wkc talk 1 - Christine Dillon

Looking out - mission impossible?

Daniel 2

The best kinds of stories
Daniel was a mission impossible hero for a mission impossible task that God used to reach out to a mission impossible non-Jewish of his day – the king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. We may be familiar with this whole situation, we sometimes find that we are the mission impossible ourselves (being unable to change), or perhaps the mission impossible is others whom we’d like to see them change or come to know Christ but hardly.

Looking out (v1-13)
At whom?
God was reaching out to king Nebuchadnezzar, it’s His mission. Since the very beginning, God’s people (starting from Adam until the Israelites) had kept failing to be a blessing for the other nations. Their disobedience was even a mission impossible itself. But God never gave up on them (and us) who kept on failing, therefore His interventions at all times.

Why?
Nebuchadnezzar was a mission impossible because:
· He was dead spiritually in his rebellion against God. He didn’t even know the living God.
· Not only that he’s dead, but he believed in many gods. And that these gods communicate to people through dreams, therefore the need for wise men to be mediators between the gods and the people.
· His position as a protected king surrounded by his men.

God wanted to reach out to Nebuchadnezzar because God loved him. King Nebuchadnezzar was a man of great power, and if he would be won, he could influence the whole kingdom.

How?
God grabbed Nebuchadnezzar’s attention by shaking his world through unresolved dream that none of his magicians were able to tell and interpret (v1-3). So disturbed was he in being unable to find out the answer, that he summoned the execution of all of the wise men of the Babylon. God made Nebuchadnezzar insecure through the failure of the wise men in interpreting the dream. Moreover, the insecurity was much more intensified because the failure also means that the gods had failed to communicate with the people. Similar to us, when life is easy and we are happy, we think that we need not God in our life.

The believer whom God uses (v14-30)
Daniel was there as one of the captives when Judah was conquered by the Babylonians. He wasn’t there by his own choice, but God was working to accomplish His mission through him.

Being a wise young man he was, we could actually say that Daniel had reasons to be ambitious in achieving what he was capable of should his nation hadn't been conquered. But he indeed saw his nation fell and his people took captives. In fact, more than that, his name was changed (to mean something that glorifies the gods of the Babylonians instead of his one and only God whom he served); a new language was forced to him, as well as a totally different set of culture. In the midst of all these, Daniel chose not to be bitter toward God. Daniel knew that God was in control and trusted in Him.

There he was about to be executed under the king’s order, but rather in tact and wisely did he handle the situation. Daniel asked for time to the king to interpret the dream (v16). He then got his friends along to pray that God would spare them by being able to know and reveal the dream. Daniel got his priority right in praying and praising God that otherwise would be natural of us to come straight to the king and revealed the whole thing, since Daniel knew from the very beginning that God was the all-knowing God, nothing was hidden to Him. But instead, Daniel asked for time to come to God! He understood that God’s plan for him might be that he’d be slain instead. Daniel knew that God was not controlled by anyone or him. Therefore, he chose to bring the matter to God before acting hastily himself.

As the story unfolded, Daniel faced a spiritual test (V26), and yet again and again as could be found throughout the passage. Will Daniel claim the glory for himself or will he honor God by giving back the glory due Him in being able to answer to the king?

It happened that not only did Daniel tell and interpret the dream; he did speak out the truth about God (v28). Daniel let God use him to reach out to the king while giving the glory back to God! Daniel pointed out that God was the revealer of mysteries and that God was the one in control of the future. There were in fact a couple of times throughout the passage that Daniel put God in the spotlight instead of stealing the glory for himself. Something we could learn when praises come our way, a gospel opportunity indeed!

The dream was told and interpreted. King Nebuchadnezzar had actually been given a chance to learn about Daniel and God. That Daniel was someone who trusted God, full of quiet confidence in God rather than glory in self as would normally a king with a mouthful pride in self. That God is in fact the all-knowing God (not the gods who failed to communicate to the people through dreams), the holder of the future (nothing was outside his control), the only eternal living God whose kingdom is imperishable as established in Christ –v44 (not temporal as in Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, in fact God was the one who set up kingdoms, even Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom of Babylon (v38), and those to come after him –Persia, Greece, Roman).

We often think that Daniel was an extra-ordinary one through whom God had always worked, and compared with us, we think we are just ordinary people. Daniel was in fact an ordinary man who was faithful in small matters that God kept on using him even in bigger scale ones. Daniel trusted in God and he prayed. We can also learn to trust God in all matters and keep praying. Each of us is a link in a line of chains that God can use to bring others to Him.

Mission accomplished? (v46-49)
Was the mission accomplished this time? Has king Nebuchadnezzar become a believer at this point? Far out, Nebuchadnezzar seemed to be honoring Daniel instead of God (v46). Besides, he still hasn’t acknowledged of the one and only God as compared to referring God being one of the gods instead (v47). Nebuchadnezzar was only under religious conviction but not conversion.

Will God give up on Nebuchadnezzar, the one He loves?