In a way, Nebuchadnezzar’s request of his dream-interpreters is a bit like if you went to a chiropractor and told him, “I’m not telling you what hurts. You examine me and, if you’re legit, you should be able to figure it out on your own.” It’s a rather aggressive thing to say, and I suppose rather insulting to the practitioner. But it’s a pretty clever way to suss out any frauds and imposters. Just as anyone can tell you that there’s something wrong with your neck if you tell him your neck hurts, so anyone can make up an interpretation of your dream if you tell him what the dream is. Anyone can pretend his god has given him the power to reveal hidden secrets to you if you reveal half the secret. But if you truly have divine power, if you truly have the answers, then you should be able to tell him the dream as well.
This is a test all the men living in service of idols fail. But Daniel passes, of course, because Daniel speaks with the authority of God. And when he speaks with the authority of God, he speaks quite calmly and plainly. In all of this, it’s as if he’s saying to the king, “I know you’re sick of sycophants and frauds telling you what you want to hear. I know you just want truth. Well, here it is.”
I think the church has something to learn from the straightforward approach of Daniel. So many in this world are flailing around, angry and bitter because they can’t get a real answer to the question of their restlessness. “Am I a good person? How do I know? Why am I here? Who is God? How can I have peace with Him?” Enter the countless court magicians who will figure out the answers these people want and serve them back to them. Enter the liars and frauds, the sycophants, the fleecers. Enter the churches that look at dying men and offer them entertainment and emotional manipulation, fun programs, felt needs, and a divine experience that ever so conveniently just mirrors whatever those people want. Products, commodities, transactions. This is all far too many people have to offer.
So let us speak clearly. “Your problem, O world, is that you are a sinner who doesn’t have peace with God. All your power and money and self-glorification mean nothing. These things will all be torn down. But there is One greater than you, there is a King above all kings, Jesus Christ. He forgave your sins in His blood, gave you eternal life in His resurrection. Joy upon joy awaits all who know Him. Come learn His name. Come enter His Kingdom. Come leave behind the flatterers of this world and receive the truth, the living Son of God.”
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