Daniel 4:19–“Real Faith”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁹Then Daniel (to whom his name Belteshazzar) was horrified for a moment and his thoughts terrified him. The king answering and saying, “Belteshazzar, the dream and the meaning [of it], do not let terrify [you].” Belteshazzar answering and saying, “My lord, the dream [let be] to ones hating you and the meaning of it [let be] to your enemies.”

This, I believe, is actually a rather profound verse for us to pause and consider. Given a hurried glance, it appears to be simply a “matter of fact” sort of statement, merely progressing the story we’re reading. However, having parked on it and pondered it for several days, I would suggest it rather contains deeply spiritual truth we ought all to take to heart.

Once again, what we’re reading is the Bible. We’re reading a book about life and how to live it well. We’re “walking with the wise” because we want to observe and glean from their  wisdom, so we can be like them. The man we are observing is Daniel, a man who, along with his three friends has already deeply impressed us with his faith, humility, work ethics, and courage. Also, once again, I want to remind myself he is at work, that he is serving under a raging tyrant boss and king in the worst possible place on the face of the earth: Babylon. He has to suffer being called Belteshazzar after the name of Nebuchadnezzar’s god Bel and his position is serving as chief sorcerer over a bunch of back-stabbing charlatans. This is the king who destroyed Daniel’s homeland, deported him to the far end of the Fertile Crescent, and tried to kill his friends in a fiery furnace.

Right off the bat, try to be honest. What would be your first response to hear that the Lord is going to reign down judgment on such a king, such a man in such a place?

And if you were given the assignment to warn such a man in such a place, what sort of tone of voice would you likely use? What would be your demeanor as you pronounced his judgment upon him?

I would suggest we all likely would pursue one of two paths. We would either take up the mantle of the “fiery prophet,” angrily dishing out our Divinely justified revenge, emboldened knowing we “speak for God,” and (in our heart of hearts) enjoying the moment, the feeling that finally we have “won.”

Or we would realize that the message we have to deliver is very unpleasant and may likely incur in this man anger rather than fear. As we often say, “Don’t shoot the messenger!” We are keenly aware when what we have to tell people is something that they utterly will not want to hear, and most of us have probably learned to artfully avoid such encounters.  In Daniel’s case, he is probably more than aware that what everyone else tells Nebuchadnezzar is exactly what he wants to hear. He is a man accustomed to being flattered and who, in an instant, can have people executed if they displease him in any way.

It’s interesting that none of the magicians “could interpret the dream.” One has to wonder, if their reticence wasn’t somewhat due to the obviously negative premonitions the dream portended. I can almost hear them saying, “I’m not going near that one!” I would almost bet, had it even suggested success and prosperity, they would have fallen all over themselves “interpreting” it for the king.

But here stands our Daniel. Can we all notice he did neither? He didn’t angrily call down judgment , nor did he, like the charlatans, retreat in self-serving cowardice. The truth of the dream hits him like a thunderbolt and in the shock of its realization he understandably goes dumb and visibly troubled for “a moment.” In the old KJV, it is translated, “for an hour,” but the word is better translated “a moment.” It’s just a general word for a short amount of time.

And in that moment, that short amount of time, Daniel not only understands the dream and sees the horrors it portends, but he must also decide how he will respond. All of that happens “in a moment.” We’ve all been there. We’ve all received shocking news or watched as someone else did. There is that “moment” of being dumbfounded, then the slow formation of how we’ll respond. I suppose it’s true that those moments reveal a lot about who we really are. In those moments, we don’t necessarily even have time to pause and consider, “How should I respond to this?” Such moments are probably classic cases where “out of the goodness of his heart, a good man brings forth good things, whereas…”

I would suggest it is true that Daniel responds well precisely because he is “a good man.” Day in and day out, at his job and as he lives his life, he has been constantly making all the little choices that add up to “a good man.” Now when he gets hit with a thunderbolt, what comes out of his heart are “good things.”

