Well, good morning, or whatever time it is, when you're watching this, it's good to be with you via the internet. I am speaking to an empty auditorium, due to a catastrophe that we have had here at the church, due to a break-in. But I'm thankful that we have technology that allows us to continue to proclaim the Word of God. And that's what we want to do this morning. If you will take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter two, where we will continue our verse-by-verse exposition of this amazing book. And this morning's sermon is under the heading "Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, God's Outline of World History." And this will be part one of that particular topic. Before we look at it closely, I would like to help you think about some things that will help us really put what we're doing here today in perspective. Today, we are watching the systematic disintegration of our great country. We're watching a government, as well as false religions, do things that are destroying our country. And it's crucial, therefore, for we as Christians, to have a biblical worldview, especially as that might relate to the past, and the present, and the future. And what we have before us here in Daniel, chapter two, as well as subsequent chapters, is a magnificent gift from God, to provide for us an outline of world history, one that was revealed through a dream that God providentially induced to King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, an event that took place over 2600 years ago. And this is a comprehensive chronology of not only what Jesus called the times of the Gentiles, for example, in Luke 21:24, but it's also a prophetic unveiling of Israel's history stretching from the days of Daniel, which would have been about 600 years before Christ, all the way to the second coming of the Messiah King when God establishes his messianic kingdom; when Christ will reign upon the earth for 1000 years, according to Bible prophecy. A time when we will, even as believers, reign with Him, a kingdom that will ultimately merge into the eternal state of the new heavens and the new earth according to Revelation 19 through chapter 22. That will be a great day when according to Revelation 11:15, "The kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever." This will be a time when according to Habakkuk, chapter two and verse 14, "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." This will be a time as promised, when the Lord Jesus Christ will take his rightful place on the throne of David in a renovated Jerusalem; a time when Israel will no longer fear any of the nations of the earth or indeed, as God has promised through the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 11, verse nine, "They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

Now, as we look at our world today, we see woke Marxism as perhaps the greatest internal threat to the United States. And most experts will tell us that the greatest external threat is China. But as believers we can be comforted knowing that we are citizens of another kingdom, and we serve the Lord Jesus Christ, our King. So regardless of what happens here in the United States, we know that ultimately, the Lord is working his plan in us and through us. And even though we are alien people on this earth, even though we are a people that have received a word from another realm, and we worship a God that others do not know; even though we wait for that appointed time when he comes and delivers us from this place, despite all of those things, we know that right now we are a part of this mystical body, the church, the Body of Christ. And even churches like ours that meet together all over the world, the true Church, are nothing more than little outposts of a celestial kingdom that the world cannot comprehend. So, no matter what ill befall us here, in our country, or in the world, we know that there is nothing that Satan and his minions can do to defeat us. For indeed, Christ has promised to build his church. And he says that the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Moreover, though, Satan seeks our ruin, we can be excited to know "that greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world." So dear friends, as we come to the Word of God, we want to be encouraged. And we want to be awestruck by the sovereignty of God, who not only knows the end from the beginning, but has also ordained it for our good and for His glory.

Now, I want to give you some preliminary thoughts here, they're a bit technical, but they're very important for you to understand. The inspired writers of Scripture often used a variety of structural patterns in their writings, in order to provide different ways of adding beauty and vibrancy of various passages and even various books. And we see this for example, in the book of Daniel, it has what we call a chiastic pattern, the word chi comes from the Greek it would be our letter X. And when you think about it, if you look at an X at the top of the two lines, you could put number one and number two, and at the bottom number three, and number four. So in a chiastic pattern, what you see is elements one and four, and in some of the verses will be parallel in thought with elements two and three.

