Keep Your Confidence—Daniel 2

A Harvard study found that people spend 46.9% of their waking hours thinking about things other than the present moment. Instead of being in the present during those times, people tend to either reflect on the past or worry about the future. The research finds that a sense of disconnection from the present is a strong predictor of unhappiness.  In other words, the more time you spend disconnected from the present, the unhappier you are. That’s where King Nebuchadnezzar finds himself as we begin in chapter 2 of the Book of Daniel.  

Our current series is called Courage by Faith.  We are examining the courage of Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, as they stood their ground and went against the flow in a culture that was pulling them hard one way. But they chose a different path, one that would honor God even if it meant making waves with the powers that be.

Last week, we saw Daniel draw a line in the sand and refuse to compromise.  If we draw a line in the sand because we believe it is what God is leading us to do, then we should be more concerned with obedience than with the outcome.  We have to trust God with what comes next.

That is exactly what we see in Daniel.  Because of his courage, he has tremendous confidence that all power and wisdom belong to God alone, and he trusts that God is working for his good.  

That is why today’s sermon is titled “Keep Your Confidence.”

Daniel 2:1-3 (CSB)—In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled him, and sleep deserted him. So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, mediums, sorcerers, and Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. When they came and stood before the king, he said to them, “I have had a dream and am anxious to understand it.”

If most of us spend 46.9% of our time reflecting on the past and worrying about the future, imagine being the guy in charge of the most powerful kingdom on earth.  You’d be reflecting and worrying a lot. Nebuchadnezzar had a lot on his mind, and he kept having this recurring dream that he didn’t understand.  He’s restless and can’t sleep at night because he is so bothered by this dream.

So he does what the kings of that day did: he sent for his wise men to interpret his dream.  But Nebuchadnezzar is no fool; he tells these guys that he not only wants them to interpret the dream, but also to tell him the dream.  “If you are truly mediums and sorcerers, then you should know what the dream was as well as interpret it.”

Nebuchadnezzar knows these guys will just tell him what he wants to hear to make him happy, but he wants a real interpretation, not just someone to tickle his ears.

This is how these guys respond to the king’s demand that they tell him the dream before they tell him what it means:

Dan 2:10-11 (CSB)—The Chaldeans answered the king, “No one on earth can make known what the king requests. Consequently, no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, medium, or Chaldean.  What the king is asking is so difficult that no one can make it known to him except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”

Nebuchadnezzar flies into a rage when he hears this and orders all of the wise men in Babylon to be executed.  Of course, Daniel and his friends are now a part of that crowd of wise men, but when they come for Daniel and his friends, Daniel is cool as a cucumber.  I love his response to the guys who show up to kill him:

Dan 2:14-16 (CSB)—Then Daniel responded with tact and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon. He asked Arioch, the king’s officer, “Why is the decree from the king so harsh?” Then Arioch explained the situation to Daniel. So Daniel went and asked the king to give him some time, so that he could give the king the interpretation.

He doesn’t panic, he doesn’t bargain, he doesn’t blame, but he has a tactful, discreet response that shows his deep confidence that God is going to work.  After all, why would God bring Daniel and his friends to this point only to allow them to be killed?  Daniel is confident that God will show up.

So Daniel tells his friends to go home and pray that God would reveal the dream and its interpretation.  And that is exactly what God does.  He reveals to Daniel exactly what the dream was and what God wanted Nebuchadnezzar to know.

How does Daniel respond to God doing what he was confident God would do?  He doesn’t run off and begin celebrating, he doesn’t run to his friend’s homes and say, “We are safe! No executions.”  No, the first thing he does is write this beautiful prayer of praise to God!  Daniel knew God was calling the shots; he confidently trusted God with the outcome, and his first response was worship.

Dan 2:20-23 (CSB)—May the name of God be praised forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him. He changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him. I offer thanks and praise to you, God of my ancestors, because you have given me wisdom and power. And now you have let me know what we asked of you, for you have let us know the king’s mystery. 

Daniel is brought before the king, and before he shares the interpretation, says to Nebuchadnezzar: “No wise man, medium, magician, or diviner is able to make known to the king the mystery he asked about.  But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has let King Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen in the last days.”  

Daniel doesn’t take credit; he doesn’t go on and on about how special he is because God used him to interpret the dream.  He gives all the credit to God.  Daniel’s response to Nebuchadnezzar is the exact opposite of the sorcerers and mediums, because Daniel is confident that God is sovereign, all-powerful, and able to do what he promises.

Dan 2:30 (CSB)—As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.

His confidence is in God, not himself. Daniel says, “I’m just the messenger, sent by God so that you will understand His plan.”

Then Daniel gives Nebuchadnezzar the dream.

