The Conversion of the King

Transcript

GR1904
11/30/2014
The Conversion of the King
Daniel 4:1-37
Gil Rugh

We come to chapter 4 of Daniel. One of the great chapters dealing with, I believe, the conversion of one of the great rulers of history, the man Nebuchadnezzar. It is interesting for a number of reasons not just to see how God humbled this man but what God is unfolding about His sovereignty over the nations of the earth. That is one of the things that will come out clearly here.

Remember, the Times of the Gentiles began with Babylon conquering Israel and will continue down until we come to the return of Christ and the establishing of the kingdom. During this time it is very important at the beginning God establishes He is sovereign over all. Gentiles are dominating Jerusalem and the Jews and so His work in the world will not be as manifest through this period of time in the nation Israel as it has been in prior years but God is still sovereign and the nations are under His control.

We are going to leave Nebuchadnezzar with this chapter and he is the key ruler in the Babylonian Empire or the Neo-Babylonian Empire as we have noted. He reigned for 43 years and we will note as we move into this chapter it seems that what is recorded here happens later in his reign. There will be some indications of that which we will talk about. So his long reign, he is at the latter part of that now, and that will have an impact on what takes place.
Since chapter 3 with the issue of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego perhaps 30 years have passed. Time is moving along. The first two chapters were clearly dated for us because the first chapter had to do with the conquering of Israel and the deportation to Babylon, that first deportation in 605 B.C. when Daniel was taken to Babylon. So we know the time period of that. In chapter 2 with Nebuchadnezzar’s forgotten dream and the image portraying the empires of the world from Babylon till the setting up of the kingdom of Christ. That was dated in verse 1 of chapter 2 in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. So we know we are still early in that.

Then it seems we have moved along in chapter 3 without a specific date but when you come to chapter 4 we are at the end of his reign and commentators note that probably 30 years have gone by which means Daniel is getting up near 50 years of age. Sometimes these chapters flow and we read through the book of Daniel and we still have him pictured as a very young man here at this stage but the time has been moving along.

We come to chapter 5 and we will be into the time of Belteshazzar and the issues relating to the handwriting on the wall. Nebuchadnezzar is off the scene by then so interesting chapter as well. Nebuchadnezzar narrates it. He begins in chapter 4, verse 1: “Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations and men of every language that live in all the earth may your peace abound.” So he is addressing his subjects if you will. It is an interesting record that we have here. Perhaps Daniel is the one who records it. We don’t know. It has been preserved for us and Daniel plays a key part.

What he wants to do is tell you how God has worked in his life to bring him to the recognition that he is not the greatest king. There is only one sovereign over all peoples and that is the living God. So he says in verse 2: “It seemed to me to declare the signs and wonders which the most High God has done for me.” You see something here of the personal expression here. “These are the signs and wonders which the most High God has done for me. How great are His signs and how mighty are His wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion is from generation to generation.” So he has come to realize that He is the great one and he’s come to see the reality of that. He’s had some striking confrontations along the way but they seem to have lost their impact rather quickly when he forgot his dream in chapter 2 and Daniel told him the dream and the interpretation.

At the end of chapter 2, verse 46 we are told: “King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, did homage to Daniel, gave orders to present to him an offering in fragrant incense. The king answered Daniel and said, ‘Surely your God is a God of gods, a Lord of kings, a revealer of mysteries since you have been able to reveal this mystery.’” Then Daniel is promoted over the other wise men. This is a great statement but Nebuchadnezzar hasn’t come to trust in the God of Daniel, the God of Israel. He recognizes your God is a greater God than the other gods but it’s not the personal dimension yet.

At the end of chapter 3 after the experience with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, verse 28: “Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.’” He keeps talking about their God, Daniel’s God, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s God and recognizes He has more power than any of the other gods that we honor.

“Therefore, I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.” And then he honors Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Again he recognizes that the God of these men has demonstrated greater power than he has seen demonstrated by any other god. So he doesn’t cause Babylon and those under his rule to convert he just forbids them to persecute in any way the people who worship the God of Israel so we see something of God’s protection for His people during this time which is His grace. Even though they are under judgment He preserves and keeps them.

