Daniel 4: Nebuchadnezzar is Humbled

Now, here are the Word of the Lord from Daniel 4, verses 1 through 37. King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace.
I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed, the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.
Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation. At last Daniel came in before me. He who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my god and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.
And I told him the dream saying, Oh Belteshazzar, chief of the magic magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you. Tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation. The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these.
I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong and its top reached to heaven and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant and in it was food for all.
The beasts of the field found shade under it and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches and all flesh was fed from it. I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus, Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.
Let the beast flee from under it and the birds from its branches, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth.
Let his mind be changed from a man's and let a beast's mind be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the Watchers, the decision by the word of the Holy Ones, to the end that the living may know that the most high rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw.
And you, O Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy Gods is in you. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.
Belteshazzar answered and said, My Lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies. The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundance, and in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived. It is you, O King, who have grown and become strong.
Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth. And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one coming down from heaven and saying, Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, and in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him. This is the interpretation, O King.
It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my Lord, the King, that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that heaven rules.
Therefore, O King, let my council be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by practicing righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
At the end of 12 months, he was walking on the roof of the Royal Palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power, as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty? While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven. Oh, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will.
Immediately, the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men, and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair grew as long as eagle's feathers, and his nails were like bird's claws. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever.
For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?
At the same time, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble.
This is the word of the Lord.
Lots of coughing going on in here. It's that time of the year, I think. Well, good morning and welcome to Sacred City Church.
My name is Justin. I'm the lead pastor here at the church. There has been so much going on at the church that we really didn't promote or advertise this at all, but today is our one year anniversary of moving into this building.
God has been really gracious with us over the past year. This building has turned out to be a great locus for gospel ministry for us in the Quad Cities. God has graciously added about a hundred people to our church in the past year.
Our youth ministry has almost doubled. We've baptized sixty folks since being in here. We've launched a school.
We've relaunched Sacred City Institute, our theological development and discipleship program. So it is appropriate and good for us today just to take a moment to thank God for his kind providence and provision for us over the past year. So let me do that in my prayer.
And then also, you guys knew this last week if you were here. I've been fighting sickness for about a week and a half now and have not felt great and actually have been pretty much coughing my lungs out for a week. And so I sound better today.
I don't necessarily feel that much better. So I'd appreciate your prayers as I pray for us this morning. Father God, first off, that last line of the text that was just read, that you are able to humble those who are in pride.
And we recognize that and we want you, we ask you to humble us because as you exalt the humble, Lord, you give grace to the humble. And so we want to be humble in your presence. And a part of or an aspect of humility is just thanking you, being thankful for what you've given us in this life, in this season and not being greedy for more.
Not just looking to the future and hoping to the future that things are going to get better, but thanking you for your kind providence to where we are. And many of us, myself included, failed to do that often. And so, Lord, would you receive our praise and our thankfulness this morning for what you've done in our midst over the past year?
We thank you for the way that you gave us this building. We thank you for the way that it turned out. We thank you for the opportunity to serve you with a foundation, with a parking lot, with the ability to do gospel ministry pretty much unhindered here in the Quad Cities.
Thank you for even the patio and the men's event that we had on Friday night and the men gathering here on Saturday morning. Thank you for the opportunity that we have to use this building for your glory. Thank you for all the people that have came over the past year.
Thank you for the souls that have been baptized into your kingdom. Thank you for just the work of discipleship that continues to go on. We don't want to take credit for that in our own strength, Lord.
We know that you are the one who gives the growth, that you are the one that blows the wind of the Spirit where you will. And so we're really thankful for it. But we're also commanded in Scripture to hope and to look to the future and to ask you for great things.
And so we ask that you would continue the work that you have done in our midst over this past year, that you would multiply fruitfulness, that you would multiply your kingdom, you would expand it in the Quad Cities, that the influence of your kingdom would spread, that more people would come to know you, that other churches would be revitalized, that the gospel preaching would go forth from pulpits all around our city, that many people would come to know you, and that you would renew our city for your glory. We believe that you are the sovereign God who rules the kingdoms of men, and you give them to whom you wish. And so we ask that you would do that.
