‘THE MOST HIGH RULES’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 26, 2024 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from May 26, 2024 from Daniel 4:1-37

Theme: “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.”

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning, we’re going to look at the testimony of a conversion. It’s found in the fourth chapter of the Book of Daniel. It’s the testimony of a man who was once a pagan worshiper of false gods; but who—by God’s amazing grace—experienced a complete transformation of his heart. He became a very public and very vocal believer in the one true God—the God of Israel.

As a follower of Jesus, I love hearing testimonies of conversions like that. And I’ll bet—dear brothers and sisters in Christ—that you do too. But I need to tell you that this particular testimony stands out as distinct from any other that we’ve ever heard. You see; this is not the testimony of just any man. It happens to be the story of the conversion of a man who was—at the time of his conversion—the ruling human monarch over the entire known world. We’re always excited to hear of an important and powerful person who becomes a believer. But it would be hard to find someone more important or powerful than Nebuchadnezzar—the king of the mighty Babylonian empire.

And what’s more; his testimony has been recorded and preserved by God in order to be read by all people, in all kingdoms, throughout the centuries; and that includes us as we live in our time and in our nation. It was preserved in order to teach all people a very important and universal lesson—one that’s repeated almost word-for-word three times in Daniel 4: that ‘the Most High God rules over the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses’.

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Now; before we get into the details of this story, let’s just pause and carefully consider that main lesson. Nebuchadnezzar’s conversion story is meant—among other things—to prove to you and me something that most of the powerful people of this world don’t believe. And that is that the God of heaven exercises complete sovereign rule over all of the kingdoms of humanity. It’s true that, to a certain degree, God permits human leaders to think that it’s all under their rule. He lets them make their decisions, and enact their policies, and rule over their populations according to their own will and wishes. But in the end, even their ability to make decisions, establish policies, and exercise rule is ultimately ‘ruled-over’ by sovereign God for His own purposes and for His own glory.

The Bible tells us this in several places. In Acts 17, for example, the apostle Paul told the proud intellectual people of Athens that God

has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us (Acts 17:26-27).

In Romans 13:1, he wrote that “there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God”. In a similar way, we’re told in Psalm 75:6-7;

For exaltation comes neither from the east
Nor from the west nor from the south.
But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another (Psalm 75:6-7).

This, of course, doesn’t mean that we’re free to disregard the legitimate authority of those that God allows to rule over us. We’re still under obligation to honor their role. But it does mean that we mustn’t place our ultimate trust in such human rulers. Rather, we’re to have our ultimate trust in our sovereign heavenly Father. I really appreciate what I heard one preacher say; that our ultimate confidence and trust is not to be in the rulers of this world, but rather in the Ruler of those rulers.

And that’s what this testimony from King Nebuchadnezzar is meant to teach us. It’s been preserved for us by God to show us that ‘the Most High God rules over the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses’. Our ultimate trust and confidence is to be in Him.

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So then; let’s get right into the study of this amazing testimony. Consider first how …

1. THE TESTIMONY IS INTRODUCED (vv. 1-3).

Whenever we hear someone give the testimony of what God has done in their lives, it’s important that we know a little about them. And so, this testimony begins with these words:

Nebuchadnezzar the king,
To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth:
Peace be multiplied to you.
I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me.
And how mighty His wonders!
And His dominion is from generation to generation (Daniel 4:1-3).

Now; we’ve already been told in the Book of Daniel about this particular king. God had given Nebuchadnezzar a dream in Chapter 2; and in that dream, God had shown him a statue that portrayed all of the mighty Gentile kingdoms of the earth that would rule the world from his time all the way to the time of the return of the Lord Jesus—Babylon, Media/Persia, Greece, Rome, and a future revived Roman empire. And God showed him that he was the ‘head of gold’ on that statue—indicating that he was the first and the greatest of all the Gentile kings and kingdoms that would come after him. And that makes his testimony a very significant one; because it comes to us—not only from the greatest earthly monarch of the day—but from the God-designated representative monarch of the Gentile kingdoms of earth that would rule during what the Bible calls ‘the times of the Gentiles’. Nebuchadnezzar says specifically that his testimony is for “all peoples, nations and languages that dwell on the earth”; and that’s true because he—in a very real sense—represents all of them.