The negative side of that – Israel will fail to appreciate God’s grace in providing this care for them during this Babylonian captivity and they will get rather comfortable there and lose some of their interest in even returning to their homeland. They begin to lose focus but at any rate Nebuchadnezzar has had some striking opportunities.

Now we come to chapter 4 and you will see he wants to tell you how God has made Himself known to him. “The wonders which the most High God has done for me” and how awesome is this display of His power and he realizes that His kingdom is the everlasting kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar as he looks over his reign which is now in its latter years, he realizes, “I don’t know what comes next but God’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion is from generation to generation. He is the true sovereign.”

So we will pick up with this story: “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.” Life was good. Then as he comes to the last portion of his reign things have settled down, his enemies conquered and he has prospered greatly. He has devoted time to building a magnificent city and the ruins of that are still there. They were excavated quite some time ago and they have found multitudes of bricks all inscribed with Nebuchadnezzar identifying him as the builder, interesting.

The description of Nebuchadnezzar’s city a number of commentators give description of it. It was a city protected by a system of great double walls; the inner line extending 12 miles around. The double walls were each 25 feet thick, 40 feet in between. So a double set of walls; one wall 40 feet and then another wall. Obviously making it very difficult for enemies to penetrate because if you do make your finally to get over one wall you are trapped between 2 walls. Twenty five foot walls enabled chariots to be driven so they could move their forces around in protection. There were 360 towers on these walls, 160 feet apart; through the center of the city for two-thirds of a mile extended the great stone paved procession street. Walls decorated with enameled bricks showing 120 lions, 575 dragons and bulls arranged in alternate rows, their coloring done here with a blue tint; everything done just to protection. The northern end of the street was the famous Ishtar gate and if you have looked in Bible dictionaries or archeological books they will often have pictures and restoration replicas of this gate. It was 35 feet high which gives you some idea of how high these walls were; decorated with 557 animals in bright colors against a glazed blue background. They have an exact replica of this in the Oriental institute in the University of Chicago. The city is dominated by a seven story step pyramid. It was 288 feet high, known as the Tower of Babylon. Nearly sixty million bricks were used to construct this huge tower and then on the top of it was the golden image of the god Marduk and then you have Nebuchadnezzar’s palace. His throne room was 56 wide by 171 feet long, triple gateway, richly decorated, facade of glazed bricks, columns then you come to the hanging gardens which were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world that he constructed for one of his wives to remind her of her homeland.

So when Nebuchadnezzar here says he was “at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace” that was not an understatement. 200 years later those who had conquered were looking maybe to make this their capital city. It was still that splendid even after the passing of time.

He had a dream, “I saw a dream and it made me fearful.” This becomes key here. Nebuchadnezzar knows that what he has dreamed is not good but he doesn’t know what it means but its impression on him causes him to know it’s something to cause him fear. “These fantasies, these dreams, as I lay on my bed, the visions of my mind kept alarming me so I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.” There doesn’t seem to be any indication here that he is looking for them to tell him the dream on this occasion as he did back in chapter 2. Here he just wants them to explain the dream.

Verse 7: When they come in he tells them what the dream was but they don’t make up anything. They are impressed enough here and they are known as wise men, as least a group of them, to not go out on a limb here with an interpretation. The king might see through so all they can say is that they don’t know what to make of it. Finally Daniel came in and again you get this account set out here. We are not told why didn’t Daniel come in in the first place? All of this we don’t know. Maybe he was occupied in another way but at any rate finally Daniel comes in before me. You note Nebuchadnezzar relating this. “Whose name is Belteshazzar according to the name of my god.” Remember these Jewish men, young men along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had their names changed to the Babylonian names to connect them to Babylon and their gods and Daniel whose Babylonian name is Belteshazzar is the one “in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream to him.” And you have the spirit of the holy gods and there is discussion. This can be taken singular referring to the Holy God, capital “g.” This word for gods can be singular or plural. Either way Nebuchadnezzar is going to come to the correct understanding whether he recognizes that it is the true holy God that manifests Himself at this stage or he is referring to the fact that he has this supernatural power.

