DANIEL 4:34-37 - The God of Clown World

Introduction

So, do you have anything exciting planned for this week?? It seems like the whole world is holding its breath to see the outcome of the election on Tuesday. There is always a certain amount of hyperbole surrounding any US election—we are a boisterous people, after all—but there really is a sense in which this election really does seem like “the most important election in US History”. The sheer volume and intensity of the rhetoric surrounding Tuesday’s polling is unlike anything in living memory. In just one day last week, our mailbox was stuffed with big postcards plastered in scary pictures of Democrats with messages in big rugged fonts screaming “RURAL AMERICA’S FUTURE IS ON THE BALLOT THIS NOVEMBER” and “IF YOU DON’T VOTE BOB CASEY WILL GIVE THE PROGRESSIVES TOTAL CONTROL!!!” and one with several unflattering pictures of Kamala Harris in mid-cackle that says “SHE’S GOING TO WIN IF YOU DON’T VOTE!!!!” This election, as the farmers used to say, is a real “stem-winder”...

But we need to brace ourselves, beloved, for the possibility that all of this turmoil and chaos in our country is not going to end on Tuesday. We may very well be about to embark on a week of unprecedented political, societal, economic and legal turbulence and uncertainty the likes of which have not been seen in this country since the outbreak of the Civil War. No matter how this election turns out, we are far from being out of the woods.

Now to be clear, I think it is exceedingly difficult—in fact, I would say impossible—for a genuine Christian to make the case that they should vote for the Harris ticket. There has not been a candidate for president that has been so clearly and resolutely committed to the murder of babies and mutilation of children and termination of religious liberty in the entire 248-year history of our nation, and she will someday stand before her Creator to answer for her wickedness.

At the same time, I think it is an idolatrous sin to ascribe to the Trump ticket the status of “Savior of the American People”—America already has a Savior, and He doesn’t need any help from a New York City real estate tycoon and reality TV star. But the Scriptures command us (as we read earlier) to pray

1 Timothy 2:2 (LSB)

for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

And so it follows that, if we are to pray for kings and those in authority so that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life, should we not then vote for such candidates as will most likely allow us to live “a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity”?

So while this is an exceedingly turbulent election, I believe the choice between the candidates is clear. There is one candidate who is more likely to have policies and legislation and judicial appointments that will result in peace and prosperity for this nation, as well as provide at least some bulwark against the hideous perversions and wickedness that are being actively promoted by his opponent.

So the first thing to say about Tuesday is that your duty as a citizen and a Christian is clear. You are salt and light; you are a city on a hill; you are to pray for (and do what you can to promote) authorities who will tend to the peace and dignity and tranquility of society; you are commanded to stand and oppose the wickedness and rebellion of those who want to bring death and destruction and godless rebellion on your land. God has given you the privilege and the duty as a citizen of the United States of America to go out and vote on Tuesday.

But at the same time I want to suggest to you that your Christian duty extends further than merely pulling the right lever in the ballot box (or, more accurately for our region, coloring in the right circle on the ballot). Because you can vote for the “right” candidate, but do it in the wrong way. One way to vote for the right candidate in the wrong way is what I alluded to earlier—believing that this candidate is going to “save the Republic”. America already has a Savior; that position is already filled. So idolatry is out. Don’t vote like an idolater, believing that your candidate is going to deliver the United States from destruction.

I don’t really think anyone here in this room is susceptible to that particular sin of political idolatry. But what I do think we are more prone to do is sin in our anxiety over this election; to sin in our unbelief. From time to time, God sees fit in His providence to give His children an opportunity to act out in real time the things that they have been learning in His Word. We have been hearing Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount about not being anxious; about not doubling up on our daily dose of trouble by worrying about tomorrow; about trusting that every answer to prayer that we receive from His hand is good—even if it sure looks like a snake instead of a fish or a stone instead of bread.