And notice in his introduction to this testimony—as the representative king of the Gentile nations—how he praises the one true God. He declares that God’s signs are great, and His mighty works are wondrous. Nebuchadnezzar confesses that God’s heavenly kingdom alone is the only one that is everlasting, and that His dominion alone endures throughout all generations.

Now; Nebuchadnezzar hadn’t always spoken this way. If we trace his story from the previous chapters, we can see that he had clearly become a transformed man. In Chapter 1, we’re told of how he had taken the people of Israel captive and had brought them in bondage into his own land, and sought to make them conform to the customs of his false gods. But in 2:47—after God had revealed that marvelous dream to him—he then told Daniel, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets …” But Nebuchadnezzar hadn’t considered God to be his own God yet. It was still only ‘Daniel’s God’. Then in 3:28-29—after Daniel’s three friends were preserved in the blazing furnace and walked out alive—Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego”, and commanded that no one should speak anything against their God. But he still hadn’t yet embraced God as his God. But by the end of the story we’re about to read, we find Nebuchadnezzar declaring in verse 37; “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven …”

So; as this amazing introduction shows us, the ruling monarch of the known world wanted us to know that the one true God—the God of Daniel and of Israel—had finally become his God.

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Now; how did that happen? In the verses that follow …

2. THE STORY IS TOLD (vv. 4-36).

Nebuchadnezzar begins;

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore I issued a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream (vv. 4-6).

This was not the first time that Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream. He had a similar dream in Chapter 2. It was a dream that had been given to him by God. When he had that dream, he knew that it was significant—and he absolutely had to have the meaning of it explained. Back then, he gathered his pagan wise men together and demanded that they first tell the dream to him. That way, he could know for certain that they truly could tell him the interpretation. But he doesn’t make such a demand this time. Perhaps it was because he knew by now that those pagan advisers couldn’t tell him the dream. And so, he only asked them to tell him the interpretation. He went on to say;

Then the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers came in, and I told them the dream; but they did not make known to me its interpretation. But at last Daniel came before me (his name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god; in him is the Spirit of the Holy God), and I told the dream before him, saying: “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation (vv. 7-9).

Why was it that Daniel hadn’t come with the others? It was most likely because Daniel was a man of God; and he wouldn’t allow himself to be associated with the king’s pagan wise men. He kept himself distinct from those who didn’t worship God; and so, as a man set apart for God, he was able to be used by God. And it seems that Nebuchadnezzar recognized this. He already knew—from his previous experience with him—that Daniel could give the answer because ‘the Spirit of the Holy God’ was in Daniel.

So; the king then explained the dream to Daniel:

“These were the visions of my head while on my bed:

I was looking, and behold,
A tree in the midst of the earth,
And its height was great.
The tree grew and became strong;
Its height reached to the heavens,
And it could be seen to the ends of all the earth.
Its leaves were lovely,
Its fruit abundant,
And in it was food for all.
The beasts of the field found shade under it,
The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches,
And all flesh was fed from it (vv. 10-12).

In the Bible, the kingdom of a mighty king is sometimes symbolically represented as a great tree that provides shade and fruit for all his subjects. And that’s exactly how Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom were being represented in this dream. Nebuchadnezzar was probably pleased as that image came to his mind. But then, something dreadful happened. Nebuchadnezzar told Daniel,

“I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven” (v. 13).

Who was this strange being called ‘a watcher’? It seems to be an angelic being of some kind—a marvelous being upon whom the authority of heaven had somehow been invested.

He cried aloud and said thus:

‘Chop down the tree and cut off its branches,
Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.
Let the beasts get out from under it,
And the birds from its branches.
Nevertheless leave the stump and roots in the earth,
Bound with a band of iron and bronze,
In the tender grass of the field.
Let it be wet with the dew of heaven,
And let him graze with the beasts
On the grass of the earth.
Let him be given the heart of a beast,
And let seven times pass over him (vv. 14-16).

