01_02 A Great King Encounters God

Document 01_02, The Dramatic Encounter of a Powerful King with the God of Heaven, may seem like it is only another prophecy document, but it is a transition into seeing prophecy in light of how we may soon face such challenges to our personal faith! Let us learn the lessons of true faith revealed by Daniel’s three friends.  Dare to be a Daniel!

The Dramatic encounter of a Powerful
King with the God of Heaven

When a proud king who rules the whole known world suddenly discovers that Someone greater than he rules the whole universe, including over his kingdom, anything can happen.
That’s why the little Book of Daniel is not only vitally important, but also exciting reading. The characters in this real-life drama include:
*The God of Heaven
*Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon
*Daniel, a captive/prophet/statesman
*Three friends of Daniel who had what it takes.
It also involved:
*A dream that has collided head-on with the dreams of modern dictators
*Two images
*A furnace heated seven times hotter than usual
*A tree cut down
*And a bow-or-burn story that reads like a rehearsal
of one soon to come in our day.

What does all of this have to do with you?
MORE THAN YOU THINK!
The book of Daniel is full of challenge, encounter, and confrontation. It has to do with how this ancient king reacted when challenged by the God of heaven, as well as how four Hebrew captives met the challenges of this heathen king.

This could be an important education for you and me about how to face such challenges as they come our way soon!

Two books of the Bible that are seldom studied and little understood, are: the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. Yet these are the two books that were written especially for our day. Both contain important information:
Will Europe unite?
Will there be another great empire?
What events will soon take place?
It is most significant that the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation, though written so many years apart, are closely related. A careful student will find many ties between them.

The first six chapters of Daniel are narration – and anything but dull reading. The last six chapters are fulfilled, or fulfilling, prediction. Today we will look at the first four chapters.

In the first chapter, we find Daniel and three of his friends captive in the city of Babylon, while their homeland was continuing to be destroyed by the armies of Babylon. In the second chapter, the king of Babylon is given a dream which impresses him exceedingly, but which he cannot remember! He demands of his counselors, since they profess to be in touch with the gods, that they tell him both the dream itself, and its meaning. When they cannot, the whole lot of them are sentenced to death. But, the true God, the God of Daniel the Jew, reveals to Daniel the dream and its meaning. The dream is an outline of history all the way from Daniel’s day to the Second Coming (or Advent) of Christ!

BUT THE KING’S PRIDE HAS BEEN HURT by the fact that the image shown him in the dream represents him as only the head of Gold, who would be succeeded by others. He did not want to be succeeded. So, in chapter three, he has a great image made, all of gold, and commands everyone to bow down to his image. The three friends of Daniel refuse to bow down to any image, including the king’s image, and are thrown into a fiery furnace heated seven times hotter than usual.

To the utter amazement of the king, the Son of God Himself joins the three faithful friends walking around loose in the flames!

Chapter four is written by the king himself! It tells of a proud boast he made, claiming it was by his greatness that Babylon had become a kingdom of the whole known world, and, how it took him a terrible seven years, as mentally ill, banished from his throne, to learn that the God of Heaven rules over all!

As we open our Bibles to the Book of Daniel, we will find the assurance of a Secure Future if we are on God’s Side!

It may appear that Daniel took quite a risk when he offered to show the king of Babylon the correct interpretation for his dream. But the death decree applied to Daniel and his friends, too, even though they had not been involved when the king’s counselors couldn’t tell him his dream.
Daniel and his friends were being educated to become counselors to the king. The king, in fury, commanded the whole lot of them to be slain.

1. What did Daniel do? Daniel 2:16:
“Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him
_______, and that he would show the king ____ ______________.

Daniel went to the king and asked for time, promising an interpretation. Think of his confidence in God, to promise an interpretation, when he had no idea at that moment even what the dream was! Evidently, Daniel knew his God, that even the king’s dream would be known by his God.
Daniel and his friends simply went and prayed; and God did reveal to Daniel both the dream and its meaning. God didn’t let him down!

Now read the details of the dream and Daniel’s interpretation of it as found in Daniel 2, verses 26 to 45. Notice that Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the head of gold represented him, the king of Babylon. Any good politician would have stopped there, with that flattering message. But Daniel went on. He must tell it as God gave it.

2. What was to follow Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom? Daniel 2:39:
Answer: _________________________________________________

________________________________________________________.

Nebuchadnezzar was to be succeeded by three more world kingdoms: Medo-Persia, a dual kingdom represented by the breast and arms of silver; Greece, by the belly and thighs of brass; and finally, Rome, by the legs of iron. But after them, the kingdom was to be divided.
There would be no fifth world kingdom – only four. Rome was the last! History has followed this prophecy like a blueprint, showing that God does rule over all. After Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, came a divided Europe, represented by the ten toes!

