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Daniel
4:36-37, "At the same time my reason returned
unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour
and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellers and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in
my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.
Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the
King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his
ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able
to abase."
This morning, we desire to investigate the last
recorded thoughts of a man's life. The verses above
dictate to us the last known actions of King
Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon). Further, these
thoughts brought forth bear resemblance, and yet a
striking contrast, to some of his earlier thoughts.
In this investigation, we will try to discover what
can be learned through judgment for our benefit today
to keep ourselves from having to experience like
things to discover these great truths. In reference
to that, it is often popular (though wrong) to say,
"Experience is the best teacher." This thought fails
at its heart to see that experience (while an
effective teacher) is certainly not always the best.
The best teacher is God Himself (and through His
Scriptures) that instruct us in the way that we should
go. Further still, cases like Nebuchadnezzar show
that another's experience can keep us from falling
into like circumstance and still learn the great
truths that he understood at the end of his historical
record.
Nebuchadnezzar utters these glowing truths about God
and His sovereignty after being struck down for seven
years like a beast of the field. He ate grass like an
ox, had feathers like an eagle, claws like a bird, and
he was driven from men to have the dew on his back for
all that time. At the end of this trial, he blesses
the most High with reverent tones that indicate his
understanding of God's might, power, and dominion.
Now, let us look back on Nebuchadnezzar's life (for a
brief moment) to see some earlier declarations he made
of God Almighty to see the similarities but also the
differences. In doing so, we will find that he
understood "some" things about God prior to this
event, but the extent of his knowledge (or perhaps the
extent of his abasement of pride) was not as great as
it was later in life.
In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that he
cannot remember, and Daniel reveals the dream and also
the interpretation of it. After the revelation from
Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar gives a "semi-reverent"
admission of God. (Daniel 2:47) He admits to the God
of Daniel, but he fails in admitting that He is the
only one. Daniel's God is "a God of gods" and "Lord
of kings." So, Nebuchadnezzar admits to His presence,
but fails in admitting to the power, place, and
authority that the Lord has of being the only Creator,
the only God, and the only Revealer of secrets and
mysteries. Many times today, we, by our actions, admit no less. We claim the admission of God, but we
place Him among the rest of our "gods" that we admit
to serving at times and seasons. Nebuchadnezzar was
not willing (at this point) to fall down and serve the
God of Daniel as the true and living God. Rather, he
admits of some ability but not the fullness of God's
sovereignty over His creation.
Moving into Daniel 3, we see the account of the
three Hebrew children (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah)being thrown into the fiery furnace for refusing to
bow down and worship the image that Nebuchadnezzar set
up. After the deliverance from the furnace,
Nebuchadnezzar makes another admission of God that is
better than the one before, but not to the degree and
honour that God rightfully deserves. (Daniel 3:28-29)
This admission by Nebuchadnezzar "almost" would seem
fitting and proper for the God of heaven and earth.
He admits that God is the only one that can deliver
after this sort, and he further decrees that no words
of disparagement would be cast at the Hebrews' God or
suffer the wrath and consequence of being cut in
pieces by the king. Notice that Nebuchadnezzar has
still not fully admitted to the point (the pivotal
point) that He is the only one! Before, he declares
God to be the God of gods in the ability of
revelation. Now, he admits that God is the only one
with the power of this degree of deliverance. So,
what is the harm in this statement?
If we admit to God's power and revelation, what
could still be lacking in our service? Nebuchadnezzar
is still not at this point willing to serve the Lord
and Him only. We today may admit to God being above
all in power and ability, but the point remains that
He ONLY is worthy of praise. Nebuchadnezzar was
stripped of thinking that his gods could reveal and
save. He came to understand that God Almighty could
only deliver after such a sort. We can be brought to
the same understanding in our lives when we see the
revelation of the mystery and display of God's power
in our lives. Yet, we can still (after all our gods
are stripped of ability) cling to one that is the
hardest (for our pride) to abase. The last "god" that
Nebuchadnezzar would have removed (in chapter 4) is
himself. His declaration of the consequences for
blaspheming God are fitting consequences for a king to
utter as an edict. But, chapter 4 reveals that
Nebuchadnezzar still had thoughts of his own beauty
and majesty. He had yet to remove his perception of
divinity within himself.
So, chapter 4 shows the abasement of Nebuchadnezzar
and the understanding that God ONLY is worthy of
worship. He only is worthy of service. He is worthy
to be served with all of our being. He alone is
sovereign. He alone is deserving of adulation in this
earth, and He is able to abase whom He will (whether
an earthly king does or not). What we learn from
Nebuchadnezzar's journey is that we do not "have" to
experience these same things to come to this
understanding. Granted, this was a very effective
method for Nebuchadnezzar to gain this understanding,
but notice that he declares this a reasonable thing.
His reason returned to him, and true reason (of a
spiritual design) will understand the sovereignty of
God. It is quite unreasonable to think that there is
not a Sovereign over this universe. It is quite
unreasonable to think that chaos and randomness govern
the worlds. Let us learn from the Scriptures the
lessons of God and His power (Romans 15:4) so that we
would have hope in this world and not think more
highly of ourselves than we ought to think.
In Hope,
Bro Philip |