“O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream which I have seen along with its interpretation.” You see something here. We are toward the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Thirty years plus later Daniel still holds his position, still has the recognition of Nebuchadnezzar for his uniqueness among all the wise men and those who are able to speak on behalf of God. But yet Nebuchadnezzar it’s only through these events will come to really trust in this God.

He has full confidence in Daniel. Everybody else fails, Daniel won’t fail here. He will be able to tell me. “You can do what others cannot do. Now these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed. I was looking. Behold there was a great tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew large and became strong. Its height reached to the sky. It was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant and it was food for all. The beast of the field found shade under it, the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches and all living creatures fed themselves from it.” A picture of this great tree, the central kingdom, if you will, in the world and at this time a tree like this was used as a symbol of the kingdom.

Remember we are in the east which is today Babylon, that region over there, Iraq is in the news. You see the desert region it is so it’s natural the tree picturing the kingdom and the prosperity of that kingdom and everybody benefits from it just like the shade tree in those desert reasons or as you see in a movie, an oasis in the desert so the tree became a symbol of a kingdom along with a mountain was a symbol of a kingdom, a tree is a symbol of a kingdom.

Just back up to a contemporary of Daniel, Ezekiel, just before Daniel, the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 31. Ezekiel is given a message. In verse 2: “Son of man, say to Pharoah king of Egypt, and to his hoards: Who are you like in your greatness?” Then it tells about Assyria. Assyria was a prior empire to Babylon which was in existence when Ezekiel is writing but Pharoah trying to assert his power. “Behold Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches and forest shade, and very high; and its top was among the clouds.” So you see it was a great kingdom. The picture, Assyria was a cedar. There is no misunderstanding of what is being portrayed here. The kingdom of Assyria was a great kingdom and so it is pictured with the abundant branches and shade and the height going up into the clouds, it encompasses everything. “The waters made it grow; the rivers, it continually extended all around its planting place, and its height was loftier than all the trees of the field,” in verse 5. It is the greatest of all the kingdoms of the time and “the birds of the heaven nested in its boughs.” You keep this in mind when Jesus in the parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13 talks about the tree and the birds of the air nesting in it. Some people say that is a sign of evil in the kingdom. No, in light of Old Testament prophecy about kingdoms, the tree with its abundance and the birds in it is a symbol of a kingdom that is flourishing so here. And it goes on and then it will use the similar analogy of Egypt and so on.

So when you come back here to Daniel chapter 4 these kinds of analogies would not have been foreign to Nebuchadnezzar. That may be why he is troubled here. He’s dreaming. He’s at a settled-in time in his reign. He realizes the bulk of his reign is behind him. He’s no longer a young man and now this tree comes and the tree and having kingdoms portrayed as a tree is not out of line so there are troubling things here. It may have been and some commentators take this view that that is why his counsellors did not want to give him an interpretation because they may have recognized the tree and the kingdom and what could that be but and it’s going to be cut down. You don’t want to come to the king with bad news. That could be unfortunate so that may be the case.

At any rate, he has the dream. He relates it and then verse 13 in Daniel 4. Something comes into the picture. “I was looking in the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an angelic watcher,” you note the word angelic in your Bibles is in italics. It’s not there in the original text. They put that in to help clarify. It’s just a watcher. “Behold a watcher, a holy one descended from heaven.” And I take it, it is an angel here, a watcher. An angel is one who looks over things, who sees things, who knows things.

In Ezekiel chapter 1 when Ezekiel has the vision of the chariot of God coming, the cherubim there are filled with eyes noting their knowledge, their ability to see everything.

