Sheridan Lake Bible Church
SLBC Sunday March 1, 2026
  • Thank You Jesus For The Blood
  • At The Cross (Love Ran Red)
  • Approach My Soul

      • Ephesians 2:8–10KJV1900

  • Amazing Grace
  • Grace Greater Than Our Sin
  • You Are My All In All
  • As we begin this morning, go ahead and turn in your copies of God’s Word to Daniel chapter 2. This morning we will be looking at verses 19-24 and we will be reading those verse shortly, so go ahead and have them marked and ready for that time.
    Our worship theme this month is Sola Gratia which highlights that our salvation is by God’s grace alone. God’s great grace is seen over and over again in the pages of the Book of Daniel.
    To Sundays ago, in a message entitled Sleepless In Babylon, we looked at The Nightmare of the King, where we discussed the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had that shook him to the core. He knew the dream meant something, but what that was he didn’t know. So he called in some of his advisors to seek out, not only its interpretation, but also, he wanted them to literally tell him what the dream was, without any hints from him. Reading through this Biblical account, we get the impressions that he didn’t have a great deal of trust in his advisors, feeling that if he told them what the dream was, they’d just put their heads together and make up some interpretation that would appease the king and get them paid. Requiring them to tell him the dream outright, created what we determined was The Nightmare of the Wise Men of Babylon, because the king made it very clear, if they didn’t tell him both the dream and its interpretation, he would have the torn limb from limb.
    When challenged to tell the dream and its interpretation to the king, his advisors replied to Nebuchadnezzar;
    English Standard Version Chapter 2

    There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. 11 The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

