Daniel 4, verses 19-37
Daniel interprets the dream.
Then Daniel, also called Belteshazzar, was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him.
So the king said, Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its meaning alarm you.
Belteshazzar answered, My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries.
The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth,
with its beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the wild animals,
and having nesting places in its branches for the birds.
Your majesty, you are that tree. You have become great and strong.
Your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.
Your majesty saw a holy one, a messenger, coming down from heaven and saying,
Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump, bound with iron and bronze,
in the grass of the field, while its roots remain in the ground.
Let him be drenched until the dew of the heaven.
Let him live with the wild animals until seven times pass by for him.
This is the interpretation, your majesty, and this is the decree of the Most High,
as issued by against my lord, the king.
You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals.
You will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven.
Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth
and gives them to anyone he wishes.
The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you
when you acknowledge that heaven rules.
Therefore, your majesty, be pleased to accept my advice.
Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your weakness by being kind to the oppressed.
It may be that then your prosperity will continue.
The dream is fulfilled.
All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.
Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said,
Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence,
by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?
Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven,
This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar.
Your royal authority has been taken away from you.
You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals.
You will eat grass like the ox.
Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth
and gives them to anyone he wishes.
Immediately, what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled.
He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox.
His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle
and his nails like the claw of a bird.
At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes towards heaven and my sanity was restored.
Then I praised the Most High.
I honoured and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion.
His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand or say to him,
What have you done?
At the same time that my sanity was restored,
my honour and splendour were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom.
My advisors and nobles sought me out,
out and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exult and glorify the King of heaven
because everything he does is right and all his ways are just.
And those who walk in pride, he is able to humble.
Daniel, chapter 4.
We'll see pride before a fall and we'll see God's power that shows mercy.
Daniel, chapter 4 is really interesting because it really stands as a personal testimony
to God's glory and mercy that comes from King Nebuchadnezzar.
Now, imagine waking up tomorrow and you got your morning newspaper
and you found there was an open letter in there.
In fact, every national newspaper was carrying the same open letter
and a news conference had been called and an exclusive interview was about to be given
and it was from our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson,
who wanted our nation and the nations of the world to know that he was praising God
for being humbled, praising God because now he could see that heaven rules.
He was speaking to us about in this crisis,
understanding the need to trust in God as the one who is truly in control,
calling himself and others to seek for God's power and mercy.
Imagine if that happened in our nation.
It would cause shockwaves, wouldn't it?
But this happened in Babylon.
In Daniel, chapter 4 and verses 1 and 2,
we discover that this whole chapter is an open letter
that is being taken by heralds all around the kingdom of Babylon
to the nations and peoples of every language who live in all the earth.
This is what Nebuchadnezzar says,
It's my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders
that the Most High God has performed for me.
He's proclaiming with gladness God's eternal rule and kingdom.
We hear Nebuchadnezzar's confession
that the true king, as it were, chopped him down to size.
He can say, That was for my good.
That was so I could discover the mercy of God.
So it's a remarkable chapter in the Bible.
And we're going to think about some lessons that we can draw from it.
But first, let's think about Nebuchadnezzar's testimony
of his rise, his fall and his rise again.
So his story begins in verse 4 with his contentment.
He is, after all, the most powerful man in the world in his day,
head of the most powerful empire of his day,
one who was used to luxury and wealth and fame and glory.
But just as we have previously seen him have a dream that troubles him,
so in verse 5 he tells us,
I had a dream that made me afraid.
This dream becomes in his mind a nightmare.
And his response is the same as before.
He goes to his experts, those dream readers,
to see what they can do.
And they offer no help at all.
And again, he then realises it's the time to call Daniel,
to call Belteshazzar.
And Daniel is better because Daniel worships the true God
with the level of understanding Nebuchadnezzar has.
He says, finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him,
my dream, the spirit of the holy gods is in him.
And Nebuchadnezzar then tells Daniel the dream.
And before Daniel begins to explain and interpret the dream,
we discover something really significant about Daniel.
It's Daniel's turn to be afraid.
Then Daniel was greatly perplexed for a time and his thoughts terrified him.
My Lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries.
What do we discover about Daniel?
We discover someone who respects and who cares for King Nebuchadnezzar.
And that's remarkable.
Just last week in Daniel chapter 3,
we discovered this same Nebuchadnezzar tries to roast Daniel's three friends in a fire
for refusing to bow down to his gold image.
