Hinsdale Covenant Church
10.6.24 - "Daniel: God at Work in Everything" - Greg Johnson
Our scripture reading for this morning comes from the book of Daniel chapter 2 verses 24 through 49 and can be found in your red pew Bible on page 717 will you please stand for the reading of God's Word. Therefore Daniel went to Ariak whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon and said to him do not destroy the wise men of Babylon bring me in before the king and I will give the king the interpretation. Then Ariak quickly brought Daniel before the king and said to him I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who can tell the king the interpretation the king said to Daniel whose name was Belchazar are you able to tell me the dream that I have seen in its interpretation Daniel answered the king no wise men and chanters magicians or diviners can show to the king the mystery that the king is asking but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has disclosed to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at the end of days your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed were these to you oh king as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be hereafter and the revealer of mysteries disclosed to you what is to be. But as for me this mystery has not been revealed to me because of any wisdom that I have more than any other living being but in order that the interpretation may be known to the king in that you may understand the thoughts of your mind. You were looking oh king and there appeared a great statue the statue was huge its brilliance extraordinary it was standing before you and its appearance was frightening the head of that statue was a fine gold its chest of arms and silver in midsection and thighs of bronze its legs of iron its feet partly of iron and partly of clay as you looked on a stone was cut out not by human hands and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and broke them into pieces then the iron the clay the bronze the silver in the gold were all broken in pieces and became like chaff of the summer threshing floors in the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth that was the dream now we will tell the king its interpretation. You owe king the king of kings to whom the god of heaven has given the kingdom the power the might and the glory into whose hand he has given human beings wherever they live the wild animals of the field and the birds of the air and whom he has established as ruler over them all you are the head of gold after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours and yet a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over the whole earth and there shall be a fourth kingdom strong as iron just as iron crushes and smashes everything it shall crush and shatter all these as you saw the feet and toes partly powders clay and partly of iron it shall be a divided kingdom but some of the strength of iron shall be in it and you saw the iron mixed with clay as the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle as you saw the iron mixed with clay so will they mix with one another in marriage but they will not hold together just as iron does not mix with clay and in the days of those kings the god of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed nor shall this kingdom be left to another people it shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain not by hands and that it crushed the iron the bronze the clay the silver and the gold the great god has informed the king what shall be hereafter the dream is certain and its interpretation is trustworthy then king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face worshiped Daniel and commanded that a grain offering an incense be offered to him the king said to Daniel truly your god is god of gods and lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries for you have been able to reveal this mystery then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief perfect over all the wise men of Babylon Daniel made a request of the king and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon we continue our exploration into this scripture this story about Daniel Daniel and his friends who have been exiled from the land of Israel the promised land and who now live in Babylon and serve in the king's court we need to do a little recap similar to what you might find on Netflix there's no skip button here just kind of bring us up the speed that's a long that's a long passage to read might have been tough to follow so let me just talk a little bit about where we have been so far we began this series about talking about renewal talking about that exile talking about how god had promised his people a land that he had given them a king that they had become a light to the world and then they turned away they broke God's covenant and that was taken away from them they were exiled the kingdom destroyed in that time in their lives and of God's people came to an end we talked about in the next week about how what it would it be like for God's people who had been taught through God's word they got it taught them that how to be one of his own how to live how he wants them to live to be an example for the world and now that they weren't in their own people in a foreign land that there would be conflict that they would have to make choices do we want to stay and live the way that God has shown us or are we going to assimilate and how much are we going to assimilate with the people who now rule over us it was more than just a choice there was pressure sometimes death yet a choice had to be made last week joy shared a passage from Daniel to which precedes this where King Nebuchadnezzar makes an outrageous request I mean it's absolutely ridiculous what he asked and I just want to go back and share real quickly because it's important to understand leading into this what King Nebuchadnezzar is asking and what is really at stake this is starting in chapter two this is what the Bible says in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign Nebuchadnezzar dreamed such dreams that his spirit was troubled and sleep left him so the king commanded that the magicians the enchanters the sorcerers and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams when they came in and stood before the king he said to them I have had such a dream that my spirit is troubled by the desire to understand it the Chaldeans said oh King live forever tell your servants this dream and we will reveal the interpretation the king answered the Chaldeans this is a public decree if you do not tell me both of the dream and its interpretation you shall be torn limb from limb your houses shall be laid in ruins but if you do tell me the dream and its interpretation you shall receive from me gifts and rewards in great honor therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation King Nebuchadnezzar is having some sleepless nights he's having a bad dream he's paying lots of people to kind of help him out with these things Daniel and his three friends were actually picked out from the people of Judah to be a part of his court and they had gone through training to in order to be wise men and they are included among these magicians and these enchanters that the king and many kings would have had around them at this time for Nebuchadnezzar it seems like he may have been dissatisfied with the return he was getting on his investment up to this point because he is having a dream and this is what these people are for the way that they worked and these would have been ways that Daniel Meshach Shadrach at Bed to Go would have been trained in some of these