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Scripture quoted is from the New Living Translation
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Well, it happened again. King Nebuchadnezzar had another strange dream. And once again all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put ole’ Neb together again. None of his royal advisors and court magicians failed to decipher it for him.
And once again – Daniel comes to the rescue with an interpretation from the Lord.
And yet, once again the message has to do with the sovereignty of God (surprise, surprise – especially considering that the book of Daniel is about God being in control – even in the midst of adversity.)
Now, of course, none of us really need to hear this again. After all, none of us are control-freaks. None of us are acting as though we were all high and mighty. None of us are worried about the future.
Yeah, right! This is why Daniel is so relevant. We live in a world where people have more power and control than any time in history.
One of the cars in our family fleet is a 1990 Geo Storm – really a bucket of bolts.
The metal on this thing is so thin that if you lean on the side of the car my insurance premium goes up.
The hinge on the driver’s side door fell apart years ago – and one of the guys at Wilkey’s Sheet Metal jury-rigged something to keep it working.
I’m kind of hoping to get the duct tape people to pay us a promotional endorsement fee to drive it around.
This car is a real beater – great for doing around town stuff – but a beater.
Yet, that ugly, rattly car has more power and provides more mobility than any king of Daniel’s day enjoyed. It’s faster than any chariot -- and it has air conditioning.
Extend this idea out to our society as a whole. We go more places, see more things, experience longer lives, and in thousands of ways have mroe control over life than did even the most pwoerful of the ancients.
As a society we truly believe that we are on top of the world – that the future lies in our hands. If we don’t have answers now, science will come up with some kind of solution in the not-to-distant future.
In the overall scheme of things we are pretty hot stuff. And the temptation for demigods such as ourselves is to think that somehow we’re in control. Which is exactly where King Nebuchadnezzar was at.
He was the greatest king in the known world of his time. His kingdom stretched from what is today Egypt to Iran, Syria, and into modern Saudi Arabia.
He had conquered Judah – and that’s why a nice Jewish boy like Daniel was working in his court.
What the king said was law. When he walked by people bowed.
King Nebuchadnezzar was hot stuff.
But the dream described in Daniel 4 is aimed at taking him down a notch or two -- or three or four.
He dreamt of a giant cosmic tree under which and thru which everything thrived.
By the way, in ancient Mesopotamian iconography, the tree is a major motif representing the god Assur – with the king as a personification of the tree.
And there was something like that happening in King Neb’s dream. Except he saw the tree cut down by a divine messenger.
Vs. 13 – “Then as I lay there dreaming, I saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. The messenger shouted, ’Cut down the tree; lop off its branches! Shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit! Chase the animals from its shade and the birds from its branches. But leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass.
’Now let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live like an animal among the plants of the fields. For seven periods of time, let him have the mind of an animal instead of a human. For this has been decreed by the messengers; it is commanded by the holy ones.
’The purpose of this decree is that the whole world may understand that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses — even to the lowliest of humans.’”
The point is clear, GOD IS SOVEREIGNLY IN CONTROL OVER ALL., which by the way, is the first of THE three points this morning.
And this is brought out again in Daniel’s interpretation of the dream.
Vs. 24 – "This is what the dream means, Your Majesty, and what the Most High has declared will happen to you. You will be driven from human society, and you will live in the fields with the wild animals. You will eat grass like a cow, and you will be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses."
King! You’re goin’ down! Either you acknowledge the Most-High God or you’re goin’ way down -- so low that you’ll be eating grass.
GOD IS SOVEREIGNLY IN CONTROL OVER ALL ACKNOWLEDGE IT OR EAT GRASS.
This is the second point. Acknowledge it or eat grass.
This is a showdown for the sake of the Jewish captives, so they could see that the Lord could bring down even their captor. This whole dream thing is about control and power.
King Nebuchadnezzaer, you’re going to lose it, AND IN A BIG WAY. You’re going to lose control of your mind and your kingdom. B U T there might be a way out, says, Daniel.
vs. 27 “O King Nebuchadnezzar, please listen to me. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past by being merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper."
Notice, what acknowledging God’s sovereign control involves. First of all, IT INVOLVES RENOUNCING EVIL.
We use the word repentance -- turning from things that are contrary to God’s will – and turning toward God and the things that are in his will.
Jesus often spoke of repentance. Luke 3:3 -- "...And you will also perish unless you turn from your evil ways and turn to God." (Unless you REPENT)
3:5 -- "No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will also perish.”
When we become Christians we begin the process of repentance. Our lives take on a new direction and we begin to leave behind the things that are a part of the old way – the evil way. And we turn and begin to follow Jesus.
And part of what this means is ACTING MERCIFULLY TOWARD THE POOR.