For example, in Matthew chapter seven, in verse six, we read, "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. There you have a chiastic pattern. In the first line, the word "dogs" or the concept of dogs is linked to line four, "they will turn and tear you to pieces." Likewise, in the second line, "throw your pearls before swine" is paralleled by a reference to being "trampled under their feet" in line three. Now, this is what we see in the book of Daniel. Daniel chapters two and seven, parallel one another. And there he encourages his exiled Jewish kinsmen by explaining the succession of four Gentile Empires that will dominate Jerusalem and God's covenant people until the Messiah comes and establishes His kingdom. But then in Daniel chapters three and six, we see that they are also linked together. There he warns the Jews of what they must endure during the times of the Gentiles. And there he exhorts them to be faithful, come what may. But then also Daniel, chapters four and five parallel each other, and there he offers exhilarating hope, to the faithful Jewish remnant that one day, every Gentile nation will bow before their Messiah. So, bear this in mind as we approach chapter two, because it will be linked in a chiastic pattern with chapter seven. And together, they explain the succession of four Gentile Empires that will dominate the Jewish people until the Messiah King returns in power and great glory. So with that introduction, let's examine what the Spirit of God has revealed through His inspired writer Daniel, and also make some applications along the way.

So, notice in Daniel chapter two, verse one, "Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar," let me pause here. This is a reference to the second official year of his reign, which did not include his, what was called the ascension year, or the first year of his reign, according to the Babylonian method of dating the reigns of kings. So this would have been the second year of his official reign, but the third year of the prescribed training for Daniel and his three friends, so, Daniel two probably took place about three years after the events of Daniel one, verses one through 16.

So, again, "Now, in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled," literally in the original language, his spirit smote itself, fascinating thought, "and his sleep left him." So he sees something that is very alarming, that awakens him from his sleep, and he's in a deep state of agitation. Verse two, "Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king." Now, it's hard to know the unique distinctions of these classes of wise men. Because as we look at Daniel, we see that he uses a total of six different terms to describe the scholars and the priests and the sorcerers that advise the king. And certainly we know that all of their activities were demonic and strongly condemned in scripture. But we have a little hint as we look at some of the background, and some of the words that are used. The word "magicians" comes from a Hebrew, a Hebrew root meaning stylus, or graving tool. And so this would indicate that this would be a religious scribe who wrote with a stylus on clay tablets on the cuneiform. They would meticulously chronicle the movements of the stars to determine their future. You must understand that astrology and omens played a big role in their religion, especially in understanding what the gods were going to do in the future. And we see the same term used to describe the teaching priests of Egypt in Genesis 41 and verse eight. And certainly these magicians were in touch with the spirits and with the gods, at least the assumption was that that was the case. And they were also skilled with hepatoscopy, which is the art, the religious art of divination by inspecting the liver of animals. We read about this, for example, in Ezekiel 21 in verse 21. And then there also the conjurers, the Hebrew ashshaph. This may even refer to snake charmers, as the term is sometimes used, but also those who practice sorcery through enchantments. They were also necromancers. In other words, they communicated with the spirits of the dead.

And then he uses the term sorcerers. And these would be people we know that would cut herbs for charms and spells, and they would cast magical spells upon people by harnessing evil spirits to get them to do unnatural things in the world. And then he also uses the term Chaldeans. And what's interesting, in the book of Daniel, that term is used two different ways. First of all, it is used as an ethnic description of people who had migrated from or migrated into Babylonia. For example, Nebuchadnezzar himself and his father, his people, were Chaldeans. But it's also a reference to a class of priests and wise men that were skilled in astrology and sorcery. So, the Chaldeans, the term Chaldeans is a bit of a catch all term for these ancient wise men. Well, bottom line, these were the trusted counselors of Nebuchadnezzar, the man that he summoned to interpret his disturbing dream. And all these terms could basically be used interchangeably. They were all demon possessed, demon influenced, pagan idolaters, like most all of the people who give council to kings and queens and presidents even to this day. However, I want you to understand that although they were demonic, and although they were constantly participating in all of these cultish things, they were also brilliant. We know that Babylonian astronomers kept meticulous records of the movements of the stars and the planets and even comets because they wanted to know the will of the gods. And we know from history that in 500 BC, the Babylonian astronomer, Naburimanuu, used records dating back to 747 BC, to calculate the length of the year at 365 days, six hours, 15 minutes and 41 seconds, and he was only off, scientists tell us, by 26 minutes and 55 seconds. Another historian Martin Beek said this, quote, "A later Babylonian astronomer, Kidinnu, in 390 BC, made some measurements even more accurate than were known in the 19th century AD. He knew the difference between the sidereal year, that is the apparent period of revolution of the sun, from the time it occupies a certain position in relation to a fixed star until it returns to that position, and the tropical year, which is the time elapsing between two successive transits of the earth through the first point of Aries. From this, he discovered precession, which is the motion of the equinoxes on the ecliptic, in a westward direction, that is opposite to the sequence of the signs of the zodiac. Furthermore," Baek says, "he was able to predict solar and lunar eclipses accurately," end quote. So you get some idea of who these guys were. Yes, they were demonic in many ways, but they were also brilliant. And although Nebuchadnezzar's advisors were spiritually dead, they had great wisdom in other areas of sciences. And this, frankly, helps confirm the fact that the wisdom of the world and the supposed revelation from God apart from the one true God is not only worthless when it comes to spiritual matters, but it's also very deceptive. And many people today believe in the wisdom of man. They believe that man has the ability to solve all of the problems of the world. And only a fool could really say that, because as we look at the world today, despite all of the scientific discoveries, we see that it is as wicked today as it is ever been. It reminds me of what Paul said in First Corinthians one beginning in verse 18, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.'" He went on to say, "Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? As not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed, Jews ask for signs and Greek search for wisdom; But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God."