So the watcher here is identified as the holy one so I think the insertion of “angelic” here does reflect accurately what is in view here because he descends from heaven. You have an angel coming down from heaven. “He shouted out and spoke as follows: “Chop down the tree. Cut off its branches. Strip off its foliage. Scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it, the birds from its branches.” There is going to be disaster on this kingdom. Something terrible is happening here. The tree is being cut down and so some of its provision and blessings are naturally lost. Verse 15: “Yet, leave the stump with its root in the ground with a band of iron and bronze. In the new grass of the field; and let him be drenched.” And now you see what has happened. We have moved from the tree to a person. The tree represents a person because you cut down the tree but you leave the stump of the tree and its roots. “There is a band of iron and bronze around it and now in the grass of the field let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man, let a beast’s mind be given to him, let seven periods of time pass over him.” This sentence is by the decree of the watchers, those watching over the earth as God’s servants, the angelic beings. “The decision is a command of the holy ones.” It doesn’t mean it originates with them but you remember when the angel appeared to Zachariah and told him that he would have a son born, John. He said, “Well how do I know these things are true?” What does Gabriel say? “I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God.” “What do you mean, how do you know if these things are going to be true. I am Gabriel; I stand in the presence of God. I don’t speak on my own behalf. So you will be speechless until this child is born.”
So here, when they say “it’s a decree, a decision by command of the holy ones,” of course they represent the living God. They come to do His bidding, to announce His purposes on this occasion, representing Him.

So now you see here what is to be said here is not good. Nebuchadnezzar does not understand it. The wise men evidently don’t understand it but they know it’s not good. Nebuchadnezzar knows that much because he was afraid when he dreamt it. He knows something is wrong. The tree is cut down but the stump survives. The band of iron and bronze, we don’t know exactly what that could mean but it could be to protect the stump so no further destruction comes to it. It could mean it will be fenced in like Nebuchadnezzar will be an as animal contained functioning as a wild animal but the picture is here. “Seven periods of time will pass over him.” I take it the seven periods of time refer to seven years. We will see that as we move through here as well. “This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers, a command of the holy ones.” Now note the purpose – “In order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes, and sets over it the lowliest of men.” You know when you get power you tend to become self-focused, how important you are, how powerful you are and that is where Nebuchadnezzar is as we will see in a moment. You know, I am a great awesome king, I’m a great power. The whole purpose here is “in order that the living may know the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind.”

These sovereign of sovereigns, the Lord of lords and King of kings is the sovereign God. To this day that is true because it is true throughout His creation. That can never change. Remember we talked when we distinguished between the universal kingdom and the prophesied mediatorial kingdom of the Messiah which is yet future when that reign of God will be manifest in its fullness and He will reign on the earth but right to today He is the sovereign over all. The kings that reign are appointed by Him. The rulers that are appointed by Him “in order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind.” That means “He bestows it on whom he wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.” You know we honor the rulers not because they are the most honorable men but because they are those that God put into position.

Remember Romans chapter 13? I know you know it. The hard thing we all have is remembering it in the right way. “Everyone is to be in subjection to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God and those who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.” We get frustrated with rulers. We even get to vote for our rulers and we still complain and we find all kinds of faults. We need to back up. Do we believe what God is revealing here in Daniel 4, what Paul repeats which is basically which is unfolded in Daniel 4 in writing to the Romans? Keep in mind you have rulers the character of Caligula, the infamous Nero and on it goes. I mean these are not admiral men. Some of them murdered by their own people because they couldn’t take them anymore but they are there by God’s appointment, for His purposes which sometimes seem contrary to what is best for God’s people and you know here are the Jews chosen by God and He’s raised up Nebuchadnezzar to bring the nation Israel to its knees, break their power and rule over them, deport them, once, twice, three times, bring destruction ultimately to the city and he’s appointed by God.

Remember Jeremiah couldn’t get this through to his people. He tried to tell them, “you have to submit to the Babylonians.” This is God’s will and they hated him for it, the Jews. It’s hard for us to put this into practice in our own time. Do we really believe that God rules over everything, that our president is appointed there by God? That means, I guess He controls the vote, huh? Our congressmen, our mayor, the governor, the authorities that are established are appointed by God. He’s in control. That doesn’t mean we can’t vote but it does mean He controls the outcome however they get into power. You note the Bible doesn’t deal with that.

