Mesa Hills Bible Church

Pastor Tim Dane: We are in Daniel chapter 4. It's good to be with you this morning. A beautiful spring morning, huh? We're in Daniel chapter 4. Now, before I kind of, as you're turning there, I want to clarify for you that on tomorrow the IFCA Regional starts at 1:00. This, you can't hear it. Is this on? Should be.

How's that? Hello, hello, hello, hello. She says no. You got sound on that? Yeah. Okay. So, the IFCA starts at 1:00 tomorrow, and, you know, you're all welcome to join in. It's kind of a pastor's fellowship from IFCA churches in Colorado and around that area. But, you know, anybody is welcome to join in. Rocky Wyatt, sweet, sweet guy. I've known him for many years. And then on Tuesday morning, we start with breakfast right here next door. If you haven't already, you're welcome to come. It's not too late. But, let us know if you didn't already register, so we can just kind of try to plan the food needs. That is Monday and Tuesday.

I ask you to keep praying for brother Bart. Any update on how Bart's doing? He had pneumonia, so he was struggling. Struggling? Yeah, I saw him up. Is he out of the hospital yet? Oh, yeah, he's out of the hospital. Okay. Yeah, when I saw him, he says, you know, he says, when you get up to this age, he says, it's like, I don't know, just promote me, Lord. And then Skeet, Skeet Dixon, you know, I guess pray for Danette and Skeet. S.K.E.E. That's his nickname. But, you know, he had sepsis, pretty serious stuff. And apparently, you know, they did some treatment, surgery, whatever. And it looks like pretty favorable progress so far, but, you know, he's got to come out of that. And so, ask your prayers for them. And, you know, if you have the opportunity today, give your love and tender affection to both Trevor and to my sister Mary, both of whom, you know, lost one. Lost their mom, and then lost my sister, my brother-in-law in the last week or two. And so, tough stuff. Tough stuff. Anyhow, give your love to them.

We're in Daniel chapter 4, a message about God being opposed to the proud. Now, that's a tough one for me to try to preach on. Especially when I have my mom and my sister here, who grew up with me, and my sister's best friend Sheila, who's here from Las Vegas. And so, you know, these guys have, you know, seen the worst. It's still not good, but it's not as bad as it used to be, right, Sheila? All right, so I'm going to give you a little something here. You know, you know, you give these illustrations, but they're old, and then younger people don't pick up on them, right? So, okay. So, if I do this, I'm the greatest! Who am I? Muhammad Ali. I mean, I remember that. I think it was Life Magazine. Muhammad Ali, the boxer. Now, that guy was good. I mean, he was good. You know, arguably he was the greatest boxer, arguably. But, you know, you look at the pride of Muhammad Ali, you know, I'm the greatest. And, he had a touch of pride, but then again, don't we all?

And we don't have to go very far in the Bible to see that God really hates pride. And so, when you see how much God talks about pride and his dislike of pride, okay, we know that there's a big lesson for us to listen to, and there's a big lesson to apply to ourselves. Proverbs 6:16 says, here's six things which the Lord hates, seven which are an abomination. Number one on the list, haughty eyes. Arrogance. He says, that's an abomination to me, which means, this is detestable. God looks at pride, and he says, it's really detestable to me. James chapter 4:6 says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Peter quotes the same thing, comes out of the Proverbs. Proverbs 3:7 warns us, do not be wise in your own eyes. Proverbs 26 says, do you see a man who's wise in his own eyes? There's more hope for a fool than for him. Why? Well, you know, we can look at ourselves if we're losers. Yeah, let's just say we just don't get things done very well and say, man, I didn't do a very good job on that. Or we can look at, you know, whatever and see our failures. But, the thing about pride is, it's the very sin that keeps us from seeing and understanding what our problem is. That's why Proverbs 26 says, there's more hope for a fool than a proud man. Proverbs 16:5 says, everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination. The word tow'evah again, detestable. So, I think we get the point. God really doesn't like pride.

Well, you know, here in the book of Daniel, you know, we see that Nebuchadnezzar was an incredibly skillful man. You know, the guy was a general, conquered empires, built a massive empire, you know, built the greatest city in the ancient world. This guy was really skillful. But, one of his, you know, one of his attributes was not that of humility. He was extremely arrogant. And what's going to happen here in Daniel chapter 4, these things are going to all come crashing down on him, when God begins to deal with his pride. But, you know, God is going to deal with Nebuchadnezzar in a way that doesn't end up in a complete crash and burn. Now, it ends up in a serious judgment, but as we see here in Daniel chapter 4, God is actually going to work in Nebuchadnezzar's life with a judgment that brings him to brokenness and personal saving faith. And Nebuchadnezzar writes this beginning here in chapter 4, and says, I want to tell everybody about how God has worked in my life.

