We suffer more in imagination than in reality.
A little boy was in the kitchen with his mother as she’s making supper. She asks him to go to the cellar and bring back some chicken broth for the soup she’s making. The little boy says he doesn’t want to go to the cellar because it’s dark and he’s afraid. She asks again and he balks again. Finally she encourages him that it’s okay because Jesus would be in there with him. He hesitantly goes to the cellar, opens the door but once again confronted with the dim light, he backs away, but then calls out sheepishly, Jesus if you’re in there would you hand me the chicken broth?
Everyone as some point has been gripped by fear, we’ve all been afraid. Whether the moment has brought an animated physiological response or whether it has festered in our minds to the point of incapacitating us, we’ve all suffered from the imagination and dealing with the unknown and uncontrollable. Fear can turn psychological if it remains and becomes obsessive. . .this is called a phobia. A phobia is an anxiety disorder, defined by an irrational, unrealistic, persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Fear of snakes, heights, flying, dirt/germs, doctors and dentists, social interactions.
But. . .there’s an interesting verse found in Proverbs 19:10 which reads, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. The fear of the flesh can only be controlled by our fear of the Lord.
Godly Fear Protects and Promotes
H.G. Wells was never particularly religious, but after he had studied the history of the human race and had observed human life, he came to an interesting conclusion: Religion is the first thing and the last thing, and until a man has found God and been found by God, he begins at no beginning, he works to no end. He may have his friendships, his partial loyalties, his scraps of honor. But all these things fall into place and life falls into place only with God.
THE NECESSITY AND IMPORTANCE OF CREATING FIXED POINTS IN OUR LIVES:
There is only ONE God, one God of the universe. There is salvation in Jesus Christ made possible through the gospel and the prompting of the Holy Spirit and our response to the gospel through belief/faith, confession, repentance and baptism.
Instruments of salvation are His Word and His Church
Only two destinations regarding eternity; heaven or hell
PUT THAT TEMPLATE OVER EVERYTHING YOU READ IN SCRIPTURE. What God does here in Daniel, He’s done repeatedly throughout scripture to illustrate these fixed points. The fixed constellations of our faith.
HE WHO REVEALS MYSTERIES HAS MADE KNOWN,
Daniel 2:31-35
ONLY ONE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. ONLY ONE SOURCE OF TRUE, TRUE UNDERSTANDING. HERE IN 31-35, INSIGHT IS SHARED
FEAR OF THE WORLD: There are times when it seems we have set something disas-trous and irreversible in motion. As illustrated here. This is absurd. God’s sovereignty demonstrated and displayed over the landscape of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, has a disturbing and mysterious dream. Must have been pretty vivid. He wants to know its meaning, and so he summons the known gifted minds of his kingdom; the magicians, conjurers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans. Their assignment quite literally was impossible to succeed at. Nebuchadnezzar wanted not only to know the meaning of his dream; he in-sisted they first tell him his dream! Where is the footing for anyone outside of God in this moment or any moment like this?
FEAR OF GOD: Daniel 2:18, Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven (vs 20-23). Daniel 2:30, But as for me, this mys-tery has been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, an that you many understand the thoughts of your mind.
BOOK OF JAMES: Two pieces
1.James 1:5-8 (READ) we have a problem with spiritual stability, we are prone to be driven and tossed, unstable. Inconsistent vacillating between the fear of the world and the fear of God.
2.James 3:13-18 (READ) our character and nature is defined by our behavior, we either our in Christ or we’re not. Wisdom is driven by God’s Word, His Spirit, our decision to live according to those pieces and becoming as an Oaks of Right-eousness that then is able to impart spiritual understanding.
3.When it comes to our fears here’s a yardstick: Trials and Tribulations don’t pro-duce faith, they reveal it. How do we know that? Go back to
B. DANIEL 1:8, BUT DANIEL MADE UP HIS MIND (our part)
1.There’s the struggle on our part; the struggle between the fear of the world and the fear of God, making up our minds! When we say the phrase, YOU’RE OUT OF YOUR MIND, that’s the point. We are being controlled by the fear of the world instead of the fear of God.
2.Listen to the Benediction of Hebrews, Now the God of peace, who brought up the from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eter-nal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Yah AMEN. Fear of God creates the Peace of Christ.
DREAMS,VISIONS AND MYSTERIES. . .O MY, Daniel 2:36-45
A. INTERPRETATION
Remember the kid, the grandson in The Princess Bride? His grandpa, played by Peter Falk is reading this book to him and it looks like Buttercup is going to marry prince Humperdinck. Remember what he says? Wait, wait, stop Grandpa, you read that wrong. I’m just sure of it. You’re messing up the story Grandpa now get it right. But his grandpa wasn’t messing up the story. The kid just needed to have patience to see how it all came together.
This is our predicament, mindset a great deal of the time. We want everything to work out the way we think it ought to work out. But it doesn’t always, does it? We don’t have the big picture. We don’t have all the details. We can’t figure out how all this makes sense and will be worth it in the end and so what do we do? We question God’s sover-eignty, His omniscience, His omnipotence and we find ourselves saying, You’re messing up the story God now get it right or we may conclude that there is no grand story being read. Or maybe we conclude that there’s no divine storyteller at all. And in each case we would be wrong.
We get enamored with the details, with the mysteries, with the what in the world does this all mean all the while missing the obvious. We want to debate, discuss, disagree about the kingdoms described: Babylon, Medo-Persia/Greece, Rome up against the only kingdom that matters. The truth with multiple retellings fills the pages of the Bible.
B. BIBLE ILLUSTRATES THE INSIGIFICANCE OF MAN OVER AND OVER AGAIN. AND HISTORY IS CONSISTENT IN THIS. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. E X A M P L E S:
1.Genesis 6:11-13, End of all Flesh, Noah and the Ark
2.The Plagues, The Exodus, the Obliteration of Egypt’s Army
3.The Fall of Jericho in Joshua 6
4.Elijah and the Prophets of Baal.
4.Esther, David and Goliath, Nehemiah
5.Daniel and his friends up against the great Nebuchadnezzar.
6.Jesus up against Rome and Caesar. He conquered death.
7.Final judgment, God wins
B. THE POINT: THE KINGDOMS OF MEN FADE AND GO AWAY AND ARE FORGOTTEN. GOD’S KINGDOM IS ETERNAL.
1.The glory of human kings, leaders, authorities, is NOTHING up against the glory and majesty of Christ.
2.This is repeated message of the book of Daniel like it’s been illustrated through-out the Bible and throughout history.
3.QUESTION GIVEN AND AN ANSWER WARRANTED FOR EVERY GENERATION: Which kingdom do you want to be a part of?
4.Nebuchadnezzar goes from being in awe of God in Daniel 4:1-3 back to being in awe of himself in Daniel 4:28-30. For 7 years he lives as a beast of the field before his reason returns to him and he once again exalts God honor the King of heaven.
C O N C L U S I O N
V S 46-49 , F E A R S C O L L I D E
A. THEN
1.Fell on his face – subjection, tribute, acknowledgement
2.Did Homage to Daniel – presented an offering, fragrant incense
a.Offering:
b.Incense:
When Scottish theologian John Baillie taught at Edinburgh University, he made it a practice to open his course on the doctrine of God with these words: We must remember, in discussing God, that we cannot talk about Him without His hearing every word we say. We may be able to talk about others behind their backs, but God is everywhere, yes, even in this classroom. Therefore, in all our discussions we must be aware of His infinite presence, and talk about Him, as it were, before His face
