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Dan Dares … …pride

Sunday, 18th April, 2010
Daniel 4

 

 The Bible is not exclusively written by the Children of Israel.. Today we hear the Emperor of Chaldea, or Babylon as we tend to call it. Our text is mainly his words and written in his language.  It is an ancient despot speaking to us  3000 years later. Makes you wonder, will anything of Barak Obama, Vladimir Putin, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, president of India or Hu Jintao, the president of China, be read and considered in 100 years from now, except in the dry dusty world of history? By the way, they are the four most powerful people in the world – two of them I have barely heard of.

 

But today’s reading perhaps should be prefaced with “Ladies and Gentlemen, The president of the whole earth, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.”

 

1 King Nebuchadnezzar,
       To the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world:
       May you prosper greatly!

 

 2 It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.

 3 How great are his signs,
       how mighty his wonders!
       His kingdom is an eternal kingdom;
       his dominion endures from generation to generation.

 4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous. 5 I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. 6 So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream for me. 7 When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me. 8 Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream. (He is called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.)

 9 I said, "Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream; interpret it for me. 10 These are the visions I saw while lying in my bed: I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. 11 The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, and the birds of the air lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed.

 13 "In the visions I saw while lying in my bed, I looked, and there before me was a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14 He called in a loud voice: 'Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field.
       " 'Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times] pass by for him.

 17 " 'The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.'

 18 "This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means, for none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you."

 

 The sense of achievement that Nebuchadnezzar here expresses is severely understated compared with that expressed in his successive building inscriptions in Babylon. He ruled over most of the known world.  The palace from which he surveyed Babylon was one of the citadels on the north side of the city.  It had large courts, reception rooms, throne room, residences, and the famous hanging gardens, a vaulted, terraced structure with an elaborate water supply for its trees and plants, apparently built by Nebuchadnezzar for his Median queen. From the palace he would see in the distance the city’s 27km outer double wall, which he had built. His palace stood just inside the double wall of the inner city, which was punctuated by eight gates and encircled an area 3km by l km, with the Euphrates running through it. The palace adjoined a processional avenue that Nebuchadnezzar had paved with limestone and decorated with lion figures, emblematic of Ishtar; this avenue entered the city through the Ishtar Gate, which he had decorated with dragons and bulls (emblems of Marduk and Bel). It continued south through the city to the most important sacred precincts, to whose beautifying and development Nebuchadnezzar had contributed, the ziggurat crowned by a temple of Marduk where the god’s statue resided. In Marduk’s temple there were also shrines to other gods, and in the city elsewhere temples of other Babylonian gods, restored or beautified by Nebuchadnezzar.

 

As we saw in the previous dream, God speaks to Nebuchadnezzar in ways which he understands. In ch 2. the dream was about statues which Nebuchadnezzar was into in a big way.

 

 So what do we make of the tree?

A lofty, pre-eminent, verdant, protective, fruitful, long-lived tree is a common symbol for the living, transcendent, life-giving, sustaining Cosmos or Reality or Deity itself. A sacred tree at the centre of the earth symbolically links earth and heaven; a tree of life grows in God’s garden; world history can be symbolized as a tree.

As is the nature of dreams the tree turns into some sort of chained up animal. It’s a real nightmare. No wonder it upset Nebuchadnezzar!  So who does the most powerful man on earth turn to?

First his wise men. Remember Babylon is the centre of learning. Much astronomy and mathematics emanate from this civilization. The ‘experts’. They say… and we all believe it. They ... may or may not be known in their own area of expertise but we just believe them. So it was in Daniel’s day. The mathematicians of the day were in the know about the movement of the stars. So we everybody believed them. But they could not convince Nebuchadnezzar. So he turns to the one reliable prophet he had, our friend Daniel, who he had named Belteshazzar after one of his gods. In our story the spotlight moves from Nebuchadnezzar to Belteshazzar.

 

Daniel Interprets the Dream

 19 Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him. So the king said, "Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its meaning alarm you."
       Belteshazzar answered, "My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries.