Now, you may have some kind of testimony where, you know, you got slapped down by God, really, really hard. And you can come out at the end of that and say, wow, here's how God worked in my life. I really had issues. God dealt with me, and now I praise him. This is what you have here in the beginning of Daniel chapter 4, is a testimony that Nebuchadnezzar wants to tell the world. And it began when he had a scary dream. A really scary dream. I'm sure he ran into his mom's bedroom. Mom, I'm afraid. I saw some, this is kind of funny, but a little side joke. On, you know, little kids get scared and they come in their mom's room. Mom, I'm afraid. There's a monster in my room. She says, oh, don't come in my room. The monster will come in here and get me too. Sounds like something. Yeah. But, Nebuchadnezzar had a scary dream. This is his second scary dream. The first one was back in Daniel chapter 2.

One writer here says, Nebuchadnezzar's second dream in chapter 4 is one that, you know, once again terrified him. And it, God used it in a very special way. Now, we're going to break this chapter down. It's a big chapter, 37 verses. And we, we're going to break it down by looking at how God was at work with six particular works in Nebuchadnezzar's life to deal with his pride. This morning though, we're going to deal with the first three of these, the first 18 verses. And it starts here in verses 1 to 3. The first work of God was that Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream and tells us that about how God used it to work in his life. But, it comes in the form of a royal decree. Notice down here, chapter 4:1. Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth, may your peace abound. It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me. How great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion is from generation to generation. This is God's word. And Father, we thank you for giving us this opportunity of opening up your word to understand your greatness and our need for your grace. Thank you for giving us this health and strength to come here right now. So, we lift this time of study to you, and we pray that your spirit would stir in our hearts to learn the lesson that you have for us. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.

So, what you have right here, this is amazing. In verses 1 to 3, we have a royal decree that was sent out to the entire Babylonian empire. We, you know, this is a document that was circulated to the entire kingdom of Babylon. And the Holy Spirit has taken this decree and has now placed it into Holy Scripture. This doesn't mean that God was inspiring Nebuchadnezzar's words when Nebuchadnezzar wrote this document, but God inspired Daniel to include the words of this Babylonian decree to be included in Scripture. We see the universality of this decree where it says it is written to all of the peoples, all of the nations, and men of every language. Remember here that Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylon was a massive empire. So, you had native Babylonians, Chaldeans that were part of that Babylonian empire. But, the Babylonians had conquered, you know, a huge number of people groups. There's a multitude of nations, languages, and people groups that are part of this empire. He had everything. Except Greenland. He should have gone after Greenland too, you know. I don't know, I thought that was pretty good.

When did this happen? Well, it's not dated, but it was probably sometime after Nebuchadnezzar had come to the throne. The events that happened in the last chapter, chapter 3, were probably pretty early into his reign. We would probably date that giant statue. Remember that last week, you know, the giant chocolate bunny that he erected. The giant statue, and he wanted everybody to bow down and worship. And what he was trying to do in chapter 3, is to unify his really diverse empire so that everybody would bow down with, you know, one devotion to himself as king, and to himself as the viceroy of Marduk, and Bel, you know, the gods of Babylon. So, that was probably around 600 BC in chapter 3. But, this is probably somewhere around 20 years later. A little bit later in his empire when he gave this decree and these events happened.

Now, it is interesting when you look at the Greek translation that was made. This was, you know, originally written in Aramaic right here in Daniel chapter 4. But, in the Greek translation, it included some comments that said that these events took place in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. Nebuchadnezzar came to the throne in 605 BC as the king. And so, these events would probably be taking place about 587, 586 BC, assuming those figures in the Septuagint, and those were not inspired words. But, assuming that that those comments that were made in the Septuagint were historical, then this would be taking place right after the time period when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's temple.

