Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the book of Daniel, Daniel
chapter 2, and reading from our text, verse 28, and specifically
the last or the first part of that verse. But there is a God
in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the King
Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream
and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these." Now our text
really is just the first part, but there is a God in heaven
that revealeth secrets and maketh known. And I hope perhaps that what
will remain from this morning's message is just that first clause,
but there is a God in heaven. And as much as it is a answer
to all that the wise men, magicians, astrologers, they could not do,
Things that cannot be done on earth, that man cannot do, that
no one can do. May as we view that and look upon
that, those impossibilities, the Holy Spirit bring in this
word to us, but there is a God in heaven. And just that word being a real
help. held to you, held to me in those
things that are impossible with man. Daniel here was in captivity. We read in the first chapter
how that he was carried away into captivity. Understand he
would have been quite young. perhaps 16 or so, and they were
made eunuchs, taking away any possibility that they should
marry, have children, made eunuchs in a strange land, with a language
that they didn't understand. And yet they were who were of
the king's seed, as Daniel was. They were brought before Nebuchadnezzar,
to learn the language and then, after they'd learnt it for three
years, to stand then before the king and to be his servants. And while they were going through
that time, Daniel and his friends, they desired that they might
follow the eating of the Jews, not with the riches as it were
or the food of Babylon and they were given permission to test
it first because the governor of the eunuchs he feared that
he himself would be in danger if the king saw that they were
malnourished but after the test that he looked upon them and
their countenances were better and those that were eating the
king's meat. And so, after that time, they
were brought before Nebuchadnezzar and stood before him. And our
chapter, chapter two, it finds him and his friends clearly recognized
amongst the wise men of Babylon. That is, that they would have
been slain as well as the others were. They were numbered amongst
them. When we come to the second chapter,
there is a difficulty that many scholars will question as to
what it means, because it begins in the second year of the reign
of Nebuchadnezzar. When Nebuchadnezzar, the first
year, he took Jerusalem and Daniel would have been taken then. Now,
if we say, well, this first year, that it goes right back from
the first year or the second year, literally, of his reign,
it would mean that the dream that he had was while Daniel
and his friends were still learning the languages before they were
brought before the king. And it poses a difficulty because
it appears that Daniel already was amongst the wise men and
not actually in training. Some fear that it might be the
second year when the King Nebuchadnezzar was reigning as a sole king and
not with his father. But nevertheless, it is a difficulty. It's hard to reconcile the years
or where the years are actually sent from. It is, of course,
still possible that Daniel was called upon as he was learning. But again, the outcome doesn't
seem to favour that because we read that Daniel then was made
in a great position and sat at the gate of the king, which doesn't
seem to be that he was still learning the language before
he came before the king. So the second year seems to start
from another time, possibly when he was the sole king over Babylon. But here is Daniel, and it must have been as Daniel inquires
why the first time he hears of this, he has Arioch coming to
gather them together to be killed. And so he asks why the thing
is hasty, what it is, what the king is requiring. And there
is a good principle here Because Daniel, he answers in a very
careful way. With counsel and wisdom, we read
in verse 14. And when he finds out the matter,
then he asks for time. Always through the scripture,
time is something of great value, but how do we use it? Daniel
used the time for prayer. He gathers his friends around
him, he makes known to them, his companions, and then they
make the petition known unto the Lord. They pray unto the
Lord. And the Lord tells them the dream
that Nebuchadnezzar had had that he had forgotten. And the Lord
tells him the interpretation. He shows it to him in a vision. It struck me as we were reading
this portion, Daniel, he immediately gives thanks to the God of heaven.
There is no doubt in his mind that what has been revealed to
him is the true dream and is the interpretation. And when
he tells the King the Dream, I thought again as we read it,
when Daniel says in verse 31, Thou, O King, sawest and behold
the great image. I would think as soon as Daniel
uttered those words, it would have flooded back to Nebuchadnezzar
all what he'd seen. The great image he would have
known immediately. This is what he had. This is
what he had seen. As Daniel described it in all
its detail, in all its makeup, he would have stood amazed that
this was being shown him by another person who had not heard or seen
the dream himself. There was a real preparation
before Daniel then tells him the interpretation. But Nebuchadnezzar had also said
a most searching thing, a thing very important to those that
he'd called first, because he discerned that they had prepared
lying words. If he was to tell them a dream,
they could interpret it any way they liked, as long as the interpretation
was a long way in front. And this dream was, Daniel says. that what was being made known
to the king was in the latter days. So it was a long way ahead. And the king thought, well, his
own wise men would just deceive him. So he said a very important
principle in verse 9. Tell me the dream, and I shall
know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof. And I've often said this, you
show me a God that convicts a sinner of his sinnership, and I will
show you the same God that is able and will show that sinner
salvation and the way of escape from the wrath to come. It's
the same God that shows the malady as shows the remedy. We don't
have that equivalent in medical things, do we? because we need
one lot of specialists to show what is wrong, a physician, a
doctor, and one lot of equipment, x-rays, MRI, CT scans, echoes,
all of these things are to find out what is wrong. But they're
not fixing, they're not remedying the situation. When you know
what is wrong, then you call for the surgeon Then you call
for those who will treat it. And it's a separate department.
