Human Pride Versus Divine Sovereignty
Notes
Transcript
Human Pride Versus Divine Sovereignty
Daniel 4:1-37 sermon notes
I.
Intro: Human Pride Versus Divine Sovereignty
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” So says
Proverbs 16:18. A few verses earlier, in Proverbs 16:5, we read, “Everyone
who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to Yahweh; be assured, he will not
go unpunished.” These are dire warnings against pride. Leaders are prone to
pride. Rulers and those entrusted with authority are often tempted toward
arrogance and pride. What happens when human pride confronts divine
sovereignty? It is certainly not the case of an unstoppable force meeting an
immovable object! No; the proverbs are true; God’s sovereignty will overrule
human pride and bring it to destruction, a fall, and punishment.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has acted in pride already in the book
of Daniel. Even after the one true God delivered a message to him in a dream
that communicated both God’s sovereign power to rule and explain history
and also Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom’s impermanence, we find the king
calling all of his subjects to worship before his image. He even had the
blasphemous audacity to threaten three of the true God’s people, friends of
Daniel who interpreted the king’s dream, as though even their God, the one
true God, would not be powerful enough to rescue them from his own power.
Well, after God does in fact rescue them in a way that shocks and awes the
king, and after the king declares the uniqueness of their God in his power to
save, we might expect that perhaps the king has been sufficiently humbled,
learned his lesson about pride and arrogance. But, alas, no, the king has not
yet experienced his downfall, his punishment, or his destruction. As one writer
puts it, “Nebuchadnezzar thinks that he is the sovereign of the world, but he is
not even the sovereign of his own story.”
As we enter chapter 4, we’re probably leaping forward more than 20 years in
history. Chapter 4 contains the contents of a letter that the king composed,
probably with Daniel’s help, as we’ll see. It’s a familiar story. It has a very
simple chiastic outline that looks like this:
A Nebuchadnezzar praises God (4:1-3)
B Nebuchadnezzar reports his dream (4:4-18)
C Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (4:19-27)
B’ Nebuchadnezzar’s dream comes true (4:28-33)
A’ Nebuchadnezzar praises God (4:34-37)
Unlike chapter 2, this time the shape of the story does emphasize and
highlight the interpretation of the dream. The message of Daniel 4 can be
summarized like this: God is the rightful ruler over all human kingdoms,
and he decides which, when, and how long human rulers receive
authority. There is no doubt about this being the main message of the
chapter; the theme appears plainly six times in these 37 verses.
II.
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God (4:1-3)
He begins the letter with praise of the true God. Look at verses 1-3: “1 King
Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the
earth: Peace be multiplied to you! 2 It has seemed good to me to show the
signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
3
How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and his dominion endures from generation to generation.
The address to “all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth”
is one of those universal references we have to think about and recognize that
he doesn’t mean this literally. He is addressing the subjects of his kingdom;
the phrase “that dwell in all the earth” is what we might call political rhetoric
or political hyperbole. He likes to think of his kingdom as being a global
empire, but it most certainly wasn’t.
Notice also how he characterizes what happened to him as “signs and wonders
that the Most High God has done for me.” Indeed, his punishment and
restoration are both miraculous deeds that God did to him. In the Old
Testament, repeatedly the phrase “signs and wonders” refers to what God did
against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, during the exodus. Here, the king of Babylon
says that God has done these signs and wonders for him. He then shifts into
poetic praise of Yahweh, the Most High God, the God he sees now at the top
of the Babylonian pantheon. He’ll close the letter with praise that repeats and
expands these words, so we’ll consider that in more detail at the end.
III.
Nebuchadnezzar Reports His Dream (Dan. 4:4-18)
In verses 4-18, we get the king’s report of his dream. This time he describes
the contents of the dream. Let’s start just with the setting in verse 4-7:
4
I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace.
5
I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed the fancies and the visions
of my head alarmed me. 6 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. 7 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.
We’ll come back to the chronology of when this dream might have occurred,
but notice that it was at a time when his empire was at peace, at the height of
his power. We feel a sense of déjà vu here, as he summons the “wise guys” to
interpret his dream, and, as before, they are unable to do so, even when this
time he describes the dream to them.