    Which was an accurate assessment of their false gods, who came from the imagination of men, and were made by human hands. They had eyes, but couldn’t see, ears but couldn’t hear and mouths but couldn’t speak.
    The same could not be said for the God of Daniel, Who is everywhere present, not bound by time and space, not limited in any way. The God of Daniel was the sovereign Creator. He didn’t come from the imagination of man, rather He gave them their imaginations. His eyes are all seeing, missing nothing in all of creation, His ears know the very thoughts of all mankind, He speaks through the rustling wind, through the powerful thunderclaps the light the sky, through the earthquakes that shake the earth, and through the still small voice that whispers in the night. In other words, while the false gods of the world do not dwell with flesh, our God does, in all 3 parts of the Trinity!
    The inability of the kings advisors to meet his request brought about The Mid-night Knock at the Door of Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah & Misheal. Unfortunately, this nightmare scenario didn’t just affect the kings advisors that were present that night, but also Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah & Misheal, as they were also considered a part of the kings advisors.
    In his commentary on the Book of Daniel, Daniel Akin beautifully pointed out that God Creates Impossible Situations to Reveal His Greatness. Which we see clearly as we move through, not just Daniel 2, but also the rest of this marvelous book.
    Even though the king was unwilling to give his other advisors additional time to fulfill his request, we see Daniel’s Unreasonable Request, he requests more time, the nerve of this guy! Yet reading on we see God Moves the Heart of an Unreasonable King, granting Daniel additional time. Daniel exercises great wisdom with his additional time as he calls a prayer meeting. After which we get the impression Daniel experiences great peace, even to the point it appears he is able to fall asleep! Which is when God reveals the dream and it’s interpretation during a vision of the night.
    With that, would you please stand, in honor of the reading of God’s Word?
    Daniel 2:19–23 ESV
    “Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said: ‘Blessed be the Name of God forever and ever, to Whom belong wisdom and might. 21 He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; 22 He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. 23 To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king’s matter.’ 24 Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.”
    May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word, please be seated.
    Now, let’s go before the Lord in prayer;
    "Father, what we do not know, teach us; what we have not, give us; what we are not, make us. For Your Son's sake. Amen"
    I noted above Daniel Akins heading for verses 2:1-16 earlier;
    God Creates Impossible Situations to Reveal His Greatness. 2:1-16
    I also love his heading for verse 17-23, and while we looked at verses 17 to the beginning of 19 2 weeks ago, I’d like to use his heading as we begin this morning.
    God Delights in the Prayers and Praise of His Children. 2:17-23
    As we noted 2 weeks ago, as we continue through the book of Daniel, we quickly see that Daniels first course of action is to seek the Face of God. In this instance, the moment he is faced with the impossible request placed before him by King Nebuchadnezzar, he assembles his 3 companions, and together the 3 of them seek the Face of the God of the impossible.
    Before we look at Daniels magnificent and theologically rich song of praise to the God Who revealed the kings dream as well as the interpretation, let’s consider 1 particular title for God that Daniel repeats 5 times in this chapter.
    We first see it in verse 18 leading up to Daniel and his 3 companions time of prayer. I find this title of particular interest when I consider what the advisors had said about the false gods they worshipped earlier in chapter 2. In verse 11 they referred to their false gods as those “whose dwelling is not with flesh”. Of course they don’t dwell with flesh, they’re fake, figments of the imagination. Whereas Daniel worshipped the One True God, the omniscient God, Who is everywhere present. 5 times in chapter 2 Daniel refers to God as “God of heaven”.
    In verse 18 they sought “mercy from the God of heaven”.
    In verse 19 “Daniel blessed the God of heaven”.
    In verse 28, as Daniel stands before the king, he begins by letting the king know that his advisors were indeed correct “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked”, but he goes on to add; “but there is a God in heaven Who reveals mysteries”.
    In verse 37, as Daniel is giving the king the interpretation to his dream, in some ways you could say that Daniel puts his life on the line when he declares the kings frailty by letting the king know that the only reason he is in power is because “the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory…” among other things to him. Honestly, Daniel had no fear because he knew that “the God of heaven” was also in control of his life!
    Then in verse 44, after just letting King Nebuchadnezzar know that his kingdom would one day be overthrown (again a pretty gutsy statement), Daniel lets the king know that there was coming a kingdom that “the God of heaven will set up” that will “stand forever”.
    There is a important significance to Daniel highlighting “the God of heaven”.
    You see history gives us a picture of why the Babylonian wise men seemed to have an ability to interpret dreams. Historians tell us they had studied dreams for years. Studied the types of dreams people had, that had recorded volume after volume of documents on dreams, from the ages of the ones dreaming, to their wealth level, to the types of dreams, to the frequency of the dreams, to what happened to the individuals after the dreams. They studied and recorded every possible detail surrounding dreams. So when someone would come to them with a dream, once they heard the dream they would go into their studies and search through their volumes to find a scenario similar to the one they were presented with, then they would tailor it to the current dream, and provide an interpretation.
    Not to different from what we see in the field of law in our day and age. When you go into an office of a trial lawyer, you see behind him shelf after shelf of case laws, and their library doesn’t end there, they extend to many other offices and shelfs. When you present them with a legal dilemma, they begin to search their law-books for similar cases and case law and use those in building the defense or prosecution. That is why the kings advisor were in such a dilemma, when the king didn’t tell them the dream.
    In these 5 verse where Daniel highlights”the God of heaven”. He is contrasting himself to all the other wise men of the king, who were completely dependent on case studies of seances, or divination, or whatever else they could come up with to interpret dreams. Daniel did none of those things. Instead, he prayed and sought “mercy from the God of heaven”, and “the God of heaven” revealed to Daniel that which he sought.
    What we see next is something that becomes clear on a regular basis throughout Scripture, prayer turns to praise.
    Which leads us to;
    Daniel’s Song of Praise. Vs. 20-23
    While verses 20-23 are listed on our slide, in reality, it begins in Daniel identifying Who he is giving praise and honor; the God of Heaven. He adds to the identity in verse 20 when he writes, “Blessed be the Name of God”.
    In other words,
    Daniel begins by identifying the One he is Praising.
    In his commentary of Daniel, John Walvoord writes;
    Daniel D. Guiltless in Babylon (2:17–23)

    Daniel praised the name of God as David frequently did in his psalms. Griffith Thomas tells us, “The name stands in Holy Scripture for the nature or revealed character of God, and not a mere label or title. It is found very frequently in the Old Testament as synonymous with God Himself in relation to man.… In the New Testament the same usage is perfectly clear” (quoted in Walvoord, Daniel, p. 56).