The first invasion that Nebuchadnezzar led against Jerusalem came immediately after he came to the throne, and it was in 605 BC. As soon as he became king, he invaded Judah, and subdued Judah, and brought it under his dominion. And he did this to basically oust Egypt because Egypt was had its hands upon that part of the world. So, he ousted Egypt, and then he brought Judah under his control. Now, they stayed under his control as a vassal nation for for a period of time until the king of Judah decided to rebel against him. So, in 597 BC, there was another major invasion. They were always under Babylonian control from that time on. But, in 597, there was another major invasion and war. 10,000 plus people were taken captive in 597. Ezekiel was taken captive in 597. And then they were still living under Babylonian dominion. And then what happened in 588 is that King Zedekiah decided to try to rebel against the Babylonians. And so, they began invading again in 588. And then when you got to about the summer of 586 BC, that's when the Babylonian armies just went all out, and they destroyed Jerusalem, burned it to the ground, and Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon's temple.

So, it looks like these events might have happened right after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed God's temple in Jerusalem. And God is basically saying, you just destroyed my temple. I'm going to deal with you. So, he probably had this dream in about 587 that, you know, showed him this giant, you know, scary dream that he had. And God gave him one year to deal with his pride. And then a year later is when he destroyed Jerusalem, and destroyed the temple. And then when that's when God brought the consequences of this dream, as we're going to read about. And God brought this judgment upon him in 586. So, the key point is that God saved Nebuchadnezzar, because when we come to the end of chapter 4, we find out that Nebuchadnezzar finally did come to repentance. But, it was after seven years of a really severe judgment that God brought him out of that. And so, he was able to remain on the throne after God dealt with him, as we're going to learn. And he probably had close to 17 years where he was able to be reinstalled as king after these things happened. But, right now, we're coming to this part where he gives this decree, which is a testimony, a personal conversion testimony he gave to the entire world in this decree.

Verse 2, he says, it has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me. Now, that idea of signs and wonders sometimes speaks about God's powerful work. Those same kinds of words were used back by Moses when Moses described the signs and wonders that God brought upon Egypt. And so, you know, God struck Egypt down with all of these plagues back in the book of Exodus. And eventually, Pharaoh, you know, submitted to God, and released the Hebrew slaves. And so, those words are used to speak about God's miraculous judgments on Egypt. But, here Nebuchadnezzar is speaking about the way that God brought judgments upon himself that eventually brought him repentance and saving faith. God was working in Nebuchadnezzar's life to show him, I want to tell you who God really is. You don't know me, but I'm going to show you who I am.

When you look at Nebuchadnezzar's life up to this point, you know, this is one extremely arrogant guy. You know, he thought that it was his, you know, skill, and his wisdom, and his, you know, power, and everything else, him, that put him on the throne, and gave him this marvelous empire. Well, the guy was skillful. But, you know, we can look at somebody in this life and say, wow, this guy is really amazing. I mean, when you think about, you know, whatever you think about Elon Musk, you know, the guy is worth like what, 440 billion dollars? And he didn't start off with money. He basically had no money when he started off as a as a young person, you know? That's amazing. 440 billion dollars. So, he's got some skills. That that much is clear. Nebuchadnezzar has skills. But, you know, he looked at himself, and he thought, man, I'm the greatest. And what God does here is God says, um, you're not as hot as you think you are.

His his decree continues here. Look at verse 3. How great are his signs, and how mighty are his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion, the dominion of Yahweh, the God of Israel, it's from everlasting to everlasting, from generation to generation. God is the eternal King. God, the God of Israel. He and he alone is the King of the universe. And as such, he has no beginning and no end. He's the eternal God who rules forever. Now, when you look at the language right here, it's very interesting, because when you look at what he's saying here in this decree, it sounds very much like, and probably is, that Daniel had put Nebuchadnezzar on a Scripture reading plan. All right, Nebuchadnezzar, I'm glad to hear about, you know, your your new conversion to the Lord. Um, here, let me give you a copy of the Bible. Why don't you start reading here in the Psalms? Now, listen to Psalm 145:10-13. All your works shall give give thanks to you, oh Lord, and your godly ones shall bless you. They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk of your power, to make known to the sons of men your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your and dominion endures throughout all generations. These words in David's Psalm 145 are basically being echoed right here by Nebuchadnezzar as he wrote this decree. In all likelihood, Daniel said, all right, man, glad to hear you're saved here. I'm going to put you on this Bible reading plan. He starts reading the Bible, and then he writes his decree that very well could be.

As one writer explained it here, Stephen Miller. He says, upon the lips of a pagan monarch, these affirmations concerning Israel's God are truly incredible. Yet, it is understandable considering the many ways in which Yahweh had demonstrated his reality and power to Nebuchadnezzar, and the constant witness of Daniel in the court. So, this is really interesting. He he praises God with a conversion testimony here in verses 1 to 3.

