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CPT: The Israelites in captivity should know that God is the ruler over all earthly kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants.
Purpose: The church needs to look up to our heavenly kingdom.
CPS: The Most High God has authority over all, therefore trust in God's authority.
Introduction
We serve a God that has authority over all things.
We can trust in the authority of God.
I come from a profession where I was used to being the authority figure.
As a police officer, I would put on that blue uniform, and that uniform would carry with it a sense of authority wherever I went, simply because I was wearing that uniform.
Some people saw that uniform and was glad I was there, others were not, but it was a sign of authority.
Most 911 calls, my authority there meant something, but not always.
My partner and I received a call one day for a vicious squirrel.
We thought this was the most ridiculous thing.
How vicious could this squirrel be?
So we got into the apartment, and the whole family was gathered together in the kitchen.
The father was there, along with the family, and you know, no judgment, but we looked at the father and was like, “You couldn’t get rid of this squirrel?”
So we got into the room, and we were looking for this demon squirrel.
They said, “He’s behind the dresser!”
So we pulled back the dresser, and this red-eyed demonic squirrel looked up and said, “Hssss!”
We were like, “Woah!” and jumped back.
We eventually got him out of the room.
You see, the squirrel could care less what uniform we were wearing.
The squirrel didn’t care about our authority.
The squirrel just cared about his little kingdom behind that dresser.
We are going to learn today about a king who was a lot like that squirrel, who only cared about the beauty of his kingdom, and is judged.
In fact, he gets the mind of an animal, and this happens because God wants to show him a lesson, namely:
“The Most High is ruler over human kingdoms.
He gives them to anyone he wants.”
This verse repeats in Daniel 4 three times, and is the theme of this chapter.
I wrestled with this verse this week.
What does it mean that “The Most High is ruler over human kingdoms.
He gives them to anyone he wants”?
How are we to understand this?
We are continuing our Daniel series.
We are in Daniel 4.
Scripture Reading
Daniel chapter 4 is written from the perspective of King Nebuchadnezzar.
This is the last time we will see the king in this book.
Daniel records a proclamation of the king in this chapter.
After this, the king tells of a dream.
This is the second time in the book of Daniel that God reveals things to the king through a dream.
This is a dream that frightened him.
He gets all the wise men together to tell him the dream’s interpretation, but they weren’t able to interpret it for him.
Finally, he brings in Daniel, who he calls Belteshazzar, and tells him the dream.
That brings us to verse 10.
“The Most High is ruler over human kingdoms.
He gives them to anyone he wants.”
We will see that a couple more times.
Daniel hears the dream, and it alarms him.
Then he gives King Nebuchadnezzar the the interpretation of the dream.
The king is then judged and has the mind of an animal.
He goes out, starts eating grass like a cattle, lives out in the field, hair and nails start growing long, looks like a wild person, until the time of his judgment was completed.
At the end of his time of judgment, it says his sanity was restored.
Look to verse 34.
God is able to humble those who walk in pride.
Let’s pray.
Pray
There are three times where this verse is repeated,
“The Most High is ruler over human kingdoms.
He gives them to anyone he wants.”
This chapter speaks about this clash between human kingdoms and God’s sovereign rule.
It makes the point that God is the final authority.
There are just two points here.
First,
The Most High God is the final authority over all kingdoms.
State the point; Anchor the point; Validate the point; Explain the point
Text: Daniel 4:10-12; 22; 29-30; Gen. 11:4; Rev. 18:1-3; Dan.
4:17; Ps. 22:27-28; Ps. 145:13; Is. 40:10; 2 Chron.
20:6; Ps. 47:7; Pr. 3:19; Heb.
4:16; Ps. 59:13; 66:7; Matt.
4:8-10; 2 Cor.
4:4; Eph.
2:1-2; John 16:8-11; Dan.
2:44
God revealed things to King Nebuchadnezzar about his kingdom.
The ultimate lesson was that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms.
He gives them to anyone he wants.
Still, prideful sin filled Nebuchadnezzar's heart as he admired the greatness of his kingdom.
Human kingdoms ultimately fail because of the sinfulness of human hearts.
God tells Nebuchadnezzar that he is ruler over human kingdoms.
God rules through his eternality, his power, his wisdom, his grace, and his judgment.
Satan, the "god of this age" and the "prince of the power of the air," deceives the unbelieving world.
God has judged Satan and his demons.
The unbelieving world is heading towards that same judgment.
The Spirit of God has come to convict people of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
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a. King Nebuchadnezzar and the beauty of Babylon.
This is our last time we will see King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel.
In the book of Daniel, God reveals things to King Nebuchadnezzar through dreams, at least two times in his life.
In Daniel 2, God revealed something about his kingdom and other kingdoms throughout history, and dream that ultimately revealed the power of God’s kingdom.
In this dream, we will also see this clash of kingdoms, a clash of man’s kingdom versus God’s kingdom.
In the first part of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, God describes things about the vastness of the kingdom of Babylon.
In Daniel 4, verse 10:
God illustrates the kingdom of Babylon as a large tree.
It is great and strong, giving shelter to those who live in it.
Daniel describes the meaning of the dream to King Nebuchadnezzar as the following:
During the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom of Babylon was the strongest, largest, and mightiest kingdom on earth.
King Nebuchadnezzar conquered large nations and was an amazing builder.
He had brought items from the temple in Jerusalem to Babylon, along with Israelites.
He had defeated the Egyptians in battle.
One person wrote, “Under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon became one of the wonders of the world.”
He built a large ziggurat, another place called the Ishtar Gate, and is credited for building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which is known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
With all of this building, and with power safely in his control, he described the beauty of Babylon and the greatness of his power in verse 29:
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