Look at verses 8-9:
8
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, 9 “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.
Daniel must have been traveling or on some assignment, but he finally arrives.
Notice the way the king describes him in these verses; he knows that “the
spirit of the holy gods is in” Daniel. If you’re reading the New King James
Version, you’ll see capital letters and the phrase, “the Spirit of the Holy God,”
singular. It seems that the translators of the NKJV have wrongly interpreted
what’s going on here. The king views Daniel from his pagan perspective; a
spirit given by the gods helps him. All other English Bible translations
recognize this pagan perspective. Notice also that the king wants to give him
credit; he says “no mystery is too difficult for you.” But, going back to chapter
2, Daniel refused to take credit; he insisted that he didn’t have the ability to
interpret mysteries. He gave all credit to God; the king still can’t seem to do
that, even as he writes this letter and describes the situation after it’s all over.
He disregards Daniel’s perspective, and he still refers to him by his
Babylonian name, Belteshazzar, and he still says that this is “after the name of
my god.”
In verses 10-18, he describes the dream. Follow along:
10
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. 11 The tree grew and became
strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the
whole earth. 12 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.
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. 14 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. 15 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. 16 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. 17 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.’ 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, but you are able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”
So, he saw a beautiful and large tree. It touched the sky, reminiscent of the
Tower of Babel, and stretched throughout the world. All animals ate from the
tree and found shade under it. Sounds like a pretty good dream so far. If
Nebuchadnezzar is thinking that he might be that tree, this seems like a very
good thing. But then an angel, what he calls a watcher or a holy one, appears
and commands other angels to chop down the tree, strip its branches, throw
away its fruit, and chase off the animals. But the angels are to leave the stump
in the ground, and you need to see that detail as a sign of hope. If this dream
were an announcement of total final judgment against Nebuchadnezzar, then it
would have depicted uprooting the tree and burning it, or something like that.
But, instead, the stump and its roots remain in the ground, and that allows for
hope that the tree might grow again, and that’s intentional, as we’ll see in
Daniel’s explanation.
Notice in the middle of verse 15 that the imagery suddenly shifts. The angel is
no longer describing the tree, but he’s describing the man that the tree
represents. The tree has a man’s mind; that is, it represents a man, and the
angel has decreed that his mind must be transformed, radically changed from
a human mind to an animal mind. The point comes through loud and clear in
verse 17, but notice that the purpose is not just to punish or to instruct
Nebuchadnezzar. Rather, this is going to happen “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 event will serve as a
message to everyone on the planet, and this explains why the king would draw
up this account and send it as a letter to all his subjects, and then why the Holy
Spirit preserved the record as part of sacred Scripture, as part of God’s Word
to people throughout the ages.
IV.
Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream (4:19-27)
Now let’s look at verse 19: “Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was
dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him.” That’s the same
language as we saw with the king himself. The king was alarmed after the
dream and now Daniel has seen it, and Daniel is alarmed. Daniel now knows
what the dream means. He recognizes that this is bad news for
Nebuchadnezzar. We know, and Daniel knows even better than us, that
Nebuchadnezzar has a tendency to respond poorly to bad news. He throws
people into furnaces when they don't do what he wants them to do, and so
when there's a little trouble, Nebuchadnezzar has a bit of a rage problem, and
so Daniel could be expressing a bit of fear here, knowing that if he tells him
that this is a statement of judgment against him, he's probably not going to
be real happy about that, and he might throw him in a furnace or something
like that.
Now, many years have probably passed since chapter three, when the king
threw the three Jews into the fire, so maybe Nebuchadnezzar has grown up a
little bit, and maybe he’s dealt with that rage issue to some degree. Or maybe
not. But we do see a bit of kindness here in Nebuchadnezzar himself, in the
middle of verse 19. As Daniel is expressing his own concern and dismay and
his alarm at having to report this news to the king, the king speaks to him.
Nebuchadnezzar can tell, looking at Daniel, that he’s troubled, and so the king
says to him, “Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.”
Nebuchadnezzar’s a smart guy, and it seems that he has some perception that
this is a bad-news kind of dream for him. So, he reassures Daniel, “I know it’s
not going to be a good thing for me to hear, but I must know what it means,
and I won’t fly off the handle.”
