November 23, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

King of Kings

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Mighty God, Your love embraces me and gives me security, and Your Spirit fills me and gives me strength. I worship You!

Read Daniel 2:24-49

[24] Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.” [25] Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.” [26] The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” [27] Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, [28] but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these: [29] “As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. [30] As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. [31] “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue-an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. [32] The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, [33] its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. [34] While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. [35] Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. [36] “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. [37] Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; [38] in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. [39] “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. [40] Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron-for iron breaks and smashes everything-and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. [41] Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. [42] As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. [43] And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. [44] “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. [45] This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands-a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.” [46] Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. [47] The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” [48] Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. [49] Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“Jesus shall reign where’re the sun…” (Isaac Watts, 1674–1748). Whatever you face this week, never lose sight of this truth. Put your hand in his and your hope in him.

 

Face to face with the king, even Daniel must have quaked. However, his words were clear and confident. They contained within them a faith that takes God seriously and will not allow him to be excluded from public life. He states the dream which is, in visual form, an outline of “things to come” (29). The statue is portrayed in all of its magnificence and then the catastrophic drama is played out when it is smashed to smithereens by the rock which transforms into a huge mountain.
As boldly as the dream is stated, so, without spin or wordplay, the interpretation is given. In many ways it is very disturbing to the king, for it puts him firmly in his place. Whoever he might think he is, in the course of history he is simply one king from one dynasty in one period. However unique he would like to think himself to be, he is, in the end, simply one of a line and that line will be swept away by forces stronger and more powerful than he. It will, in the end, be God’s kingdom that endures.
Trying to salvage something from this verdict of history, the king can at least take comfort that he will outshine his successors and that the ultimate calamity will not occur in his lifetime. His foolishness is shown in that, having acknowledged God as the one who reveals mysteries and controls history, he then gets on with his normal life, leaving God out of his calculations. However, God is not someone who accepts tacit recognition or even favors being dispensed on his followers as due recognition. God is not yet finished with the king! A desire to know the future does not exempt anyone from right living in the present.

Face to face with the king, even Daniel must have quaked. However, his words were clear and confident. They contained within them a faith that takes God seriously and will not allow him to be excluded from public life. He states the dream which is, in visual form, an outline of “things to come” (29). The statue is portrayed in all of its magnificence and then the catastrophic drama is played out when it is smashed to smithereens by the rock which transforms into a huge mountain.

As boldly as the dream is stated, so, without spin or wordplay, the interpretation is given. In many ways it is very disturbing to the king, for it puts him firmly in his place. Whoever he might think he is, in the course of history he is simply one king from one dynasty in one period. However unique he would like to think himself to be, he is, in the end, simply one of a line and that line will be swept away by forces stronger and more powerful than he. It will, in the end, be God’s kingdom that endures.

Trying to salvage something from this verdict of history, the king can at least take comfort that he will outshine his successors and that the ultimate calamity will not occur in his lifetime. His foolishness is shown in that, having acknowledged God as the one who reveals mysteries and controls history, he then gets on with his normal life, leaving God out of his calculations. However, God is not someone who accepts tacit recognition or even favors being dispensed on his followers as due recognition. God is not yet finished with the king! A desire to know the future does not exempt anyone from right living in the present.

 

Apply

“Only one life, twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last” (C. T. Studd, 1860–1931). How is the truth of this statement illustrated in today’s passage? What does it say to you?

Closing prayer

Lord, You are in control of all things, You will have the last word, You will close the book of history. I bow before You and bless Your name.

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