Studies in Daniel: Signs & Wonders

 

v. 2b: “…to declare the signs and wonders…”

Also v. 3. Common Biblical terminology with regard to the miraculous (Ex. 7:3; Deut. 6:22, 7:19, 13:1-2, 26:8; Neh. 9:10; Ps. 135:9; Jer. 32:20; Acts 2:43, 4:30, 5:12, 8:13, 14:3).

 

Nebuchadnezzar had previously been the object of God’s special interest, having been the recipient of various signs (chapters 2 & 3), which would now culminate in the totality of the particular experience of chapter 4 (i.e., the dream, its interpretation, and its subsequent fulfillment).

  

o   “Signs.” Serving as meaningful ensigns, they pointed to and signified God’s Presence and Power, and furnished evident testimony of Divine activity.

 

o   “Wonders:” so referenced because of their awe-inspiring impact.

 

“Signs and wonders” were employed by God in both the Days of the Old & New Testament to confirm and authenticate both the Divine Message and its appointed messengers.

 

Deut. 7:17-19: “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So will the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.”

 

Acts 2:22: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know—”

 

Acts 2:43: And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

 

The Messianic Identity of Christ would be confirmed by the Sign of Jonah—yet it was no credit to His blind contemporaries that they failed to recognize Him and demanded a sign!

 

Matt. 12:38-42: Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”

 

Matt. 16:4: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah."

 

Due to the astonishing depravity of the human heart, signs and wonders are, in and of themselves, insufficient to lead men to a redemptive acknowledgment of Divine Truth!

 

o   Signs and wonders only had a momentary impact upon Pharaoh, whose heart progressively continued to harden.

 

Ex. 7:3-4: “But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.”

 

Ex. 11:9-10: Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

 

o   Signs and wonders did not impact the wicked generation of Jewish leaders who bore witness to the resurrection of Lazarus of Bethany from the dead (John 11:47-53). The sad aftermath of this great miracle:

 

John 11:53: So from that day on they planned together to kill Him [Jesus].

John 12:10-11: But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

 

o   Signs and wonders (Acts 8:13) could not make the heart of Simon Magus right before God (Acts 8:21).

 

o   The extraordinary sign of a witness returned from the dead would be insufficient to lead the five brethren of the Rich Man to repentance:

 

Luke 16:30-31: But he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!” But he said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.”

 

o   Thus, even the indisputable Sign of Jonah was insufficient to bring about the mass-conversion of the Jewish Nation!

 

The miracle-centered and experienced-based “Power Evangelism” of the “Third Wave” of the Charismatic Movement (a.k.a, the “Signs & Wonders Movement,” or “New Apostolic Reformation”) that arose in the 1980’s with John Wimber, C. Peter Wagner, and others, fails to recognize the above, affirming that the Gospel Message must be accompanied by sensational and visible signs and miracles if men are to believe. Some points to note:

 

o   It is the preaching of the Gospel which is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16).

 

o   Rom. 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

 

o   We live in an age of FAITH! John 20:29: "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

o   Our textbook definition of FAITH: Heb. 11:1. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

 

o   The instrumental agent of Divine regeneration is the Word of God—not sign-miracles (1 Pet. 1:23, Luke 8:11).

 

o   The efficacious saving grace of the Holy Spirit is required to quicken and renew the heart of the spiritually dead (John 6:37, 44; 10:16); sensory experiences and logical arguments are, by themselves, insufficient.

 

I Cor. 1:18-24:

“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

 

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’

 

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

 

Our conclusion is that it is only due to the special regenerative and efficacious grace of God that Nebuchadnezzar was able to draw lasting personal benefit from the sign-miracle events that he experienced. This example stands in marked contrast to that of the unnamed Exodus Pharaoh (probably Amenhotep II), as well as to that of Nebuchadnezzar’s own grandson Belshazzar (Dan. 5)—both of whom remained unrepentant and in their sins, despite having borne witness to extraordinary miraculous phenomena.