Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In Daniel 2, 46 through 49, we get to peek into a throne room. We see a king on his face a pagan king at that.
King Nebuchadnezzar confesses the greatness of Jehovah. He tells Daniel, Surely you're God. is the god of gods and the king of kings And he really is. The awesomeness of our great God is captivating. May his beauty captivate us today.
Let's listen in to this message from Daniel 2. Copy of the scripture open to Daniel chapter two. Our series is, through the book of Daniel, The Most High Rules in the Kingdom of Men. That is the theme of the whole book, The Most High Rules in the Kingdom of Men. Our focus today is going to be from verses 46 to 49.
And this is Nebuchadnezzar's response. Daniel was able to tell him the dream and its interpretation. At the demand of the king. All of his other wise men could not do that. But Daniel knew God.
And so after Daniel gave him the interpretation, we see him at the end of verse forty five, the dream is certain and its interpretation is sure.
So what we have here then is Nebuchadnezzar proclaiming that Jehovah is the God of gods and Lord of kings. This is a pagan emperor Affirming this truth that God, Jehovah God, is God of gods and Lord of kings. Consider with me. The Emperor's Homage. Verse forty six Then king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him.
Daniel. As a representative of God, and Nebuchadnezzar showing respect for the representative of. the God of gods and lord of kings. The Emperor falls prone. Prostrate before the captive.
Isn't that amazing? And the captive is one of God's people. who has acted faithfully In this posture, it becomes clear that Nebuchadnezzar was given pause. He was overwhelmed. Because an emperor doesn't do this.
An emperor doesn't fall on his face before another man. But he was overwhelmed. And in that posture, he then makes the proclamation, truly your God is the God of gods and Lord of kings. What is he doing here? He is affirming the supremacy of Jehovah God, the living God, the creator God, the creator-redeemer.
And he does this, he makes this affirmation in the context of extreme frustration over useless deities, deities that were nothing more than constructs of the human imagination. These deities that were powerless objects of trust. And now Nebuchadnezzar encounters the one true living God. Who tells him? what's going to happen.
So consider this then just for a moment, just for a moment, Nebuchadnezzar. Was captivated by the amazing attractiveness of God. And if there's one word that Nebuchadnezzar could have said right here in this moment, it would have been. Awesome. He was captivated by the amazing attractiveness.
Of Jehovah God, Daniel's God. We need to consider this morning the beauty of God.
Now, here in our culture, when we hear the word beauty, the first thing that comes is a glamour shot of this beautiful woman, right? That's not what the Bible does.
Now, a woman's beauty is a part of the beauty that God has created, obviously. Done. but we need to consider the beauty of God. What is beauty? Let's define it for a moment.
Here's what Webster says. Beauty is the aggregate qualities in a person or thing that give pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit. Qualities that pleasurably exalt the mind or the spirit. That defines God. He is the definition.
of beauty. In the Septuagint translation of Daniel, the word here is kalos, which means beautiful, useful, goodness, loveliness.
So we need to consider then the beauty of God. And let me give you three examples from Scripture, particularly from the Old Testament. Psalm twenty nine, two. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The beauty of holiness, meaning that there is order.
That it all fits together as opposed to there being disorder and things are out of place. And that we naturally think of that when things are when there's disorder, when there's chaos and things are out of place, we don't call that beautiful. But when things are in order and things fit together, it is a beautiful thing. But there is also a sense of purity in the sense that there is no pollution. have in your mind the picture of a Beautifully pristine landscape, mountains, lake, trees, beautiful.
As opposed to A polluted slum. Nobody thinks that's beautiful. Beauty. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. God in His person defines and is the source of all.
All perfection. of all beauty. God is. He defines it and he is the source of it. Consider Isaiah thirty-three seventeen Where Isaiah writes, Your eyes will see the king in his beauty.
This is beauty in the sense of glory and splendor, the attractiveness of majesty. Yeah. You will see the king in his beauty. It is a messianic statement. Where we will recognize the beauty of Messiah, the beauty of Jesus Christ, God-man.
And in him All things. That's what Paul says in Ephesians 1.10. You will see the king in his beauty. And then lastly, let's consider Ecclesiastes 3.11. He has made everything beautiful in his time.
Mm-hmm. He has made everything beautiful in his time. This is the idea of everything fitting together in God's appointed time. And this is what Nebuchadnezzar encountered, because he was wondering about what was going to happen after his time and after his days. And God revealed it to him in a secret.
And when God revealed it through the prophet Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar said, Awesome and he fell on his face. God makes everything fit together in perfect time.
Sounds kind of like Romans 8.28, doesn't it? He makes all things work together for good. To those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Here's the point of this: here's what Nebuchadnezzar experienced, this is what Daniel knew. And it is this, when we see God.
for who he is we are compelled to worship. When we see God for who He is, we are compelled to worship. You know what this calls us to? Whatever imaginations we have about God, if they are not according to how God has revealed Himself, we must let them go. We must know God in the way that He has made Himself known to us.
And when we do know Him and we see Him with the eye of faith and the information that He has given to us, we will be compelled to worship. As Nebuchadnezzar did. Just for a moment. Consider this. Analogy, if you will.
This is presented by Drew Dyke in his book, Yawning at Tigers.
So published. last year by Thomas Nelson. In lots of places in the world, arranged marriages still happen. We're not used to that in our culture, but in many places of the world, it still does.
So a young man is struggling with whether to go through with an arranged marriage. In his home country, arranged marriages were the norm, but after living in America, he was having second thoughts about adhering to the ancient custom. especially since he'd never met his wife to be. Still, when she flew into the airport, he dutifully waited for her, flowers in hand and a gloomy expression on his face. But when she stepped through the terminal, everything changed.
