I struggled with the title of this chapter. It would be either “God’s Sovereignty Seen In Daniel 4” or “God’s Sovereignty Over The Nations.” In the end, I chose to stick with Daniel 4 because it is the perfect prooftext for the principle of God’s sovereignty over the nations. And while we will spend a lot of time digging into the lessons that God taught Nebuchadnezzar about His sovereignty over the nations, we will also look at many more passages that show this lesson. But here is the crux of what God taught this mighty king after humbling him by showing that God was in control over every nation on earth.
“At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34-35 ESV).
After humbling mighty Nebuchadnezzar, the king walks away with some fundamental lessons on the sovereignty of God when it comes to the nations of men. These are the same lessons God teaches elsewhere in His word that we will do good to remember today because our God is still sovereign over the nations in the same way He has always been. Here are the lessons that Nebuchadnezzar learns:
God’s Sovereignty over the nations is everlasting: God is not a god whose sovereignty peaked before man grew too strong in his technological advances. He was always sovereign over the nations, He is sovereign over the nations, and He will always be sovereign over the nations. As we will see in this chapter, this is a fundamental truth about God’s sovereignty and how it plays out in the affairs of men.
No one can contend with God’s Sovereignty: Compared to God, all men are counted as nothing. Man will never get to the point where we will challenge God’s sovereignty over us. As proud as we might grow in our minds, it will never pose a threat to God. Never. Ever.
God will always do whatever He wants: Whether in heaven or earth, once God sets His will to act in the affairs of men, no power can prevent His will from being carried out. Man cannot band together to thwart what God ordains in the nations, and no spiritual forces or principalities can alter God’s will from happening. Once God determines a path for nations, that path will be carried out. No power can stay His hand.
No power can put God on trial: Boy, we are seeing a lot of this second fundamental truth of sovereignty: God answers to no man, no power, or any other authority, aren’t we? This is the same lesson that Job learned in our last chapter, and this is what Nebuchadnezzar walks away learning after God humbles him. This is how Nebuchadnezzar puts it: “none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” We really seem to want to demand that God explain Himself to us, don’t we?
In this chapter, we will look at the lessons Nebuchadnezzar learns, and then we will see how God has been teaching these lessons to us since the beginning of time. When we are done, I hope we will have engrained in our minds the extent of God’s sovereignty even today in our world. If we are not careful, it is too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that God no longer works in the world in the same way He has always exerted His sovereignty over the nations. And this can lead us to a dangerous place in our thinking regarding God and His sovereignty over us today.
What I am hoping that this book does is look at God’s sovereignty wholistically. Even though we look at His sovereignty over creation, us, and nations, the bottom line is this fundamental truth about God: He is sovereign. Period. There are no areas where we can say He is sovereign here but not there, or He is more sovereign here than He is there. God is sovereign physically and spiritually in every aspect of existence, creation, and reality. Once we come to grips with this fundamental truth, it becomes easier to set ourselves within the order God created. It makes our lives and decisions so much easier, and the nations have always served as the backdrop to God’s ultimate sovereignty over the affairs of men when He decides to step in and act. In His sovereignty, He allows men to rule over themselves until He decides to exercise His sovereignty and direct the destiny of nations.
God’s Sovereignty Over Babylon
Daniel 4 is one of the most amazing chapters that teach the sovereignty of God. But let’s back up and see what leads to this lesson. After the flood, man hadn’t taken long to fall away from God. It might be interesting to note that while Abraham was alive, so was Shem, the son of Noah that Abraham descended from. Think about this for a moment. Shem was alive for all but the last twenty-five years of Abraham’s life. Shem died when Abraham was 150 years old, and Abraham only lived another 25 years before he died. What does this mean? It meant that one of the eight people who witnessed God’s wrath via the flood was still living when men began to fall away and start worshiping idols. Listen to what Joshua said to Israel before he was about to die:
“And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.” (Joshua 24:2 ESV).
Joshua reminds us that man is quick to turn to his own path and not seek after God. What can we presume as we see this wholesale abandonment of God while even the ones saved in the ark from God’s wrath were still alive and living among men? Should we conclude that God is not as sovereign as He claims to be? Certainly not. But it does explain how nations like Babylon can grow so wicked and powerful in the presence of a sovereign God. We will focus on this, and I hope we can apply what we learn to our world today. To lay the groundwork for our study of the sovereignty of God over the nations, let’s look at a principle that applies to the individual as well as the nations:
“Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11 ESV).
