Thank you, men, for sharing with us tonight about
your small church. I'd like for all of us just
to bow and pray for them right now. Would all
of you who are in 20, before we pray, would all
of you who are in small church 20 stand up so
we can see who you are? All right. Well, we know
who some of the more mature couples are. All
right, let's pray together. Father, we pray for
this group of men and women as they build their
marriages. as they build their ministries and
their lives as you lead them. We pray that the
Holy Spirit will cause them to flourish, to grow
deep roots, and to bear fruit for the glory of
God. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's open our
Bibles together to the book of Daniel, the fourth
chapter. Someone handed me a Christmas card this
morning that has on the front of it pictures
of nine world leaders including on the front
of this Alexander the Great, King Tutankhamen,
Julius Caesar, Maharishi, Maharashtra, Yogi,
Adolf Hitler, Lenin, Napoleon, Buddha, and Mao
Tse Tung. On the front it says history is crowded
with men who would be gods. On the inside a picture
of the nativity scene And it says, but only one
God who would be man. I like that because Nebuchadnezzar's
picture could be on the front of this. He would
like that, or he would have at least at one point
in his life. Nebuchadnezzar was one of the great
kings of the world, the ancient world. He was
a man who died about 562 B .C. in the month of
September in that year. Approximately 7 to 15
years before that. It's hard to pin it down.
Nebuchadnezzar had an experience that he tells
us about in this fourth chapter of the book of
Daniel. Daniel himself was about 50 years of
age at this time, so you can see that, oh, 25,
30 years perhaps have elapsed. since chapter
2, the last time that we saw Daniel. In that
time he has served the king faithfully in his
court. He has matured. He undoubtedly has matured
not only in his personal growth, but in his walk
with God as well. This chapter, as I said this
morning, is unique in the Bible because it is
a personal account written in the first person
by a king, a gentile king, as a matter of fact.
Probably chapter four is a state document of
ancient Babylon, a public proclamation given
by Nebuchadnezzar recounting to his entire empire
the experience that he went through. Perhaps
he did this in order to explain his extended
absence from the throne. It is possible that
Daniel helped him write the chapter, but whatever,
Daniel was led by the Spirit of God to insert
this into his book. You will have to decide for
yourself, I suppose, as to whether King Nebuchadnezzar
possessed in the end saving faith in the God
of Israel. Whatever you may believe about that,
You must agree with this, that this chapter is
a powerful testimony of God's ability to humble
the proud. It begins by saying, Nebuchadnezzar
the king to all the peoples, nations, and men
of every language that live in all the earth.
Now obviously Nebuchadnezzar wasn't writing to
those ancestors of the American Indians or people
in other parts of the world, but he was writing
to what he thought the whole world was. which
was his empire. And it was very wide. Many different
cultures and peoples now had been incorporated
in the Babylonian empire. He is addressing all
of them in his greeting in verses one through
three, and he says to them, may your peace abound.
Basically, he's starting out with the Hebrew
word, shalom, or the Aramaic word, the Arabic
word, salaam. which means peace. Now that's not
just absence of military warfare, but it's a
word that implies prosperity, fullness of life,
peace in every realm to you. He says, it has
seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders
which the Most High God has done for me. Nebuchadnezzar
volunteers that this testimony comes willingly
to him as a pleasant act to share what God has
taught him. Should that not always be true in
our testimonies? It is too bad that there are
times we feel our testimonies are jobs that we
have to perform or heavy burdens that we have
to carry. When somebody asks us to share a testimony,
Nebuchadnezzar, the Gentile King, certainly shows
us the right heart attitude about giving a testimony.
He says, it seems good, it seems pleasant for
me to share these things with you. He mentions
two important words here. He talks about signs
and wonders. The word sign refers to something
that has happened which is intended to point
to the existence of God and to the kind of God
he is, an all -powerful sovereign God. Signs.
He mentions wonders. A wonder is something that
produces awe, amazement, or even surprise in
the one who observes it. So he begins by telling
us that what happened to him involved both signs
as to the existence of the true God and wonders,
that is, these signs produced awe in him. He
says how great they are, how mighty they are.
