Was King Nebuchadnezzar Saved?

Daniel 4: 1-37

A Letter from Nebuchadnezzar about his insanity.

From King Nebuchadnezzar.

To the people of every province, nation, and language in the World. 

I wish you peace and prosperity. 

I am pleased to write to you about the miraculous signs and amazing things the Most High God did for me. 

His miraculous signs are impressive.
He uses His power to do amazing things. 
His kingdom is an eternal kingdom. 
His power lasts from one generation to the next.

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living comfortably at home. I was prosperous while living in my palace. I had a dream that terrified me. The visions I had while I was asleep frightened me. So I ordered all the wise advisers in Babylon to be brought to me to tell me the dream's meaning. 

All his pagan and worldly advisers came to him.

I told them the dream, but they couldn't tell me its meaning. Finally, Daniel came to me (he had been renamed Belteshazzar after my god [Bel]). The spirit of the holy gods is in him. 

I told him the dream: Belteshazzar, head of the magicians, I know the spirit of the holy gods is in you. No secret is too hard for you [to uncover]. Tell me the meaning of the visions I had in my dream. These are the visions I had while I was asleep: and he recounted his dream to Daniel.

Now you, Belteshazzar, tell me its meaning because the wise advisers in my kingdom can't tell it to me. However, you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.

This king sure had faith in Daniel, and really put him on the spot here.

Then Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar) was momentarily stunned. What he was thinking frightened him. I told him, Belteshazzar, don't let the dream and its meaning frighten you.

Belteshazzar answered, Sir, I wish that the dream were about those who hate you and its meanng were about your enemies. 

You saw an oak tree grow and become strong enough and tall enough to reach the sky. It could be seen everywhere on Earth. It had beautiful leaves and plenty of fruit, enough to feed everyone. Wild animals lived under it, and birds made their homes in its branches. 

You are that tree, your Majesty. You grew and became strong and mighty until you reached the sky. Your power reaches the most distant part of the World. 

You saw a guardian, a holy being, come down from Heaven. He said, Cut down the oak tree! Destroy it! But leave the stump and its roots in the ground. Secure it with an iron and bronze chain in the grass of the field. Let it get wet with the dew from the sky. Let it get its share of the plants on the ground with the wild animals for seven years. 

This is the meaning, your Majesty. The Most High has decided to apply it to you, your Majesty. You will be forced away from people and live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like cattle. The dew from the sky will make you wet. And seven years will pass until you realize that the Most High has power over human kingdoms and that He gives them to whomever He wishes. 

Since the stump and the tree's roots were left, your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you realize that Heaven rules.

That is why, your Majesty, my best advice is that you stop sinning, and do what is right. Stop committing the same errors, and have pity on the poor. Maybe you can prolong your prosperity.

All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. Twelve months later, he was walking around the royal palace in Babylon. The king thought, Look how great Babylon is! I built the royal palace by my own impressive power and for my glorious honor.

Before the words came out of his mouth, a voice came from Heaven: King Nebuchadnezzar, listen to this: The kingdom has been taken from you. You will be forced away from people and live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like cattle. And seven years will pass until you realize that the Most High has power over human kingdoms and that He gives them to whomever He wishes. He can place the lowest of people in charge of them.

Just then the prediction about Nebuchadnezzar came true. He was forced away from people and ate grass like cattle. Dew from the sky made his body wet until his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers and his nails grew as long as birds' claws.

At the end of seven years, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to Heaven, and my mind came back to me. I thanked the Most High, and I praised and honored the One Who lives forever, because His power lasts forever and His kingdom lasts from one generation to the next.

Everyone who lives on Earth is nothing compared to Him. He does whatever He wishes with the army of Heaven and with those who live on Earth. There is no one who can oppose Him or ask Him, What are You doing?

That's when my mind came back to me. My royal honor and glory were also given back to me. My advisers and nobles wanted to meet with me [again]. I was given back my kingdom and made extraordinarily great. 

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, will praise, honor, and give glory to the King of Heaven. Everything He does is true, His ways are right, and He can humiliate those who act arrogantly.

So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon became a believer in the God of Heaven, the Lord God of Israel. 

He realized that he really is little better than an animal, certainly not the god he had imagined himself to be previously. 

