PROTESTANT CHRISTIANITY: DANIEL CHAPTER 2

DISCLAIMER: RELIGION IS ALWAYS A VERY SENSITIVE ISSUE TO DISCUSS. IT IS SADLY THE CAUSE OF MANY CONFLICTS AND WARS AMONG MANKIND. THIS IS MEANT TO BE A PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN POST FROM THE BIBLE THAT HAS THE NEW AND OLD TESTAMENT FOR PRESBYTERIANS AND METHODISTS, AND OTHER PROTESTANTS TOO. I BELIEVE THE NET GIVES ME THE FREEDOM TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL SO I WILL USE THIS OPPORTUNITY. I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS WORLD IS MADE UP OF DIFFERENT SECTS, RELIGIONS, BELIEFS, THINKINGS AND FAITHS. THUS, IF MY POST CLASHES WITH YOURS, PLEASE FORGIVE ME BECAUSE I AM POSTING FROM THE BREATH AND WORD OF GOD FAITHFULLY FROM THE BIBLE IN METHODIST / PRESBYTERIAN INTERPRETATIONS, CLINGING ON STRONGLY ON THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGES IT WAS WRITTEN BY THE PROPHETS. I KNOW IT WILL CLASH WITH PHILOSOPHY, SOCIOLOGY, SCIENCE, ASTRONOMY, ISLAM, BUDDHISM, HINDUISM AND MANY OTHER RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD WITH DIFFERENT DOCTRINES AND IDEOLOGIES. SO AGAIN, IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH WHAT I SAID, PLEASE FORGIVE ME AND JUST DON'T READ ON. FOR THOSE WHO ARE CURIOUS OR INTERESTED, YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED TO READ AND GIVE COMMENTS OR OPINIONS. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO INSULT, BELITTLE, CONDEMN, DISCRIMINATE, CRITICIZE, CONFUSE, DISTURB AND MAKE FUN OF YOU. IT IS MEANT TO BE A FRIENDLY POST NOT MEANT TO HURT ANYBODY SO PLEASE DISCUSS IN CONTEXT. YOUR COOPERATION IS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. ANY MISTAKE/S MADE BY ME ON THIS POST CAN BE CORRECTED BY OTHER PROTESTANT CHRISTIANS WHO KNOW BETTER. I AM ALSO NO BETTER AND STILL LEARNING THE WORD OF GOD.

BACKGROUND

Daniel Chapter 1 is an introduction of the book. A musical always begins with the overture that plays tunes and songs that are going to be present in the whole production. Daniel Chapter 1 is like an overture that plays the major themes and messages that will present time and over again in the book. The book started with the unthinkable that is happening on the international scene, national scene and personal scene. They are losing the battle on all fronts. God's king, Jehoiakim had been captured by a pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar. God's city Jerusalem had been conquered by a pagan city, Babylon. God Himself seems to be defeated; His own temple in Jerusalem, the vessels in it had been taken and installed in the temple in Babylonia.

Why is it happening to God's people? It is because the people had committed apostasy. Marriages break down because of adultery. Adultery happens because the man has an affair or the woman has a fling. The heart of adultery is betrayal, the abandonment of the person you love. Apostasy is simply the betrayal and the abandonment of God by trusting in other substitutes. They committed spiritual apostasy by betraying God to trust in idols of the pagans. They also committed political apostasy by making alliances and treaties with other pagan kings and nations. They could not trust God to give them security economically, politically and any other way.

That is why the unthinkable was happening to God's people. God was judging His king, city and people. He did it in the most unthinkable way. He raised a foreign, enemy pagan king to do God's saving plan. God was handling over the judgment of His own people to an enemy king. However, the important message is how God raised His enemies to carry out His purposes to save His people and the world. Daniel Chapter 2 will zoom into that.

1. A King, a dream and all the king's men (2:1-11)
2. A King, a dream and God's man (2:12-49)

This is King Nebuchadnezzar on his 2nd year of his rule and he could not sleep because there was a dream that was bothering him. He was so bothered that he called his whole professional class of magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to solve his dream. They were like the 3rd eye and sixth sense of the nation. Their main work is to keep in touch with the spirits in the spiritual world which will inform us of life in the human horizontal level.

The problem is that if you need to interpret a dream, you need the content. Either the king forgot the dream or he remembered his dream but purposely wanted to test his wise men. Either way, the professional class did not know the dream and could not interpret. It had become a national crisis because the king threatened to kill the entire group of his civil service. In this situation of national deadlock, there stood Daniel, an exile, a defeated and conquered person. The key solution to the national crisis lies in a bunch of slaves.