He begins by extolling God, who is eternal and
everlasting in his reign. His is an eternal kingdom,
quite in contrast to Nebuchadnezzar's, which
had just been interrupted for seven years. In
verses 4 through 18 of the chapter, he talks
about a dream. He had had an earlier dream in
chapter 2. This is a different one. He says,
I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and
flourishing in my palace. In other words, all
was well. The empire was going along just fine.
Nebuchadnezzar personally felt good. His health
was fine. He was free from fears, literally what
it means. He was at ease. There was nothing to
cause him fright. And it says that he was flourishing.
Literally it says he was growing green. That
is a very vivid picture of the prosperity. that
was his in his kingdom at this time. But something
happened that produced fear. He says, I saw a
dream and it made me fearful. These fantasies
as I lay in my bed and the visions in my mind
kept alarming me. And so what was initial fear
turned to genuine terror as the king reflected
on what he had seen. And so he called an assembly
of wise men, just as he had done before, so that
they could interpret the dream to him. Now in
this particular case he asked them to recount
the dream as he had before but he says interpret
it for me. They either could not or more likely
would not interpret the dream because when you
hear the dream immediately you recognize that
there is some disaster that is impending and
so they did not want undoubtedly to deliver that
kind of a message to King Nebuchadnezzar. It
was at that point that Daniel suddenly came upon
the scene. Verse 8, Daniel finally came in before
me, says Nebuchadnezzar. Now why wasn't Daniel
there in the first place? Well, who really knows?
The answer to that, it may have been on Daniel's
part a tactical move. In other words, let the
other guys go in and show what they can, but
then I'll go in and get the job done. and bring
glory to God in doing it. Perhaps he was trying
to show the deficiency of the others. Whatever
his reason, he came in at a very appropriate
time in all of this. In verses 9 through 18,
we see the dream recounted. You'll notice that
Nebuchadnezzar emphasizes in verse 10 and then
again in verse 13 that he made this dream of
his a matter of intense reflection. He says,
I was looking. Again in verse 13, I was looking
in the visions in my mind. And so this was not
a quick glance at something, but Nebuchadnezzar
looked, he stared, he gazed upon what he saw
in his dream. And what did he see? Well, he describes
a gigantic, healthy, and fruitful tree. Actually,
trees were common symbols of rulers in the ancient
world. Probably Nebuchadnezzar realized that
this tree represented him, and yet he called
for the interpretation of it either to confirm
that or to deny it. Hopefully, because of what
happened, his magicians would deny what he feared.
Probably Nebuchadnezzar realized he was the tree
in the dream. And it says regarding the tree
that the beasts of the field found shade under
it, the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches
and all living creatures fed themselves from
it. Up to this point Nebuchadnezzar would have
been pretty happy with the tree because it symbolizes
the greatness of his reign, the generosity of
it, what a great ruler he was. But he says as
he kept looking an angelic watcher or an angel,
a holy one, descended from heaven. And now some
action takes place in a scene that had been static
up to this point. He shouted out and spoke as
follows, chop down the tree and cut off its branches,
strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit.
Let the beast flee from under it and the birds
from its branches. So you see disaster is in
the air. Change is coming. Doom is on the horizon
for this tree. And yet the angel said, 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. Now up to this point the
angel has spoken about an it, a tree. But he
changes his words now and he says, and let him.
So, clearly there is a personality involved symbolized
by this tree. 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 mind and let a beast's mind be given
to him. And so this person symbolized in the
dream is going to undergo a change. Nebuchadnezzar
understands this. He hears the angels speak it.
This person is going to experience what psychologists
call in our day, zoanthropy. That is, a man,
a person who imagines himself to be an animal.