*[The Ryrie Study Bible, page 1316, in a note on 4:33, states that, "The king's illness was boanthropy (imagining himself to be an animal and acting accordingly), a condition that has been observed in modern times. Probably the king was kept in one of the royal parks during his insanity."]* 

God can save anybody who is open to Him. Even during the times before Jesus came to "open the door to Gentiles," this story shows us that God was not limiting salvation to only the Jews and Israelites. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance (II Peter 3:9), and He showed this king His power to care for and rescue His people, in ways no other god ever has or ever will. 

We are saved by faith, believing God and trusting Him to be and do what He has told us He would do. This is how He has always saved people, starting with Adam and Eve. And He continues to save whoever will believe Him and trust Him, acknowledging that He is God and we are not. 

This is the last we hear of Nebuchadnezzar, the next chapter is about his son (or grandson). And Daniel is still on the scene to give advice to this king, also. 

O my Father, thank You for your consistency in always loving us, always teaching us, and always providing for us and leading us. You protect us, You draw us to Yourself, and You humble us when we get on our "high horse," thinking that we're anything without You. 

You are my strength, You are my sustenance, You are my very life. You are the Source of everything I need or want, and Your Love drowns me in its fathomless depths. 

I long for the time when I will be with You where You are, enjoying Your Presence and basking in Your Goodness, worshiping You forever. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Harmless Fiery Furnace

Daniel 3: 1-30 

King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue 90 feet high and 9 feet wide. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 

Okay, this king kind of got a little full of himself, with Daniel telling him he was the gold head on the statue in his dream. Now he's made a whole statue of gold. 

Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent messengers to assemble ... all the provincial officers to dedicate the statue he had set up. 

[When they were all assembled] they stood in front of the statue.

The herald called out loudly, "People of every province, nation, and language! When you hear the sound of the [orchestra] of all kinds of instruments, bow down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 
Whoever doesn't bow down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."

And he wants everyone to worship it! 

So everybody did.

Except for ...

Some astrologers came forward and brought charges against the Jews. [They said,] "Your Majesty, you gave an order ... 

" There are certain Jews, ... Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. They didn't obey, they don't honor your gods or worship the statue that you set up."

In a fit of rage and anger, Nebuchadnezzar summoned [them] and asked them, "Is it true? ... What god can save you from my power then?"

[They] answered the king, "We don't need to answer you. Our God, whom we honor, can save us from a blazing furnace and from your power, He will, your Majesty. But even if He doesn't, you should know, your Majesty, we'll never honor your gods or worship the gold statue that you set up."

The king was so angry that his face turned red, he ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter, and told some soldiers to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego and throw them in, still wearing all their clothes.

Then Nebuchadnezzar was startled. He sprang to his feet. He asked his advisers, "Didn't we throw three men bound into the fire?"
"That's true," they answered.
The king replied, "But look! I see four men. They're untied, walking around in the middle of the fire, unharmed. The fourth one looks like a son of the gods!"

When they came out of the furnace, everyone gathered around the three men. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, the hair on their heads wasn't singed, their clothes weren't burned, and they didn't even smell of smoke.

Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. He sent His angel and saved His servants, who trusted Him. They disobeyed the king and risked their lives so that they would not have to honor or worship any god except their own God. 

"So I order that people from every province, nation, or language who say anything slanderous about [their] God will be torn limb from limb. Their houses will be turned into piles of rubble. 

"No other god can rescue like this."

Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to higher positions in the province of Babylon.

This is a popular story. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah had strong faith in God, and trusted Him beyond reason. They really did risk their lives, and would have been martyrs, if God hadn't intervened. 

They knew He could rescue them. But they said that even if He didn't, they still wouldn't worship any other god. They left it up to God, and made no demands. And He did rescue them. 

And Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that God was greater than any other god. 

This pagan king is getting an idea of Who God is, but he still needs a little more encouragement. 

Check back tomorrow for the next chapter in this gripping saga. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Nebuchadnezzar's First Dream

Daniel 2: 31-45 

Here is King Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

Your Majesty, in your vision you saw standing before you a giant statue, bright and shining, and terrifying to look at. Its head was made of the finest gold; its chest and arms were made of silver; its waist and hips of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. While you were looking at it, a great stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it, struck the iron and clay feet of the statue, and shattered them. At once the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled and became like the dust on a threshing place in summer. The wind carried it all away, leaving not a trace. But the stone grew to be a mountain that covered the whole Earth. 

