We want to continue our study through Daniel, if you have your Bibles then turn with me to Daniel chapter 4. The events that have transpired over the last couple of weeks have left a lot of people in our nation, number one, shocked that it would happen, but secondly, there seems to be a tremendous move, especially among many young people, to have listened to the message that Charlie Kirk brought, and we need to pray that true revival will come out of all of these things. I was listening to a pastor this last week, Jack Hibbs, who is a friend of Charlie’s, and he’s got a fairly large church out in Chino Hills, California, and he was talking, and one of the concerns that he has is there’s a lot of emotion that’s being done right now, but the one thing he says I’m not hearing is people talking about repentance. Repentance is a word that has kind of been left out of the vocabulary of much of the church today.
A lot of churches never talk about repentance.
A lot of churches never talk about repentance, but the prophets in the Old Testament were constantly calling the nation of Israel to repent and turn back to God. Repentance is a willful choice and action that occurs within the person’s heart where they make a choice. They’re going in one direction, the world’s way, and they’re willing to repent and turn and follow God and go Christ’s way. But it demands something. Repentance demands that you die to yourself. Repentance demands that you die to your desires and you come alive to the desires of God, not only for your salvation, but for your daily life, for the things you do, the choices you make, the attitudes you possess, the things you share.
One of the things that amazed me about Charlie Kirk was the fact that if you listen to him talk to these kids on the college campuses, oftentimes these young people would be coming because they had been totally influenced by a world culture, an education system, and even a home life that struck out against the principles and values of God. And oftentimes they would come trying to trip him up, trying to get him to say something he didn’t believe, and some of them would come with even anger. But the amazing thing that I saw was the love and compassion he possessed for them to answer their questions and to answer them from a biblical perspective, even though it may be a political question.
We’re studying in Daniel about four young men, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, four Jewish young men that were thrust into a world political system that was totally anti everything they believed and trusted in, and the gods that that system worshipped were pagan gods that were demonically inspired and stood in opposition to everything that Yahweh or God of the Bible stands for. What would these guys do? Last week we looked at Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah who their Babylonian names were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They had to make a choice.
Daniel had to make the same choice. Would he tell Nebuchadnezzar the things Nebuchadnezzar wanted to hear, or would he tell Nebuchadnezzar the truth that God revealed to him? Now, it’s interesting as you look at this whole book and how it lays out in the account, the first part of the book deals specifically with these four young men, the things that they are dealt with as far as requests are given by Nebuchadnezzar to really deny their God, and yet they do not do it. They are constantly obedient to the will of the Lord.
They constantly speak the truth, and they do it because they care. If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ today, you realize you know the truth that an unbeliever does not know. Do you really love the unbeliever? Do you really care about their soul? Do you really understand where their decisions are taking them?
Currently, our city is making some very foolish decisions in the name of loving people. In the name of loving people, we’re going to give drug addicts clean needles so that they can shoot up. In the name of loving people, we’re going to let people continue down their road of addiction to alcohol and give them a place to come and encourage them to come not only from our city, but from all over the country to come to Fargo because we’re so loving and so caring. But is it love? Is it love to say, well, we really don’t have crime in our community, but yet, there’s a gang problem.
I think it was three, maybe four weeks ago now, we had three murders in Fargo on one weekend. Last weekend, we had two armed robberies, which could have led to murder. But we want to deceive the people and say, crime is down. And we’ll just redefine everything so people won’t have to face the reality of the situation that we have okayed theft in our stores, harassment on our streets, and we’ll do nothing about it because we’ll just call it, it’s not really crime. Are we to be, as God’s people, those who would use semantics and switch words and switch definitions, or are we to be truth-tellers? Nebuchadnezzar, in chapter four of Daniel’s book, is having another dream. We sing a hymn right before I begin the message this morning, and it’s called, Grace That Is Greater Than Our Sins.
I don’t know, if you’re a believer, and you read this, and you read the life of Nebuchadnezzar, would you say he was a sinner or a saint? The man was a murderer.
