March 1, 2009
March 1, 2008
Prayer
Hymn 317 — The Lord attends when children pray
Prayer
We’ll continue this week with Daniel chapter 2. V.1 King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that disturbed him so much that he couldn’t sleep; but in the morning he couldn’t remember his dream. VV.2-5 So he called in his wise men and asked them to tell him his dream and it’s interpretation. Of course, none of them could. They tell Nebuchadnezzar, “Tell us the dream, then we can interpret it.” VV. 7-12 This made the king very angry and he commanded all the wise men of Babylon to be killed.VV. 13-16. Daniel and his three friends were among the wise men of Babylon, but they hadn’t been before the king this time. So when Arioch, the king’s captain, came to get them, Daniel asked him what was going on. When Arioch had explained the situation; Daniel asked to see the king. He asked the king to give him some time, and he would tell the king the interpretation of his dream. Now, Daniel didn’t know the dream; but he had faith that God would reveal it to him.
1.Faith
So Daniel went home and told Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about this, and asked them to pray that God would show him the kings dream. Here we learn another lesson from Daniel.
2. Fellowship (Christian Friends)
Daniel was able to share his difficulty with his friends, and the four of them were able to pray over it. So we have another truth:
3. Prayer
We are able to pray at any time of day or night. God will hear at any time and, as our hymn reminds us, He will hear when children pray. When Daniel and his three friends prayed, God heard them and showed Daniel the king’s dream while he slept that night. Here we find the result of giving our troubles to God. It produces:
4.Peace
Daniel was able to trust God, and as a result, he had peace enough to sleep. V.19. The end of this verse tells us what Daniel did after God revealed the king’s dream to him. He blessed God.
5.Thanksgiving
Vv. 20-23: So Daniel goes to the king. He tells the king that no man could tell him his dream, but that God is the one who has revealed it. He gave the glory to God, instead taking the honour for himself.
So what was the king’s dream? He had seen a statue of a man that was made of different metals and clay. These represented kingdoms that were, or would come. Then, a big rock came, knocked the statue down and grew into a big mountain. This represented Christ coming and taking his kingdom.
We, too, can have faith like Daniel’s and enjoy the fellowship of Christian friends. We can use the resource of prayer, and that brings peace. And lastly, we should give praise and glory to God.
Verse 31 has the expression “the hand of God was upon us.” We’ve noticed that phrase a number of times already; it also comes out in Nehemiah. In Deuteronomy 2, we have the flip side of that; read v. 15. The Israelites had the hand of God against them, because of their disobedience and lack of faith. Deuteronomy gives us some important lessons on obedience. Daniel is a very good example of obedience; he purposed in his heart that he would not be defiled; when he obeyed God, God answered his prayers, as we have seen today.
We talked about the value of the cargo the Israelites were carrying to Jerusalem. They knew they would be traveling in dangerous territory, and asked God to protect them. We, too, have an enemy that lurks, waiting to steal what God has entrusted to us; he knows just what traps and lures will catch us. It can be quite hard for young people to see the traps and successfully avoid Satan’s designs. However, Mr. McDowell told his son-in-law, Mr. N. Burgess, “It astounds me how many older brothers have gone wrong; if you see me doing anything foolish, stop me.” Our enemy knows each one of us better than we think.
The Jews journey to Jerusalem took 4 months. They finally made it; in vv. 33 & 34, the Levites act as accountants, taking record to make sure that all the treasures they brought had arrived safely.
V. 35 is a very interesting verse. Many of those who had returned with Ezra were the children or grandchildren of the Jews who had been taken captive; most of them had never seen the temple, God’s chosen center at that time. Now, they finally reached it; they seemed to know the law well, even though they had never been there. Then began to offer the appropriate sacrifices. But notice what they offered: 12 bullocks for all Israel. Although they were only a small group from two of the tribes (Judah and Benjamin), they offered sacrifices for those still in Babylon, and for the 10 lost tribes. These people were a remnant, a little piece of a larger amount, representative of the whole. Are we not a remnant as well? We are not a remnant of Israel, but a remnant of the body of Christ, which is sadly fractured. We know from the scriptures that somewhere there are those who meet on the Lord’s terms. We believe we are among them; but do we see ourselves as a little, isolated group? No, we act on behalf of all the redeemed. Read I Corinthians 10:16 & 17. The loaf is not only an emblem of Christ’s body, but also speaks to us of the body of Christ. God has not lost sight of His People; they have lost sight of Him. Here for Ezra, only a few returned from Babylon. Yet, they still offered the sacrifices for all of Israel. Although we can’t meet with all of the body of Christ, we do recognize them when we meet.
In v. 36, the Jews delivered the king’s commission, which we read in the previous chapter. Then, they encouraged and helped the Jews already working.
Hymn 213 – Thou my everlasting portion
Prayer