The God who is King| Daniel 4

Good morning church! If you have your Bible’s will you go ahead and open them to Daniel 4. I’m super thankful for Zach Tharp who preached for us last week and the Redeemer guys who spent the weekend with us. I hope they were as encouraging to you as they were to Will & I.

Speaking of, I want to go ahead and chart a path of where we’re headed with the Redeemer Network. We have been invited to join. We had several goals of our Mission’s Conference last week and one of them was for you to get a good idea of what it means to be a part of that. I hope you feel at least more informed, but I’m sure there are still some questions. So what we plan to do over the next couple of weeks is try to make contact with as many of you as we can just to gauge your perspective on things. We care what you have to say. Then, on March 2, which is 2-3 weeks from today, we’ll have a Spring Family Gathering aka business meeting immediately following the service. We’ll look over our ‘24 Y/E financials and then give some space to discuss joining. If we are all unified in joining, then we’ll vote on it a couple weeks after that. After that meeting, we’ll all eat lunch. So what we may do is allow non-members to go ahead and dismiss and grab food and members stay and meet real quickly and then all eat together. SO, lunch is provided on March 2. Plan on being here. Plan on a quick meeting and then eating. Ok?

Alright, now to Daniel 4. Hopefully you’ve made it there by now. This chapter of Daniel has what’s called a chiastic structure. So it goes ABBA. It starts and ends in the same spot and has a middle that tells the story. Because of that, we’re going to kind of swim all through the passage this morning instead of walking through it linearly. SO, what I’m going to do is read all of chapter 4 and then we’ll go back and work through it. It’s a long one, so I’ll do my best to read it well, and you do your best to stick with me. I’ll probably point out some things as we progress through it. So let’s read all of Daniel 4 and then go to the Lord and ask for his power to understand and apply it. Daniel 4

Daniel 4 ESV

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, “O 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 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 beasts 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 abundant, and in which was food for all, under which 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, 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 counsel 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 twelve 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, “O 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 eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ 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 God’s word. Let’s pray.

When I was a kid there was this popular Christian worship song called “The Heart of Worship.” Does anyone remember that song? Yeah, there’s a part of the song that goes, “I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you, it’s all about you, Jesus.” Good song. Well, at that point in my life I had the propensity to be a little self-consumed. Not that I’m that any more, it was just then, and my dearest mother would take that song and she reworded it and would sing back to me, “It’s not about you, Matthew,” and church, let me tell you something, that made my blood boil. I’d get so mad when she’d do that, do you know why? Because she was right! I wanted it to be all about me. I wanted to be the one who was in the right, I wanted to be the one who was recognized for what I had done, I wanted to be the one who corrected my siblings and could point out all their wrongs. Again, this was all back then. I don’t do it anymore. I wish!

You see we all have, I don’t even want to say the propensity, I want to say we all have the inclination to be the center of the world. We want to be the one who is looked to for success, but we also want to be the one who is in control. We want to be the one who calls the shots. Ultimately, we want to be king. It’s the natural disposition of our heart. It was the disposition of Nebuchadnezzar’s heart, and what I believe Daniel 4 calls us to see, to believe, to trust is for us to Live knowing God is King. Now, there’s someways in which I look at that main point and kind of go, duh. Like not new revelation there. But the goal of preaching isn’t to bring something new to the table. It’s to remind you of old truths. So how does Daniel 4 show us to Live knowing God is King. I think there’s 4 ways. Here’s the first:

Recognize God’s Kingship

The book of Daniel so far has really been this cosmic battle between Nebuchadnezzar and God to prove who is the real king. Yes, we’ve seen Daniel and his buddies walk faithfully, but even today, the main character of the story has been Nebuchadnezzar. In this cosmic battle, we’ve seen God’s sovereign will enacted. Yes, it looks like Nebuchadnezzar is the one who’s sitting on the throne, but even he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand that he is where he is because God allowed him to be. Think back to the very beginning of the book. We saw in the first 2 verses that Nebby was only able to conquer Jerusalem and the Israelites because why? Because God gave them into Nebby’s hands. Then 3 weeks ago & today, Nebby has these crazy dreams that the only way he can understand them is because God sent a man that could reveal them to him. Then 2 weeks ago, Nebby thought he was in control over God’s people and that if they didn’t bow to them he could destroy them in the fiery furnace, but what happened? Nebby can’t even harm a hair on their heads unless God allows them to. So, who really is king here? Yes, Nebuchadnezzar sits on the throne in Babylon, but outside of God’s power, Nebuchadnezzar has no power. These 4 chapters of this book so far have been proving that point to Nebuchadnezzar himself, to the original readers of this book who are Israelite captives in Babylon, and to you and me.

