Please note the words of Elihu: Job 33: This chapter is a major lesson on pride.

Transcription

1 Daniel Chapter 4 Testimony of a Gentile King Introduction Babylon, date; toward the end of his rule; author Nebuchadezzar; theme: God hates pride. Did Nebie get saved? Did he come to accept the God Jehovah or did he submit to the God he intellectually accepted and politically accepted? Please note the words of Elihu: Job 33: This chapter is a major lesson on pride. Verse 4: Babylon: Verse 9: Daniel is called the chief of the magicians "Rab chartumim" from it we get scribe: Note Daniel founded an order of "Magi" who later came at the birth of Jesus. Please note: Men love truth or error. We have no evidence that the other "magicians" changed their theological orientation, even in the midst of such overwhelming evidence that the God of the Bible is in fact God. Verse 10: A tree TREE (the rule of expositional constancy) Men are spoken of as tree's. Psa. 1:3; 37:35; 52:8; 92:12; Isa. 56:3; Jer. 17:8 Nations are sometimes spokenof as a tree Assyria: Eze. 31:3-18 Mustard Tree in Matt. 13:31-32 Olive Tree: Israel Rom 11:16-24 Immediate application: Neb; prophetic application; ecumenical outreach of Babylonianism and Gentile power in the last days and final overthrow (seven years of insanity and confusion!? in the whole world????) Did his conversion take place after 7 years of madness? The tree did not sprout again until after it was cut down. Verse 17: Does God (cause/allow mental illness?) One writer "Sorrow, despair, failure, sicknes, mental illness; all are a prat of His plan to draw upon when other, more gentile methods fail. Dr. Wallace Emerson: "So when we think on Nebuchadnezzar's madness as punitive, a judging of pride of heart and a rebuke for his harshness to Israel, there may be another purpose: that God may put together a mind that is conformed to the truth (made possible by a more tractable spirit) that he might come to a conviction of his own complete powerlessness to control his own destiny and even his own mind." Verse 19: "He was perplexed for one hour (for a time) a unit of time." BABYLON 1. The Bible is a tale of two cities. Jerusalem and Babylon. Origin: Gen. 10:8-10. Herodotus: 15 miles square; 350 ft. wall, 87 ft. wide (6 chariots abreast.) 2nd wall; moat; 250 watchtowers, 100 ft. above the wall; Tower of Bel (babel)

2 The hanging gardens of Semaramis was one of the wonders of the world. He built it because she was homesick. Saddam Hussein has offered prizes if anyone can figure out how they were irragated. PRIDE: Someone once described pride like a beard. It just keeps growing. The solution? Shave it every day: A minister, a Boy Scout, and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot came back to the cabin and said that the plane was going down but there were only three parachutes and four people. The pilot added, "I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wifeand three kids. So he took one and jumped. The computer whiz said, "I should have one of the parachutes because I am the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me." So he took one and jumped. The minister turned to the boy scout and with a sad smile said, "you are young and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, and I'll go down with the plane". The Boy Scout said, "Relax Reverend, the smartest man in the world just picked up my knapsack and jumped out!" 1. God hates it. Prov. 6; ICor. 4:6,7; Phil.2:3-4; ITim. 6:4-10, 17; James 4:13-17; 2. Why does God hate pride? In part, because it is how sin entered the universe. See Isa 14: that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: "How the oppressor has ceased, the golden city ceased! 5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; 6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and no one hinders. 7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing. 8 Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were cut down, no woodsman has come up against us.' 9 "Hell from beneath is excited about you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the dead for you, all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10 They all shall speak and say to you: 'Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us? 11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the sound of your stringed instruments; the maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you.' 12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'

