In the book of Daniel we see
the contrast between the might and the power and the rebellion
of man in his natural wisdom and intellect against the things
of God. We see the greatest of kingdoms,
the most powerful nations rise up and try to assert their authority. But when they bring that power
and that authority down upon those who are gods, those few
men, Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, Abednego, these few men who were
brought into the king's courts, When that power and that authority
is used against these and others of God's in captivity in this
kingdom, we see how God's response can brush aside even the most
mighty of men. And we see who really rules in
this world, who is truly sovereign, whose kingdom is truly great,
whose kingdom lasts forever. As Jesus says of those who persecute
his people, as much as you did this to one of these my little
ones, you did it unto me. And in this book we see things
done to some of Jesus' little ones. which ultimately were done
under him and we see the mighty response of God in keeping his
people in the midst of adversity and in declaring his power and
strength unto man who in the blindness and folly of his natural
intellect thought that with all his power he could stand before
Almighty God. Well the greatest of nations
and the most powerful of men and the wisest and cleverest
in this world, when they shake their fist at Almighty God, He
might let them have their way for a time, but in the end they
are but fools who will be crushed underfoot. You cannot fight against
God and win. for God is God, God rules over
all and His people, His little ones are His and He is jealous
for them. Nebuchadnezzar in a rage that
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not bow down the knee and
worship the image that he had made, had put a decree out in
his land that any who would not worship would be thrown into
a fiery furnace. When they did not worship they
were thrown in a fiery furnace. And did that fiery furnace, which
slew some of the men that threw those men into it, did that fiery
furnace consume these few men, these little ones? No, it did
not. There was one like unto the Son of God, who was with
them in the midst. And when there is one like unto
the Son of God, in the midst of his people, however few, however
weak, however outnumbered, however oppressed. When he walks with
his people, they shall never perish. None can put their finger
against them and destroy them. They are his and he will keep
them to the end. Daniel 2 later in this book is
thrown into a den of lions. Lions, hungry lions. And yet,
in the morning, when he was sought, and when his bones were expected
to be found in the midst of this den, the lions were tame and
had not touched him. because God was with his little
one. And God will watch over his people,
his own, to the end. No one can touch them. Now in
this world God's people will know their enemies rise up against
them and they will know the great might and the force and the power
of these enemies. And these enemies can do much
to pull them to pieces. They can do much to harm them.
They can say much against them. They can persecute them. They
can bring them into physical pain, into emotional pain, all
sorts, but in the end they cannot destroy them, because there is
one with them, the Son of God, who is jealous for his own. And
when the world rises up against these, the world rises up against
him. And when the world rises up against
the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ has the victory. He is God. He is over all. We see in this
book similarities in the initial accounts between Daniel's experience
in captivity in this nation and Joseph of old, when Joseph was
thrown in the pit and taken down in captivity to Egypt, the king
of Egypt there. King of Egypt, Pharaoh, had a
dream. And none in Egypt, none of the
wise men, could interpret the dream. But there was one in captivity,
in the jail. A stranger in a foreign land,
Joseph, was known to be able to interpret dreams and was called
forth brought before Pharaoh. And because his God was with
him, and because his God revealed the dream under him, Joseph was
able to declare under Pharaoh the meaning of his dream. And
as a consequence, because of God's providence, God's hand
over Joseph, God's eternal purpose to exalt Joseph and lift him
up to a great height of authority in that nation, as a picture
and type and figure of his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
of God's purpose, Joseph was lifted up to great authority.
And this led, of course, in time of famine to his own family being
brought to him and gathered with him. Now here in Daniel, we see
a similar pattern. The nation of Israel, of Judah,
is brought into captivity when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
comes to Jerusalem and besieges it and takes the people captive
into Babylon. And out of that people he seeks
some of the wisest young men, the wisest youths, four of which
are chosen to serve him in his palace ultimately. Daniel whose
name is changed to be Belteshazzar, Hananiah whose name is changed
to be Shadrach, Mishael whose name is changed to be Meshach,
and Azariah whose name is changed to be Abednego. These four are
prepared. And in their preparation they
are told that they should eat the meat and the drink, the wine
that the king provides for them. But they know they're in a foreign
land. and they know what this king
is and they won't eat his food and his wine because they have
another king, another God, another Lord whom they serve. So they
refuse and they ask the man set over them if they can eat other
food and he says, but what will happen if you grow up weak? The king will be angry. and effectively
they say trust us, test us and he allows them to eat this other
food and they grow up more healthy with a better countenance than
those who ate the king's meat and drink because their God fed
them, provided for them, watched over them and the wisdom of man
that says eat of this would in reality have brought them unto
death. The wisdom of man that says those who feed on God's
word are fools is wrong. For those who love God and His
ways and who feed on Him and His word are mighty. And these are figures of those
who feed on God's word and His gospel. Anyway they're prepared
for His service and this King Nebuchadnezzar like Pharaoh of
old dreams a dream and he's greatly troubled by this dream and he
gathers all the wise men of Babylon the magicians, the astrologers,
the sorcerers, the Chaldeans to show him both his dream and
the meaning he sets before them an impossible challenge for he
does not come before them and say I've had this dream this
I saw and that I saw what does it mean? as Pharaoh of old did. But here the problem set before
these wise men is even greater. He doesn't even tell them the
dream. He says, I've had this dream.
