Dreams and Visions

November 21

Daniel 1-2

Psalm 127

Proverbs 28:1-2

1 Peter 2:11-25

Dreams and Visions

“The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, ‘Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?’  Daniel answered before the king and said, ‘As for the mystery about which the king is asking, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king.  However, there is a God in Heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the last days.  This was your dream and the visions of your head while on your bed.’” Daniel 2:26-28 LSB

In Daniel chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a large statue that was very disturbing.  He called together all the wise men and anyone who he thought might be able to interpret the dream for him.  Apparently he didn’t trust them, because instead of telling them the dream and asking them to interpret it, he demanded that they reveal the dream to him and then interpret it.  He knew that if he told it to them, they could just make up whatever interpretation they wanted.  He didn’t want wisdom from them, he wanted wisdom from a higher power.  (There is no reason to believe King Nebuchadnezzar believed in God.  It is more likely that he believed in many gods and was hoping one of them could tell him what it meant).  The wise men all told him that they could not interpret the dream if he didn’t tell it to them first.  He became enraged and ordered that they all be killed.  When Daniel heard about the king’s order, he prayed and asked God to reveal the dream to him and its interpretation, which God did.  God placed Daniel in a position of leadership in Babylon by orchestrating these events to bring him to the king’s attention.  The dream revealed God’s sovereignty over the rise and fall of earthly kingdoms.  It featured a statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay mixed. 

Daniel explained to King Nebuchadnezzar that the statue represented future world empires.  The gold stood for Babylon and his current kingdom that was the leading world power at the time, the silver was Medo-Persia which conquered the Babylonian empire, the bronze was Greece which followed the Medo-Persian empire and the iron represented the Roman empire.  God laid out for the king, and for us, the course of human history.  Looking back over the centuries we can see that it happened exactly as his dream indicated it would.  At the end of the dream a stone not cut by human hands came and shattered the feet of iron and clay.  Jesus is the stone that shatters all earthly kingdoms and He will one day set up an eternal kingdom that will last forever.  God used a pagan king to reveal his sovereignty and omniscience.  Only the one true God sees the future and can reveal it before it happens.  Only He determines the course of history.  He set it all in motion and He decides how it will play out.  Daniel’s ability to interpret the dream shows the importance of seeking God’s wisdom and guidance, not the wisdom of man.