The whole event is to have the pagan king to be introduced to God's men. Daniel and his friends pleaded for God's mercy and hopefully God will hear. He also knew that God holds the future. Daniel was able to tell the dream and interpretted the dream. Daniel's God was acknowledged by the king not like any other pagan gods they have. The whole episode finishes with the pagan king promoting the exiles to high positions of power.

3. Learning and Living with the God of Dreams.
a. Mistaken lessons:
(i) God's main and sole way of revelation is by dreams.

We cannot extrapolate a once off incident to be an all encompassing truth. In the book of Daniel, it is a widespread practice in Babylonian world to interpret dreams. Why? This is because there was a whole class of professionals to keep in touch with the spirits in the spiritual world. They were like the service providers who help you to communicate with the spirits. The lesson of this book is not about dreams, visions and interpretation of them to hold the future, but God who holds the future.

God's main way of revealing Himself is not by dreams but by His written and spoken word. The method of revealing Himself through dreams is very prevalent in the society so God was using the instruments available to Him.

(ii) Understanding God is only for the spiritual elite or enlightened.

In Chapter 1, it is mentioned that Daniel eats vegetables. Maybe he fasted from meat and also they pleaded with God in Chapter 2 that God gave him this spiritual insight. This is not because he had the spiritual discipline.

Chapter 1 of the book of Daniel is written in Hebrew (the language of the Jews), Chapter 2 to 7 in Aramaic and Chapter 8 to 12 in Hebrew again. Why so? Aramaic is the lingua franca of the time, the international language and so it seems to be the content and interpretation of the dream is for all the other nations (including Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan king) to hear. It means that these dreams and interpretations are not reserved solely for the spiritual elites and spiritual enlightened. It is a global message for all to hear.

b. True lessons
(i) God and His saving Purpose is reality
Dream: God's Reality - Interpretation: God's faithful - Life: Man's unreality or delusion

The dream actually stay in touch with God who is a reality, His words which is a reality and His purpose which is a reality. That means the dream is God's reality, it is objective, the truth and non-negotiable. The interpretation actually comes to God's faithful person, Daniel. God's faithful instrument, a faithful Jew caught in exile. It is not given to pagans. If the dream is God's reality, then life on earth under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar is a delusion. An unreality. The king, his conquests, his empires and his policies are real. However, he thinks he is king, but it is God who is king. He is deluded that he is king. He thought it is he who causes the rise and fall of nations. This is wrong because it is not the human kings who have power who caused this, but it is the purpose of the divine and true king - God. This world is masterful to changing realities and to just paint it over with something else.

(i) God and His Kingdom will triumph over man's kingdoms. (verse 31-33)

Chronology of Major Empires in Daniel:
-Head of Gold- Babylon (2:48) Babylonia (626BC - 539BC)
-Chest and Arms of Silver- Medo-Persia (8:20) Medo-Persia (539BC - 330BC)
-Belly and Thighs of Bronze-Greece (8:21) Greece (330BC - 63BC) (including Ptolemies and Seleucids and 167BC - Maccabees and Nasmoneans)
-Legs of Iron, Feet of Clay- Rome (63BC- (AD 70-Fall of Jerusalem)

Man's Kingdom:
Image = progress and regress of human empires

Why progress? Progress because this image is made of metal. It has weight, value and is durable. It is of increasing durability of long lasting-ness. When it finally come true as human empires, the whole picture seems clear. The head started with the empire of Babylonia, lasted around 90-100 years. The Persian empire came to power later and lasted 200 years. This is being followed by the Greek empire which lasted around 223-250 years and finally followed by the Roman empire that lasted about 400-450 years after it collapsed in the 4th century AD.

On the other hand, these metals also represent the regress of human empires. It seems to go down from gold to silver to bronze to iron and to clay. From the most valuable to the least valuable metal.

One image = worldwide political power = worldwide rebellion
Different faces, same dream or ambition

This is telling God we can rule the world without you. We can do very well with our politics and rulers and governments. The image is about successive political governments and all exercising worldwide rebellion against God. These are just different phases or stages of the same human dream, the same proud ambition to live life without God. Now, Nebuchadnezzar and the current Babylon is the latest contemporary phase of worldwide political power, of worldwide rebellion against the rule God. It is all about us doing it our way against God, without Him. This is the essence and character of all human kingdoms symbolized by our human empires. It is also about God's kingdom, not human empires alone.

God's Kingdom: uncut rock = not man made (verse 34-35)
Mountain = Zion image
Filled the earth = God's worldwide and everlasting rule
(verse 44-45)

This is the content of the dream. Why is the rock an uncut rock? This is because it is from God, not man-made and it is natural. It comes from God's purpose and from God's hands. It is then a divine thing. It grows and grows into a mountain. In the ancient Bablylonian world, a mountain is the meeting place between the gods and men. They feel closer to the gods, it is a symbol.