This was the dream. Now I will tell your Majesty what it means. Your Majesty, you are the greatest of all kings. The God of Heaven has made you emperor and given you power, might, and honor. He has made you ruler of all the inhabited Earth and ruler over all the animals and birds. You are the head of gold. 

After you there will be another empire, not as great as yours, and after that a third, an empire of bronze, which will rule the whole Earth. 

And then there will be a fourth empire, as strong as iron, which shatters and breaks everything. And just as iron shatters everything, it will shatter and crush all the earlier empires. 

You also saw that the feet and the toes were partly clay and partly iron. This means that it will be a divided empire. It will have something of the strength of iron, because there was iron mixed with the clay. The toes--partly iron and partly clay--will mean that part of the empire will be strong and part of it weak. You also saw that the iron was mixed with the clay. This means that the rulers of that empire will will try to unite their families by intermarriage, but they will not be able to, any more than iron can mix with clay.

At that time of those rulers the God of Heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last forever. You saw how a stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it and how it struck the statue made of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God is telling your Majesty what will happen in the future. I have told you exactly what you dreamed, and have given you its true meaning.

Wow. God told this ancient king His whole plan of how history will play out in the World from his time all the way to when Jesus returns and sets up His Kingdom. 

Has the history of the World played out as this has it? 

biblestudytools.com gives this insight:

"The world power in its totality appears as a colossal human form: Babylon the head of gold, Medo-Persia the breast and two arms of silver, Graeco-Macedonia the belly and two thighs of brass, and Rome, with its Germano-Slavonic offshoots, the legs of iron and feet of iron and clay, the fourth still existing."

So World History has played out just as God showed so long ago, before any of it happened yet.

Later in this book, God revealed to Daniel more details of this future history, especially the ten toes and the timing of when things will happen at that time to set up the World for the coming of Messiah, the stone that grows into the World-wide government that will never end.

Since God is our Maker, and the Planner and Designer of everything that exists, He has the wisdom and the power to see that the progression of the history of the World will play out exactly as He planned it. Everything has a purpose, and all the choices of Mankind's "free will" are all incorporated into that time-stream that inexorably carries us continually into the future, day by day. 

And we are already at the end of the human governments, with the Roman Empire having split into ten divisions, more or less, repeatedly. Just look at the League of Nations, look at the European Union, look at the United Nations. We are replaying this scene over and over, and one of these "ten kings" governments will be in power at the time of the Coming of Christ our King. 

How much longer will He tarry? He is waiting for every person who will come to repentance (II Peter:3:9) to come into His Kingdom, not leaving anyone behind (John 6:39). And when this Gospel, this Good News that God has redeemed us by Jesus' Blood, has been preached in the whole World, and everyone has heard it; then "the end" shall come (Matthew 24:14). 

Are you ready to meet Him in the clouds? I trust that I am ready and I look for Him every day. I look at the clouds and am reminded that "He will come with clouds" (Revelation 1:7), and I wonder if they will be the clouds in the sky, Heavenly clouds, or clouds of Glory!

He could be here any day now!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Only God Reveals Mysteries

Daniel 2: 1-30

In the second year of his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which left his spirit no rest and robbed him of his sleep. So he ordered that the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers be summoned to interpret the dream for him.

So this king was troubled by a dream he had, but he didn't remember the dream. I've woken up from dreaming, knowing that I was dreaming, but didn't remember the dream, also. I think this is a common occurrance. 

But he still wanted to know what it meant. In this society they put great importance on dreams and visions, and if it upset him that much, it must mean something important.

Tell us the dream, and we will give its meaning. 

But he couldn't remember the dream. He figured that if they had the insight to interpret a dream, that they should also be able to figure out what the dream was. 

You have conspired to present a false and deceitful interpretation to me until the crisis is past. Tell me the dream, therefore, that I may be sure that you can also give its correct interpretation.

What you demand, O King, is too difficult; there is no one who can tell it to the king except the gods, who do not dwell among people of flesh. 

This is telling--they knew that only a supernatural being would be able to do what the king was asking.

And then Daniel approached the king, asking for time that he might give him the interpretation.

So he asked his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to pray for him, and God showed Daniel the dream that night. 

