Daniel 4: 4-9
King Nebuchadnezzar has just given honor and praise to the Most High God over all the other gods they worshiped in Babylon, acknowledging that His power is over all nature and government, and will last forever.
Now we will see why he came to this paeon of praise for this mighty God.
(4) "I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.
He states that he was just minding his own business, on just another ordinary day.
(5) "I saw a dream and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.
Then he had a dream out of nowhere, and it scared him out of his wits.
(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.
So he called all the wise men in his realm to set his mind at ease about this scary dream, to tell him what it meant.
(7) "Then the magicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners came in and I related the dream to them, but they could not make its interpretation known to me.
But even when he told them what the dream was, they had no idea how to figure out what it meant. He may have called them one or two at a time, to question them.
(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,
(9) 'O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream which I have seen, along with its interpretation.'"
After all these other conjurers and magicians and diviners gave up on trying to figure out what it might mean, then Daniel was called in. The king called him by his Hebrew name, then mentioned that his official Babylonian court name honored the king's patron god, Nebo, suggesting that Belteshazzar (Protect His Life) might be an abbreviation of "Nebo-belteshazzar" (Nebo, Protect His Life), as the king's own name was "Nebu-chadnezzer.
The king knew that he was truly inspired with a spirit of the holy gods in him to show him what dreams meant, so I don't know why he didn't just call him first. At any rate, he will tell his dream again. And we will get to hear it, too. Tomorrow.
O my Father, thank You for this story of Daniel, showing us how You revealed Yourself to this pagan king little by little, and how he finally got that You are the Supreme God over all other gods and men.
And we also submit to Your authority over us as our Creator and our Father. You truly are magnificent in Your majesty and holiness. And You want us to know You. So You have revealed and manifested Yourself to us in Your Son and in Your written word. And in Your own Holy Spirit in us to teach us.
O Father, open our eyes to see, open our ears to hear, open our minds to understand how wonderful and powerful You are. And how much You Love us!
Father, send out Your children to broadcast to the whole world, to every nation, to every tribe, to every family, Your Good News. Let every living person see and hear and understand enough to be born into Your own family as Your children, or to have no excuse for rejecting Your generous and gracious offer.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