So; in the dream, this mighty tree was to be cut down and stripped bare. But take careful notice of a few things. First, notice that the stump of the tree was bound with a band of iron and bronze. This may have been meant to illustrate that the tree itself would not be completely destroyed; but rather, in some way, it would be protected for the future. And then, notice that the image of the tree changed into the image of a man. The mighty tree—which was a man—was caused to behave like an animal for ‘seven times’, or seven years. And finally, notice the authority with which this was all done, and the purpose for which it was being declared. The ‘watcher’ went on to say in verse 17;

‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers,
And the sentence by the word of the holy ones,
In order that the living may know
That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men,
Gives it to whomever He will,
And sets over it the lowest of men.’

This would have been a stunning and shocking dream. It’s no wonder that Nebuchadnezzar was greatly troubled by it and wanted so desperately to know its meaning. He knew that—in some way—it had something to do with him and with his kingdom. And so, he told Daniel;

“This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you” (v. 18).

Now; the Spirit of God truly was upon Daniel. And no doubt, just as had happened in Chapter 2, the God who gave the dream to the king also gave the interpretation of it to Daniel. But the interpretation that Daniel was given had left him stunned and speechless. Verse 19 tells us;

Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for a time, and his thoughts troubled him. So the king spoke, and said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation trouble you” (v. 19a).

The king had to comfort and assure Daniel not to hold back. He wanted the truth. But the truth was so shocking that Daniel told the king that he wished that the dream didn’t apply to him.

Belteshazzar answered and said, “My lord, may the dream concern those who hate you, and its interpretation concern your enemies!” (v.19b).

And so; after recovering himself, Daniel explained the meaning of the dream to the king:

“The tree that you saw, which grew and became strong, whose height reached to the heavens and which could be seen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely and its fruit abundant, in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and in whose branches the birds of the heaven had their home—it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong; for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your dominion to the end of the earth.

“And inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field; let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him’; this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.

“And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you, after you come to know that Heaven rules” (vv. 20-26).

Now; I believe that Daniel greatly loved King Nebuchadnezzar. He hoped that this terrible humbling from God wouldn’t have to happen. But because of the authority of the decree, he knew that it must. So Daniel made a heartfelt appeal to the king that he would repent; saying,

“Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity” (v. 27).

So; that’s the interpretation of the dream that was given to the king. But sadly, the king must not have heeded the call for repentance. This passage goes on to tell about how God brought him to a complete state of humiliation. Verses 28-30 give us the story. Perhaps it was written as a third-person report because Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t in a condition to record it himself. We’re told;

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” (vv. 28-30).

Just as the dream in Chapter 2 about the mighty statue hadn’t appeared to have sunk into his heart, neither did the message of this dream. He arrogantly boasted about the majestic glory of his mighty kingdom as if it had all been his own doing. He forgot what God had told him. And so;

While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses” (vv. 31-32).

God brought the declaration of that thrice-repeated promise down upon King Nebuchadnezzar—earth’s greatest Gentile king—so that the whole world would see it and learn the lesson from it. And it happened just as heaven declared that it would:

That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws (v. 33).

Many historians have sought to identify Nebuchadnezzar’s madness with some currently-known mental illnesses in which men act like animals; such as zoanthropy (where a man believes himself to be an animal), or lycanthropy (which is a crazed form of almost ‘werewolf’-like behavior), or boanthropy (which is a known disorder in which a man acts like an ox). It may well be that Nebuchadnezzar suffered from a known mental illness like any one of these. But it’s important to note that its onset was clearly a direct act of judgment from God. And what a terrible judgment it was! Could there have been another human being—in all of human history—that was humbled to as great a degree as King Nebuchadnezzar was? He went from being Earth’s most glorious and majestic king to a deplorable madman who lived like an animal—and all in an instant! And it was all by the order of heaven … in order to show that heaven rules over even the greatest kingdoms of men.

But then came the gracious restoration. The announcement from heaven was that this would only be for ‘seven times’. God not only issued the decree; but He also fixed the duration of it. We’re told—once again by Nebuchadnezzar himself;

And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me … (v. 34a).

Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliating condition was not permanent. His mind was preserved and given back to him. And with it, he declared that he had indeed learned the lesson. He said;

and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever:
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom is from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;
No one can restrain His hand
Or say to Him, “What have You done?” (vv. 34b-35).