Look at Daniel’s response: “Belteshazzar answered and said, ‘My lord, may
the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies!’”
If only the tree represented one of the king’s enemies! That seems to be
Daniel’s initial response in verse 19. Daniel recognizes that the dream
indicates a warning of God’s judgment against Nebuchadnezzar, and it seems
that Daniel has come to care for the king—this king who stole him from his
parents, this king who destroyed his hometown of Jerusalem and slaughtered
thousands of his kinsmen, this king who defiled, desecrated, and utterly
destroyed the temple of Yahweh, Daniel’s God. Love your enemies; pray for
those who persecute you, Jesus said. Overcome evil with good, Paul said.
So, let’s hear what the dream means; look at verses 20-26.
20
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, 21 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— 22 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. 23 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,’ 24 this is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High,
which has come upon my lord the king, 25 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. 26 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.
The tree is King Nebuchadnezzar. The chopping down of the tree represents
Nebuchadnezzar losing power, losing the ability to rule, being driven off the
throne by God. Look again at verse 24: “This is the interpretation, O king: It is
a decree of the Most High.” Now, we read in verse 17 Nebuchadnezzar
quoting the angel, and the angel had said, “The sentence is by the decree of
the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones.” This gives us a little
unique window into heaven. Let’s take a glance through this window and see
what the Lord reveals to us about how things work in heaven.
We are meant to understand that there are angels grouped together in
something like a council, like a decision-making body, a committee of angels,
if you will, and they are actively bringing into the world, into human history,
decisions pronounced in the council. They’re changing things, impacting
history, affecting people’s lives. The way it sounds in verse 17, just as
Nebuchadnezzar sees it and hears it in his dream, the angels act
independently. They seem to have gotten their own little group together, and
they’ve made a decision that they are going to bring judgment against
Nebuchadnezzar, and that would have been an acceptable idea in
Nebuchadnezzar’s pagan mind. His understanding of the way angels worked,
from his pagan theology, would have fit the picture he sees of angels acting
independently from the gods.
Daniel supplies a corrective to that picture. In verse 24, we get more
information as Daniel cracks the window open a bit more to give us a slightly
clearer glimpse into how things work in heaven. In chapter 10, Daniel will
have the window opened even further, but we’ll see that it’s all too much even
for Daniel the prophet to take in! Nevertheless, here in verse 24 Daniel says
that it is a decree of the Most High, Yahweh, the God of Israel. The angels
were indeed convened as a committee, and they are indeed putting into effect
on earth certain decisions made in heaven. But the one who makes the
decisions is God, not the angels, and so you get to see one way God brings
about what he has decided will take place in history. He, at times, sends
angels to earth to bring about certain events in human history. God has
decreed to execute an act of judgment against King Nebuchadnezzar, and he
has shown the king ahead of time through an angelic communication.
Look at verse 25 again. Here we find what we saw earlier as the
transformation of the man’s mind to the mind of an animal is precisely what is
going to happen to King Nebuchadnezzar. God is going to strike him with a
mental illness. Now, I’m choosing the term “mental illness” quite
intentionally because that does seem to be what it is. There is a class of mental
illnesses that fits the description we find here. It’s been documented
throughout history, but only in modern times have folks been able to study the
brain and see what’s happening in cases like this. These conditions have been
labelled zoanthrope, from two Greek words, zoan, which means “animal,” and
anthropos, which means “man.” So, essentially what you have is a “beastman.” This is a class of occurrences where a person suddenly begins to
believe that he is an animal, a beast, and so he starts acting like it, separating
himself from society and going out to act like an animal. There are subsets of
this particular condition that are common. The most common are lycanthropy
or lucanthropy, from the Greek words lukas, which means “wolf,” and
anthropos again. Thus, you have a “wolf-man.” So, people begin to believe
that they are a dog and begin howling at the moon or barking like a dog. They
are acting out antisocial behavior. This, of course, is the historical, real life
basis from which we get the legends and myths about werewolves.