It is in the recognized form of what is called
mental illness. And it says, let seven periods
of time pass over him. This sentence is by the
decree of the angelic watchers and the decision
is a command of the holy ones And now he gives
the reason for all of this 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 Well,
you can see that the first half of the dream
would have been very pleasing to Nebuchadnezzar
the last half was where the terror came in. He
didn't fully understand what all this involved,
but he knew that it was a pretty bleak future
if, in fact, he was the tree in the dream. And
he confirms and says, this is the dream which
I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now he says,
now you, Belteshazzar, the Babylonian name for
Daniel, tell me its 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 the holy gods is in
you." Again, Nebuchadnezzar makes that statement
in this chapter. He recognizes there's something
special about Daniel. Gods here in the plural
could mean that he was saying the spirit of the
most high god, Elohim, is in you. Or it may be
that he was simply recognizing at this point
that the gods, as he viewed it in his polytheism,
had given to Daniel some special ability. And
you say, well, didn't he earlier say that it
was Daniel's god? Yes, he did. But that was a
long time before this. Time has passed. And it
seems as though Nebuchadnezzar has forgotten
some things. So it says, beginning in verse 19,
which deals with the interpretation up through
verse 27, that Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar,
was 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. Belteshazzar answered and said, my lord,
if only the dream applied to those who hate you
and its interpretation to your adversaries. You
see, Daniel had an initial hesitancy in explaining
the dream. There was a genuine sense of loyalty
on the part of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar. There
seems to even have been a sense of compassion
for the man on Daniel's part. And he felt concern
for Nebuchadnezzar's welfare. because Daniel
of course understood exactly what the dream meant.
Well, the king begs for the interpretation and
so Daniel then gives it to him. And he recounts
again the dream and he says in verse 22, It is
you, O king, this tree, it is you, 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 so, in
fact, Nebuchadnezzar's initial understanding,
undoubtedly, of the dream was confirmed. He was
the tree in the dream. Again, Daniel recounts
what happened in verse 24. He says, this is the
Interpretational King, and this is the decree
of the Most High, which has come upon my Lord
the King, that you be driven away from mankind.
your dwelling place be with the beasts of the
field and you be given grass to eat like cattle
and be drenched with the dew of heaven." Now
we see something a little more specific here.
It's not just that he's going to have the mind
of a beast, but Daniel says that he's going to
think of himself as an ox. This is more specifically,
bowanthropy. He sees himself as a bovine. Some
of you ladies would probably now understand your
husbands better. They're suffering from bowanthropy
when they act like an ox. Well, you see, that
was Nebuchadnezzar's problem. Daniel is completely
honest with the king as he explains the interpretation.
And he goes on to say, Seven periods of time
will pass over you until you recognize that the
Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind
and bestows it on whomever he wishes." Listen,
Nebuchadnezzar should have known that already.
God has been gracious to this Gentile king. Can
you name another king, except perhaps for Pharaoh
of ancient Egypt, to whom God more graciously
revealed himself than to Nebuchadnezzar? Nebuchadnezzar
had not learned. He remained proud. He did not
humble himself before the Most High God. And
so God is going to humble him. And he says, 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. Therefore, O King, may my advice
be pleasing to you. Daniel does something now
which is very courageous. He gives the king an
exhortation. He says, break away 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. So Daniel
now turns prophet and says directly to the king,
you need to repent And if you will repent, God
may extend your prosperity." Thus the interpretation.
In the next five or six verses, we have it fulfilled.
Nebuchadnezzar frankly says all this happened
to Nebuchadnezzar the king twelve months later.
Notice that God extended his period of invitation
for twelve months. That seems to be the thrust
of this. God gave him twelve months to repent.
to change his ways, and to recognize the Most
High God. Twelve months to humble himself. The
king does not do that. He was walking on the
roof of the royal palace of Babylon. The king
reflected and said, is this not Babylon the Great,
which I myself have built as a royal residence
by the might of my power and for the glory of
my majesty? You need to understand that Nebuchadnezzar
was not exaggerating when he called Babylon great.
He was up on top of his magnificent royal palace
in the city of Babylon from which he could look
out over this magnificent city. Remember that
Babylon is an ancient city. It is mentioned as
early as Genesis chapter 11 to us as one of the
key cities of the world. In those years after
that, it had periods of greatness and periods
of decline, but now Nebuchadnezzar has built
it up once again to a period of greatness. When
you think of Babylon, you need to realize that
this city was fortified. Nebuchadnezzar built
part of the fortifications. There were double
walls around the whole city. Remember, that was
the most important piece of defense in that day.
Double walls around the city, which were wide
enough for chariots to ride on top of them. When
we say around the city, you need to understand
that these walls were 17 miles in length. It
was 17 miles around the walled part of the city
of Babylon. Now just try to picture that in your
mind. Drive out to where your home is then drive
off another direction and just come back and
add up about 17 miles and you see how large the
city was within the walls and there were suburbs
outside it. The walls of Babylon had eight gates.
The most famous of them was the Gate of Ishtar.