Father, this morning, as I open your word, I am really aware that I don't have the mental faculties this morning. I don't have, I just don't feel up to the task. And so I need the Holy Spirit to help me to think through my mind and speak to my vocal cords.
We do know that your spirit moves, that your word never returns void. And so we put our hope not in men, but we put our hope in the word of God. And so would you do that for us this morning for your glory and our good.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, if you were just joining us, we are studying the Old Testament Book of Daniel together, chapter by chapter and verse by verse.
And today we come to chapter 4, a chapter that once again shows us that God rules the kingdoms of men and gives them to whom he wishes. As we've been working through our way through this book each week, I've been trying to kind of walk a fine line. I want to give you enough historical information to convince you that this isn't just some kind of myth or fable invented out of the minds of men, but rather real history.
But I don't want to give you so much history that it feels like some kind of lecture. Well, history is important. In my doctoring class that I'm teaching at New City, I've been teaching our upper school students about general revelation.
General revelation is the way that God reveals himself to all people everywhere. God primarily reveals himself through general revelation to all men through creation, history, or his providence over history, and our innate consciousness of God. So I want to kind of zero in just a little bit this morning on history.
History has a lot to teach us, and unfortunately too many people just dismiss it all together. For many of us, we have been taught that history, especially ancient history like we're studying today, history that happened like 2600 years ago, is just full of ignorant people living in caves, scratching rudimentary drawings on a wall. What can those guys teach us anyways?
We laugh. We've got iPhones. Well, Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful man on the planet at his time.
He ruled the Babylonian Empire, which was the largest empire in the world at the time. Here is a picture of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom. Look how far it stretches.
It's stretched from modern-day Turkey down into Egypt, from modern-day Iran down into the heartlands of Arabia. Well, Nebuchadnezzar, he builds Babylon. And Babylon is the largest city in the world.
So it's the largest city in the Babylonian Empire, and it's the largest city in the world, and it was home to one of the seven wonders of the world. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. So basically, listen to this, in the middle of the desert, Nebuchadnezzar builds the skyscrapers of his day.
He builds the biggest city of his day. But these buildings weren't all brick and stone, or concrete and steel, like you see in downtown Chicago. They were decorated with luscious hanging gardens that showed both his architectural genius and his ability to create living beauty in the midst of an intemperate climate.
Berosthus, a Babylonian priest writing in 300 BC, describes these hanging gardens as high stone terraces, which imitated mountains and which were planted with many types of large trees and flowers. So terraces would not only have created a pleasant aesthetic effect of hanging vegetation over all of these buildings, but it also made irrigation much easier. It's interesting.
Berosthus also explains that the gardens were built to please a wife of the Babylonian king. She was a mead, and her name was Amethyst, and it was built because she felt homesick for her green and hilly homeland. So Nebuchadnezzar builds this amazing city, the greatest city on earth at this time, and then figures out a way to make it beautiful and lush and full of vegetative life in the midst of the desert.
Remember, Babylon was in the middle of modern-day Iraq. This shows his engineering, architectural, and even his horticultural genius. He was no dummy.
And I love that he added these hanging gardens to please his wife. Like she comes to the largest city in the world and says, Oh, it's ugly. Where are the flowers?
And he says, let me figure that out for you. So Nebuchadnezzar was a man of great accomplishments. Listen, there has only ever been in all of human history, a handful of men who could rival his accomplishments.
In a lot of ways, we would say Nebuchadnezzar was the man of his day. As I'm reading it, I think Elon Musk. That's what I think.
You know, a guy who invents PayPal and then he creates something else. And then he, let's just take, let's go to the moon, right? And he just, one thing after another.
And it seems like everything he touches succeeds. So Nebuchadnezzar is doing what most powerful men do. He's conquering.
He's subduing. He's ruling. And yet right now, he's not a follower of God.
We would say he's not a Christian. He's pagan. So he's doing all kinds of pagan things like threatening to rip people limb from limb if they don't obey him.
He's worshiping all kinds of different deities, specifically Marduk. But when Nebuchadnezzar conquers Jerusalem, he brings all for his own purposes. He brings all of the best and the brightest followers of the true God into his kingdom because he wants their talents to build his kingdom.
