Daniel - Part 6
"Three strikes and you're... in serious trouble!"
King Nebuchadnezzar's 2nd Dream
Please first read Daniel 4 (Nebuchadnezzar's dream about a tree")
"Strike one!"
"Strike two!"
"Strike three! You're out!"
That familiar umpire's chant could well describe God's dealing with
King Nebuchadnezzar.
Three times God gave King Nebuchadnezzar clear proof that He is
supreme, and that Nebuchadnezzar only served because God chose
him.
"Strike one!" Daniel chapter
1. When the King interviewed Daniel and his three friends, the
King found that the wisdom of these four Jews far exceeded mere human
wisdom that the Babylonian teachers had to offer. Nebuchadnezzar
was impressed. But he was not impressed enough to surrendure his
pride and learn to know this God of Daniel and his friends.
"Strike two!" Daniel
chapter 2. When God tried to teach Nebuchadnezzar through a dream
that it was God who had placed Nebuchadnezzar on the throne, and it was
God who made Babylon the great world power that Nebuchadnezzar
commanded, Nebuchadnezzar seemed more impressed with Daniel's ability
to know and interpret the dream than with message of that dream.
To his credit, Nebuchadnezzar did acknowledge Daniel's God as "the God of gods and the Lord of kings
and a revealer of mysteries." But Nebuchadnezzar still was
not willing to humble himself and acknowledge the True God as his
God. He was not willing to recognize the fact that Someone other
than himself was responsible for making him emperor.
"Strike three!" Daniel chapter
3. When Daniel's three friends survived the King's burning rage,
he finally recognized that the God of Israel is "the Most High
God." He ordered all his subjects, under the pain of death,
to treat "the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego" with great
respect. But was Nebuchadnezzar ready to surrendure his kingship
to the Lord of kings and God of gods? No.
It was the Grace of God that made Nebuchadnezzar a king -- an
emperor. Nebuchadnezzar didn't deserve his lofty position.
He was mean and cruel. You may remember a more recent ruler
of "Babylon," a cruel man named Sadaam Hussein. At the height of
Hussein's vanity, he announced that Nebuchadnezzar was his hero, and
that intended to restore the glory of Babylon for himself.
Cruelty and vanity are two qualities that Nebuchadnezzar and Sadaam
Hussein had in common.
Yet, after three strikes, God was willing to give Nebuchadnezzar
another chance. But this time that chance came with a very direct
warning. And lest he miss the point of his dream, Daniel
stated it directly:
"O
king, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Stop
doing wicked things and be kind to the poor. Then you might continue to
be successful." (v.27 NCV)
Then God waited. For one whole year God waited for
Nebuchadnezzar's repentance and reformation. But the change God
desired in Nebuchadnezzar never came.
Twelve
months later as he was walking on the roof of his palace in Babylon, he
said, "I have built this great
Babylon as my royal home. I built it by my power to show my glory and my majesty." (vv.26,27)
That was enough! God's patience finally ran out.
The
words were still in his mouth when a voice from heaven said, "King
Nebuchadnezzar, these things will happen to you: Your royal power has
been taken away from you. You will be forced away from people.
You will live with the wild animals and will be fed grass like an ox.
Seven years will pass before you learn this lesson: The Most High God
rules over every kingdom on earth and gives those kingdoms to anyone he
chooses."
Immediately the words came
true. Nebuchadnezzar was forced to go away from people, and he began
eating grass like an ox. He became wet from dew. His hair grew long
like the feathers of an eagle, and his nails grew like the claws of a
bird. (vv.31-33)
Nebuchadnezzar remained in this condition for seven years -- seven
years during which, according to some historians, the official
Babylonian record of Nebuchadnezzar's reign is noticably silent.
Then God restored Nebuchadnezzar's sanity, and he returned to power as
a wiser and humble ruler.
I
gave praise to the Most High God;
I gave honor and glory to Him who lives forever.
God’s rule is forever,
and His kingdom
continues for all time.
People on earth
are not truly
important.