Ishtar was one of the goddesses of the ancient
pantheon. Ishtar is where we get the word Easter,
by the way, because the Roman church in the early
years combined the worship of Ishtar under Constantine,
combined it with the worship of Ishtar with the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it became known
as the Feast of Easter. Interesting, isn't it?
This gate opened. onto a processional that was
a thousand yards long. This processional, this
avenue, was very broad and ornately decorated
with glazed tiles and bricks, as was the gate
of the city, Ishtar Gate. That gate, by the way,
has been excavated and it was ornate, pictured
with bulls and dragons on glazed tiles. It must
have been beautiful in its day. Within the city
there were many temples. If you'd like to pick
up a book sometime that is interesting for background
material, you might want to get a paperback that's
called The Bible as History. Please understand
when you read it that it is written from basically
a liberal theological perspective. And so some
of the dating and so on, you will not agree with.
But there's interesting background material in
this book, written by Werner Keller, as I recall.
The Bible is history. And in the book, he quotes
Herodotus, one of the ancient historians, regarding
this city. Quote, the center of the city, says
Herodotus, which is full of three and four -storied
buildings, is traversed by dead straight streets,
I think he means by that very straight, not only
those that run parallel to the river but also
the cross streets which lead down to the water
side. He goes on to say, altogether there are
in Babylon 53 temples of the chief gods, 55 chapels
of Marduk, 300 chapels for the earthly deities,
600 for the heavenly deities, 180 altars for
the goddess Ishtar, 180 for the gods Nergal and
Adad, and 12 other altars for different gods.
In other words, Herodotus, as he gives us these
words about ancient Babylon, tells us that this
was a very religious city dedicated to the gods.
Now we've said before that Nebuchadnezzar's favorite
god was Marduk. And so in this city he restored
the Temple of Marduk, which was quite a large
structure. It was 1 ,500 yards, or feet rather,
by 1 ,800 feet in size. And right next to it
was a ziggurat, or a tower that was built up.
It was a tower that was also to the honor of
Marduk. It was at its base 130 yards square.
There were seven stories to this tower. The very
top of it was a small temple in honor of Marduk.
And if you measured it from the ground to the
very top, it was 300 feet high. That's as tall
as a 30 -story building. I was thinking about
the Fauché Tower downtown. I was told that at
one time it was the tallest building west of
the Mississippi till you got to Seattle. Now
I don't know how many stories are in the Fauché
Tower. Does anybody know offhand? How many? 32?
So you see that this ziggurat in Babylon stood
up about the height of the Fauché Towers and
was quite a structure. Babylon is most famous
for its hanging gardens. The hanging gardens
of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the
ancient world. These elevated gardens had many
different plants and palm trees planted there,
transplanted there from different parts of the
empire. It had an elaborate irrigation system
that lifted water from the level of the Euphrates
River up to where these gardens were planted.
on the rooftops and the terraces. And it is said
that Nebuchadnezzar built these to remind one
of his wives of her native media, where there
were lots of hills and greenery and trees and
so on, which were not too were not flourishing
around the city of Babylon, nor was the terrain
such as she was used to. And so he constructed
the Hanging Gardens in her honor. There were
canals that brought water from the Tigris River
to the city. Even though the river Euphrates
bisected the city, that river was spanned by
several bridges within. Outside the city they
built a large lake that was artificial. It was
man -made. It was part of the protection of the
city. but was a reservoir of water, which was
important to them. So you see, when Nebuchadnezzar
stood on the rooftop and he said, is this not
great Babylon that I have built? He was talking
about some kind of a spectacular city in the
ancient world. But just as he said that, God
spoke from heaven. The words were still in his
mouth when this word came, King Nebuchadnezzar,
to you it is declared, sovereignty has been removed
from you. And you will be driven away from mankind
and your dwelling place will be with the beasts
of the field. You will be given grass to eat
like cattle and seven periods of time will pass
over you until you recognize that the Most High
is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows
it on whomever he wishes. Immediately, the word
concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. I mean
that fast, the man lost his senses. From a great
potentate who stood on top of the roof and boasted
in the city, immediately he was struck with insanity
and played the part of an animal. Can you imagine
the impact of this upon his servants? upon the
leading people who were around him day in and
day out. And so he was turned out into pasture,
literally. Probably there was a park, a sanctuary
that was declared for him. They would not have
wanted this to be known, most likely, within
his empire. And so they probably protected an
area where Nebuchadnezzar was allowed to roam
and to graze. and to eat the grass and the berries
and whatever else he subsisted on during those
days. And the dew of heaven drenched him. And
the periods of time, if you look at periods later
in Daniel, it's years, we assume it's years here,
that seems to fit the context best. During those
years, his hair grew until his hair had grown
to the point that his hair was matted and it
looked like feathers on him. And the nails of
his hands became so long and curled, as nails
tend to do, that they looked like the claws of
birds. And it says at the end of that period,
notice the result of all of this, beginning in
verse 34, Nebuchadnezzar says, I raised my eyes
toward heaven. It took him seven years to do
that because of the judgment of God. But at the
end of it he raised his eyes toward heaven and
my reason returned to me and I blessed the Most
High and praised and honored him who lives forever.