And today we're going to see what happens when the real followers of the true God get brought into the pagan king's court. Like faithfulness to God matters. Courage in the face of pagan rulers matters.
Influence matters.
These men, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and more of them that aren't named, they're like yeast that gets added to the dough. They grow and they spread and they make an indelible impact on this pagan kingdom. I believe if our own country is going to survive, I think this chapter shows us what we need from God and what we need to be doing as followers of God.
Let's get into our text this morning. We've got quite a bit of work to do. Chapter 4 verses 1 through 3 first.
King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How greater is signs, how mighty is wonders.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation. So here we go. This is a change in the narrative.
Chapter 4 is a letter written by Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel has included in his book. Or this was spoken by Nebuchadnezzar and dictated by Daniel, and Daniel included it in his book. It's a letter that's being sent to all the peoples, nations, and languages that are in Nebuchadnezzar's empire.
And this is what we need to see this morning. The primary purpose of this letter is to give glory to God and testify that God's kingdom is not like Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom. God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion rules from generation to generation.
Remember in the second dream that Daniel interpreted, Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold. His empire is not going to go generation to generation. It's going to be passed on to other kingdoms after him.
But God's kingdom is different. In that metal man dream, Nebuchadnezzar was told that his kingdom would be succeeded by a kingdom of lesser value, one of silver and then bronze and then iron and on and on, until God would establish his own kingdom. The kingdom of the rock that was cut out without a human hand would smash the feet of the statue, topple the entire statue, and then that rock would become a great mountain in all the earth.
And that kingdom would be eternal. Now, let me just lay my cards on the table for us this morning. I believe this chapter tells the story of Nebuchadnezzar's conversion.
I believe he becomes a Christian in this chapter. And I believe this chapter shows what's necessary for anyone to become a Christian. It doesn't do it in the most obvious way.
It couldn't because it was written 600 years before Jesus ever walked this earth. But it's all here in this text. Let me just say this.
Think about this. If you are the most powerful, ruthless, and successful man on the planet, the one thing you don't do in the midst of your power at the high point of your kingdom is write a letter to all your leaders telling the story of how you took pride in all your accomplishments and then went crazy for an extended amount of time until you repented and gave honor to the most high God. In other words, powerful people, by and large, hide their weaknesses.
They take pride in their strength, power, and accomplishments. They don't show their weaknesses because that would embolden their enemies. And yet, Nebuchadnezzar does the exact opposite in this chapter.
And I think he does it because God really changes his heart. He's converted in this chapter. Verse 4.
I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. Now, right away, we're meant to see something here, something important. Nebuchadnezzar is the man and things are going well for him.
He's gotten everything he's ever wanted. He's rich beyond our wildest imaginations. He's more powerful than any of us could even dream of.
He's ruling the largest empire from the largest, most beautiful city in the world. He's chilling at home in his own palace, right? Things are going well for him.
Well, if you read the Old Testament, if you understand the way that God writes stories, right here, you should be, if it was a modern day movie, some concerning music would begin to play right now. Right? When you read the Old Testament, this theme is often repeated.
When things go bad, people cry out to God, repent of their sins, and God is gracious to them. But when things are going well, they often forget about Him, turn to their own ways, and then God graciously brings some form of judgment upon them to bring them to repentance. So it's usually in times of success and prosperity and peace when people get into the most trouble.
It was when King David was relaxing on his own palace rooftop, and he wasn't going out to war with his troops, that King David committed his greatest sin against God by taking another man's wife, getting her pregnant, and then having the husband killed. Well, Nebuchadnezzar is in a similar place here. Verse 5, I saw a dream that made me afraid.
So he is in a season of prosperity, and I'm going to say this, God enters into that season of prosperity to warn him. As I lay in bed, the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. I had another dream and it freaked me out.
So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Then the magicians, here comes the witchcraft department. Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream.
But they could not make known to me its interpretation. At last, Daniel came in before me. He who was named, Nebuchadnezzar named him, Belteshazzar, after the name of his god.
Remember, Daniel is named after the true god, and Nebuchadnezzar renames him Belteshazzar after the name of his own god. And Nebuchadnezzar says, And in whom the spirit of the holy gods, here, Nebuchadnezzar, a pluralist, Nebuchadnezzar, a polytheist, he recognizes lots of different gods, and this time, he tells him the dream, saying, Oh, Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and that no mystery is too difficult for you. Tell me the visions of my dream that I saw in their interpretation.