The “moment” is long enough and no doubt Daniel’s dumbfounded countenance is obvious enough Nebuchadnezzar  can see something is terribly wrong. He already knows it must be bad news. So he encourages Daniel not to be afraid to tell him the truth.

Can I suggest to us that at this very minute this encounter hangs between heaven and hell? How Daniel responds, the look on his face, the tone of his voice --  all come together to determine whether the words he speaks will draw the king toward the Lord or push him away. We can’t see his face, but listen to Daniel’s words: “My lord, the dream [let be] to ones hating you and the meaning of it [let be] to your enemies.” What is he communicating? Can I suggest respect, loyalty, sympathy, and love?

Let me include three quotes from old reformed pastors:

“Though this king were a tyrant, and an enemy of God and his people, yet the prophet is grieved for him, and prayed for him that God would avert his judgments from him, and lay them rather upon his enemies, Jeremiah 29:7,” Matthew Poole (ca. 1660).

“…this he said, not merely as a courtier, but as one that heartily wished and prayed for his peace and prosperity; and to show that he had no ill will to the king in the interpretation of the dream, but was his hearty faithful servant and minister,” John Gill (ca. 1740).

“This verse reveals the heart of Daniel as well as any in the entire book of Daniel. He knew the meaning of this dream and how well Nebuchadnezzar deserved what was to come upon him. Nevertheless, Daniel’s heart was concerned for the king and grieved over what he had to tell him.” Dr. Thomas Constable  (ca. 1760).

This is another one we’d better all “put in our pipe and smoke it.” Our “fire and brimstone” kind of evangelical “militancy” is a far cry from what we see here in this man Daniel. One old pastor called it “sympathy” and urged us all to see how important “sympathy” is in our relationships with others. As we’ll see in a few verses, it doesn’t look like the king listened very well, but notice he didn’t shut Daniel out either. When at the end of the chapter we see him come to his senses, he will remember who told him the truth – and I would suggest because Daniel shared that truth in genuine obvious loyalty and sympathy, it was easy for the king to embrace him.

When Joan and I were at Purdue, there was a man who would come and preach on the green. He was all anger and shouting and condemnation. Us college kids saw him as nothing but entertainment. I don’t know if he was a born-again man or not or whether what he was preaching was actually the Gospel, but his manner was so offensive I doubt if a single young person ever listened. How much different our Daniel?  “My lord, the dream [let be] to ones hating you and the meaning of it [let be] to your enemies.”

Daniel lived some 600 years before Paul would write to the Corinthians, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not love…I am nothing,” but being a truly godly man, he had learned it for himself. I realize more and more that every conversation we have we must be speaking from a heart of love. Not to love is already to have failed. We may “get” whatever it is we wanted, but we can write it down of a certainty we did not speak for God.

God help us all to practice minute by minute learning how to love the people He puts around us. Then in those difficult situations, especially when people are being in some way difficult or challenging, may the love we’ve been storing in our hearts make its way to our mouths and our faces – like it did with Daniel. May the Lord teach us how to love even raging tyrant kings who destroyed our homeland and drug us away and gave us a name we would despise and threw our best friends in a furnace. In the more immediate, may He help us learn to genuinely love people who are impatient with us, or treat us like we’re stupid, or any of those other heinous crimes humanity commits against us! May we remember minute by minute that we speak for Him. We are servants of the Most High God and, as they say, “the only Jesus some people will ever meet.”

What a fine example our Daniel is. He was a man of real faith. And what does real faith do? It makes us like Jesus. Lord make us like Him.  

