Honoring God: Daniel 4:28-35
Sermon by CH(CPT) Keith J. Andrews
All scripture marked ESV: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
This morning I bring to you a story of Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar was the great king of Babylon the great hero of Iraq.
Some say that he was more proud of his construction than he was of his conquests. (wikipedia.org) He created a city comparable to none other. It’s "Hanging Gardens" was one of the seven wonders of the world.
An article on Wikipedia describes his construction efforts this way;
"Nebuchadnezzar, continuing his father’s work of reconstruction, aimed at making his capital one of the world’s wonders. Old temples were restored; new edifices of incredible magnificence were erected to the many gods of the Babylonian pantheon to complete the royal palace begun by Nabopolassar, nothing was spared, neither "cedar-wood, nor bronze, gold, silver, rare and precious stones"; an underground passage and a stone bridge connected the two parts of the city separated by the Euphrates; the city itself was rendered impregnable by the construction of a triple line of walls."
Nebuchadnezzar looked out over all of, this city, his prize possession, and gloated in his majesty and in his power:
Look with me at Daniel 4:28:
28 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” 31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” 33 Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws. (Daniel 4:28-33, ESV)
In Nebuchadnezzar’s arrogance he was driven from the city to live as an animal.
The God of the universe will not be mocked.
We can get so arrogant in our understanding of our kingdom, our own little corner of the universe that we thought was what we built—but after all we were allowed to prosper by the hands of God.
What does it take for us to awaken to the understanding that God deserves honor? Does it take losing everything in order to appreciate the greatness of God?
We see in the next passage that Nebuchadnezzar finally came to his senses.
Daniel 4:34-35;
34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and she does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34-35, ESV)
So we see that it sometimes takes too much for our arrogant selves to bring honor to his name.
In this passage, Nebuchadnezzar gives us two lessons in how to bring Honor to God.
1. Nebuchadnezzar understood who God was.
Look with me at verse 34:
These are the words of Nebuchadnezzar:
34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; (Daniel 4:34, ESV)
Now, wouldn’t it be wonderful for one of the American Presidents to make this kind of claim? To look over the greatness of the United States and praise God alone?
We hear lip service from time to time—but we don’t hear the complete realization that God is in it all. To do so, some would say, would be political suicide. I say, it is about time we acknowledge God’s hand on our nation. It is about time we acknowledge his hand on our lives.
Here we see Nebuchadnezzar giving honor to God, after he came to his senses. It is interesting that he says: "my reason returned to me". The text doesn’t say whether or not the reason returned after he was acting like an animal or whether the reason for returning his life to normal was that his reason returned to him.
But, the primary point I see that Nebuchadnezzar looked at his life and the reason returned to him. He realized that he was not as majestic as he thought. I didn’t take much for God to completly change his surroundings and to bring him to his knees.
When this reasoning was understood, then did he lift his eyes to heaven and bless the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever.
How much is it going to take for each of us to come before a Holy God and praise him and honor Him who lives forever?
Will it take an event like that of Nebuchdnezzar to make us see? Are we going to have to placed back with the animals to see the greatness of God?
During this series, we are talking about our prayer life in particular. Taking that prayer life and molding it into a life of prayer—where it doesn’t just stop at the closet door, but encompasses everything that we do throughout each day and night.
This process begins with understanding who God is. This makes us humble before God and makes us vulnerable to his teaching and instruction.
We can not be successful until we have reached this point in our lives.
Nebuchadnezzar is a good example for us because he is exactly like us. We too often try to take credit for what God is doing in our lives. We too often see all good things in our lives and we refuse to bring honor to God—we puff ourselves up and take all of the credit for how wonderful we are. Little do we know that it was God who helped us along, placed us in the right places to prepare us for that moment.
Are we going to take all of the credit for what God does?
Are you going to take all of the credit for what God is doing in your life? What difference would it make in your life if you changed your mind and began to give God the glory for what you have accomplished?
But, as we see in this passage, when Nebuchadnezzar came to his senses he declared what he understood about God.
2. Nebuchadnezzar also declares that he understood who he was.
Look with me at verse 35:
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and she does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35, ESV)
There is one thing that happens when you realize who God is, and that is that we figure out who we are.
This is critical in Nebuchadnezzar’s case.
Before his humiliation, he was puffed up about all of his accomplishments. Then they were all stripped from him and he realized the source of all good gifts are from the Lord. It was then that he realized how much he had taken credit for things that were not his doing. It was then that he was able to say that "all the inhabitants of the earth", including himself "are accounted as nothing." He was experiencing total humility before God.
And we should do the same as well. When we pray, when we worship, and when we sing we must come to Father with complete humility before a Holy God.
It was to Moses that God say
Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (EX 3:5, ESV)
We don’t have a clue what is considered holy any more.
I saw an ad this week for someone selling "holy Drinking Water". The water is to be blessed by any clergy, regardless of the faith that they may hold. No, of course, my first thought was to remember the passage in 1 Corinthians about food sacrificed to idols. But as I looked closer, I noticed that the company didn’t take holiness seriously at all. They use holiness as a gimmick to sell a product and make jokes to encourage their market segment. (www.holydrinkingwater.info)
We don’t have a clue what it means to be holy. Or how to approach a holy God.
We are to approach a holy God, completely humble before Him. The Bible says we are to bow before Him. Bowing reduces our stature before Him and brings honor to Him, and admits our dependence on Him.
We do this first by understanding our need for Him.
All of us are sinners.
We have all said things, thought thinks, and done things that violate the very law of God. When we do these things we are living outside of his will, and placing our will be fore God’s will. As Nebuchadnezzar stood and looked over his great and might city—we look at our own success and we become arrogant as if we have done something great. This is sin.
We must understand that we have all committed this sin, and do every time we go off by ourselves on our own plan.
The Bible says in James that once you commit one sin, you are guilty of committing all of the sins in the Bible. We are all sinners. And we must understand this as Nebuchadnezzar did before we are able to approach a Holy God.
Then, as we understand our position before this Holy God, we are able to understand God’s greatness in the universe. We begin to understand his power, his knowledge and His love.
God is Love. Sometimes we focus on this to a fault. We ignore the righteousness and the justice of the God of the Universe.
He is loving, but He is also just. He requires a penalty for our sin. And the Bible says, in many places that this penalty is death. We all have to pay this penalty, because we are all sinners.
But, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (Jn 3:16, ESV)
This gift is a free gift to all of us to have eternal life. But, we must accept it. The gift does no good if no one takes it out of the wrapper. And this morning, you can accept this payment. You can receive eternal life through Christ paying your punishment on the cross.
It is then, when you realize your dependence on Him that you can truly bring Honor to the name of the Lord. It is only when we place our life in his hands, handing over the reigns to all that we do that we come to understand that through Him can we achieve anything this life has to offer. It is when you accept the sacrifice of His Son, that all of this understanding will begin to make sense.
So, today, we come together to honor God. We know that "his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation." We see that "all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and she does according to his will among the host of heaven."
So now what do you plan to do? What difference is it going to make on your life? Will their be less stress? Will there be an understanding that there is a higher power that is guiding you? Will you make decisions based on what the Bible says, rather than what may be politically correct at the time.
This morning, you have a decision to make—whether you and going to live under God’s hand or whether you are going to continue to make your own rules, live in your own arrogance and, soon, behave like an animal.
Let Us Pray.