3. According to this prophecy, will Europe ever be united? Daniel 2:43:
Answer:___________________________________________________.

Here, old English uses the word “cleave” to mean that they shall not stick together. History has not been able to change this prophetic statement. These words have spelled the downfall, one after another, of every would-be dictator who wanted to rule the world, since the Caesars. God says Europe will not and cannot stick together!

4. What will happen in the days of these kings, this divided Europe, as
we know it? Daniel 2:44:
Answer: ___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________.

In the days of these kings – in our time – God will set up His kingdom! Evidently, we are living very near the day of Christ’s return!

It has been told that this prophecy was once explained to Kaiser Wilhelm at the height of his power. He said, “I cannot accept it. It doesn’t fit in with my plans!”
Does it fit in with your plans? If it doesn’t, change your plans because history has shown that God does rule over all. If you have a right relationship with Jesus, your plans will fit into His!

The high points of this prophecy are these: 1. There will be no fifth physical world kingdom. 2. Europe will not be united and 3. Christ will come very soon.

What an evidence of Bible reliability! How could Daniel possibly have known, except by Divine inspiration, that only four major kingdoms – not five, or six, or ten – would dominate the world?

But now, back to Nebuchadnezzar and his confrontation with the God of Heaven. He had been greatly impressed by Daniel’s interpretation.

But he soon lost his awe of God, returned to idolatry, and, rebelling against God’s decree, set up the golden image (of himself?) on the plain of Dura (see Daniel chapter 3). And Daniel’s three friends – evidently Daniel was not there for some reason – refused to bow down to it. They didn’t bow! So they were cast into the overheated furnace. The king, furious that they had dared to defy him, watched.

5. As the king gazed into the furnace, what did he declare that he saw? Daniel 3:25: Answer:_______________________________________
_________________________________________________________

Four men – though his soldiers had cast in only three! And the fourth looked like the Son of God? Tell me, how did this heathen king know what the Son of God might look like? Had Daniel so described Him? Had these Jewish captives so faithfully witnessed to him of the Redeemer to come, that the king could recognize Him? Do any of us so
faithfully witness of our Redeemer to come, that our friends and neighbours might recognize Him?

These three men did not know that God would deliver them. But they trusted Him, and left their fate in His hands, as the Ruler of the Universe! Whether He spared their lives or not, they would not disobey His Law. They honored God. In this crisis of their faith, He honored them!

Think what a close companionship with the Lord must have been theirs – that He would come and walk with them in the fire! If we pray as they prayed: if we obey as they obeyed, perhaps we too will have the marked answers to prayer that they did.

WE MAY NEED A FAITH LIKE THEIRS
SOONER THAN WE THINK!

6. Do we face a similar test in the future? Revelation 13:15:
Answer:
“And he had power to give life unto the IMAGE OF THE BEAST, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not ____________ the image of the beast should be ______________.”

Soon, in the final crisis, there will be another image, and all who refuse to bow down will be faced with death. Like the three Jewish men, we shall have to choose. Will we stand up for the Lord, or will we give in to pressure to conform? We shall need a faith like theirs. If we don’t stand for our Lord now, how can we be sure we will stand
for Him then?

Back to Nebuchadnezzar. God loved this heathen king and was determined to save him. The fourth chapter relates how much it took to cure a king of his pride. Please read it now. Thank God it worked!

THINK IT THROUGH
How far will God have to go to cure us of our self-sufficiency? (pride) If the final crisis were to come today, how would we meet it? Would we pray as these Jewish men prayed, and have faith in God as they had?

Are we meeting the little tests each day as we would want to meet the final test? Is our relationship with Jesus so close, that we too could walk with Him through the fire – and He with us? Christ’s kingdom may come in our day! Would its coming spoil our plans? Is there something wrong with our plans?

WHAT WAS YOUR IMPRESSION FROM THIS BIBLE LESSON?
Check the answers you believe to be accurate below:

How many world kingdoms did Daniel’s prediction say there would be?
__ three __four __six

Is there a possibility that Europe will one day be reunited into one kingdom?
__ yes __ no __once again…almost!

How could Daniel see more than a thousand years into the future?
__ God revealed it to him __it was a good guess
__ Daniel was psychic

Who wrote the fourth chapter of Daniel?
__ Daniel __ Daniel’s secretary __ Nebuchadnezzar himself

In your own words, what impressed you most about this lesson?
____________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________.

A MOMENT OF MEDITATION

“Faith of our fathers! Living still!
In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword.
O how our hearts beat high with joy,
when’er we hear that glorious word!
Faith of our fathers! Holy faith!
We will be true to Thee till death.”

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