Now; what had happened to the kingdom of Babylon during all of this time? Ordinarily, when a mighty king becomes even slightly incapable of ruling, others grab the opportunity to remove him and take his position of power. But perhaps Daniel stood by to make sure that such a thing didn’t happen. He knew from the dream that God had given Nebuchadnezzar that the kingdom would be restored to the king after seven years’ time. And so, perhaps Daniel stepped forward and protected the king and his throne until it could be restored to him.

And it was indeed restored. In verse 36, the king went on to tell us;

At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me (v. 36).

On the other side of this seven-year-long humiliation, God actually gave the king greater prosperity and majesty than he had before. But Nebuchadnezzar would never again boast of what he thought that he had built. Instead, he now knew and affirmed that ‘the Most High God rules over the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses’.

And that leads us finally to how

3. THE RESULT IS DECLARED (v. 37).

The king declared the lesson to the whole world:

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down (v. 37).

What a lesson! What a transformation! What a testimony! What a great God!

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Now; before we close, let me suggest at least three things you and I need to learn from this remarkable story.

First, this story is meant to give you and me an important lesson about God’s absolute authority over the kingdoms of men. Just as Nebuchadnezzar had learned, we need to also learn—and the rulers of this present world need to also learn—that ‘the Most High God rules over the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses’. As another great king—King David—prayed in Psalm 145:10-13;

All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations (Psalm 145:10-13).

Let’s not ever allow ourselves to get discouraged, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when it seems as if—in our time—the world is out of control, or when people come into positions of authority whose agenda disturbs us, or when the institutions of this world seem to grow hostile to our faith. Instead, let’s remember that—no matter what—our God rules over the kingdoms of men. The rulers of this earth do His bidding … and in due time He will prove it to all. He completely humbled King Nebuchadnezzar. He can completely humble anyone.

Second, this story gives us a symbolic picture of how God will one day test the nations of this world before the Lord Jesus comes to reign on earth. Did you notice that we were told repeatedly (in verses 16, 23, 32, and—by implication—verse 34) that King Nebuchadnezzar, as the representative king of the prophetic ‘times of the Gentiles’, would be turned into a beast-like man for seven years?

The Bible tells us that God has decreed ‘seventy weeks’ for the fulfillment of His sovereign plan regarding ‘the times of the Gentiles’ as they impact His chosen people Israel. We’re told about this in Daniel 9. These ‘seventy weeks’ are to be understood as seventy ‘sevens’ of years—490 years in total. They began with the reign of Nebuchadnezzar; and they will end with the glorious return of the Lord Jesus. And so far in human history, 69 of those ‘Seventy-Weeks’—or 483 of those years—have already occurred. The prophetic time clock was put on pause when the Lord Jesus was crucified for us, was raised, and was ascended to the Father. And now, one ‘week’ of seven years remains; and God’s prophetic time-clock will one day resume.

What will it be like during those final seven years? What will characterize that seventieth ‘week’? Bible tells us, in Revelation 13, that the last of the kings of ‘the times of the Gentiles’ will arise as the antichrist. He will make wreckage of the earth, and will—like a madman—defy the rule of God for seven years. He is, in fact, presented in Scripture as ‘a beast’. And King Nebuchadnezzar seven-year humbling is a symbolic picture of what the end of ‘the times of the Gentiles’ will be like—and how, when that dreadful seventieth week is completed, people of Israel will finally acknowledge Jesus Christ to be their King—and the kingdoms of this world will be given to Him.

At the end of that coming time, it will then truly be known that ‘the Most High God rules over the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses’; for He will give it to His Son Jesus Christ.

And finally, this story of King Nebuchadnezzar is a reminder to you and me that—one day; just as Nebuchadnezzar bowed to heaven’s rule—everyone will bow to the rule of the Son of God. As it says in Philippians 2:9-11;

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).

So; since every knee will absolutely one day bow, and since every tongue will absolutely one day confess that Jesus is Lord, let’s learn from King Nebuchadnezzar’s example … and bow and confess now!

AE