SERMON TITLE: The Unreasonable Demands of Exile
TEXT: Daniel 2:1-23 (NLT)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 4-14-24
Watch the sermon here
Take notes here
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
Before we get to the sermon — let’s acknowledge what was a pretty cool highlight for us this past week: the eclipse. That was pretty awesome. But — believe it or not — something else trumped it as the highlight of my week. I came into my office — on Tuesday morning — to find nearly seventy painted portraits of me done by our youth group.
Adam Borsay — our youth director — thought that last Monday was my birthday — so he had this clever idea to have the youth all paint a picture of me. Even after being told by a few folks that Monday — was in fact — not my birthday — he went with his plan anyway. We’re family around here after all — and nothing says family like painting portraits of the senior pastor based on his church website staff photo.
Now — I know what you’re all wondering right now — “Are we going to get to see any of these paintings?” Yes you are. Yes you are.
Now — students — we don’t have time for me to share all of your paintings. They’re all appreciated. Some of you are quite creative — you painted me as Lebron James, as Oscar the Grouch — some of your parents would be so proud of your artistic creativity. But I had to choose only a few to share.
Here’s me as Bob Ross — if you don’t know — I’ve dabbled a bit in oil painting along with Bob.
Here’s another one the staff were commenting about — they really liked it
This next one represents a few different paintings that included “God loves you. And I love you too” on them.
This one had a different message on it. If you can’t read it — it says, “I tried.”
This one cracked me up.
As did this one. For the record — I don’t have a smiley face tattoo on my chest.
My daughter painted this one. Pretty good, right?
And my son made me into a troll.
I saved this one for last — because I don’t think this looks like me. No offense to the student who painted it — but I think your painting looks more like Ed Grable — our North Main Campus pastor. And — it just so happens that today is Ed’s birthday. So how about we all wish Ed a happy birthday — on the count of three. This includes all of you in Bucyrus. I know you don’t know Ed — but yell Happy Birthday to Ed real loud like you do know him.
Ready? One. Two. Three. Happy Birthday Ed!
Alright. Enough about portraits of me. We’re continuing our series in the book of Daniel today. Last year I asked the elders of Gateway if there was a book of the Bible or a biblical theme that they thought I should preach on this year. And they replied with the book of Daniel and the theme of living in exile. So that’s where we’re headed for the next few months.
And let’s turn to our text for today. We’re in Daniel chapter two — beginning in verse one.
Daniel 2:1–23 (NLT)
1 One night during the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had such disturbing dreams that he couldn’t sleep. 2 He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers, and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed. As they stood before the king, 3 he said, “I have had a dream that deeply troubles me, and I must know what it means.” 4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “Long live the king! Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means.” 5 But the king said to the astrologers, “I am serious about this. If you don’t tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be turned into heaps of rubble! 6 But if you tell me what I dreamed and what the dream means, I will give you many wonderful gifts and honors. Just tell me the dream and what it means!” 7 They said again, “Please, Your Majesty. Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means.” 8 The king replied, “I know what you are doing! You’re stalling for time because you know I am serious when I say, 9 ‘If you don’t tell me the dream, you are doomed.’ So you have conspired to tell me lies, hoping I will change my mind. But tell me the dream, and then I’ll know that you can tell me what it means.” 10 The astrologers replied to the king, “No one on earth can tell the king his dream! And no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer! 11 The king’s demand is impossible. No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they do not live here among people.” 12 The king was furious when he heard this, and he ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be executed. 13 And because of the king’s decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends. 14 When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. 15 He asked Arioch, “Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?” So Arioch told him all that had happened. 16 Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time to tell the king what the dream meant. 17 Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. 18 He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon. 19 That night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven. 20 He said, “Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power. 21 He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. 22 He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light. 23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded.”
There are quite a few events in the book of Daniel that most of us can’t relate to. I’m guessing that you’ve never been thrown into a fiery furnace or a lion’s den. But this event — in Daniel’s life — is something we can relate to — Christian or not. For it’s a pretty universal experience to have someone in your life — a parent, a boss, a professor, someone in authority — for seemingly unknown and unrealistic reasons — make a demand that’s impossible to meet. And the consequences — for not meeting their demand — may be so unreasonable and unfair and — yet — there’s nothing you can do about it.