The man was someone who took advantage of people. The man was an idol worshipper. The man did everything to promote a belief system, even to the point of changing the names of the Jewish young men that he brought from Jerusalem to Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, which all reflected the gods of the Babylonians, not the gods of the Jews. Their old names all had God’s name in their name. Remember what we said they are.
Daniel said, God is judge. Hananiah, God is gracious. Azariah, God is there.
Nebuchadnezzar, Meziah, that God is God, or God is who God is. He wanted to destroy it. But did God want to deal with Nebuchadnezzar? If there’s ever somebody in scripture that probably should have never had an opportunity to have, bow the knee to the Lord, to say, I believe that you are the true and living God, I confess that you are, forgive me for my sin, it would be, Nebuchadnezzar shouldn’t have had that chance. But what we see, as you go through the book of Daniel, is Nebuchadnezzar is constantly coming face to face with the reality, there is only one God. And often times, Daniel is the main tool, but the other three young men at the dedication of the statue last week, all had opportunities to deny God, and deny an opportunity to proclaim the truth before Nebuchadnezzar. But instead they proclaimed the truth before this strong, wicked, evil man, and they stood for truth.
And it’s beginning to have an effect on Nebuchadnezzar. Let’s take a look at chapter four.
Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. Daniel 4:1-2
It’s interesting. This sounds like the opening of one of Paul’s epistles.
Not a letter from Nebuchadnezzar. But Nebuchadnezzar is about to share the event that God was going to take him through, because God was gracious, God was going to cause Nebuchadnezzar to suffer, like no man normally suffers. But it had a profound impact on Nebuchadnezzar. These are Nebuchadnezzar writing this, not Daniel. That’s what most people think. It’s written in Aramaic.
3 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. Daniel 4:3
It doesn’t sound like the guy that named them Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What’s changed? What happened? I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace.
He was a worldly man that was enjoying life, and everything that he touched was successful. If you look back, and you look at world’s history, and look at Nebuchadnezzar, you will see that he was a genius. He was a military, great military strategist.
He was a crop grower, and a flower, someone who had beautiful, he developed the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the world, because he was into botany. Not only that, he was a builder. He built the city of Babylon.
Its walls were impregnable. Its gates were marvelous. His ability to decorate with gold, and precious stones, and metal, unbelievable! And he’s sitting in his house, resting. But God is going to extend grace to him, in the middle of what he thinks, his own ability.
I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed, and the vision of my head troubled me. Therefore, made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came the magicians, and the astrologers, and the Chaldeans, and the Soothsayers, and I told them the dream before them, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. Daniel 4:4-7
Not like the last time, he couldn’t remember the dream. This time he remembers it, and he’s greatly troubled by it, but they also know they dare not give him the wrong interpretation. And none of them have any way to interpret it. But there’s one man who does. A believer in the God that Nebuchadnezzar was referring to as he introduced this letter of testimony to his whole kingdom.
Just pause there, I want you to understand. Notice he says Daniel. Something changed. He calls him Daniel. He doesn’t call him Daniel. He calls him Belteshazzar the last time when he interpreted the first dream, but now he introduces him to all the kingdom as Daniel. And he says, his name was
8bBelteshazzar, according to the name of my God, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. Before him I told the dream, saying,
9 O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof.
I want you to see how he describes Daniel. Someone who is filled with the spirit of the Lord, he calls him the spirit of the gods. But that’s going to change too, later on. But we see that he calls Daniel someone who’s not troubled. Evidently all the soothsayers, magicians, and Chaldeans, and everybody else that he brought in to try and show, they were all troubled, because they knew the consequences if they failed to give Nebuchadnezzar what he wanted to hear. He would kill them and burn all their possessions, including their family and their houses. That was his modus operandi.
But Daniel wasn’t afraid. Why wasn’t Daniel afraid? Because he knew the true God. He knew the Lord that created all things.
He knew the Lord that knows all things. He knew the Lord that in spite of allowing Daniel to end up in Babylon instead of Jerusalem, Daniel knew it was for a purpose. And part of the purpose was his being brought into the presence of Nebuchadnezzar to show God’s grace to a man that no believer would ever think deserved God’s grace.
