Remaining Holy in a Hostile World: Daniel 4:1-18-- Red Letter Day for a King

Introduction

Have you ever had a red letter day in your life? Maybe more than one. The phrase came from the Middle Ages when church calendars would put special and holy days in red ink to make them stand out. Today, the phrase means “a an important or significant day.” As we begin chapter 4 of Daniel this week we will see the account of two red letter days in the life of King Nebuchadnezzar. In chapters 2 and 3 of this book we have seen two events of God that have influenced him for a season, yet he had not surrendered to God. As we go through this chapter the next two weeks (we will pause for Palm Sunday and Easter and resume after Easter), I want you see the lengths God will often go to get someone’s attention. Whether we respond to His leading. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

The Testimony

Daniel 4:1–3 NKJV

Nebuchadnezzar the king, To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me. How great are His signs, And how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And His dominion is from generation to generation.

This chapter begins differently than the first three. This is a letter, a decree, a testimony from King Nebuchadnezzar. Unlike his proclamation to bow before the statue of gold. This is a testimony of what happened him. He is writing as he reflects back on what we are going to read about in this chapter.

He addresses it to all the people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth! It is going out to his Kingdom, but maybe it going further. He says peace be multipled to you. STOP. Is this the same guy that we have seen in the first three chapters? Peace be multipled to you? The same guy that says cut them to pieces and make their homes an ash heap. It gets better.

His purpose is this letter this testimony is show and tell of the signs and wonders of the Most High God and how God has done these for him.

Daniel 2:46–47 NKJV

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.”

Daniel 3:26 NKJV

Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire.

Daniel 3:28 NKJV

Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!

We have this beautiful verse 3.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

How great are his signs,

how mighty his wonders!

His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

and his dominion endures from generation to generation.

It is like a Psalm. A Psalm of Nebuchadnezzar

Psalm 31:19 NKJV

Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men!

Psalm 66:3 NKJV

Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You.

Psalm 92:5 NKJV

O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.

Psalm 107:24 NKJV

They see the works of the Lord, And His wonders in the deep.

Psalm 45:6 NKJV

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

Isaiah 9:6–7 NKJV

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Psalm 100:5 NKJV

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

These three verses at the beginning should wet our appetite to ask, what could have happened to King Nebuchadnezzar that would cause him to write these words? What encounter with God could change him? He had his dream told and interrupted for him in chapter 2. He saw three men go into a furnace of fire and not even have the hairs on their head burnt or the smell of smoke on their bodies, yet whatever this event that he is writing this testimony about, it takes the cake.

Troubled Mind

Daniel 4:4–7 NKJV

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore I issued a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Then the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers came in, and I told them the dream; but they did not make known to me its interpretation.

He continues on with the testimony. Reading this passage I was thinking in my mind that that effect you see in TV or Movies where the screen starts to flicker as they go back in time. That is what I think of as he continues on here. A time jump backwards.

I was just chilling in my house. I was relaxing. Rest/Ease at his house. Chilling in my crib. Very content /carefree

He has a dream/vision (this is his second dream). The first one was in chapter 2. And like the first one. This one too freaks him out. It alarms him.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me

He is afraid and he is alarmed.

He made a decree to get all the wise men of Babylon to come to him to tell him what the dream means.

This is different from the first dream. If you remember he refused to tell the dream the first time, this time he is telling the dream, yet he tells the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and the soothsayers could not tell him what this dream meant.

1 Corinthians 1:18–28 NKJV

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

Daniel Comes with the Wisdom of God

Daniel 4:8–9 NKJV

But at last Daniel came before me (his name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god; in him is the Spirit of the Holy God), and I told the dream before him, saying: “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation.

The way this testimony is written is like a drama that could play out on a stage.

Daniel appears before me. He is the last of the wise men to come in. It appears that the King knows his Hebrew name by this time as well. He makes reference that his name is Belteshazzar, a name according to the Babylonian god.

In this phrase we see that the relationship between the King and Daniel has grown to where he knows what his Hebrew name is.

The wise men of Babylon have been rendered as lacking.

King Nebuchadnezzar tells of Daniel’s character. “in him is the Spirit of the Holy God or of the holy gods.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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

He calls him by his Babylonian name here (but once again this event that the King is writing about—something has changed him). His job title (chief of the magicians)

Daniel 2:48 NKJV

Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.

The King knows what Daniel has done before. I know that the spirit of the Holy God or of the holy gods is in you.

No Mystery is too Difficult

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 4

The king’s recognition of “the spirit of the holy gods” betrays his understanding of the source of Daniel’s power: God, who is among the holy gods (see v. 8 and note; 2:47 and note).

Explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen and its interpretation

The King is going to tell the dream / the vision and he wants to know what it means.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold

You will have to wait until next week.

Conclusion

What event has made you stop in your tracks? What red letter day or days has God shown Himself in such a powerful way that You just have to share it with someone? When you look back on that event you know that God was redirecting your life forever.