Tell me what I dreamt and tell me what it means, you with great
wisdom. And they have no answer. they
don't know his dream and they don't know the meaning for all
their learning they're in darkness and he's furious and sets a decree
that all the wise men should be slain but there's Daniel like
Joseph of old and he begs that the king should give him time
to show him the meaning So in Daniel and chapter 2 and verse
14 we read, Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Ariok,
the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay
the wise men of Babylon. He answered and said to Ariok,
the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Ariok made the thing known
to Daniel. Then Daniel went in and desired
of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show
the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house
and made the thing known to Hananiah, Meshael, 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. 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. 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. 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 desire of Thee. For Thou
hast now made known unto us the King's matter. Verse 19, then
was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then was the secret revealed. Just like Joseph, here was a
secret, hid from the wise men, hid from all the wisdom of Babylon. all the wisdom of this world
of which Babylon is a figure as Egypt in the book of Exodus
was also a figure the king and all the wise men in this world
did not understand that which the king saw it was hid a secret
For here comes one, a nothing, a young man, a stranger in a
foreign land, unto whom the secret is revealed. Revealed by the
God of heaven. Yes, it's a secret. And unless
it had been revealed to Daniel, he along with all the wise men
of Babylon would have been slain. He faced death if he ever came
to understand this secret. The importance here for Daniel
of having an answer from God to his plea that God should make
known unto him the secret, the importance cannot be overstated. The king was not going to wait
long. His wrath and his anger was kindled. He wanted an answer. And Daniel's
life depended upon knowing the answer. Daniel's life depended
upon knowing this secret, which was hid from the wise and the
prudent in Babylon, whose wisdom had brought them nowhere. but to the point of a decree
from their king that they should be slain. And so too it is in
this world today. The wise and the prudent know
not God and by wisdom man knows not God. The wisdom of this world,
the intellect, the learning, The theology, the study, the
knowledge, the works, the will, the desire, the ambitions, the
goals, the loves of this world, the wisdom of this world as the
wisdom of Babylon will lead you to one place and that is death. one place the clock is ticking
but by wisdom the world knew not God and by wisdom you will
face death and the clock was ticking for
Daniel except he knew the secret the king would slay him and except
you know the revelation of a secret from the God of Heaven, your
wisdom will slay you. There is a secret. There is a
secret to be revealed and there is a God who reveals such secrets. and our life depends upon that
God revealing his secret unto us. Has he revealed his secret unto
you? Are you in his secret? Then was the secret revealed
unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of
heaven. And Daniel answered and said,
Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might
are his. 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 understand it. He revealeth the
deep and secret things. He knoweth what is in the darkness,
and the light dwelleth with him. Because there are deep and secret
things which we cannot find out except God opens our eyes. Salvation through the Gospel
of Jesus Christ is naturally speaking a deep and a secret
thing. It's closed to us, we cannot
discern it, we cannot grasp it, we cannot understand it. It may
be preached, it may be sounded, it may be declared in the Word
of God, it may be there to be read in any Bible that you may
pick up wherever but yet it's closed, it's a secret except
God takes it and opens it up unto you. All the wisdom of this
world will not take the Scriptures and reveal Christ in them unto
you. You may hear the Gospel a million
times and never know Christ. Then was the secret revealed
unto Daniel in a night vision. When was this secret revealed? In the night. In the night. Why? Because all else outside
of the revelation of this secret was night. It was darkness. Daniel lived in a world of darkness. We live as it were in the night. Outside of the light of God in
the face of Jesus Christ all is darkness. God revealeth the
deep and secret things he knoweth what is in the darkness and the
light dwelleth with him. There's no light but in God. and in his son the Lord Jesus
Christ elsewhere it's all darkness you are in the night what do you know of the darkness
can you feel the darkness if you go out in the night in a
place that's truly dark Not on the city streets where there's
street lamps to light it up. Not near the towns where there
are street lamps and lights. And not under a starry night
when the moon is in full shine which helps provide some light
in the darkness. But you go out on a night when
the cloud is thick above you. And you're in the midst of the
country and you'll know darkness. And it's so dark you can feel
the darkness. Go down into some cave, some
dark cave. There's a thickness of darkness. Well that's what it's like in
this world and in your soul by nature. There's darkness, it's
night, there's no light. And you can read all the books,
you can listen to all the scientists, you can read all the theologians