Daniel does not find prophecy much fun. In the new age of the church we find people queuing up to be prophets. But prophets have a tough time. They are rarely listened to and when they are they get roughed up or murdered! Daniel, we will find found prophetic dreams as terrifying as any nightmare. And this one had the added problem that is was about Nebuchadnezzar! Upset him and Daniel is yesterday’s man, written out of history and buried in some unmarked grave. You won’t find any of this in the annuls of the kings of Babylon for that very reason. History is about winning. Only the English celebrate losing – like the battle of Hastings, Dunkirk, we are now forced to celebrate the American war of independence in our haste to strengthen our ‘special relationship’. Anyway Daniel had courage, sick at heart he stuck to his calling. Tell the king the prophecy and expect a long slow death.

 

Now we have the interpretation of the tree.

 

 20 The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, 21 with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air- 22 you, O king, are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.

 23 "You, O king, saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, 'Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump, bound with iron and bronze, in the grass of the field, while its roots remain in the ground. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven; let him live like the wild animals, until seven times pass by for him.'

 24 "This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: 25 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. 26 The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue."

 

Nebuchadnezzar is the tree and the animal it turns into! Get the point? Daniel is telling the head of the greatest empire of its day your going to go mad if you don’t repent of your pride!

22 you, O king, are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.

The beauty of a tree is that it reaches up to the skies, with its fine tracery just sprouting leaves, producing dappled sunshine. But notice the solemn words

your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky,

That is the same problem as of Babel. It is the desire to be as God. The oldest sin, and on a grand scale.

Today’s message is a caution about pride. You may not be the president of the USA or even a potential MP but pride is a real weakness. Why? Because it makes us think we are God. Frank Sinatra sang !I did it my way” and if you hang around Ruislip Crematorium this week you will hear it played, again and again. We want to be the masters of our own lives. The Captain of our own destiny, able to be in control. This week’s grounding of the airlines has a simple message for us all. We are not in control. We cannot even keep our planes flying. Earthquakes and eruptions tell us rather dramatically, we are small creatures on a fragile earth. But we do have a great God. If we bow before him in humility, repentance and faith, we can get our lives into perspective. He grants us eternal life. This world is not our home, we are just passing through. We have an abiding city in heaven prepared by Jesus for those who trust him. These are the only certainties in this shifting world. So where is your security placed? In your home, in your financial investments, your health plan. If they are , at best they keep you alive until you are 90 to 100 odd. God has a far better plan for you that outlasts all human plans. He wants you to spend eternity with him.

The warning is quite simple. You can build your empire and security but one day all your ambitions will be as the dust of the desert, unless Sadam Hussain has a go at rebuilding them which is what you have been looking at. And he’s gone as well!

So what happened to Nebuchadnezzar?

 

The Dream Is Fulfilled

 28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?"

 31 The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, "This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. 32 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes."

  33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

 

Proverbs 16:18 says

18 Pride goes before destruction,
       a haughty spirit before a fall.

Jesus may have had Nebuchadnezzar’s story in mind when he told the parable of the rich fool.

Luke 12:16

And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

 18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

 20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

 21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

 

In the story of Nebuchadnezzar there is hope for all of us. Pride has to be exposed and censured. That can be a painful experience but God does not bring us down to leave us to be punished. He has taken the punishment himself. He brings us down so that he can raise us up.  We are back with the words of  Nebuchadnezzar.

 

  34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honoured and glorified him who lives forever.
       His dominion is an eternal dominion;
       his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

 35 All the peoples of the earth
       are regarded as nothing.
       He does as he pleases
       with the powers of heaven
       and the peoples of the earth.
       No one can hold back his hand
       or say to him: "What have you done?"

 36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honour and splendour were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

 Centuries later, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying where is he that is born King of the Jews for we have come to worship him.

 

 Who is in charge of your life? Are you proud of your home, security, family? This is a Godly health warning! Repent! The place to be is at the feet of the King of kings. Jesus. Acknowledge he is king. Pray ‘your kingdom come’ and  mean it. That means accepting the humbling experiences that bring us to his feet. That means giving up on pride and sometimes giving away what we have so that our dependence is on him not on our wealth and whatever else we have made. This story is about restoration.  God loves to bless the humble repentant and contrite. So it is as we bow in repentance and faith that the blessings of heaven are poured out on us today.

So let us along with Nebuchadnezzar acknowledge Jesus is king, give him the honour that is his to receive.

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