“Daniel: Intercession” (continued) - part 2

Tonight, I would like to continue, in chapter two of Daniel, as it concentrates on God’s ruling in the affairs of men in relationship to intercession.

It is in this episode where we see how the prayers of the the saints of the Lord are a great factor, a supreme factor, in carrying forward God’s work with smoothness, with proficiency, and in the right time, and all under His ordained pattern.

We saw last time, in chapter 1, how Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, even under the most unfavorable conditions, held fast to their faith in Yahweh. 

It was not easy for those teenagers but they proved that one could definitely be a servant of God the Most High even though he is in the middle of heathen influences. 

Their testimony ought to be an encouragement to all of us, especially to our teenagers today.

They resolved not to defile themselves by eating the sacrificial food of the heathen.

And God blessed them for it as He also did bless the education they received in the literature and the wisdom of the Chaldeans.

The progress that was made in their heathen education was valuable to them, especially to Daniel who gained an insight into interpreting the various images of the heathen mind.

The wisdom of the Chaldeans was closely connected to the Chaldean idolatry and heathen superstition. 

It was important for Daniel to know and understand this.

He used it to put to shame the wisdom of this heathen world by revealing the hidden wisdom of God.

Let us see how he did that as he dealt with the puzzle of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in this second chapter.

So that we understand what was going on, let us start at verse one: “And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.”

We are introduced to Nebuchadnezzar as a monarch who could not sleep because ‘his spirit was troubled.’

He is troubled, not because of the thousands of people he had forcefully displaced, not because of the thousands he had massacred on the battlefields, not because of the wealth he had pillaged from the surrounding nations, but - by a dream.

Yes, he had good reason to be troubled because the dream, although it was a terrible puzzlement at the time, was the announcement that his regime, built on a foundation of clay, was about to totter.

You are probably aware that dreams were believed to have evil powers over the dreamer.

And - one of the reasons there was this urgency to have dreams interpreted was, not only to know what they meant, but to use the knowledge in conducting the proper ritual designed to break the spell of the evil it carried.

This is why, in v 2, we see that the king summoned all of his possible advisors - his magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, the astrologers, the Chaldeans - all the wise professionals from Egypt to Babylon - all who could be gathered around him - from every corner of his vast empire - to interpret this dream.

In v 4, his advisors made a reasonable request: ‘Just tell us what the dream is all about and we will show you the interpretation of it.’ 

‘Absolutely not - you tell me’ - was his reply.

‘The word from me is unalterable: this is my decision - it stays!’

And he started flouting his authority by threatening them with immediate death.

‘If you cannot tell me what my dream was, and what it means, I will have you torn limb from limb and your houses razed to the ground.’

Well - that was not exactly what they hoped for - ‘let us try again’ and they made a second appeal, starting in v 10.

There are times when it is best not to say anything - this should have been one of these times but the Chaldeans were quite open and brazen in this second try. 

‘There is no one on earth who can meet the king’s demands’, they tell him. 

‘In fact’, they boldly go on, ‘no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked any such thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean.

The thing that the king asks is too difficult, and no one can reveal it to the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.’ 

They were bold remarks, would you not agree?

It angered Nebuchadnezzar. 

‘Because of this, the king flew into a violent rage and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.’ (v 12)

And with this decree, Daniel and his friends were drawn in and they, too, faced extinction.

‘The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion...’. (Pr 19:12) and ‘...he that is soon angry dealeth foolishly...’. (Pr 14:17) 

‘Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.’ (Pr 29:20)

The king proved himself to be a foolish human being whose sense of power drove him to a rash, unrealistic demand and to a harsh judgment when it was not immediately met.

Let me stop here just for a little bit and take a look at Daniel’s reaction to this scene that is definitely going to affect him and his friends.

Do we see anywhere in these verses of a ‘who does he think he is’ attitude coming out from Daniel?

No, we do not!

Instead, we see him doing three things that lead directly and immediately into bringing into effect God’s ordained operation upon this dire situation.

And how did that come about?

