I’d like to develop three short lessons out of these three verses. There is a lesson about humility, a lesson about providence and a lesson on theology. I pray that they will be a blessing to you.
It is surprising to see the amount of time that the Bible spends on the subjects of pride and humility. There are many more verses on these subjects than on those dealing with homosexuality and murder. Why do you suppose that is so? Why is it that God so vociferously condemns pride? Why is it that in Proverb’s list of the Lord’s most hated things – pride is the first? “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” Although they might be implied in some of these things, there is no direct mention of theft or fornication, but pride is high-lighted.
“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” “When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.” “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.” “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” “He giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
Why have I brought up the subjects of humility and pride this afternoon? Not only is pride among the most dangerous of all sins, but go back to the first verse in this chapter. Is this an expression of humility or pride? I suppose that it’s all a matter of opinion. And I suppose that the humility or pride of the reader might help determine his answer to the question. What one person sees as pride in me, might be looked upon as humility by another person. We need to do our best to be what the Lord would like us to be – and to look like it as well.
Does Nebuchadnezzar’s reference to himself as “king” suggest pride to you? I don’t believe that it should. The fact is that he WAS king of a vast domain – this is a matter of fact, not boasting. When we couple that to the lack of adjectives, expanding, augmenting and enlarging his office, again, I don’t see any pride in this. It is not humility to deny who and what we really are – in fact that lack of acknowledgment could actually be evidence of our pride.
Remember what it was that Nebuchadnezzar was trying to do here. He wanted the people under his dominion – in fact, he wanted all the people of the world, to hear about his experience, and what he had learned about Hananiah’s God. Who is going to listen to the testimony of Hananiah other than a few of his friends. Ah, but when the mightiest man in the world speaks, he is going to be heard far more readily. As king, he has earned an ear from the people of his realm.
Now add to this his reference to “peace.” What was it that he meant? Of this we cannot be sure. It might have been nothing more than a greeting – “aloha,” “hello,” “hi,” “greetings.” It could have been a reference to peace from military attack, but that should have been something which Nebuchadnezzar already controlled. I can’t say for sure, but this sounds very Hebrew to me – it sounds like “shalom.” Has Nebuchadnezzar begun to imitate and sound like Daniel, his spiritual advisor? This could have referred to peace” in the Hebrew sense of simple – “prosperity.” But it might have had spiritual connotations. “May you know the peace of the heart and soul, which I have recently learned. Please listen to me as I tell you about that.”
If we wanted to take the time, we could develop a thorough lesson on the subject of humility from this verse.
Despite some similarities, there are no two people who come Christ in exactly the same way. Some of your stories of salvation are far more interesting than mine. These histories should be the foundation of our testimony of Christ. Before we come to the theology, we have what we know took place in our own hearts. And our unsaved neighbors will be far more interested in the personal things than in the theological.
How did Nebuchadnezzar get to the place where he is so willing to praise the Lord? The simple answer is that Jehovah providentially brought him to this place. I don’t know that I ever actually looked up the definition of “providence” until the other day. We think that we know the meaning of words which we often hear, and usually we get their gist, but sometimes a little refreshing from the dictionary opens our eyes a bit. “Providence” means “care or preparation in advance” – “prudent management.” Another definition refers to “the care, guardianship and control exercised by God – divine direction.” And the fourth definition is simply – “God.” “Providence” brought Nebuchadnezzar to where he was at the end of Daniel 4 – God did it.
When we first hear of this man, he is the obedient son of his father Nabopolassar – he is his primary general. He was commanded to face the Assyrian army, which he did victoriously at Carchemish. But then the Egyptians became a little too pugnacious and aggressive, so Nebuchadnezzar had to turn south. In the process of defeating the Egyptians he had to deal with some of their allies, which included Judah. Nebuchadnezzar was not seeking the God of Israel, but the Lord force him into a confrontation. At first, he may have thought that his gods had defeated the God of Judah, but he was very wrong. Actually the Lord gave Judah into his hand. Then there was Nebuchadnezzar’s idea to bring some of the young people of Judah with him to Babylon. “Providence” demanded that he import the truth of God right into his polytheistic capital. In Daniel 2 there was his dream, which further brought God’s witness right into the king’s bedroom. He couldn’t ignore the miraculous nature of the dream and its interpretation. Then there was the miracle of the burning, fiery furnace. And now here in chapter 4, Jehovah once again forced the king to look right into His face. Throughout his life, I see the Lord leading Nebuchadnezzar step by step from his native idolatry into faith in the only God.