And so what I aim to do this morning is walk with you through a portion of God’s Word that demonstrates His utter and complete sovereign rule over the kingdoms of this world: YHWH’s humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar and his eventual repentance and acknowledgment of God’s sovereign rule. I want to help equip you through the Scriptures here before us so that when you go to the polls on Tuesday you will vote like a Christian—that you will

Perform your civic duty with HAPPY CONFIDENCE in the REIGN of God over this nation

I want you to see from God’s Word here that you have real reason to carry out your civic duty with joy—not being flippant or cynical (“Who cares how I vote, it doesn’t matter...”) or with the black humor of someone who has resigned himself to his fate. I mean the kind of happy confidence that can go cast your vote, then come home at the end of the day, pop some popcorn, and be genuinely entertained by it all! Not fatalism, not pessimistic despair, but real, genuine joy as you watch the events of this week unfold.

There are three pillars to this happy confidence in the reign of God over this nation that I want to observe from this text. You will be able to perform your civic duty this week with happy confidence in the reign of God over this nation when you

I. Behold the SCOPE of God’s sovereign reign (Daniel 4:34b-35)

Look at verses 34-35 of our text:

Daniel 4:34–35 (LSB)

“But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes toward heaven, and my knowledge 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. “And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can strike against His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’

Now, in order to see the scope of God’s sovereign reign in these verses, we need to set them into their context. The book of Daniel describes the sack of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. when the Babylonians (led by King Nebuchadnezzar) destroyed the Kingdom of Judah and plundered the Temple, bringing thousands of captives back to Babylon. Daniel and his three friends rise to prominence in the king’s court, and in the previous chapter (Chapter 3) we see Nebuchadnezzar’s astonishment at the way YHWH delivered them out of his hand when he demanded they be burned alive for not worshipping a statue erected in his honor. Our text this morning comes at the end of the description of how Nebuchadnezzar was humiliated before God for his arrogance. He had been warned in a dream that unless he repented of his pride and arrogance he would be cut down like a tree and driven away from mankind to live like a beast until he recognized the sovereignty of the Most High God (vv. 22-27).

But Nebuchadnezzar did not repent of his pride, and one year after he was warned of the judgment coming on him,

Daniel 4:33 (LSB)

“Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was accomplished; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.

Once the “seven periods of time” for his humiliation had ended, he says that “his knowledge returned to him” (v. 34)—he came to his senses—and the first thing he did when his sanity returned was to worship YHWH:

Daniel 4:34 (LSB)

“But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes toward heaven, and my knowledge returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever....

And the first thing that he confessed to the Most High God is that

His kingdom is EVERLASTING

Nebuchadnezzar knew that kingdoms could fall; it was he that dethroned Zedekiah the last King of Judah, forcing him to watch as he slaughtered his family and then gouging out his eyes so that that was the last sight he ever saw before taking him into captivity in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar knew all about watching kingdoms coming to an end. And in his own madness he saw that his own kingdom could be taken away in a heartbeat. He realized how fragile his own empire was; that all it took was for the Most High God to say the word and all of his power would be gone.

And so he comes to the realization that God’s kingdom, His dominion (literally, His “strong rule”) can never be overthrown. Whatever glory and splendor and power and might Nebuchadnezzar could ever amass, it could be torn away from him in a moment. But God’s Kingdom can never fail. Christian, the God you serve will never be dethroned. The throne of Jesus Christ is not up for re-election. Nebuchadnezzar learned the hard way that the Most High God’s Kingdom is everlasting—and the second thing that he learned about the scope of the Most High God’s sovereignty is that

His enemies are POWERLESS (v. 35a; cp. Isa. 40:22-24; Ps. 2:3-5)

See it there in verse 35:

Daniel 4:35 (LSB)

“And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing...

Even if Nebuchadnezzar wanted to assault the Kingdom of the Most High, he would be utterly helpless. He came to understand what Isaiah wrote in chapter 40 of his book:

Isaiah 40:22–24 (LSB)

It is [God] who inhabits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; It is He who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to inhabit. It is He who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth utterly formless. Scarcely have they been planted; Scarcely have they been sown; Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.