First, Daniel had a need - a need to know what was going on - ‘Why is this hasty decree being made?’ (v 15), so he boldly asked and received the answer.

Second, he sought a stay of execution so that he could have time to receive the interpretation to the king’s dream. (v 16)

This gave him time - time to seek the Lord - time to find out the Lord’s desire in interpreting the dream. 

And, third, he went right on to the most important part - he gathered his prayer warriors together and went to prayer! (vs 17-18)

There were no complaints from him, and we see no yammering, no grumbling he nor his friends made about this at all, not even a judgment about it! - only three simple actions, - three easy measures that give us another of the Lord’s secrets regarding the bringing forth of divine procedure into these matters of the affairs of men.

Asking - asking implies a conciousness of need, expecting an answer - the reason behind the thing that is being done against us.

‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, Who gives with open hand...’. (Jas 1:5)

Seeking - a seeking for time, time to think this through, time to get ready, - time to search our own hearts - time to  seek the Lord - time to obtain the fulfillment of the need, time to pursue the Lord’s way to answer.

And, that takes us to Prayer - prayer to take the problem to the One Who opens the ‘door’ to the solution of it.

Prayer - prayer gives, - it gives grace to help in time of need ‘...it gives freely to everyone without reproach.’ 
    
Prayer prepares - it sets the heart to wait in readiness on the Lord. 

A praying man whose heart is so set will never be poor in spirtual matters.

Prayer opens and releases upon the earth the mighty power and wisdom of our God in men and in men’s affairs.

I think the Lord desires that His Church should function with this simple approach in mind to all of its problems - its  growing pains among its members - and everything that goes along with being ‘Church’, including its intercession ministry.

This is Christ’s way to be its Head, if only we would and could see it and live under it! - if only we would bend to His ordered ways of operation.

It works in families, it works between husband and wife, it works whenever we deal with others - clear out the selfish motives and then seek the Lord in seeing how this actually works and you will find the secret - your knocking will open the door to Christ’s way of operation.

Daniel seemed to have known it for the Scripture makes no indication otherwise.

Now to get back to the record - this was an unusual request of the king - no one, not even Joseph in Egypt - had ever been asked to reconstruct another person’s dream and give it its meaning.

But ‘...It is the glory of God to conceal a thing...’. 
(Prov 25:2)

For the revelation of the glory of God to be made known, look at what Daniel and his friends were up against, - up against the most powerful king around, who is in a raging fit, under whose authority they are prisoners.   

And - they are up against the wisest men in the kingdom against whom they must match wits, - these are the best in the land, the most powerful, and the most influential - and, to top that, they are also under the threat of death if they failed to appease the king.

But - we must remember - Daniel’s wisdom is not of the world. 

It held true in Daniel’s time, it holds true in any lifetime, it holds true today: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.” (1.Cor.3:19-20)

Take a good look at v 16 again: ‘...then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation.’: - does this sound as though Daniel was sure of his source of wisdom and could afford to be very bold in his approach?

I would like to call this ‘holy courage’, the courage of God’s doing, the courage that was there just when it was needed - not the kind of courage that we try to muster up out of our own person, for whatever reason we may have to do that.

This is true ‘holy boldness’, boldness shown even in the face of death, ‘...speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace,...’. 
(Acts 14:3)

Daniel knew beyond doubt in this deadly emergency that he was to trust in the faithfulness of his God, in the One Who could do the impossible, Whose wisdom starts where man’s wisdom ends: ‘...even the so-called foolish plan of God is far wiser than the wisest plan of the wisest of men’s wisdom...’. (1 Cor 1:25)

And, Daniel was not afraid to set the Lord’s wisdom up against the best of the world’s advisors to prove that the world’s wisdom is impotent before the wisdom of the only true and living God. 

But even though he was confident that His God could do what none other could, he knew also that the power of his own personal witness of prayer unto the Lord would be what would open the door to bring God’s Hand into the affairs of men.

