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Alistair Huong

Alistair Huong: Book of Daniel

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Daniel Bible Study: Chapter 2 (Part 1)

Now, real quickly, can somebody very briefly tell me what Daniel, chapter 2 is about?

To our fellow wise men, tell them the dream I nailed on your fidget spinner.

Well, you know, you guys are, I don't know if you guys know what I'm going to say or what, but generally people say the image or the king has a dream about the kingdoms of the world or something like that.

But none of you mentioned that and that's really good because we're not talking about that tonight.

So what we're going to do today is we're going to go through the first part of Daniel, which actually is the majority of it.

And that is hopefully going to wet your appetite.

It's going to make you just really want to know what the rest of the chapter is about.

I don't want to do all the reading, so let's start with...

Alright, Joey, why don't you read from verse 1 to verse 9.

Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him.

Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the kings his dreams.

And the king said to them, I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.

Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic.

Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.

But the king answered and said to the Chaldeans, my decision is firm.

If you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation, you shall be cut into pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap.

However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor.

Therefore, tell me the dream and its interpretation.

They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servant the dream, and we will give its interpretation.

The king answered and said, I know for certain that you would gain time, because you see that my decision is firm.

If you do not make known the dream to me, there is only 1 decree for you, for you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times have changed.

Therefore, tell me the dream and I will know that you can give me its interpretation." So, the story is very self-explanatory.

It's like a real thrilling introduction to something that just gets you on your toes, right?

But let's look at it a little bit closely.

The most powerful guy in the entire world.

And based on history, we know that Nebuchadnezzar conquered the then known world.

Not only conquered the then known world, he was an architectural genius.

And somehow, this incredible mighty man, probably a man of great valor, been through hundreds, thousands of battles, he's been through thick and thin, he's been through it all.

He has a dream and his dream scares him so much that he can't sleep.

Wait a second here, There must be something unusual about this dream, don't you think?

And on top of that, just based on those of you who have read it before or heard the story before, what's to dream about?

Well let me ask you this way, is to dream about, is it like a nightmare?

I mean, you dream, I mean, maybe in his dream he had the perspectives and the sound effects that made it sound really scary, but I don't know that.

But based upon what the dream is about, he sees an image with a head of gold and chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay, and then a rock comes and smashes the thing.

I mean, maybe I'm too desensitized, but watched too many movies when I was young or something.

But to me, that doesn't sound like something that should scare a warrior like Nebuchadnezzar.

So there's something unusual about this dream right from the front.

From verse 1 we can see, wait a second, this is not supposed to happen.

Verse 2, Then the king commanded to call the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans for to show the king his dreams.

Now before we go deeper into that verse, I want to look back in Daniel chapter 1 and verse 20.

So who is the them that they're talking about here?

So wait a second, just a few verses before, the king had to pronounce Daniel and his 3 friends 10 times wiser than all the magicians, all the astrologers, all the wise men.

Now, just a couple of verses down, the king is troubled and he calls all the magicians and astrologers and sorcerers, but Daniel and his friends aren't there.

Something strange there, don't you think?

Now before we answer that question, we'll need to go a little bit farther before we find the answer to that question.

We see here the list of the people that are called.

First is the Magician, second Astrologers, third Sorcerers, fourth the Chaldeans.

Now I don't know if you all know what the Chaldeans are, but based on a book by Uriah Smith called Daniel and the Revelation, the name Chaldean simply is a type of philosopher that studies supernatural things, like magic and all of this sort of stuff.

So, based upon that definition of Chaldeans, looking at all of these people, who are they?

They all seem sort of almost interchangeable.

They're all dealing with the dark side of the supernatural.

Daniel Bible Study: Chapter 2 (Part 2)

Alright, if you have your Bibles, please turn to Daniel chapter 2.

And I guess, for those of you who were here last week, I guess I owe you an explanation as to where I was.

I was at Weimar for a week of prayer with Peter Gregory.

And just as a brief introduction, the Lord was really blessed.

There was great spiritual revival and repentance and coming together unity between the students and the staff and you know the Lord is doing mighty things not just here in Loma Linda but all over so we need to keep our people in our church in mind in our prayers daily because the Lord wants to come back and he has to have a group of people that's going to be ready and these people are going to come from all over not just Loma Linda although I think a lot of them are here, but there are many people elsewhere too.