The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these, I saw and behold, here he's going to tell him the dream. I saw and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great. Now, often time in the Old Testament, in the Book of Psalms, a tree represents flourishing, a tree represents the ideal human being, someone who grows and flourishes by a stream of living water, right?
And it brings forth its fruit in season, that we produce things for the glory of God, and we benefit our family and our friends and our nation and our society as we do good for those around us. This one, this tree reaches its top into the heavens, and was visible to the end of the whole earth. So we see this giant tree.
The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its leaves were beautiful, and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found their shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.
So we see this tree that's taking care of the land, taking care of the animals, taking care of the people. Verse 13, I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one came down from heaven. This watcher is some kind of angelic being.
Could be, in the Old Testament, it talks about certain spiritual beings being over kingdoms, being rulers of Persia and different places. So this could be, if there's a hierarchy in heaven, which it seems like there is among the spiritual beings, that this is Nebuchadnezzar's angel here. This is kingdom of Babylon's angel.
This is his watcher is what he calls it. And this watcher, this holy one, comes down from heaven. That would freak somebody out.
He proclaimed aloud and said thus, actually, this part of the dream is probably not concerning to Nebuchadnezzar. This is a good dream. Big tree, feeding the world, everybody can see it.
He's thinking, I hope it's me. I think it's probably me. Then he sees an angel.
This part is probably concerning and the next words are terrifying. He proclaimed aloud and said, thus, chop down the tree and lop off its branches. Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruits.
Let the beast flee from under it and the birds from its branches. So here we see a watcher proclaiming judgment upon the tree. This part is a little strange, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth.
Bound with a band of iron and bronze amid the tender grass of the field. Let, and then we see this, this transition here. Let him, let him.
So right away we notice that the tree is a person. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. This means he's going to stay outside all night long and be soaked in the morning by the dew.
Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from man's and let a beast's mind be given to him. This is extreme mental illness we're talking about here.
And let seven periods of time pass over him. Notice that it just says periods of time. Commentators disagree over how long this was.
It could have been seven months. It could have been seven seasons, which have been about a year and a half or so. I don't think it could, I don't think it was seven years.
I think if it was seven years, his kingdom would have fallen apart. Seven periods of time. Verse 17.
The sentence is by decree of the Watchers, the decision by the word of the Holy Ones to the end. So this is its purpose. This is why we're telling you this.
That the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdoms of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men. In other words, Nebuchadnezzar, you've gotten too big for your britches, and God is going to cut you down. Johnny Cash has a great song that God's going to cut you down.
Verse 18. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw, and you, O Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation. Now, listen, were they not able?
I think this interpretation is actually fairly straightforward. Were they not able or were they not willing? Right?
What does the dream mean? No idea. I have no idea.
A big tree gets cut down, goes bad for him. Who could that be about? Certainly not you.
I'd like to keep my head and my limbs, so I won't tell you the truth. But he says, they're not able, but you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy Gods is with you. Or is in you.
Now this is interesting. I told you last week that each chapter is written in a literary form called a chiasm. In a chiasm, you have lines of a sentence or a paragraph that relate to each other like this.
We don't use this today, but it goes like this. Sentence A, sentence A. Sentence B, sentence B.
Sentence C, sentence D, D. And then if it's E, the middle, whatever the middle line is, that's the point of the chapter. Alright?
And the main point of this story is actually verse 19. That's the center of the chiasm in this chapter. And it shows us the effect the dream had on Daniel rather than Nebuchadnezzar.
Look at verse 19. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while. And his thoughts alarmed him.
In other words, he knows the interpretation, and he's deeply grieved by it. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you. Belteshazzar answered and said, My Lord, look at this.
May the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your enemies. See, Daniel here is dismayed. He's devastated.
He's appalled at the dream. He's troubled in his spirit. I think this shows us a couple of things.
First, Daniel really cared about Nebuchadnezzar. Can you imagine this? This guy has pulled you out of his homeland.
This guy has brought you into exile, into your kingdom. And yet Daniel has become so comfortable with the providential hand of God, that he's serving the man that God's told him to serve, and he does it with a real heart. He really cares about Nebuchadnezzar.