It is a real condition where something changes in a person’s brain. It’s usually
a psychotic episode where it’s a radical shift in behavior. It doesn’t develop
gradually; something breaks in the brain, and when doctors study it nowadays,
they know that there’s something biochemical going on that’s wrong. They
didn’t know that back then; they just observed the behavior and tried to deal
with it. Why have I gone into all this detail about the medical and scientific
understanding of this condition? Well, Nebuchadnezzar is going to begin
acting like an ox; this, too, is a common subset of zoanthropy called
boanthropy, from the Greek word bous which means “cow” or “ox.”
Nebuchadnezzar becomes “Ox-man.” And it is God who did this to him.
The point I want you to see here is the reality that God is not limited in his
access to human beings—biologically, physically, chemically, or
psychologically. God has access to every part of our brains, both physically
and chemically, and also beyond that and deeper than that. God is not
hindered in his actions. He can change a man’s brain chemistry, just like that,
and he can do this both for judgment and for healing. This is not to say that
every mental illness is an act of God’s judgment. God strikes this king with
this condition at this time. And God will restore him to sanity, repairing
whatever neurochemistry he had impacted in the first place. God has the
ability to manipulate our brain cells and our brain chemistry. More
importantly, he has the ability to go even deeper and actually access the very
core of who we are, and he can change the core of who we are. He can change
far more than our brain chemistry; he can change our patterns of thinking, and
he can change our feelings. This is just a glimpse of that reality that he can
and does bring both judgment and healing to both bodies and souls. As with
the man born blind in John 9, God does what he does in both judgment and
salvation for his own glory.
So, Nebuchadnezzar will experience this for a period of time, and then Daniel
goes on to explain that the stump being left there indicates that God is going
to preserve Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom while he’s suffering from this mental
illness. Think about it: if the king suddenly goes crazy and is out of
commission for a little while, what’s the normal thing that you’d expect to
happen in an ancient kingdom like Babylon? People will start vying for the
throne. If he’s incompetent to rule, then someone would just step up, take
control, and kill the mentally ill king. It’s only by God’s grace that that
doesn’t happen. God has decreed it; God has decided that no one will take
Nebuchadnezzar’s throne. That’s the only explanation we get; we don’t know
how God actually preserved his throne. He could have used any number of
means. But the point is that what God has decreed, no one can thwart or
change.
However, in verse 27, we see Daniel, acting as a true prophet, instructing
Nebuchadnezzar how to respond to this judgment message from the Lord. He
tells the king to repent. Look at what he says: “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.” This is the only appropriate response
when confronted with an announcement of God’s judgment. Those being
judged are responsible to repent. Daniel doesn’t know whether the king will
respond appropriately, but Daniel’s job as a prophet is to instruct him on the
proper response. Repentance for the king would look like a radical change of
heart manifested in new, just public policy over his empire. How different
would history be had King Nebuchadnezzar heeded this prophetic call!
V.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream Comes True (Dan. 4:28-33)
As we move into verse 28, notice that the point of view of the story changes.
Up till this point, everything has been a first-person account; Nebuchadnezzar
has been recounting his own experience, and he’s been quoting Daniel’s
words in the last few verses. But, here, in verse 28, suddenly we get a thirdperson narrator. Daniel, it seems, has stepped in to explain what happened
next, and perhaps you can see how that makes good sense. If Nebuchadnezzar
believes himself to be an ox, he’s probably unable to recount how exactly that
unfolded. It’s likely that, once he was restored, his memory of the whole event
might be a bit fuzzy and may not even be there at all. Daniel, as an eyewitness
observer, can tell the rest of the story.
Apparently, the king did not repent. We don’t know how he responded to
Daniel in the moment, but we know for sure that he did not repent. Daniel’s
summary in verse 28 is chillingly simple: “All this came upon King
Nebuchadnezzar.” Then, Daniel informs us that a year passes. God granted the
king an entire year to reflect on this message, and he had Daniel’s call to
repent hanging over his head for a full year. Notice something we haven’t
seen yet. Why is this judgment coming against King Nebuchadnezzar? The
dream didn’t exactly list his crimes. From history, including from the history
recorded in Scripture, we could certainly list some of those crimes. As we
observed earlier, it’s highly likely that this dream came to the king many years
after his invasion and destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Even though
that was an act of Yahweh’s own judgment of his people, the God of Israel
still would hold Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon fully responsible for their
wickedness. Nevertheless, at the end of the passage, we finally get the specific
sin in view: pride.
