DANIEL 4:1-3
After the events in this chapter
occurred, an apparently docile King Nebuchadnezzar issued a proclamation
declaring he had finally learned his lesson: that indeed the most high God was
in control of a realm greater than his own-a Kingdom that will last eternally,
dominating earthly powers for generations to come. This decree was written by
the king himself, his regal attempt to tell an entire nation of the great God
he had now come to honor and respect.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
We have now arrived at the latter
half of the king’s reign, and some twenty-three years have passed between chapters three and four. Nebuchadnezzar has been a
successful warrior abroad for most of his career, and he is now spending the
remainder of his life in relative ease at his palace in Babylon. Chapter four
could probably be called Nebuchadnezzar’s spiritual biography. But just as
leopards are not known for changing their spots, so the king remained a proud
man and would later have to pay the price for forcing his subjects to worship
his great gold image on the plain of Dura a generation earlier. The score would
soon be evened, as we shall see as the drama of this chapter unfolds.
Daniel-Consistent in Courage
Once again, King Nebuchadnezzar had
a dream that caused him great anxiety. By now, he seemed convinced that the old
guard of magicians, astrologers, and wise men would not have the necessary
skills to interpret his latest dream, so he brought in a new group of seers,
"all the wise men of Babylon," not just those from the palace. This
time, he didn’t play games by asking them to tell him his dream and give him
the interpretation. He told them the dream immediately. Still, even the wisest
in the realm were at a complete loss for an interpretation.
I’ve always wondered why he didn’t
bring Daniel in immediately instead of going through the frustration of working
with supposed wise men who never seemed to be able to
deliver. Eventually, Daniel (Belteshazzar) was
brought before the king, taken away momentarily from his busy life as judge and
prime minister of the realm. Nebuchadnezzar now knew that only a supernatural
being could interpret his latest anxiety-ridden dream, and he seemed confident
that Daniel was the man to give him the answers he needed.
Trees = Power
As described in the passage above,
the king’s latest dream was about a luxuriant tree of great height, with
branches heavy with enough fruit to sustain the lives of many. But then a holy
"watcher" descended from heaven and commanded that the tree be cut
down, leaving only a stump in the ground. To a king who was already paranoid
about losing his kingdom, this dream was one more in a painful series that
indicated neither time nor the God of the Hebrews was on his side. Let’s look
at this dream and its various components as they relate both to biblical
symbolism and to final end-time mysteries.
Throughout the Word of God, trees
represent kingdoms and powers. Two examples:
Nebuchadnezzar did not know it at
the time, but the great tree that reached to heaven represented him and his
vast empire. Babylon was a powerful tree-a mighty kingdom that had refused to
bow its head to anything but a lifeless Marduk and
the other Babylonian gods. But it was an abusive power, filled with the pride
of an arrogant king who had crafted a golden image and made his subjects bow to
it. Because of the king’s arrogance, God would cut the tree representing
Nebuchadnezzar’s great power to the ground, but enough would remain (the stump)
to indicate that it was still alive enough to undergo seven years of testing, a
graphic picture of the seven-year Tribulation hour-a time we are rapidly
approaching.
Twenty-One Judgments
During those seven years of trouble,
according to the dream, the king would be stricken down. He crawled about on
his hands and knees, disheveled, a mad monarch forced to eat grass as an
animal. His hair probably grew to where it touched his back. His fingernails
were like bird claws.
There was a time when skeptics
argued that such a situation was not plausible. Raymond Harrison recited a
personal experience with a modern case similar to that of Nebuchadnezzar, which
he observed in a British mental institution in 1946. He found a man who was
mentally deranged, had claws like a bird, with matted hair hanging all the way
to his feet. Furthermore, the man’s diet was grass, which he ate while crawling
on all fours. The disease was given a name: Boanthropy,
or Zoanthropy.
Medical records prove this malady
does, in fact, exist-and is the same disease, or the equivalent, that Nebuchadnezzar
experienced in his dream and life. This state of mental derangement would last
for seven years, representing the duration of the Tribulation, that terrible
time on earth when millions who insist on honoring a false god will go through
judgments destined to inundate the world.
How many judgments will there be
during these perilous days? Twenty-one! Each of them is listed in Revelation
chapters six to eighteen.
Here are just a few: Revelation 6:2
says the Antichrist appears on a white horse; verses 4 to 8 tell us there will
be three other riders. The red horse depicts peace being removed from the earth
with the cataclysmic judgments of war annihilating one-third of the world’s
inhabitants; verse 5 says the rider on a black horse causes mass starvation; and
verse 8 gives us the dramatic picture of a rider on a pale horse that causes
myriads of diseases, eliminating another one-fourth of the human race; in verse
9, we see yet another judgment, where millions are slaughtered for honoring the
name of God and for declaring their allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ; verse
12 speaks of the judgments in the heavens:
"And
I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great
earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became
as blood."