But with our God, it is the Lord that works both. He brings down,
He brings up. He convicts, He heals. He wounds,
He heals. This is God's work. And so with Daniel, it was God's
work to show the dream and God's work to show the interpretation
thereof. And we might say, that it was
God's work to fulfill it over time. Because what Daniel was
telling to the king, what was represented in the different
parts of this image was the kingdoms of Babylon. And those other ones
that should follow after that, that was to be what was to be
revealed, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Greek, the Roman
empires. Those were the first four of
the kingdoms. And then there was to be the
fifth, which would have been the Romans, and mixed with other
nations as they spread out. And that was where they didn't
mix, where they became weak through those other nations. But I want to go from this, you
might say, historic event, that which happened here in Babylon
and how the Lord appeared in this way through His people to
speak to an ungodly king and their captors and to show things
to him what should be done later and of course is part of the
inspired infallible word of God. And we want to gain and be blessed
through what we read here in our situation, in our lives as
well. And so on to look at our first
point with this word, but. That is a preparation for Daniel's
testimony. And then secondly, Daniel's testimony. There is a God in heaven. And then thirdly, what the God
in heaven does. He told here, that revealeth
secrets and maketh known. Firstly then there is the but. There is a preparation. We find in verse 2 that there
are those that are first called. All that goes before our text
really builds up to this. But there are those that were
consulted first. Then we have the king and his
ultimations. You know, if the king had or
not, if he had just said, well, you can't tell me, well, we'll
just let it rest then. Maybe he'll come back in a couple
of days. And I'll remember, and I'll give
you a call then. But he didn't. He took the step
of being very angry and very hastily was going to kill all
of his wise men. And that put a very serious backdrop
to Daniel to speak what he was speaking. And so then Daniel
himself was sought to be slain. So the matter came very close
to Daniel. Daniel, in one sense, was hedged
in. If the Lord did not reveal this
dream, the interpretation, he and the wise men would be slain.
There was no, no other way out at all. It was a very, very serious
situation. And we ought not to just, just
re-divert and not realize how serious the situation was for
Daniel, his friends, and all the wise men. of Babylon. So if we go from that and we
think of what in our lives can also be a preparation for the
testimony that Daniel set before the king, a thing that needs to be made known. That must be a preparation. Later
on, we will see what God in heaven does. He does make known. But
how many times in our lives are those things the Lord has seen
fit to hide from us? We do not know, but we need to
know. And sometimes we think we need
to know, but we don't need to know. But there are other times
like here, that it is very necessary to know. We need the Lord to
show us, to reveal to us, to make known what is actually hidden. And one thing, of course, with
us in a fallen state, we alluded to it before, the conviction
of sin. We might have grown up under
the sound of the truth. We might have heard about confessions. We might have seen baptisings.
We might have heard the testimony of some of the Lord's people.
But until the Lord works these things, we just hear them and
don't understand them. And we don't really know and
feel our own sinnership and need of the Saviour. It is a thing. that is to be made known. The
story goes years ago of a visiting preacher came to a house where
there was a servant girl and he taught her a prayer and that
prayer was, Lord teach me about myself. And when he came back
sometime later visiting the area She was in much distress, sorrow
of soul. She felt herself a sinner, fell
under the curse of broken law. The Lord had shown her about
herself. She saw her own sinship. So then he taught her another
prayer. Lord Jesus, teach me about thyself. And the Lord answered that prayer.