The very first thing that Nebuchadnezzar does
after his humbling experience, after his pride
being shattered by God, is to worship. He worships
God who is sovereign, God whose kingdom is eternal,
he says, who lives forever and ever, whose kingdom
is also universal, his dominion is everlasting,
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
He says all the inhabitants of the earth are
accounted as nothing before God. But he does
according to his will and the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. A universal
rule. And then he says it's an unquestionable
rule. And no one can ward off his hand or say
to him, what hast thou done? He worships God.
And then there's restoration. He says my reason
returned to me, my majesty and splendor were
restored to me for the glory of my kingdom. My
counselors, my nobles began seeking me out, so
I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing
greatness was added to me." And so God restored,
as he said he would, the kingdom to Nebuchadnezzar.
And his testimony in the last verse is this,
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." Well, was Nebuchadnezzar
genuinely converted? Will you and I one day see
Nebuchadnezzar in the streets of heaven? Well,
it says, the question is debated. This is Dr.
Wood writing. The question is debated as to whether
he may have come to the place of true conversion.
It is important to notice carefully what he says
in these verses in making a judgment. He goes
on to point out Nebuchadnezzar was continuing
in his activity of giving praise to God, something
apparently different from what had followed both
his first dream and the deliverance of the three
friends from the fiery furnace. In other words,
he's pointing out that the verbs here are continuous,
they're in the present tense. And he says, I
continue to praise, I continue to exalt, I continue
to honor the King of Heaven. My opinion. which
is not worth very much, is that Nebuchadnezzar
was genuinely converted and that one day we will
see him in heaven. From this chapter we learn
just a couple of things that I want to point
out in closing. First of all, what a warning
we see here. Pride is a sin in the eyes of God.
God detests pride. As sure as water is wet and
the sun is hot, God will judge pride because
pride robs God of the place that is due him alone,
and God is a jealous God. And so what we learn
from Nebuchadnezzar is that we need to repent
of pride in our lives before God breaks us to
get at our pride. Pride is the essence of human
sin, and God hates it. We see a warning, but
I see quite an encouragement here, too. because
Daniel undoubtedly for about 40 years prayed
for Nebuchadnezzar. For probably 40 years he
witnessed to Nebuchadnezzar as he had opportunity
and now he sees his prayer answered as this man
recognizes and worships the true God. But think
what an encouragement this must have been to
the children of Israel. The children of Israel
who were now in bondage for decades, some of
whom undoubtedly felt that their God had forgotten
them and that they would languish forever there
in Babylon. But now they have written proof from
the King himself that God is still on the throne
and that their God reigns, as we were singing
earlier tonight. Well, let's bow together in
prayer. Would you join me, please? And now, Father,
we pray that you will write these lessons on
our hearts. May we learn from the testimony of
King Nebuchadnezzar to hate pride, to repent
of it. May we see how you detest it in our lives.
And wherein it is there, expose it, we pray,
and give us hearts of repentance. We might turn
from it and walk in humility, so that we might
not have to experience something like this, that
you would take us through to break us. Lord,
teach us that lesson and then remind us that
you're on the throne. There may be some tonight,
Father, who are discouraged because they have
languished, they feel. They've gone through tough
experiences and they've wondered where you are.
I pray that what Nebuchadnezzar testifies will
be an encouragement to them that you reign, that
our God lives and reigns. In Jesus' name, amen.