Verse 10,
10 Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. 11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: 12 the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. 13 I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;
They had overcome the Egyptians, they had overcome the Assyrians, the Grecians were not a power yet, the Medo-Persians were not a power, neither were the Romans.
14 he cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: 15 nevertheless leave the stump of his roots 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 in the grass of the earth: 16 let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.
17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. 18 This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation: but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee.
This is the interpretational king, and this is the decree of the Most High. Notice he doesn’t say the gods, he says the Most High.
He is speaking of the Lord, which has come upon my Lord the King. So who has control and who is bringing the dream to Nebuchadnezzar? It’s the Lord. It’s the God, the Holy One of Heaven.
25a 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.
That’s seven years.
25b Till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
Is God merciful or is God gracious? He could have just judged Nebuchadnezzar, but instead he is going to cause this situation to come into Nebuchadnezzar’s life where he is going to become like an animal.
For seven years, he is going to be out of his mind. He is going to be like an animal wandering around in the grass, eating grass. They won’t clip his nails.
They won’t cut his hair. And there is a purpose. Then you will understand that the gods of Babylon are no gods at all. The ones that he keeps referring to as gods of heaven are not gods of heaven because there is only one Most High. And this Most High will step in and raise up whom he will raise up and tear down whom he will tear down because he has the final authority over his kingdom and his creation.
26 And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the root, thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee.
In other words, he is not going to remove the kingdom completely from Nebuchadnezzar at this time. The root will remain. The Medes and the Persians are not going to take it from Nebuchadnezzar.
They are actually going to take it from his grandson. But during Nebuchadnezzar’s life, the Lord will not take it from Nebuchadnezzar because there is going to be a change in Nebuchadnezzar’s heart.
After that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee and break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor and if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility. And the vision was fulfilled. And as this came to pass, the king Nebuchadnezzar at the end of twelve months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon and spake and said, Is not the great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom of the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O 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 to eat grass as oxen and seven times shall grass over them and 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 the men and he did eat grass as oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till the hairs were grown as eagle’s feathers and his nails like bird’s claws. And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven and my understanding returned unto me and I blessed the Most High and I praised and honored him that liveth forever 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 honor and brightness returned unto me and my counselors and my lords sought unto me and I was established in my kingdom and excellent majesty was added unto me.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar… and I want you to see the transformation from right before he became a madman for seven years. Remember it was mine, mine, I. What did you say now?
Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
Why don’t I just draw a few things out of this. First of all, what if Daniel had said, Lord, this isn’t for me. I already went into Nebuchadnezzar one time and put my life on the line, and interpreted a dream. I don’t want to do it again, but it said Daniel went in without fear. He was going before the most powerful king in the world, and this king had a demand that his own ungodly sorcerers, magicians, Chaldeans wouldn’t touch. Daniel went in without fear, and interpreted the dream, and interpreted the dream with the truth. Nebuchadnezzar was going to be taught, man’s pride is foolishness.
I remember listening to Dave Hunt speak a number of years ago, and he was talking about how our space program was so, they were so proud of our space program, and we knew all these things about space. He said, space program? What space program? We’ve been to the moon, but our universe is so far, we can’t even see the edge of it. What space program? He said, the space program would be like an ant out in the middle of a garden, and there’s grass, and the ant climbs up on this blade of grass, because there’s grass everywhere, and he really can’t see, and he gets up on the blade of grass, and he goes, I know everything about the universe! I can see it all from here! And we said, that ant would be absolutely insane.
All he knows is from the top of a blade of grass, and he can’t see to the edge of the yard. But we’ve got men that are so prideful, they think they know it all, and they can divorce themselves of the creator of the universe. They can divorce themselves of the God who gave them life.
They can divorce themselves of the truth that he has extended to us. They can divorce themselves of all that is real and true, and instead they embrace lies. And they say, I know it all. That was Nebuchadnezzar. My! My! I! Now it’s the Most High. Is God gracious? God is gracious.
As you look at what’s happened in the last two weeks, many people are asking, why would God not prevent an assassin from killing Charlie Kirk? That’s a powerful question. It prevented President Trump from getting assassinated. Right here we see that he has ultimate authority and control, but we need to pray that God’s grace can be extended to a world that does not want to embrace truth.