He sees this vision. He's going to be cut down. He's grieved.
He's like, I hope it's not about you, Nebuchadnezzar. I hope it's about some other kingdom.
Second, Daniel didn't want this king cut down, humiliated or destroyed. He wanted what was best for the king. Listen, and what was best for the king?
For him to be converted. For him to come to know who rules the kingdoms of men and gives them to whom he wishes. So here we see Daniel, and any Christian in any influential position, all of us are in some influential position, whether it's in a business, an organization, in our families, could be in the government.
We need to see and learn from Daniel here. Daniel had a real heart for this pagan king. Now Daniel was primarily a prophet.
He was an interpreter of dreams. But we see here, he also had a pastor's heart. He knew what the dream meant, but it grieved him deeply because he was a friend to the king and wanted what was best for him.
Now listen, Daniel shows us what our attitudes should be towards those we are in relationship with, whose authority that we are under, and yet they have yet to acknowledge the true and living God. But this is an interesting point. Daniel's loyalty and love for the king does not prevent him from telling him the hard truth.
So we don't get the sin of empathy out of Daniel here. We don't get, oh, this is so bad, and I love you so much, Nebuchadnezzar. I'm not going to tell you the truth.
Look at verse 20. Daniel. All right.
Here you go, Neb. Verse 20. The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven and it was visible to the ends of the whole earth, whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived.
It is you. It is you, O King. And this is so reminiscent to me of what happened to the prophet David.
Right? David, or the king David, King David, he gets a prophet, the prophet comes to him, tells him a story about a little, a guy who stole somebody's chief lamb or most prized lamb, and David gets enraged, and he's like, who would do this? And the prophet says, you.
You're the man. It's you, O King, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth.
And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze and the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him. This is the interpretation, O King. It is a decree of the Most High.
And so here we see, this wasn't just a watcher, an angel telling him his opinion, an angel is a messenger of the Most High. God is in control of all the angels, so God decreed something, and the angel went and told Nebuchadnezzar what that decree was.
Which is, Come upon my Lord the King, that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass. And the word right there, again, it's like grass and, or vegetables in chapter one.
It means all kinds of plants. It doesn't just mean grass in our idea. Alright?
Like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until when? Look. Until you know that the most high rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will.
Until you know that God is sovereign. Until you know that God lifts up and God pulls down. Thank you, brother.
Until you understand that you are nothing more than a vice regent of the king of kings. You have been put here for a reason, and it wasn't for your own glory, and your own grandeur, and your own power. You are here for a purpose bigger than yourself.
Daniel says, Therefore, O King, let my counsel be acceptable to you. Look at this. Here's the word.
Daniel interprets the dream, but now, this is where Daniel is a pastor. This is when Daniel is a Christian. This is when Daniel is a true friend.
He tells him what to do about it. Therefore, O King, listen, let my counsel be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed.
That there may be perhaps a lengthening of your prosperity. See, here we see Daniel was a real Christian all the way down. He did not let his love and care for the king override speaking the truth to him, and calling him to repentance.
Indeed, it was his love and care for the king that required him to speak the truth and love to him. He says, you are the one that's going to be cut down, King, until you acknowledge that the most high rules the kingdoms of men, until you acknowledge that heaven rules over you and your kingdom. What you must do, Nebuchadnezzar, if you don't want this to happen, and if you want it to continue to go well for you, is you must repent, practice righteousness, and show mercy to the oppressed.
Right, here we have, repent, right, practice righteousness. So repent, turn away from your sins, and turn to the living God. Live out your faith in a new way, and show mercy to the oppressed.
Rule God's kingdom the way God wants his kingdom to be ruled. Daniel basically says to him, God is going to judge you, you need to repent and turn to him in faith right now. And that can't just be lip service.
Oh, okay, I don't want that to happen to me. All right, fine, I repent. And then you just keep on living your life the way that you've lived your life the whole time.
No, there must be a genuine repentance, and you must bear fruit in keeping with your repentance by showing mercy to the oppressed in your empire. Now, apparently, Nebuchadnezzar doesn't do it. Pride is all of our besetting sin.