Daniel is one of the exiles taken from Judah.
And a letter came via Jeremiah to the exiles.
And in Jeremiah 29, the exiles are told to seek the welfare,
seek the peace and prosperity of the city in which you are now living in exile.
And Daniel is an incredible model of that integrity and care in his workplace and for his master.
But then he delivers the meaning of the dream,
which contains in it a warning message from God.
So Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a tree that was massive,
that filled the earth,
a tree that was providing shelter for birds and animals,
a tree that was providing food for all.
Daniel says to him,
verse 22,
your majesty,
you are that tree.
Here is Nebuchadnezzar,
a king at the height of his powers,
a king with great influence through his vast empire.
That picture of a tree with almost cosmic dimensions,
again is a great reminder of Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel.
That towering construction,
which was on the one hand a great testimony to human achievement,
but it was also a testament to overreaching pride,
to self-glory.
And we will see that at the height of Nebuchadnezzar's power,
he falls into that trap as well.
And so there is this warning that just as Nebuchadnezzar is that great tree,
so God is going to function as divine lumberjack.
That he will be cut down.
The picture there is that the tree will be cut,
the stump will be left,
and an iron band will be placed around it to protect it,
so it won't be removed.
And Daniel says to him,
that tree represents the king.
The king who will be cut down
and won't be restored
until he recognises that heaven rules.
Daniel tells him
that not only will he be cut down,
he'll also, his mind will be changed,
so he'll become like an animal.
And he would be driven away,
verse 25,
until you acknowledge that the Most High
is sovereign over all kingdoms of the earth.
And his kingdom would only be restored in verse 26
when he acknowledged that heaven rules.
And Daniel is encouraging Nebuchadnezzar
to change his perspective,
to beware of pride,
and also to repent of the injustice
that he has been guilty of.
So in verse 27,
therefore your master,
be pleased to accept my advice,
renounce your sins by doing what is right,
and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed.
It may be that then your prosperity will continue
when God gives a warning of future judgment,
there is mercy in that,
a chance to repent.
And so Daniel calls the king to repentance.
But Nebuchadnezzar continues with his testimony,
and in verses 28 to 33,
we see what happens 12 months later,
his dream becomes reality.
The way this open letter is presented,
it switches from Nebuchadnezzar speaking,
saying,
I now move to the third person.
It's as if King Nebuchadnezzar,
because of his illness,
he needs someone else to testify
to what had been happening.
Now, what was the trigger to this illness?
12 months later,
as the king was walking on the roof
of the royal palace of Babylon,
he said,
is this not the great Babylon I have built
as the royal residence by my mighty power
and for the glory of my majesty?
It's very symbolic.
Here is Nebuchadnezzar on the roof
of his great palace,
and he's looking down in his pride.
Look at what I built for my power
and for my glory.
He has completely lost perspective.
He has forgotten human dependence
on God as creator and sustainer and king.
He has no sense that the right to rule
comes from God,
that there is an obligation
to give honour and glory to God.
So we see there is an instant fall.
The judgment comes just as was promised,
and verse 33,
immediately what had been said
about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled.
He was driven away from people
and ate grass like an ox
from majesty the descent into madness.
He was brought low by God.
Maybe you have heard those personal testimony stories
of someone brought low by God,
of God finding people, as it were,
in the gutter or finding them
in their lowest point.
Two for me really stand out.
Once there was a church camp down in London,
and on the Sunday evening,
we went to a local church,
and they happened to have a guest
giving their testimony
and having an interview,
and it was Jonathan Aitken,
a former Conservative MP
who was convicted and sent to prison for perjury.
And during the process of that,
he became a Christian,
a follower of Jesus.
He wrote, I say,
a really helpful little book on the Psalms,
but he spoke about God meeting him
in that lowest point of his life.
But then I also think of the story
of a Chinese student in Glasgow
who was found by an elderly Christian couple
on the street in tears one day,
distress and fear.
Everything seemed to be going wrong.
And they welcomed her in,
and they established friendship
and shared the gospel.
And she came to faith
from that lowest point.
God showed mercy
and God showed salvation.
So imagine what's going on here.
Imagine we're the first people
to hear this letter
being proclaimed by a herald.
Here is the emperor,
most powerful man in the world,
openly sharing of his fall into insanity
and acknowledging God and his mercy.
Restoration will come for him.