She was beautiful. Suddenly, his glum demeanor disappeared. The thought of marrying this woman was no longer a dreaded duty, it was a delight. What had changed? He had seen her.
Often We serve God out of Obligation. We drag ourselves to church, force ourselves to serve others, but our hearts aren't. In it. We're like that guy at the airport grudgingly holding flowers for God. We're trying to live holy lives because we know we should.
but it's burdensome. Joyless. What can change this? Seeing God. When we get a vision of who God truly is, suddenly we're energized.
to do his mission. Once we gaze upon His grandeur and glory, obedience ceases to be arduous. Once we grasp His great love, serving is no longer a duty. It is a joy. When we see God for who He is, we are compelled to worship.
And this is why God has revealed Himself to us so that we can know Him. Accurately. But it's in his revelation. And he's revealed himself to us in word and in person. God has in these last days spoken to us.
In sun. Hebrews 1.3. Daniel Understood that. He knew. God, Nebuchadnezzar, Because of Daniel's faithfulness, now had just a glimpse of God.
And what did he do? He worshipped.
Now let's consider as we go on in this text, verse 48. Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. And then Daniel petitions and brings his friends Hanani, Mishael, and Azariah, aka Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
So here he is in the king's court. End of verse 49: Daniel sat in the gate of the king. What was Daniel's role but this? He was a faithful servant to the supreme God. He was a faithful servant to the living God.
The one true Creator-Redeemer. Daniel knew him. And Daniel's faithfulness and then promotion here is a reflection of what we have elsewhere in Scripture. Because Daniel knew God, Daniel had seen God, he was not consumed by the circumstances of his day. Psalm 119 and verse 46, I will speak of your testimonies also before kings and will not be ashamed.
Think about what that's saying. Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king, and he had sacked and sieged Jerusalem, and Daniel was a captive from Jerusalem. And he goes and he stands before the king, and he says, Neb, let me tell you about the living God. When he knew full well that Neb could have, at a whim, lopped his head off. for saying that.
I will speak of your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. When you know God for who he is. You have that boldness. Proverbs twenty-two Verse twenty nine, Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings.
Can it not be said that Daniel excelled in his work? He will stand before kings. It is a faithfulness that God blesses. When one recognizes that he works not for any man ultimately, but he works for the one true living God. because he has seen.
God with the eyes of faith. And so Daniel experienced the same thing as we have recorded in Matthew 25 in the parable of the talents. where the master hands out Great riches to his servants, and two of them are faithful. And he says, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in a few things, I will make you ruler over much.
Enter into the joy of your master. Daniel. Knew that by experience. And you see how his knowledge of God impacted. His world.
the king whom he served. Here's the point. Daniel was captivated by Jehovah, so he was not distracted or overwhelmed by temporal things, no matter how abundant or annoying. And that is our calling this morning. That is our calling, to be captivated captivated by Jehovah, so not to be distracted or overwhelmed by temporal things, no matter how abundant they may be or how annoying they may be.
I know God, I've seen God, the eyes of faith according to the information that God has given me. And you know, this is a huge problem. This is a problem that goes all the way back to the beginning of humanity. The attempt has been to distract us away from God. That's where all evil came from.
Did you know that? This is recorded in Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28. It's speaking of the king of Tyre, but it's where pride and evil come from. It is from Lucifer. Once you are distracted away from God, then you become dissatisfied, and then you end up drifting.
And here's what happened to Lucifer. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. Lucifer was a beautiful, angelic being, a creation of God, and he knew he was beautiful. And his attention was drawn away from the beauty of God and focused upon himself. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
And so what did he do? He became dissatisfied with his position, and he said, I want more. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. This is the origin. of evil.
When a created being was distracted away. From the beauty. of God. We also find this happening in the Garden of Eden. And the serpent was before Eve.
And he was casting a shadow on the character of God. And he was trying to distract Eve away from God. And what was he trying to put her focus upon? The fruit. And he did exactly that.
the first commercial in the history of humanity. And it was pleasant, she saw that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise. You see, now she was no longer. Enjoying the beauty of God, she was enjoying the beauty of the stuff of God. But she was distracted, and when she got distracted, she became dissatisfied, and in her dissatisfaction, she drifted.
and she took of its fruit. And what was the result? Def. Destruction. That's the history of humanity.
And every day We are lured to be distracted away from the beauty of God. But when we see God for who He is, we are compelled to worship. And so here is our role then as the people of God. As brothers and sisters of this Daniel the prophet. Our role as God's people is to be captivated by God so that the stuff of life.
Whether abundance or adversity becomes not distractions, but opportunities to proclaim the praises and demonstrate the power of God. That is our role. AW Tozer said the most important thing about you. is what you think about God. Did you hear that?
The most important thing about you is what you think about God.
Now where does that information come from? Is it just all your imagination, or is that being informed by the revelation of God Himself, His own self disclosure? Do we know God for who He is? And my challenge to you this morning is: may God rescue us from the distractions away from His beauty and majesty and holiness. But may God draw us to Himself and our focus upon Him, that we indeed will know God for who He is, that we will pursue God to see Him, to let the beauty, the awesomeness of God captivate us.
in our day to day. Let this be your resolve in your first priority. Let this be your prayer before the Lord this morning. Let him do a work in your heart and mind that he indeed will captivate your understanding, your imagination, and all of your desires. that you will see God for who He is and be overwhelmed by it.
You've just listened to a message from Daniel 2, 46 through 49 titled, God of Gods. Lord of Kings. It was first preached on January 25th, 2014 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The next message is coming next Monday. here at www.delightinggrace.com.