When I was overseas — while serving in the Army — I had someone in authority over me who made some decisions that were unwise, dangerous, and — worst of all — based on incomplete information. I was the one in the situation — he was over a hundred miles away back on base. I remember listening to his orders over the radio — responding with my disagreement — but — ultimately — I had to make a decision to obey his orders or not. I had to weigh the consequences of obeying his orders versus the consequences of disobeying his orders. It was a terrible situation to be in. And I hated that some of my soldiers had overheard our conversation on the radio — but the decision to obey or disobey was on me. Maybe you’ve experienced something similar — though hopefully not while in combat.
Your manager — who’s feeling pressure to increase sales — puts unreasonable demands and expectations on you and your co-workers. Everyone’s working overtime — trying to appease an unappeasable boss because of pressures he or she is under from their boss.
Or the principal calls an all staff meeting — unhappy with the school’s rating. Ignoring the recent cuts to resources for the students — instead they focus on the quality of teaching happening in the classrooms. And you — and many of your fellow teachers — have been working your tails off to help your students. What you need is help — you don’t need a lecture and more added pressure to an already challenging situation.
There are all kinds of situations that we face where — maybe our lives aren’t being threatened — like Daniel’s — but that’s about the only difference between our situation and his. Crisis situations are never fun — but especially when the crisis is generated by someone in authority over us who has unreasonable expectations of us.
And — the lesson we can learn from Daniel — is how God’s people can be faithful in how we respond to the crisis we face while living in exile — regardless if the crisis is due to an unreasonable boss — or simply a crisis brought upon us because we live in this land of exile.
The key verse — in our text — is verse eighteen. This is where we see how Daniel responds to his crisis in exile.
Daniel 2:18 (NLT)
18 He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon.
What we learn from Daniel is that God’s people are to respond to the unreasonable demands of exile with prayer.
But — before we turn to our response — let’s examine the unreasonable demands Daniel and his friends face while living in exile.
Daniel 2:1–16 (NLT)
1 One night during the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had such disturbing dreams that he couldn’t sleep. 2 He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers, and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed. As they stood before the king, 3 he said, “I have had a dream that deeply troubles me, and I must know what it means.” 4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “Long live the king! Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means.” 5 But the king said to the astrologers, “I am serious about this. If you don’t tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be turned into heaps of rubble! 6 But if you tell me what I dreamed and what the dream means, I will give you many wonderful gifts and honors. Just tell me the dream and what it means!” 7 They said again, “Please, Your Majesty. Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means.” 8 The king replied, “I know what you are doing! You’re stalling for time because you know I am serious when I say, 9 ‘If you don’t tell me the dream, you are doomed.’ So you have conspired to tell me lies, hoping I will change my mind. But tell me the dream, and then I’ll know that you can tell me what it means.” 10 The astrologers replied to the king, “No one on earth can tell the king his dream! And no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer! 11 The king’s demand is impossible. No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they do not live here among people.” 12 The king was furious when he heard this, and he ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be executed. 13 And because of the king’s decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends. 14 When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. 15 He asked Arioch, “Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?” So Arioch told him all that had happened. 16 Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time to tell the king what the dream meant.
Now — admittedly — this is a pretty strange sounding situation. It’s probably safe to say that none of us have worked for a boss who has magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers on the staff payroll. But this was a common practice of kings in this time period. The reason — as one Bible commentary explains — is that “In the ancient world, such dreams were thought to be shadows that the future cast in front of itself, tipping its hand to show what lay ahead. The interpretation of the dream was therefore important, in order that the king might take whatever steps could be taken to counteract the events the dream anticipated, or at least to be ready for them. In preparation for such eventualities, many of the kings of the ancient Near East had specialist dream interpreters on their payroll, and Nebuchadnezzar was no exception. He employed a staff of diviners, whose job it was to interpret the significance of such dreams, and whatever other omens might occur.” (Reformed Bible Commentary, 19)
Having staff on hand to interpret dreams wasn’t new — but asking them to not only interpret — but tell you what you dreamt — well — that was unheard of — that was an unreasonable demand by the king. Which is why they beg the king to tell them his dream so they can tell him what it means. They knew they couldn’t meet his unreasonable demands. They were dream interpreters — they needed to be given a dream to interpret. They weren’t prophets — they didn’t have the ability to tell someone their dreams.
And — don’t forget what started all of this. Nebuchadnezzar had some disturbing dreams and he couldn’t sleep. That was it. A sleepless night turned into unreasonable demands on his people that could result in their death. If you’re in a position of authority — are you aware of how something as simple as a bad night’s sleep can affect your decision making — how you’re not immune to making unreasonable demands of your people just because you’re tired? Hopefully no one’s lives are at stake — but we’d be silly or naive to think that marriages haven’t come to an end, or employees haven’t been fired, or we went too far in disciplining our child — simply because we got a bad night’s sleep.