So today, our study is going to be on the last portion of Daniel chapter 2.

Now Daniel chapter 2, if you can just humor me, 2 weeks ago, What was the main point that you took away from the study for those of you who are here?

Obviously if you weren't here, don't worry What was the main thrust?

What was the main point of the whole story up till where we left off in chapter 2.

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream And God took away the dream and he gave the dream to Daniel to interpret to the king.

Now through Daniel's interpretation, what was the motive or what was the overall purpose or the desire that Daniel was trying to achieve?

What was the message he was trying to get across?

Actually, I guess I'll just tell you all.

You'll all remember when I say this, but God was trying to reveal himself.

He was trying to present himself as a God that is reaching out, a God that is personal, a God that cares about the very desires and the thoughts that Nebuchadnezzar had.

And we're going to see that as a thread that continues even through the prophecy.

We ended off in verse 30, so let's start in verse 31.

Can I have 1 volunteer, just 1, who has a resonating, projective voice, who will read for us a few verses?

His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

Thou saw'st till then a stone was cut out with out hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces.

Then was the iron, the clay, and the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors.

And the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them, and a stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Now, somebody real quickly tell me what the dream was about.

Just the verses we read, a brief sentence or 2, tell me what you saw.

History laid out from that point to the end of the world.

But first of all, okay, Nebuchadnezzar is a pagan king, right?

So he sees this great image and what does it, how does it describe?

It says, behold a great image, this image whose brightness was excellent.

So this image was really bright and the form thereof was terrible.

And the terrible word actually means wonderful in the King James.

So it's this bright image, it's the spectacular image.

And to pagan king, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

This is an image that is in a shape of what?

Of a man made from all of these precious metals that's bright and magnificent and spectacular.

Automatically King Nebuchadnezzar in his mind is thinking, this is an image, this is an idol, you know, this is something that I need to worship.

Already we see religion and religious connotation.

And then what happens after we see the whole image?

Now what does it mean cut out without hands?

Now let's just look in Hebrews very quickly.

Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands or not made with hands.

So Christ, Christ being come on high priest of good things to come, okay, he by greater more perfect tabernacle not made with hands.

So he entered the tabernacle not made with hands.

A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not made.

Jesus Christ entered the tabernacle or the sanctuary that was made without hands.

In another verse it says, he entered a tabernacle that was made by the Lord.

Now what does that tell us about the image?

Simply put, let's just put 2 and 2 together.

And it's a religious system, so to say, perhaps that's not the best word, but a system of worship erected by man.

Daniel Bible Study: Chapter 3

All right, so today we are studying Daniel chapter 3.

So chapter 3, I like doing this just to get our minds focused on the right or the topic for the day.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Daniel chapter 3?

What other object or event or golden image?

Okay, so Shadrach, Meshach, and Benego, Nebuchadnezzar, Golden Image, fiery furnace.

I think we've all heard the Bible story before.

So, instead of going through the usual, you know, elementary Bible story, moral of the story type of Bible study, I'm going to look at it in a bigger perspective with lenses that we have mentioned before are called history repeats, with the principle that history repeats.

So why don't we put on those glasses as we look at this chapter.

Hopefully we'll see something new, something that we haven't seen before.

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and the breadth 6 cubits.

He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

So we see here an image that is set up in the plane of Dura.

So when we study the Bible, we want to look at things contextually.

So obviously we want to study it contextually within this chapter, but also within the chapters preceding and the chapters, I guess, succeeding.

Looking at this first verse, how does this connect with the previous chapter?

What are the similarities and what are the differences?

Okay, well first of all, how do we know that it's the same image?

That's a good point that we're going to discuss a little bit.

The question is, how do we know that this image looks like the image in chapter 2?

The answer is, based on this chapter, we don't.

So a cubit is about 18 or 1 and a half feet, 18 inches.

Quite frankly, I imagine in my mind, that's a pretty skinny statue.

So I'm thinking, how can this look like a man?

But all I know is that spirit prophecy says that it's the image of a man.

It's the image that was supposed to replicate what Nebuchadnezzar saw in chapter 2.

But based on this chapter, we can't say that.

So be careful when you mention that in a Bible study or when you're explaining it.

Based on the Bible, it's hard to prove it.

You can sort of guess and assume, but without the Spirit of Prophecy, we won't know.

So like Eric said, the king is trying to make a statement.

