Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20110130.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Daniel: Hope And Direction In A Troublesome World
E. Relying On God's Restraints For Room To Function In Our World
(Daniel 4:1-37)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Though we learned from Daniel 2 to expect a steady worsening in secular governments until Christ's return, and that we are to respond by working for Christ's future reign, we still need a sense of hope and security in government affairs for our era so we can be spurred to live positively today! We can illustrate this need as follows:

    (1) The January 24, 2011 issue of the nationwide paper, USA TODAY, p. 8A ran the editorial, "My fellow Americans . . .' (the speech we'd like to hear)" to urge President Obama in his State of the Union Address to offer specific solutions to oppressive, unnerving problems we face as a nation. The editorial listed (a) "a spiraling national debt that imperils the future of every American," (b) the tax code where "(t)he standard 1040 form now comes with an instructional booklet that is 172 pages long," (c) "Social Security" that is on "an unsustainable path" and (d) "health care costs" where over "the next 10 years, the federal government will spend $14 trillion on health care."

    (2) Also, oppressive sin flourishes in governments worldwide: page 6A of the paper ran the story, "Corruption plagues global health fund" to report up to two-thirds of some of the $21.7 billion in grants from the U. N. global health fund has been "eaten up by corruption" versus addressing AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in poor nations.

    (3) Then, in glaring contrast to these needs, the paper ran a full page commemoration of the late President Ronald Reagan (p. 9A) in view of his upcoming 100th birthday. President Obama, Senator John McCain, retired ABC News chief White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, Speaker of the House John Boehner, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney all lauded President Reagan's optimism, with conservative officials praising his confrontation of oppressors throughout the world! (4) Reflecting on all of this shows that if a mainstream national newspaper would run this kind of a page while other parts of its paper noted the need for good leadership, it shows we all are aware of our nation's hope for leaders who will provide edifying hope and security!

    Thus we ask, "I know the Daniel 2 dream predicted world governments would decline until Christ's return so that I must respond to this state by serving Christ. Yet, is there any HOPE that there will be enough STABILITY in OUR time to HEARTEN us to FUNCTION POSITIVELY for the Lord TODAY?!"

    Need: "I know that I as a believer in Christ should respond to the prophesied deterioration of world governments by living for Christ's future reign, but is there any hope that there will be some stability NOW so I can live with a POSITIVE attitude in my life?!"