Daniel 4:10-18–“Truths to Embrace”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁰And the visions of my head upon my bed, I was seeing and look! A tree in the middle of the land and the height of it [was] great. ¹¹The tree grew great and it grew strong and the height of it reached to the heavens and the appearance of it to the end of the all of the earth. ¹²The foliage of it [was] lovely and the fruit of it abundant and food to the all [was] in it. Under it the animal of the field had shade and in the branches of it dwelt the birds of the heavens and from it the all of the flesh was fed. ¹³I was seeing in the visions of my head upon my bed and look! A watcher and a holy one from the heavens descending, ¹⁴proclaiming in strength and thus saying, “Cut down the tree and cut off the branches of it. Let the foliage of it be stripped off and scatter the fruit of it. Let the animals flee from under it and birds from the branches of it. ¹⁵But the stump of the roots of it in the earth leave alone and in a band of iron and bronze in the grass of the field and dew of the heavens be wet and with the animals the lot of him in the plants of the earth. ¹⁶The heart of him from the man was changed and the heart of the animal let be given to him and seven times let pass upon him. ¹⁷In [the] decree of [the] watchers [is] the matter and [the] command of [the] holy ones [is] the sentence so that the living ones may know that Master [is] the Most High in the kingdoms of the man and to whomever He is pleased He gives it and lowly of men is appointed upon it.” ¹⁸This [is] the dream I Nebuchadnezzar the king saw and you Belteshazzar say the meaning in as much as the all of the wise men of my kingdom were not able the meaning to inform me and you being able for a spirit of holy gods [is] in you.

So this was Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. As I have been pondering over this passage, I have been trying to see it from Nebuchadnezzar’s perspective. As he is relating this dream to Daniel, he does not know what it means. It is easy for us who have often read the rest of the chapter to jump immediately into what it does mean and how it is going to affect Nebuchadnezzar—but he doesn’t know it. He probably already senses it portends for him something dark and foreboding, but beyond that it simply doesn’t make any sense to him.

I don’t have dreams and visions but I certainly know what it’s like to face life and say, “I don’t know. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what all this means.” Nebuchadnezzar was a great king. I’m just a lowly engineer. But in this world, we both sooner or later face the same uncertainties and confusions. We all do.

I suppose I’ve related before that I hate being confused. I hate that feeling when I really don’t know what to do. It drives me nuts. Maybe it doesn’t bother other people as much as it does me, but we all know the feeling. We’ve all been there. So where do we turn?

Nebuchadnezzar turns to his magicians, who of course are clueless. At this point, I love Isaiah 8:19,20: “And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?  To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

“To the Law and to the testimony!” To the Word. To the Bible!  In those times, let us who believe turn very deliberately to our God and His Word. He promises, “Call unto Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not” (Jer. 33:3). As I would resolve to get my answers from the Lord, I have to be honest and say it often feels like He is not answering. I’m floundering around, feeling like I need answers, but He doesn’t seem to be giving them. I don’t like that feeling of confusion, but I learned long ago, I need to just keep pushing ahead the best I know how and trust that He will reveal to me whatever it is I actually need to know.

Fortunately for Nebuchadnezzar, he has a place to go. To Daniel. Although, at least at this point, he has little regard for the Lord or His Word, yet he is aware that Daniel is “different,” that he actually can advise the king even in very difficult matters, like this dream. And so that is where he turns finally.

From the perspective of not knowing what it all means, here are a couple of things I think worthy to note the dream does teach, even before Daniel explains it: First of all, it reminds us there is an entire world swirling around us of which we basically live totally unaware. The spirit world. A “watcher” and a “holy one” comes down. He pronounces the sentence in a loud voice, “Cut it down! Strip it of its beauty! Give him the mind of an animal!” And it happens. We think we are in some sort of control of our world. We call people “movers & shakers.” Yet there is a spirit world swirling around us and directly impacting our lives. It seems like usually, the people who have any real awareness of the spirit world are people who are one way or another into the occult. Us Christians basically live and act as if it doesn’t even exist. We’re like Elijah’s servant whose eyes had to be opened to see the mountains filled with chariots of fire. “More are they that are for us than they that are against us!”