things and familiar with it what they did was kind of interpret what was already there or they would often something that would that commonly happen they would take entrails from an animal and throw them on the ground and they would interpret what how that landed and what that means for the king and what that means now what's happening right now that is not a part of scripture in God's people and how God works and how God reveals himself to God's people and to us apparently he had gotten some bad advice and it had come to the end so he tells having a bad dream and instead of saying you know get a pig and let's throw some things on the ground and I want to see what you see or hey let's wait till night and let's look at the stars and kind of see where they are aligned and kind of what things are let's let's do that because I really need to know I think you can tell me because what he says is I'm having trouble and I need your help and this is why you're here I'm having this terrible dream and I need you to interpret it and they say great this is what it's always had tell us a dream and we're going to help you out we'll help you out it says no not this time going to find out who's for real who's fake find out what you're all about says here's what's going to happen you have to tell me what the dream is and what the interpretation is and if no one can none of you can all of you will be torn limb from limb your houses and your families will be destroyed you will be wiped from the earth that seems pretty unreasonable and that's their response they answered let the king first tell us servants the dream and then we can give its interpretation the king answered I know a certainty that you were trying to gain time because I you see I have friendly decreed if you don't tell me the dream there's but one verdict for you Chaldean's answer the king there is no one on earth who can reveal what the king demands in fact no king however great and powerful has ever asked such a thing of a magician or a chanter Chaldean the thing the king is asking is too difficult and no one can reveal it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with mortals because of this the king flew into a violent rage and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed seems like it's the end what happens is Daniel goes home sees his friends and this is what joy preached about says we got a problem we got a big problem the king's made asks us something that we're not able to provide and the people can't unless we do we're done for and what does he do what does he say he told them to seek mercy from God of heaven concerning this mystery so that Daniels companions and the rest of the wise men of Babylon might not perish then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night they went and they prayed they sought God directly and God answered them God revealed to him that mystery and here's Daniel's response and then we'll get into the text this is Daniel's response to God revealing the mystery we don't know anything about what that is but listen to his heart and what he says and how he understands what has just happened and how he knows God so intimately Daniel said blessed be the name of God from age to age for wisdom and power our his he changes times and seasons disposed as kings and sets up kings he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding he reveals deep and hidden things he knows what is in the darkness in the light dwells in him to you oh God of my ancestors I give thanks and praise for you have given me wisdom and power and it revealed to me what we have asked you for you have revealed to us what the king ordered from this text joy had us do the same in mirror in a way what Daniel had done and had us break into groups and seek the Lord in prayer for the concerns of our heart in the midst of trials and suffering Daniel and his three friends are in what seems like a hopeless situation their whole history has been about God's promise going back to Abraham in the promised land all the things that we priest about that those promises had come true that they were in slavery they were led back to the promised land they were given that land by God the ability to conquer it a kingdom was set up that they would be a light to the world everything seemed to be coming true and then it ended and then it ended for Daniel and his friends and the people of Israel at this time I can only start to imagine what they must have been thinking and feeling everything was going so well we thought this was how it was going to be and it was going to last forever but it didn't but it didn't and the reason scripture tells us is because they turned away from God over and over and over and they broke the covenant that God made with them and that is the reason that they lost the promise and they lost their land in there in this situation that they're in now but despite of that despite of their sin in this text in Daniel we see that God still gives them hope there is still hope that God speaks into their lives it's in a unique way through an interpretation of a dream but it's hope nonetheless the first point that I want to share with you is this that God's work in creation gives us reason to hope. God starts everything by working and his work is in creation he creates the world through his word he speaks everything into existence not because he had to or had to prove anything but all of creation and everything that God does is to show who he is that we may glorify God and it may bring glory to him so God creates we have in Genesis 1 God creates the universe he creates our planet he creates the water in the sky all by his word he's doing that he's working and creating and it's good and then God creates us and we're created differently we're created in God's image and where God's work is in all of creation we are created in God's image to continue his work in glorifying him in everything that we do in everything that we do creationism is something that's not in textbooks it used to be in science classes it's slowly been worked out without maybe intelligent design is something you've heard of as time has marched on and the more that we have figured out about God's creation we've said started to believe that we there's not a way there's not God did not create this is something that people just made up in order to kind of make sense of why they were here kind of what the purpose was but there must be an answer and we keep on finding small pieces to this puzzle and keep on marching down this trail in the further the world marches down that trail the further they march away from God and God's purpose in creation and that it was to glorify him in that God is the author of everything including our salvation so we have reason to hope in that if you believe it if you believe that God is responsible from the very beginning through his word through his work that he spoke everything to existence and that it's good now you created us in his image which is good I am blown away by the James Webb telescope pictures has anybody seen those if anyone knows it we have a telescope it used to be the Hubble was the big Hubble telescope that could look into deep into space and we finally could see galaxies and now we have this James Webb telescope that can peer millions and billions of light years somehow and see things we've never been able to see and through that there are some things that we believed about the universe made guesses that have been confirmed and there is much much more that it's the James Webb telescope and those images have called into question about the universe and how it was made and how we understand it there's a picture of