Listen to the king’s words, recorded in verses 29-30: “29 At the end of twelve
months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 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?’” When
you start focusing so much on yourself, it becomes really clear who your god
actually is. He takes complete and total credit for the greatness of Babylon. It
was a great city; he had done great things to make it great. But God had
already told him through the dream in chapter 2, and then through the
experience he had with the three Jewish men in the fiery furnace in chapter
3—it is Yahweh, the God of Israel, God of gods and Lord of kings who gave
him all of this. He doesn’t give God any credit; no gratitude, no praise, no
acknowledgment. He takes credit for it all. Yahweh, the God of Israel, does
not like that, because he deserves all the credit; he deserves all the glory, even
for the pagan kingdoms of the world. Whatever is rightly called good or great
in this world ultimately comes from the only good and great God of the
universe.
Before we look at God’s response, there’s a historical detail that’s just too
deliciously ironic to leave out. Historical and archaeological records combine
to reveal something interesting about the city of Babylon at this particular
point in history. Based on this archaeological and historical data, a fellow by
the name of Paul Ferguson writes, “[Nebuchadnezzar] had failed to notice two
streets below him called ‘Bow Down, Proud One’ and ‘May the Arrogant Not
Flourish.’ He did not even recall that one of the names of his palace was ‘The
Place Where Proud Ones Are Compelled to Submit.’” Imbedded in his own
city planning and palace architecture was the message God was going to have
to communicate to him through such drastic measures!
God responds directly in verses 31-33: “31 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, 32 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.’ 33 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.” Daniel describes
what happened, precisely as it was depicted in the dream.
VI.
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God (Dan. 4:34-37)
Then, in verse 34, Nebuchadnezzar returns with his first-person account: “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.” We’ll look at the content of his praise in just a
moment, but notice that it was when the beast-king lifted his eyes to heaven
that God restored his sanity. This king was depicted as the head of gold in
chapter 2, and surely he was accustomed to being the top dog, looking down
on everyone around him, but here, as one writer summarizes, “he must look
up and acknowledge a higher king than himself.”
It’s time, at last, to evaluate how long this lasted according to what we’re told
in the text. Notice that neither in the description of the dream by the king, nor
in the interpretation provided by Daniel, and not even here at the end, as the
king narrates the historical fulfillment as it actually happened, do we actually
see the length of time specified. Rather, in verses 16, 23, 25, and 32 the exact
same phrase is used to describe the time frame: “seven periods of time shall
pass over you.” And here in verse 34, we simply read “at the end of the days.”
Many students of Scripture suggest that the phrase translated “periods of
time” by the ESV refers to years, so that the king suffered from this mental
illness for seven full years.
Let’s examine that suggestion. The word for “times” or “periods of time” has
already appeared in Daniel. He used the word in 2:8, where Nebuchadnezzar
accused the “wise guys” of “trying to gain time,” and then again in 2:9, where
he accused them of conspiring against him “till the times change.” Daniel
used the word in his praise of God in 2:21, indicating that God “changes
times.” So, three times in chapter 2, this word appears, and in none of those
occurrences can the word possibly mean “year” or “years.” The word also
appears in chapter 3 verses 5 and 15, translated simply as “when,” referring to
“at the time” the musical instruments are played as a signal that it’s time to
worship. Why, then, would we assume that it refers to “years” in chapter 4?
And, I’ll go ahead and toss an interpretive grenade on the floor to prepare for
a later discussion; this is the word used in chapter 7 in the loaded phrase,
“time, times, and half a time.” Will we find reason to believe that it refers to
“years” in that context? We shall see.
So, what does it mean here? Well, Daniel actually does explain it, just not in
terms of a specific length of time. An angel in the dream had said the words,
“and let seven periods of time pass over him” in verse 16. When Daniel
interprets this, in verse 25, he adds a phrase to explain how long this will take
place; Daniel says, “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.”