The spiritual progress of king of Babylon was controlled by the providential hand of the King of kings. The Lord was turning the heart of this secular king withersoever He chose. What a lesson there is in this. And most likely, if you are a child of God today, you can look back as see a similar providential leadership. But beyond that, if you are not a Christian today, your presence with us this afternoon, may be a small step in your own journey from idolatry to Christ. It is no accident that you are here this afternoon.
Our third lesson is in regard NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S STATEMENT OF FAITH.
“I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.” Is the fact that the king doesn’t refer to the Lord by his Hebrew name or title, mean that he has missed the Lord’s message once again? Not necessarily. Do the words “the high God” mean that Nebuchadnezzar still considered the Lord to be only the highest of many gods? Possibly, but not necessarily. The Lord Himself, in other places and contexts, uses this same kind of terminology.
“Signs and wonders” in the Word of God most often refer to miracles, but I suppose that they don’t have to reach up that far. The signs and wonders to which Nebuchadnezzar was referring are those described in this chapter. Were they providential? Were they miraculous? I believe that they were, but I’m sure that any unbeliever who wanted to disagree could do so. I can just see the initial press releases passed out to the Chaldean media. “The king has had some sort of mental break-down due to the stress of his position.” “Nebuchadnezzar has eaten a bad mushroom and been poisoned. It so disturbed his condition that he was rendered unfit for duty.” “The king has taken a corrupt batch of LSD and been on a bad trip now for the last few weeks.” Nebuchadnezzar eventually knew better, realizing that what he experienced came from the hand of God. These were the signs and wonders of the most high God – the King of heaven – “all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”
Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that the Lord’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. I haven’t been able to put my finger on the exact moment in my own life, but there comes a time in every long life, when people begin to realize that they will not live forever. Oh, we all know that it is true – theoretically, but it’s not considered to be true practically by most people. But then comes the day when a specific number of our former friends begin to die – dying “natural deaths.” Perhaps it’s when we ourselves find that with each recurring cold or bout of the flu we don’t recover as rapidly or as completely as we once did. Perhaps, as with Nebuchadnezzar, there is a life-shattering diagnosis and an unfavorable prognosis. Even though it might turn out to be a false alarm, it finally sinks in to us, that we are now closer to our demise than we are to our birth. For a few days until we get that second opinion we actually spend time on the subject of death and what lays beyond. Almost overnight, the greatest king on earth had his kingdom stripped away, and then almost as quickly it was restored. Through it all Nebuchadnezzar became convinced that he was mortal. But the God who can move human kings and kingdoms like this, is not mortal – or weak. Jehovah is the King of kings, and His kingdom is eternal.
Furthermore, but closely related – the dominion of the God of Israel is also eternal and absolute. When this verse refers to “kingdom” and then to “dominion,” there are two ways to understand them. This could be mere poetry and the repetition of one thought in a slightly different form. Or we could separate them into two different statements. For the sake of this point, let’s take the second approach. The first and primary definition of “dominion” is “control or exercise of control; SOVEREIGNTY.”
Not only is the God of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah the King of all kings, but He is absolutely sovereign over all things. It is He who decides whether or not our weather and our winter is going to be cold and snowy – or not. It is He who decides whether or not a disease is fatal or not. It is He who spares a wicked man like Nebuchadnezzar or not.
And the king’s ultimate point will be – “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” This is what Biblical theology is all about. It’s not the understanding of this divine fact or that divine attribute. It’s about falling on our knees before this God who we are slowly learning and loving. This is what happens to Nebuchadnezzar in this chapter.
And this is what we need to find in our hearts as well. Can you say that Jehovah is the sovereign God and that Jesus personally died for your sins?