Participants: Ty Gibson and James Rafferty
Series Code: DBOTB
Program Code: DBOTB000005A
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00:21 Hello friends!
00:22 Welcome to Books of the Book. 00:24 I'm Ty Gibson and we are 00:25 presently engaged in a study of 00:27 the book of Daniel and with me is my co-host 00:29 James Rafferty. 00:30 So we are in Daniel Chapter 4 00:32 and it is incredible when you 00:34 look at Daniel 4 because the 00:36 book of Daniel, written by Daniel the prophet and believer. 00:39 A man who was connected with God with the exception of 00:43 Daniel Chapter 4 because Daniel Chapter 4 shows us that 00:46 God has an interest in every one, even if they aren't the 00:49 most ardent believer or follower of the Lord. 00:52 Everyone who has a radical conversion experience with God. 00:56 Daniel Chapter 4 was written by Nebuchadnezzar. 00:59 It is a testimony of his experience, his relationship 01:03 with God, and how God has worked in his life. 01:05 God has allowed Nebuchadnezzar to give this testimony as 01:09 part of this prophetic book of Daniel. 01:11 It's incredible, yes it's phenomenal because as we know 01:15 Peters says that holy men of old spake as they were moved 01:19 by the Holy Spirit. 01:20 The Holy Spirit inspires prophets and they are 01:23 called holy men. 01:25 Here we have a section of Scripture that is written by 01:29 none other than Nebuchadnezzar. 01:30 We need to give a little bit of background here so that 01:33 we remember who this is we are dealing with. 01:35 Nebuchadnezzar is a despotic dictator. 01:39 He is responsible for taking God's people captive and 01:43 enslaving them. 01:45 He has a horrific career record as a mass murderer and has 01:52 and performed a genocide no doubt. 01:53 He has moved into villages and countries and this man is 01:57 no one you would expect to be penning inspired 02:01 words in Scripture, yet right here in Chapter 4 we have 02:04 the testimony of King Nebuchadnezzar chronicling his 02:08 radical conversion. 02:09 You might not even think that Nebuchadnezzar would be 02:11 saved in heaven unless you would read this testimony 02:14 which is probably possibly why God has in His providence 02:18 allow this testimony to be part of the inspired Scripture. 02:21 But listen to this, Daniel Chapter 4 and verse 1, 02:24 listen to Nebuchadnezzar. 02:25 "Nebuchadnezzar, the king, unto all people, nations, and 02:29 "languages that do well on all the earth," 02:30 "peace be multiplied unto you." 02:33 That sounds like Paul. 02:34 That sounds like New Testament introduction to one 02:38 of Paul's epistles. 02:39 This is a changed man, this is a converted man and do you 02:42 know why this is a converted man? 02:43 Because the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar is, I wanted to 02:47 tell you how good God is, how great God is. 02:49 He made me into a wild man and I went for seven years 02:53 eating grass while my hair grew as Eagle feathers and my 02:57 nails grew as Eagle's claws. 02:58 Isn't God good! 03:00 Yeah, it's amazing. 03:01 In other words, it takes a converted man to go through 03:04 such a horrendous trial and come out saying God is good. 03:08 We know was a horrendous trial because down in verse 4, 03:12 he says I at rest in my house and flourishing in my 03:16 palace, this guy had everything. 03:18 He was surrounded with opulence. 03:21 He could indulge himself in any earthly pleasures. 03:24 He was the king and yet he is praising God for taking him 03:30 out of that situation and by His divine providence 03:34 thrusting Nebuchadnezzar into a very terrible trial, 03:37 obviously, Nebuchadnezzar literally lost his mind. 03:41 He went insane according to his own testimony here. 03:44 Nebuchadnezzar somehow is able to look upon this 03:47 experience and praise God because he knows that through 03:51 this experience God has reached his heart and brought 03:55 him to an understanding of the truth. 03:57 He knows that God has taken him out of a false security. 03:59 And earthly security, a security that is dependent on 04:02 earthly powers or an earthly 04:04 wealth which is all going to 04:06 vanish, he knows that God has 04:07 removed him. 04:09 The reason why he is so incredibly impressed by what God 04:12 has done is because Nebuchadnezzar understands 04:15 the pride of his own heart. 04:16 This whole chapter deals with pride and it ends with 04:20 this testimony that Nebuchadnezzar gives a 04:23 summation of his testimony and basically says those who walk 04:25 in pride He's able to abase. 04:26 Nebuchadnezzar realizes looking back that he, 04:29 even though he was at rest, even though he was 04:32 flourishing, he was in a false security, that is what 04:34 we see in the world today. 04:36 Many especially in the Western countries, we see people 04:38 who are resting in a false security and one day that 04:41 security will be broken. 