In Daniel chapter 2, this is an elementary comparison between the 2.

King Nebuchadnezzar was told, thou art this head of gold.

So obviously King Nebuchadnezzar in his pride perhaps, and I believe through the counsel of his other not so wise, wise men, He came to the conclusion, wait a second, if I just make a whole image gold, that would be my statement, my defiance against this prophecy that says that I will fall.

And we're going to come back to that point of that defiant attitude that the wise men convinced him of.

The Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

I don't know about you, she had the King James Version which is what I have and through the course of her reading there are certain words that kept popping up It sounded almost redundant.

And if you read the whole chapter, that phrase, image which the king has set up, which thou has set up, which I have set up, which was set up.

I mean it's just constantly repeating, it is set up, it is set up, I set it up, the king set it up, you set it up.

I mean it's just constantly revolving around this theme, this is the image that I have set up, based on the perspective of King Nebuchadnezzar.

And this is a special, I mean this is an important aspect, I believe, based on the previous chapter.

If you would just look with me in Daniel 2 and Let's see here.

Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever.

For wisdom and might are his, and he changes the times and the seasons.

He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that know of his ways.

So in chapter 2, Daniel simply, I mean, through the course of the whole chapter, 1 of the main points is that God is the 1 that sets up kingdoms and takes down kingdoms.

But in chapter 3, the emphasis is Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

This is what he has set up in the contrasting with what God did.

And that's dovetailing very well with what Eric brought up.

Now, several other things that are important to bring out.

In the King James it says, the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces.

Now, why is the Bible listing all these people?

I mean, do we really need to know all that?

What positions are these people in, relatively to today?

The princes, we can say, those of the royal seed, of the royal family, the monarchy families, I guess.

Daniel Bible Study: Chapter 4

This week we're going over Daniel chapter 4.

Daniel chapter 4, this is 1 of those chapters in Daniel that I feel like we rarely ever go through.

And at least I know for myself that this is perhaps the chapter that I read the least, at least within the first 6 chapters.

So I think it would be best if we could take the time now to read the entire chapter straight through.

Once we go through it, you'll catch the drift really quick.

And that will really expedite the actual study.

Instead of having to explain everything, You can figure it out as we read.

So why don't we go starting with Norman and we'll work our way around.

Each person can take 1 verse until we come to the end of the chapter.

Alright, so we see here the story of Daniel chapter 4.

Basically, it's judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar and we see a conversion at the end, or actually the whole story is like his conversion experience.

Now, when we look at the book of Daniel, we don't want to just look at them, the chapters as independent of each other.

That's why the Bible placed them in 1 book.

So we need to think now, perhaps you can call this an outline.

An outline of the first 4 chapters of the book of Daniel based upon the life of Nebuchadnezzar.

We'll do that again in chapter 5, but based upon the wise men of Babylon.

You see in the whole book of Daniel, there's 12 chapters, but Nebuchadnezzar appears only in the first 4 chapters.

So within the first 4 chapters, what can we learn about Nebuchadnezzar?

Step by step, these chapters are written chronologically, they come after 1 another, so we can just go in order.

So first, somebody can just tell me, there's no right or wrong answer.

In chapter 1, what do we learn about Nebuchadnezzar?

How was his relationship with God and His people in chapter 1.

So, first of all, he was antagonistic against God.

He was a pagan king out to destroy this Jewish nation.

So he was totally against God, enemy of God.

But then at the end of the chapter what happened?

You remember he had an interview with the 4 Hebrew boys and what was the result?

They were 10 times better than the other wise men, all the wise men of his kingdom.

And he knew that there was none like these 3 men.

And they went through the testing of the diet.

So King Nebuchadnezzar had the first impression of God's people.

So chapter 1, he was, you know, enemy of God.

2, receiving a first impression of God's people.

What was Nebuchadnezzar's relationship with God's people then?

What experience did he go through with, in this case, Daniel?

And, okay, this is going to be a little quiz, I guess.

What was the main point of the whole experience of Chapter 2, at least based on my personal studies, as I shared with you?

But in chapter 2, God took away the dream and he made sure that the wise man could not interpret the dream because he couldn't remember it.

For the intention that Daniel could reveal to the king, God himself.

You remember, the king was, you know, Daniel not only told him what the dream was and what the dream meant, but Daniel said, why don't we look there, Daniel chapter 2, in verse 29.

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