The Humble Will Receive Grace, I Promise! Series

a. As you likely remember, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down.

b. The King heated the furnace 7 times hotter than usual and had them thrown into the fire.

c. When the three Hebrew young men came out unsinged, the King was amazed.

d. The King acknowledged that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was able to rescue like no other God, and that no one should say anything offensive about their God.

e. So King Nebuchadnezzar tipped his hat toward God, but he didn’t kneel down to God.

4. Many years passed, and King Nebuchadnezzar was enjoying a time of peace and prosperity.

a. His enemies were under control and his wealth was secure.

b. Yet in the midst of his time of ease, he had a bad dream that troubled him.

c. None of his fortune tellers could explain the meaning of his dream, but the king told his dream to Daniel: “There was a tree in the middle of the earth, and it was very tall. The tree grew large and strong; its top reached to the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and on it was food for all. Wild animals found shelter under it, the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and every creature was fed from it” (Daniel 4:10-12).

d. Nebuchadnezzar went on to describe how the tree was cut down by a messenger from heaven and how its branches were trimmed and its fruit scattered. Only a stump remained.

e. The voice from heaven then made a pronouncement: “Let him be drenched with dew from the sky and share the plants of the earth with the animals. Let his mind be changed from that of a human, and let him be given the mind of an animal for seven periods of time” (Daniel 4:15-16).

f. I’m sure that as Daniel listened to the dream and God supplied him the insight into it, he gulped and shivered, being astonished by what would take place to the king.

5. Keep in mind that at this point in history, Nebuchadnezzar had no peers – he was the uncontested ruler of the world.

a. The great city of Babylon over which he reigned, rose out of the desert plains like a Manhattan skyline.

b. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which he built for his wife, were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

c. The walls of his royal palace were 320 feet high and 80 feet thick – 2 four-horse chariots could ride on top of the wall side by side.

d. During Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Babylon’s population reached as high as half a million.

6. But all of that was about to end and Daniel had to deliver the sobering news.

a. Daniel said to the king: that tree is you, Your Majesty. For you have become great and strong: your greatness has grown and even reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth…You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals. You will feed on grass like cattle and be drenched with dew from the sky for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants. As for the command to leave the tree’s stump with its roots, your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven rules” (Daniel 4:22, 25-26).