Then, in verse 32, Daniel’s words are repeated verbatim by the voice from
heaven. So, in all of this, no one specifies how long Nebuchadnezzar was
away from the throne. And here’s another interesting thing to consider: Daniel
knows how long it lasted. He could’ve set the record straight by telling us the
date Nebuchadnezzar was strolling on his palace roof, boasting of his own
glory, and then telling us the date when God restored his sanity. Or, Daniel
could’ve simply said that he was away from the throne for x number of
months or x number of years. Must not be that important. Instead, what is
important is that the king must suffer this way “until” something else happens.
However long it takes for Nebuchadnezzar to get the message regarding his
own insignificance and God’s supremacy and sovereignty. That’s how long
this lasted!
Daniel could’ve used the word that means “years” had he intended to specify
the chronology. But he didn’t. But, to raise yet another thorny issue, he does
use a number here, the number seven. So, if the word for “time” or “period of
time” is just that, a generic term that doesn’t specify, what do we make of the
number attached to it? What does seven time periods communicate, if not
something you can date on a calendar? Did this illness last seven days, seven
weeks, seven months, seven seasons, seven years, seven decades, seven
centuries?? Some of those we could eliminate. But are we even asking the
right question? Given that the angel says “seven periods of time,” Daniel says
“seven periods of time,” and the voice from heaven says “seven periods of
time,” the seven seems important. In the Bible and in the ancient world more
broadly, the number seven wasn’t just used for counting. The number seven
sometimes has symbolic significance. It usually signifies the idea of
perfection or completion. Probably, this goes back in some fashion or another
to the fact that God created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh
day, so that the completion of creation, climaxing with God’s rest from
creating on day seven, established a pattern that is reflected in other areas of
human life.
So, if Daniel is using the number seven in this symbolic way, what does it
mean? Daniel specifies only that this timeframe will end when the king comes
to understand that Yahweh, the Most High God of Israel and of the universe,
rules over human kingdoms and grants authority to whomever he wills,
whenever he wills, for as long as he wills. How long will it take for the king to
recognize this? Seven periods of time. Perhaps this is a poetic way of saying
simply: it will take as long as it takes.
Now, one more note about this from the historical reality. It is impossible to
fit a seven-year period of King Nebuchadnezzar’s absence from ruling the
Babylonian Empire into what we know of his reign from Babylonian
historical records. Now, of course it’s possible that the history books are lying
or covering up a lengthy absence like this, but the only real reason a person
would have to make that assumption in this case is if you believe the inspired,
inerrant word of God teaches that Nebuchadnezzar was removed from his
throne for seven precise years. I am trying to show that the Bible does not, in
fact, teach that. Then, you can accept what we see in the history books, where
you do, in fact, find a period of about 3 or 4 years near the end of
Nebuchadnezzar’s reign where he seems to be quite inactive. Here’s what we
can conclude from history, if you’ll look up at this slide, and there is some
biblical corroboration along the way for some of these events. There is a
historical gap in the Babylonian records of about 3 or 4 years that corresponds
with what we know of as 571-568 BC. Then, the records pick up again
providing details of his invasion of Egypt toward the end of 568 BC.
Now, let’s take a look at Nebuchadnezzar’s praise. Remember that he’s
addressing this letter, this account, “to all peoples, nations, and languages, that
dwell in all the earth,” which, as we said earlier, is surely just a reference to
the many nations he had conquered that were part of his empire. Now, he
praises Yahweh, the God of one of those conquered nations, Judah. We pick
up his poetic words in the middle of verse 34:
“for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
35
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?’”
King Nebuchadnezzar is acknowledging here that this God, Yahweh, the one
true God—no one and no thing in heaven or on earth can hinder him in
anything that he wants to do. There is no demonic, Satanic, or angelic power
that trips God up in accomplishing his purposes. I hope you believe that about
your God. If you don’t, what will it take for God to show you that this is true
of him? Do you need to spend some time believing you’re an animal to get the
point? Satan does not and cannot and never has stopped God from
accomplishing his purposes. When you are struggling with suffering or sin,
you don’t need to conclude that your suffering is because either some demonic
force has gotten the jump on God somehow, or your own sinfulness has
somehow overpowered God. This verse is just one of many in the Bible that
presses home the point that God always accomplishes his purposes. Always.
