Sunday, November 20, 2022

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream & Daniel’s Visions (Daniel 2, 7, 10)

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

READ Daniel 2:1-6

What is the “catch” for the magicians and wise men of Babylon in interpreting the King’s dream?

He will not tell them the dream but says it is “gone” from him.

They must have the original dream AND the interpretation revealed to them.

 

READ Daniel 2:9-11

What else has been bothering the king?

This is a set up – the king is suspecting that he has been the victim of fraud in the past.

What is implied by the king’s logic – “if you can tell me the dream… I shall know that you can show me the interpretation”?

They cannot use their own intellect.

They MUST connect through the veil to something – God or angel or devil or spiritual entity.

The king believes in the spirit world while the magicians do not.

Or at least the magicians do not believe they can reliably and accurately connect through the veil to the gods or unseen world – enough to get a very specific answer to this request: to see the same dream and get the correct interpretation.

The king has likely NOT forgotten the dream and is waiting to see if they will be able to reach into the spiritual realm and bring back the truth.

What is implied by the statement “the gods, whose dwelling is not with the flesh”?

There is a rigid division or wall between mortality and the spirit world – it is not a veil which can be parted.

The gods are not ministering among them but are in their heavens.

The gods have given their power unto men.

 

READ 2 Nephi 28:3-6

What is one of the signs of a Church that has been corrupted?

They claim to be God’s own Church.

But they teach their own learning.

They deny the Holy Ghost and power of God.

They say God has “done His work” (God is not actively involved with the people in a way that they know Him and know it is Him – He has left the earth).

They teach God has given His power to men.

They teach people to disbelieve in miracles or supernatural occurrences (because that will likely contradict the will of the men to whom God has “given His power”; also while God might have given His power to them, they never display that power in any public way that could be measured or assessed with any certainty).

Why do they teach the people to doubt miracles and “supernatural” occurrences?

Because the priestly leadership is not receiving revelation or displaying spiritual gifts themselves (i.e. Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men).

They become very threatened by those that do (i.e. Daniel).

They usually say that the person who is experiencing these things is “of the devil” – they try to discredit them.

 

READ Daniel 2:15-18

Why did Daniel need time to receive revelation?

These experiences are real and require faith and spiritual “labor” (i.e. “crying all the daylong” and into the night like Enos or wrestling with an angel like Jacob).

 

READ Daniel 2:19, 23, 27-28

How did God reveal the dream and its interpretation to Daniel?

In a “night vision” or a vision at night.

How was this different than what had happened to the King and why?

The king “dreamed a dream” (v1).

Daniel had to have more sure knowledge than a mere dream – he needed a vision and an interpretation, which comes more reliably while awake (and from a true messenger) than in a dream.

 

READ Daniel 2:31-35

Why would the Lord give this dream to a heathen king?

He is no respecter of persons.

Giving a dream like this to one of the most powerful people in the world is guaranteed to increase visibility into the dream (and Daniel’s miraculous interpretation).

Why would the Lord not give the interpretation to the king?

The Lord choses “revelators” who “reveal” His will and knowledge.

These people must have covenanted with Him; they must worship Him.

God wanted the king to have to become a seeker after truth. 

 

READ Daniel 2:36-43

What does the image represent?

Various kingdoms of the world throughout time.

If the gold head represents Babylon, what kingdoms are represented by the silver, brass, iron and clay?

Silver = Persian/Medes.

Brass = Greeks/Macedonia (Alexander the Great).

Iron = Roman Empire.

Clay = European nations (including the USA, according to Joseph Smith, see TPJS 123:2).

 

READ Daniel 2:44-45

What is the stone cut without hands?

The kingdom of God or Zion.

An incorruptible Gospel or roadmap back to God with its enabling Atonement.

It is NOT a corruptible mortal institution or Church – the Kingdom of God is God’s House or royal family that He is hoping to reconstitute again upon the earth – it is a Kingdom because Christ is its Lord and Father, and those who live there are His Sons and Daughters. 

What does “cut without hands” mean?

