“There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king

Daniel 2:23 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

2 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. ² Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. ³ The king said to them, “I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.”

⁴ Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁵ The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. ⁶ But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” ⁷ They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁸ The king replied, “I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that the command from me is firm, ⁹ that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” ¹⁰ The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer or Chaldean. ¹¹ Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”

¹² Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³ So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them.

¹⁴ Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Arioch, the captain of the king’s bodyguard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon; ¹⁵ he said to Arioch, the king’s commander, “For what reason is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter. ¹⁶ So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king.

¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, ¹⁸ so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

¹⁹ Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; ²⁰ Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. ²¹ “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.
²² “It is He who reveals the profound 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 power; Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”

Nebuchadnezzar did not know God, but he knew that he wanted more than just the opinions or the wisdom of men. The men he called, the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans, were some of the most educated, the wisest men in the kingdom. Yet the king knew that there was a greater wisdom he wanted to hear from. These men, being unable to do what the king requested said, , the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.” These men sought a way out. They knew of many gods, but they had no connection to the wisdom and knowledge of God. Daniel, on the other hand, made his appeal directly to the compassionate God of heaven. Amos 3:7 says: Surely the Lord God does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets. That’s what God did here, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.

God still reveals His will and His plans to His people today. He speaks in dreams and visions. He gives words of knowledge, an insight about someone or something that there is no natural explanation for. On the day of Pentecost, Peter quoted the prophet Joel saying: this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; ¹⁸ Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy.

Unfortunately throughout the church today there is a tendency to either focus too heavily on these spiritual gifts and outpourings or to disregard the gifts and the power of the spirit almost entirely, saying those things are not for today. The truth is God does still speak prophetically today. He does pour forth His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is much more than a still small voice inside us to guide us. He is that, but the Holy Spirit, like God the Father and Jesus the Son, is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Holy Spirit today is the same Spirit who hovered or brooded over the waters and was the power behind creation when God spoke.

Unfortunately, in the church today, many people have had negative experiences with excesses, emotional displays, hype and manipulation by people which is attributed to the Holy Spirit. While we can become overcome by the Holy Spirit and deeply moved, we should not judge anyone’s response to or action in the Holy Spirit. We can and should though judge the fruit of the Spirit. God gives the gifts of the Spirit to His people for the building up and the edification, not manipulation, of His people. In Ephesians 4: it says:  But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift… ¹¹ And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

We need prophecy and all the gifts, for the” building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ”   Have we never heard a bad sermon or a poorly spoken prayer? Yet we do not eliminate them from our gatherings. Instead, as a body we discern together to determine God’s truth and His will. One of the greatest mistakes we make concerning prophecy, dreams and visions, aside from disregarding them, is to say too much, to fill in the blanks with our own opinions and interpretations. 1 Corinthians 13:9 says:  For we know in part and we prophesy in part.. We need to resist the temptation to say more than God has given or revealed to us. Discernment is the responsibility of the whole body. It requires those with the gift of discernment. It requires those who are gifted and knowledgeable in the word, because God’s prophetic word will not contradict His eternal written word.  

Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. He didn’t want the opinions or the wisdom of men. He didn’t want an answer from any gods. The dream was a message from God. The interpretation and revelation of that message could only come from God. If we want answers today, if we want to experience the fullness of God’s revelation and His will, we need all of the gifts God has given the body. We cannot allow the abuses and the excesses of people to cause us to miss the power of the Holy Spirit God is pouring out in these last days.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, precious Holy Spirit thank You for Your presence and Your action in my life. Jesus, You said it would be better for us that You would go to the Father because You would send us the Holy Spirit. May I never disregard the power of the Spirit which  as You said Jesus, abides in me and with me. Strengthen the gifts within me through the Holy Spirit’s leading, guidance and wisdom so that I may be a blessing to the body and walk in the fullness of Your calling. Help me to recognize and encourage the gifts and the Holy Spirit’s presence in others; ^“until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ”  Amen.