Verses 4 through 9, we see a second work of God to deal with Nebuchadnezzar's pride. This time it deals with the failure of the wise men to explain. Now, this is exactly what we saw back in chapter 2. You go back to chapter 2. Daniel had, Nebuchadnezzar had this nightmare, this bad dream. He calls in, you know, all the wise men, and, you know, he said, okay, tell me what my dream was and what it meant. And they say, tell us what the dream was. And he says, no, I'm not going to do that. You got to tell me what the dream was first. They go, we can't do that. That's outrageous. And, you know, Nebuchadnezzar is ready to kill all the wise men. And then Daniel says, well, you know, let me talk to God about that one. Daniel talks to God. God says, I'll tell you what the dream is and what it means. Daniel comes back and gives Nebuchadnezzar the dream and its interpretation. And he nailed it on the head so much so that Nebuchadnezzar bowed down before Daniel, and gave promoted him to become the chief of all the wise men and the ruler of Babylonia. First thing he did though, is he called in the wise men. They couldn't get the job done, but he's doing the same thing again right now.

Now, why not Daniel? How come he didn't call in Daniel right away? I don't know, maybe Daniel was out of town. You know, maybe he was vacationing, you know, in, you know, somewhere. But, in any case, look at verse 4. I, Nebuchadnezzar, here's where he's recounting the dream. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house, and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream, and it made me fearful, and these fantasies, as I lay in my bed, in my visions, in my mind, kept alarming me. Nebuchadnezzar at this point in time, he's living, as they would say, here in the American West, he's living la vida loca. The crazy life. You know, the guy's on top of the world. I mean, richest, most powerful guy in the world. He's got everything. He says, I was at ease. And I was flourishing. At ease, in other words, everything is tranquil, calm. I was flourishing. Man, I had it all.

You know, when you when you look at what the Bible says, it's true. Whatever God says in the Bible, it's true. Now, the Bible does record some people making false statements. But, whatever God says in his word is true. And, you know, I I've mentioned to you several times that, you know, about this museum in Berlin, called the Pergamon Museum. And, you know, how in the Pergamon Museum, they have brought the walls of Babylon, ancient Babylon. This they did this about 120 years ago. And they've reconstructed the the procession way with the entryway into Babylon. And they've reconstructed the entrance gate, called the Ishtar Gate. And you can see all of these things that Nebuchadnezzar had built 2600 years ago. And you go to the left side as you're looking at the Ishtar Gate. And there's inscriptions, I Nebuchadnezzar, you know, built this city, blah, blah, blah. This is real stuff. All of this is real. And they have they've they've discovered other inscriptions that I want to read to you, that talk about the magnificence of Babylon.

In one of these, called uh inscription number 9, and this comes from um the inscriptions are are called, I forget the name of them. I've got it written down right here, but there's a word for this. But, in one of these inscriptions, he says this. These are the words of Nebuchadnezzar. The palace, the seat of my royal authority, a place of union of mighty peoples, the abode of joy and happiness, the place where proud ones are compelled to submit. I rebuilt upon the bosom of the wide world. My royal decisions, my imperial commands, I cause to go forth. I made the dwelling place of my Lordship glorious, bursting with splendor. So, this guy is again, La vida loca. This guy is on top of the world. When it says here that he was at ease, this is the idea of contentment and security and flourishing. Yeah, it's like, if you were a tree that has just really bright green, rich leaves. Everything is great. But, then, notice what happens as we go further. Verse 6. So, I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. He's got these dreams. He calls in the wise men. And he says, I want you to tell me what the dream means. Now, in this situation, unlike what he did earlier, he doesn't tell the wise men, you have to tell me the dream first and what it means. He just says, tell me what this dream means. And it says down here in verse 6, that they were supposed to come in and give this interpretation. Look at verse 7, it says, the magicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans, and the diviners all came in. I related to them the dream, but they could not make known its interpretation to me. Now, technically, as you look at the grammar right here, it just says they they did not make known. Now, as you go a little bit further, into verse 18, it says, they they could not make it known. But, basically, they they were not able to explain to him what his dream meant.