We have time, we will look at a couple of verses on that but we have to move on into this dream right now. I hope you have that portion of verse 17 marked in your Bible. We have been here a number of times. “This is the dream which I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar (which is Daniel), tell me it interpretation, inasmuch as none of the wise men of my kingdom is able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for a spirit of holy gods is in you,” or the Spirit of the Holy God is in you. “Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazaar, was appalled for a while as his thoughts alarmed him.” It’s not that he is having trouble understanding it. Even Daniel is taken back here as he stands in the presence of this man that he has served under for the larger portion of his life, since he was a young man of 15 to 20. Now over 30 years go by, now he is before him and he’s just been told by this king what he dreamt and Daniel knows from God this means you are able to be cut down and turned into an animal and Daniel is appalled. Can you imagine standing in that glorious throne room that I just read you something of the size and the awesomeness of it and now you are going to have to tell this man you are about to be cut down and reduced to an animal. You are going to go out and eat grass like an ox. So he’s “appalled for a while as his thoughts alarmed him. The king responded and said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” He sees in Daniel that Daniel, it’s not that he doesn’t know but he is very upset over this dream. “Belteshazzar replied, “My lord, if only the dream applied to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries!” Daniel recognizes the position of Nebuchadnezzar and is very gracious to him. You know you might think, the thundering prophet, now the judgment of God will fall upon you for your godlessness. No, he is very respectful and so on.

“The tree that you saw, which became large and grew strong, whose height reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth, and whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, food for all,” verse 22: “It is you, O king.” Remember Nathan confronted David, “You are the man here.” “It is you, O King, you are the tree;” for you have become great and grown strong, and your majesty has become great and reached to the sky and your dominion to the end of the earth. And in that the king saw an angelic watcher, a holy one, descending from heaven and saying, “Chop down the tree, destroy it; yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground, but with a band of iron and bronze around it in the new grass of the field, and let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him share with the best of the field until seven periods of time pass over him.”

That “be drenched with the dew,” means he’s not coming in at night. He’s out there. This is going to be a 24 hour, seven year experience for him and so the dew, he will be out like the animals are; like the oxen are eating the grass and they are out night and day. “This is interpretation, O King, this is the decree of the Most High which has come upon my lord, the king, that you be driven from mankind and your dwelling place be with the beast of the field. You be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods so time will pass over you.” Later in chapter 7 and chapter 12 we will come to time, times and a half time. We know these are periods of years and we will see it there when we go there but we won’t go there now. The time, times and a half time, two times and a half time referring to three and a half years. These times here are years and for this is take place Nebuchadnezzar’s nails are going to grow so long they will be like claws, his hair is going to grow, be matted, a seven year period “until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes;” the same thing that was announced by the holy angels in verse 17.

“And in that it was commanded to leave the stump with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is Heaven that rules.” So that is the significance of the stump and its protection. God is going to restore your kingdom to you. Now you think about kings and kingdoms in those days; kings often having to deal with assassination plots and all that. Nebuchadnezzar is going to be able to roam around in the field for seven years, out of his mind and at the end of that time God will restore his kingdom. God is sovereign, Heaven rules. Heaven rules meaning the God of Heaven rules. So in the New Testament we pick up an expression, “The kingdom of Heaven” also in the other Gospels called the Kingdom of God but both referring to the same thing. Heaven is where God manifests His presence.

“Therefore, O King may my advice be pleasing to you; break away now from your sins by doing righteousness, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.” Turn from your sin, an Old Testament way of expressing repentance. You know James will talk about as a Jewish writer writing to Jews but the importance of what? Show me your faith by your works. That is the manifestation. So that is a call to Nebuchadnezzar here to turn from his ungodly, rebellious ways. That is my advice as the leader of your wise men, the interpreter of your dreams.

“All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. Twelve months later…” A year’s gone by. He didn’t take Daniel’s advice. It is interesting, the great respect he has for Daniel, the recognition that God speaks through him, the warning that comes, 12 months later he hasn’t changed. “He was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon.” Some think this could be among the hanging gardens. “The king reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a foal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’”

How awesome I am, how great I am. He’s taken in. He can’t get over. He’s amazed with himself and Babylon was splendid. It was magnificent but where did he get the power to do that?

“While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you.” You know Nebuchadnezzar, his father, remember they assembled an army, they win victories over other nations. Nebuchadnezzar crushes his enemies and builds a great empire, magnificence. He has multiple palaces in Babylon. God speaks the word. “Sovereignty has been removed from you.” That’s it. We don’t need armies to be assembled to come. We don’t need anything. We need the Word of God. He is sovereign.