    From there Daniel moves to;
    The Timeframe of the Praise. Vs. 20
    To a God Who knows no limits, Who is omniscient (all knowing), Who is omnipotent (all powerful), Who is omnipresent (everywhere present), Who is immutable (unchanging), Who is not bound by time and space, therefore He knows the beginning from the end, to that type of God, there is no timeframe on the praise due His Name, therefore Daniel makes it clear that the timeframe for the praise due His Name is “forever and ever?.
    From the timeframe of the praise Daniel moves to some of;
    The Character traits or Attributes of God. Vs. 20-23
    First he identifies God as the One;
    To Whom Belongs Wisdom & Might. Vs. 20
    Notice Daniel places wisdom & might together;
    Rodney Stortz, who was a pastor and served on the board of directors for Transworld Radio for a number of years, wrote the following regarding the wisdom & power Daniel highlights in verse 20;
    Daniel—The Triumph of God’s Kingdom The Praise (2:19b-23)

    Daniel praised the God of heaven for his power, wisdom, and revelation. Many rulers and leaders in the world have power but lack wisdom. They can be very dangerous because their power is not kept in line through wisdom. And many people in the world are wise, but they are not in positions of power; so their wisdom may be useless in bringing good to many people. But God is both powerful and wise. He governs the world with wisdom; so we need not fear his power. But what Daniel discovered that is most amazing is that God is willing to share some of that wisdom and power with simple and helpless people to bring glory to his name.

