House of Hope Online

November 3, 2024

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With the U.S election day upon us next week, I feel inclined to soak in the scriptures for some comfort food, if you will.  The Presidential race of course is important but so too are the Congressional and other races.  I encourage all of you to exercise your right to vote, and more importantly to vote in a way that favors the will and purposes of God in these end days.  I pray the scriptures we have today will comfort you as you vote and as the election results roll in Tuesday evening.

Let’s start with Paul’s prayer that the Ephesians would receive wisdom and revelation:

Ephesians 1:

 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

 18 [I pray that] the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. [These are] in accordance with the working of the strength of His might

 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly [places],

 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,

 23 which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. (NASB)

The Book of Daniel provides us a great example of the man of God influencing earthly kings and the governments of that day.  Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had conquered Jerusalem, and the Bible tells us the Lord gave Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, into his hand.  The Kingdom of Judah represented the southern portion of Israel, and Jerusalem was its capital.

King Nebuchadnezzar decided that he wanted to bring in some of Judah’s finest young men, including the royal family and the nobles, to serve in his court.  He was looking for youth in which there was no defect, who were handsome, intelligent, endowed with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.  The best of the best, you might say.

Whose Food Are You Eating?

As you vote this year, you must decide whether to follow the mainstream or honor the desires of your God.

Daniel quickly learned that he and three of his friends had to eat special foods prescribed by the king for a period of three years.  Because they were not permitted to eat these foods as sons of Judah, Daniel asked for an exemption from his commander, who granted it on the condition that no noticeable difference be found in their appearance and strength development.  At the end of the three-year period, God honored Daniel’s faithfulness in resisting the ungodly ways of the world, his government, and his king.

Daniel 1:

 17 ¶ And as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every [branch of] literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all [kinds of] visions and dreams.

 18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar.

 19 And the king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service.

It would have been easy for Daniel and his friends to go along with the crowd, eat the prescribed foods, and ignore what God wanted him to do.  But instead, he drew a line and said he would not defile himself by eating the king’s menu.

Ask yourself on the way to the polls, whose food are you eating?  Are you voting in a way that honors God’s principles or are you going along with the way of the world and voting the way your government wants you to vote, or the way the mainstream media wants you to vote.  Are you able to have the uncomfortable conversation that Daniel had with his commander, in order to honor God’s will in this government?

Daniel Had a “Dream Job”

In Daniel Chapter 2, we learn that King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that troubled him so much so that he called for all the wise men in Babylon to interpret the dream.  The problem was, the king refused to tell them what his dream was, so the wise men had to discern the dream itself, plus the interpretation.  The wise men said there was no way anyone could do what the king had asked, so Nebuchadnezzar decreed that they all would be put to death.

When Daniel heard of it, he asked for some time to pray for discernment of the dream.

Daniel 2:

 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 in order that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends might 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;

Daniel and his friends prayed for God to reveal to them what no man could know, and the Lord answered that prayer and revealed the dream to Daniel.  Remember that as you prepare to vote – you can ask the Lord for discernment on how to vote and he will reveal things to you that you have no other way to figure out.

I love the praise that Daniel offers up after God’s revelation.

Daniel 2:

20 Daniel answered and said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him.

 21 “And 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 Thee, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For Thou hast given me wisdom and power; Even now Thou hast made known to me what we requested of Thee, For Thou hast made known to us the king’s matter.”

Take comfort in knowing that God changes the times and the epochs.  He removes and establishes kings.  He gives us wisdom and knowledge and understanding.  Daniel acknowledged all of this, and we should as well.

And He reveals the profound and the hidden things.  America has many secrets, but God can reveal to us how to vote because the light dwells with Him.  Praise Jesus!

The Dream and its Interpretation

Daniel then proceeds to the king to give him the dream and its interpretation.  Notice Daniel takes no credit for it.  He gives God all the glory.

Daniel 2:

 27 Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians, [nor] diviners are able to declare [it] to the king.

 28 “However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind [while] on your bed.

 29 “As for you, O king, [while] on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place.

 30 “But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than [in] any [other] living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.

I love verse 30’s promise that God reveals things so we may understand the thoughts of our mind.  So, we have thoughts, but we need to understand them.  The Lord can explain even our own thoughts, why we have them, whether they are fear based, or whether they are the thoughts of others, who may be unbelievers.  Ask God to help you understand your thoughts about all the candidates in this election.  Block out all the noise and ask for His revelation.

Daniel goes on to reveal and explain the dream.

Daniel 2:

 31 ¶ “You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.

 32 “The head of that statue [was made] of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

 34 “You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.

 35 “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

 36 “This [was] the dream; now we shall tell its interpretation before the king.

 37 “You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory;

 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, [or] the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given [them] into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.

 39 “And after you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.

 40 “Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.

 41 “And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay.

 42 “And [as] the toes of the feet [were] partly of iron and partly of pottery, [so] some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.

 43 “And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.

 44 “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and [that] kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

 45 “Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

 46 ¶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense.

 47 The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

 49 And Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel [was] at the king’s court. (NASB)

Let me try to boil this down:

• This is a prophetic dream designed to teach us that God establishes Kingdoms and removes them.
• The statue represents four kingdoms.  The first kingdom, represented by gold, is King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian kingdom.
• The second kingdom, represented by silver, is an inferior kingdom (silver is less than gold).  This is the Medo-Persian Empire (King Darius and King Cyrus).
• The bronze kingdom is the Greek empire (Alexander the Great).
• The fourth kingdom is the Roman Empire, represented by iron and clay.
• The mixture of iron and clay has prophetic symbolism.  Iron is strong enough to destroy all the other kingdoms, but the clay forms pottery which is brittle and breaks easily.
• Verse 43 speaks to the present-day kingdom: “And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.”
• Verse 43 speaks to the division in today’s world because iron and clay combine in the seed of men, but they do not adhere to each other.
• Verses 44-45 prophesy of the Kingdom of Jesus, which will destroy all the other kingdoms in the earth. 

Let’s look at those two verses again:

Daniel 2:

44 “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and [that] kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

45 “Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Jesus is the stone cut out of the mountain without hands.  His is the kingdom that crushes all the others.

As you go to the polls to vote, understand which king you are voting for.  Stand on Jesus’ principles as Daniel did.  Vote according to God’s will in the earth and know that the interpretation of this dream is trustworthy.

Closing

Isaiah 9:

 6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

 7 There will be no end to the increase of [His] government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.  Praise His name!

Let us pray.

Father God, thank You for the example of Daniel of how to trust in Your word and how to remain a member of Jesus’ Kingdom, which reigns forever.  Guide us in this year’s election, that we might vote in accordance with Your will.  In Jesus’ name we ask.  Amen.