The judgment described in Revelation
8:1 is so terrible that it unleashes the other fourteen judgments, causing an
unusual silence in heaven for about the space of half an hour.
The angels, knowing what is coming,
are so stunned as they contemplate the future that
there is a holy hush in the presence of God. This day is rapidly approaching,
and the Book of Daniel is the prophecy through which these end-time mysteries
are now being unsealed. In chapter two, we saw the future kingdoms clearly delineated,
and now we know that most of Daniel’s prophecy has already happened. There is
only one part of the prophecy yet to come: the stone smashing the feet of the
image- Christ’s glorious return to establish His millennial reign for one
thousand years upon the earth (Revelation 20:4).
This is all going to take place
soon. But before it does, there will be the Tribulation period, pictured by the
example of a mentally deranged, animal-like king, who crawls on the ground
eating grass for seven years. Once again, a desperate king turns to his foreign
friend and counselor for the interpretation of his dream. And again, what
Daniel is about to tell the king is not good news. But Daniel remains
courageous, refusing to dodge the issue. God has given Daniel the interpretation,
and he is prepared to speak the mind of God freely before King Nebuchadnezzar
Daniel’s Response to the Dream -
Daniel 4: 19 - 27
Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar,
was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled
him. The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar,
let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My
lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to
thine enemies.
Even though Daniel had been given divine
truth directly from God, it still was not easy for him to express those
thoughts to the king. He stood there astonished, virtually unable to speak for
one hour. Then we see a small crack in the king’s pride as Nebuchadnezzar
becomes compassionate toward Daniel, telling him not to let the dream or its
interpretation get him down. The king seems to be stiffening his upper lip;
since he’s been in a similar situation before with Daniel, he’s probably
gearing himself up to hear an interpretation that may not be favorable.
Essentially Daniel says, "O,
king, I’ve got bad news for you." It’s always difficult to bring bad
tidings to a friend or a colleague, and Daniel, a trusted servant of the king,
must have felt great pain in his own heart. Yet, he remained courageous and
spoke the Word of God, even though it was a terrible confirmation of what God
would do.
Speaking the Truth in Love
Comfortable or not, it is always the
role of the believer to speak the truth in love. Just as a doctor is obliged to
cut out a cancer if he is to fulfill his role of worthy physician, so we are
compelled to speak the truth of God’s Word with compassion. God says that we
must warn people of the wrath to come, or their blood will be on our hands.
It’s the same message Paul communicated to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2:
"Preach
the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all
longsuffering and doctrine."
This is what Daniel did once again.
The prophet of God was not afraid. He had been given a message from God, and he
would deliver it. Daniel was prepared to stand firm in his convictions. Even in
a direct one-on-one situation with the king, Daniel did not hesitate to say,
"Thus saith the Lord."
Daniel’s Interpretation of the
King’s Dream
The tree that thou sawest,
which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight
thereof to all the earth;
Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof
much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt,
and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation:
It is thou, O King, that art grown and become
strong; for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto
heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.
And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one
coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet
leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and
brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of
heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven time
pass over him.
This is the interpretation, O king, and this is
the decree of the most High, which is come upon my
lord the king.
That they shall drive thee from men and thy
dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And they shall make thee to eat
grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times
shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth
in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of
the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have
know that the heavens do rule.
Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable
into thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by
showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.
The first piece of discomforting
news for Nebuchadnezzar was that he was, in fact, the tree. It was a big,
strong, sturdy tree, providing food and sustenance for all, seemingly
invincible. But Daniel’s message was that this power could not last forever- a
recurring theme, and one you’d think would now be settling deep into the king’s
heart. As the tree in the dream, Nebuchadnezzar would literally be "cut down
to size," with only a stump remaining: alive but ineffective. He would one
day be revived, but only after a terrible mental sickness had afflicted him.
Here I must submit that God is not
only a God of irony, but also one of considerable humor. You’ll recall the
passage where Nebuchadnezzar determined to make his great image all gold
because he believed that nobody was ever going to defeat him. When he made that
decision, he essentially was saying to Daniel, "Look Daniel, I really
don’t care what you told me about all that gold, silver, bronze, and clay . . .
my statue is going to be all gold. Period!"
So what does God do as He gives
Daniel the interpretation of the tree dream? He says, "By the way, King, I
want you to notice something about this tree- which is you. There are a couple
of things on the bottom you need to know about, like a little band of brass and
iron!" I have a feeling this irony was not lost on the king as he probably
said to himself, "Come on, not that brass and iron stuff again!" God
was saying, through Daniel, "King, the secret I’ve revealed to Daniel,
which you accepted at the time, is going to happen; whether you like it or not,
the ‘ brass and iron are still major players in your ultimate demise."