upon the word of God. And if you have blind eyes, which
you have by nature, it's all darkness. Man by wisdom knew not God. There's no light in this world
by which you'll discover this secret. No wisdom or learning
from men that will teach it to you. You can go to this man or
to that man, to that theological school or to that one. You won't
learn the things of God from man. God must teach you. God must open the eyes. The secret
must be revealed unto you in a vision in the night. And to see a vision in the darkness
of the night of this world, your eyes must be opened. And for
your eyes to be opened, for they are blind, God must open them. He must show you. He must open
the eyes. He must shine the light in. The eyes must be open to see
what the natural sight cannot see. You need eyes of faith. Then was the secret revealed. It was revealed. It was made
plain to Daniel. Not by sight, natural sight,
but by revelation. God took that which was always
there and unveiled it unveiled it God took that which had been
kept secret since the world had begun and in the gospel as it
were he opened it up he took off the covers and revealed the
mystery unto Daniel And that's what he does with his gospel. As Paul says, the gospel, the
preaching of Jesus Christ, which according to the revelation of
the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, reveals
and makes known Christ and his salvation. The secret is revealed. Now what do you know of God's
secret? What do you know of His Gospel
and His Son? If you know anything truly of
Christ it's because God has taken Him and His Word and His Gospel
and revealed Him unto you in a vision in the darkness of the
night of this world in which you live. And if God hasn't done
that, if what you see and what you know is what you've grasped
with your own intellect and wisdom, even from the Word of God, if
it's all with your mentality, all with your intellect, no matter
what you may say of Jesus Christ, no matter what you may say of
his death, no matter what you may say of justification or righteousness,
if all your knowledge is just grasped with your own intellect,
then along with the wisdom of the Chaldeans and the Babylonians,
it will lead you to death. There's no secret made known
unto you, there's no revelation And you may turn again and say
unto me, but if I know of Jesus Christ, and I know of his electing
grace, and I know of his substitutional death, and I know of his resurrection,
and I know of his reign, and I know of his sovereignty, if
I know those things, and I've read preachers declare those
things, and if I can speak of those things, surely God showed
me. I answer. Not always. You can know that in the letter
and not know God and his secret. And I know men who have talked
of these things in the letter, who have fought and argued for
them, who've gone astray because the secret was never revealed
unto them in a night vision. Faith is not a mental assent
to facts regarding Jesus Christ. Saving faith is a reality of
life within the soul that only God can breathe in. Saving faith
is a real experience of feeling the darkness and feeling the
death. and feeling the corruption within,
and crying out unto a God who's made known and revealed unto
you in the Gospel, crying out unto a name which was once secret
to you, which God makes known by His Spirit, the name of Jesus
Christ, the Sovereign God, God's Son, crying out unto Him to take
His blood which He shed for sinners, and to wash and cleanse you in
that blood, to take his blood and to sprinkle it upon your
heart within, to make his life known. Saving faith is the life
of God breathed within. and all those who come to know
Christ and His Gospel, all those who believe He died for them
and know He died for them and for whom He truly did die, will
come to know His love for them in a reality and a depth which
is hid from all others. because they won't just know
it as facts on paper they won't just know that Christ died for
sinners of which they believe they are one but they will know
him because his life is within them because when the spirit
quickens them to life he enters into them And God dwells within
them. Christ dwells within them by
His Spirit. They have a hope, not an external
hope, not simply an external hope, not simply that they believe
that 2,000 years ago Christ died as a substitute for sinners,
that my account was blotted out, that my sins were taken away,
but they have a hope which has entered into them. God has entered
into them there is life where there was death there is light
in the heart where there was once darkness they know that
they are gods because God is in them now that is to have a
secret revealed unto you in a night vision and unless you can speak
of a feeling awareness of a conscious awareness and experience that
God has taken the blood that Christ shed upon the cross and
sprinkled it upon your heart that your conscience is at peace
that you are at peace with God unless you can speak of God being
in you as a reality and of you being in Christ of that union
and know that it's not just your mind laying hold on these things
but it's real then you do not know the secret and there are
many who profess these things who argue and debate about these
things whose hope is entirely external with a mental ascent
and they have never seen They have wisdom, great wisdom, great
wisdom upon the scriptures, but they've never seen, they have
never had the secret revealed within. Well if you have, if
you have, there'll be a response like Daniel's. Daniel blessed
the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, blessed
be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are
his, not mine. There's no wisdom and might in
me. I'm nothing. I may see and know