So in order to drive home the point that God is king, what does God do? He gives Nebuchadnezzar a dream that is actually a portrayal of Nebby’s reality. What do we see in this dream? We see a tree that reaches to the heavens, is seen and known by all and is attractive to all. All of life flocks to it for protection, for food, for provision, for life. That tree then becomes a man. Later on in the chapter we see Nebuchadnezzar walking along the roof of his palace and celebrating, gloating over the accomplishments he’s built. Babylon was one of the 7 wonders of the world. It was an incredible city that Nebby had built and that the nations all came to. It was the center of all of life for the known world at that point. And who was at the head of that? Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar viewed himself as the fountain of all things good. He celebrated his “mighty power and the glory of his majesty”. To which honestly, if you look at the thing Nebby accomplished you’d understand his desire to stand and look back at all he had done and proclaim his goodness. But do you see what Nebby was doing in that moment?

Nebuchadnezzar was putting himself in the place of God. His pride of accomplishment, his view of himself in declaring the goodness of his works, mimics what God did at creation. Now, Nebuchadnezzar had assumed that very throne. In doing so, what had he called those around him to do? To bow down to his god, which was really a command to bow down to him. If they didn’t, what would happen? They’d burn. But it didn’t stop there, because of his dominion and self-serving purposes Nebuchadnezzar then saw people and creation as things to be used for his self-serving purposes.

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream revealed reality as it existed in his mind, but Nebuchadnezzar’s punishment reveled reality as it existed in God’s. The tree was chopped down and the man’s mind became like that of an ox. The prophecy was the Nebuchadnezzar’s very nature would change because of the pride that existed in his own heart. But what God was showing Nebuchadnezzar, and the original readers of this text, and you and me was what? That God is king. God was showing Nebuchadnezzar that any power he had was solely because God allowed it. Nebuchadnezzar had to recognize that. He had to realize that even though he sat on the throne, it was God alone who was the true sovereign. Nebby was there as long as God allowed for the purposes that God allowed.

Now, why does Nebby need to recognize this? Why do the original readers of this story need to recognize God as king? Why do you and I need to recognize God as king? Church, the application of this is truly endless. Do you see how recognizing God as King changes your disposition toward life? If you’re a captive Israelite under Nebby then you don’t fear him. If you’re Democrat, then you don’t fear Trump. If you’re a republican, then you don’t fear Biden. Instead you see rulers put in place by God for the accomplishment of his purposes—which is for you to know He is in control. If you’re in a bad marriage, God is king. If God has given you something, God is king. If God has taken away something—God is king. Hurts still hurt. Loss is still loss. But when you recognize God is king, it hurts a little less. It actually hurts with a little hope.

So if our first step in living knowing God is king is to recognize his kingship, the question for you is have you ever truly recognized that God is king? Or has that just been mere lip service? Maybe to help bring some clarification to that is, who’s glory are you living for? Do you step back, like Nebby, and look at the work of your hands in a way that celebrates and glorifies you and draws other people’s gaze to yourself, or do you step back and see the work of God in and through you? It’s not about you, Matthew.

To live knowing God is King, first you recognize God’s kingship, then second, you.

Humble yourself before the King

There’s this really interesting picture of humility in all of this. DO you know who it is? It’s Daniel! How did Daniel humble himself?

Nebby’s all stressed out when his ridiculous advisors can’t help him, but then finds comfort whenever the man of God shows up. Daniel walks in and hears this dream that clearly depicts the destruction of this pagan king and instead of celebrating what do we see in v19? He is dismayed with thoughts that alarmed him. Isn’t that interesting? If you were living under the rule of a pagan king and you just found out that he’s about to lose his mind and become like a cow and you’re in a position of influence over the whole world don’t you think you’d celebrate that? Wouldn’t you see opportunity and begin to click your heels with excitement? I would! But Daniel doesn’t.

Instead, he’s distressed because he deeply cares personally for Nebuchadnezzar. He desires to see Nebuchadnezzar flourish and so he tells him what the dream means and then he even, at his own risk, offers counsel to the king. Humbling yourself before the true King causes you to have a deep, personal care for people and to desire to see their flourishing. But, while it does those things, look at what else it does.