Then he blessed the God of Heaven:

Blessed be the Name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power are His.
He causes the changes of the times and seasons, establishes kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who understand.
He reveals deep and hidden things and knows what is in the darkness, for light dwells with Him.
To You, God of my ancestors, I give thanks and praise, because You have given me wisdom and power. 
Now You have shown me what we asked of You, You have made known to us the king's dream.

So he went back to the king, and told him that, all his wise men, enchanters, magicians, and diviners could not explain it to the king. But there is a God in Heaven Who reveals mysteries, and He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what is to happen in the last days. ...

He Who reveals mysteries showed you what is to be. To me also this mystery has been remealed; not that I am wiser than any other living person, but in order that its meaning may be made known to the king, that you may understand the thoughts of your own mind.

This is a Gentile king, in a land far away from Israel, beyond the great River Euphrates, in Babylon. And God had chosen to give this foreign ruler His plan for the rest of human history on this Earth! 

But the king needed Daniel to explain it to him. And Daniel knew that he wasn't the wisest person living, but that God had chosen him to tell the king the whole story.

God often chooses very unlikely people to do significant things for Him. He never chooses "perfect" people, always people who are broken, or defective in some way. Like this king wasn't even an Israelite, and Daniel was a captive who was forced to learn a new language and a new culture. 

God always takes us just as we are, because He sees what He will make us into. Like Gideon who was hiding, being called a "mighty hero" (Judges 6:11-12), and Saul of Tarsis (Acts 9:11) becoming Paul the Apostle and Evangelist. 

So that means that He can use me, too. I'm nothing special, just someone who was looking for what was True so I could believe it and not be deceived. 

And He can use you, too, if you are willing. That's all He asks. He does the rest. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Daniel's Prospering In Babylon

Daniel 1: 8-16

Daniel made up his mind to not let himself become ritually unclean by eating the food and drinking the wine of the royal court, so he asked Ashpenaz to help him, and God made Ashpenaz sympathetic to Daniel.

Ashpenaz, however, was afraid of the king, so he said to Daniel, "The king has decided what you are to eat and drink, and if you don't look as fit as the other young men, he'll have my head."

So Daniel went to Melzar, the guard whom Ashpenaz had placed in charge of him and his three friends. "Test us for ten days," he said. "Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare us with the young men who are eating the food of the royal court, and base your decision on how we look."

He agreed to let them do it for ten days. When the time was up, they looked healthier and stronger than all those who had been eating the royal food. So from then on the guard let them continue to eat vegetables instead of what the king provided.

What do you think would have happened if Daniel had simply refused to eat the food that wasn't Kosher? 

Daniel was wiser than that. He negotiated, and was willing to abide by whatever decision the guard made concerning the food. 

I can imagine how fresh and vibrant these four looked after their ten-day cleanse! I think it was the best idea Daniel could have come up with, so I would contend that God put him up to it. 

There's a lot to learn from here, about getting along with a boss. Don't make demands. Be willing to compromise on what is not essential. Be open to take a chance that things might not go your way, without complaint. 

Daniel was willing to go along with whatever decision Melzar made, even if it meant they may have to eat "unclean" foods. 

But God was looking out for them. And because Daniel was honest and open with God as well as with his new boss, God caused their attitudes to be favorable toward him and his friends. 

Daniel's attitude toward those in authority over him, even though they were Pagan unbelievers, gives us a lot to learn about getting along and doing well in our societies that are hostile to our faith. 

It's never to our advantage to aggravate those around us, giving off a holier-than-thou attitude. And we need to be careful that if someone is offended by our witnessing to them, that it's not our attitude of "I know the Truth and you don't," but is a genuine "offense of the Cross." 

Daniel maintained his high government position under several different kings, when changing administrations usually meant changing personnel. He hung on as a valuable employee. Because God was with him. Because he was really serving God, not these human bosses. 

I want to always be serving my Lord in whatever position I find myself in. To serve my employers honestly and transparently, promoting their welfare and prosperity above my own, displaying Christ's sterling character. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Our Lord God's Passion

Isaiah 62: 5

... As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. 

The Church is called the Bride of Christ. The Lord God called Israel His wife. 

God loves us passionately, as a newlywed bridegroom is enamoured with his new bride. And His passion will never wane, will never grow cold. 