So back to the story here. The king calls all these wise men together and Daniel in his companions, as we see, are not among them. That was probably because they were, they were still young, they were inexperienced. They were, they were Hebrews that had been exiled and they weren't part of the old guard of Babylonian wise men. And so the king said to them in verse three, "'I had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.' Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic." And this is significant, by the way, because from here on through chapter seven, Daniel writes in Aramaic rather than Hebrew and here's what the Chaldeans said, "'O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.'" Said differently, we will invent some cockamamie, ridiculous but impressive, dignified, sanctimonious sounding explanation. Now, what's interesting is there are extant, in other words, still existing manuals today that we can read. For example, there are what's called the Akkadian manuals that reveal various factors that these ancient wise men would use to properly diagnose a dream, if you will, and then render a proper interpretation. And depending upon the nature and the elements of the dream, they would apply certain rules for its interpretation. Frankly, this is not much different than a lot of the psychobabble of our day; that psychological jargon that you hear from time to time, kind of an esoteric language designed to impress the naive and the ignorant into believing a person has some deeper, more scientific grasp of the truth. This is especially prevalent in Freudian psychoanalytic theory and dream interpretation prevalent in the pseudo-scientific field of psychology.

Well, notice verse five, "The king replied to the Chaldeans, 'The command from me is firm; f you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap.'" A terrifying statement. And this was typical of ancient Middle East despots. They were notorious for this kind of cruelty, including the hideous execution of dismembering a human being while they were still alive. Verse six, he went on to say, "'But if you declare the dream, and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.'" Now, I can only imagine in my mind, the horror on the faces of those wise men. And frankly, it's a bit comical. You see, Nebuchadnezzar is a fairly young man at this point. And he has inherited these old wise men from his father's reign. And it's obvious as we go on and read the text, that he did not trust them, he did not respect them. He doubted their supernatural abilities, just like most people scoff at the prosperity, hucksters of our day, that we see on television all the time. So it appears that he wanted to get rid of them, and perhaps bring in his own advisors. So what does he do? He gives them a task that he knows is impossible, unless they truly have a direct line from the gods. So he's probably wanting to prove them to be the demonic frauds that they really were. And I also have to laugh. Both the king and his advisors now we're servants of Satan, even though perhaps unwittingly so, but Satan doesn't really care who lives or who dies. And even today, just watch how quickly depraved politicians will turn on their own if they know that somehow by doing so they can advance their own agenda. The wicked always eat their own, and that's what we see going on here.

So again, the king wanted to make sure that they told him the dream, that they had some supernatural revelation. And he was suspect of the clever sounding claptrap that he was used to hearing from these guys. So he's saying, you tell me the dream, before you tell me the interpretation. And obviously, the wise men knew they were they were dead meat, as we would say, there's no way they could do this. Verse seven, "They answered a second time and said, 'Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.' The king replied, 'I know for certain that you are bargaining for time inasmuch as you have seen that the command for me is firm, that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation has changed; therefore, tell me the dream that I may know that you can declare to me it's interpretations.' The Chaldeans answered the king and said, 'There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer, or Chaldean. Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king, except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.'" And of course, that's precisely what God wanted them to say. You see, this is a divine setup, if you will, so that God could prove himself supreme, prove himself powerful as the only one and true God.