What is the counsel that Daniel provides. Look down to v27. His counsel was to repent. This means that Daniel saw the sin of Nebuchadnezzar. He saw his unrighteousness and his oppression and told him to stop that and instead walk righteously and to show mercy. Daniel recognized sin as sin and called for Nebby to break off his sins so that God might continue to bless Nebby’s reign. Daniel’s humility caused him to hate the sin and the oppression and unrighteousness that came from it, but to love the sinner enough to feel the repercussions of the sin personally. Now, what would cause Daniel to have such great empathy and humility? What would cause him to not be self-seeking and self-serving in this moment? And not even self-seeking, but actually seeing this as an opportunity to personally escape and to lead his people back to the Israel? What enabled Daniel’s humility?

Daniel understood what King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t. He understood that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, so even when the Most High allowed, even gave, a pagan king to rule over the world he would trust the Most High and seek the good of his earthly king. Daniel knew that while Nebuchadnezzar’s reign would last a lifetime, it would only last a lifetime. It didn’t endure throughout all generations like the true King’s reign. He knew the Most High was great & mighty because he had first hand knowledge of the works that God had done for him and through him. He knew God to be just and right in all of his ways, so when he did humble the proud king or deliver Israel into Babylon’s hands, or deliver Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace that he was doing so righteously. Daniel recognized who the true king was and in doing so not only did it enable him, but it also drove him to humble himself before his earthly king.

Daniel recognized who the true King was, but Nebuchadnezzar didn’t. So God, just like he did in chapters 1-3, would show Nebby who was king. Now, we don’t exactly know what happened between verses 27-28. Did Nebuchadnezzar repent and walk righteously for 12 months? Possibly. But then notice, he only lasted a year before he went back to his self-promoting ways. How quick he was to forget who was king!

Or did, God give Nebby 12 months to repent and he never did and at the end of that time God finally brought the dream to fulfillment. If that is the case then notice the extreme patience and mercy of God with His creation. Regardless of which it was Nebuchadnezzar would finally learn the lesson: either humble yourself before the Most High God and recognize him as King or he will humble you before himself in judgement.

Church, that truth rings as true today as it was then for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So the question for us then is this: Have you humbled yourself before the king? Have you recognized God to be the things that we have seen in these chapters, or have you taken it upon yourself to be great and mighty and to rule and set people in their place and then to look back and glory in yourself? When you recognize God is king you then are driven to humility before him.

But this doesn’t tell us all there is to know about the Most High King. The story doesn’t end with Nebuchadnezzar in a field eating grass. No, look back to Daniel 4:34

Daniel 4:34 ESV

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,

Would God have been just in leaving Nebby in a field? Would his pride and dominance earned that? Yes. But God in his mercy appointed “the end of days.” He appointed a time in which he would restore Nebby’s reason to him because at the time God appointed Nebuchadnezzar would now look to the very heavens that he thought he had reached and find mercy and redemption.

That leads us to our third point. When we recognize God as king and humble ourselves before him we then:

Find redemption by the King

Now I want you to notice the redemption the King offers. We tend to see redemption from a crazed state of mind to and restoration to kingship—to which the answer to that is yes. God did restore Nebuchadnezzar to his place. But there’s more than that. One commentary by a guy named Tremper Longman was really helpful here. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar was just walking around in a field eating grass like a cow with long hair and finger nails. He had gone crazy. This certainly would’ve been publicly known. Can you imagine? Can you imagine if someone in this room all the sudden just fell off the deep end? They went crazy and left their families, blew their life savings, destroyed their reputation. You probably can all think of real instances in which this happened. What do “those people” then have with them forever? There’s this sort of stigmatism; there’s shame that they were foolish and ruined their lives. Their pride literally leads to their fall, just like Nebuchadnezzar. Sure, you might be happy they got their life back together, but there’s still this sense of self-righteous judgment that we carry about someone else and their shame.

But when God in his mercy exposes our shame, he also covers it with his grace. As Longman said, “Our God is a God who turns shame into rejoicing. But he doesn’t just do it by some sort of magical waving of his wand.” You see the story of Nebuchadnezzar was of a tree that stretched from earth to heavens providing for all, but was easily chopped down. The story of the gospel is that the source of life itself came to earth and was hung on a tree. God himself experienced shame on our behalf. “He subjected himself to the humiliation of the cross. Christ felt shame,” but in doing so he bore our shame so that we could be set free from it. In the King’s eye, our shame is now gone and we’re invited into the glory of His presence.