The poor are very important people in God’s eyes. and really it doesn’t matter how they got that way. We tend to draw lines between the people who are poor because of poor choices and those who are just the victims of hard times.
But there is no such biblical distinction – the poor are just the poor – and they are special to God because they are helpless – however they got that way. Things are beyond their control.
And Daniel advises the king that if he would turn from his power hungry ways toward the Most High God and get a heart for the poor and oppressed, there might be hope that the prophecy of the dream wouldn’t happen.
Break from your wicked past by being merciful to the poor.
We acknowledge God’s sovereignty and control by renouncing evil and acting mercifully toward the poor.
I went with the high school group to the Union Gospel Mission in Modesto last week.
Our youth groups go there one Friday night a month to serve dinner to homeless people. They’ve been doing so for about 7 years.
And it was enough to bring tears to your eyes – not all of the homeless people – that’s sad. And it’s hard to deal with.
But I’m talking about the way that our students – your children – respond to the people there. You should be so proud of them.
They bounce into that kitchen with incredible enthusiasm – wash their hands and just jump right to work.
They are kind and helpful and genuinely compassionate when the people come thru the line. They don’t make fun or look down – they just serve them with a smile, as though it were a restruant -- and carry on adult conversations with people that many of us would simply ignore if we met them on the street.
I wish you could all go there sometime to see this amazingly feat.
They get it. The kids are starting to get it!
And Daniel is saying King Neb. you need to get it. If you’d go serve dinner at the mission then maybe you’d start to understand what God’s love and mercy are really all about.
Or maybe if you’d go with the group down to Mexico – then you’d see that real strength involves serving the poor.
A few minutes ago you saw the slides from the mission trip a few weeks ago. Incredible!
23 of our people giving up a week of luxury living to work with the poor – teaching VBS, building a roof...
And these are really just the symbolic things that are
beginning to happen. Caring for the poor isn’t something that you do once a month or once a year – or an offering that we take off and on – but it’s a lifestyle choice – an attitude toward all people.
And as you know, most people in the world are poor. We are the rich.
This is most evident when they have one of these massive earth summits like they’re having in Johannesburg this week.
I read an article yesterday which describes the magnitude of the issue: "Delegates in the plush Sandton convention center face a rift between poor nations demanding more aid and fairer trade and rich states who are reluctant to commit more cash. Third World activists accused Americans and Europeans of pushing the interests of globalized big business at the expense of the poor.
"Negotiators, trying to lift Africans and others from poverty without repeating the environmental damage caused by industry in the West, face a string of problems ranging from how to increase the use of renewable energy to bolstering health services."
Folks, I don’t have an easy solution to all of the world’s problems. These are complex issues.
But I do know that the powerful better become as concerned about the poor as they are about making more for themselves.
If that doesn’t happen – eventually the tree will fall and we’ll all be eating grass.
Now, as you know, King Neb didn’t get it -- at first.
Vs. 28 – “But all these things did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar. Twelve months later, he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal palace in Babylon. As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Just look at this great city of Babylon! I, by my own mighty power, have built this beautiful city as my royal residence and as an expression of my royal splendor.’
“While he was still speaking these words, a voice called down from heaven, ‘O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you! You are no longer ruler of this kingdom. You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with the wild animals, and you will eat grass like a cow. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.’
“That very same hour the prophecy was fulfilled, and Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven. He lived this way until his hair was as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails were like birds’ claws."
Gross!
He didn’t lower himself to care for the poor. So God made him one of them. He was put out to pasture.
The most powerful man on earth is reduced to the most pathetic.
By the way, in Babylonian literature there is a similar story called the Prayer of Nabonidus. In that story Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, falls ill for 7 years, at the end of which he is cured thru the intervention of an unnamed Jewish healer.
Same guy? I don’t know. But it is interesting. And both do have a similar happy ending.
You see, in the end King Nebuchadnezzar does end up
acknowledging the Most High God.
Vs. 34 – “After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him.
He has the power to do as he pleases among the angels of heaven and with those who live on earth. No one can stop him or challenge him, saying, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’
“When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisers and officers sought me out, and I was reestablished as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before.
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble those who are proud.”
In a nutshell Daniel includes this story to challenge his readers to turn to and rely on the God who is in charge. That is, he is calling us to humble ourselves - even to the point of caring for the poor.
For indeed this is the pattern which God has established. I know I quote it often, but Philippians 2 keeps coming to mind.
Vs. 5 -- "Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
And the Apostle Paul goes on here -- we sometimes gloss over this part --
“Dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.”
That is, we don’t have to be as dense as King Neb – if we’d just open ourselves up to what God is doing and what God cares about –
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him...”
God has given you the power – and he’s standing there saying – “Okay, now all you have to do is flip on the switch and receive it.”