All, every one of us, you might not think it is, but pride is our besetting sin. In fact, it is under most, most lesser sins. Proverbs 16, 18 tells us, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
But thankfully, when our pride keeps us from repenting, God is still yet able to humble us. Verse 26.
Or, where am I at here? Well, verse 28. All these, all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
At the end of 12 months, so here we go, a year later, Daniel, this would have been a tough word to give to the king. And then wait a year for God to fulfill it. Hey, listen, you're going to be cut down if you don't repent.
But what we can see here is God was gracious to Nebuchadnezzar and gave him a year. I'm not gracious like that. I told you last night, you haven't changed yet.
I set a watcher. What else do I need to do? Right?
God gives Nebuchadnezzar a year. No doubt, Daniel is praying for Nebuchadnezzar for a year. And yet, Nebuchadnezzar refuses to repent.
At the end of 12 months, he was once again walking on the roof of the Royal Palace of Babylon. And the king answered and said, Oh boy, is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power, as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty. I would imagine if Daniel was here in this moment, he would have taken a big step back from the king.
Right? Thunder clouds are gathering overhead, and you do not want to be... This guy's about to get struck by lightning, right?
What's he saying? I, mine, me, look what I have done.
Verse 31, While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, Oh, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you. This is like Samson, the spirit has departed from you. The time of repentance has passed you by, and now judgment is here at your door.
And you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know, here it is repeated again, that the Most High rules the kingdoms of men, and gives it to whom he will. Immediately, the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. God sent his word, and God sent judgment at the same time.
He was driven from among men, we see a complete mental collapse here, a mental breakdown. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox. This means he slept outside.
Think of the days of Jesus and the man who would rip off his clothes, and no one could contain him, and no one could constrain him, the demon possessed man. And his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair grew as long as eagles feathers. How long is that?
Is that seven months? Is that seven seasons? I don't know.
It's a long time. And his nails were like birdclaws. Here we have de-creation language.
That God created us in his image. God created us chief of all of his creation. And we're meant to rule and have dominion under his authority.
And as we obey God and follow God, we grow up into the likeness of Jesus Christ. We become more humane. We become more like God, like the God man Jesus Christ.
And what happens when you fail to repent? What happens when you turn away from God? You see this de-creation language.
You become like a beast of the field. Look at it in our own day. What happens when people reject God?
And they pursue drugs or they pursue sex without boundaries, or they pursue creating their own worldview and their own image? What do they become? Do they become more beautiful?
Do they become more humane? Do they become more like God? Or no, is it a curse among itself?
They become foolish. They become disgusting. They become like animals.
Everything here happens to Nebuchadnezzar, just like God said it would. But thankfully, God was merciful to him and gave him grace. He humbled Nebuchadnezzar so that Nebuchadnezzar could find the grace he needed to enter into God's eternal kingdom.
See, Neb couldn't be exalted up into the real heavens until he was humbled to the dirt like the beast of a field. Verse 34.
At the end of the days, at what days? The set time. God knew exactly when he was going to mentally break.
God knew exactly when he was going to come to his senses. Coming to your senses, like the younger son in the story of the Prodigal Sons, he's out there, he's... What did that sin lead him to do?
Where did he end up? Where did the younger son in the Prodigal story end up? He ended up eating the pods with the pigs.
He becomes like a beast when he's meant to be like one of the... like a son of the Most High God. Nebuchadnezzar, God is in control of both when he mentally breaks and when he mentally comes to.
At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, look at... here we go, lifted my eyes to heaven. He comes to himself.
And my reason returned to me. Like he's coming out of a dream here. And I blessed the Most High.
And praised and honored him who lives forever. All of a sudden, Nebuchadnezzar gets some pretty good theology. Look at this.
For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. The last we heard from him, it was, look what I've done. And now after this season of humiliation, now look what he's saying.
For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.
And he's including himself in that. I am nothing in the Lord's presence. And he, God, does according to his will among the host of heavens.
He does whatever he wants. He's God. And among the inhabitants of the earth.
And none can stay his hand. Nebuchadnezzar had the power to turn every hand in his kingdom. He could get people to do whatever he wanted to do.
