Read Daniel 2:1-49.

Introduction⤒🔗

Do you ever get frustrated? Do you ever get perplexed? Do you ever get confused? Do you ever find yourself confronted with an “impossible” situation?

A Christian businessman tells of his frustrations in trying to locate a rural address. A farmer gave him directions to reach his apple orchard some twenty miles out of town. The crossroads he named were not located on any signpost. The businessman found himself without cash, and so was unable to use the pay phone at a service station alongside the road, (this was prior to the use of cell phones). To top it off, the day was so overcast and foggy he couldn’t even tell what direction he was traveling.

The frustration experienced by that Christian businessman was minor when compared to that encountered by King Nebuchadnezzar as described in the second chapter of Daniel.

But the testimony of that Christian businessman, made in response to his experience of frustration and perplexity—and God’s timely provision for him, (the LORD graciously sent a “Good Samaritan” to help him find the way), is a very good statement of the lesson we find here in Daniel chapter two:

Do expect God to provide when you’re unable to help yourself, and expect that provision to point out that He, not you, is on top of the circumstances of your life [and of the world].¹

Whenever we are confronted with a perplexing, “impossible” situation, let us remember the two-fold biblical directive presented to us in the second chapter of Daniel.

Look to Christ for Guidance←⤒🔗

One night the king had a dream. It was a terribly frightening and perplexing dream; his spirit was troubled and his sleep went from him (vs. 1). It appears that the king was so troubled by his dream that he immediately summoned the Chaldean astrologers to appear before him in the middle of the night. When they had assembled, the king related his problem and called upon them to provide the solution: “Then the king said to them, I have dreamed a dream and my spirit is troubled to know the meaning of the dream” (vs. 3).

When they appear before the king, the astrologers request further information: let the king relate the content of his dream, and they will provide the interpretation (vs. 4). Now the king may be perplexed, but he is not stupid; he insists that the Chaldeans tell him the dream (vs. 5-6). The king has not forgotten what he dreamed. The Hebrew phrase sometimes translated, “the thing is gone from me” (vs. 5), is referring to the royal decree the king is about to proclaim, not to the content of the dream, hence we have rendered it: “I have issued this decree.”

The king is putting the Chaldean astrologers to the test: if they can correctly relate the content of his dream, then he knows that he can rely upon their interpretation. But if he must relate his dream to them, they are liable to give it any favorable interpretation they desire so as to save their lives and gain the promised reward.

Being themselves totally frustrated and perplexed, these wise men protest that the king’s request is impossible:

¹⁰The Chaldean [astrologers] answered the king, 'There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks. No king, lord, or ruler has [ever] made such a request of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean [astrologer]. ¹¹It is an extraordinary thing that the king requests, and no one can fulfill it for the king except the gods, but they do not dwell with men.' Dan. 2:10­-11

Thus, the opening verses of this passage record the frustration and utter helplessness that descended upon the courts of the great empire of Babylon. The king is so frustrated in his efforts to know the interpretation of his dream that he loses control and becomes enraged. The Chaldean astrologers are panic-stricken at what will happen to them because they cannot tell the king the content or the meaning of his dream.

How does Daniel handle this dilemma? He shares the problem with his companions, so that together they might ask the LORD for wisdom:

Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, ¹⁸so that they might request mercies from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. vs. 17-18

Not only is it the Christian’s privilege, it is our obligation, to look to Christ our Lord for guidance. Psalm 50:15 is both an invitation as well as a command: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will glorify me.” In answer to prayer, the LORD reveals the content and interpretation of the dream to Daniel; as verse 19a indicates, “Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel during the night in a vision.”

“Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven” (vs. 19b). Contrast Daniel’s thanksgiving with the ingratitude shown by nine of the ten lepers whom the Lord Jesus cleansed:

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³and called out in a loud voice, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' ¹⁴When he saw them, he said, 'Go, show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed. ¹⁵One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him, now he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Jesus asked, 'Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?' Lk. 17:11-18

The following is a contemporary example of ingratitude: One day a lady called the local pastor, requesting prayer for her friend who was in dire need. The LORD wonderfully answered their prayers on her behalf. Sometime later, the pastor happened to encounter the lady who had called him and solicited his prayers for her friend. When he inquired about her friend and discovered how God had answered prayer, he was very disturbed to find that the woman expressed no gratitude to God for what He had done—none whatsoever. She had only called upon God when she needed Him; now, once again, she totally shut Him out of her life.

When confronted with a perplexing, “impossible” situation, the first directive of Scripture given to the Christian is this: Look to the LORD for guidance. The Apostle James gives this counsel: “If any one of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without harshly criticizing, and it will be given to him” (Jas. 1:5). The LORD Himself declares, “Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and difficult things you do not know” (Jer. 33:3). Consider the following example of Christ’s guidance in a perplexing and “impossible” situation:

After being converted to Christ at Oxford in the late 1940’s, Michael Alison initially planned to go into the ministry. But his keen interest in politics—and a desire to serve his nation­ led him to change vocational directions. Elected to Parliament in 1964, he quietly earned his way from the backbench to leadership.