The "Watchers" Among
Us-Today!
And who was telling the king about
his future? The "watcher" and the "holy one"-angels, sent
to do the bidding of their Father. These watchers see all and tell all-to God.
They are all around. They protect you, and they protect me. You’ll remember
when Jesus was on earth He said, "Thinkest
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more
than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53).A legion in the Roman
army consisted of a group totaling seven thousand soldiers. Hence, twelve times
seven thousand, or eighty-four thousand angels, would appear instantaneously at
the word of Jesus Christ if He requested help.
These were angels who would come
from the "third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:2). That’s so far into
space it’s mind-boggling. However, here’s an attempt to describe the third
heaven and the distance God’s elect angels travel, coming from that location to
earth. The atmosphere, troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, ionosphere, and
exosphere are all part of the first heaven and reach upwards into the first six
hundred miles of space. The second heaven begins at that point and is so
astronomical that it’s practically impossible to comprehend.
Recently astronomers discovered a
new quasar some fourteen hundred billion light years from earth. How far is that, you ask? Well, light travels at the rate of 186,000
miles per second. This produces a total of six trillion miles annually and is
called a light year. Thus, the second heaven extends upwards into space some
fourteen hundred billion times six trillion miles. Beyond that is the third
heaven-the heaven of heavens- God’s throne. It’s from this seemingly
immeasurable distance that these "watchers" and "holy ones"
brought Nebuchadnezzar his message of doom in the dream.
When we read a detailed history of
Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, we see how proud the king was of his great
accomplishments, among them a nation he had fashioned into a peaceful shelter
and granary for all-full of nutritional abundance. Because of his superb
administrative abilities, no one in Babylon would go hungry. Now that great
tree of plenty would be destroyed.., and there, again, was this annoying little
band of brass and iron.
Here’s an interesting footnote of
history. Nebuchadnezzar often took his military campaigns into the great forests
and woods of Lebanon and had become infatuated by the great cedars there. We
also read that the king so loved the cedars of Lebanon that he cut many of them
down with his own hands. Now that which the king loved would be cut to a mere
stump in the ground, meaning that he would soon be removed from office and
forced to live away from the palace as a mentally incompetent vagabond,
scratching the earth for food as an animal. How long would he be forced to live
like this? Until he acknowledged that the true God in heaven was sovereign
ruler over the kingdoms of earth.
An Invitation Is Extended
As any good preacher would do after
a powerful sermon or illustration, Daniel gave his friend the king an
opportunity to repent of his evil ways. Up to that time, Nebuchadnezzar had
been immensely cruel to thousands of his subjects, especially during his
massive building campaigns (Habakkuk 2:11-13). So, Daniel did not flinch on his
interpretation of the dream. There would be no promise that the king would
escape from the wrath to come. But Daniel did indicate that perhaps-just maybe-
almighty God might extend the king’s era of tranquility if he would repent of
his terrible acts of oppression, engage in acts of righteousness, and
demonstrate a greater degree of mercy to the poor in Babylon.
The
Realization of the Dream
Daniel 4:28 - 33
All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
At the end of twelve months he walked in the
palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
The king spake, and
said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for
the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell
a voice from heaven, saying, 0 king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
And they shall drive thee from men, and thy
dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat
grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the
most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it
to whomsoever he will.
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon
Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his
body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’
feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
It’s now a year later, and God has
been patient with Nebuchadnezzar. Despite his earlier bent toward believing in
the God of the Hebrews, the king remained stubborn, pretending he was an
earthly ruler who would reign forever. Even as he hoped that his friend Daniel
would be wrong, the prophecy began to be fulfilled. At the tragic moment when
the king finds himself on the verge of a mental breakdown, he begins to engage
in a sort of lonely soliloquy about his exploits as ruler of Babylon.
He was probably strolling on the
roof of his palace as he spoke-grounds that covered a
six-mile area-surveying his great city and all that he had done to make it one
of the ancient wonders. His royal chest filled with pride as he boasted of
accomplishments never done by others.
Yes, he had done some amazing things
and was undoubtedly the greatest kingdom builder in ancient times. He had built
two enormous temples and seventeen ornate religious shrines. His Hanging
Gardens of Babylon were without equal, something the Greeks later declared one
of the Seven Wonders of the World. He had constructed the famous Ishtar
Gate-magnificent with its carved bulls and four-legged dragons etched in high
relief. With the assistance of hand-picked engineers, he had designed and
created amazingly intricate hydraulic systems that carried water effortlessly
up from the Euphrates River to his gardens high above the city-gardens that
housed some of the most exotic plants and trees of his day.
