Dear Parents,
We trust you are well and kept by the Grace of God. This week our Sunday School lesson is about “Daniel“ Please let your child/children take out their Bible and read the scriptures aloud and follow the story.
With Christian love and respect.
IDOL WORSHIPPERS:
Babylonians were idol worshippers. They did not have just one god. They had many idols or gods. The Babylonians believed in many gods. That’s idolatry.
They did not worship the True and Living God.
God wants us to worship Him and Him alone. He commands us to only worship Him.
- What is an idol? An idol is a god that people make for themselves to worship. So a god that is made is called an idol.
- An Idol is not a true god. It is a false god.
- Long ago people made their own gods. They made them out of wood, or out of stone, out of gold, out of silver and other precious metals or stones.
- But a god that you make yourself cannot help you when you are in trouble or sick or needy.
- Why? Because a god that is made, is not alive. It has no power.
- But we have a God in Heaven that hears when we worship and pray to Him.
- There are some people that see the moon and stars and how beautiful they are and think that the sun or the moon or the stars are their God. Although we know the stars and the moon give us light at night, and the sun gives us sunlight and cause the plants to grow… They cannot help us or hear us when we need help.
- So we see that Some people worship many gods. They think that there is one god that made the sea and another that made the land or trees, and another god that take care of the stars. So they continue to worship many gods.
- They do not know one God made everything. And they have to worship Him alone. God is in control of everything. He alone made all nature…. the sun, stars and moon, the plants and land and sea and he made us.
So there is only one true God. And He is alive!
The DEUTERONOMY 4:39… Read aloud and learn…
The LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
Read also: Joshua 2:11 and 1 Kings 8:23
If you do not worship The True and Living God… You are an idolater.
- True and False Prophets:
The wise men of Babylon were the soothsayers, magicians, the Chaldeans or astrologers, working their magic enchantments to predict “what the gods supposedly tell them” and so enlighten or advise the king on matters.
These were not true prophets.
Prophets hear from God who speaks to the people from God and reveals secrets from God.
Of all the knowledge they had of the stars and other learning, they knew nothing about the True God, neither did they worship Him.
They worshipped the many gods they saw fit to worship.
The Three Hebrew boys were very clever and had much knowledge, yet Daniel saw visions. He was a prophet. They from the very start of their exile in Babylon could not be persuaded to worship idols or conform to the Babylonian way of life. They remained true to Jehovah God.
Recap of Daniel Chapter 2:
…and what a vision is:
There is a difference between a dream and a Vision.
- What do you think is the difference between a dream and a vision? A dream takes place when you are asleep… right? The king had a dream while he was sleeping. And the vision is what Daniel had. (Although he had a vision at night, He was not sleeping.) He had a whole night prayer meeting with his three friends. Then the vision broke.
A vision is a picture or an event that has happened in the past or is about to take place in the future. Daniel didn’t have to go to sleep to see this picture or thing taking place… He saw it, while he was awake. God gave Daniel, THE prophet the vision.
So, God gave the king the dream… but the vision (with the meaning) came to Daniel the prophet.
What is a vision?
A vision is what? The Word of God, or something foretold, or a forecast of a event. And a vision that the prophets had, and Jesus had, Paul had, and all of them, and tell of this day, was a forecast of what would happen. And here we see the forecast being made manifest, and people don’t even recognize it. See what I mean? Now, yesterday’s manna..
63-1229M THERE.IS.A.MAN.HERE.THAT.CAN.TURN.ON.THE.LIGHT
- When the king heard the interpretation of his dream, he fell down and worshipped Daniel. He must have admired Daniel and his ability to tell the dream.
The king gave Daniel many gifts, even the highest position in the Babylonian kingdom and even allowed the request of Daniel for top positions for his friends.
So the king could admire, praise and worship Daniel… a man.
Yet the king would not worship the God of Heaven, the True and Living God.
The King remained an idolater.
He did not bow down to Daniel’s God.
He was even happy that God said
He was that head of Gold.
He became proud in his heart that he was that head of Gold. Pride was in His heart. He became puffed up.
king Nebuchadnezzar also did not want his kingdom to end. The prophecy which Daniel gave him was that he was the Glorious Head of GOLD; BUT THAT his kingdom would end and a less glorious kingdom would take over.
He wanted to disprove the prophecy, so we find him… in Chapter 3 doing something to show that his kingdom would last forever.