Sleepless in Chaldea | Sunday, June 18, 2023

Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him... "I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream." ... "There is not a man on earth who can tell the king this matter... except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." ... But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets... You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces... and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

When a powerful king couldn't sleep, a young exile who trusted the God of heaven slept soundly—and revealed a dream that still maps the rise and fall of empires.

A Sleepless King

Have you ever had a sleepless night? Judging by the response, the answer for all of us is yes. Often a sleepless night comes from something on our minds about the future—a project, a meeting, an exam pressing on us in the short term, or longer worries about retirement and whether our kids will grow into functioning adults. We find ourselves in turmoil, caught between the conscious and subconscious worlds, where vivid dreams intermingle with reality.

That was King Nebuchadnezzar's experience some 2,600 years ago. "Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him." Even the most powerful individuals, with great wealth and a seat of power, can be at the mercy of the terror of thoughts in the night, slaves to sleeplessness. All the money, power, privilege, and position are nothing when our thoughts keep us up all night.

The Impossible Demand

Troubled and dazed, the king summoned the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans of Babylon—men renowned throughout the ancient empires. He told them his spirit was anxious to know the dream. They responded as these men always did: "Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation." You tell us what you saw, and we'll make up a meaning on the spot.

But the king's decision was firm: tell me the dream and its interpretation, or you will be cut to pieces and your houses made an ash heap; reveal it, and you'll receive gifts, rewards, and great honor. Early in his reign, Nebuchadnezzar was likely looking for a reason to be rid of these men, and now he had it. As we'll see over the coming weeks, this hair-trigger fury is par for the course for him.

When the Chaldeans pressed again for the dream first, the king accused them of stalling. They finally confessed: "There is not a man on earth who can tell the king this matter... no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things... except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." Highlight that: not just difficult—impossible. The king became furious and decreed that all the wise men be destroyed. So they sought out Daniel and his companions—Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—who were being trained among this group, to kill them as well.

The Wisdom of a Pause

"With counsel and wisdom," Daniel answered Arioch, the captain who had gone out to kill the wise men: "Why is this decree from the king so urgent?" Would to God that you and I might answer pressure situations with the same presence of mind. Daniel slowed things down. He went in and asked the king for time, then went home and made the matter known to his companions, that they might seek the mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret, so they would not perish with the rest.

As an aside, let me recommend the wisdom of a pause. We live in a culture that moves at ludicrous speed and presses us toward quick, hasty decisions. But it is rare that decisions made quickly are the best decisions. It's okay to take a break, to sleep on it, to think slowly. When the car salesman says it's your final opportunity, that's a lie. If you want to live with less regret, don't make decisions in haste.

Faith in the God Who Reveals Secrets

Daniel understood that the wisdom needed here came only from God. They sought God's mercies that He would give them the dream and its interpretation. Our culture sees faith as important, but it's not faith alone—it's faith in God. Many people have faith in things unworthy of their trust.

It wasn't that Daniel was a better enchanter or more familiar with the dream books—and Babylon's interpreters really did have dream books; we have the cuneiform tablets to prove it. Daniel was being trained in that very literature. But his trust was in the God of heaven who reveals secrets, not in his own skill.

Rest in a Restless Situation

"Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision." Notice the implication: you have visions in the night when you're asleep. Daniel had positioned himself before a touchy king, carrying the weight of his life, his friends' lives, and all the wise men's lives—and yet he could sleep. Why? Because his trust was not in his own abilities but in God. Because he trusted God, he could rest in a restless situation.

This is instructive, because we live in an anxious, stressed culture that lacks rest. Yet Scripture says God gives His beloved sleep (Psalm 127)—and not only sleep but rest, for the two are not the same. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Isaiah said, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord is everlasting strength." In Hebrew it reads shalom shalom—peace squared. And David wrote, "The Lord is my shepherd... He restores my soul." Here is Daniel in a pressure situation, asleep, at rest.

Right Priorities: Prayer and Praise

When God revealed the secret, what was Daniel's first response? Not to run to the king, but to bless the God of heaven: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His... He removes kings and raises up kings... He reveals deep and secret things... I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers."

If prayer and praise are at the top of your priority list, you're in good company with Daniel. If they're an afterthought—as they too often are, even with me—we need to consider whether our priorities are out of order. More than a few times in challenging circumstances, one of my children has said, "Shall we pray?" Yes—great idea, thank you, good job, pastor. May prayer and praise be priorities, not afterthoughts.

Then Daniel went to Arioch and said, "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation." Arioch, ever ready to take credit, told the king, "I have found a man of the captives of Judah." But Daniel answered, "The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men... cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets." Highlight that.