Jesus wants us to also be as enraptured with intimacy with Him as He is with each of us. 

He knows us intimately, every molecule of every cell of every organ of our body; and every mote of spiritual substance of our life, our soul and our mind. He knows that we are but dust, and our spiritual parts are corrupted, but He loves us anyway. We are His by creation and by purchase. 

And those He has called to faith in His Death in their place are His by Redemption. We are His property, we are His family, we are His bride. 

That's how much He loves us. And He never changes, He will always love us more than we can imagine. There's nothing we can do to make Him love us less, there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more. He is Love. Period. 

That's why the Father sent the Son to be our Savior, and the Son sent the Spirit to live in each of us He has Redeemed, as the down payment guaranteeing that the work He began in us will be finished, and we will be made suitable to live in His Holy Presence forever. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Good Plans

Jeremiah 29: 11

I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.

God is love (I John 4:16), and He loves us. Each one of us. 

God has made each of us for His purposes. He has gifted each of us with different talents, desires, bents, so that everything will get done (I Corinthians 12:4-11). I may be good at one talent, you are good at another, and someone else is good at something else. So we are to help one another to accomplish what is good for all of us (12:7).

God has planned out all of Time, from the beginning to the end. And He has told us about it in His Word. It amazes me that He told Daniel the course of the Nations of the World from his own time all the way to the End of Time (Daniel 11 and 12). 

And He has included in His Grand Plan of the Ages all the individual plans for our lives, each one of us. What He has planned for us is good, and will bring peace and hope to each of us. 

It's when people don't follow His plan for them that sorrows and troubles and disasters defeat them. 

When we know God and His ways, and are following them in our lives, and experience sorrows and troubles, and turn to Him; then He shows us the way out of these disasters, and we need not worry or be afraid because we trust Him (I Corinthians 10:13 says there will be "a way to escape"). 

When His Love lives in us, we will not need to be afraid of anything, because His Love is perfect, and perfect Love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and God put all the punishment we each deserve on Jesus. So the person who lives in fear doesn't have God's perfect Love, because they don't know Him (I John 4:18). 

We can love Him because He has loved us first (I John 4:19). When we accept His Love by letting Jesus take our death on the Cross, then we will love others with this unconditional Love that He loves us with, and we will accept other people. If you think that you love God, but you discriminate against someone else, then you are living a lie--you can't reject someone He loves, who you can see, and at the same time love Him Who you can't see (4:20). That shows that you really don't know Him. 

God is not willing that anyone should perish, but that all of us would come to repentance (II Peter 3:9), to turn around our thinking patterns to realize we deserve death, and let Jesus take our place, as a Substitute, as the Lamb of God. Jesus fulfilled that first Sacrifice God wanted the Levites to teach the people, in the First Chapter of Leviticus, the personal sacrifice. 

Each individual was to bring his own personal animal to the priest, put his hand on its head identifying with it, and let the priest slaughter it, dying in the person's place. Then it was sacrificed on the altar and its blood sprinkled on the sides of the altar to cover the person's sins (Leviticus 1). 

Jesus, as the Lamb of God, is our Personal Sacrifice, that we would admit that we deserve death and let Jesus die for us. Then His blood sprinkled on the sides of His altar, the Cross, doesn't just cover, but washes away all our sinfulness. 

He died individually for each one of us to save us. 

So if you have never done this, if you haven't come to the conclusion that you deserve death, then ask God for saving faith. 

Jesus said that no one could come to Him unless God the Father draws them to Him (John 6:44). So if you ask the Father for this saving faith to believe that Jesus died in your place, He will answer that prayer. 

Then He will pour His unconditional Love upon and into You, giving you His own Holy Spirit to make your human spirit alive, giving you a whole new life. 

I had thought that I was one of many that Jesus died for, until He showed me Jesus on the Cross, and I knew He took my place there, because I deserved it. And His Love overwhelmed me that day, and I've never been the same. 

And I have been able to see that the Plan He has for me is good, and I have great hope for my future here, as well as my Eternal future. And His peace fills my mind and heart, even in the midst of troubles and sorrows, because I trust Him to be God and to do everything He has said He would do in my life and in this World. 

And when Jesus returns, I look forward to seeing Him face-to-face because I will be resurrected like Him, and He will reward me for doing the things He did through me. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!