One of the most amazing things about the work of God in our lives is the way He reveals Himself to us so as to move us along in our understanding of Him. He is doing that with King Nebuchadnezzar here in the Book of Daniel. And when we come to the opening verses of this chapter we hear the King giving the most exalted exclamation about the character of God that has yet been given. Now we must be careful here: Exalted exclamations about God do not save us and they may well speak to our experience of God in a given circumstance of life. They do not necessarily constitute to core of who we are in relationship to God. What are some other biblical instances where we see people being brought along by God in their understanding of God?

I. An Exalted Affirmation, 4:1-3

A. The king’s view of himself has not diminished at all. He is still the king of Babylon who sees himself as the ruler of the world. His edict is issued to all peoples, languages, and nations that dwell upon the earth. So, the King as sovereign over one land sees himself as sovereign over every land and thus can issue a decree for all. Who alone has this kind of authority and what does it say about any person who would issue this kind of edict?

B. The King’s decree is peace that would be multiplied to them. What is implied is that he is the source of this peace and that it can be multiplied based on the experience that he just enjoyed. So, what the king is about to enunciate emerges out of the emotion of his own experience.

C. The decree is about God but look at its focus: “it seemed good to me . .” “what the Most High God has done for me.” Both phrases are found in verse two and the focus is on the king and the force is not the Truth from this “Most High God” but the signs and wonders. So, here is a king who in this verse offers his most exalted exclamation about God: He is the El Elyon, the Most High God. In the King’s context this would mean that this God is the highest of all the gods. This is not monotheism. This is “supertheism.” This God is above the other gods because of His signs and wonders that were focused on the king. What makes God the Most High God for us? Is it His essence as the One and Only God or is it found in His expression of good to us? Do we feel better about our God when He delivers us from whatever or are our feelings about God consistent no matter what happens in the context of the circumstances of our lives?

D. The opening lines of verse 3 give shape to the closing lines of verse three. It would be an appropriate affirmation if the lines were reversed. What the King is saying is that God is great because of His signs and wonders so that it is these that make His Kingdom and everlasting and enduring Kingdom. The implication is that if we take away the signs and wonders then this Most High God who is King would be just like all the other gods. Here is a case where the words sound so right but they emerge from a heart that is so wrong. Is it possible for a person to grow up in a church and learn all the right jargon for sounding like a Christian and become so comfortable with the jargon that they can speak the language of Zion with ease but the words are empty of content?

II. The Second Dream 4:4-18

A. Verse 4 is so striking. Life is good for the King at home and on the job. He has peace at home and prosperity in the palace, what more could a king want or need? He has been triumphant in war so that his Kingdom is at peace and he enjoys the pleasures of the palace with its fine food, wine and women. And then he has another dream that deeply troubled him.

B. The king calls all those in his kingdom who might interpret the dream but they could not, 6-7; and then he calls in Daniel who has the name of one of the king’s gods but in him is the “spirit of the holy gods.” This is so interesting in the context of this culture. Names were taken seriously as reflective of character. The thrust here would be that Daniel should have taken on the character of the god after whom he was named, but he had not done that because of the power of the Spirit of God that was at work within Him. This Spirit controlled His life and thus formed His character. Now we know that in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon and dwelt within those whom God had chosen to be used by Him in the extension of His Work in the world. And we know that for those in whom the Spirit of God was dwelling, there was a real and radical change of character. We know further that since the coming of Jesus those who are called out by God through His Spirit and commit themselves to Jesus as Lord are those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells daily so as to change both the character and the conduct of their lives. What are some evidences in our lives that the Holy Spirit has changed both the character and the conduct of our lives? Would others say about us what this pagan king said about Daniel, “The Spirit of God lives in _________________?

C. The King has learned to trust Daniel as a godly man who can understand and unravel mysteries so he tells the dream to the king, 9-18. Notice the vivid details of the dream and the clarity with which it comes to the king and with which he remembers it as he rehearses it before Daniel. The dream has a very definite pattern:

1. A tall tree that was very strong, 10-11
2. A fruitful tree that was fully sufficient, 12
3. A Holy One who descends to destroy the tree, 13-14
2a. A stump that is left bound with iron and bronze, 15
1a. The stump becomes a beast to show that every Kingdom belongs to the Most High God, 16-17

Then the king seeks the interpretation of the dream. The center of the dream and pivot point is number 3. The outer extremities are framed by the central point: Strong and fruitful trees are controlled by a Sovereign God who can turn them into stumps and fearful beasts at His command.