Look at verse 8. But, finally, Daniel came in before me, whose name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God. And in whom is a spirit of the Holy Gods. And I related the dream to him, saying, oh, Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the Holy Gods is in you, and that no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream, which I've seen along with its interpretation. Now, remember, this is a royal decree going out to his entire empire. So, Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar does explain who Daniel is, well, this is Daniel. But, he says, I gave him the name Belteshazzar, the Babylonian name. But, he also describes Daniel as being the one in whom is a spirit of the Holy Gods. In other words, he's got some divine abilities that go beyond anything I've ever seen. There truly is a divine spirit at work in this guy. Well, Daniel, you know, you know, is the one that he finally was able to get a hold of and call in. And what Nebuchadnezzar is making clear is that Daniel is unique, and his God is unique. Here in verse 9, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges the supernatural abilities. Now, remember it was earlier that back in chapter 2, when Daniel interpreted that dream the first time, that God, that Nebuchadnezzar gave Daniel this big promotion. Look back at chapter 2 for just a second, and notice what happens when you come to the end of, well, even at the end of chapter 1. Even before he had the dream. In chapter 1:20, um, it says that God enabled Daniel, chapter 1:20, as for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted Daniel and his three friends. He found them 10 times better than the all the magicians and conjurers who were in his realm. Um, and that included for Daniel an ability to interpret dreams. If you look at chapter 2, after Daniel interpreted this dream for Nebuchadnezzar, back in chapter 2, if you look at verse 48, it says, the king promoted Daniel, and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. So, Daniel became the president of the wise men, if you want to word it that way. He was the head of all of the wise men. You see this reflected again in chapter 5. If you look at chapter 5, down in verse 11, we see that the mother of, uh, uh, the mother of Belshazzar says to her son, there's a man in your kingdom in whom is a spirit of the Holy Gods. In the days of your father, illumination, insight, and wisdom, like the wisdom of the Gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father, the king appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, and Chaldeans, and diviners. So, this guy had even from the time he was a teenager, had this exalted role because of God's empowering to make him a prophet that understood dreams. He was a prophet. He also, Nebuchadnezzar, if you come back here to chapter 4, in verse 9, Nebuchadnezzar says, well, you know, he has a spirit of the Holy Gods. He's not trying to say, well, he's indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But, the idea here is this, is that he's got supernatural abilities from from God.

Well, what we see here is that God is at work in this whole process to humble Nebuchadnezzar and show him that um he alone is God, and God alone is the one that can reveal supernatural prophetic truth. Don't don't fall for the people today that run around saying, oh, yeah, I'm a prophet. God speaks to me. Don't fall for that stuff. There's no prophets running around today. You get a lot of people claiming that. Don't fall for it. Don't fall for it. Look with me for just a minute. Turn with me to Isaiah 46. You know, when you look at the true God, the true God had his true prophets. Look at Isaiah chapter 46. This is why there's no one like God, Yahweh, the true God. There's no one that gives us his word like we have in Scripture. There's no book in the world that compares to the Bible. The Bible is unique. And I don't even have to say very unique, because unique means one of a kind.

Listen to Isaiah chapter 46. You come down here to verse 8. God is rebuking his people, Israel, for their refusal to really trust him like they should. So, in Isaiah 46:8, it says, remember this and be assured. Call it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long ago, for I am God, and there is no other. There are no other gods. I'm God, there's no other. I'm God, and there is no one like me. God, what do you mean that there's no one like you? He explains it here in verse 10. He says, there's no one like me, the one that declares the end from the beginning. And I declare from ancient times, things that have not been done, saying, my purpose will be established. God can tell you and me, and he has the very end of the story. You want to know how it all ends up? It ends up with Jesus Christ ruling in a restored, new creation. No more curse, no more sin, no more death. Revelation 21 says, the former things have passed away. And that's why when the Bible says, be anxious for nothing. The Lord is near. You know, we have to deal with, you know, sickness, death, problems. The Bible says, be anxious for nothing. But, in everything, with prayer, and petition, and Thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. You and I do not have the promise that God is going to fix every one of our problems. We simply don't have that promise. He has the promise that he will fix our real, genuine, central problem, which is forgiveness of sins and restoration to him. That's the essential promise that we get in the word of God. I will forgive you, I will restore you, and I will bring you into my presence so that you live with me forever and ever in a restored creation. That is his promise.

And the reason why this is possible is because God sent his son, Jesus Christ, into this world 2,000 years ago. And the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who sustains it by his powerful word, the creator of the universe, the Son of God, took on human flesh and gave his life as a sacrifice to take the punishment that you and I deserve. You get an amen for that one? Amen. Thank you. How about another one? Amen. Yeah, I mean, this is that's why they call the the gospel, right? The good news. Christ took our punishment. And he conquered death. He rose again. And God says, if you will trust in my son, Jesus, I'll forgive you past, present, and future, and restore you. This is what God has sworn to us. God's word shows us, he said, I declare the end from the beginning. I declare from ancient times, things that have not yet been accomplished, saying, my purpose will be established. The Bible tells us that the unfolding of human history is really the outworking of his purpose. In particular, here in Isaiah 46, God speaks about a king of Persia that he's going to bring on the scene in about 150 years, a king by the name of Cyrus, the king of the Persian Empire, the first king of the Persian Empire. And God says, I'm going to call a bird of prey from the East. The man who accomplishes my purpose, I will call him from a far country. I've spoken, I will bring it to pass. I've planned it. I will do it.