And Nebuchadnezzar realized, the one hand that I can't turn is God's hand. Or say to him, what have you done? In other words, everything God does is good, right, and perfect.
At the same time, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. This is why I don't think it was seven years of craziness, because I think somebody would have killed him and took over his throne in seven years. But it was probably seven seasons or seven months.
My counselors and my Lord sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. From these verses, I think we see the fruit of real repentance and faith from Nebuchadnezzar.
First, we see him lift his eyes to heaven. I think this is an act of real contrition and repentance. He realizes this mental condition that I've got.
Look where it's gotten me. I can't fix myself. I can't heal myself.
Only God can heal me. And he looks up to the heavens from where his help comes from. Secondly, he gives praise and honor to the only eternal God.
Third, he professes his faith in the true God. Fourth, his kingdom and his reason are given back to him, which I believe shows that God accepted his repentance and forgave him of his sins. And in verse 37, Nebuchadnezzar basically gives his testimony.
Look, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. Remember, this is a letter he sent out to all his officials in his whole empire, and said, hey, listen, I got too big for my britches. God cut me down, I repented, he restored, he restored me, and listen, anybody else out there who's walking in pride, God is able to humble.
It's basically his testimony. Now, what are we meant to learn from this chapter? I think there's a lot in here.
I believe we're living in modern day Babylon. We have wicked rulers, full of pride, set on their own devices, who failed to acknowledge the true and living God. And therefore, judgment is coming upon us as a nation.
Indeed, in many ways, judgment is already here. But that doesn't mean total destruction is certain. God is gracious.
And if we repent, he can restore us the way he restored Nebuchadnezzar in his kingdom. But for that to happen, I believe we need to adopt Daniel's playbook here. First, and this is for all of us in this room this morning, myself included, we need to make sure that we don't have the spirit of pride that Nebuchadnezzar has here before his conversion.
What is he doing? He looks to himself. He looks to his strength.
He looks to his success and his accomplishments as the measure of his worth. Look what I have done. Look what I've made of myself.
Look what I've accomplished. Nebuchadnezzar really thought he was the man. And many of us would say, dude, you were the man.
But in his pride, God in his grace humbled him so that he becau... Listen, he thought he was the man. And so God in his judgmental grace cuts him down, makes him less than a man, a beast of the field.
Why? So that he could be exalted up to become more than just a man. Because what does Nebuchadnezzar find in his repentance?
Nebuchadnezzar finds the true and living God. Nebuchadnezzar finds a new eternal life. Nebuchadnezzar finds a new creation.
So we hear... We see creation, Nebuchadnezzar walking in his sinful flesh. Then we see de-creation, he becomes like a beast of the field.
And then we see new creation. Nebuchadnezzar is made new. That points to something that God wants to do in every single one of us.
And when you see, oh, just humble yourself. Just humble yourself. Yeah, that's easy.
Right. We can't do this in our own strength. God needs to cut us down in some way for us to do this.
Now, no one really wants to be humble. We all say we do, but none of us really want to be humble. And yet we are told that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
And we all want grace, don't we? I really want grace. Now, can I do without the humility part?
No. So where does true humility come from? True humility comes from a real encounter with the real Jesus.
Listen to this. About 150 or 160 years before Daniel was written, Isaiah was written. And Isaiah was another prophet, and he prophesied of one who was going to come.
And this is from Isaiah 52, 13-15. Listen to what he says about his servant that is going to come. Behold, my servant shall act wisely.
He shall be high and lifted up, exalted. And shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, but then listen, this is the weird juxtaposition that most people didn't understand.
He will be high and lifted up. He will be exalted. But his appearance was so marred.
Beyond human semblance. And his form beyond that of the children of mankind. What?
He's going to be high and lifted up, but he's going to be marred. He's going to be crushed. He's going to be broken.
He's going to be ripped open, ripped to sunder, destroyed. That when people look at him, they'll turn their face away from him, because he doesn't look like a man. He looks like a destroyed beast of the field.
And it says, he goes on, he says, so shall he, this exalted, destroyed one, so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them, they see, and that which they have not heard, they understand. Jesus Christ is that man.
He is the answer to that riddle. Who is the one who is high and lifted up? Who is the one who is exalted and yet was also going to be crushed?