04:42 It will be diminished, it will be gone and there will 04:45 be nothing left. 04:46 God is seeking to reach us right now and say the things 04:49 you find security in today are meaningless in the end. 04:52 Absolutely, absolutely! If you think about it, 04:55 the average Westerner in 04:58 our world today lives at a 05:01 lifestyle level that might not be too much behind 05:06 Nebuchadnezzar at peace in his house, flourishing in his palace 05:10 We are surrounded with every provision we could possibly 05:15 imagine, we probably have available to us some of 05:19 the amenities of life that Nebuchadnezzar in his time 05:23 didn't even have in his palace. 05:25 The fact is that we are at rest in our houses. 05:29 We are at ease in our little palaces, our little worlds 05:34 in which we do not feel our need of God. 05:37 We do not feel our need of His grace. 05:40 The fact is James though, if we think about this we are 05:44 reading the testimony here in Daniel 4, of a despotic 05:48 ruler, we look upon him, and we think of some of the 05:50 horrible atrocities that he committed in his lifetime. 05:54 But from God's perspective, really there isn't this 06:00 great distinction between sinners. 06:03 The fact is, all have sinned and fallen short of 06:05 the glory of God. 06:07 Nebuchadnezzar reveals to us a carnality and a 06:11 wickedness that is the potential of all of our hearts. 06:15 If left to ourselves, apart from the grace of God, 06:18 there is not a one of us as human beings who would not 06:21 engage in the same kinds of things that Nebuchadnezzar 06:25 engaged in as this despotic ruler filled with arrogance 06:28 and pride. 06:30 He had an inflated sense of himself, and we too, as sinners 06:33 have an inflated sense of ourselves in our little worlds. 06:35 We just don't have the kind of power necessarily 06:39 that he had at his disposal, but we are all sinners in 06:42 need of this radical kind of conversion. 06:44 It's true you know, it's fallen human nature to categorize sin 06:47 to make ourselves out to be better than somebody else. 06:50 Put these different categories that God does not see. 06:53 That's what I think is really profound that Nebuchadnezzar 06:56 is giving a statement here in verse 1, "to all people," 06:59 "Nations and languages that dwell on all the earth. " 07:02 I think what he is saying is, because we categorize sin 07:05 and because we see certain people as worse than others, 07:09 Nebuchadnezzar is probably seen as the worse of all. 07:13 The fact that he is filled with pride, there is no way 07:17 a nice man can get to the position he is in, 07:19 and of course he doesn't pretend to be nice, 07:21 in any sense of the word up unto this time. 07:23 Even Daniel was made a Eunuch by Nebuchadnezzar, 07:26 everyone was to serve Nebuchadnezzar's purpose. 07:28 If they couldn't serve his purpose they died. 07:30 In that context Nebuchadnezzar is saying, in essence, 07:34 I want all the world to know that if God can save me, 07:37 He can save you. 07:39 There is another lesson here James, in the fact that 07:42 Nebuchadnezzar is addressing all peoples, nations, 07:44 languages, that dwell 07:46 on the earth in verse 1. 07:47 He is sending out his testimony 07:49 in the form of a letter 07:50 obviously, all over the world. 07:53 The first impulse of a converted heart, I mean when we 07:57 really see our need and begin to receive the grace of God 08:02 that transformation that is wrought in our hearts, 08:06 causes to arise in us an impulse to bring others in 08:10 contact with the grace of God. 08:12 Nebuchadnezzar is eager for the whole world to become 08:18 aware of his encounter with the living God. 08:20 Amen, that is why this testimony so powerful, because, 08:23 he is making such a radical transformation. 08:26 He has such a powerful witness 08:29 to share that at his time and 08:31 his level it will have a major 08:33 affect, we do not know how many people will be in the kingdom 08:35 because of the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar. 08:38 We do know this, it's powerful. 08:44 overcome, not only by the blood of Jesus Christ, 08:46 but by the word of our testimony. 08:47 Not only do we not know how many people will be in the 08:50 kingdom because of Nebuchadnezzar's testimony, but 08:52 imagine James, what it is going to be like on resurrection 08:55 morning when Nebuchadnezzar is there among the redeemed? 08:58 Also, among the resurrected saints of all ages. 09:03 There will be those who Nebuchadnezzar was in fact, 09:08 the person who brought them into slavery and committed 09:12 horrible atrocities against them and took their lives. 09:16 They are going to be amazed, and absolutely gratified to 09:21 see that after that wicked man had taken their lives, 09:26 he was able to be reached by the grace of God. 09:29 There he is in God's eternal kingdom. 09:32 Amen, so Nebuchadnezzar is having this dream and this time 09:37 as he is troubled by it, verse 5, "I saw a dream which made me" 09:41 "afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions" 09:43 "of my head troubled me. " 09:44 He makes a decree this time to bring in all the wise men 09:47 but he doesn't threaten them with death. 09:48 So you notice a little bit of transition taking place 09:51 here in his thinking. 09:52 We have seen him, already have a dream, where he was very 09:55 angry and want all the wise men killed. 