The Chaldeans answered in verse 10, and this answer is right: "There's not a man on earth who can tell the king's matter. Therefore, no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean." Verse 11: "It's a difficult thing that the king requires and there's no other who can tell it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh."

Nobody can tell the future, they say, except the gods, or except God. They're so right. Throughout scripture, God exalts Himself above all false gods. He exalts Himself above all the idols by His ability to tell the future. Prophecy is one indication that God is supreme. He speaks about that in Isaiah 46:8-9: "Remember this and show yourselves men; recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other like Me. I am God, and there's none like Me."

Why is there nobody like Him? What distinguishes Him from the other gods? Here's one thing, verse 10: "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.'" So one of the things that distinguishes God from all false gods is that He can declare from ancient times things that are not yet done. You remember what it says in Amos 3:7: "Surely"—what does that word surely mean? Certainly, definitely, the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

One of God's hallmarks of His omniscience is prophecy, because the omniscient God foretells the future based on the divine knowledge that He has of the future. So these magicians, these astrologers, in one sense, had at least one thing right, and that is that nobody can tell the future except the gods that are not with men. They did not understand that there was only one true God, but they recognized that there needed to be something beyond human to tell the future.

When they say that to the king, the king is angry. He's really mad. Nebuchadnezzar actually begins to kill them. Do some die? Sure. Look at verse 13: "So the decree went forth, and they"—that is the king's armies—"began killing the wise men, and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them." So Daniel is facing a death decree. Daniel is facing the greatest crisis that he's ever faced. He's one of the wise men of Babylon. He is approached by the military of Babylon, Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, and he too is going to be killed. Not that he's an astronomer or magician, but he's one of the Chaldeans, one of the educated elite. He's gone through the school of Babylon.

Here's the interesting thing about this: every single one of us, if we live to the coming of Jesus, according to Revelation 13, there'll be a time that no man can buy or sell. There'll be a time that a death decree hangs over our heads. Revelation 13 says that they will attempt to destroy us or kill us. The beast power will unite with the state power. There'll be a union of political and religious powers at a time that the world is falling apart. The idea will be if we all would only get together in unity in a common day of rest and worship. But yet there are these people who are standing out; they're different and we've got to get rid of them.

So, Daniel faced this. Now the issues, of course, in Daniel 2 were different than Revelation 13. We'll see in Daniel 3 the issues will be very, very similar. But here is the point: Daniel faced a death decree. How did he deal with it? He said to the king, "Give us a little time. Give us time." He went back to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

But you know what? I used actually the names that are used in Daniel 3 for the three Hebrew worthies, but this is very interesting. When Nebuchadnezzar talks about them, he talks about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But Daniel never uses their Babylonian names. He uses always the names their Israeli mothers gave them. And so it says in Daniel 2:17, Daniel went to the house and made his decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Hananiah—what does that mean? "The Lord's gracious to me." Now, Nebuchadnezzar changed his name because he wanted to change his identity, but Daniel wouldn't use that Babylonian name. Hananiah, "the Lord's gracious to me." Mishael, "one who's God-like, one who's a friend of God." Azariah, "the Lord is my helper."

If they ever needed help, they needed it then. And so they begin to pray. In verse 19, the Bible says the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel prays. He seeks that there is no human solution to the problem. He earnestly appeals to God. I love what it says: Daniel gets the answer and Daniel begins to praise God. He says, "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His."

So here are two qualities of God: wisdom and might. Wisdom is the ability to know what we ought to do. Might is the strength to do it. Do you need wisdom? Are you facing some crisis in your life tonight? A crisis in your health, a crisis on your job, a crisis in your family? Wisdom is God's. He said if any man lacks wisdom, James 1:5, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally. God wants to give you wisdom. Open your heart to Him. Spend time with Him, seeking Him, get to know Him. And might are His. If you just know what to do but you don't have the strength to do it, you lose your ability, you lose your power, you don't have any ability to carry out what God said. Wisdom and strength are His. Open your heart for the strength of God, for the power of God to come into your life.

Daniel then praises God because he says He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise. What's this dream going to be about? God raising up and God taking down kings. It's going to be about the rise and fall of empires. It's going to be about the destiny of the world. It's going to take us from Nebuchadnezzar's day to the last days of Earth history. Verse 22: He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what's in darkness and light dwells with Him. God can look into the future that seems so dark to so many, but light will pierce that future because God is the author of the future and wisdom and might are His.

So Daniel goes to the king and he says, "King, God has revealed to me this dream." He says in verse 28, "There is a God in heaven." Let's pick up verse 27 because it's so powerful and verse 28: "Daniel answered in the presence of the king, 'The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers cannot declare to the king.'" So, in other words, all these psychics, all these wizards, all these brilliant men, they fail. But God knows the future. Verse 28: "But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. He's made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were those."

So he says there is a God in heaven. Not there might be a God in heaven, not perhaps there's a God in heaven, not I think it's highly likely there's a God in heaven—there is a God in heaven. Don't you like that certainty? There is a God in heaven. What does He do? There is a God in heaven, He reveals secrets, and He makes known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. He makes known what shall be in the latter days. So this dream starts in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, it takes us down the stream of time to our time, and we can see that prophecy was fulfilled in the past and it will be fulfilled in the present.

Guest (Female): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We've hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at HopeLives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: The conflicts that we are seeing today in Europe, in the Middle East, will not bring permanent peace there. We pray for peace, we long for peace, but these conflicts have been going on for centuries. Until Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, comes, Europe and the Middle East will be divided.

What then is on the horizon? What can bring peace? I love the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6: we long for peace, we are people of peace. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the peacemakers." But look, we recognize that men's hearts are defiled, men's hearts are wicked, men's hearts are fallen. As Jeremiah says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."

But look at Isaiah 9:6: "For unto us a child is born"—who's that? Jesus—"Unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder." Until Christ returns in glory, until Christ returns in power with the government upon His shoulder, there'll be conflict, war, and strife. Look: "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And of His peace, there will be no end."