Now we turn to our response. How are we to respond when — overnight — everything in our life changes for the worse? We’re in verse seventeen.
Daniel 2:17–23 (NLT)
17 Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. 18 He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon. 19 That night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven. 20 He said, “Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power. 21 He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. 22 He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light. 23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded.”
How does Daniel respond to this unreasonable demand of the king? He gathers his friends and asks them to pray to God. But did you notice what their prayer is specifically about? For God to reveal the dream to them, right? Well yes. But if that’s our focus — we miss the point of their prayer entirely. In verse eighteen, they ask God to show them his mercy by revealing the dream to them. They pray for God to be merciful by delivering them from these unreasonable consequences of the king.
Now — and admittedly this will be hard — let’s pretend we don’t know what’s going to happen. Let’s put ourselves in their situation. None of us know the king’s dream and he’s ordered for us all to be killed — along with a bunch of other people — all because of an unreasonable demand on his part.
And there’s no getting out of this situation on our own. None of us are smart enough, clever enough, and we can’t run fast enough to escape the consequences of the king’s unreasonable decision.
How comfortable — be honest — how comfortable do you think you’d feel in this situation? Would you have a “peace that surpasses all understanding” knowing that tomorrow you’ll be killed unless God reveals to you what the king had dreamed the night before?
This is the situation that Daniel and his friends are in. All human means of appeasing the king are out of the picture. There’s no one else they can turn to except God. And — again — be honest with yourself — when a situation is this bad — where the only place left to turn is to God — that’s never a comfortable situation, is it? But who better is there to turn to in a time like this?
Now — maybe you don’t believe in Jesus. If this is you, how hopeless a situation like Daniel’s must be for you. Replace an unreasonable king with any situation that leaves you just as powerless. Stage four cancer. The death of a young child. Being abused. Being falsely accused of something and — yet — convicted as if you’re guilty. There’s no hope, right? Which explains why so many people are angry these days — they’re hopeless.
Now — if you do believe in Jesus — do you really think there’s someone other than him who can give you hope in any of these situations? Cancer. Death of someone you love. Abuse. Falsely accused. As I recently read in a book, “It has been said that the reason God sends cancer to Christians as well as to non-Christians is so that the world may see the difference in how they deal with it.” (Duguid, 18)
The author goes on to write, “As long as the world can find a perfectly good explanation for our peace in the circumstances of our lives, it will not be puzzled by us. The world will be forced to sit up and take notice only when we have a peace that is clearly not the result of our comfortable circumstances, a peace that evidently transcends the peace that the world gives.” (Duguid, 18)
You see, a Christian who — when life places you in the midst of suffering or chaos or the unreasonable demands of someone else — a Christian who responds to the situation like someone who doesn't believe in Jesus — is forgetting the power and hope that is theirs because of what Christ has accomplished. For example, they’re forgetting the peace that comes by praying for God’s mercy to be abundant and evident as they respond to these unsettling situations.
And — though we all hope that our situation will turn out like Daniel’s — where the dream will be revealed — where the escape from our situation will be made known to us — as we’ll see throughout this book — obedience to God and praising him are the responses of those who trust in him alone for their salvation regardless of the outcome of their present situation. For prayer — according to the Bible — is us acknowledging our limitations and our dependence on God. Christians and non-Christians recognize that we have limitations. The difference between the two is that one responds by acknowledging their dependence on God to be merciful while the other responds by putting all of their hope in getting themselves out of their situation.
In this moment, Daniel praises God for he’s revealed the king’s dream and its interpretation. Daniel praises God and thanks him for answering his prayer. And he does so before running to tell the king that there’s no need to kill anyone. Even while still under threat for his life Daniel praises and thanks God for being merciful to him.
When your life is out of control and full of unreasonable demands — how do you respond? For someone who professes faith in Jesus — our response of prayer — or lack of it — as our first response to a crisis reveals if we really believe that God is merciful and in control of all things — including our situation. One writer calls prayer an “internal barometer of the soul” — a way for us to measure how dependent we really see ourselves as his people — or if there’s still a streak of independence causing us to trust more in ourselves than in God.
