O King, Live Forever – Daniel 2:4

Jan 10, 2010 | Daniel

 
I have been asked many times: “How do you determine what to preach?” Actually, there are several things involved, depending especially on the type of study that we’re in. When we aren’t in the midst of the study of a book, as we are now, then I use note books in which I jot down things that pop into my head. As I’m reading the scriptures, books or magazines, themes come to my mind, and I write them down. Perhaps its just an illustration or an anecdote. Then when it’s time to develop a message, I look through those notes, asking the Lord for direction. Some of those notes may be years old, before I get around to putting a message together around them. But in the midst of our current study, my approach is quite different. I read and re-read the passage before us, and it’s as though my heart or brain gets snagged on something and I have to think about it for a while. For example, in this case, I read this chapter several times, asking the Lord for direction. And even though it didn’t make a great deal of sense at the time, every time that I read it, the words of our text grabbed me. I have never preached from these words or anything like them, as far as I can remember. And I couldn’t find any one in my library who has. Once again, we are on our own tonight.

Probably one of the reasons that I’ve never met a preacher who has sermonized on this subject is due to the fact that it is difficult to impossible to prove my thesis. That doesn’t mean that I’m wrong or that we are obligated to avoid it just because there are lots of absolutely true things which are difficult to prove. Prove to me that God exists. Well, I have proof enough to suit me, but those proofs may not convince the professing atheist. And has been said many times, not even the Bible tries to prove the existence of God. It just declares Him, and I believe the Bible. The same is true when we come to our theme for the evening. Unfortunately, not even all the children of God are in agreement on every aspect of this subject.

Having said that, let’s get into it. When the Chaldeans and their cohorts came into Nebuchadnezzar’s court they said, “O king, live forever.” In the next chapter they do it again. In chapter 5, the Queen, perhaps Nebuchadnezzar’s widow, used the very same words before Belshazzar. Later when the Medes came along, the presidents and princes said, “King Dairus, live for ever.” And even Daniel used those words when talking to the new king. When Bathsheba wanted to promote her son Solomon before David, she came into the throne room, “Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.” Among others, Nehemiah used the same kind of language in talking to Artaxerxes.

What is the meaning of the statement?
In one way, it has no meaning whatsoever. But that doesn’t mean that it didn’t have some sort of meaning to the people who uttered it right here. For example, why do we address a judge in American jurisprudence as “your honor”? I was surprised when I did a bit of research on this question to learn that there are various terms which are supposed to be used with different kinds of judges in different American courts. But to answer the question, we call most judges “your honor” because their official title is “the honorable judge so-and-so.” And I suppose that at some point most judges were truly honorable people, sitting in an honorable seat. But that is not always the case, even though we are still expected to use that address. And doesn’t it imply that the judge is somehow more honorable than everyone else in the courtroom? We use the term because we are expected to use it, even though the meaning has been somewhat abated

We might say the same thing about the term “your majesty” when speaking to a king or queen. It was not uncommon a couple centuries ago, for the British military to stand before meals and say “God save the king.” Did you know that is something that we can find in the Bible? When Samuel presented Saul before the people, they shouted “God save the king.” And when Hushai, David’s friend, wanted to trick Absalom, that is how he approached him. It was even shouted by God’s people when the child Joash was presented to them after the horrific reign of Athaliah. I’m sure that many of God’s people meant that as a prayer of one sort or another. But to the British military under King George the lunatic (I mean King George III) – those ungodly soldiers knew nothing about God’s salvation.

And what did it mean when the Chaldeans said, “O king, live forever?” For most of them, they were only uttering the expected formal greeting to the man who could have their heads cut off for saying anything less. Probably for most of them it meant absolutely nothing. On the other hand it could have had meaning.

But what DOESN’T it mean?
Since no one in their society, at least in their knowledge, was more than a hundred years old, they probably weren’t thinking about Nebuchadnezzar actually living forever in the flesh. I read a statement the other day which was kind of interesting, but whether true or not, I couldn’t say. The writer said that the average person lived as long in Jesus’ day as they do today. The only difference that brought the average age of ancient people down was the high number of infant deaths and the number women who died in child birth. The article implied that people ate more wholesome food in earlier centuries than we do today, but we have an army of medical people struggling to fight back the effects of our rotting society. Interesting…. True or not, the Chaldeans weren’t expecting Nebuchadnezzar to be king for ever.

And yet, I’m sure that almost from the very beginning, the desire to live for ever has been rooted in our hearts. Of course, Adam is the father of all mankind, including Babylonians, and he is the reason that all people die. In our hearts, sitting right next to the knowledge that all of us will die, is the realization of its cause. “The wages of sin is death.” “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” Since man doesn’t really ever want to give up his sin, and yet he doesn’t want that judgment, this just spurs on our desire to live forever. It’s not a new phenomenon that we do everything in our collective powers to avoid death. We take our fist-full of vitamins and minerals every day, in order to stay healthy and alive. Sometimes we join exercise clubs to keep our hearts pumping. And we spend fortunes on things to beautify us, thinking that aging is a bad thing. Then when we contract cancer, we bankrupt our families trying to avoid the inevitable. But the fact is – we are going to die – there has never yet been a king, who lived forever. The idea is ludicrous.