And we find out why.
Verse 34,
at the end of that time,
I, Nebuchadnezzar,
raised my eyes towards heaven
and my sanity was restored.
His perspective changed.
Joyce Baldwin says,
insanity begins with a realistic self-appraisal.
Nebuchadnezzar has been humbled
by almighty God.
No longer is he standing over and above everyone.
Now he's humbled
because he recognises his place before God.
He has a new understanding
of God.
God's dominion is an eternal dominion.
His kingdom endures
from generation to generation.
God is the true king.
His kingdom is extensive.
It is eternal.
There is no rise or fall
with God the king.
He understands the folly
of claiming godlike status
in his pride.
In verse 35,
he says,
all the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him,
what have you done?
God's will cannot be stopped.
God is ultimate authority.
And for Nebuchadnezzar,
he can see that this dream
of his being cut down to size,
of his shift into insanity,
it became reality.
But Nebuchadnezzar also came
to understand something else.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and exalt and glorify
the king of heaven.
Why?
Because everything he does is right
and all his ways are just.
And those who walk in pride,
he's able to humble.
God uses his almighty power
in order to show mercy
in this case,
to humble proud Nebuchadnezzar
so he'd be in a place
to recognise and acknowledge
and praise God.
So that's his testimony.
Begins by praising God,
tells his story,
finishes by praising God
for humbling him
and showing him mercy.
It's a remarkable chapter
of the Bible.
And as we think about learning
from Nebuchadnezzar's testimony,
we realise there's so much
going on in this chapter,
there's so much we could talk about.
One thing we certainly need
to talk about
is that Nebuchadnezzar
and his story
gives us a clear warning
against pride.
It's the first sin,
the sin that we see
in the Garden of Eden.
That desire of Adam and Eve
to be God-like,
to overreach,
to overstep the boundaries
and reaching out
for the forbidden fruit.
Pride was the great sin
of the Tower of Babel.
Let's get together
and let's construct
this great tower
that will be for our glory,
glory without God.
Now, among the hanging gardens
of Babylon,
we see that same pride
coming out.
I've done this.
This is all my work
and this is for my glory.
It's a sin
that we all battle with
and that we all need
to deal with.
The Nebuchadnezzar story
helps us to see
that pride involves
having a wrong perspective.
There he is on the roof
and he's looking down.
And pride involves
looking down on others.
I am better than,
I know more than,
or pride also looks sideways
in comparing.
Doing better than that person,
at least I'm not as bad
as that one over there,
forgetting to look up.
Pride dismisses God
to place the God of self
on the throne of our lives.
It is the first sin.
It is a great sin
because it fails to give God
his place
because we want that place.
What we need
is that perspective change.
The one that looks up
to heaven.
To recognise
that we were made
to worship,
to enjoy God,
to live in relationship
with him,
to live under him,
to live with humble
dependence upon him.
So for each one of us,
we need to be checking
our point of view.
What's the perspective
with which we live life,
with which we go into
our days?
Are we looking to assert
self as number one?
Or can we gladly say
heaven rules?
Another thing we see
from Nebuchadnezzar's testimony
is that suffering
can be redemptive.
That God in his mighty power
and wisdom
can use suffering
for good.
Discomfort.
Extreme trials
can be
means of spiritual growth
and lasting change.
And that's one of the
great hopes
and prayers
of the church
for this phase of life.
We had another
five days of prayer
and we spent
a lot of time
asking that God
would use this time
as a means of
drawing the people
of God closer
to himself
in independent
trust and worship
but also drawing others
in a sense of need
and despair
and hopelessness
to come to God
and to find answers
and to find life
and to find joy
and salvation.
But suffering
can only be redemptive
if
we lift our eyes
to heaven.
Only if
we look to God
for mercy.
Only when we see
the limits
of ourselves
and those
idols
those things
that we typically
look to
for identity
and security
and purpose
and hope
only if we see
the end of them
if we come
to an end
of ourselves
and we look
up to God
for mercy
only then
can suffering
have that
redemptive purpose.
We see in the story
of Nebuchadnezzar
that God
is both powerful
and God
is merciful
and that God
is able
from this
personal crisis
to do
spiritual
good.
Leading
Nebuchadnezzar
to move away
from a place
where he
basically insists
that he
is a God
to his people
where he's now
telling the peoples
here's the God
you need to praise
and worship
because he is the true king
and his kingdom
is the one that lasts.