this secret. I may be able to look at those
who look so wise and great and say they're fools. It's like
this, not like that. But this is not my wisdom. I
know that I was a fool as they were. I know I was as blind and
dark as they were. And I know that God has shown
me. Blessed be the name of God forever
and ever for wisdom and might are His. And He changes 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. Unto the truly
wise and the truly understanding, He giveth that wisdom and that
knowledge. He revealeth the deep and secret
things. He knoweth what is in the darkness,
and the light dwelleth with Him, only with Him. He is my light. He has shown me. In Him I see,
outside of Him I'm blind. I thank thee, Daniel says, I
thank thee and praise thee O thou God of my fathers who have given
me wisdom and might and has made known unto me now what we desired
of thee for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.
Daniel bowed down and worshipped. And that's what happens when
God makes his gospel and his grace known unto you. You won't
stand up with some proud notion or some proud attitude that you
have something that others haven't got. You won't lord it over others. You won't go out condemning others
as though you're greater and better and have made some decision
that they haven't made or done something right that they haven't
done. but you'll bow down and worship the God that's chosen
you full of humility before him knowing you're nothing you'll
know that he has made it known you'll know how great he is and
how low and worthless you are just as others you're just as
bad as others and yet God by grace has made himself known
unto you he's revealed his secret have you been there? have you
been there? that's what happened when Daniel
was shown this but although these things were revealed to Daniel
and although Daniel went to the king Nebuchadnezzar later in
chapter 2 and made known unto him the meaning of the dream
and although the king could see the wonderful insight given to
Daniel by his God and although the king acknowledged that Daniel's
God was a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets the king didn't yet bow down
to that God because he heard what Daniel said in the letter. Daniel made known the dream and
he made known the meaning. He as it were went to this king
and declared the gospel in truth and in power. He spake with the
authority of almighty God who had shown him these things. He said unto this evil king,
this is God's word. And that king had to acknowledge
the truth of it. And yet that king went forth
and made him an image of gold, which he commanded the nation
to bow down and worship an idol. He heard the gospel from Daniel's
lips and knew not God, because it's a secret that God must reveal. God revealed it to Daniel. Daniel
went forth with those truths, that revelation, and preached
it in word. But you can hear the word from
the best of preachers, like this king heard from Daniel and not
know the secret. No. This king made this image. He put out this decree, as he
had done with these wise men. He said, if you don't bow down
and worship, then I'll throw you in a fiery furnace. And that's
just what happened with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They would
not bow down to this idol. And the king was forced to throw
them in the furnace. Now in this, in these actions
of this king, who is the ruler of Babylon, the ruler of this
world, presented to us here as a picture of the prince of the
darkness of this world, the devil. When you don't worship man's
father, the devil, the father of those who love not God, When
you don't bow down and worship the one that others worship,
this is what men do to you. They'll throw you as it were
into a furnace. When you stand up and speak of
Christ and will not bow down to the idolatry that all around
you bow down to, when you won't go with them, when you won't
go to the same excess of riot that the world around you do,
when you won't bow down to their ideals and their thinking, to
their equality, to their ideals in this world, to their ideals
of tolerance, which reject Jesus Christ and accept all manner
of sin and filth in this world when you won't bow down to their
wisdom and their ways and ultimately to their father, the father of
lies, the devil, when you won't follow they'll take you and throw
you as it were into a furnace. But this king the prince of the
darkness of the air the prince of this world when the adversary
sets to slay God's people what he sees in the midst of the furnace
in which they walk is one like the Son of God walking with them
no matter what this world says or does to you when you declare
the secret of God's gospel in Jesus Christ, when you stand
for the grace of God which brings salvation, when you speak of
Jesus Christ and do not bow the knee to this world and its ways
and its idols. when they seek to put you to
death they will see in the midst of God's people however few you
be one like the Son of God walking beside you and then they know
that your God is the true and the living God the revealer of
secrets Daniel had this secret revealed to him You can tell
people this secret in words and they're still blind. They're
still blind. Well finally, what of the secret
a little bit? What is this secret? Daniel made
it known to the king. He told him of this vision which
he had. The king saw a vision of a great
man. a great image with a head of
gold, arms of silver, breast and arms of silver, belly and
thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet of clay. Daniel makes
known the vision that this is his kingdom, he, the great king
in this world, that head of gold. And there will be other kingdoms
which follow, silver, brass, iron, clay, all great kingdoms. but all ultimately brought to