His testimony of prayer was a matter of ‘making our election sure’, of desiring sincerely ‘the mercies of the God of heaven’ (v 18), ‘...according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who hath called us to glory and virtue...’ (2 Pet 1:3)

Prayer is a matter, too, of saying to the world, ‘...there is a God in heaven Who...’ listens and responds with greater wisdom than we can muster up. (v 28) 
 
So, he wasted no time gathering his friends together for a prayer meeting, first - to clarify the threat they were facing - and, then, for a time of intercession, - an appeal to God in the face of these overwhelming odds.

He realized that the effectiveness of prayer is heightened when believers unite in common supplication - with one united shoulder,

So - ‘...Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his companions: that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.’ (vs 17-18)

The answer to the king’s dream came to Daniel ‘in a night vision’, (v 19) and Daniel responded accordingly with that wonderful prayer in verses 20-23, a prayer rehearsing God’s majestic existence, God’s mighty power to rule in the affairs of men, a prayer in which he gladly gave God all the glory for this superhuman wisdom and power.

   -v 20: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever!
   For wisdom and might are His!
   -v 21: He changes the times and the seasons; He
   removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to
   the wise and knowledge to those who have 
   understanding.
   -v 22: He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows
   what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him!”

Daniel was absolutely sure that God has complete control over the events of history - it is He Who brings about the changes that give history its unpredictability - it is He Who determines when in history certain events are to take place - it is He Who decides how long each phase in history is to last - it is He Who removes leaders at any time and it He Who sets up new ones - and it is He Who gives the wise wisdom and knowledge to discern, that He is the One Who reveals the hidden things.  (see Isaiah 45:3)

In verse 23, he closed his prayer with thanksgiving, very assured that the answer he received was so accurate that he could relate it to the king.

   -v 23: “I thank You and praise You, O God of my
   fathers, Who has given me wisdom and might and has
   made known to me now what we desired of You, for
   You have made now known to us the solution of
   the king’s problems.”

He acknowledged that this revelation had been in response to the collective prayers in which his companions had joined him: “You have made known to me what we asked of You.”

After that, Daniel gained another audience with king Nebuchadnezzar - and do not think that this was not a setting full of danger and threat! 

But, he was given that holy boldness to speak with disarming respect to the king, employing the wonderful wisdom of God in it all: and how did he do this?

First, he divested himself from the world’s wisdom, by wisely pointing out that the king’s advisors were not at fault - they could only go so far in their human, limited knowledge.  

This was something beyond them that they could not possibly do.

Even the most clever can never understand nor grasp the ‘deep hidden secret things of God’, the very depths of His heart and mind.

In His thought, there are things far beyond our reach to scrutinize, far beyond our capabilities and wisdom to change.

And, then, secondly, he humbly acknowledged that he was no better than the wise men: ‘But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living person..., but simply to make known the excellency of God’s wisdom in showing the king his own heart.’ (v 30)
‘No wise men, no enchanters, no magicians, no diviners can show ‘...the mystery...but there is a God in heaven...He makes known...’. (v 27)

Daniel proved that only in Yaweh, the only true and living God, can ultimate truth be found: ‘...light dwells in Him...’ only, as he told Nebuchadnezzer ‘the thoughts that came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter...’. (v 29)

As he and his friends gave themselves to prayer, the Lord’s hand opened the vision to prove to the heathen world that
‘there is a God in heaven.’

It was a remarkable revelation God had given Daniel, the revelation that put to shame the wisdom of this world.

We need - yes, we require - no - let me make it much stronger - it is mandatory that we are in the place of receiving that wisdom and power that only our God is able to give, the wisdom and power that supercedes all of the wisest wisdom of all of the wise of the earth!

We need to use to the full the opportunity the Lord sets up for Himself to unfold His own unique wisdom, to prove His own reality, to display His own splendid glory in His rule over the affairs of men.

Our Lord has ordained the intercession ministry of the Church for exactly this reason.

Oh, may our learning this be ingrained in each of us  through the Holy Spirit so that the glory of God’s wisdom  is shown because the Church fulfilled its intercession ministry.