Divine Humiliation
The Sovereignty of God | A Study Through the Book of Daniel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewGod revealed Nebuchadnezzar's rebellious nature and condition. God called Nebuchadnezzar to repentance. He even gave him time to repent, but at the end of the day, repentance was not. All that was left was a divine humiliation that would come through a divine judgment. May we not be as Nebuchadnezzar and find ourselves at the hand of God's judgment. May we repent while it is still called today.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Focus Passage: Daniel 4:28-33
28 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. 30 The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” 31 While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! 32 And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.” 33 That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
A hard heart (vv. 28-29)
28 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar has been warned in our previous study to repent, break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor (v. 27). God had called Nebuchadnezzar to repentance not just in word, but He demanded repentance within action, showing mercy to the poor. How does he respond to Daniel’s interpretation of this dream that put him on edge? How does he respond to this call to repentance? He responds like the houses of Israel and Judah to the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he ignores them. We must remember that what is getting ready to happen to Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom is what God has already prophesied through Daniel to him personally, and what was prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel to the houses of Judah and Israel. God was going to bring judgment to Babylon and it was going to begin with Nebuchadnezzar.
We find within the text, two key truths that are before us. The first being that Nebuchadnezzar had a false security, he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. This is no doubt near the palace walls where the famed hanging gardens lied. He was powerful, rich, and feared. He had more money then he knew what to do with and had conquered the known world. What did he have to fear? This is where many find themselves today. We feel that we’ve arrived. We feel that nothing could ever happen to bring down the empire we’ve created. We are content and unconcerned about the warnings from the preacher. However, without repentance, we will find out the truth that Nebuchadnezzar found, pay does come someday.
This leads us to our second truth, God gave Nebuchadnezzar time to repent, At the end of the twelve months. God had given Nebuchadnezzar a year to repent, to change, to show works that meat repentance. How does he respond? How does he respond to God’s gracious and merciful hand? He ignores it with a stiff neck and hard heart. May we never take God’s patience for lack of care and judgement. God waits so that we might repent. As Paul writes...
4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
Not only did Nebuchadnezzar have a hard heart, he had...
A prideful heart (v. 30)
30 The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”
Here Nebuchadnezzar was, a year removed from his dreams and content and secure in the empire he had built, or so he seems to think so. As we find recorded, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built…by mighty power. He not only explains that felt he did it all, he explains his motives behind it all, for the honor of my majesty. One could not find fault in what he said. He had repaired and rebuilt twelve temples. He had created the famed hanging gardens. He had built the strongest empire to date. Did you notice the key word, he. Truly, he had done nothing. All that he had was because God had given it to him.
37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory;
Nebuchadnezzar, like many of us today, are not giving credit where credit is do. We think that we’re self-made, when in reality, we are only who we are because God made us, built us, and blessed us. So, we not only find that Nebuchadnezzar wrongly bragged that he made all that was, but he also did it for the wrong purpose. He looked around and scoffed at God and said, this was all done by hand and for my glory, for the honor my majesty. May I declare to you, that God will not nor does He share glory with anyone. To God belongs all glory and honor.
When we attempt to build our lives up around us and for our glory and we live God out of the equation, we fall. Nothing matters without God being at the center of it, building it, and growing for His honor and glory.
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.
Unless we repent, we will all find out a hard truth that Nebuchadnezzar came to know, pride comes before destruction.
18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. 19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud. 20 He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.
While Nebuchadnezzar had a hard and prideful heart, God wanted him to have...
A broken heart (vv. 31-33)
31 While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! 32 And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.” 33 That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
As Nebuchadnezzar basked in his own glory, God brought sudden judgment, While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven. See, when God judges, it is swift. He may hold back his judgment for a time, and that time may feel like an eternity for us, but God does judge.
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
I would encourage you not to scoff at God as Nebuchadnezzar did. I would encourage you to not think that God has not judgment me yet, so He will not. May I remind you of Peter’s word, with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. I would encourage you to repent before God brings judgment at time unexpected, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. We find, while the word was still in the king’s mouth, God brings judgment. As Christ stated...
46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
Nebuchadnezzar was observing one of God’s spiritual laws first hand, the law of reaping and sowing.
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
There is but way to find forgiveness in God and that is through a truly broken heart of our sin. As Ezekiel writes of the remnant that will survive the judgment of God out of Israel, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity (Ez. 7:16 NKJV). As David wrote, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise (Ps. 51:17 NKJV). if we do not repent, we will be as Nebuchadnezzar, and the condition of our inward man will flesh itself out in outward man (v. 33).
33 That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
Through this picture of lycanthropy (wolf man disease), a mental dysphoria, that turns you into a wild animal, Nebuchadnezzar’s inner man was fleshed out. He was just as much as a beast on the outside as he was on the inside. Through this divine judgment, Nebuchadnezzar was humbled. He came face-to-face with the sovereign God of creation. He found that God is in charge. He found that God fulfills his Word, even if that word is judgment (v. 33).
33 That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
God was going to make Nebuchadnezzar a believer and he was going to repent, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses (v. 32b). Let this not be our fate.
Conclusion
We often find ourselves in the same place that Nebuchadnezzar was. We stand in our place with hard and prideful hearts. We do not do this in ignorance. Most of the time we do this of our own free will and knowingly. We are as those of the church at Rome when Paul wrote...
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
May we comes to our senses and repent before we reap what we have sown. May we do as David and pray, Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting (Psa. 139:23-24 NKJV).