Verse 12, "Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So, the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them." They probably went back to the dorm where they were living together, to find them and kill them along with all of the rest. So, what we have here is God exposing these frauds, as well as the phony gods they serve while at the same time preparing to exalt himself through his servant Daniel. Notice verse 14, "Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment, to Arioch, the captain of the king's bodyguard who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon." I want you to notice "he replies with discretion and discernment." Not with fear, not with panic, not with anger. Verse 15, "He said to Arioch, the Kings commander, 'For what reason is the decree from the king so urgent?' Then Arioch, informed Daniel about the matter." Let's stop and think about this. How would you feel if a government agent came to you and said that you were under arrest for a crime that you had not committed, and that you are going to be subject to a barbaric act of cruelty through, dismemberment. Now, obviously, in our flesh, there's going to be panic, we're going to be overwhelmed, there's going to be disbelief, there's going to be a pleading for mercy. But for those ruled by the Spirit, there's going to be something else that prevails, something that comes deep from within that person's character. There will be a quiet calm, as we see here with Daniel. There will be a reply that's wise, there will be a sense of confident assurance, because that person, like Daniel, will know that God is up to something, and that I can trust him, no matter what comes my way, whether I'm allowed to live or die. And Daniel's response, dear friends, is the result of a young man who had a secret devotion to God, a young man that was committed to a life of faithful obedience to his Lord, a man who had experienced how God had blessed him, even in the past, even though he was still a young man, probably about the age of 18. Right? At this point. You see, his was not a blind faith, but a proven faith.

I'm reminded of what the psalmist said in Psalm 55, verse 22, "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you." No doubt Daniel remembered this, or certainly the concept. That text goes on to say "He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. But you O, God will bring them down to the pit of destruction; Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days, but I will trust in you." Oh, dear friend, please hear me. Now is the time to prepare for battle, not when the enemy attacks, not when the executioner comes, learn well what it is to wear the full armor of God, that you may stand firm in the hour of conflict and be able to withstand the schemes of the devil. Your response in the moment of crisis will reveal the preparation of your heart and the intimacy of your walk with Christ. And for this reason, you will recall Jesus commanded his disciples in the garden in Matthew 26:41, "'Keep watching and praying.'" In other words, be vigilant in the power of the Spirit, "'that you may not enter into temptation, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'"

Well, Daniel understood these concepts even at the young age of 18. So he responds to this terrifying news with remarkable calm and wisdom and confidence. Notice verse 16, what happens next, "So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king." My goodness, talk about faith, Daniel had no idea what the king had dreamed, much less the interpretation. And at this point, Daniel had no idea that God would reveal any of these things to him, but he trusted him to do so, he knew he could do so. And so he stepped out in faith, goes before the king, and says, give me some time that I might declare the interpretation to the king. Verse 17, "Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon." I find it interesting, the phrase here, "the God of heaven," literally, "the God of the heavens." This is such a stark contrast to the Babylonians who worshipped the heavenly luminaries, rather than the one who created them and sustains them.

Notice what Daniel and his three friends did now. They go to prayer, they go before the Lord their God in a time of need, would that we all be so inclined, when great difficulties come our way. They didn't panic, they prayed. They knew that God was up to something in their life, they didn't know what it was. And they also knew that they could do nothing apart from Him. And so they go before the Lord in prayer. I'm sure this was a a common practice of those young men. This wasn't something new. In fact, think of what they had to endure over the previous three years with all of this training from wicked people who hate the God that they love. Think of the pressure that they had to conform to, all of the pagan values and all of the pagan ways. It reminds me of many times when I've heard parents lament over what has happened to a child after they had gone away to a college and a university, and they come back brainwashed. It's like suddenly, they're in the cult of wokeism. And within a few months, they become a card-carrying Neo Marxist liberal who hates Christianity. Imagine having three years of this type of brainwashing, imagine what they must have gone through and how they must have felt. But here we see that these young men remained faithful to the Lord. How could they possibly do that? Dear friends, the key to staying faithful is to know the truth, to meditate upon the truth, and to stay faithful to the truth, to know who God is, and to stay faithful in worshiping and serving Him and communing with him. And you will never survive the great trials of life unless you maintain a disciplined personal and private pursuit of holiness. You simply must have a secret devotion to the lover of your soul, or you will never survive. And that's what we see going on here. And what an amazing scene. Can't you just picture these four young teenage men on their faces before God pleading for his mercy, in faith believing? And I'm sure Daniel and Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah had calluses on their knees from extended periods of prayer.