and revealed to her the way of salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ. A sense of our ignorance. Remember
when the Lord first began with me, that was what He gave me
right at the start. How little I knew, how ignorant,
I did not know the things of God. So as a preparation, for
this testimony is that which we do not know, that which I
know not, teach thou me." It's a good prayer. The second thing
to observe here as a preparation is something impossible with
men. How many times through the history,
the children of Israel, this has been a preparation. We think
of with the promises to Abraham. Abraham was of age, his wife
was old, past bearing. They had the promises of the
seed that should be the seed of the woman along the line to
Christ, and yet no child. And the Lord had to say, and
he promised to Abraham that With God, these things are not
impossible. The Lord would bring it to pass,
and he did. And we find the case with Hannah
as well. She could bear no children. Her
husband was able to give children to Penina, the other wife, but
she could not bear. And how many years that went
by, up and back to Shiloh, until the time that she really poured
out her heart before the Lord. Then she came for this child
I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition. But before she's
cried, there was a preparation. She realized her helplessness.
She realized how impossible it was for her. And before her,
we think of Rachel, how God had shut up her womb. She was having
children but not Rachel. Again, impossible things. And when she said to Jacob, give
me children or I die, he said, am I in God's stead? Have I powers,
the Lord that is withholding thee from bearing? And yet it's
those impossible things. And right the way through, when
our Lord was to be born, we have the same with Elizabeth. She was past bearing. We have
the same with Mary, though she had children afterwards, yet
out of wedlock she was found to be with child. A miracle,
and that which is from heaven, and that which needed to be made
known to Joseph, and a great trial to him. He needed the Lord
to appear for him. And so, Mary, remember that,
when we have before us Things that are impossible, you wouldn't
go to Abraham, to Rachel, to Hannah, to Elizabeth, to Gideon,
who had to face great army with just a few hundred men. You wouldn't
say, well, because that's impossible. That is impossible. There is
no help. There's no one you can go to.
If God is to be exalted, if He is to come in in a way of no
doubt that is of His hand, then He makes that there to be a but
first. There is that which goes before,
before the deliverance is made known. Another aspect here is an angry
king. The wrath of man shall praise
thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. We ought to remember that. When we have rulers, when we
have those that we meet with, and they're very angry, and we're
having to deal with those who fear not God, those might say,
like here, in whose hand is our life? Daniel's life. The other
wise men. The lies were in his hand in
a natural sense. An angry king. We might have
those things as well. Not only is this impossible,
but we're having to deal with one that is angry. Now the Lord
knows how to do that. We have the account of Jonah.
How the Lord dealt with Jonah. Even at the end of the account,
he was still angry. The Lord was merciful and long-suffering
to him, and I've found it many times as well. Times when I've
felt like throwing the Bible across the room. Times when I've
come before the Lord in prayer, very angry and cross, because
he hadn't given me text, because he hadn't appeared for me. The
Lord has stilled it in a moment with a word. He's taken away
that anger, But when we're under that power, under that influence,
we need the Lord to appear. It is something that goes before
when the Lord appears. So don't despair. If you or others
are under an angry spirit, the Lord knows how to deal with it
and can change that in a moment, magnify His name. Then we have
a death warrant, a death warrant. Really, everyone that is under
conviction of sin is under a death warrant. In the day that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Maybe we have an incurable
disease. We're under a death warrant.
But all of us, however we come to the end, we shall die. Man
must die. We are under that warrant. and
yet some may be taken earlier than others. But these things,
they lead up, they lead up to a testimony that Daniel has to
say before the king. You think of some other leading
up, you think of Joseph and all that happened in his life before
he was able to say to his brothers, not you that sent me hither,
but God, to save your lives by great deliverance. There was
a lot that went on before. We read in Psalm 105, until his
time came, the word of the Lord tried him. So think of this. We have a testimony now that
is before us that Daniel brings before the king, but it's prefaced
with this but. It joins together what has gone
before If there was that that wasn't before, the testimony
would lose all of its power, all of its strength. This is
what you might say a game changer, a scene changer, that which suddenly
makes all of the difference, which is our second point, which
is Daniel's testimony. But there is a God in heaven. There is a God in heaven. Nabi Karnazi, you've got your
idols, you've got gods of earth, but I set before you a living
God, the true God, the God that made heaven and earth and all
that is in them. He is in heaven, he is above
this world, and yet he Colin descends to look on and know
the things that are happening in this world. He controls them. He is the King of Kings. He's Lord of Lords. He is in
control. He's not helpless. He's not powerless. Remember the trial that Elijah
had on Mount Carmel? How he mocked those of the worshippers
of Baal. When they were jumping up and
down on their altar and cutting themselves, calling upon Bail
O Bail, hear us. They wanted fire from heaven
to kindle the altar, but there is no Bail in heaven. There is
no God. He's not a God at all. And Daniel
mocked them. He said, perhaps he's sleeping.
