Having received the revelation from God, Daniel asks to go to see the king. He also urged Arioch not to execute the wise men of Babylon. Now we might have expected Daniel not to care about the Babylonians. Babylon was the enemy of Judah and the wise men were worshippers of false gods. Who cares if they die? But Daniel did care and was compassionate towards them. At the time of writing (August 23, 2014) we are hearing about all the atrocities carried out by Isis (or IS), and there are many areas in the Arab world and Nigeria where Christians are suffering horribly. We are right to be incensed about this and to urge our governments to take action. However, we should also remember that the terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere are actually killing more Muslims than Christians. We should show concern for the Muslims who are suffering as well.
So Daniel gets to see the king. He also makes it clear that it is the Lord who has given him the interpretation, it is not any talent of his own.
Now see also that God is revealing Himself to this pagan king, this king who is destroying Jerusalem. We may despair at our increasingly secular leaders, but we must also pray for them. They may act as if there is no God, but there is a God, and this God can make Himself known to anyone. So we should pray.
Daniel then describes the dream and gives the interpretation. Babylon is immensely powerful, but it is the Lord who has given him this power.
The dream spoke of the decline of the Babylonian kingdom, and the kingdoms that will come after it. This is actually a theme of the whole of the book of Daniel. The other kingdoms are the Medo-Persian, initially under Cyrus, the Greek kingdom, under Alexander the Great, and finally the Roman empire. As time went on these kingdoms declined in power. Even today we can see our leaders actually having less and less power.
Verse 44 is then a prophecy of Christ's kingdom, the kingdom that will never end. His is the kingdom that destroys all others, and does so not by human power, but by divine power (2 Cor 10:3-5). We are part of the everlasting kingdom!
So Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that the Lord was God and promoted Daniel. Now this did not seem a likely outcome at all. Things happen in our life and all seems lost, disaster seeming to be the only possible outcome. We need to know our Lord, for it is He who decides all things.
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