    Daniel then goes on to highlight the significance of God’s might. For a comparison, lets look at Sampson in Judges 15. Sampson was so powerful that he was able to kill 1,000 Philistine warriors with the jawbone of a donkey. That’s pretty impressive, but not compared to God. For instance, who was it that gave Sampson his great power? (The God of Heaven). In other words, he was nothing without God. Now lets look at the power of God as Daniel lays it out. Daniel begins by saying;
    Daniel 2:21 ESV
    He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings…
    As powerful as Sampson was physically, and again his physical power came from God, he had no ability whatsoever to change the times and the seasons. Yet what do we see of God’s power over the realms of nature? Remember how Jesus calmed the storm in the Gospel of Mark? How did He calm the storm? (He spoke peace be still).
    And while Sampson killed thousands of Philistines, the arch enemies of the people of God, there is n record of him removing or setting up kings.
    But as we move forward in Daniel, we see God’s ability throughout history to set up and remove kings. It’s one of the hallmarks of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and it is something we see multiple other times in the Book of Daniel as well.
    But Daniel knew of God’s power to set up and remove kings long before God gave him both the kings dream as well as its interpretation. There is little doubt that Daniel would have been familiar with the prophet Isaiah. Perhaps he had committed Isaiah 40:22-25 to memory?
    Isaiah 40:22–25 ESV
    It is He (God) Who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 Who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when He blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare Me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
    By the way, we should take hold of this truth the next time an election doesn’t go the way we’d like it to go. Rather than get bent out of shape and angry at the results, we simply need to understand that our great God is in control and we need to trust that this is all a part of his perfect plan, even though we may not understand it.
    From highlighting God’s might, he then highlights God’s wisdom when he writes;
    Daniel 2:21 ESV
    He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding...
    In other words, the omniscient all knowing God is the One Who gives wisdom and understanding to man. Which Daniel takes even further in verse 22 where he writes;
    Daniel 2:22 ESV
    He reveals deep and hidden things…
    God knew the details of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream for at least 2 reasons. First, He is the One that gave the king the dream. Daniel points that out to the king in verse 29 where he let’s the king know that
    Daniel 2:29 ESV
    “He (God is the One) Who reveals mysteries made know to you (King Nebuchadnezzar) what is to be..”
    And secondly, because God can literally see into the heart and mind of mankind.
    We saw this clearly displayed when we were going through the Gospel of Mark. Remember in chapter 2 when Jesus was speaking to a standing room only crowd in Capernaum? How 4 friends of a paralyzed man cut a hole in the roof of the home and lowered their paralyzed friend down to Jesus. What did Jesus say to the paralyzed man laying there before Him? “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Scripture goes on to declare what some of the teachers of the law were “thinking to themselves”. Keep in mind what we have been reminded of time and time again regarding what is recorded in these pages, there is nothing here by accident! In other words, there is nothing here to indicate they were speaking out-loud and Jesus overheard them! To add to this, Mark writes “Immediately Jesus knew in His Spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts”.
    Of course in this gospel account, Jesus verifies His power to see into the hearts and minds of men as well as His power to forgive sins and heal even a paralyzed man when He says to the complaining teachers of the law; “But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”.
    Adding to the wisdom of God, Daniel points out;
    Daniel 2:22 ESV
    He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.
    King David understood this as well and recorded that understanding in Psalm 139:12
    Psalm 139:12 ESV
    …even the darkness is not dark to You; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You.
    Rodney Stortz, whom I quoted earlier beautifully highlighted this when he wrote;
    “The Lord also “knows what lies in darkness.” The Hebrew word translated “darkness” comes from a root word that means “concealed”. God knows those things that are concealed from all men, such as the future of the kingdoms of this world. Again we can take heart as we look to the future, which is all unknown to us. Though we do not know what the future holds, we know Who holds the future, and we can trust Him. This God Who knows our future and holds our future says, “I know the plans I have for you … plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).”
    In verse 23, Daniel moves back to praise and thanksgiving when he writes;
    Daniel 2:23 ESV
    To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king’s matter.”
    A short time after Daniel, and I am guessing Hananiah, Misheal and Azariah, sang this song of praise to The God of heaven, Daniel would be standing in the presence of the king. A king who, from a human standpoint, held the lives of Daniel and his 3 friends his hands, and Daniel was tasked with revealing to the king what only The God of heaven knew! That is until The God of heaven revealed this great mystery to him. Thus Daniel closes out this great song of praise by once again bringing praise and honor to God. He opens and closes his song praising God.
    As we close, the next thing we see is;
    Daniel Show Compassion on the other Wise Men. Vs. 24
    Moving forward in Daniel, time and time again we see these wise men try to destroy Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah and Misheal, yet a godly Daniel shows compassion towards them. Which is highlighted in verse 24;
    Daniel 2:24 ESV
    Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.”
    His compassion is another good lesson for us to follow.
    Let’s close our time this morning in prayer.
    O great God of heaven, what a joy it is for us to come before You this morning. Father, I’d like to echo the song of Daniel; “Blessed be the Name of God forever and ever, to Whom belong wisdom and might. 21 (You) change times and seasons; (You) removes kings and set up kings; (You) give wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; 22 (You) reveal deep and hidden things; (You) know what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with (You). 23 To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise”
    Father, I praise You this morning as The Rock of Ages, the One in Whom I can hide. The One Who provided for us the water and the blood which flowed freely From Thy wounded side. And because of that crimson flow, we have been saved from wrath and made pure. Thou must save, and Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring; Simply to the cross I cling! And in clinging to the Cross of Calvary I say, Sola Gratia, by grace alone I have been saved.
    In Jesus Name I pray, Amen

      • Daniel 2:19–23KJV1900

      • Daniel 2:21KJV1900

      • Isaiah 40:22–25KJV1900

      • Daniel 2:21KJV1900

      • Daniel 2:22KJV1900

      • Daniel 2:29KJV1900

      • Daniel 2:22KJV1900

      • Psalm 139:12KJV1900

      • Daniel 2:23KJV1900

      • Daniel 2:24KJV1900

  • Rock of Ages
  • May the Lord
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