The rebellious nations of men can rage and scream all they want, they can boast about throwing off the hated commands of God and denying that He has any authority over them, but their petty rage just makes Him laugh:

Psalm 2:3–5 (LSB)

“Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord mocks them. Then He speaks to them in His anger And terrifies them in His fury...

Nebuchadnezzar came to understand the scope of the sovereignty of the Most High God—His kingdom is everlasting, His enemies are powerless, and see in the rest of verse 35 of our text that

His WILL is UNSTOPPABLE (v. 35b)

Daniel 4:35 (LSB)

“And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can strike against His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’

Nebuchadnezzar realized that it was the sovereign word of the Most High God that stripped him of his power and his kingdom and his dignity in a heartbeat. When the mighty right arm of God moves in order to accomplish His sovereign purposes—even if it means that He wills to turn the mightiest ruler in all of the known world into a senseless beast that wanders the fields without enough sense to come in out of the rain, there is no way to stop Him. Not only so, but His will cannot even be questioned by the likes of us— “No one can… say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” God doesn’t have to answer to anyone for what He wills to do in this world, among the nations of men. The mightiest empire is nothing more than a layer of dust on a scale (Isa. 40:15), the decrees of the most powerful ruler nothing more than the squeaking of a mouse or chirping of a cricket.

Christian—hear the lesson that the humbled King of Babylon learned firsthand about the scope of the sovereignty of the Most High God that you serve. Nebuchadnezzar’s last words recorded in Scripture are his testimony to the utter authority and righteousness of your God:

Daniel 4:37 (LSB)

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”

Christian, as you head to the polls on Tuesday, you are commanded to perform your civic duty with the happy confidence in the reign of God over your nation. So as you behold the scope of God’s sovereign reign in this passage, I want you to

II. Consider the MEANING of God’s sovereign reign

for this election on Tuesday. First of all, see here in the Scripture before you that God’s kingdom is everlasting. And that means, beloved, that

His church cannot FALL (cp. Matt. 16:18)

There are voices out there in this turmoil, beloved, that are speaking lies to you about the church of Jesus Christ. Some do it out of malice, others because they are deceived and cowed by the lies. That the church in America is in danger, that a Democrat administration will come after Christians, that churches will come under all kinds of restrictions, that the religious liberties we have enjoyed for centuries in this country will be wiped out.

And you know what? That may be true. Those things might very well happen under a Democrat administration. But saying that our religious liberties are in danger is not the same as saying that the church of Jesus Christ is in danger. Because it is not. To be sure, we must strive as much as we can to preserve and defend those religious liberties, but let us be clear as to what is at stake, right? Constitutional protections on speech and worship, tax-exempt status for churches and so forth might be in jeopardy—but the Church of Jesus Christ will never fail in this country.

Dictators and tyrants far more clever and competent than the head of this particular Democrat ticket have tried to stamp out the Church for centuries, and instead she has grown and flourished. So take great courage, Christian, that no matter what happens on Tuesday, that Christ’s Kingdom remains untouched, and His Church will not fall. In fact, it is the gates of Hell itself that will fall to the Church of King Jesus (Matt. 16:18).

Christian, consider the meaning of God’s sovereign reign—because His Kingdom is everlasting, His Church cannot fail. And consider that because His enemies are powerless, that means that

His adversaries cannot WIN

What happened when Nebuchadnezzar set himself up as a rival to the Most High God? What happened when he looked around the capital city and said

Daniel 4:30 (LSB)

“...‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal house by the strength of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’

What happened to him was that the Most High God humiliated him. With a word, God turned Nebuchadnezzar into a joke, a laughingstock, a dumb animal. He took the most powerful, most influential ruler on the whole planet and turned him into a dribbling fool.

