The USA president, Joe Biden has a zoom video chat with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping lasting a few hours on Monday past. The main purpose of this interaction was to lessen tensions between the two countries because of Taiwan. After the written article on “the pour over” (www.thepourover.org), they write under the heading Eternal Perspective … “Our hope is never contingent on a political or foreign policy outcome – it’s much more secure than that. Regardless of whether things get worse or better during your lifetime, God is in control and everything eventually ends well for followers of Christ.”
Job 12:10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
I am sure that once the king threatened the “wise men” with death by mutilation and having their property raised to a dung hill … the prognosis of what the king wants seems bleak, especially when your read
Da 2:13 So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
We must understand that many things go “wrong in our lives, families and country”… but God reigns.
Ac 10:36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
This is the Christian hope and assurance … our God, Jesus Christ is Lord of all. As Daniel “dared” to be God’s child in a pagan environment, he held onto the fact that God is Sovereignly King and Lord of all.
1) Understandable, the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers are filled with fear as they know their evil antiques will not help them.
Da 2:7 Once more they replied, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.”
They try again to get the king to reveal his dream assuring him that once they know the dream they will provide the meaning.
2) The king however knows they are playing for time, hoping to get him to change his mind.
Da 2:8 Then the king answered, “I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided.
They have been warmed what would happen should they fail the king. Even though they were evil, servants of satan, you have to give them credit for trying to save their lives.
3) The shrewd king is adamant. Give me the answers I seek or else you know what will happen to you.
Da 2:9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change.
So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me.” The term … misleading and wicked things … actually means wicked lies. Somehow (we know it is God) the king smells a rat. Maybe his advisers gave him information, maybe he sensed their incompetence … whatever … the king is adamant … tell me the dream … then I’ll be convinced you are able to explain the dream to me. In his mind he believes that if they can interpret they can reveal the dream … but he is doubting … yet he is also getting hot under the collar.
4) Eventually the “wise men” come clean.
Da 2:10 The astrologers answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. 11 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.”
In coming clean they state the truth. They reveal their incompetence. They acknowledge they could not deliver on what the king contracted them to do. They acknowledge that there is no person on earth able to do what the king asks. It’s like they are saying to the king “you are absurd trying to extract this information from us. No one on earth can do it.” In an attempt to cover their “cheating, satanic methods of securing a livelihood”, they tell the king that only “the gods”, who don’t live amongst people can do what he wants. Let’s remind ourselves that the only gods that exist are those that man makes for himself. It might be crafted out of stone, wood, bronze, silver, gold … or in the mind. Apart from the many other Scriptures, consider these:
Ps 4:2 How long will you love delusions and seek false gods.
Gal 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
There is One, True, Living God whose name is LORD. He is the God of the Bible. There are no other gods other than the deaf, dumb, blind, paralyzed pieces of material people have shaped into what they call their god. The point is that even though these “wise men” claim they can’t fulfil the king’s requirements, their gods can … actually they can’t because they don’t exist. Please understand this … apart from the LORD and His created angelic army, there is only the devil and his demons in the spirit world.
5) The king hears their answer resulting in his anger boiling over.
Da 2:12 This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon.
The word “angry” means wrath. Couple this to “furious” you get a dramatic picture that the king feels he has been manipulated and abused and more … insulted as the king of the world’s superpower. He is blinded by rage and commands (ordered) the death of all the wise men of Babylon. Babylon here is not the local province or the vast kingdom but the city.
6) The pagan king’s wrath covered all the wise men of the city including those he elevated to places in his government.
Da 2:13 So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
Daniel and his friends were not part of the wise men, better known as magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers. Nowhere in the book does it imply they were. Their inclusion might be because …
Da 1:19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
There are two important things for us today.
(1) Never allow yourself to get into an environment that your anger becomes blinding wrath. Anger is sin, but wrath might result in the irreversible. =
(2) When we find ourselves in the worst situation possible, one we did not create, remember God has a bigger, better plan. As King our God reigns. We will be seeing this with Daniel.
Dear Heavenly Father, help us emotionally and spiritually to remain true to You remembering that You are Sovereign and that Your reign. Amen.