It is just a reminder and it is at the beginning period. The first ruler in this times of the Gentiles that is to be a reminder until the kingdom that is established without hands as we saw in Daniel chapter 2, it is established. God rules and however men come to power the ultimate answer is God brought them to power and when they are removed the answer is, we had a president who was assassinated back when I was a college student at Rutgers University. I still remember that. What a tragedy. What is happening? God declared sovereignty has been removed from you. How it’s done may vary.

God sets up rulers. How He sets them up varies. In our country we vote. Other countries there is the jockeying for power in a different way. The bottom line is God sets them up. When they are removed, how does it happen? They lost the vote. They had a heart attack. Something else happened. God removed them.

“Sovereignty has been removed from you. You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beast of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you.” Here we go again, “Until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”

We are going to start out at the beginning, and how gracious God is. He didn’t just wipe Nebuchadnezzar off but He is going to graciously reduce him to animal status and in His grace bring him to realize, “I am nothing. I am nothing. God rules.”

“Immediately, the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.”

You see this didn’t happen you know, in a short period of time. Seven years, that’s a long time to roaming out there in the field eating grass. I mean here is a king who has multiple servants at his disposal and they can’t even clip his nails, cut his hair. I mean he is out there.

“But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me.” In this God graciously touches him and now he realizes and acknowledges something that had never been clear to him before. Even with those statements we read on prior occasions about Daniel’s God, the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

You know people can be amazed what goes on in someone else’s life and so on but “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, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’

There is no questioning, there is no challenging God. What a change has come about in this man. It took seven years of animal like existence but he is humbled and now he acknowledges He is sovereign and no one can challenge Him. I’m not the great one. He realizes God rules. I’m king of Babylon because God put me there. I acknowledge Him.

“At that time my reason returned to me. My majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was re-established in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”

I don’t think there is any doubt that Nebuchadnezzar has experienced a true conversion here. He has truly turned to the God of Israel, the One true and living God and “Now I praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just.” Does he go back and give himself any credit for getting back into power? No.

You know the hardest thing as we talk about is when we carry the Gospel to the lost is the stubbornness of our pride, isn’t it? Men refusing to humble themselves before God, acknowledging their guilt, their unworthiness, their hopelessness and helplessness and turn and place their faith in God alone but Nebuchadnezzar was brought to that place.

That statement in verse 35: “The inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

Come back to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah prophesying at a prior time in connection with the Assyrian Empire and events around the destruction and carrying away of the Northern ten tribes and that time period following. In Isaiah chapter 40 just a reminder, a similar statement, these great verses that we have repeated in the New Testament in verses 6 and 7 about “Cry out. All flesh is grass, its loveliness like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever” seeing man as he is and God who is as He is.
Come down to verse 15: “Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket, are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales.” In other words, a speck of dust doesn’t move the scale. Really you know on a scale if there is a speck of dust there it’s probably not moving. That’s how insignificant the nations are. We look at the nations and the conflicts going on and we say, “how is this going to happen?” Nothing to God. They are nothing.

Verse 17: “All the nations are as nothing before Him. They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.” In other words Israel is dealing with nations that seem overwhelming and you know so powerful. From God’s perspective these are nothing.

Come down to verse 23: “It is He who reduces rulers to nothing, makes the judges of the earth meaningless.” He is the awesome, sovereign God and it goes through these chapters. While you are here come back to Isaiah 36, and we will look at these as well. Isaiah 36 – this is with Sennacherib, king of Assyria when he came up against Hezekiah and Isaiah is involved in all of this, this periods of time and the king of Assyria sends Rabshakeh who is his representative basically to tell Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem, ‘you better surrender and if you voluntarily surrender then we’ll deport you but it will go well with you. If you don’t you’re going to be in a world of hurt.” That is a summary of what he says there.

Down in verse 18 he challenges and tells the people of Jerusalem, “Beware lest Hezekiah misleads you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has anyone of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?” And he mentions some of those lands and some of those gods and then verse 20: “Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” You think the God of Jerusalem is any more powerful than the other gods that I have crushed? Don’t be deluded.

