When Daniel Saw Jesus

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 7:1-14.  Let’s go!

Daniel 7:1 (NIV)
1  In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.

On verse 1:  Chapter 6 of Daniel concerned a time when the Medes and Persians had already succeeded the Babylonians as the dominant empire.  But here in chapter 7 Daniel goes backward in time to describe a dream that Daniel had while the Babylonians were still in power, before the events of even Daniel 5.  Why didn’t Daniel order everything chronologically?  We don’t know for sure, but notice this: chapters 1-6 describe very public, high drama events where Daniel and his friends are dealing with the kings in power at that time, while chapters 7-12 concern private visions and dreams that Daniel had.

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The Lion On Your Side

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 6:15-28.  Let’s go!

Daniel 6:15-20 (NIV)
15  Then the men went as a group to the king and said to him, “Remember, O king, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.”
16  So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
17  A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed.
18  Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.
19  At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den.
20  When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

On verses 15-20:  Daniel was sentenced to death in the lion’s den because he had broken the king’s law. The king was distressed because he wanted to save Daniel but had no power to do so.

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No Matter What Put God First

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 6:1-14.  Let’s go!

Daniel 6:1-2 (NIV)
1  It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom,
2  with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss.

On verses 1-2:  Daniel has outlasted the Babylonian empire and now he is serving while the Medes and Persians are in power.  King Darius is now at least the third king that Daniel has served as a top political advisor.

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Faith Is Not A Matter of Sight, But of Heart

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 5:13-31.  Let’s go!

Daniel 5:13-24 (NIV)
13  So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah?
14  I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom.
15  The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it.
16  Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

On verses 13-24:  Belshazzar knew all about how God had shown up in Nebuchadnezzar’s life.  Belshazzar knew how God had taken away Nebuchadnezzar’s authority and drove him into obscurity when Nebuchadnezzar pridefully attributed all his power and glory to himself.  Belshazzar also knew how God exalted Nebuchadnezzar to an even higher level when Nebuchadnezzar humbled himself and gave praise to God.  Daniel reminds Belshazzar that “though you knew all this” “you have not humbled yourself” (v22).

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The Hand of God

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 5:1-12.  Let’s go!

Daniel 5:1-4 (NIV)
1  King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.
2  While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.
3  So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.
4  As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

On verses 1-4:  After succeeding his father Nebuchadnezzar as king of Babylon, Belshazzar holds a massive and lavish banquet.  He takes the gold and silver goblets that belonged in the temple in Jerusalem and uses them to drink at his party.  What can we learn from this?  Both the spirit of secularism and the Holy Spirit are in the business of repurposing things, just in opposite directions.  The spirit of secularism wants to take that which belongs in God’s house and use it for purposes that exclude God and that exalt something other than God.  The Spirit of God wants to take that which belongs to the world, sanctify it and use it to bring God glory.

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Pride Before the Fall, Humility Before Honor

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 4:19-37.  Let’s go!

Daniel 4:19-27 (NIV)
19  Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its meaning alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!
20  The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth,
21  with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air–

On verses 19-27:  In Daniel 1 we saw how God gifted Daniel with the ability to understand visions and dreams of all kinds (Daniel 1:17).  In Daniel 2 we saw how God gifted Daniel with the ability to know what King Nebuchadnezzar was dreaming, which might be called a prophetic gift or a word of knowledge.  Here in Daniel 4, we see Daniel not only being able to understand and interpret King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream; even more we see evangelist Daniel calling Nebuchadnezzar to repentance. 

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God’s Love Is Pursuing You

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 4:1-18.  Let’s go!

Daniel 4:1-18 (NIV)
1  King Nebuchadnezzar, To the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world: May you prosper greatly!
2  It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
3  How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.
4  I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous…

On verses 1-18:  We’ll get to the lesson behind King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream when we look at verses 19-37 tomorrow.  In the meantime, with my wild imagination I could imagine King Nebuchadnezzar sharing this testimony from the stage of Thrive Church.   The fact that this is the second dream that God gave Nebuchadnezzar as recorded in the book of Daniel really highlights for me how much God pursued Nebuchadnezzar. 

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God Is With You In The Fire

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 3:16-30.  Let’s go!

Daniel 3:16-18 (NIV)
16  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
17  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.
18  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

On verses 16-18:  Despite King Nebuchadnezzar threatening to throw them into blazing furnace, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow down to the image the king had set up.

What can we learn from this?  When the commands of human leaders directly conflict with the command of God, we must courageously choose to obey God.

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Worship Out of Love, Not Fear

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 3:1-15.  Let’s go!

Daniel 3:1-7 (NIV)
1  King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
2  He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up.

On verses 1-7:  Did King Nebuchadnezzar command all of his government officials to worship this colossal image because Nebuchadnezzar himself loved and worshiped this image?  Not necessarily.  A good argument can be made that Nebuchadnezzar’s command had less to do with worship and more to do with Nebuchadnezzar testing the loyalty of his government officials.  Thus we don’t even learn the name of this image; instead, it is repeatedly referred to as the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 

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Why God Allows Crisis and Miracles

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Daniel 2:31-49.  Let’s go!

Daniel 2:31-38 (NIV)
31  “You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue–an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance.
32  The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,
33  its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.

On verses 37-38:  Daniel recognizes that God is the giver of all power and authority.  As powerful as King Nebuchadnezzar was, Daniel recognized that King Nebuchadnezzar would not have such power or authority if it weren’t for God.  Likewise, any authority or power we have is because God, the giver of all power and authority, allowed us to have it.  So let’s exercise the power and authority we have with humility and a healthy fear of (respect for) God.

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