Life Lessons from a Bad King, His Slave, and Jesus

Last updated on: February 18, 2020 at 5:00 am by Mark Driscoll

Life Lessons from a Bad King, His Slave, and Jesus 2020-02-04T18:25:44-05:00 Mark Driscoll

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Daniel 2:46-48 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

The world’s mightiest king who feared no one was shaken to his soul by a dream of doom from the King of Heaven. Unable to discover the exact meaning of the dream, he needed the wisdom of a Spirit-filled slave named Daniel. Upon receiving the interpretation of the dream, we learn the following four things about the bad king of Babylon:

You can revere God in your mind but not receive God in your heart.
There’s a big difference between admiring God’s power in someone else and experiencing God’s power in yourself.
People are free, but God is the captain of ship. Like the king, we make decisions that we are responsible for, but the King of Heaven still captains the ship of history.
The king who was worshipped as a god bowed down before Daniel overwhelmed at the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. We are made to worship, and people who do not worship God end up worshipping other people.

Additionally, from the account of Daniel 2 we learn the following five things from Daniel:

Be a good citizen up to the point that you can no longer be a good Christian.
Your faith is to be public not private, even if it costs you a lot.
While God’s people should not chase signs and wonders, Spirit-filled believers following Jesus should not be surprised to see signs and wonders follow them.
Faith is building your life on God’s character and control even when you don’t see what He is doing, don’t like what is happening, and don’t agree with His timing
Youth is no excuse. Daniel is around twenty years of age, elevated to the Jesus seat at the right hand of a king ruling a kingdom, and he serves humbly and admirably.

Which of these lessons is most important for you in this season?

In addition to this introduction to and overview of Daniel, you can find the corresponding sermons, daily devotions, men’s ministry resources, and hundreds of additional sermons and Bible teaching resources for free at markdriscoll.org or on the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.

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