8/16/26
Rev. Clint Smith
Sermon Direct Link
Today’s sermon should cause each of us to fear God and have immense confidence in the God of the Bible, our Sovereign Father. Throughout Daniel 1–2, God showed Himself to be all-powerful, sovereign, faithful, and worthy of all glory.
Daniel and his friends did not end up in Babylon by accident. God had given Judah into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand. Even in judgment and captivity, God remained sovereign and faithful to His people.
It was God who brought Daniel into favor and goodwill with the chief official of King Nebuchadnezzar’s servants. Daniel 1:9
It was God who gave Daniel and his friends knowledge, skill, and wisdom in their learning. God also gave Daniel understanding in visions and dreams. Daniel 1:17
It was God who sustained them and elevated them in a godless society. When Nebuchadnezzar examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers in his kingdom. Daniel 1:20
God sovereignly placed Nebuchadnezzar in a gripping crisis. It was God who gave the king a troubling dream that exposed the limitations of Babylon’s wisdom.
The Chaldeans correctly grasped that the king’s demand was beyond human ability. No ordinary man could tell the king his dream and interpret it. They declared that such a thing could only be revealed by supernatural power.
Then the king’s executioner was sent to destroy the wise men, including Daniel and his friends. Daniel did not panic. Daniel trusted God. He asked the king for time so that he might seek mercy from the God of Heaven concerning the secret. Daniel gathered Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and they prayed and sought the mercies of God concerning the mystery. And God answered.
God revealed what no man could know. The secret was not discovered by human wisdom, education, experience, or investigation. God revealed it. Daniel immediately gave God the glory as he should and as we should.