Isaiah 2:1-4

Here is the true mountain among mountains, so here is God among all the false idols and gods. On this mountain, which is Zion, is built the city of God, Jerusalem. The highlight of this city is the temple. Isaiah the prophet foresees a day that the mountain will no longer be in the Middle-East. There will come a mountain, a new city, a new temple. This temple is not for the Jews only but all nations. When they come, they will worship this God. The law of the Lord will flow out from this mountain. The words of God will go out from this mountain and the nations will lay down their weapons and they will live in peace with one another.

This means one day there will come a mountain, a city, a temple where all nations will be gathered for worldwide worship of God. It will be everlasting - age after age it will last. This is the key of the dream. What is this mountain? What is city? What is this temple?

John 2: 19-22

The scenario here is that they are debating about this temple. Jesus said destroy this temple although it takes them a long time to build. It is a glorious human temple but you destroy it and I will raise it in 3 days. What Jesus is talking about is his body, not the temple. That by his death on the cross for our sins, by his resurrection from the dead, he will now be the new meeting place between God and men. The new meeting place then is not a place, Jesus is the person, he is the new meeting place. He is the one who tears the curtains and made the way available and accessible for us sinners to know the Holy God. This is not for Israel alone, but the whole nations to come and know the God. Thus, Jesus is the new mountain, the city, the temple. Since Jesus is raised, He is the everlasting kingship with the everlasting kingdom that destroys all of men's kingships and kingdoms.

c. Half-true lessons
(i) Discovering Israel and Babylon
(ii) Revealing Israel and Babylon

This is about discovering God's people and discovering God's enemy. Discover is the word used here because we are still working out who are the people who are going to enter God's kingdom and who are God's enemy who will oppose Him and His people. The Israel that is there in the Middle-East today is not the Israel God speaks about in the New Testament. The Israel which is there now is the Israel conceived after the World War II by human political will and propped up by military might. In some senses, deal with injustice to the fellow human beings, the Palestinians.

The Israel that God speaks about is a different Israel, so is the Babylon. Babylon is actually the new day Iraq so is it Saddam Hussein? He is the new king Nebuchadnezzar and now we had gotten rid of him, we had gotten rid of God's worst enemy. This is not the way the bible goes. We should not go to look for any one person who is the enemy of God or any one party, movement or event. There is a book written few years ago called the Bible Code. It picks up all the numbers in the bible and analyzed in the computer to come out with the person, the event, movements and prophecies hidden in the bible. This is a very wrong thing because without the computers, we will never get to understand the bible because it is a bible code.

This is the wrong way because it is a book of God's spoken words and written to us all. It is not written so that only the spiritual elites or the computer programmers can understand it. The only reason we cannot unravel the bible is because we have not spent enough time on our own understanding the tools of interpretation and the history. Once we understand it, it becomes clear. God is speaking to us His words so it is not about us discovering by our human wisdom from age to age who are God's enemies and God's people. We keep looking for Babylon and that is not the right way to read the bible. This is because it locks us in to look for that one anti-Christ, Babylon that is God's final enemy.

It is more so about God revealing Israel and Babylon to us. As the whole salvation plan is now fulfilled in a person of Jesus. God reveals to us Israel.

Ephesians 2:11-13
1 Peter 2 9-10
New Israel = Spiritual Israel

How many races and nationalities have the world? There are too many to name. From God's perspective, there are only two races of humanity. In the Old Testament, you are either Jews, His chosen people or Gentiles. God is working out his purpose to save the world first to the Jews, his people. To the Jews he gave his first installment of citizenship of His kingdom and gave them His covenant. That means his people have hope because they have God. To the Gentiles at that time, we are excluded from this covenant and His words. That means we are without hope and without God. Now that Jesus has come, we are brought to God as well.

There is now a new definition of Israel. The new Israel is both elected Jews chosen by God and elected Gentiles chosen by God to be saved who believe in Jesus. This is the new definition of Israel. Israel is no longer the political, military and geographic Israel at the Middle-East. All us Gentiles who believe in Jesus had also partaken the covenant and citizenship of heaven first offered to Israel. God's people are the new Israel. The condition is to believe in Jesus to enter God's kingdom. It is through the blood and body of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 18: 1-8

Who is Babylon then? It is not Saddam Hussein or Iraq. The language of the book of Revelation is symbolic. To understand the book of Revelation is to understand the book of Daniel because there are a lot of connections. Babylon is a symbol and one day it will fall and be destroyed. This is because God will bring judgment upon Babylon. Babylon is a picture of religious adultery and the place where invent religion to take away our beliefs in God.

The other way how Babylon misleads the people of the world and the people who believe in God is by the economic policies that Babylon sets. That means the merchants of this world created a new reality.