The Kingdom is not created or led by men with “hands” to build things, but by God who commands with His voice and waits to be obeyed. 

The Lord “brings again Zion” (see Isaiah 52:8) not man.

It is the heavenly angels that bring men and women to Zion (see Moses 7:27).

Ultimately, it requires becoming a Son or Daughter of God and receiving the testimony of Jesus (see D&C 88:75) to live in Zion and be able to withstand its glory, which causes fear among the mortal armies of the earth such that they won’t go up to fight it because it is “terrible” or filled with heavenly glory that even they can see with their mortal eyes (see D&C 45:70).

How does the Kingdom “break in pieces” the Kingdoms of the World so there was “nowhere found them”?

The Lord will use the wicked kingdoms of the world to destroy each other (see D&C 63:33).

The truth will destroy the kingdoms and organizations that work in the dark and depend upon lies to engage their people.

Angels will protect Zion but they will not be attacking people (see D&C 45:70).

Ultimately, the Lord will destroy the wicked at the Last Day when He comes in glory with the hosts of heaven.

How can the truth destroy the kingdoms of this world?

When the world discovers the truths that business leaders are hiding, their stock falls and their companies are bankrupted or sold.

When free nations discover the truth about its corrupt politicians, they become lame ducks or are impeached, and their followers/parties suffer (i.e. Nixon, Clinton (both of them), Trump).

When the world discovered the truth about the Soviet Union (it was bankrupt and built around a façade of power), it fell.

Our world is built upon falsehoods constructed carefully in the dark – when they are exposed in the light of truth, people lose faith in them and turn away, and in the vacuum other wicked people come and take advantage or destroy them.

What does the Kingdom “becoming a great mountain and filling the whole earth” mean?

It is the complete removal of all aspects of the culture, values, behaviors and influences of all of the nations and empires the Lord names in the dream (including the USA, according to Joseph Smith).

When Christ comes again, the earth will be His to rule.

Mountain = temple symbolism = house or palace or residence of the Lord, who is present on earth to reign personally.

 

READ Daniel 2:48

Can the King make Daniel a “great man”?

Great in the eyes of the world, perhaps, but Daniel has already shown that this kind of “greatness” is fleeting at best.

The king cannot make Daniel great – only God can make Him great or “perfect in Christ”.

 

 

Daniel’s Visions

READ Daniel 7:13-16

What is Daniel’s reaction to seeing in vision a coronation ceremony of the Savior and Michael?

It is awe-inspiring.

It makes Daniel’s head spin.

He needs a guide to help him comprehend what is going on.

This experience reminds me of Joseph Smith’s experience in the Sacred Grove – but one can grow in the capability to rend the veil and experience glory, as when Joseph and Sidney Rigdon saw The Vision (D&C 76), Joseph was reported to be strong while Sidney was as weak as a rag after the experience, not being used to the intensity of the glory and its toll on the physical body. 

 

READ Daniel 10:4-12

Why is Daniel the only one to see the vision?

The others are unprepared.

Or unworthy (see D&C 67:10-14).

Are these experiences real if only one person can see them, while in a group?

Yes.

Just because only one person in a group can see a certain light spectrum doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist or impact the others, even though they can’t see those particular light waves. 

 

READ Alma 30:15-16 and Moroni 7:29-30

How would you contrast how the teachings of the world (Korihor) and the teachings of The Lord (Mormon) would interpret  Daniel’s experience at the river?

The world would tell Daniel that he is crazy or a liar.

The Lord would have assessed Daniel’s faith, character, and sanity/mental capacities before He showed him the vision.

Why are spiritual experiences like this anecdotal?

We are all to have our own personal relationship and experiences with God.

They are adapted to our own capacities and where we are in our personal journey back to God.

Like the oil from the Parable of the Ten Virgins, these anecdotal experiences can’t be shared – you have to experience it yourself, which is as God desires it.

The Lord never makes things easy because there is no growth in easy (weight lifting is a great physical analogy).  The world will not believe you, and that is part of the trial.

 

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