Make no mistake about this. It's the absolute sovereignty of God to fulfill a plan and purpose. Now, that plan and purpose embraces, you know, how we make choices, and moral choices, and moral decisions. All of that is under the sovereignty of God. But, we don't call the shots. God called the shots. It's his plan and his purpose. So, what you see right here, is that God is trying to get Nebuchadnezzar to understand, Nebuchadnezzar, you're not God. You're not divine. You're not autonomous. I'm God. The application from this, well, it should be some humility because it's still true for you and me. We're nobodies. I'm a nobody. Nebuchadnezzar, he was a big shot. But, God's saying, you're not the big shot that you think you are. So, that's the second work of God. It's uh how God showed Nebuchadnezzar that the wise men weren't going to be able to interpret this dream. Now, we come down here to verses 10 to 18. And we come to this third work of God. The first work of God was his decree. Nebuchadnezzar was moved to write this decree. And then we see Nebuchadnezzar confessing, uh, their inability to interpret this dream. Now, in verses 10 to 18, Nebuchadnezzar tells the dream itself.

Verse 10. Now, these were the visions, he tells Daniel, in my mind as I lay on my bed. I was looking, and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew large, and became strong, and its height reached to the sky. It was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its foliage was beautiful, its fruit abundant. Its food was for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the sky dwelt under its branches. And all living creatures fed themselves from it. The king reports that in his vision, he saw this enormous tree in the middle of the earth. Of course, this tree symbolizes himself in the Babylonian Empire. A giant, majestic tree in the middle of the earth. Now, you know, if you live here in the Rocky Mountains, or if you come from someplace like Northern California, where you see, you know, big trees, redwoods, and so on, you may think to yourself, okay, big tree, no big deal. But, when you're from Babylon, it's a really big deal. Babylon is the middle of a of a plain, a desert, you know, sandy plain. And, yeah, trees are a big deal when you come from someplace like that, or from Las Vegas, where I was born. You know, we used to get impressed with sagebrush or tumbleweeds, you know. Like, hey, you see how big that tumbleweed was? For a Babylonian, a huge tree was a big deal. This one here in verse 10, its height was great. This was big. It grew large, strong, its height reached the sky. Visible to the end of the earth. Its foliage is beautiful. Its fruit abundant. Big, healthy, strong tree. Nebuchadnezzar liked trees. He liked trees.

Verse 12, it says, the beasts of the field found shade under it. The birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, and all the living creatures, the idea here is this, that whoever falls under your kingdom has a place to really be blessed. Now, if you want to think about it a little analogously, you know, why do people want to come to the United States? Uh, I don't know. I'd be willing to say, greatest country on the face of the earth. Now, we have our problems. We have lots of problems. But, that's why people are wanting to come here because it's like, wow, this is a nice place. Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon was a massive empire that brought blessing and favor to everybody that was under it. Unless you tried to fight against him. And then you would get smashed and crushed. But, it was a a glorious empire.

Verse 13. He says, I was looking in these visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an an angelic watcher, a holy one. This is an angel. Descended from heaven. He shouted out, and he spoke as follows, chop down the tree, cut off its branches, strip off its foliage, scatter its fruit, let the beast flee from under it, and let the birds flee from its branches. This angelic watcher, no question here, is an angel. By the way, it's only here in Daniel that we see this term watcher used. The Aramaic term is one means to be awake and to watch. But, he's talking about angels. He further calls it a holy one. This is an angel that was there to carry out God's will and purpose. The angel has come down to give this dream and vision to Nebuchadnezzar. And this angel has come down to give Nebuchadnezzar a message. God's going to deal with you if you don't humble yourself.