So Hezekiah tears his clothes, goes into mourning. Chapter 37 opens up, then they go to the Lord in prayer and Isaiah says, “Thus says the Lord, do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed.” This is God’s Word coming. “Behold I will put my spirit in him so that he shall hear and return to his own land. I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”

Verse 16, Hezekiah the king is praying. The king of Israel is praying. “Lord of hosts the God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God. You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, You have made the heaven and the earth. You are the creator. You are the ruler over all.” He cries out for Him to intervene.

Then Isaiah sends word to Hezekiah and tells him what is going to happen to the king of Assyria whose name is Sennacherib, mentioned in verse 1. He says concerning Sennacherib, verse 23: “Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice, and haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!”

Then verse 26: “Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, from ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass that you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. He tells the king of Assyria, “You know why you were victorious over those other countries? I planned that long ago. I brought it to pass. It wasn’t because you were so great and powerful, so smart, so strong. I planned it from ancient times that you should turn fortified cities into ruins.”

“Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, they were dismayed.” That was My hand at work because it was My plan that you would be victorious. So you are not going to take Jerusalem.

Verse 28: “I know your sitting down, and your going out and your coming in, and your raging against Me. And now because of your arrogance I am going to put My hooks in your nose, My bridle in our lips. This is a mighty army.

Well, verse 36 and He tells them there is not going to be any fight here. Verse 36: “Then the angel of the Lord went out, and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians (during the night) and when the men arose early in the morning, behold all of these were dead.” Can you imagine that? When you go to bed at night with an army numbering 100’s of 1000’s. You get up in the morning and 185,000 of them don’t wake up. You know what they said? “Maybe we’d better go home.”

“Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned home.” And you know what God had prophesied back in chapter 37, verse 7, “He will return to his own land. I will make him fall by the sword in his own land. It came about (verse 38 of chapter 37) as he was worshipping in the house of his god that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword.” Who is sovereign? God raises up kings, He takes kings down. He raises up nations, He takes them down.

You know, we want to be sure, number 1 that we are representing God faithfully these days. Sometimes I read what is being written by Christians and so on I think that they are in as much frustration and confusion as the unbeliever. Everything is under control. I don’t know who the next president will be or if we are going to have a next one. Is our country going to get weaker and weaker or stronger? It’s in the hands of the Lord. I know the Lord’s will will be done. I know the task He has committed to us as His servants in these days.

Some of the political movements that have drawn “evangelicals” into this process have been a denial of the very truths we came to believe. I am not against voting. It is a part of what we are privileged to do but I don’t think our votes are what determine the outcome. God may use our votes but my God determines the outcome.

Also remind ourselves that a man can know much about the true God. Nebuchadnezzar could make great statements about God. He did with Daniel in chapter 2. He did with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in chapter 3 but he did not know in a saving way the God of Israel. That comes after a willingness to be humble and that’s God’s grace that brings us that humbling.

We bow before him, I am nothing, I am a guilty sinner unworthy and deserving of condemnation but You are the God who is the Savior and you have provided salvation in Your Son. I want to humbly come before You and seek Your mercy and grace and we experience His salvation.

It happened to Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest ruler of his time but it is the same grace that brings salvation to the lowliest of sinners, let’s pray together.

Thank You Lord for Your grace. Lord grace that has been at work since the beginning of creation. Your grace, Your patience, Your mercy, Your kindness, Your sovereignty ruling over all. Lord we are in awe with these finite minds we cannot grasp a God so awesome and wonderful. Our minds cannot contain the wonder of it that every detail is under Your sovereign control and authority. The rulers that are from the most minor ruler to the greatest ruler. In our day today is there by Your appointment and everything is moving on Your schedule, not a moment early, not a moment late toward that climatic time when Jesus Christ will rule and reign. We look forward to His coming to gather us into Your presence before You bring to fruition what You have promised for Your people Israel. Lord may we live with confidence in these days. May we not be discouraged, disappointed or disheartened but rather just the opposite. We rejoice in knowing that Your purposes are being accomplished. We are Your people called to serve You in these days to be a testimony of Your grace and Your salvation and the work of Your Son in whose name we pray, amen.