Does that sound familiar? Christian, take another look at the election that has us all in an uproar—the sitting president (who inhabits the most powerful office on Planet Earth) is so dementia-ridden that he cannot finish his sentences, and he was replaced by his own party with a candidate who did not receive a single vote in the nomination process, a woman so desperately unpopular with voters that her presidential bid in the previous election collapsed in record time. Her opponent on the Republican side is a New York City real estate tycoon and reality-TV star who had no previous political experience before unexpectedly becoming president while running against Hillary Clinton (and you know as well as I do that being “a better choice than Hillary Clinton” is a pretty darn low bar…) Can you not see that this whole thing is such a farce? If a comedy writer pitched this storyline to a network, they would kick it back and tell them “It’s too crazy—no one will believe this!” But beloved, if the storyline of America’s political fortunes has become a farce, it is a farce written by the best comedy Writer ever.

Can you not see here, beloved, that God orchestrates the humiliation of nations that set themselves up against Him?! Two and a half millenia ago He did it to Nebuchadnezzar, and today He is doing it to us. These arrogant mockers and wicked schemers who have set themselves against God and His anointed cannot win. The cackling of their arrogance against Christ will be drowned out by the roar of Heaven’s laughter against them.

Christian, consider the meaning of God’s sovereign reign as you contemplate your civic duty on Tuesday. Because His kingdom is everlasting, His Church cannot fall. And because His enemies are powerless, then they cannot win against Him. And because His will is unstoppable, Christian for you that means

His FATHERHOOD cannot FAIL (cp. Matt 7:11; Acts 2:23)

The God Whose arm cannot be thwarted, the God Whose will is done amongst the inhabitants of the earth without fail, the Most High God Whose purposes are always accomplished is the God who is your Heavenly Father through Christ Jesus! Remember how we considered a couple of weeks back that He is good, and therefore incapable of giving evil gifts to His children:

Matthew 7:11 (LSB)

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

In the same way, Christian, He is impossible to thwart in His good intentions toward you. In one sense, of course, God’s will is opposed by wicked men every day—God’s commands to this nation to obey His moral laws of true justice and morality are ignored and ridiculed and transgressed every day. But at the same time, we serve a God who “draws straight with crooked lines”—we serve a God Who takes the disobedience and rebellion of men and makes it accomplish His purposes. What greater sin could there ever have been in the history of our sorry race than the murder of the Son of God at the hands of reprobate rebels? And yet it was that very sin that God used to accomplish His greatest purpose:

Acts 2:23 (LSB)

this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death.

There is no evil plan that can be formed against His children, no wickedness generated in the heart of enemies of the Gospel that your Heavenly Father cannot turn to His glory and your eternal good! Not only does He not give you a snake for a fish or a stone for bread, but He can make the very stones cast at you by your enemies into bread for your sustenance. Take courage Christian, in the midst of all of the hatred and animosity that swirls around you in this hour, because your Heavenly Father’s mighty right arm cannot be shortened by the wrath of wicked men.

Stand to your civic duty on Tuesday with happy confidence in the reign of God over this nation. Behold the scope of His sovereignty and consider the meaning of His sovereign reign for your life. And then, beloved, having girded yourself with this confident hope, go out and

III. Act in the CERTAINTY of God’s sovereign reign

Let me suggest three observations that arise out our consideration of God’s sovereign reign. First, when you have that settled, happy confidence in God’s reign over this nation, you remember that

ANXIETY is (still) OFF-LIMITS

Right? do not forget that Jesus is not up for re-election. Because God is sovereign and His kingdom cannot fall and His enemies cannot win and His Fatherhood cannot fail, that means that there is no room for anxiety in your life.

1 Peter 5:7 (LSB)

Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

…and He is an all-powerful, unstoppable Heavenly Father who cannot do you less than the maximum good throughout all your life.

Matthew 6:34 (LSB)

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

If you think about it, just about all of the anxiety wrapped up over this election is about what is going to happen after the election. In other words, Christian, that is a different day’s dosage of trouble. Stop raiding next month’s pill box of troubles and take the dose God has ordained for you today. Because along with today’s troubles you have today’s fresh faithfulness and mercies of your Father!

Luke 12:25–26 (LSB)

“And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span? “Therefore, if you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?

