What image was in Nebuchadnezzar’s first dream?
“a very tall statue being destroyed by a very big rock.”
What kinds of metals or materials comprised the image?
“gold, silver, bronze, iron, and iron and baked clay”
Recall to the best of your ability the parts of the statue’s ‘body’ made up of each of those materials:
“gold head, silver chest and arms, bronze torso and thighs, iron legs, and iron and baked clay feet and toes”
You may remember that each of the materials from the head to the foot of the statue represented Gentile world empires. Do your best to remember all four of the empires and write them in order in this space
“Babylonian – Nebuchanezzar
“Medo-Persian – Cyrus
“Greek Alexander the Great
“Roman Caesar – leader divided into two branches leading eventually to kaisers and czars”
Now, most importantly, what is the significance of the rock in the dream?
“It represents the Messiah, Jesus, and how his divine kingdom will smash all earthly ones.”
What might have happened to King Nebuchadnezzar as he aged?
“Life’s too short.
“Less to prove?
“Maybe he became a little less violent or distrustful or impatient, or maybe he became gentler or more merciful or just tired and lazy and stuff wasn’t worth getting so worked up about.”
Read Daniel 4:8 carefully. Based on his descriptions of Daniel, how can you tell that King Nebuchadnezzar still didn’t get the picture?
He insists on calling him Belteshazzar after his own favorite false god rather than Daniel after the Most High God he acknowledged in verse two. Then he says Daniel has the spirit of ‘the holy gods’ (lower case g, plural) in him.”
Have you ever felt you’d made tremendous progress with someone regarding his or her understanding of spiritual matters, only to realize at times that he or she still didn’t get the picture? “yes” If so, what did you end up doing?
“I can’t recall an exact moment example, but I know I have experienced such. Mostly, I have backed off somewhat and just seasoned my words with salt and prayed for them.”
How can we turn the concept conveyed in Luke 24:45 into a powerful prayer for the person we’re urging toward truth? Write a prayer in this space for someone you know without necessarily using his or her name.
“Lord, I know you can open people’s minds so that they understand Scriptures. Lord, you know I have several loved ones who have heard scriptures many times yet still somehow aren’t really listening and truly believing (Two have even read them from the pulpit for the congregation). Please open their minds anew and awaken their faith.”
God the Father must ordain it, the Son must open it, and the Holy Spirit must infuse it. 
Dearest Rachel –
Stubbornness ran in your family, I suppose. You would cheerfully admit that when it came to things you wanted, you “want[ed] them the way [you] want[ed] them,” after all, with as few variations as humanly possible, of course. It made gift-giving an easy process – all I ever had to do was to ask you what, specifically, you wanted, and you would tell me, down to the brand name and where I could find it – but I’ll admit it took a lot of the surprise and romance out of it in turn (and made me a little lazy, as well, which does me no favors in my search for Megumi, I’d wager. But that’s beside the point).
This stubbornness actually served you well as you sought to confirm where your folks stood in terms of their own salvation. And while I keep mentioning it when I go through your notes, it’s because you kept mentioning them, too – even if you don’t call them out by name (which is in keeping with Beth’s instructions, here). There’s no mistaking who you’re referring to, right down to their participation in church without really thinking about the ‘why’ and ‘what’ they’re reading.
Of course, the problem of this being an inherited trait (or a learned one; but we can leave the whole “nature vs. nurture” debate out of this, can’t we?) is that your parents were equally stubborn about your efforts, if not more so. The more you attempted to get a straight answer from them, the more they seemed to dig in their heels against your line of inquiry. To this day – and I realize that I’ve mentioned this so many times as well – I don’t know where they stood on the matter. You presumably know, because they’re either where you are or not.
But either way, the decision (or the choice not to decide, which is a decision in and of itself) has already been made by each of them; there is no prayer that can be made for their souls at this point. We have but one purgatory, and that is here on earth; it’s up to us to use our time here to take advantage of the option to purge our souls of that which keeps us from God. If we don’t make that choice here, what would the point be of a second place to do so? We would most likely arrive at the same conclusion – good or bad – as we did here on earth.
So, too, for Nebuchadnezzar; even having come to his senses, he still doesn’t grasp the singularity of God as he relates the story of his fall and redemption. Maybe having been steeped in a polytheistic culture, he simply couldn’t grasp the idea of a single true God – certainly, I fail to understand the concept of a multiplicity of deities; either One can take care of the entirety of the universe, or He isn’t worthy of the title of God, so maybe the inability to comprehend goes both ways – but clearly, his redemption isn’t complete, even here. While your parents’ situation is uncertain (at least in my mind), I doubt you’ve seen his majesty to ask him any questions about this and other incidents throughout the story of Daniel and his friends.
Of course, you allude to others who seem just this close to understanding, but who hadn’t grasped the truth yet. I can guess of at least one of those, but, lacking your stubbornness (and the connection you had with them), I have, I’m ashamed to say it, retreated from any attempts to press His case to them. Then again, the times I tried, even you suggested I hold back on my arguments – to borrow your expression (and Paul’s), I didn’t know how much salt to add to my words. So for now, I think I’m taking the best course I can; I just don’t know if it’s helping. It’s not offending, to be sure, but if it’s not there to offend, is that an improvement?
Letters to Rachel 