In 1979, Michael Alison was named minister of state for Northern Ireland, a responsibility that included administration of Ulster’s notorious prisons. Then, in the late fall of 1980, young Catholic terrorists in Belfast’s Maze prison began to starve themselves to death in protest of British rule in Northern Ireland. By Christmas, the first prisoner had gone nearly two months without food and was near death. Worldwide attention focused on Belfast. Would the British government allow this young inmate to die, or would they force-feed him once he slipped into a final coma?

The prison doctor came to Michael Alison for the decision. To force-feed the protester would cause riots among the Irish Republican Army faithful; to let him die would be callous.

Michael had been praying for weeks for wisdom in the horrible situation. Now, the LORD provided the answer to his prayers: “Go to the prisoner’s fellow hunger strikers,” he told the doctor. “Ask them to make the decision.” The other protesters could not have their brother’s death on their consciences, but in the process of putting him on life-support equipment, they saw the inconsistency of their own position. The hunger strike ended, the crisis was averted.²

Trust in Christ, because He Is the Sovereign LORD←⤒🔗

Daniel reports to Nebuchadnezzar the content of his dream:

You, O king, saw and observed a huge statue. This statue, which was enormous and whose brightness was brilliant, stood before you. Its appearance was awesome. ³²The head of this statue was made of fine gold, its chest and arms were made of silver, its stomach and its thighs were of bronze, ³³its legs were made of iron, its feet were made partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴You continued observing [this statue] until a rock was cut out [of a mountain], but not by hands. [The rock] struck the statue’s feet, which were made of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. ^3SThen the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were [all] broken into pieces together and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. Then the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. vs. 31-35

In his dream the king had seen a great statue: it was huge; it was brilliant and blindingly bright, (like the sun reflecting off the glass wall of a skyscraper); and it was overwhelmingly awesome, (it made the king feel as though he were standing at the base of the Empire State Building and looking up at it).

This statue of a human figure was composed of the following parts: the head was of fine gold; the chest and arms were of silver; the stomach and thighs were of bronze; the legs were iron; and the feet were part iron and part clay.

As the perplexed and terrified king observed this great statue, what happened? He saw a stone that was mysteriously and divinely cut out of a mountain. The stone came rolling down the mountainside and smashed into the huge statue, (like a bowling ball striking ten pins). It struck the feet, (composed of iron and clay), breaking them into pieces. Consequently, the whole statue came crashing to the ground in a pile of rubble, (like a building dynamited by a demolition crew). The rubble was then ground into powder and blown away by the wind. Following the destruction of this immense statue of a human figure, the stone began to grow, until finally it became a mountain of immense proportion that filled the whole earth.

Daniel immediately proceeds to provide the interpretation of this dream (vs. 36-45). He informs the king that the head of gold represents Nebuchadnezzar himself and the kingdom of Babylon (vs. 37­-38). The chest and arms of silver represent another kingdom that shall succeed Babylon, namely, the Persian Empire (vs. 39a). The stomach and thighs of bronze represent a third kingdom that shall rise to power, the Greek Empire (vs. 39b). The legs of iron and the feet composed of a mixture of iron and clay represent a fourth kingdom. This kingdom would prove to be a kingdom as strong as iron (vs. 40); a universal kingdom: composed of many nations (vs. 43a); but a kingdom lacking any inner unity, as represented by the fact that iron and clay do not mix (vs. 43b). Daniel explains that in the days of the fourth kingdom the God of heaven shall set up His kingdom (vs. 44-45); this divine kingdom being represented by the stone.

Indeed, just as Daniel foretold, the kingdom of God was inaugurated on the earth during the days of that fourth kingdom—the Roman Empire. It was during those days that the incarnation, the atonement, the resurrection, the ascension, and Pentecost all occurred. But just as that stone did not grow to fill the whole earth until after the great statue was totally eliminated; so, too, the kingdom of God shall not be revealed in its full glory and power until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ on the day of Final Judgment. Note the parables of Jesus recorded in Matthew 13:31-32 and Matthew 13:33 respectively:

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. ³²Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches. Matt. 13:31­-32

He told them still another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough. Matt. 13:33

Note that the emphasis of the dream—as well as the entire passage—is that the LORD is in charge, and He shall accomplish His good purpose. The LORD gave the mysterious dream to the mighty king of Babylon, and He gave the interpretation to this lowly Hebrew captive, Daniel. Five times in this chapter the LORD is referred to as “the God of heaven” (vs. 18,19,28,37,44).

The LORD reveals that He is in charge of empires, and of history, and He is also sovereignly in charge of the events that occur in the lives of His children. The Lord Jesus inquires, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?” He then goes on to assure us,

Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father permitting it. ³⁰Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹So do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows. Matt. 10:29-31

When confronted with a perplexing, “impossible” situation, the second directive of Scripture is this: Trust in Christ, the One who is the sovereign Lord.

