God now had a man to stand for Him against the power of Satan in Babylon, Daniel. One night the king had a dream. He was very much troubled about it. In the morning he called for all the wise men of the kingdom to come before him. He said , "I have had a dream, and I want to know what it means."
The wise men answered, "O King live forever: Tell us your dream and we will tell you what it means." The king replied, "It is gone from me. I have forgotten it. You must tell me first what the dream was, and then what it means. If you can't do this, you will all be killed." The wise men were very distressed. They knew that the king could cut off their heads in a moment if he wished to, and no one could stop him.
They trembled as they replied, "We can tell you the meaning of the dream, but no one can tell you what you dreamed except the gods." The king was very angry. He gave the order that all the wise men in Babylon be put to death.
The soldiers went out to round up all the wise me in Babylon so that they might be killed. When Daniel learned about this, he came before the king and asked him to give them a little time and he would tell the king both the dream and the meaning of it. Then Daniel went back to his three friends and they prayed together, asking God to show the dream. That night God showed Daniel what the dream was and what it meant. In the morning they had another prayer meeting and thanked God. Then Daniel went before the king. King Nebuchadnezzar said to Daniel, "Are you able to make known to me the dream and its meaning?" Daniel said,"There is a God in Heaven that reveals secrets. He has told me your dream." Then Daniel went on and told the king that in his dream he had seen a great image, very tall, with a head of gold, a chest of silver, a body of brass, and legs of iron.
He had seen a great stone cut out without hands come down and strike the image and smash it. Then Daniel told the king what the dream meant. Each part of the image stood for a great Gentile nation that would be very strong and rule the world for a time. The head of gold stood for the king of Babylon himself and his kingdom. The stone which smashed the image stood for the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some day He will come and set up His kingdom, and it will fill the whole earth. When the king heard this, he gave Daniel gifts and made him a ruler over the whole province. He said, "Your God is a great God who alone can reveal secrets." The king saw that Daniel's God was much greater than their god, Bel. Daniels' three friends were given important positions in the kingdom also. God had protected them from the king's anger.
No comments:
Post a Comment