I wonder if we were more aware of the spirit world around us, if it wouldn’t move us to pray more. The spirit world is of course both good and evil and it is a war way bigger than any of us can handle. Really our only defense is resorting to the Word & prayer to “draw near to God” so He will “draw near to us.” I do believe personally, if we believe this and are alert, we’ll see glimpses of the spirit battle. There have been a number of times in my own life when I am quite certain what I was dealing with were angels. But Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, even uninterpreted, reminds us we are surrounded by a spirit world that does in fact directly impact our daily lives.

The other lesson is very plainly the point of it all – “that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men.” Could I suggest this is one of the single most important truths that any human being can grasp? God rules. Period. As we like to say, “There is a God, and you’re not Him.” This truth is also expressed as “Jesus is Lord.” This is precisely the lesson Nebuchadnezzar needed to learn, but it is interesting to note the Watcher didn’t say, “that Nebuchadnezzar might know that the Most High rules…” He said, “that the living may know.” This lesson is so fundamentally important, this entire episode in Nebuchadnezzar’s life isn’t just about him. It is about us. He needed to learn it, but so do we. Once again, we basically live our lives thinking we’re in control – or at least trying desperately to be. Every man, woman, boy, and girl needs to come to the understanding we are quite not in control, but God is – and embrace that truth in our own hearts. It’s interesting that Romans 10:9 begins with, “If we confess with our mouths Jesus is Lord…” This verse teaches us that this business of accepting the Lord’s rule over us is part of our very salvation itself!

So, even if we didn’t know yet what Nebuchadnezzar’s dream means, it’s already teaching very important spiritual truths for us to ponder, embrace, and live by!

Daniel 4:4-10–“Lights”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁴I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at east in my house and happy in my palace. ⁵I saw a dream and it made me afraid and [the] mental pictures upon my bed and [the] visions of my head alarmed me. ⁶And from me was made a decree to bring in before me the all of the wise men of Babel which the meaning of the dream they should inform me. ⁷Then came in the horoscopists, the conjurers, the Chaldeans, and the gazers and I told before them and the meaning of it not ones informing to me. ⁸And at last came in before me Daniel which Belteshazzar by the name of my god and a spirit of holy gods [is] in him and the dream before him I told. ⁹Belteshazzar, the chief of the horoscopists, because I know that a spirit of holy gods [is] in you and all of a secret not baffling to you. The visions of my dream which I saw and the meaning of it, tell [me]. ¹⁰And the visions of my head upon my bed, I was looking…

Since we’re trying to learn all we can from our friend Daniel about living faith in a real world, I think it worth pausing once again to consider this passage from his perspective.

Once again, let’s not forget that Daniel is “at work.” He has a job, just like you and me, with a boss and co-workers. Let’s also not forget that the place where he works cares essentially nothing about his God. It is a place too often ruled by idolatry, cruelty, immorality, and deception. It’s not the job he would have chosen, or the boss he would have chosen, or the co-workers he would have chosen, or even in the place he would have chosen, yet here he is, and so, if he is to live a life of faith, he’ll simply have to live it in this very place.

Just stop and think for a minute how hard all of this would be for Daniel, even right here in the passage before us. First of all, we’re not told why Daniel comes in last. The king’s decree was for all the wise men of Babylon to appear before him. People suggest a lot of reasons why Daniel shows up last, but, for whatever it’s worth, I would suggest the obvious explanation is that he, being the chief of the wise men, was detained with other responsibilities and came as soon as he could. No doubt the Lord Himself detained Daniel so that he could only arrive after it was clear the rest of the wise men couldn’t do the job.

But Daniel was called and so he’s here. And what does his boss ask of him? The impossible.

All sound familiar?