nothing because there is a kingdom greater than the greatest kingdom
in this world and that is God's kingdom. the Kingdom of Heaven,
in which the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ,
the revealer of secrets, the discerner of the thoughts and
intentions of man's heart, the one who rules over every kingdom,
Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon included, this world today and every kingdom
and nation within it included, America and Britain, wherever
it be, the one who rules will bring all these things to nothing
and will establish, has established, does establish a kingdom which
lasts forever. As Daniel says to him, In the
days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom
which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be
left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all
these kingdoms and it shall stand forever. There's a kingdom coming
Nebuchadnezzar. which is greater than all and
which you cannot destroy you can take of its citizens you
can take the little ones in its midst and you can throw them
in the furnace or throw them to the lions and you'll never
destroy them because there is a king who walks beside them
the son of God the son of God a king and a lord who loved them
and gave himself for them. For he came into this world to
save everyone who's in his kingdom, to take their rebellion and their
darkness and their wisdom away, their sin, and blotted out by
shedding his blood. He died that they should live. He rose again from the dead with
them to live forevermore. a kingdom with a great king. As Psalm 91 says, he that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. to the world this kingdom and
this place in which the son of god abides is a secret place
which they cannot find or discern and yet all these children all
these washed by blood dwell in a secret place, the secret place
of the Most High and they abide under the shadow of the Almighty
who rules over all and watches over all. Oh what a secret to
know! This secret of the Gospel makes
known the promise of redemption the redemption of all those citizens
of this kingdom, those whom Christ died for, He redeemed them, He
set them free, He delivered them, He delivered them. We read something in type and
figure of this redemption in Judges and chapter 13, where
Manoah and his wife meet an angel, an angel of the Lord, a picture
of Christ. And they see what this angel
does in the sacrifice, where he offers up himself for his
own. Judges 13, 15 tells us, And Manoah said unto the angel
of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall
have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread.
And if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it
unto the Lord. For Manoah knew not that he was
an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto the angel
of the Lord, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to
pass, we may do thee honour? And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? So Manoah took a kid with a meat
offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord. And the
angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it
came to pass when the flame went upward toward heaven from off
the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame
of the altar, and Manoah and his wife looked on it and fell
on their faces to the ground. The angel of the Lord said unto
him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is a secret? This name of this angel Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the sacrifice who was offered up upon the fire,
the offering which ascended up unto God as a sweet-smelling
savour, the one who did wondrously as his people looked on. He has
a name which is secret, hidden from the world, the power of
which is hidden from the world. that name which if you call upon
you shall be saved for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved but you cannot call upon a name if that name
is a secret unto you that name must be made known it must be
revealed and it's revealed in the gospel but it must be revealed
unto faith. God must open your ears and your
eyes to see and to know who this one is, this saviour, this redeemer,
this sacrifice, this priest, this one whose name is secret. Oh has God taken of the things
of Jesus Christ and revealed Him unto you? Or are you still
stumbling about with your own learning and your own wisdom
and your own ideas of who Jesus Christ is and your own ideas
of what He did upon the cross? Or have you fallen on your face
having seen what He did, seen that He did wondrously take away
the sins of his people and make them to be the righteousness
of God. Have you seen that by faith or
are you still looking on by wisdom with your own intellect fumbling
about in darkness? Are you like Nebuchadnezzar hearing
a preacher tell you the truth and then going off to make your
own idols which you bow down and worship? Or has God made
His secret known unto you in a night vision? And has He taken
the name of His Son whose name is secret and revealed Him unto
you as He truly is? And shown what He did for you
upon the cross? And have you seen that He did
wondrously? And have you bowed upon the knee
before Him? Have you? Has He revealed His
secret unto you in a night vision? Now to him that is of power,
Paul says, to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching
of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery,
which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made
manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to
the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith, To God only wise be glory through
Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Amen.