It’s a waste of time to worry about what will happen in the election anyway—you can’t extend your life by worrying—so what makes you think you can change anything else by worrying?

Act in the certainty of God’s sovereign reign—do not succumb to the sin of worry. And remember that because God is your Heavenly Father, and because He cannot do less than the maximum good for you in all things, you are able to

Give THANKS for any OUTCOME (cp. Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:18)

There is a very real possibility that this election will not go the way we want it to—but if that happens, you must not forget that you belong to a Heavenly Father who answers every prayer you offer with the highest Good possible for you. Even if you ask for a fish and instead God answers your prayers for Tuesday with what sure looks like a snake, you know that you can still give thanks because it has come from the hand of your Heavenly Father Who knows how to give good gifts to His children.

And because you know that your Father in Heaven gives only good gifts to His children, you can do what the Scriptures exhort in Ephesians 5:20

Ephesians 5:20 (LSB)

always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

and in 1 Thessalonians 5:18

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (LSB)

in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

So do not be anxious, do not be afraid, do not be embittered or angry if God seems to answer your prayer for bread with what looks like a stone. Make up your mind now to be thankful for whatever good gift your Father has in store for you this week, because of all the gifts that are in His power to give, of all the prayers that are under His authority to grant, you know that the answer He does give you will be the best gift you could have received.

One author puts it this way:

If the election goes contrary to the way you voted, which might happen, it needs to not go clean contrary to the way you have prayed. Our fundamental desire for the United States should be for God to do whatever it takes to bring us as a people to the point of true repentance. We should therefore not want a premature deliverance… We should want for the United States what God wants for us, and what God wants for us will be identified by what He does to us. And remember, however hard or difficult it is, we deserve every bit of it. (Doug Wilson, A Bit of Help For Those Worried About The Election, https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/a-bit-of-help-for-those-worried-about-the-election.html, retrieved 10/25/2024)

So this is your duty Christian, along with your vote on Tuesday:

Pray for the BREAKING of our PRIDE

Look again at the way God broke the pride of Nebuchadnezzar, and realize that God broke him down in his arrogance so that He might raise Him us as a worshipper. In the same way, Christian, the Most High God has been revealing to our nation how stupid we are, so that we might turn to Him in real repentance. So win or lose, Orange Man or Cackling Woman, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, pray that God would use the results of this election to humble us as a people. “Father, whatever it takes to break us down and open our eyes, please do that.”

If it means four years of the most wicked faction of American politics to have the helm of this nation, then so be it. After all, as one wit put it, before God raised up Gideon, He had to send the Midianites. Before Nebuchadnezzar would decree throughout his entire empire that the Most High God’s works are true and his ways just”, he had to be humbled to the ground. And like Nebuchadnezzar, if God chooses to humiliate us in this way it is no more than we richly deserve.

And make no mistake; if this election does go the way we are voting and praying, it is no more than a temporary reprieve. There will be a great temptation to believe that we have “escaped judgment”, when in fact we have only been given 48 months of breathing space that we do not deserve. The words of the Apostle Paul ring loud with warning in Romans 2:4--

Romans 2:4 (LSB)

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

Whether God brings calamity on us as a nation through this election or whether He grants us one more taste of His kindness and forbearance and patience through this election, our prayer must be the same: “God, shatter our pride and bring us to real repentance—whatever it takes that the United States of America might “..praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven” and declare to all the world that “all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”” (Dan. 4:37)

Now, it is easy to sit here and bemoan all of the overweening pride and haughtiness of our nation’s political leaders and political candidates—we really do have a bumper crop of scoundrels on the ballot this year. We really do have a slate of candidates who are fully absorbed in shocking levels of pride and unbelief. But take a moment and consider carefully—where did those candidates come from? It is tempting to think that we have all been here, minding our own business, and suddenly from out of nowhere a bunch of arrogant, prideful mockers of God drop down on us out of a clear blue sky insisting that we vote for them.