When you are struggling, when you are failing, when you are sinning as a
Christian, please don’t think that you’ve got to “just let go, and let God” do
something good in you. Do you find yourself thinking or saying, “If I’d just
let go of my pride, let go of my stubbornness, let go of my lust, then maybe
God could use me or grow me or change me”? That idea suggests that you are
stopping him, that you have more power than he does. Whatever is actually
going on in times when we are sinning, I hope that we don’t conclude that this
is the right answer, that somehow my sinfulness overpowers God, that we can
in any way hinder God from working in our lives.
Look at the pagan king’s true words in verse 35: “all the inhabitants of the
earth are accounted as nothing.” All who would oppose God count for nothing
in their opposition against God. David, in Psalm 62:9 says that the most
powerful people in the world are “lighter than a breath” from God’s vantage
point. Isaiah puts all the people of all nations together and says in Isaiah
40:15, “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted
as the dust on the scales.” Two verses later, he adds, “All the nations are as
nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and
emptiness.” Less than nothing and emptiness. Yes, the nations rage and the
peoples plot, but all in vain. In the face of such raging and plotting, “He who
sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” After all,
whenever he wants, he can make them think they’re a dumb ox for a few
years.
The king goes on and says, “he does according to his will among the host of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.” Jesus taught us to pray, “Your
will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and we can think that that petition
means that God’s will is only being accomplished in heaven, but not on earth.
We look around at the world and we say, surely God’s will is not being done
down here. But that’s not true. Everything is going according to plan. This is
where we need to recognize the different ways the Bible talks about God’s
will. Nebuchadnezzar is recognizing the reality that all of history, and this
includes the details of your individual life, moves according to the plan of this
sovereign God. His will is his plan, and everything that transpires in the
heavenly realms among the angels and demons, and everything that transpires
in this world among human beings—every bit of it is a part of a grand plan
that was put in motion when God created the universe. But many times, the
Bible speaks of God’s will as what God commands his people to do or not to
do. It is God’s will that people not murder each other; it is God’s will that
people worship him alone. But people do murder each other; people worship
false gods. The angels in heaven obey God’s will of command. Thus, when
Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we
are to be asking God to enable people on the earth to obey God. It is God’s
will, God’s plan, to enable people to obey God’s will, God’s commands,
perfectly only at the consummation of history, after King Jesus returns and
provides glorified bodies for his people. In the meantime, we must recognize
that God wills what he does not will; that is to say, God’s plan includes human
and angelic rebellion and sin, all as part of the greater story that God is telling
about his own glory, his own righteousness, his own love, mercy, grace, and
forgiveness. But also, in the meantime, God does respond to our request that
his will be done on earth; he does enable his people to actually obey him by
the power of the Holy Spirit, not perfectly but truly. And so, here, King
Nebuchadnezzar praises God for his successful outworking of his grand plan.
Finally, Nebuchadnezzar says, “none can stay his hand”; the Aramaic conveys
the image of no one being able to slap God’s hand away when he reaches out
to act. Thus, whatever is happening when we sin, whether believers or
unbelievers, it cannot be said that a person is preventing God from doing what
he wants to do, holding God back, hindering or limiting God, or stopping God
from accomplishing his purposes. That, my friends, is impossible! Neither can
anyone question God the way Nebuchadnezzar says at the end of verse 35,
“What have you done?” That’s not a question asking for information; that’s a
question that’s making an accusation that you’ve done something wrong. No
one on the planet, not even a great king, has the right to look at God’s ways
and judge them as wrong or evil.
Glance down to verse 37 briefly, as the king adds a further word of praise
there: “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.” Yes, indeed! Finally, we see with crystal clarity
the sin of Nebuchadnezzar. It is the sin of pride. His taking of credit for the
greatness of his kingdom, refusing to acknowledge the source of his success,
even when that Source had already repeatedly revealed himself in power to
him. He’s basically saying that God made him act like an ox and it was right
for him to do it. He recognizes that even though it was humiliating, even
though it was painful, it was right, totally deserved, and just.
