Daniel 2:19 Commentary and Bible Study

Wonderfully, God revealed the dream to Daniel. Daniel knew this with the certainty that comes with every communication from God, and which the prophets also experienced the word they received from the Lord. The Lord had heard their prayers, and he showed them the secret that Nebuchadnezzar had kept from his wise men. By doing this he poured out a series of wonderful blessings: the future history of the world was made known; it was published throughout the empire – the known world – for all to hear; the name of God was glorified by his knowing and determining all events; the lives of God’s servants were spared; they were exalted to the highest place; their enemies were forced to accept their new position of authority; and Nebuchadnezzar was humbled and taught a powerful lesson about God sovereignty in his life. Daniel woke the others up, and together they praised God for doing what even the Chaldeans knew was something that only God could do. What a magnificent prayer it is! It has long been observed that there are seven Psalm portions woven into the tapestry of this prayer, five portions from the Book of Job, a phrase from Prophecy of Isaiah, a phrase from the Book of Genesis, and a phrase from the Book of Exodus. It is a tapestry of Scriptures freely and expertly woven together to make each solid point. So you learn from this prayer of Daniel’s that he knew his Scriptures, and he knew them so well that he thought in terms of their expressions. When he prayed it was all Scriptural: promises, statements, affirmations, and prayers. ‘Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever’ – the eternity of God – ‘for wisdom and might are his.’ He begins by directing praise towards the Lord, extolling God, declaring his virtues. He only thanks God for the specific deliverance they have received right at the end. He starts with God, not with himself. He praises God, whose knowledge is perfect and who reveals deep and secret things. Nothing is hidden from him; the future is known to him and all events unfold at his command. Daniel knows that God has spoken through this dream, and he sees why Nebuchadnezzar has been so disturbed. God knows exactly what he is doing and what needs to be done to fulfil his purposes, and he has the power to do anything that he pleases. He understands that the dream is about two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world, and the kingdom of Christ. It is about the tremendous struggle between these two kingdoms, and it is about how the kingdom of Christ will ultimately prevail over all the power of Satan. God changes times – not spring and summer, but world powers: kingdoms and empires. God decides how long they will last. They think they control their own destiny, but the Lord is working all things out according to his eternal plan, and he cuts across their ambitions. When they have served his purpose, they are removed. No matter how powerful they seemed to be, and no matter how men trembled at their authority over their lives, they come to an end and nothing can prolong them. Babylon will fall and Nebuchadnezzar cannot prevent it.‘He giveth wisdom unto the wise’ – he blesses his people with the knowledge of what's going on and the things that will happen – ‘and knowledge to them that know understanding.’ The dream has come to Nebuchadnezzar, but only Daniel can interpret it through a wisdom given him by God. Daniel was given the insight and wisdom to stand before Nebuchadnezzar. Especially it refers to answered prayer. God’s people have perspective on events. They understand that we are now living in the last age of history, that the world is opposed to God’s purposes, that Christ is coming again, that the world is only allowed to continue for the sake of the elect who will be called by God to salvation, that the gospel is now going into all the world, that there will be various troubles and persecutions before the end, and that they must hold fast to their testimony in all these things.Then he speaks of Christ – surely that is what verse 22 means: ‘He revealeth the deep and secret things’ – things so deep you could never find them out. An astrologer may have some little flashes of credibility – even some prophecies which turn out true, but they are minor, haphazard, coincidental. By contrast, light is with God always. ‘He knoweth what is in the darkness and the light dwelleth with him.’ Interestingly, the ancient Jewish commentators who never became Christian; even they interpreted ‘the light’ there in a Messianic way, as Christ. ‘He knoweth what is in the darkness and the light dwelleth with him.’ It may not be a reference to Christ, but of course Christ is the light, and the light dwells with the Father. Then finally, the prayer proper: ‘I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.’ Daniel rejoices at such a specific answer to prayer. He omits to say anything about his own life, because what he has received in this night vision is not only the details of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, but the interpretation of it also, and he is so overwhelmed by the interpretation and the prediction of the age of Christ, and the coming of the future kingdom of God after the collapse of the empires; he is so overcome and uplifted by this that he has forgotten – it has been eclipsed – that he originally went in prayer to the Lord to ask for their lives. Their lives have paled into the background, because he has had this great revelation from heaven.