Daniel Chapter 2

Daniel and his friends were deported to Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar, and were selected to serve his kingdom. They had to undergo A training for three years — learning language and literature of the Babylonians.

1️⃣ DANIEL IN THE LIMELIGHT
Daniel’s three years training probably began in Nebuchadnezzar’s first year (Jer 25:1 ; Dan 1:1) . In today’s passage it is mentioned that in the ” second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream “, and when no wisemen could interpret the king’s dream then Daniel came into the limelight (v 14 – 16).

2️⃣ CONFIDENCE TO INTERPRET THE DREAM: King Nebuchadnezzar had decided not to reveal his dream to anyone (v 5-6)
📌 Three times the astrologers reveal their inability (v 4,7,10-11) and they said, ” What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men (v11)
📌 But three times Daniel expressed his ability to interpret the King’s dream (v 24,28, 31-45) and he said, “. .. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him” (v24)

3️⃣ IN TIME OF CRISIS: King Nebuchadnezzar had issued a Death Warrant to all the wise men of Babylon (including Daniel and his friends) if they fail to interpret his dream.

WHAT WOULD DANIEL DO❓
✅ Daniel hastens to the king and succeeded in gaining some time to interpret the King’s dream (v16)
✅ Daniel updates his friends about the danger and ask them to pray to God (v 17-18)

🌈 That night God reveals the mystery in a vision to Daniel (v19)
✅ Daniel does not rush off to meet the king and reveal the mystery. Instead his focus was on God.
✅ Daniel took time to praise the name of God (v20).
✅ Daniel’s praise focus on God’s wisdom and power (v20-21)
✅ Daniel concludes with personal thanksgiving that the God of wisdom and power has given him wisdom and power in answer to his prayer (v23 ; Jer 33:3).

4️⃣ ON THE DAY OF INTERVIEW:
✅ Daniel witnessed the name of God in heaven who reveals mysteries (v28). He told the king that Yahweh is the only true God, and He has revealed what the king had dreamt was about the future (v 29-30,45b)
📌 Daniel did not take any credit.
✅ Daniel interpreted the king’s dream and said:
🌈 “The God of heaven” (v 36,44) had given the dream to Nebuchadnezzar.
🌈 The God of heaven had given Nebuchadnezzar domain, power, might and glory (v37-38)
🌈 The God of heaven will wipe out all these kingdoms (Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman).
🌈 The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.

5️⃣ ON THE DAY OF PROMOTION:
✅ King Nebuchadnezzar was overcome with awe and fall prostrate before Daniel (v46).
✅ He promoted Daniel to a higher post with many gifts.
📌 But Daniel did not forget his friends, and at Daniel request his friends were also promoted as administrators over the province of Babylon (v49).

Point to ponder:
Daniel’s use of his God given gift:
👉🏽 Saved the lives of those who were sentenced to death.
👉🏽 Demonstrated God’s supremacy.
👉🏽 Led to worship 🙌

💕 Beloved Church, let us learn from Daniel’s trust and faith in God.
We all are given different gifts. Rom 12:6-8; 1Cor 12:4-11. How do we use these gifts❓

We are called to use these gifts to help and edify others; bring glory to God but not for SELF-PROMOTION.

Glory to God 🙏
✍🏽 Mark Boje
Arunachal Pradesh, India 🇮🇳

Lockdown Reflections… 📝
Food from my Host’s Kitchen Table 🍽️🍯🥛🍴
Take a Break with Jesus in the Lockdown 🍞☕
Day 189, 270 Days Bible Reading, Tuesday, 19.1.21. ✒

In this Lockdown, remember that there is a Cost to Pay for our Spiritual Conviction… Daniel 3:16-18.

⚡ We are living in a world where anything goes and anyone can live like anything they want. Those who want to live a righteous life will know that it will cost something and sometimes even one’s life. Yes, our spiritual convictions will become costlier day by day as we are living in the last of the last days, which began with the birth of the church in Acts Chapter Two. In the last days there will be a form of godliness, but it has no power in it, 2 Timothy 3:5.

⚡ When faced with the challenge of being burnt alive for their spiritual conviction, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew that the Word of God was their Shield of Faith that Will Extinguish the Fiery Darts of the Devil. Their Faith was the Fire Extinguisher that would Quench the Enemy’s Fire. The three Hebrew children realised that God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace. Even if He doesn’t, they would rather face the wrath of fire they were in than to worship any other gods or the image of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 3:16-18.

⚡ In Daniel 1:11-14, they were convicted about their lifestyle and the food they were to eat. After taking a test for 10 days with their kind of diet, they were 10 times more healthier and wiser than anyone else in Babylon, Daniel 1:20. They became the role model for those among them and soon they were tested with a greater test — the furnace test, following their food test. Now their faith was also going to be tested. Faith in the Furnace is when we will know that God is in our Furnace and Christ is in our Crisis, Daniel 3:25.

⚡ The Three Hebrews knew the promises of Yahweh and they were acting out literally just as Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 43:2, “When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.” To bring them out of the fire, they left the matter of deliverance to God. He had preserved them in the fiery furnace. They walked up and down in the midst, supported and encouraged by the Presence of the Son of God, Daniel 3:25.

⚡ Those who suffer for Christ, have His Awesome Presence in their sufferings, even in the fiery furnace of Covid-19 and with all its variants, often being in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, Psalm 23:4. Many doctors and nurses and frontline workers are protected by God when looking after Covid-19 positive patients. One doctor said that her faith was being purified in the Covid-19 furnace.

⚡ Nebuchadnezzar saw that the Hebrew children were the servants of the Most High God and their God was able to deliver them out of his hands. What a testimony from the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar, giving Praise to the God of the Hebrew Children, Daniel 3:28.

⚡ What a beautiful sublime picture it must have been, when the heathen King saw the image of the children of God walking unhurt and unharmed amidst dangers, safe beneath the Divine Protection. Let God set our hearts on fire, when we go through fire, and let the world see us burn for Jesus, and be set ablaze for His Kingdom. The Word of God will melt any Hard Hearts, but it must Melt Our Hearts First. God’s Word is Fire and it can burn up the Covid-19 virus globally to bring glory to His Name.

⚡ Child of God, Our God is a CONSUMING Fire, Hebrew 12:29. He will use our fiery furnace to bring testimony out of the mouths of unbelievers. We should see God’s people being safely delivered from the enemy’s trap and snare. Many people are being Persecuted for their faith in Christ. Whatever challenges there are, PESTILENCE or PERSECUTION, Jesus will be in the fire with us, in Person. *If He doesn’t deliver us FROM the Fire, He will deliver us IN the fire.

⚡ Let Nebuchadnezzar turn up the heat of the fiery furnace and let Satan turn up the crucible of the Covid-19 pandemic. One thing is for sure. Jesus, our Consuming Fire, will show up. He still speaks to us in the fire as in the days of Moses, when Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 5:24, ‘And you said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire.'” Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them because they are in Christ Jesus. Our faith, food and furnace will all be tested and it will be at a Cost because of our Convictions… Amen. 🙏

anniekoshy@God’s Thirstydeer 🦌 Breaking the Chain with You… ⛓️