Nebuchadnezzar Seven Years in the Wilderness

Today we studied Daniel 4. We discussed how Nebuchadnezzar apparently wasn’t turned to God after Daniel interpreted his first dream and so he was humbled by God. One of many lessons in Daniel is that you should be aware that your successes are by the will of God and not by your own hand; God makes king who he will make king. This lead to further discussion on why there are so many evil kings - Stalin and Hitler for example. We also discussed the biblical reference to a “Watcher” which has been interpreted as an angel by some. Any input on this subject would be appreciated.

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

We went through Daniel, Chapter 2 this morning. It is one of my favorite chapters. Once again, the message is - no matter how things seem to be going for you, if you are true to your faith, things will turn out much better than you expect. We talked about how haunting the dream must have been to make the King turn on his magicians, enchanters, and astrologers. This haunting dream occurred in his second year on the throne and the bible doesn't indicate if these advisors were of his choosing or left over from his successor,  King Nabopolassar (626BC-605BC) but in any case the King is alarmed and therefore (by the will of God) willing to let Daniel attempt to interpret his dream. This Chapter made me decide, twenty three years ago, to run my businesses guided by the book of Daniel.

We also discussed dreams and the difference between dreams and visions. We know they are different because of what is written in Joel 2:28 "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." Joel would not have mentioned dreams and visions separately if they were the same thing. We agreed that dreams occur while sleeping and visions occur while awake.