That was Jesus Christ on the cross. That the son of the living God, the perfect God man comes to this earth, lives the life that none of us can live, perfect, never sins against God, obeys God, worships God perfectly, and then goes to the cross in our place. Why?
To take the punishment that we deserve. And what did that punishment look like? It looked like Nebuchadnezzar being thrown and going crazy into the field in one sense.
He was crushed. He was bruised. He was crucified.
His body was split open. And what poured out? The blood of God poured out.
Why? So that he could sprinkle many nations. What does that mean?
So that he could give us his righteousness. He could forgive us of our sins. He could humble us to the dust.
Not because he just wants us walking around moping and saying, oh, I'm just a big idiot all our life. No, he humbles us to the dust so he could exalt us up into the heavens.
It comes from an encounter with this Jesus. The answer to the riddle of the whole Old Testament. The answer to the riddle of us.
We crave God and yet we hate God. Jesus Christ is that answer. The last thing I want us to see this morning.
We are ever going to have rulers who serve our God. We must have real Christians living out their faith. Caring for, praying for, and advising and testifying before our rulers of their duties, before the eyes of the God to whom they must give account.
Listen, I believe that God is sovereign and he rules in heaven. He rules over the king's heart, we're told. We've jokingly said around here that he also rules over king's heads, meaning I do believe that God in his providence preserved Donald Trump.
That was a miracle of God's providence moving his head. But I pray that Donald Trump gets the lesson. God rules the kingdoms of men and gives them to whom he will.
Humble yourself before the living God so that your kingdom can further flourish. That's the lesson. And I pray that he has got people around him that are like Daniel and saying, turn your heart to the living God, confess your sins, repent, and he will forgive them, and he will restore you.
Listen, God has raised up Daniel for such a time as this, and guess what? He's put you, he's put you right where he wants you. Just like God is writing Nebuchadnezzar's story, God is writing Daniel's story, God is writing your story.
Can I ask you, who has God placed in your life so that you could speak the truth and love to them? Maybe it's time for you to share your faith with them. Maybe it's time for you to invite them to church or invite them to missional community.
If God can change the heart of the most powerful man on the planet, he can change anybody.
This morning, I want us to see those two things. Number one, God wants to humble those of us who walk in pride. This morning, you can humble yourself, you can confess your sins to God, you can turn to Him, and He will forgive all your sins.
He will give you life and life more abundantly. He will welcome you into His eternal home, and all it takes is faith in Him, and then obedience to Him the rest of your life. And secondly, where has God placed you?
Who has God placed in your life that you need to share the truth of God, the truth of the gospel, in love with them? Let me pray for the, let me pray for us. Father, we confess and profess that we believe you still rule the kingdoms of men.
That Jesus, you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, you are sitting on the throne of the universe. You are in the control room of the universe. You are in control of even our national elections.
You are in control of all things. And we want to profess that we believe that you are good and you do good. We ask that you would turn the hearts of our rulers towards yourself.
Father, we ask that you would turn the heart of the Nebuchadnezzars in our society. Turn them to you. Give them repentance.
Humble them. Open their eyes. Do what you have to do to help them see Jesus Christ as King of all Kings.
Grant us repentance, personally, corporately, as a church, and even nationally, Lord God, would you stir a revival in our nation and bring about repentance. We know that you are strong, that you are able to do it. And Father, we do ask that you would begin with us.
Begin with us. It's easy to point the finger out at those we see as most proud, and not point the finger back at ourselves. Would you humble us so that we can confess our faith properly in the humble one, Jesus Christ.
Father, as we come to the table this morning, we're reminded that you invite sinners that have been saved, sinners that have been sprinkled, sinners that have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus. You welcome us at your table, and we take great joy in that this morning. Father of mercies, thank you for the gift of this bread, which we confess provides us with the body of your son, Jesus Christ.
We ask you to enable us to eat of it in faith, and be made more fully members of his heavenly body through Christ our Lord. Father of mercies, thank you for the gift of this wine, which we confess provides us with the blood of your son, our Savior. We ask you to enable us to drink of it in faith, and be conformed more and more to the image of his death through Christ our Lord.
Father, we invite you here. We thank you for this meal together. In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen and amen.