Or perhaps he's gone on a journey. Perhaps there's another reason
why. But the whole test was that the
God in heaven was going to send fire from heaven and kindle that
altar which he did. And so Daniel's testimony here,
the reality of a God in heaven, the reality of the existence
of God. Remember years ago, coming out
after one of the services to the gate, close up, group of
young people around, And one of them said to me, you don't
believe in God, do you? I said, I most certainly do. And she said, why? You can't
see him. And I said to her, pointed to the
mobile phone in her hand. I said, you can't see the signal
going to that either, but you know it's there. And upon that,
we started talking. They came in. We had them for
an hour. in the chapel, some seven ewes, talking to them things
of God. The great obstacle, and this
is what our Lord said concerning the Holy Spirit, that because
the world cannot see Him, then they don't believe. They don't
acknowledge Him. Because God isn't seen, because
He's hidden, they think He doesn't exist. God is invisible. God cannot be seen. He is a spirit. that God is manifest in the flesh,
in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, and
He is manifest in the Word of God, the written Word of God. It is through that that He reveals
Himself. But He exists. Because He is not seen doesn't
mean to say He doesn't exist. And so Daniel's statement We
ought not to confuse it, but just to state how true and real
this is. God is a real God. He is the
living God. He is the eternal God. He is
in heaven. He is all-powerful. He is almighty. He is a God that hears and answers
prayer. A God who communicates. A God who knows the future. A God who gave. Nebuchadnezzar,
the dream, and the God who then was to give the interpretation
of that dream. Gospel days, the days in which
we live, God in heaven, means so much more now, doesn't it?
Because our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, came to this world
God manifest in the flesh, Emmanuel God with us. He dwelt among us
and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. He lived here below. He then suffered, bled and died,
gave his life a ransom for many, bore their sin on Calvary's tree. Endured the wrath of God against
those sins. He put away those sins. He rose
again the third day and ascended up into heaven after 40 days. And there he is in heaven. This
is why we sung our middle hymn. A man that is a real man with
wounds still gaping wide. A man in heaven. There he is. making intercession for us. He
is our Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. May we always remember this when
we read these words, but there is a God in heaven. We have in
heaven one who is made like unto his brethren, sin accepted. We
have our Redeemer there, our Saviour there. Paul, he says,
Let us run the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. How blessedly does John begin
the gospel according to his John, and testify, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Same was in the beginning with
God. All things were made by him and
without him. was not anything made that was
made. In Him was life and the life
was the light of men. The Word made flesh and dwelt
among us. Very clearly set forth this truth. There is a God in heaven. May we remember this. May the
Spirit bring it back to our remembrance. When we have these trials, these
troubles, your difficulty this morning, your perplexity this
morning, that He come in, there is a God in heaven. Yes, it does not appear that
He is in control, that He's doing things, but He is in heaven,
He is on the throne, He is controlling. Not our circumstances, not our
weaknesses, Not our impossibilities. There is a God in heaven. On to look then thirdly at what
the God in heaven does. And we would especially note
that it is through prayer, through answers to prayer. The Lord has
ordered that way. It's not man's deciding that
it should be so. Of course, the Lord does not
have to wait for prayer. He can and does sometimes act
completely separate, but with His people, He does answer prayer. He has His people come to Him.
These trials are used to draw those of His people into fellowship
with Him, to come back again and again, asking, seeking. And so we have the interpretation
literally here. There is a God in heaven that
revealeth secrets and maketh known. The secret of this dream
was made known to Daniel and he made it known to the king. What the dream actually was.