And it would be extended because of the life of one who was faithful to God. I listened to Jack Hibbs and he said, you know, a lot of people say in the Christian community that are believers say, Charlie Kirk was an aberration. He is totally different from me.
He said, you know, if Charlie Kirk would have lived back when our nation was founded, he would have fit right in with everybody else. He’d be standing for truth. He’d be exposing lies.
He’d be talking about the Most High God. Well, that’s what Charlie Kirk did. And that’s what our founding fathers did. But the thing is, the amazing thing is, Charlie Kirk should not be the one that is so different from every other Christian. Every one of us should be a Charlie Kirk. Every one of us has opportunities that Charlie Kirk never had. Charlie Kirk doesn’t live next to your neighbor. Charlie Kirk didn’t live in your town. You do. Charlie Kirk didn’t work at your job. You do. If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, we all need to be Charlie Kirk’s where we’re at.
We need to be Daniel who’s not afraid when we have the opportunity to go into places that we never thought we would have the opportunity to go into. But we need to go in understanding that God is with us and we need to be prepared. One of the things that made Daniel different, that made Charlie different, way different to me, they took opportunity to spend time with God every day.
In His Word, whatever they were doing, the Lord was there. And they had an answer for the hope that lay within them. I remember somebody saying that they needed to get the pastor or one of the teachers from the church over to share the gospel with their friend or relative because they didn’t know what to say.
That should not be the case for us as Christians. We should be able to articulate the gospel. Do you know what it is to be a witness? If you’re a witness to a car accident out there, I come out there and I’m the policeman and you saw the accident, you are now a witness.
So I come and I ask you, tell me what you saw. Tell me what happened here. That’s what a witness does. Why should it be so difficult for us to witness about our faith in Jesus Christ when we should be living and walking with Him every day and we tell people, this is what’s happening in my life. This is why I know it’s true. This is why I believe what I believe. And this is how you can believe too.
But you know, I remember Mark Cahill telling me this a number of years ago. He was here speaking and he said, ask people, raise your hand and tell me if you’re willing to raise your hand, tell me why you’re afraid to witness. The hand went up and one said, well, I’m afraid people are going to reject me. Another person raised up and said, well, I’m afraid that I don’t know what to say. After he’d listened to a bunch of really, it amounts to reasons that are really not reasons when you look at what the Bible says we’re called to do.
He said, do you want to realize that no matter what you do, when you witness, you are going to receive a blessing from the Lord. If the person doesn’t want to receive the gift of salvation and they reject the gospel after you’ve shared it with them, it’s not on your shoulders. You’ve been a watchman who’s warned.
You’ve warned and you received the blessing because you’re willing to warn. The judgment is on them because they were not willing to receive the warning. Or if they come and they say, thank you, but I don’t think I’m quite ready.
I’m going to think on this. That’s not something that’s not a rejection of you. That’s God working in their heart and you’ve planted the seed and someone else may come and actually see it come to fruition, but you did your part and there’s a blessing in it for you.
And if you happen to be the one that’s there and you share your testimony and that is the final water that causes a seed to sprout and people to accept Jesus, you receive a blessing for that too. You see, it’s not on us. It’s what God does through us.
And we’re not to be afraid. We’re not to be discouraged because God has called us to share the gospel so that there can be revival. But revival only comes when repentance occurs.
And going back to the beginning of my message today, Nebuchadnezzar did not really believe until he repented. We need to pray that all that is happening amongst the young people especially, but it’s also amongst a lot of people because of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, would result in people repenting and embracing Christ as Nebuchadnezzar did. No longer saying my, I, me, but the Most High God.
God’s grace can touch anyone’s heart. May we be tools and instruments to share it.
Let’s just close in prayer. Lord, I pray that you just help us as we look at the life of Nebuchadnezzar and see the transformation that was brought about by your grace and the witness of your servant and the repentance of a man and a turning to you. Lord, help us to have a wonderful week and a week where we can share with others the hope we have in Jesus. This we ask in Jesus’ name.