Revelation 18: 20, 24

Babylon will mistreat the people of God, servants of God who believe in God. They are made holy because of Jesus. God will judge Babylon. Babylon rejoices in the temptation of God's people, the church and the death of God's people, the church.

Revelation 13:1-18

666 is one short of perfection in every count. It is an imitation of God. The summary is that the dragon in Chapter 5 is the serpent and devil.

Babylon is:
1. The human 'face' of Satan and evil
2. Babylon = Anti-God, Anti-Christ, Anti-church
3. Babylon is not anyone person or event, she is the human face of Satan
4. Babylon's attitude in spirit of worldwide rebellion against God and His purposes and His people in political power we exercised against God

At the time this book is written, John is at the island of Patmos and he referenced Rome and the Emperor. He uses symbols. He is saying what we are dealing with at the back of the scene is Satan but Satan uses the human instrument to do his works. This will include to persecute the church, to go against Christ and His works.

5. Babylon's anti-God, Christ and anti-church goal is wielded / exercised through:
(a) Political power
(b) Religious power
(c) Economic power

One way of persecuting your belief in God is by pressurizing you economically. It is very hard to be a Christian in Pakistan, Indonesia and other places in the world because they burn down churches by the dozens. This is the human face of Satan working through the political, religious and economic realities. Satan is painting a different world which we must give. If the politics is real, the religion is real, the economics is real, if you don't do it this way, the reality makes us give our lives, love and loyalty and give up on Jesus and God's salvation plan.

Arguably the most Christian nation in Europe prior to World War 2 was Germany. This is because the reformation begins there. We ask why the most Christian nation allows a man like Adolf Hitler to rise to power. Germany began poorer and poorer then. Then came a man who promised a new political and economic reality. This is arguably the most Christian nation with the best thinkers, artists and philosophers; he knew that he had to win over the population.

How to win over the Christian population? You win over the pastors because the pastors will go back and convince the congregations. Hitler had an opening reception with this group of pastors. He brought them to tour his office and shared with them. One of the pastors asked on behalf of the whole group, "What is your guiding principle in life?" Hitler reached into his coat and pulled out the bible. When he pulled out his bible, the pastors were convinced that this man is a serious Christian. They went back to their churches and told the congregation that they could believe in this man. He turned out to be truly a nasty person. A guy named Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor, saw through it all. He said this guy is no Christian. He said they needed to get rid of Hitler and fought against his Nazi regime.

There is a movie out called Bonhoffer, hopefully it will reach Malaysia and Singapore. At least, read through the books published on it. He was hanged in the concentration camp at Flossenburg on April 9, 1945, one of four members of his immediate family to die at the hands of the Nazi regime for their participation in the small Protestant resistance movement. What caused them not to see it? This is because Adolf Hitler was a master of painting realities - a new political reality and a new economic reality. So much so that the Christians could not see that the ultimate reality was God, His words, His salvation plan in Jesus Christ. That the ultimate enemy they need to fight is sin, God's wrath and coming judgment. That was the reality. That reality can only be overcome by Jesus Christ. However when people become poor, our tendencies to buy into new realities is great. Money is powerful enough to blind us all.

The book of Daniel is about God and His reality. It is about His words and reality. It is about the gospel and reality. All others that painted to us are men's delusions to blur us from the reality. It takes away our life, our love and our loyalty from our God.

OUR INTERPRETATION OF CHRISTIANITY IS ABOUT JESUS CHRIST AS THE CENTER OF THE FOCUS. GOD PREPARES THE WORLD TO BE RULED BY HIM. HE WILL COME AS OUR KING. GOD'S WORDS AND BREATH IS KEPT IN A BOOK CALLED THE BIBLE. A BIBLE IS BEST READ IN ITS TOTALITY, AND NOT BY ABSTRACTING A WORD, PART OF A VERSE, OR A CHAPTER, OR A BOOK BECAUSE IT WILL CREATE OUT OF CONTEXT INTEPRETATIONS AND CONFUSION. THE RELIGION WHICH WE WILL PREFER TO CALL MORE AS A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TRINITY (GOD, HIS SON JESUS CHRIST AND THE HOLY GHOST) IS TO FOCUS ON THEM. NOT THE PASTOR, NOT YOU, NOT ME, NOT ANY HUMAN BEING. WE ARE ONLY GOD'S PEOPLE WHO PROCLAIM TO YOU HIS WORDS AND HAVE NO POWER AND ABILITY TO SAVE YOU FROM SIN OR PERFORM MIRACULOUS ACTS. WE ARE CREATED BY GOD TO WORSHIP HIM AND NOT HIM BEING IN OUR STORY. IT IS NOT ABOUT GOD TAKING PART IN YOUR LIFE BUT YOU TO TAKE PART IN GOD'S PLAN (IN HIS SON) OF SALVATION.