this giant glass gas cloud that is a birthplace of stars in this picture has stars being made it's a galaxy of gas and it's where stars are being formed so so far away so so so enormous instead of finding out the answers to questions just leading to more questions but just as the scriptures in Genesis tells God created others God created the whole universe and God is still at work in creation if these pictures are right I don't know sometimes it feels like they're like well the universe is expanding and there's this big bang and everything's moving away and then it kind of comes back like no actually might be shrinking we might be in trouble in a couple billion years because it's all going to shrink into nothing but what it says is creation didn't stop God's creation did not stop just with us and it's so much larger and fathomably larger than just us and at the same time it is about us those things reveal so much about God if we have the eyes to see and so do we this gives us hope because in creation just of things and material things God in our scripture and what Daniel says is also authority and sovereign over the things of this earth and of the authorities and the powers and the principalities that run this place he created us to be in charge to be vice regions over creation the animals the plants maybe to be stewards of these things and yet God is also working in the world towards his plan through everything and that includes government that includes government that includes all of the sciences that includes all of the things that we know all the things that we come to understand there's one way to look at science is that it's an enemy that it's somehow it's people trying to prove that God doesn't exist and maybe that's true maybe it's not but it can also be seen one way we can find hope is through science all of the sciences through culture it reveals God's good work in creation in our flourishing in that through all of those things God's can be glorified and we can learn to live lives in his image and glorify him as better reflections so I want to ask you this question because it's important what you believe and we're talking big picture this isn't like the 20,000 foot view of scripture this is the billion light years away view of of this text and we're going to come down and get personal right after this but how will you answer these questions what you believe is going to have a major impact on how much hope you have for yourself right now for your situation for us and for the future and what you believe about God not just all these things but also how you see the world and how you choose to live your life as an image bearer each and every moment of each of every day to glorify God and the work and things that you do so I'm going to ask you to close your eyes this is a quote by Mark Noel from the scandal of the evangelical mind which was in a book every good endeavor by Timothy Keller who after all made the world of nature and then made possible the development of sciences through which we find out more about nature who formed the universe of human interactions and so provided the raw material for politics economics sociology and history who is the source of harmony form a narrative pattern and so lies behind all artistic and literary possibilities who created the human mind in such a way that it could grasp the endless realities of nature of human interactions of beauty and so make possible the theories of such matters by philosophers and psychologists who moment by moment sustains the natural world the world of human interactions and the harmonies of existence who maintains moment by moment the connections between what is in our minds and what is in the world beyond our minds the answer in every case is the same God did it and God does it God did it worked and God does it and continues to work and is sovereign and he sustains us he keeps all things together and that can give us hope God's work in us gives others reasons to hope we see in our text how this works in a couple different ways first what God does through interpreting that dream to Daniel saves their lives God steps in in a way that allows not only for their lives to be saved but shows them and reminds them that he is still with them that he is still present and still cares that he's paying attention and he responds to what they need and fascinatingly not only are their lives saved but the lives of all the wise that are saved through this you know we are all as human beings created in the image and likeness of God right it's not just us like we are all humans God cares for all of us and so his goodness also extends to everyone by Daniel God showing Daniel this dream he also gives hope to those people because their response to the king was that can happen only God can answer that and they're not here and then it happens the one true God gives the answer that would bring them hope and it also shows the king king Nebuchadnezzar what is true and what is real he says in verse 47 truly your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries for you have been able to reveal this mystery God's work in the things that he does the way that he reveals himself is for us and it also can bring hope to other people and for us it's a little bit different for we who are not just created in his image we who are children of God who call him Lord this is what it says in Romans 8 28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose so all things even this for them is working God for their purpose now that doesn't always mean that it's going to benefit us but we can have hope that there is a plan in that the things that God allows to happen in our lives the things that God makes happen in our lives are working for good and for our good sometimes that may bring benefit and things move in a way that brings us joy that brings us out of trial temptation that delivers us from evil other times that work may be the opposite that it may lead us into a place where we feel very deeply the consequences of our sin nonetheless it's all working and God is working all things for our good for his good to glorify him finally as I close like to point out that God's work in Jesus Christ is truly our only hope Daniels people may have a state a political state in Israel and regained that but it's not what they had thought it would be our hope is in Jesus Christ and the promises that God gave his people came true through him so in Romans as I close I want to share with you Paul's words that reflect his hope in Jesus Christ that can also be your hope in him no matter what the situation is that this is leading to an end as he says knowing this that the good work that began in them which he's speaking to the church in Philippi will be made complete when Jesus returns that is our hope in that when Jesus returns so after Paul talks about God working all things for the good of those who love him he says this and this will be a reflection and words leading into communion and the representation of Christ with us and what God did through Christ to show us that hope this is what he says what then shall we say in response to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen it is God who justifies who then is the one who condemns no one Christ Jesus who died more than that who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written for your sake we face death all day long we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered no and all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels or demons neither the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord amen. 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From Daniel 2:24-49