Verse 14, he shouted and he spoke as follows, chop down the tree, cut off its branches, strip its foliage, scatter its fruit. Let the beast flee, let the birds flee. Now, there's a little bit of historical background that helps us to understand why God gave Nebuchadnezzar this particular dream. The word I was trying to think of a few minutes ago, is called the Wadi Brisa inscriptions. Wadi Brisa inscriptions that they identified and they found through archaeological digs in Babylon. And in the Wadi Brisa inscriptions, it tells us historical records of how Nebuchadnezzar came into Lebanon. Now, Lebanon, if you were thinking about this being, you know, the uh, the uh, Mediterranean sea over here, and you've got Israel right here. Lebanon was right on the northern edge of uh, ancient Israel. Babylon was way over here to the East. Nebuchadnezzar came into Lebanon because the the mountains of Lebanon had massive cedar forest. Cedar wood is really nice wood to build with. And so, Nebuchadnezzar had come into Lebanon to get cedar wood for building the city of Babylon. He uh loved these trees. And he had been there to see these trees being chopped down when he was there in Babylon. One writer says here, the records tell us of him as traveling to uh, see these trees being chopped down and brought to Babylon. And probably there was a, you know, a lot of kind of like psychological, you know, kind of influence in terms of these things that he had seen, that then God used to create this dream.

Look at verse 15. The tree is chopped down. But, uh that's not all that happens. Verse 15. Chop down the tree, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground. But with a band of iron around the stump of the tree and bronze around it in the new grass of the field. This is pretty radical. You see this giant, beautiful tree, then it's getting chopped down. The kind of thing that Nebuchadnezzar had witnessed when he came into Lebanon. Verse 16, it says, let him, and it kind of shifts now from just a tree to kind of like a personal side of things. Let him, talking about Nebuchadnezzar, be drenched with the dew of heaven. Let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let a beast mind be given to him. And let seven periods of time pass over him. In other words, Nebuchadnezzar, you're going to become an insane, wild man for seven years. And you're going to be driven from your throne. Nebuchadnezzar, I'm going to deal with your arrogance and your pride. This is terrifying stuff. Terrifying stuff. Bad judgment. What do we learn from this? Deal with your sin before your sin deals with you. How about that one?

In Proverbs chapter 29, it says this. A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. Listen to God. Deal with your sin before God deals with you. In Psalm 32, King David said, don't be like a mule or a horse. You need to put a bit in their mouth. You know, imagine that having a bit in your mouth and somebody yanking a bit, you know. David says, don't be like that. Where you where God has to slam you on the head with a 2x4 before you listen to him. Nebuchadnezzar didn't do that. And God dealt with him. Look at verse 17. This is where Daniel explains what's going on. This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers. The decision is a command of the holy ones. In order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever he wishes, and sets over it the lowliest of men. This is the dream which I, Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now, you, Belteshazzar, tell me its interpretation inasmuch as none of the wise men of my kingdom is able to make known to me the interpretation. But, you are for a spirit of the Holy Gods is in you.

Well, what God is doing here, is he's saying, you're not God. I am. And I'm working in your life in a very special way. And he tells him ahead of time. I'm going to do this so that you will realize who I am. Up to this time, Nebuchadnezzar, you've seen yourself as the sovereign absolute monarch who can do whatever he wants. But, I'm here to correct your theology by teaching you that I alone am the sovereign. I'm the ruler. I'm the one who grants men whatever status and position they have. I'm God. You're not. Well, Nebuchadnezzar tells Daniel, this is the dream that I had. Now, you tell me its interpretation inasmuch as none of these guys can tell me. Application. He's God, and we are not. How's that one? Application. A good starting point is this. Don't think too highly of yourself. Matter of fact, don't think highly of yourself at all. Do you have something going because you're pretty skillful? That's nice. Praise God. You know, you have some skill. Some knowledge. You've got to go to school. You're an athlete. Whatever. You know, that's great. You can say, hey, praise God. But, praise God. Don't think too highly of yourself.

Close with a couple of more comments from the Scripture about this issue of pride. And we're going to pick it up next week with the rest of it. Psalm 101:5, King David says, no one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure. Psalm 138:6, even though the Lord is exalted, he regards the lowly. But, the haughty he knows from afar. Proverbs chapter 11:2, when pride comes, then comes dishonor. Proverbs 15:5, a fool rejects his father's discipline. But, he who regards reproof is sensible. Why does it say here, a fool rejects his father's discipline? Well, here's the idea. It's the pride of young people. I don't need to listen to you. I don't know, you don't know what you're talking about. But, I know everything. Yeah, that's a fool. Proverbs 16:5, lastly, everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Assuredly, he will not go unpunished. Great words to apply every one of us to ourselves. Amen. Especially as we come to share in the Lord's supper this morning.