A God Who Reveals Secrets

There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets—and that's been my own experience. A little more than ten years ago I had horrendous back pain for weeks. I slept on the floor thinking it might help. One morning, lying in pain, I prayed, "God, help me figure out what's wrong." In a moment I heard a voice in my head—not from me: "It's not your back, it's your kidneys; you're dehydrated; you need to drink more water." I drank a lot more water that day, and the next morning I had no back pain. That was a word of knowledge, one of the gifts of the Spirit. There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets.

Daniel walked in humility, honoring God: "This is not of me; none of us in our school of enchanters could figure this out." Isaiah wrote, "I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at My word." When you come across a phrase like "I will look favorably," take careful note. Our culture says favor goes to those who aggressively "take on the world." God says favor goes to the humble.

The Statue and the Stone

Daniel described the dream: a great, terrible image with a head of fine gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay. Then a stone, cut from a mountain "but not with hands," struck the image at its feet and crushed the whole thing to chaff carried away by the wind—and the stone became a great mountain that filled the entire earth.

Then the interpretation: "You, O King, are king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you your kingdom... You are this head of gold." After him would arise another kingdom, then a third of bronze, then a fourth as strong as iron, and finally a kingdom divided, partly strong and partly fragile. "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed... it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

Why Skeptics Lose Sleep Over Daniel

This is one of the most amazing dreams and interpretations in human history—so specific that it causes skeptics to doubt the book's authorship and dating. The traditional view, held by the church and Hebrew scholars for centuries, is that Daniel was written by a young Hebrew man in 6th-century-BC Babylon. But critical scholars insist it must have been written in the 2nd century BC, because it's simply too clear about later world history. They push the date as late as the surviving documents allow. Wikipedia, informed by that skeptical scholarship, opens by calling Daniel "a 2nd-century-BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th-century-BC setting." Yet there is strong scholarly evidence for the traditional view—and more importantly for me, Jesus validates Daniel in the Gospels.

A Messianic Prophecy

Look at what the dream revealed about history. From Daniel's point of view it was future; from ours it is past. The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century. The chest and arms of silver were the Medo-Persians of the 5th century. The bronze was the Greek period under Alexander the Great. The legs of iron and the feet of iron mixed with clay were the Roman Empire. And after these four kingdoms—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome—comes a stone cut without hands that establishes a kingdom enduring forever: an otherworldly kingdom, not made of hands, not ruled by men.

N. T. Wright notes this passage "was regularly interpreted, from at least the early first century, to refer to the Messiah and to the kingdom that would be set up through him." First-century Jews looked back and saw the gold, the silver, the bronze, and recognized they were living under the iron of Rome. They were watching for the stone—the Messiah who would establish the kingdom of God that would crush the kingdoms of this world.

The Hebrew word "crush" in Daniel 2:44, in the Greek Septuagint, is the same word Jesus uses in Matthew: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone... whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." Jesus was alluding to Daniel, as He often did. His favorite self-title, "Son of Man"—used 68 times in the synoptic gospels—comes from Daniel 7. His teaching on the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God comes from Daniel 2.

Why Jesus Was Crucified

At Jesus's trial, the high priest demanded, "Tell us, are You the Christ, the Son of God?" Jesus answered, "It is as you have said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man... coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes and cried, "He has spoken blasphemy!" Why? Because Jesus was quoting Daniel 7:13: "Behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven... to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom... which shall not be destroyed."

We so easily read Daniel looking only for ourselves and our times that we miss its far more awesome testimony to the people of God. Here is one of the most important Messianic predictions in the Bible—and the first of several we'll find in this book in the coming weeks.

The Message of Daniel: Hope

Point one: the primary message of Daniel is a Messianic message of hope—for a people in exile, in circumstances that seemed utterly hopeless, God says, "I am doing something bigger." This is why we want everything we do here to be done with joy: we have an optimistic vision of the future, the kingdom of God established under Christ. Isaiah said of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. This is why the church for 2,000 years has prayed, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We anticipate that prayer will be answered.

Point two: Daniel is a comforting reminder of God's everlasting rule. Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and declared, "Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets." Then he promoted Daniel to ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief over its wise men—at perhaps only 17 years old. People may ask, "Where is God in all the horror of the exile?" Now He is right there in the court of the king, through His ambassadors Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Where is God in your pain, your trial, your fiery furnace or lion's den? If you look closely, He is right there with you the whole time, even when you cannot see or sense Him.

Point three: God never forsakes those who trust in and remain committed to Him. That's exactly what we'll see in these men—when it seems there is no hope, they continue to trust in and remain committed to God, even if it costs their lives. What a beautiful example for us to take note of.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we thank You for Your word; it is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Lord, it is such a good word of encouragement and comfort today, because we can look around the world, see the things happening locally and globally, and become discouraged—we can lose our hope—unless we recognize that You are the King of kings and You rule over a kingdom that will endure forever and ever. And so we pray, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.