  1. The Daniel 2 dream predicting the "Times of the Gentiles" between Daniel and Christ's future Kingdom is typified as an image of a man, with various parts of its anatomy depicting the consecutive flow of Gentile empires from Daniel to Christ's reign, Dan. 2:37-41.
  2. The first empire, the head of gold, signified Babylon (Daniel 2:37-38), so God's interaction with Babylon's Nebuchadnezzar typifies how He will interact with SUCCEEDING Gentile RULERS and GOVERNMENTS from Daniel down to Christ's Kingdom!
  3. As such, Daniel 3 and 4 typify God's work to RESTRAIN EVIL in SECULAR GOVERNMENTS DOWN through WORLD HISTORY to offer DIRECTION, HOPE and STABILITY for believers NOW:
    1. Daniel 3 reveals God will restrain evil in secular governments so His people (like Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego) can worship Him. The fact that they came through the fiery furnace shows how even in the antichrist's future revived Roman Empire in the Great Tribulation when he too will set up an image for worship as Nebuchadnezzar did in Daniel 3:1-6 (Rev. 13:14-15), some believers will survive the tribulation through remaining faithful to God in fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, Bible Knowledge Com., O. T., p. 1340-1341.
    2. Daniel 4 reveals God will restrain evil in secular rulers so that His people (like Daniel) can do His will. As Nebuchadnezzar was judged with insanity for 7 years to curb his pride and abuses to lead him to trust in God, the future 7 year Great Tribulation will lead many to align with God's will (Ibid., p. 1344), as Daniel 4 reveals (as follows):
      1. Daniel 4 is an official record by Nebuchadnezzar testifying of his conversion to God, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Dan. 4:1.
      2. This chapter then shows God gave Nebuchadnezzar another dream (Daniel 4:4-18) that predicted judgment upon him (Daniel 4:19-24) if he did not repent of (a) sin, (b) abusing the afflicted (Daniel 4:25-27) and the (c) pride associated with these evils, Daniel 4:37.
      3. When Nebuchadnezzar failed to repent opposite Daniel's urging (Dan. 4:27-30), God struck the king with boanthropy, a form of insanity where he believed he was an animal and acted the part in his life, Daniel 4:31-33a. (Ibid., ftn. to Daniel 4:33)
      4. Nebuchadnezzar was thus driven from his throne though not slain and replaced by another king likely due to Daniel's high ranking protection (Dan. 4:33b); Nebuchadnezzar lived this way for 7 "times" (Dan. 4:23), that is, for 7 years (cf. Dan. 7:25 on "times").
      5. At the end of this 7-year trial, Nebuchadnezzar expressed his personal submission to the Lord, and God restored to him his sanity and kingdom, Daniel 4:34a.
      6. Nebuchadnezzar thus finally glorified God, Daniel 4:34b-35, 37.
    3. Most notably, this king's expression of praise to God explains that God's kingdom and everlasting dominion over the earth's peoples extends from generation to generation , Daniel 4:34b.
    4. Thus, for EVERY generation even BEFORE Christ's earthly reign, be it in Nebuchadnezzar's era or EVEN in OUR OWN time of the Daniel 2 prophecy, God does what He wills among man on the earth in total sovereignty over all human affairs, Daniel 4:34b-35!
    5. Since God's Daniel 3 and 4 acts show He restrains evil that would otherwise hinder His people from serving Him well, Daniel 3-4 offers encouraging samples of God's RESTRAINT of EVIL in human governments so WE TODAY by application can live POSITIVELY:
      1. First, as God provided room for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to survive Nebuchadnezzar's effort to kill them for obeying God, we know Christ will continue to build His Church even in OUR era, Matthew 16:18 NIV! (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 57)
      2. Second, as God sovereignly ruled to punish Nebuchadnezzar with insanity for 7 years, only to preserve him from being slain by another ruler, and to restore him to power with his officials seeking him to submit once again to his rule, something miraculous in the Ancient Near East (Daniel 4:36), we can trust God so to control secular government officials and events that the discipling efforts of His people can progress in full alignment with God's plan!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) May we then use Daniel 3 and 4 for direction and incentive to live for and to serve God in a deteriorating world!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 In our introduction, we reported that a full page of the January 24, 2011 USA TODAY nationwide paper (p. 9A) was devoted to having key people laud the legacy of the late President Ronald Reagan.

Remarkably, Reagan's leadership features most admired by those who commented in this special page all came from the man's Christian faith! Stephen Goode's article, "The Christian Faith of Ronald Reagan" (5/18/04, christianpost.com) noted "Reagan's faith affected his presidency in many intangible ways . . . The key to his success throughout his life was his communication skills. And he acquired and developed those skills in Church . . . Also based in his faith were his confidence, his eternal optimism and his quiet security."

Paul Kengor, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Political Science at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, reported that Reagan would not have attended the Christian Church he did had it not been that his mother, Nelle, a devout Christian, survived the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 that killed many women worldwide! Her survival coupled with her devotion to the God of the Bible had a profound impact on the young Ronald in spite of his father's alcoholism, and it led to our blessing in the form of President Reagan's leadership in a time of great national need! (Paul Kengor, "The Intellectual Origins of Ronald Reagan's Faith," Heritage Lectures, The Heritage Foundation 4/30/04)

Essentially, GOD was at work in 1918-1919 to provide what we as a nation needed in the 1980s! That is why Sarah Palin could later testify in the cited USA TODAY issue that Ronald Reagan saved 77 lives as a teenage lifeguard on the Rock River in Illinois, later to become "America's lifeguard"! That is why Senator John McCain, writing as a former prisoner of war in Viet Nam, would note of Reagan: " . . . his confidence was a tonic to men who had come home eager to put the war behind us and for the country to do likewise . . . His was a faith that shouted at tyrants to tear down this wall.' Such faith, such patriotism requires a great deal of love to profess. And I will always revere him for it." (Ibid.)

In the end, we must trust the Sovereign, Good Creator, the God of Scripture, to set up or curb rulers today for us to have the room to function positively. God has evidenced His will to help us this in this regard in Daniel 3 and 4, so, may we live positively in His calling in faith and hope that God will be our Helper NOW!