Tossed by Cunning Craftiness

Sometimes Deceitful Plotting Doesn’t Change

Looking at the New Testament description of the Body of Christ and comparing it to the rock that grew in King Nebuchadnezzar’s “first” dream.

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

Tossed by Cunning Craftiness

by Eric Engelmann

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC

We're going to look at King Nebuchadnezzar's first dream in the second chapter of the Book of Daniel.  We've looked at it before,  but in this episode we're going to look at it through the lens of Paul's description of the body of Christ found in Eph 4:14-16.

Here's one big difference between these two passages. King Nebuchadnezzar's dream talks about a rock that grows and destroys a statue.

Ephesians doesn't talk about a rock -- it talks about a body.  Paul calls it the body of Christ. I think the life in the Body of Christ fulfills the life that made rock in the dream grow.

Also, instead of a statue, Paul talks about the cunning craftiness and deceitfulness of men. I call it the factory of deceit.  I'll give an example soon.

Here's the passage out of Ephesians 4

Verse 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

That's the end of the passage.

Now that we've looked at the passage in Ephesians, let's use it to look at Ephesians says the bad guys did.  I'll repeat part of verse 14:

"every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, "

Sometimes things don't change much. The same thoughts King Nebuchadnezzar had are pretty much the same kind of thoughts we see in the world today.

THE FACTORY OF DECEIT.

As an example of how deceit works,  let's look at King Nebuchadnezzar’s actions after his first dream.  King Nebuchadnezzar cunningly changed the laws in his empire and made a new doctrine.

EVERY WIND OF DOCTRINE

In Daniel 3 we read,

4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “O people of every nation and language, this is what you are commanded: 5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.”

This is a new doctrine. This was not the way the empire was run before. 

BY THE TRICKERY OF MEN

Think about what King Nebuchadnezzar was supposed to have learned from the first dream. King Nebuchadnezzar supposedly learned that the Most High was going to make a kingdom like a rock to displace all other kingdoms in the world.  King Nebuchadnezzar’s empire was represented as the golden head of the statue that was pulverized. Just a small part of a string of empires that were going to blow away like dust.

King Nebuchadnezzar demonstrated that without the spiritual material of the Kingdom of God his I own kingdom would crumble.  Remember that he had been so troubled by the dream that if he didn't find out what it meant, he was ready to throw away the lives of all his advisers -- that strategic thinktank he had amassed over many years.

But Nebuchadnezzar didn't primarily change laws to honor this upcoming kingdom of God. He made a Golden image honoring himself and threatened everyone who didn't worship it with death.

IN THE CUNNING CRAFTINESS OF DECEITFUL PLOTTING.

King Nebuchadnezzar was pretending that the living God of the previous chapter was either dead or missing. At one point he asked Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego "Who is that God who can deliver you out of my hand?" after their God had already delivered them out of his hand in the previous chapter.

IN THE FUTURE

In the Same Way Jesus promises His faithfulness to His disciples today, He took the time to show Himself in King Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace and protect Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from

"every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting"

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