Father, we thank you for your Holy Word that has shown us this historical testimony of how you work to humble the most powerful man on the planet. But, you humbled him in a way that didn't lead to his ruin and destruction, but you humbled him in a way that your grace opened his heart to know you as a savior. Uh, for those that are here that have trusted in your son, Jesus Christ, as savior. We recognize that you're God, and we are not. Help us, Lord, to apply this to ourselves. Especially as we come and remember the price of that redemption, the blood of Jesus. We ask it in his name. Amen. We are going to share in the Lord's supper. And, um, the Lord's supper, as you know, uh, began when Jesus was with his disciples in uh, the last night of his life before a short time before he was arrested and crucified the next morning. And uh, we know that Jesus was with his disciples celebrating a Passover meal. Israel had been celebrating Passover meals for 1400 years to remember God's gracious salvation from Egypt. Jesus with his disciples said, guys, from now on, I want you to think about an even greater salvation. It's the one that I'm going to provide by dying on the cross. And so, he says, as you come together, and as you eat in this Passover meal, uh, take this bread and remember my body that was broken. My body that was crucified. As you drink from this wine, this cup, remember my blood that has been shed to give you forgiveness. Now, Jesus commanded this uh, for the church, and so, we have been doing this for 2,000 years to remember in a visual way the uh, the the death of Christ for our sins. If you're here and you have trusted in Christ, this is for you to share in. Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 11, he says, he says, something good to do when you share in the Lord's supper, when you're publicly declaring that he is your savior who died for you. He says, it's a good thing to examine your own selves. Now, we all have sin, you know. But, examine yourselves. And if there's something that you know is not right in your life, deal with it. Deal deal with it now by asking God's forgiveness, and deal with it in a serious way, turn from it. Proverbs 28 says, he who conceals his transgression will not prosper, but he who forsakes, confesses, and forsakes, will find mercy. So, let's deal with our hearts.

Father, we thank you for this morning, this time to come and to celebrate together, uh, your salvation. The body and blood of your son, Jesus, that gives us forgiveness. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. We remember when Christ was on the cross. It tells us that it was at noon, uh, that uh, the sky went black. And for three hours, the sky went black in Judea. And it was at 3:00 in the afternoon that uh, Jesus cried out to the Father. And he said, Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthani. Aramaic, he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Those were words that came out of Psalm 22. Those were words that David wrote 1,000 years earlier by the spirit of Christ, uh, that uh, would tell us that God's Messiah was going to become the judgment, the payment for our sin. He was going to take the judgment, and that God's wrath was falling upon Christ, the Son of God. And he cried out in agony as he had this judgment. You just look at your own life, you know. Just think about all the bad things that you've done. That's enough. But, the Bible says that he's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is what God did so that you could be forgiven. Amen. We remember that when we eat the bread, when we remember his body. I know that our words, Lord, will never come close, never ever even come close to giving you uh, the thanks that you deserve. We know that one day, you're going to open our eyes even further when we're in your presence to really better understand what you've done. And the praise will be magnified as all of your redeemed come to really realize the greatness of your grace. But, we're here right now to say, thank you, oh God, for loving us and giving us Christ. Amen. Most people don't have any idea about the nature of God and the seriousness of sin. So, you know, they might say, yeah, I'm not perfect. I know I've done bad things. But, they they don't realize how bad sin is to a holy God. They don't understand that there's an eternal consequence for sin. And that there's only one thing that can pay the price of that uh, that attack on God. Because that's what sin is. The Bible shows us that uh, without the shedding of Christ's blood, there's no forgiveness. And that's why Christians say, it's Jesus Christ, it's him alone. It's because eternal God became a man. Eternal God gave his life. And the blood of Christ, the Bible says, his death, is the only thing that can pay that price. God took the initiative. God sent Christ from heaven. God took the initiative. And we make a big deal about Christ. And rightly so. God says, this is how I forgive. It's when you trust him. We don't earn it, we don't accomplish it. If we could get saved by being good, God would not have sent Christ 2,000 years ago. Don't get saved by being good. Furthermore, we're not good. And we know that, right? So, let's remember the death of Christ. All praise, glory, and honor. Power and dominion to you, Lord Jesus. Because by your blood, you have redeemed us. We thank you for what you have done. We, uh, pray, come quickly, Lord, and bring a final restoration to this fallen world. Uh, we know that there's no hope in this world, but what you're going to accomplish when you bring your kingdom. So, come quickly, and we pray it in Christ's name. Amen.