09:57 Then we saw him move from that, in his experience, that 10:00 intellectual conviction that this is truth and Daniel your 10:04 God is the God of gods, to actually see a witness of 10:09 the Son of Man with His people in the furnace. 10:12 We know that these two events really affected him 10:15 in a powerful way. 10:16 The truth and a witness of the truth. 10:18 Now, as he has his second dream, of a tree, a great tree, 10:22 that fills the whole earth and feeds and give shade to all 10:26 these animals, and basically, is a picture of his nation 10:31 as the provider for and the power that directs all of 10:35 these different nations. 10:36 He recognizes that God is ultimately showing him who He 10:41 is and what God has given to him. 10:42 He is a little bit mellower. 10:43 He brings in his astrologers and doesn't threaten them 10:47 with death, but he is still not completely directed to God 10:50 because he doesn't call Daniel in among these astrologers 10:54 and wise men. 10:55 He waits till the very last before he calls Daniel in. 10:58 I think he knows that when he calls Daniel in, he is going 11:02 to receive a clear understanding of the meaning of his 11:05 vision and he has a hunch, just like the previous vision, 11:09 that it is not necessarily going to be exactly what 11:12 he wants to hear. 11:13 He knows that if he calls Daniel in, it is 11:15 going to be the truth. 11:16 He senses that when he encounters the truth is going to 11:19 require something of him. 11:21 There is going to be responsibility involved, and so 11:24 Daniel is his last resort. 11:26 He has curiosity and wants to know the meaning of the 11:29 vision, but he knows that Daniel is truly a godly man 11:33 who will tell him the truth and no doubt a little 11:36 reluctance to hear the whole truth. 11:38 So he gives Daniel the basic dream and then he asks Daniel 11:42 to give him the interpretation. 11:44 It is interesting because it says in verse 19, 11:46 of Chapter 4, that when Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, 11:49 when Daniel received this dream from 11:51 Nebuchadnezzar, "he was astonished for one hour and the 11:56 thoughts of his head troubled him. " 11:59 "The king spoke to him and said don't let the dream," 12:02 "or the interpretation trouble you. " 12:04 Daniel answers, Belshazzar answers, my lord, 12:07 I really love this, "the dream be to them that hate thee" 12:11 "and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies. " 12:15 In other words, Daniel is reluctant to tell the king, the 12:20 interpretation of the dream. 12:21 Now, I really believe this is powerful. 12:23 This is a powerful witness or testimony of a 12:25 believer in God, because to often, 12:28 as followers of God, we don't have a reluctant 12:32 bone in our body. 12:34 We just want to tell it like it is and let the chips fall 12:36 where they may and if you can't handle the truth then 12:39 that's too bad sir. 12:40 We see here, in the character of Daniel, a spirit that is 12:43 different, we can see here a spirit that is concerned. 12:46 Now, if anyone had a reason to hold something against 12:48 Nebuchadnezzar, or a grudge 12:50 against Nebuchadnezzar it was 12:51 Daniel, he was the one that 12:53 was separated from his home, 12:54 from his family and made a 12:55 Eunuch, made to serve this king. 12:57 So Daniel, deep down in his heart, 13:00 has the spirit of Christ 13:01 and longs to reach the heart of the King and is 13:05 reluctant to share. 13:07 Now, I like this because this reluctance is combined with 13:10 Daniels ardent desire to obey his God. 13:15 To follow through with and share the truth. 13:17 This is what Christianity is all about. 13:19 It's about the spirit of Christ that possess a meekness 13:23 and an unwillingness to hurt people, to harm people. 13:27 To discourage people, but at the same time has a 13:30 truthfulness and honesty and integrity that wants 13:34 to honor God and do and obey exactly what God calls 13:37 us to do and say. 13:38 This is the same spirit that we witness in Jesus 13:41 when He said to His disciples, 13:44 "that there are many things that 13:46 I want to tell you but you 13:47 cannot bear them now. " 13:49 The truth was revealed to the disciples as they could 13:52 handle it, as they could bear it because the objective 13:56 of Christ's goal was to reach their hearts and bring 13:59 them to conversion. 14:00 Not merely to unload the truth concerning themselves and 14:05 to blow them away and hurt them and turn them away. 14:09 Daniel is governed by the same meekness of spirit. 14:12 He is not eager to bring before king Nebuchadnezzar the 14:16 things that will be painful and difficult for him to bear. 14:19 But he is eager for Nebuchadnezzar to receive the 14:23 truth and to be turned to the Lord, so he follows through 14:26 and does tell the truth about the matter. 14:30 It is extremely important for all of us to recognize that 14:33 it is possible, like Nebuchadnezzar, for us to merely 14:37 have an intellectual conversion friends. 14:39 Nebuchadnezzar was led finally to conversion of heart, 14:43 and that is what we are going to continue exploring as we 14:46 come back after the break. |
Revised 2022-11-14