I noted back in chapter 2 that I think the Lord actually wants us believers to do “the impossible” at our jobs. I rather suspect most of the time what I’m asked to do at least contains some element of “impossible.” Yet we believers, like Daniel, pray and ask the Lord to help us and often accomplish exactly that – the impossible. I’m frequently  very aware “it wasn’t me.” I hope somehow the Lord is making that apparent to others, so they see not me but Him. I hope they realize I’m not that smart or that skillful, or that I didn’t just “get lucky,” but that somehow God is helping me. Clearly that was true of Daniel. Twice the king acknowledges that “the spirit of the holy gods is in you.” Just as with Daniel, I believe the Lord wants to arouse people’s hearts by showing His power precisely by enabling you and me to accomplish the impossible at our jobs.

The thing is it is hard to be expected to accomplish the impossible, even for us who know our God. It forces us to exercise our faith. I have to face it knowing it’s impossible but choosing to believe that somehow the Lord is at work. I need to just trust Him and proceed to do whatever I can. Also, I need to be His humble servant through it all, which means I will be respectful to my boss (even if he’s a raging tyrant) and kind to my co-workers (even if they’re a bunch of back-biting charlatans) . Daniel didn’t have Col. 3:23,24, but he knew its spirit: “And whatever you do, do it with your whole heart, as working for the Lord and not for men…it is the Lord Christ you are serving!” Just like Daniel, as we go about “the impossible,” it is imperative we learn to keep a humble, sweet spirit as we serve not men, but our wonderful Lord. It wouldn’t have been easy for Daniel, and it won’t be easy for us, but he proves it can be done.

I also want to point out again, just how unpleasant all of this would be for Daniel. He works where? In Babylon. Remember this is Babel, the very epitome of rebellion against God. Human history is in a sense “The Tale of Two Cities” – Jerusalem vs. Babel – the city of God vs. the city of the Devil, and Daniel lives and works in the latter. And what is his position? “Chief of the Horoscopists.” The what? Chief of the necromancers and wizards and astrologists and witches and warlocks! Back in Israel such people were to be put to death. Daniel gets drug away from home as a young man to not only become one of these noxious people, but the head of them all! I think I pointed out earlier, this is about like being appointed head of the king’s brothel or his abortion clinic.

How would you and I handle it if that happened to us? My first response would be, “I’d rather die.” In my mind, I could see myself refusing such a position and willingly being martyred for it. But can we all pause and notice that isn’t what Daniel did? He accepted the position. And from that pinnacle of evil, the Lord chose to shine very, very brightly the light of His presence and power! Ponder that one for a minute. I think it proves conclusively that you and I do not see our jobs through God’s eyes – but we need to. Desperately need to. Our job in this world is to let our light shine…and it shines most brightly in the deepest darkness. Probably few of us will ever be called to work in a place as dark as Babel, but may our hearts be willing. May we be ready to set aside our extra-Biblical scruples and go humbly and sweetly wherever the Lord takes us – like Daniel.

There is so much more to see in this passage, but one last thing – let’s notice again that even Daniel’s name he was given would be obnoxious to him: Belteshazzar, “after the name of my god.” How would you and I like being given the title, “Servant of Satan,” and have people call us that, have to answer to it, and have to sign it with our own hand on official documents? That is precisely what Daniel has been called to do. Right now, at this minute, I don’t know that I could. It would certainly take some very earnest prayer to convince myself it is “okay” and that I can do it actually being a servant of the Most High God.

Yikes! The more you dig, the more you see just how awful Daniel’s situation was. You and I will find ourselves in awful situations at our jobs too. It’s unlikely any of us will ever face what Daniel and his three friends faced – yet they prove to us it can be done. You and I can live a life of faith even at our jobs, even in our workplaces. You and I can let our Lord place us in what to us may be very unpleasant conditions, yet go on being His humble, sweet, compliant servants, and so show our world He is a mighty God.

Like Daniel, may you and I see our jobs as holy callings. Like Daniel, may we live in the presence of our God even as we work at the jobs He’s given us. And may He see fit to accept our feeble, bungling efforts and use them to shine His light into other people’s hearts.