Church, there’s some of you this morning that are bearing your guilt and shame and Daniel 4 tells you that you don’t have to. There is King who can redeem you from that. There is nothing outside of his reach. You aren’t too far gone. It’s not too big for him to bear. Yeah I know it’s hard to face it and I know what it’s like to be afraid of what people might say or think. But who’s your King? If that’s you this morning, I want to encourage you as the author of Hebrews does. Heb. 12:1-2

Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

You can look to the King and find redemption from your shame. But like Nebuchadnezzar, he doesn’t just redeem you from your shame, he redeems you to a new position.

Romans tells us that if we haven’t been reconciled to God then we’re his enemies. But when we lift our eyes to the heavens to the one who redeems the King no longer sees us as enemies but as friends. Galatians says that we are sons and heirs. Because of Christ that’s your new position. No longer a slave to shame, but a redeemed child of God.

So here’s the question for you: has your shame been covered by the blood of the one that was nailed to a tree and became a curse for you? Or are you still carrying that around? Have you been redeemed out of the sins the accusers throws at you and restored to righteousness, or are you still walking in those ways? Live knowing God is a King by recognizing his kingship, humbling yourself before him, and finding redemption by him.

The story doesn’t end quite there though, does it? What does redemption lead Nebuchadnezzar to do? Our last point:

Proclaim the goodness of the King

Nebby immediately responds by blessing God. He writes this psalm at the end which may have been a song. He responds humbly to God recognizing that his own kingship is a gift given by the true King and that it won’t last forever, unlike God’s.

The right and first step to God’s redemption for us is to turn our praise back to him. Since he is the one who redeems it is He alone who deserves the praise.

But you notice what else he does? If you go all the way back to the beginning of this story, who is the author of it? Nebuchadnezzar is. Now, we’ve spent several weeks looking at the life of Nebuchadnezzar and of all of the things that we’ve looked at what would you say was the most humiliating? This one! Walking around like an ox eating grass—hard to be more humiliated than that. So Nebby writes down the most humiliating time of his life for posterity’s sake. Why? Daniel 4:2

Daniel 4:2 ESV

It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.

Nebuchadnezzar saw how good the King was to him personally and couldn’t help but tell others about him publicly. To truly live life knowing God as King is to live a life of proclamation about the goodness of the King.

Church our mission statement is to glorify God as we make disciples in Dalhart and around the world. The way we glorify God is by blessing his name and proclaiming his goodness both back to him and to those around us. Part of making disciples is telling people about him. We sit here on the eve of Mission’s Conference and as I’ve thought about that and this passage and I was convicted by the amount of times I tell people about my accomplishments versus the amount of times I tell people about the goodness of my king. The scales are definitely tipped in favor of me and my accomplishments. The similarities between myself and Nebuchadnezzer are disappointing. But thank God that he’s king and I’m not. Thank God that he’s a good king who redeems me from me. When was the last time you proclaimed his goodness? Yes, good news, we can all say we just sang it and we’re about to sing about it again, but what about the last time you told your neighbor? Or your coworker? If Jesus was telling the truth in Matthew 9:37 when He said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;” then in order for us to see the harvest, we’ve got to proclaim his goodness. But in order to proclaim His goodness, we’ve got live knowing He is king.

I’m sure that most of you in this room came in here proclaiming God is King, but do you wake up each day recognizing His kingship or promoting yours? Maybe you do recognize Him as King, but you haven’t humbled yourself before him and showing care for others around you. Maybe there’s some in here today who have yet to find redemption by the King. Maybe you’re carrying around guilt and shame from your past and the things you’ve done. The good news for all of us is there’s a King who redeems. He even redeems guys like me from the things I’ve done and in His redemption He’s given me a whole new purpose; a whole new meaning; a whole new disposition towards life. When you’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good and you recognize him as king you can’t help but proclaim His goodness towards others. As a blind beggar who’s leading another towards bread my prayer and hope is that you would know him and Live knowing God is King.

I’m not sure where you find yourself this morning, but these 4 steps are not a one and done. They’re a continual process of the Christian walk. This is what we’re called to do everyday, and if you’re like me, then you’ve probably not done it as good as you had hoped. So here’s how we’re going to respond this morning, I want to invite the music team on up and give you a minute to meet with the Lord. Ask him to show you where you’ve lived for your own Kingdom rather than His. Ask him to cover you with His grace and relieve you of your shame. After you’ve done that, look up to Him and sing. Sing loud. Sing proud. Knowing that you’ve been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and are now set free to walk with Him.

If you don’t know him, then after I pray here in just a second I’m going to walk straight to the back of the room. i’d ask that you’d meet me there and we can slip out of here and I’ll walk with you through submitting to the true King. So let’s pray, and respond to the God who is King.