And I must pause for a moment and say how thrilled I am and the elders are and others in the church, to see so many young people, both men, young men and young women coming together in prayer and Bible study, young men and women, dedicated to personal piety and a devotion to Christ. It's thrilling to see them coming together the way the way they are, and what a harvest of blessing this is going to produce in their lives and in the life of their church.

Now, notice how God answered their prayer in verse 19. "Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision." Folks, you've got to stop here and put yourself in that young man's body, and in his mind, and in his heart, to whatever degree you can. This is absolutely, utterly astounding. Not only does God speak to him, but he also gives him a supernatural, shall we say, power point presentation, in 3d and color. And I think, what must have gone through his mind? This is overwhelming. Notice what Daniel does, "Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven," verse 20, We read more of what he said and what he thought, “Daniel said, 'Let the name of God be blessed forever, and ever.'" So fascinating that he begins here, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever." Now, as we are going to see later, in his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, the Messiah is going to one day return as Israel's conquering king and put an end to the Gentile domination that will ultimately reach its zenith during the reign of the Antichrist. And then at the Battle of Armageddon, he is going to be destroyed. And it's interesting, why God is going to do all of this. In Ezekiel 39, beginning in verse seven, God tells us There we read, "'My holy name, I will make known in the midst of My people, Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.'" No wonder Daniel would say, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever." He's just been reminded of what is going to happen.

We go back to Ezekiel 39, beginning in verse 25, we read this, "Therefore thus says the Lord God, 'Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer, I will not hide my face from them any longer, for I will have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,' declares the Lord GOD." So indeed, Daniel begins his praise by saying, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever."

May I dwell upon this just a little bit more; think of the importance of the name of God and why we should therefore never use it in vain. Remember, when Moses asked God on the mountain, "'What shall I tell the people when they ask what is your name?'" In Exodus three, in verse 14," God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.'" In other words, he's saying, I am the self-existent, preexistent, eternal one, who always has been, always is and always will be. I am the self-existent, preexisting, uncreated Creator of the universe. You will recall in John 8:58, Jesus told the unbelieving Jews, "'Before Abraham was born, I am.'" And there again he refers to himself in the present continuous tense. Why? Because he has always and will always exist. So this is a title indicating his self-existence. There has never been a time when he did not exist. So beloved, inherent in the name of God, is the summation of all of his glorious attributes. Daniel understood that the thrice Holy God, the Sovereign Lord of Glory, is in full control of all of his creation, and deserves to be worshipped, deserves to be obeyed. For indeed he is the one, the great I AM, who is returning again someday, so that the nations will know that He is the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. I must ask you, does your life exalt the name of God? Or diminish it? Do people say of you, "my there goes a man or a woman whose life is dedicated to Christ, and truly brings glory to his name?" Or would they think my, I'm sure God is ashamed of that individual who claims to serve Him? Remember this, you're a Christian because of Christ's atoning work on the cross. "For our sins," Paul said, "God highly exalted Him," Philippians two, "and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." I think about this, if Daniel could bless the name of God, with his limited understanding of all that he would do in his work of redemption, through His Son, our Savior, his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, how much more should we do in bringing glory to him knowing all that he has done as we look back upon his atoning work.