Which is why it’s important for us to reflect on Jesus’ life — especially his prayer life. For example — in Luke’s gospel we read…
Luke 5:12–16 (NLT)
12 In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. “Lord,” he said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” 13 Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. 14 Then Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, “Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.” 15 But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
Here we see a different kind of chaos — of unreasonable demands being placed upon Jesus. There were many people who wanted to run to Jesus — not because they thought he was God’s promised Savior — but because they knew he had the power to heal. They treated him more like an intriguing circus act than God in the flesh. So they’d run to him. Overwhelm him. Large crowds would form around him, follow him, and exhaust him as they wanted him to touch and heal and bring an end to the suffering they were experiencing.
And — because of this kind of chaotic pressure — Jesus would withdraw from the crowds — go out into the wilderness — and pray.
Not much is revealed about these times of prayer. John records for us the prayer Jesus prayed just before he was arrested. A prayer in which he wrestled with what his upcoming sacrifice on the cross would mean for himself — ultimately — praying for his Father’s will to be done — even though the answer to his prayer would mean his suffering and not his deliverance — for we’re the recipients of deliverance because of his suffering.
But I can’t help but think that the prayer Jesus taught his disciples — when they asked him how to pray — would be similar to what we would’ve heard if we’d been with him in the wilderness when he withdrew from the demands of the crowds.
Matthew 6:9–13 (ESV)
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
A prayer that begins by praising God our Father in heaven. The One who is holy, separate from sin, who does only what is good, right, and just — praising him who is merciful. A prayer which continues by asking God for his kingdom to come — for the expanse of those who believe to increase across the world. With the intent being that an increase in Christians will result in an increase of what is good, right, and just being done here on earth as it is in heaven. For this is God’s will — for his people to be saved, transformed, and to live obedient holy lives for his glory and the good of his creation — regardless of their circumstances and the demands of living in exile.
Then comes our acknowledgment of our dependence upon God for all things. From our daily needs being met — to being forgiven of our sins — to being those who practice forgiveness. With the final petitions of the prayer being for a desire to not be led into temptation but for deliverance — deliver us from evil — rescue us — lead us on the path of righteousness for your name’s sake O God.
Jesus came to earth to live in exile. He left his homeland of Heaven and came to this sin infested place where he experienced unreasonable demands placed upon him — things like hunger and thirst and being tired. “Are those really unreasonable demands, Josh? I experience those things all the time.” Though hunger, thirst, and being tired are normal for us — Jesus is God. And it’s completely unreasonable for God to hunger or thirst or become tired. Yet — in love — Jesus allowed himself to become like us so he could substitute himself in our place as the sacrifice for our sins. Though death was an unreasonable consequence for not knowing a king’s dream — it is a reasonable consequence for our sin and rebellion against God. And this death — that we deserve — Jesus took upon himself. Which reminds us of how reasonable it is to turn to him in prayer when our lives are out of our control — when living in exile is so unreasonable and hopeless that it feels like death — we’re to turn to our merciful Savior in prayer.
And now — even with cancer — we show the world how Jesus makes a difference. Or — with the death of a loved one — we show the world how Jesus has impacted our lives. Or with an unruly boss — or with whatever life tries to rattle us with — we show the world how Jesus has changed everything for us. And how he can everything for them — if they turn to him for their hope and salvation.
May Jesus be your hope. May he be your salvation. And may your first response — when life presents you with the equivalent of a king demanding you tell him his dream or it will be your death — may your first response be to turn to Jesus in prayer. Acknowledging that you are dependent upon him — and that you need his mercy. Let’s pray together.
Sovereign Father, show us your mercy. Reveal to us your goodness. Make your power real to us. May your name be honored. May your kingdom come and your will be done in each of our lives.
Spirit of God, for some the crisis they’re facing is one of darkness — depression, anxiety, hopelessness. Spirit may you shine your light of hope in their hearts — may your light pierce the darkness of their life. Even right now — may they feel the burden they’ve been carrying lightened.
And — Jesus — for many the crisis is similar to that of the leper who came to you begging to be healed. Jesus, I ask that you would demonstrate your mercy to many today by reaching out and touching them with your healing power. Jesus may your will be for cancer to be gone, for headaches to be no more, for abnormalities to be made whole, for chronic illnesses to find their cure in your touch. If the crisis in need of healing is a marriage, Jesus step in and bring healing. If the crisis is work related, Jesus lead, guide, and direct them with your wisdom. If it’s a spiritual crisis — renew their hearts with your life. May they know and experience your mercy.
Whatever crisis of exile is being experienced — Jesus — may we see how dependent we are upon you. For you have not abandoned us to the will of sleep deprived kings — but are right here with us — leading us not into temptation — but on the path of righteousness that is leading us home. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.
May you go trusting in Jesus’s mercy towards you as you live in this land of exile. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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