Dan 2:31-35 (CSB)—“Your Majesty, as you were watching, suddenly a colossal statue appeared. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying.  The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its stomach and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were partly iron and partly fired clay. As you were watching, a stone broke off without a hand touching it, struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them. Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were shattered and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Wow!  What a dream.

Daniel then interprets the dream for Nebuchadnezzar.

Dan 2:37-38 (CSB)—Your Majesty, you are king of kings. The God of the heavens has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and glory.  Wherever people live—or wild animals, or birds of the sky—he has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.

Nebuchadnezzar is probably starting to like Daniel a little bit more at this point.  “I think I like this guy.” Then Daniel goes on:

Dan 2:39 (CSB)—After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth. 

This is the Medo-Persian Empire. The Medes and the Persians would overthrow the Babylonians in 530 B.C. The Medes and Persians, represented by two silver arms, were a constitutional monarchy.

Dan 2:39 (CSB)—After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth. 

The Medes and Persians would be overthrown by the Greeks in 330 B.C. Alexander had conquered the known world. Heartbroken and depressed that there were no more worlds to conquer, he died at the age of thirty-three in a drunken stupor

Dan 2:40 (CSB)—A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others.

The Greeks would be unseated by the Roman Empire. Although they crushed everyone into bloody submission, the Romans, represented by iron, had a limited democracy, which made it even less powerful than Greece’s oligarchy.

Dan 2:41 (CSB)—You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter’s fired clay and partly of iron—it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay

Most people speculate that this kingdom represents the European Union. To go further than that is speculation, which is not always beneficial. Countless books have been written, and sermons preached about what each toe equals, and so on and so forth. 

Rather than spending our time speculating, let’s look at the point of Daniel’s interpretation.  We don’t want to miss the forest for the trees. When we look at the whole forest, what do we see? It is this: that God sets up and God brings down kingdoms; so these kingdoms, however mighty and however brutal, will come and go. 

And then look at what Daniel says:

Dan 2:44-45 (CSB)—In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever.  You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it,, and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold. The great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain, and its interpretation reliable.”

Here is the main point that God was making to Nebuchadnezzar, to Daniel, and to us: human history is under God’s control, and he has a purpose and a plan that will be completed. God will replace every earthly kingdom and bring his everlasting kingdom into being.

Put your confidence in the God who loves you and has a plan to redeem everything that is broken in this world.

I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.

—Martin Luther

Jesus was, and still is, the stone that came from nowhere. Here was the everlasting kingdom of God. So many of Jesus’ countrymen thought he was the king who would overthrow the Romans. Here was the one who would rule in Jerusalem and restore God’s people to freedom and power. 

And then all those hopes and dreams came crashing down because the king was nailed to a Roman cross. They thought the statue had smashed the stone. But they were wrong. They misunderstood. It was not possible for death to keep hold of this king. 

Acts 2:24 (CSB)—God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.

And he then told his subjects to go out into all the world in the power of his Spirit and call people of all nations to enter his kingdom through bowing their knees to him and accepting him as their Lord and Savior, until the day when he would return to rule over his world-encompassing kingdom.

When we look at the world around us, many of us panic.  We wonder how we will survive in a culture that is so hostile towards the church and the things of God.  How will we ever survive a world that believes morality is relative, and if you believe there is right and wrong, good and bad, black and white, then you should be hated and ostracized.

Sometimes we panic when circumstances in our own lives or the lives of the people around us make us ask the hard questions like, “God, why are you allowing this to happen?”  But having confidence in God means trusting His plan, whatever that might be.

If you say: I believed in God, I trusted God and He didn’t come through – You only trusted God to meet your agenda.

—Timothy Keller

Daniel didn’t panic.  With his quiet confidence in his God, and with tact and discretion he meets the challenge.

We know that there is a God who has revealed himself in his Son, Jesus. And through Jesus He has brought about the kingdom that cannot be overcome. That should give us confidence and prepared us to meet the challenges of living in a culture that is hostile towards the gospel.

We have seen more evidence of God’s grace and goodness than Daniel ever did. We have seen the stone arrive; we know the name of the king whom death could not hold; his name is Jesus. We can look back in history and see how the stone became a mountain. 

God is sovereign over the affairs of time, even when everything seems to be going to hell in handbasket. That is the lesson of Daniel 2. God sets up and God brings down kingdoms. These kingdoms will come and go, but God has established a kingdom that will never come to an end and will never be conquered by someone else. That, says Daniel, is what we need to know. So we do not panic and we do not vent, but we should keep our confidence that God is God, he is in control, and his kingdom—his church—ultimately knows no rivals.

It is one thing to believe in God; it is quite another to believe God.

—R. C. Sproul

Put your confidence in the God who loves you and has a plan to redeem everything that is broken in this world.