So again, in verse 20, Daniel says, "'Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. It is he who changes the times and the epochs.'" In other words, he's saying, God is the one who controls all of the events of history, either actively or permissively. As Paul said, in Ephesians, 1:11, "He works all things after the counsel of His will." Daniel goes on to say "He removes kings, and establishes kings." And as God's vision reveals to him, he is ultimately the one who is in control of our elections. He knows who he wants in there, not just in our country, but all over the world because he has a plan to bring glory to himself.

Daniel also says, "'He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding,'" verse 22, "'It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.'" Think of these dear friends, he alone is the one that can dispel the darkness, of those unsearchable and hidden things of God that we cannot see. And he does this through the power of his Spirit, as he has revealed himself in the word of God. Verse 23, "'To you, O God of my father's, I give thanks, and praise, for you have given me wisdom and power; even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, for You have made known to us the king's matter.'"

Beloved, please hear this. God is highly exalted and greatly pleased when his children praise Him. May this be the dominating trait of our conduct. May this be the theme of our song, the ultimate goal of all that we do and say. Back to verse 24, "Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went in and spoke to him as follows: 'Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me into the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.'" Let's pause here for a moment. This is truly remarkable when you think about it because Daniel had the perfect opportunity to say, Arioch, here's what I would like you to tell the king, I can help him with the dream but he needs to destroy all of those phony advisors, needs to get rid of these characters. They know nothing, but I have the answers from the one true God. So we have this chance to destroy these, these corrupt religionists that had done such great damage to God's people, and brought such reproach upon God. But he doesn't do this. Why? The answer is because it wasn't God's time to judge them. As Daniel understood from the interpretation that God had given them concerning the dream, Dr. John Whitcomb said this quote, "Daniel was not a prophet in the Holy Land of Israel, where God's infinite standards of religious truth, established at Mount Sinai, were unique among all the nations of the earth. If Daniel were to accomplish the ideal mission of a prophet of God and Israel, then all Babylonians and subject peoples throughout the empire would be forced to comply with the law of Moses or perish. But this cannot happen. Until the dawn of the kingdom age when Christ rules the world with a quote, 'rod of iron,' Isaiah 11:4. Daniel was aware of this vastly important distinction. And therefore, as we must also during this age of the church, allowed God to determine the times and seasons of grace and judgment. The stone would fall in the latter days of the fourth kingdom, not the first, according to Daniel 2:44, and 45."

So Arioch, the king's executioner, here's Daniel's request, "'Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me into the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king. Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as follows: 'I have found a man among the exiles from Judah, who can make the interpretation known to the king!' The king 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 has inquired, 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 latter years. This was your dream, and the visions in your mind while on your bed.'"

And this is where we will pick it up next week. But in closing, may I challenge you with just a few principles, that hopefully you will see and apply to your life. Number one, dear friends, the word of God is filled with priceless treasures, learn to search for them diligently. And when, by God's grace through His Spirit, you unearth them, all other claims of special revelation, apart from Scripture, will be rejected as worthless and deceptive counterfeits. Secondly, now is the time to prepare for battle, not when the enemy attacks, learn what it is to put on the full armor of God. Learn how to skillfully wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God so that you can effectively parry the blows of the enemy that is trying to tempt you, to destroy you and to destroy your family, and learn what it is to have a disciplined habit of prayer, where you commune with the lover of your soul. Thirdly, be a student of the attributes of God. Be a student of the attributes of God, here's why, because your knowledge of him is directly proportional to your faith in him. Ignorant Christians are frightened Christians, shallow Christians are weak Christians, easily defeated, easily deceived. And then finally, let your praises to Him vastly exceed your petitions of him. In other words, spend more time praising him for all he has done, is doing and will do than petitioning his help. And if this is your attitude, like Daniel, you will be able to say bless it be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are his.

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for these glorious and eternal truths that reveal so much to us. It's absolutely overwhelming. We rejoice knowing that you are the sovereign ruler of all that you have created. And we praise you for the fact that you have, in your infinite love, condescended to our lowly estate and you have saved us by your grace. I pray that you will use each one of us as instruments of righteousness to bring glory to your name, that others might see Christ in us the hope of glory, that they too, might come to faith in the only one who can save and sanctify. Lord, thank you for this time we could have together we pray that great blessings will result from what we have learned and what we apply for. It's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.