The God
who cuts
down
is the same
God
who graciously
restores.
So there is
an invitation
to each one
of us
as
we are
maybe at
different stages
of trying
to pick up
the pieces
and trying
to get
back to
some kind
of normality.
Will God
be the centre
of that
new
normal?
Will he
be the one
we place
our hope
in?
Will we
allow him
to use
this
suffering
in our
life
to achieve
something
of spiritual
and lasting
good
as we
look away
from ourselves
and as we
look up
to heaven
as we
cry out
from the
depths
to God
for mercy
as we
read in
Psalm 130
and we
also see
and we've
already mentioned
it in the
story of
Nebuchadnezzar
that God's
mercy
is powerful.
I wonder
if you ever
find yourself
discouraged
thinking about
people that
you care
about
family members
friends
colleagues
wondering
will that
person ever
change?
Can they
change?
Can God
work in
that person's
heart?
Maybe tempted
to give
up praying?
Well let
Nebuchadnezzar
be a reminder
of just how
powerful God's
mercy is.
Somebody who
set himself
up as a
God, somebody
who's willing
to kill
those who
were worshipping
God, is
now praising
God.
God, our
God, loves
sinners and
he loves to
save sinners
and he
surprises with
grace for
his glory.
This is also
a reminder to
us to pray
for our
leaders.
Those leaders
are appointed
by God, they
deserve our
respect and as
the Bible says
they also
deserve our
prayers.
pray believing
that God
can change
them, that
God can
save them,
that God
can use
them for
his good
purposes.
In this
current crisis
can God
save people
from the
depths of
despair and
fear?
He did it
for Nebuchadnezzar
and he can
certainly still
do it today.
maybe he
will restore
you today.
Maybe you
are powerfully
aware of
your need
and you
know also
that you
have not
been setting
your eyes
towards heaven.
Well, maybe
this is the
day that
you would
understand your
sin and your
need, you'd
see the
goodness and
glory and
the love of
God in
sending Jesus,
that you would
raise your eyes
to heaven to
see Jesus,
your Saviour,
the one who
longs to
save you,
that you'd
recognise his
rule, that
you would
trust in
him and
that you
would know
that restoring.
So we
see this
wonderful and
surprising
testimony from
King
Nebuchadnezzar.
But as
always, I
want us to
close thinking
about the
story of
God's true
and ultimate
king who
is Jesus.
Picture
Jesus, the
one who
doesn't just
survey one
kingdom.
He looks
over the
whole world
as its
creator and
sustainer.
But there
is no pride
in Jesus,
no hanging
on to his
position of
glory in
heaven.
In
humility,
Jesus
becomes one
of us.
He enters
in.
The Son
of God
becomes a
man.
And this
wasn't a
forced
humility.
He chose
a path of
humble
obedience
that led
him into
suffering,
that led
him to
death on
a cross.
Why that
path?
Why that
journey?
Because Jesus
is taking the
place of
proud,
rebel
sinners
like us.
He is
dying in
our place
for our
sins,
for us as
we build
our own
little empire,
pursuing our
glory,
where we
leave no
room for
God.
Jesus
comes to
die for
that sin
and so
many more
so that we
might be
forgiven,
so that by
looking to
Jesus,
now the
King in
heaven,
to come
to him
is to
be
restored.
Here is
the cure
for pride
to look
to Jesus,
our humble,
self-giving
Saviour,
and we
are called
to walk
in his
steps.
Nebuchadnezzar
was a
king,
pictured as
a tree
who was
cut down
and restored.
Jesus,
in his
stories and
in his
teaching,
used that
picture of
a tree
to speak
about his
kingdom,
the true
kingdom of
God,
the kingdom
that begins
as small
as a
mustard seed
with just
a few,
but then
grows to
become the
biggest of
all the
trees and
the birds
nest in
its branches.
Jesus uses
this picture
of the
kingdom of
God to
say that
it's a
growing
kingdom.
It would
become a
global
kingdom and
we praise
God that
that's true
and that
through this
pandemic the
church still
continues to
grow,
that we can
come to
King Jesus
and find
shelter in
our sorrow,
in our sadness,
in our fear.
We can come to
him and find
life and life
in all its
fullness.
So let's
come to
him.
Let's heed
the testimony
of Nebuchadnezzar
and come
to our
powerful
God to
find
mercy.
Let's see.