Conclusion←⤒🔗

When you face a frustrating and perplexing problem, an “impossible” situation, Look to Christ for Guidance. Seek the counsel of His Word: “Your word is a lamp for my feet and light for my path” (Psl. 119:105). Seek the counsel of mature Christian brethren who can counsel you from the Word of God. In Colossians 3:16a, we are instructed to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” so that we might know the will of God for our own lives and also so that we may be able to give good biblical counsel to fellow Christians who need such counsel and seek it from us.

When you face a situation in which you ponder, “Why is this happening and what will be the outcome of these things?” Trust in Christ, the Sovereign Lord. In Ephesians 1:11 the LORD is defined as the One who “causes all things to work for the sake of his own plan.” That is to say, the LORD causes all things to happen and interact in such a way as to accomplish the fulfillment of His sovereign purpose.

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. When King Nebuchadnezzar has a disturbing dream, to whom does he turn? See Dan. 2:2 As a Christian, may you ever turn to such dark and unholy sources; to whom should you turn when you face a perplexing dilemma? See Jas. 1:5 What promise does the LORD make to us? See Jer. 33:3,

So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and the Chaldean [astrologers] to tell him what he had dreamed. So they came in and stood before the king. Dan. 2:2

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Jas. 1:5

Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and difficult things, which you do not know. Jer. 33:3

2. What request do the Chaldeans make? See Dan. 2:4 What does Nebuchadnezzar accuse them of trying to do? See Dan. 2:8, 9b The Babylonians believed that men’s lives were controlled by the movement of the stars; as a Christian, do you think the stars, or “fortune,” plays a role in the affairs of men? Who governs the stars? Note Dan. 2:20a, 21a; note, too, Isa. 40:26 How does the Apostle Paul describe the LORD our God? See Eph. 1:11,

Then the Chaldean [astrologers] answered the king in the Syrian language, O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation. Dan. 2:4

Then the king answered, I know for certain that you are seeking to gain time, because you know that I have issued the decree. ⁹But if you do not tell me the dream, there is only one verdict for you; because you have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things until the [astrological] time has changed. Therefore, tell me the dream, and [then] I will know that you can give me the [true] interpretation. Dan. 2:8-9

Daniel said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, because wisdom and might belong to him. ²¹He changes the [astrological] times and the seasons; he deposes kings and establishes kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to men of understanding... Dan. 2:20-21

Lift up your eyes to the heavens and observe. Who has created [all] these? Who brings out the starry host one by one? He calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isa. 40:26

The Apostle Paul identifies the Lord as the God that causes all things to work for the sake of his own plan... (Eph. 1:11)

3. When the king continues to insist that the Chaldeans relate back to him the content of his dream, how do they respond to his demand? See Dan. 2:11 In contrast to the false gods of the nations, what is true of the LORD? See Jn. 1:14 and Jn. 14:16-18 Do you seek to have fellowship with the living God, the God who so graciously condescends to offer you fellowship with Himself? See Isa. 57:15,

It is an extraordinary thing that the king requests, and no one can fulfill it for the king except the gods, but they do not dwell with men. Dan. 2:11

The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, his glory as the one and only [Son who came] from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jn. 1:14

“The Word” is a title for the incarnate Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever, ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive him; because it does not see him, nor does it know him. [But] you know him; because he abides with you and will be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Jn. 14:16-18

This is what the high and lofty One—who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy—says, I dwell in the high and holy place, [I] also [dwell] with the man who has a contrite and humble spirit, in order to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isa. 57:15

4. Upon being confronted with the king’s demand, and the threat of death, what does Daniel do? See Dan. 2:17-18a How does the LORD respond to Daniel and his companions? See Dan. 2:19a What does Daniel now do in response to the LORD’s reply? See Dan. 2:19b-20 How often have you received answers to prayer, but then have completely forgotten to return thanks to the LORD?

Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, ¹⁸so that they might request mercies from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Dan. 2:17-18

Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel during the night in a vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. ²⁰Daniel said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, because wisdom and might belong to him.Dan. 2:19-20

5. After he has related the details of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream back to him, what does Daniel tell him is the interpretation of the dream? See Dan. 2:44b-45 As a Christian, do you set the focus of your life on that coming kingdom; do you prepare for and pray for its coming? Note 2 Pet. 3:10­ 13,

...God of heaven will establish a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be passed on to another people. It will break all those kingdoms into pieces and consume them, and it will stand forever. ⁴⁵This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of the mountain, but not by hands—the rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy. Dan. 2:44-45

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day, the heavens will disappear with a loud noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, and the earth together with the works that are in it will be burned up. ¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? [You ought to live] in holy conduct and godliness, ¹²as you watch for and eagerly await the coming of the day of God. On that [day, the] heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will be dissolved by the intense heat. ¹³But, according to his promise, we are watching for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness resides. 2 Pet. 3:10-13