But never forget that, in His providence, God has given us a federal republic form of government. Which means that we always get the candidates that represent us most accurately. Remember what John Adams said about our Constitution, that it “was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Among other things, this means that we always get the leaders who represent us. A good and moral and religious people will choose for themselves a good and moral and religious leadership. But if a wicked and immoral and arrogant and proud and scoffing leadership arises, it is because that is what this people wants.

And so it is no good putting on bumper stickers that say “Don’t blame me, I voted for Trump”. Because you belong to this people. To be part of a federal republic means that these leaders represent you. There is an insidious kind of pride that is particularly a trap for Christians, in that we really do believe that the New Birth that we have in Christ has somehow made us innately superior. That we possess some kind of moral superiority that allows us to see political issues so much more clearly and correctly than those poor benighted liberals. It is a pride causes us to believe that the Scriptures we read earlier in our worship commanding us to pray for “all who are in authority” only applies to the Republican leaders, and we can feel free to demean and mock and ridicule and hate all the “Demon-crats”. We can drive down the street and smile inwardly at all the Trump flags and yard signs, but if one of our neighbors has a Harris placard in their yard we seethe a little bit and think they must be horrible people. And so you hate your neighbor whom you have seen because of a political candidate you have not seen.

Beloved, can’t you see that this is just another manifestation of the pride that God is able to humble? Yes, we pray that God will humble the arrogant pride of our political class; yes, we pray that He humbles us as a nation to repent and return to Him, whatever it takes—but never forget that God is also able to humble Christians who walk in pride. He is able to humble believers who are so willing to despise their neighbor over a yard sign or a bumper sticker or an online post. He is able to humble the pride that puffs itself up to believe that while our nation has a lot to repent of, we don’t—because we are Christians, after all.

But Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t say that the Most High God is able to humble those politicians who walk in pride, or those heathens who walk in pride—He is able to humble His children who walk in pride as well. And there is only one remedy for the kind of political pride that can cling to us so easily—look once more to the Cross of Jesus Christ and remember that that is what it took for God to make you righteous. You did not become His child because you were so put together and so morally upright that you consented to His offer of salvation. You were dead and on your way to Hell, and you liked it that way.

Ephesians 2:1–3 (LSB)

And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

And had it not been for the unmerited, un-sought, un-asked for grace of God, you would still be bound for eternal damnation.

Ephesians 2:4–6 (LSB)

But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Christian, you have nothing to boast about over all the so-called “godless commies” out there who want to vote “the wrong way”—you have been saved by nothing more than the sovereign decree of the Most High God—He was able to humble Nebuchadnezzar, He is able to humble Harris, He is able to humble Trump, He is able to humble any and every prideful rival to His reign over this nation. The truth is that everyone who comes to Him to lay down their pride He gladly and joyfully accepts! God delights to forgive the pride of the arrogant; He loves to accept the repentance of the boastful—see how he turned Nebuchadnezzar’s arrogance and boasting into wholehearted praise and worship. He is able to do the same today. So do your civic duty on Tuesday with happy confidence in the reign of God over your nation, and come to Him to lay down your pride with happy confidence that He delights to wipe away all of it! His blood can make the foulest, most arrogant scoffer as clean and innocent as a newborn baby; His joy in receiving one proud sinner in repentance is greater than over a hundred so-called “righteous” who need no repentance. He stands ready to receive you and free you from all of that pride and arrogance and unbelief. Won’t you come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION:

Hebrews 13:20–21 (LSB)

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION:

What does the text this morning show us about how to understand God's sovereign rule over this nation? How should this affect our response to the outcome of the election?

What does it mean to be thankful to God for the outcome of the election, no matter which way it goes? Why should we be grateful no matter what?

What does it mean to perform our civic duties with 'happy confidence' in God's sovereignty?

Read 1 Timothy 2:1-8 again. How does this passage instruct us to pray for our political leaders? How should the priorities in these verses inform the way we cast our vote on Tuesday?

What steps can you take to help you combat the temptation to anxiety and unbelief? What aspects of Nebuchadnezzar’s declarations about the character of God are most comforting to you this week?