Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good evening, dear people.

Whew! It’s been a big day. We just returned from the beach—Pacific City, then Tillamook where we bought ice cream cones at the Cheese Factory. The little girls enjoyed the beach. The weather there was about as good as it gets. Yesterday, we made it up to the fresh snow at Timberline on Mount Hood and let the kids slide and play. The weather there was about perfect too. Too much fun.

My head wants to turn off about this time every night. I’m sure feeling it. So, good night.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Bear in mind that Nebuchadnezzar was presented by other prophets of this era as a servant of the LORD (Example: Jeremiah 27:6). He served as not only a tool of judgment and punishment, but also as a custodian of the preserved remnant of God’s people. Can we draw a parallel of relevance to the governmental dictatorship within our own beloved America? We may not like a lot of the stuff coming down from the top, but I have reason to believe that the top is performing exactly as the Sovereign LORD wills.

While I would not endorse some of the harsh and drastic edicts of Nebuchadnezzar, I quite like his objective approach to things mystical and spiritual. He reasoned that if he told the bothersome dream to his wise guys before they interpreted it, he would be subjecting the whole deal to a bunch of conjecture, opinion, and confusion. So in order to spare him of that struggle and guarantee that the interpretation was accurate and truly inspired, he made the requirement and threat that if someone did not step forward to first tell him the dream, which would thereby grant immediate credibility to the interpretation, he was going to chop the whole bunch of wise guys up into little pieces. And he would. It does stand to reason that if he was going to call on supernatural powers to tell the interpretation, those powers should be strong enough to first tell what they’re interpreting. Without that sound test, how would he really know whether or not the interpretation presented was not just a bunch of !%&*@#? I also have reason to believe that Nebby didn’t think that up on his own. I think the ultimatum was inspired from above—because it led him to Daniel.

Following Daniel’s intercessory prayer meeting with his friends, and God’s intervention of revelation via a vision in the night, his prayer of praise and thanksgiving is noteworthy (2:20-23). It encapsulates essential theology that underscores an essential HEART AFTER GOD. I love how Daniel responds when he is wisked into the king’s presence and asked, “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” (2:26)—“Daniel replied, ‘No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, BUT THERE IS A GOD IN HEAVEN who reveals mysteries’” (2:27-28). HALLELUJAH!! I’m trying to be calm and normal here. But it’s hard—because I think I know what Daniel means. Here’s what I think he means: “Please understand, O King, that your wise guys spoke truth when they said that the gods do not live among men. In fact the gods these guys are thinking about are really a bunch of phony imposters—they’re no gods at all! However, the wise guys are terribly foolish guys in their error to not be seeking the True Sovereign LORD of the universe. He not only reigns in heaven, but whether they know it or not, or like it or not, He reigns as well on earth—right here among men. He even presents Himself as ‘Emanuel’—meaning ‘God with us’—and is happy to reveal Himself to anyone who will humbly and honestly seek Him.”

Don’t you agree that our world could use a lot more Daniels?