Daniel chapter two is filled with wonderful truths that should encourage us greatly and bring us hope!
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a dream that horrified him because he couldn’t understand its interpretation Likewise, the wise men and diviners in his kingdom couldn’t figure it out. When all else fails, Nebuchadnezzar determines to kill all the wise men (including Daniel and his three friends!) This, obviously, is a huge problem. When Daniel hears of it, he makes an appointment with the king (2:16) and then told his three friends that they all must, “seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery” (2:18).
Daniel’s prayer is answered (2:19) and he responds in worship, praising God for both His sovereignty and His omniscience (2:20-23). God is the one who changes times and seasons, and He is the one who removes and sets up kings (2:21). In effect, God might be behind the scenes, but He’s the King, the One controlling everything. He’s the One at the wheel directing and ordering the creation according to His purpose. Furthermore, He reveals the deep and hidden things (2:22). Truly, God is all-knowing (omniscient) and there’s nothing past, present, or future that is hidden from Him! He knows all.
This is proven through Daniel’s recollection of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. What made Nebuchadnezzar’s demands in this text even more incredible is that he not only expected his diviners to tell him the interpretation of the dream, but also its content! He didn’t even tell them what he had dreamt about! This wasn’t a guessing game where they could try and reason out some interpretation to try and save their hides, they had to know the secret mysteries of what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed. Certainly, no human being on the planet knew the answer. Only Nebuchadnezzar knew the content of the dream, and clearly no one would know its interpretation! But there was a God in heaven who knew it all (see Dan. 2:27-30).
The dream concerned a great statue made out of various materials that would represent various kingdoms (2:31-45). From history, scholars have deduced that the kingdoms represented in the dream are the Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman empires.[1] The end of the story is a Kingdom that is coming, represented as a stone that would crush the image and be the final and lasting Kingdom. This is the Kingdom of God that was inaugurated when Christ came, through the church undermined and defeated Rome, and will in the end be the last ruling Kingdom when Christ comes again.
This passage is filled with incredible truths that should bring us great peace. Not only do we have the assurance that the Kingdom of God will ultimately triumph and that the gates of hell won’t prevail against the church (Matt. 16:18), we also have the assurance that we are presently serving the God of heaven who knows the end from the beginning and who is at work in the world today, bringing the creation to its intended culmination. He works all things according to the purpose of His will (Eph. 1:11). He does what He wants because He is the true Sovereign. There might be kings, presidents, dictators, prime ministers, or any other variety of leaders down here, but only One is truly sovereign. Only One directs the entirety of creation. He will have His way. He knows the future better than we know the past. His will will be done, and we have reason for hope and trust in Him today. He is omniscient, and He is sovereign. He knows all and He rules over all.
[1] Michael Rydelnik, “Daniel,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1327.
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