Friendly Purpose

Daniel 2:17-27

Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

We see Daniel gathered with his friends. Sometimes there are places God wants to take you such as the king's palace. Sometimes he wants you to stand before him in all places. But he cannot do this because you are still hiding with your friends in a strange land. Even after everything God has done for these Hebrew children, they are still hiding and very much fearing for their lives. Sometimes God must get you away from the people, your friends, and even the councilors in your ear so that he alone can lead you. Daniel urges his friends to seek God in this matter. These Hebrew children ought to have been doing so all along. God is not a sometimes service. Nor is he a whenever you feel like it service. Daniel and his friends could be executed tomorrow but God still wanted them to speak a word to their jailers and the situation. The king's mystery was the whole reason Daniel was even in this situation. If Daniel and his friends had a stag party with keg stands and mixers the night before, it is doubtful they would have heard from God at all. God had already given these young men wisdom and mercy in abundance. Yet, they should have been in the king's palace with the other wise men using their gifts for their service purpose. Daniel is urging them, if they do nothing else, to pray for himself, the king, and their situation. That is the least they can do if they do nothing at all. Much like this the disciples were asked in the garden of Gethsemane of Mark 14:38 to watch and pray. However, we see there is a different spiritual level here that was not there before. God wants to take you to a higher plain, a deeper place in him. He will take you further, stronger, and higher than you have ever been before. You might know everything, but this thing was for his glory. How many of you know that God can be taken at his word.

Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:

As discussed before, there are some places that God will take you where you must go alone. If you were to take someone else, they might miss the message, misunderstand the meaning, and misconstrue the witness. Notice the timing of the message. It was given during the night when every other decent person was long since in bed. There is a strange connection between the Lord and the night watches. I know some theologians have discussed how the spiritual atmosphere is thinner at night thereby allowing greater spiritual visitation from good and evil beings alike. That is frankly nonsense. I have found nothing in my Scripture to indicate such. However, the connection between rest and revelation still exists. In Genesis 15:12-18, Abraham is made to sleep between two altars while the glory of God passed by. That event was for the making of a covenant between God and Abraham that for a surety, God would keep his promise. Thus, the failure was with Abraham and his descendants. They could not fulfill their end of the bargain much as the disciples fell asleep on Jesus during the night watches of Mark 14:37-41 before his crucifixion. It is important to note that Daniel does not attribute his dreams to beer, cheese pizza, and childhood trauma as do many of us. He had the attitude of speak Lord for your servant hears as did Samuel 3:9. Even asleep, Daniel was ready to receive the message from God. Even in a dream he heard and understood what to tell the king. Not only that, but God had already given him wisdom to interpret such correctly. This is why Daniel could praise the Lord for everything he had done, was doing, and would yet do. Notice that there is still comfort from God for Daniel's friends left behind. Where he is going, they cannot. However, God has already provided for even that situation too as we will soon see.

And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

Might it be that in Daniel's praise, we see the character of God revealed. The dream shows what is and what is yet to come. Daniel's prayer and praise channels the Spirit of God over the situation. They could praise him not because there is an execution in the morning, but because of who he is. Let us look at who God is for a minute. Please do not tell me as theologians do that, 'he is a spiritual being only seen through faith.' Even the demons believe that and are shaking in James 2:19. What God does best tells us. First, he changes the times and seasons. Second, he removes kings and sets up kings. The first should inform you that the time and seasons mean nothing to God. The second should tell you that the people are everything to him. He plans each circumstance from when a king arises to when he goes to bed and gets up again the next morning. Wisdom and discernment are multiplied for those who need to see this aspect of him. Has he not been made into us wisdom. Even if you already have such and are operating in that gifting rightly, he gives more. There is a saying, do mercy, love justice, and walk humbly with your God. These are the kingdom requirements. Even if you are lost in your closet, God can bring you out. He will give you a testimony and a word to say to bless others when he is through.

I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.

So concludes the praise of the God of Daniel's fathers. I will not get into detail now, because I have a feeling that some of you would not like me raiding your personal closets. Sometimes these hold discarded clothes and even skeletons. Suffice to say, King Nebuchadnezzar's is the only one raided for the sake of the illustration in this text. Although Daniel's closet is also looking very suspicious at this time with all the me, we, and us being used by one person in bed by themselves in the middle of the night. Is it little wonder that the elders and the hosts of heaven cannot help but praise God for what he has done. If we only knew the half of it. This is just one person's praise: what about the praises of the ages. Is he not the God of those too. The text calls him the "God of my ancestors."

Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will shew unto the king the interpretation. Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation.

My, look at all this people work going on here. Daniel has finally stepped into his unofficial role as the king's councilor. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. All he is waiting for us to do is to step into our purpose, power, and authority over where he has placed us. You might be saying to yourself, 'you have said all this plenty before.' I know, but when God is through, there will be no mass murder or even an execution. Some of you might be saying, 'did not God command Daniel to obey his rulers.' Well, yes, you might be correctly interpreting Hebrews 13:17; however, God's rule supersedes that of his leaders he appointed. This is why we must obey "God rather than men" as in Acts 5:29. It is difficult to find words to explain these principles of Godly leadership. Here we see solutions being found for the problems that are not overkill, unjust, nor yet corrupt. When God causes a situation or you find one by yourself, he has given you the wisdom to get through it. You do not have to be like a certain wise woman who could do no manual labor and despised all others who could. She found me building a cat house one day and demanded to know what I was doing crouched on the ground handling screws and drills so expertly. Here we see Daniel in a rather similar position.

The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;

The king's response shows he is gracious rather than a killer because he allows Daniel to take command of the situation. The text indicates he has a sort of statement and yet a question at the same time. Daniel probably wondered if his interpretation would prove to be helpful for the king. We see what follows has also been the source of great confusion for future generations. This is seen in the duality of Daniel's name. He is both as Bel protecting the life of the king and Dan serving as the judge of God. See now, how come God, man, and Satan are all mixed in this story here. It has been this way since the beginning. Only God's wisdom will tell the difference between the two as we will see here. Daniel was also known as Belteshazzar by the Babylonians as we have discussed before. It is interesting to note that Daniel's captivity name is only used in certain situations of great duress and testing. See, Daniel may be tempted at times to change his name and his purpose, but he remained himself. He remained true to his calling. God can keep you when no one else will.