III. The Communication of the Content of the Dream, 4:19-27

A. The first thing that must not be missed is the care and compassion that Daniel has for the king. Daniel was dismayed and alarmed. He was silent before the king. He knew what the dream meant but he hoped that it was not true. He did not want the king to experience the judgment of God; he wanted the king to experience the grace of God. Imagine that! This is the king who had thrown his three friends into the fiery furnace and enslaved them in his own prison. This is the king who could do with Daniel whatever he desired to do. He could kill him. And Daniel sees what is in the dream and hopes that it is not true. This is not natural nor normal; this is the evidence that the Holy Spirit does dwell in Daniel.

The judgment of God in the world is real. There are those even now who are under His wrath and it will not be removed and there are those who will face in the end the full force of His wrath. There are those who are not saved and will not be saved because not all are saved but that must never mean that the people of God delight in the judgment and wrath of God and that we do not beg and plead for people to turn to Jesus even until they draw their last breath. It is not up to us to determine the sincerity or the integrity of a decision. That is given only to God but we must plead and pray that people will come to Jesus, commit their lives to Jesus and live under His Lordship. Sinners slipping into eternity under the hand of the judgment of God is no cause for us to delight. Daniel saw what this dream was about and it broke his heart for this pagan king.

B. Nebuchadnezzar is the strong and sufficient tree, 20-22. He will be brought down by God who will use other pagan kingdoms to bring down the Babylonian Kingdom. Greece under Alexander and then Rome will follow both of whom will have their day in sun, 23-26.

C. Daniel issues a challenge to the king: Repent of your sin and begin to walk in the ways that are right by demonstrating your devotion to God by showing mercy to the oppressed and perhaps God will be merciful to you, 27. Daniel does what we must do: call people to repentance and faith while trusting the sovereign God to work in the lives of those who come in repentance and faith. Only God knows ultimately who is truly repentant and truly faithful.

IV. Nebuchadnezzar’s Humiliation, 4:28-33

A. Nebuchadnezzar responded to the dream of Daniel by waiting and doing nothing and as far as he could tell, nothing happened. He waited one whole year and nothing at all changed in his life. He had heard a word of judgment and the judgment did not come. He assumed that since it did not come immediately, it would not come at all. He was working with what is an always deadly combination: human pride plus the passing of time can lead to disaster. Do you know people who do not know Jesus for whom life is going quite well so that any communication of the Gospel to them is met with deaf ears? They are operating on the above formula. The assumption is that if we are not right with God then something bad is going to happen to us and when it doesn’t we assume that we are ok.

B. The heart of he king is revealed in verse 30. He uses the first person pronoun three times. And it is in the assertion of his pride that the painful judgment of God falls upon his life. The king is confronted by God and cast out of his kingdom. Now God has a purpose in all of this that has to do with the exaltation of His name which requires the humiliation of the king. He brings the king down so as to elevate His own glory. Is there anything about what God does that would be considered an injustice or unfair? Did the king have ample warning about what God was going to do? Where does God communicate to us His character and His call so that we know who He is and how He acts? No human being can ever accuse God of being unfair or acting unjustly.

V. God’s Exaltation, 4:34-37

A. Reason returns to Nebuchadnezzar when he lifts his eyes toward the heavens. Here is the source of all right reason. It is not within us but beyond us. It is given to us by God through His Word. He makes Himself known to us in such a way that shapes the way we reason. Reason without revelation from God through His Word is irrational. Reason shaped by the revelation of God is a rational and logical approach to life. Whoever rules the world gets to establish the rules for how the world operates and how we are to operate in terms of understanding the one who rules the world.

B. The first thing that the king does when his reason returns is what all reasonable people do: he blessed the Most High God by giving him praise and honor. Praise has to do with worship while honor has to do with work. Worship always leads us somewhere when it is worship in Spirit and in Truth. Worship that does not lead to obedience is disobedient worship.

C. The second thing that the king does is that he assigns glory exclusively to God. Notice that the phrase about signs and wonders from the beginning of the chapter is not here. He praises God for His sovereignty, 34b; He acknowledges that humans are nothing in His sight, 35a; and that our God does whatever pleases Him in the heavens and upon the earth, 35b.

D. The third thing that happens here is that God gives the kingdom back to the king, 36; as a test of what had really happened in his life and the king gives glory to God whose works are right, whose ways are just, and who humbles those who are prideful.

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