However there is a silly alternative which some foolish men have expostulated. I am told that reincarnation was a part of the ancient Babylonian religion. It is believed by some that Nimrod, the remote founder of ancient Babylon, was reincarnated somehow. It is quite possible that some of these Chaldeans were thinking of this when they said, “live forever.”

I feel silly in having to say this, but say it I must, because there are a lot of fools in this world. There is absolutely no evidence to believe that there is such a thing as reincarnation. Just because there are 837 million Hindus who believe in it, doesn’t make it so. And just because some people are foolish enough to believe the hypnotist who says that they can take people back to remembering previous existences, this doesn’t make it so. It takes a great deal of faith to believe that I was once a 12th century Viking. It takes even more faith to believe that I once was some sort of animal. Admittedly it doesn’t take quite as much faith to believe that some politicians will be reincarnated as the animal mascots of their particular parties. But it does take faith to believe in such a doctrine. And herein lies the problem – that Hindu has his faith – while I have to take some things on faith as well. We may be at a Mexican stand-off here – let every man be persuaded in his own heart. I have my faith, and the Babylonian has his, and in some ways our faiths are just about all that we have.

Whether these men actually meant “O king, live forever” or not, as Christians we know that if they meant it literally and fleshly, it was not to be. And if they were referring to reincarnation, it was never going to be either.

But yet, there is SOME QUALIFIED TRUTH to the statement.
When God created man, he made him in His image – in the likeness of God. There is a great deal about Genesis 1:26 & 27 that I don’t understand. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” There is a lot in this that I don’t understand, but I do know that it doesn’t mean that there is a spark of divinity in every human being. And it doesn’t mean that Elohim looks like some sort of human being. But here are some things that I think that it means. I understand it to mean that just as God is a Trinity – a Triunity – man is a triune being as well. I believe that man is a tricotomy – that he is body, soul and spirit. Man has a fleshly body, inside of which there resides a soul and a spirit, both of which have no bodies. God the Father, and God the Spirit, are spirit and do not possess bodies, but the Son now does.

I also believe that just as the Son of God died in the flesh, our bodies shall die, because they were formed from the dust of the earth. Ah, but Christ Jesus was raised – not reincarnated – He was resurrected from death to live again eternally. And similarly, God can make any human body glorious and eternal, if He chooses to do so. But by their nature human bodies and physical lives do not live forever, and to make this our primary wish is foolish.

However, the spiritual parts of man are eternal – they go on for ever. More precisely, the human soul will never be destroyed – never die in any sense of the term. The spirit of man died when Adam sinned, and all human children are born into this world spiritually dead. But the soul is a separate matter, and it does not die in any way shape or form.

This is actually something which is believed throughout the world and throughout all time. Only in our secular, humanistic, atheistic society has this been idea called into question. And it’s not because of the development of science that we deny the eternality of the soul. It is because we have grown more and more anti-God in our philosophies – more humanistic. But from time immemorial, the eternality of the soul has been a common precept. For example, isn’t it a part of the reincarnation idea? One argument for the soul’s eternal existence is man’s almost universal desire for a better life after death. Of course this proves nothing, but it does offer a hint of evidence. The eternal soul longs for eternal bliss – it is ingrained in our hearts.

But of far more importance are the statements of scripture. This is something that poor Nebuchadnezzar did not possess, nor did his counselors. I won’t multiply these scriptures, but there are many of them. Psalm 16:8-11 – “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” What does “evermore” mean? David blends some thought about the flesh, with the soul residing in sheol for ever. Daniel possessed this Psalm, whether Nebuchanezzar ever or heard it or not.

Psalm 49:4-15 – “I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.” As I say there are many Old Testament scriptures which deal with the eternal soul, most of which are in the Psalms or in Job.

But it’s in the New Testament where the full impact of our eternal natures is declared. Did Jesus rebuke the man who asked him what he had to do to enjoy eternal life? What did the Lord imply about our souls when he said to the Pharisees, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” How can we enjoy eternal life, if we aren’t somehow eternal? “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” The Lord Jesus said, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” He prayed, “as thou hast given (the Son of Man) power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Among the many things which Paul said about the subject one of the most telling is in II Corinthians 5:1 – “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Our bodies may be replaced, because they die, and rot away, but our souls go on for ever.

When the Chaldeans said, “O king, live forever” they did not mean the words in the way that Jesus would have meant them. They didn’t mean them the way that a New Testament evangelist might mean them. Your soul is going to exist forever, but it may spend eternity in the midst of spiritual death and judgment. If you want to truly live forever, then you need eternal life – the life which can only come through the grace of God and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”