The image that was set up. The picture of that image. And what he saw, head of gold,
breast and arms of silver, belly and his thighs of brass, legs
of iron, his feet part of iron, part of clay. Then this stone,
cut out without hands, smites the image on the feet and breaks
it all in pieces. And then Daniel interpreted these
arms, we've said before, the kingdoms, the present one, the
king, and those who would follow, Nebuchadnezzar, even Merodot,
Darchas, all these that followed, he was the head. Then we have
the kings of the Persian empires, the Greek, and the Roman empires. And then we have the fifth. And we cannot but see that this
is the kingdom when our Lord should come. It was the Roman
kingdom. The Romans were there, but the
Lord is to be as a stone cut out. And it is from the time
of our Lord's sufferings and death that the Lord's kingdom
was set up. The Lord preached the kingdom
before that. God was intervening. He was coming
for his people. And from that time, now we have
the preaching of the gospel. Now there are those coming into
that kingdom. The kingdom began, is set up,
as it were, in the preaching of the gospel. Now, of course,
the church existed in the Old Testament, but we have the history
that we can now look back on and we can see those nations,
we can see It fulfilled in what Daniel saw here and told to the
king. This which then points, points
to the coming of our Lord. My mind went to Psalm 25 and
verse 14, the secret, of the Lord is with them that
fear him, and he will show them his covenant. And we must remember
that the things of God, the gospel, the way of salvation, our Lord
said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou
hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and has
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemeth
good in thy sight. The great mark of the gospel
is that God hath chosen the weak, the foolish things of this earth,
that he has not given man, though he has given man much wisdom
in many things, to know spiritual things he cannot. They are hidden,
They are spiritually blind, man is by nature, and he cannot know
them. They are spiritually discerned.
The natural man does not know the things that are of God. Neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The
things of God in salvation must be shown, must be revealed. They
shall all be taught of God. They shall not say every man,
know the Lord, they shall all know me from the least unto the
greatest." And so this is a great thing to know in a gospel sense
of the Lord. There is a God in heaven that
revealeth secrets and maketh known. Everything that we know
of salvation, really you might say the Word of God is inspired
Word of God. it is sent from heaven. That
is how the Lord makes known through his word and through the Spirit
shining upon the word through his ministers like Philip making
known to the eunuch preaching to him Jesus beginning at the
same scripture like our Lord on the way to Emmaus making known
to the disciples In all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself,
their heart burned within them when he did it. When the Lord
appeared in the upper room, then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures." Dear friends, never
minimize the blessing of having the things of God revealed to
you. Light that is shown upon the Word, things that you now
know that you once didn't, Remember the Lord often makes it known,
line upon line, here a little, there a little, not all at once. The Lord said to his disciples,
I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them
now. But when the Holy Spirit is come,
he will lead you into all truth. He shall not speak of himself,
but that which he shall see or hear, that shall he reveal. unto you. This is a vital thing
to realize. We have not got a God that has
no interaction, no work upon earth. The work of salvation
is God's work. And he uses means, but those
means like Daniel. Daniel is very, very clear on
this. He says that, and When Joseph
was interpreting the dreams for Pharaoh, he said, it is not in
me. He was very clear as well. And Daniel, when he praised the
Lord, he said, he revealeth the deep and secret things. He knoweth
what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. He giveth wisdom unto the wise
and knowledge to them that know understanding. And so when he
comes before the king, then he is clear on this, that it is
not in him, it is not for anything in him that these things are
made known. As for me, he says in verse 30,
this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom, that I have
more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known
the interpretation to the King, and that thou mightest know the
thoughts of thy heart." And so it was a means of saving their
lives, it was a means that God's message was sent to the King. The Lord help us to also bring these
things before the Lord, that we don't know the hidden from
us, the things of salvation. Lord would enlarge our coast,
magnify his name, show us to know his beloved son more, to
teach us more, instruct us more in his ways. And maybe things
in providence, things in our lives, that also the Lord will
appear for us and help us. You might say, yeah, but they're
providential things, they're earthly things, they're not things
of my soul. What God was showing to Nebuchadnezzar
was kingdoms, was kings, was generations, wasn't just spiritual
things. It was history unfolding, same
with Joseph. Providence unfolds the book and
makes his counsel shine. Yet in the midst of this and
opening it out, Daniel had a wonderful blessing, wonderful answer to
prayer, wonderful appearance, wonderful seal, that God was
with him. Placed them in a better position,
you might say, in Babylon. And you might say as well that
when Nebuchadnezzar put them over all of those in Babylon,
all the wise men, chief, the governors, and all the wise men,
if those wise men had risen up and said, why are you treating
him like that? He don't deserve that. Not that
Daniel would have done it, but he could have just turned around
and said, if God had not revealed this to me, you all would be
dead men. The only reason why you can continue
in any way in the kingdom is because God showed me the dream.
And when you think of how many, you think of Paul where God showed
him in the vision in the ship that the Lord would give them
all of their lives for one man, one godly man, all of those in
that ship were saved. The Lord regards his people And
it's a great blessing to be His people, not just among them,
but to be one of them. Well, may the Lord bless this
word. And again, we come back to the very first part that I
want to remember. I want you to remember when the
impossible things come, difficult things, urgent things, pressing
things. May the Spirit bring this to
remembrance, that there is a God in heaven. Amen.