God does what He wants
with the powers of
heaven
and the people on
earth.
No one can stop His powerful hand
or question what
He does...
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, give praise
and honor and glory to the King of heaven.
Everything He does is right and fair,
and He is able to make proud people
humble. (vv.34-37)
Mercy means that God doesn't give us what we deserve.
Grace means that God gives us what we don't deserve.
Nebuchadnezzar got both!
Grace means that God often chooses the most improbable people to be His
servants.
Examples:
Abraham
-- His family worshipped idols, living 1500 years earlier in
that same area of Iraq/Babylon. But God chose him anyway.
Israel -- God chose that motly
crew out of slavery, and made them into a nation. God often
told them, "Don't think that I chose
you was because you were better or more righteous than others."
(Deuteronomy 9:4)
No, it was God's grace, and it was His commitment to a promise that He
made to Abraham. And it was His commitment to His plan to bring
the Savior to the world through Israel.
David, the shepherd -- the
least probable candidate to become king!
Nebuchadnezzar
Cyrus -- God used this
Persian emperor to return Israel back to their land. (Isaiah 45:1; Ezra 1:1-3)
Saul of Tarsus -- that
notorious Christ-hater! Yet God chose him to become the Apostle
to the Gentiles, we now know as Paul (Acts 9)
And most suprising of all -- God
chose you!
That's grace!
As long as we are breathing, there is opportunity to finally admit to
ourselves what God all along knows to be true [repent] and experience
his restoration. But we dare not be casual about God's grace or
presume on his mercy. Because we all can be certain that our end
will come - and may come much soon than we expect.
God is waiting!!! But He won't wait forever.
God is patient. But He warns us that one day His patience will
end. (See 2 Peter 3.)
The Bible says, "God resists the
proud, but He gives grace to the humble."
(James 4:6)
Does that describe Nebuchadnezzar's very hard lesson?
Jesus said,
"Whoever
makes himself great
will be made humble.
Whoever makes himself humble
will be made great." (Matthew 23:12 NCV)
Jesus Himself, who is the King of Kings, and God of gods, voluntarily
did what Nebuchadnezzar was forced to do.
He
[Christ] gave up His place with God [the Father]
and made himself
nothing.
He was born to be a man
and became like a
servant.
And when He was living as a man,
he humbled Himself
and was fully obedient [to the Father]
even when that caused His death—death on a cross. (Philippians
2:7,8 NCV)
Jesus walked the path of humiliation. What He did was much more
than a mere example for us to follow. Because the Holy and
Righteous One humbled Himself - indeed, He shamed Himself - through is
suffering and death on the cross, it is now possible for us, who are
filled with sinful pride, deceit, and selfishness, to be raised up in
true glory and power with Him forever. That's Grace!
Here is how Mary, the soon-to-be mother of Jesus, responded to this
amazaing grace:
My
soul praises the Lord;
my heart
rejoices in God my Savior,
because he has shown his concern for his humble servant girl.
From now on, all people will say that
I am blessed,
because the
Powerful One has done great things for me.
His name is holy.
God will show his mercy forever and
ever
to those who
worship and serve him.
He has done mighty deeds by his power.
He has scattered the people who are
proud
and think great
things about themselves.
He has brought down rulers from their
thrones
and raised up the
humble.
He has filled the hungry with good
things
and sent the rich
away with nothing.
He has helped his servant, the people
of Israel,
remembering to
show them mercy
as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to
his children forever.
(Luke 1:46-55 NCV)
Supplemental notes:
Other examples of kings who
did terrible things,
then God warned about His punishment,
and the king repented in sincere humility:
King David - after his adultry with
Bathsheba and murder of her husband (2 Samuel 12, Psalm 51)
King Ahab - after his wife, Jezebel, arranged the murder of a farmer
whose land that Ahab wanted. (1 Kings 21)
King Menasseh - who set up pagan idols and altars in the Lord's temple,
offered his own sons in burnt sacrifices to demons in occult
worship. (2 Chronicles 33)
The king of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria (Jonah 3)