But as he reveled in his kingly
accomplishments, the voice from heaven finally came, even as Daniel had
prophesied one year earlier. It was finally over. Payday had arrived. At that
moment, the king realized even the best laid plans of kings and men are as
dust. The mills of God may grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.
Surely and firmly judgment falls
when people refuse to glorify God by taking full credit for their worldly
accomplishments. Again, this is the scenario of the seven-year Tribulation
period-a time in history when the greatest sin will be committed by another
king-the infamous Antichrist, who will magnify himself above God (Daniel
11:36). God despises and judges such arrogance. That’s why Proverbs 16:18
declares, "Pride goeth before destruction,
and an haughty spirit before a fall."
The
Message of a Frog
As I was preparing this chapter I
reminded my wife, Rexella, of a little story that
speaks straight to this issue of pride. Once there was a little frog sitting on
the ground. He watched forlornly as he saw the great birds of the sky flying
overhead. Oh. if I could only fly like the
eagles I would be extremely happy, he thought. Well, one day, two of the
eagles were on the ground. The frog approached them, saying, "Say, I
wonder if you two fellows would do me a favor. I’ve got this long stick, and if
you’d just put it in your beaks, I could hang on to it, and we could fly
through space together. I’ve always wanted to fly."
The eagles agreed to the strange
request, and slowly they lifted the frog from the comfort of his lily pad, up
into the unfamiliar but exhilarating sky above, the frog hanging on to the
stick for dear life. Before long, the other frogs turned
their heads skyward and in disbelief-unable to see the stick-saw their little
green friend ascending farther and farther into space. His friends on
the ground began to praise this stunt saying, "What genius thought of
doing this?" The frog’s ego at this point got the best of him when he
shouted, "I-I-I did." By doing so he lost his biting grip on the
stick and plunged to earth in a humiliating landing.
My friend, we can do absolutely
nothing on our own-no more than that frog could fly without some help from his
friends. All we do and have are gifts from God. So the next time you are
tempted to say, "I did it all on my own," I hope you’ll remember the
story of the frog-and that you’ll then quickly recall the pride of
Nebuchadnezzar, a man who had accomplished great feats to make a name for
himself but who, in the process, refused to give God the credit. As a result,
he paid the price. He fell, even as Satan did, through pride (I Timothy 3:6).
Nebuchadnezzar’s
Response to the Message of the "Watcher"
Daniel 4: 34 - 37
And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted
up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I
blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him
that liveth for ever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to
generation:
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed
as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him,
What doest thou?
At the same time my reason returned unto me; and
for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and
brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me;
and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.
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.
His reason now restored after his
period of derangement, King Nebuchadnezzar swallowed his pride and raised his
humbled eyes toward heaven. After his terrible experience as a mad monarch
scratching out an existence as an animal, now he was finally willing to honor
the true King of heaven. He recognized that all God’s works were true and that
those who live out their days in pride will be humbled beyond recognition.
What brought Nebuchadnezzar to this
realization? It wasn’t a miracle. When he saw the Hebrew children in the fiery
furnace without a hair singed or a piece of clothing carrying the smell of
smoke, and the fourth man in the furnace with them, and their walking out
unscathed-that didn’t make him a believer. In Nebuchadnezzar’s case, it took
the sickness of a deranged mind to bring him to his senses, and what a
conversion experience he had. The truth we have seen again and again in this
chapter is highlighted in Paul’s writing to the church at Rome:
"But
God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you" (Romans 6:17).
The
message? There is hope for all.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, we read,
"Know
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not
deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves,
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,
shall inherit the kingdom of God."
But praise
God, the apostle doesn’t stop there. In verse 11 Paul continues,
"And
such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
The good news is always followed by
even better news, that none of us needs to be what we once were. There is hope
for us all-just as there was hope and an opportunity for restitution for King
Nebuchadnezzar. Yes, he paid a great price for his transgressions, just as you
and I will always pay a heavy toll when we turn our backs on the foundational
principles that God has ordained. True repentance means turning "about
face" and heading in God’s direction. When we do this, we no longer will
want to do the evil we once did. Now, after all the fighting, kicking, and
screaming Nebuchadnezzar did to distance himself from the one true God, he
finally realized that he was the problem, and that his own sinful pride was the
issue.
It took crawling around as an animal
for a year to make him realize that he needed to square himself away with the
true God. Nebuchadnezzar’s conversion changed him from the inside out. Yes,
it’s a great, historically accurate story. But the deeper, underlying message
of Nebuchadnezzar’s narrative- and his dream-is that this is all simply a
precursor of the shattering events yet to come: seven years of Tribulation
where unbridled humans will set themselves up as New Age gods, living unholy,
prideful lives and worshipping seducing spirits, even when the obvious handwriting
of warning begins to appear on the wall-the intriguing story and subject of
chapter five.