Now, is Nebuchadnezzar a changed man? Lots of folks look at this as though
the king has converted to becoming a worshipper of Yahweh. I think that is
reading a lot into the text, especially in light of verse 36. Look there again:
“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.” There’s still an awful lot of “I, me, and mine” in
there, don’t ya think? He is giving some credit to God now, but I just don’t see
enough evidence that he’s been fundamentally changed. I don’t think anything
here suggests that he has transferred his allegiance to the God of Israel.
The king says many true things about God. This is his public statement, his
letter, and in his public statement he’s making claims about the God of Israel.
Throughout history, politicians have given public lip service to God or Jesus,
whether in their published writings or in their correspondence with other
politicians in order to solidify their reputation with Christians. It has happened
in this country, from the founders all the way up to today, and it has happened
in many other countries. After rulers or politicians die, oftentimes their private
correspondences or their private journals come to light and are published for
all to see. It’s an interesting study to contrast their religious comments in
public documents to their more private writings. It’s hard to know what a
person really believes when that person has a constituency to please, power to
maintain, or policy to influence.
VII.
Conclusion: Our Sovereign God Humbles Proud Humans
As we come to the end of the message this morning, let’s review the main
message of Daniel 4: God is the rightful ruler over all human kingdoms,
and he decides which, when, and how long human rulers receive
authority. An important application that comes from this is what
Nebuchadnezzar experienced. God executes his rightful rule over all human
kingdoms by holding them accountable, by bringing judgment against the
unrepentant, especially proud human rulers who arrogantly seek glory for
themselves. Often, pride is manifested by ingratitude. The apostle Paul
chastised the Corinthians in this way in 1 Corinthians 4:7b: “What do you
have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if
you did not receive it?” Do you really see God as the giver and source of
everything good you have? If so, how often do you thank him? Are you quick
to take credit for your accomplishments? Do you revel in trophies or awards?
Do you fuss and complain because you think you’re not getting something
good you deserve or because you think you are getting something bad that you
don’t deserve? Beware, Christian. Our attitude should be more akin to what
Jesus said in Luke 17:10, “So you also, when you have done all that you were
commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was
our duty.’”
Our sovereign God is able to humble those who walk in pride, even rulers.
Ultimately, he will fulfill the primary message of this passage by giving the
kingdom of men to the man he has appointed, the one Daniel will see in
chapter 7, identified as “one like a son of man.” This man is the lowliest of
men, not pompous and arrogant like Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel will see this
man in chapter 7, and what he sees is this, Daniel 7:14: “And to him was
given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and
languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed,”
combining the language of Daniel 2:44, Daniel 4:3, and Daniel 4:34. What
Nebuchadnezzar said about God is here said about this “one like a son of
man.”
This man, of course, is Jesus, the king who did not consider his genuine
equality with God a thing to be used for his own advantage, the king who
humbled himself to the lowest place, submitting even to a shameful death on a
cross, executed as a criminal. God treated Jesus the way God treats sin. God
rages against sin; he hates sin; he punishes sin; he destroys sin. God did that to
Jesus. To what end? So that God would never rage against sinners who trust
Jesus; so that he would never hate sinners who trust Jesus; so that he would
never punish sinners who trust Jesus; so that he would never destroy sinners
who trust Jesus. As God did to Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel, today God
“commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on
which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has
appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the
dead.” The Judge is the King, and he was raised from the dead 2,000 years
ago. If you don’t trust the risen King, if you don’t receive his offer of mercy,
if you don’t believe that his death paid for your sins, you will face him as a
guilty criminal, and you will face him as the holy Judge who rages against sin,
hates sin, punishes sin, and destroys sin. And you will receive exactly what
you deserve for all of eternity. Humble yourself before the Lord, repent of
your sin, and trust this Savior, and he will exalt you, rescue you, reward you,
and transform you. Exalt yourself against the Lord, claim credit for the good
things in your life, and fuss about God’s unfairness when bad things come,
and he will humble you, judge you, and repay you according to your deeds. I,
like Moses thousands of years ago, have set before you life and death,
blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life. Repent and believe the gospel!