3 3. When Circus acrobat Philippe Petit. was rehearsing in Bayfront Auditorium in St. Petersburg, Fla, he fell about 30 ft to a concrete floor. According to a witness, Petit rolled over on his stomach, began pounding the floor with his fists, and cried, "I can't believe it!" "I can't believe it"! I don't ever fall!". LYCANTHROPY: ( Greek: lykos, "wolf"; anthropos, "man") "Mental disorder in which the patient believes he is a wolf or some other animal. Stimulated by the once widespread superstition of a supernatural condition in which men actually assume the physical form of werewolves or other animals. Linked with belief in animal guardian spirits, vampires, totemism, witches and werewolves. Folklore, fairy tales, and legends of many nations and peoples show evidence of lycanthropic belief. The Romans called anyone who was supposed to have been turned into a wolf by means of magic spells or herbs vversipellis (turn skin). Widely believed in Europe during the Middle Ages and popularized by the person who faked his PHD theses Carlos Castendena (Journey to Itzatlan, Yaqui way of knowledge etc). Neb more likely experienced "Boanthropy; an ox; Raymond Harrisons observed a case in British mental institution in A young man, in his early 20's; hospitalized for 5 years; fit description in 4:33. He ate grass around the hospital grounds (and survived!). Some historical references to this bout with insanity: Eusebius references from Abydenus, a Greek historian of 268 BC, aspects of Nebuchadnezzar's insanity, being on the roof and other details. Josephus attributes to the Babylonian historian Berosus, a Chaldean priest of the time of Alexander the Great, a definite reference concerning a strange malady suffered by Neuchadnezzar before his death. Berosus learned Greek, opened a school, and had Abydenus as one of his pupils. He wrote 3 books on Chaldean history; fragments are preserved by Josephus and Eusebius. Guess who took care of NEB during the time of his sickness? According to the Talmud (DANIEL) Prayer of Nabonidus, the king of Assyria and found in Cave 4 at Qumran: "The words of the prayer of Nabonidus, the king of Assyria and Babylon, the (great) king, prayed (when he was smitten) with a malignant disease by the decree of the most high God in the city of Tema. I was smitten for 7 years and from (men) I was put away. But when I confessed my sins and my faults, He (God) allowed me (to have) a soothsayer. This was a Jewish (man of the exciles in Babylon. He explained (it) and wrote (me) to render honor and g(reat) glory to the name of the (most High God). The Prophet's Confrontation: Verse 27: Note how Daniel lovingly and courageously confronts the king to change! This is so judgment will be deferred! A note on confrontation: Often people are reluctant to confront or eager to cut down! We are exhorted to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15-25). We are to seek to restore believers in a spirit of gentleness. (Gal. 6:1). When we fail to carry

4 out those commands, we disobey God and wind up hurting the ones we love rather than help them. Illust. a man who was dating a girl while he was still married to his wife! Verse 34: Restoration: summary by Daniel Was Nebuchadnezzar "saved'? A heart was given to him in 7:4. Missler believes yes. Could it be that Daniel's daily witness, and prayer, and care (when the king was sick) let to his conversion? John Walvoord writes: "In Daniel 4 Nebuchadnezzar reaches a new spiritual persicacity. Prior to his experience of insanity, his confessions were those of a pagan whose polytheism permitted the addition of new gods, as illustrated in Dan. 2:47 and 3: Now Nebuchadnezzar apparently worships the King of heaven only. For this reason, his autobiography is truly remarkable and reflects the fruitfulness of Daniel's influence upon him and probably of Daniel's daily prayers for him. Certainly God is no respecter of persons and can save the high and mighty in this world as well as the lowly." Can you imagine? This would be like Chairman Mao getting saved in Communist China. Verse 37: The last we read of Neuchadnezzar. After his restoration, he lived about one year. His son; Evil-merodach succeeded him as Babylon's next ruling monarch. Jer 9: Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD. CONCLUSION Read Isa. 44&45. God writes him a letter 150 years in advance. Read chapter 5 and Isa. 44&45. Find the time. # pis. 13&14; Jere. 50&51; Rev. 17& God's judgment may be slow, but it is certain. We tend to think that just because discipline does not come swiftly, it will never come! Not so! God does discipline people because of his great love. 2. God will go to great lengths to show us that He is Lord. He will not allow our pride to go unchecked. He will use pain and hardship to remove ingratitude and egotism from our lives, so that we will acknowledge our dependence on Him. Ecclesiastes 8:11 Eccl 8: Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.

5 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God. e story is told of a laborer who was a mature Christian and gave a solid testimony before