Resources For Daniel 2 From Each Harderwyk Preacher
From Pastor Kyle Rodriguez - Fusion Preacher
From Daniel: The Preacher's Commentary (Sinclair Ferguson)
"Those of us who have plenty are anxious because we want to guarantee that there will always be plenty; those of us who lack what others have are anxious until we have it too. So long as we think of life on the horizontal plane alone, we can never be delivered from the deep-seated insecurity, the profound sense of angst that haunts our lives." (p. 45)
My thoughts:
As Sinclair Ferguson's quote above reminds us, seeking worldly wisdom and power here on earth is inherently futile. Too often its solutions fail, and apparent success is fleeting at best. But that does not mean that wisdom, and the power to act on that wisdom, cannot be found anywhere. While its root is in heaven, God allows it to bear fruit here on earth.
John Calvin said it like this: "Daniel, therefore, admonishes us not to seek in heaven alone for God's wisdom and power, since it is apparent to us on earth, and proofs of it are daily presented to our observation... it is not hidden within [God], but is made manifest to us, and we may perceive by familiar experience, how all wisdom flows from him as its exclusive fountain" (Calvin's Commentaries on Daniel, Lecture VII).
In other words, the wisdom and power of God can only be found in Him, but we have access to him! Unlike the unbelieving magicians who believed the gap between gods and men was too wide to bridge (v. 11), the people of God have direct access to the wisdom and power of God through our union with Christ and the intercession of the Holy Spirit.
So, we can heed the example of Daniel and the direction of James, who said: "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you" (James 1:5).
From Pastor Aaron VanderVeen - Watershed Preacher
From: Daniel - The NIV Application Bible Commentary by Tremper Longman
Our survey has also taught us something implicit about wisdom in Daniel 2, ut which is explicit elsewhere. The divine origin of wisdom means that at it foundation wisdom is not a lesson to be learned but a relationship to be enjoyed. Daniel's wisdom, contrary to that of the learned Babylonian astrologers, did not come from books of dream interpretation; instead, it came from a conversation, a prayer, with God himself.
Paul, realized, as Daniel did before him, that true wisdom is not the result of years of reading or even living life; rather, true wisdom is the result of a relationship, a relationship with the God who created and rules over the world. The apostle, chosen by God to testify to great acts of redemption, could speak more precisely than Daniel. If asked about the source of wisdom, he would reply: Jesus Christ. This what he means at the crescendo of his great discourse on the difference between true wisdom and the wisdom of this world (I Cor 2:10b-16)
From Pastor Bill Lindner - Celebration Preacher
"And About That Statue in the Dream - Daniel 2:27-45" by Pastor Bill
This is my rant - and hence on my own blog - about odd interpretations and the distractions they provide regarding the dream and it's interpretation in this chapter. CLICK HERE
From: How To Read Daniel by Tremper Longman, pp. 66 & 67
Many readers of Daniel 2 go right to the fantastic dream and its interpretation and believe that the first part of the chapter is simply setting the scene for the dream itself. Actually, though, the main point of the book is not the dream but rather showing the superiority of Yahweh’s wisdom to anything that the four men might have learned back at Babylonian University.
True wisdom comes directly from Yahweh, who gives it to those who fear him. At the end of chapter 1, we saw that Daniel and his friends were judged as superior in mind and body to the other students. The Babylonians attributed their success to their training and diet, but the four men (and those who read chapter 1) knew that their good looks came about in spite of their diet. By eating vegetables and drinking water, they gave God room to work. But when it came to their minds, they were judged as superior based on their mastery of the Babylonian curriculum. Here in chapter two, we learn that “wisdom” gets them nowhere. They had to depend on God and turn to him in faithful prayer to receive the answers to their questions. . . .
We should take note that Daniel shows concern for these pagan wise men (2:24), some of whose members will later seek to have him killed.
CLICK HERE to read a recent post about how the "Proximity-Empathy-God's Grace" pattern worked out through the life of Bethlehem Baptist Church in the recent rioting in Minneapolis. Gospel faithfulness over time was the key.
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