As we see men devolve away from God, and we see God’s longsuffering with man allowing him to exercise his free will and sin against his God, we may be tempted to question God’s sovereignty over man. Some get so caught up in this way of thinking that they walk away with a false idea that God, in His sovereignty, caused man to choose the path of sin they followed or caused the nations to act sinfully to accomplish His will. As we discussed earlier in the book, this could not be further from the truth. God’s sovereignty over the nations is manifested in His control of what the nation is allowed or not allowed to do by God, not in the sinful choices the nation pursues. Let me say this another way: God is in no way responsible for the sinful choices an individual or nation chooses to make. Equating the sinful choices we make to God’s sovereignty is a false teaching that insults the sovereign Creator of the universe. God cannot sin, nor does He tempt or cause any man to sin. This is bearing false witness to the highest degree.
That said, God often accomplishes His will through the sinful actions of a nation. God will often bring His judgment on a people by utilizing a sinful nation. He will then turn around and punish the instrument of His justice, not for being used by Him but for the willful sin they exercised in carrying out His judgment. This is what we read in the book of Habakkuk, especially as it pertains to Babylon. In this book, Habakkuk cries out to God and asks Him how long He will allow the sinful people of Judah to get by with their sins before He brings about punishment upon them.
“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?” (Habakkuk 1:2 ESV).
The people of Judah had turned into a society full of violence and sin, and Habakkuk didn’t understand why God was letting them get away with sin without bringing judgment upon them. God’s response to Habakkuk shocked the prophet:
“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.
They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.” (Habakkuk 1:5-7 ESV).
God says to the prophet, “I am going to do something about the sinful disobedience of Judah! I am raising up the Chaldeans, and I will use them to pour out my judgment upon Judah.” These Chaldeans were the same Babylonians we will look at in Daniel chapter 4. The reason this shocks Habakkuk is that this sounds like overkill to him. Listen to how the prophet responds to God:
“You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?” (Habakkuk 1:13 ESV).
Habakkuk, in essence, is saying that the Babylonians are way worse than the sinful people of Israel. If anyone deserved the judgment of God poured out on them, it’s these people. The prophet goes on to remind God just how evil the Chaldeans were. And yet, in His sovereignty, God chose to use these evil people to bring the punishment upon the Israelites that He promised to them on Mt. Ebal in the days of Moses and Joshua. But He reminds Habakkuk that He isn’t blind to the sins of this nation, and as a sovereign God, there will come a time in which He would bring judgment upon them too.
“Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.” (Habakkuk 2:7-8 ESV).
This sets the stage for the sovereignty of God to be shown on many fronts. First, God would bring about the promised curse to the people of Judah that they read about in the Law on Mt. Ebal. Second, He would strengthen the instrument of His judgment, the Chaldeans. By removing His protection from Judah, God would open the door for this nation to execute His judgment upon them. And when the time came, God would look at the sins of Babylon and bring about judgment upon them for their sins, as He does with all nations in His time.
The picture the Bible paints of God and His sovereignty over the nations is one of a conductor, setting His will in motion by using the nations of men. We don’t know all the ways that God sets His will in motion. He doesn’t tell us how He does it, but He does tell us that He does it nonetheless. It becomes a dangerous game to play when we try to figure out the secret things of the Lord. We will discuss this in the next chapter, Ways God Accomplishes His Purposes. But there is evidence that God often sets up His purposes years, even centuries, before He carries out His purposes.
So, the stage is set. God has purposed in His heart to carry out His curses upon His people and remove them from their land, as He had promised. He gives Habakkuk a heads-up that He will do this via the Babylonians. And while postponing this curse for the sake of a few good kings, His wrath finally fell upon His people. In 586 B.C., He opened the door for the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and its temple and carry away the people into captivity. And the king who presided over this judgment was the one and only Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar was the son of the man who founded the new Chaldean empire. His father, Nabopolassar, was a general in the Assyrian army, but he was from the conquered people of the old Babylonian empire. When the Assyrians began to decline, Nabopolassar led a rebellion and created another mighty world power. However, Babylon (the Chaldeans) was not strong enough to conquer Assyria fully, and the world had two major empires fighting each other. The Middle East (an area called the Levant) was the staging ground of a life-and-death battle of the world’s major empires. The Assyrians were in decline, but the Babylonians were on the rise. And Egypt was caught in the middle.
Egypt was still a strong nation in its own right, and it began to fear the rise of Babylon, so it tended to want a stronger Assyrian empire to act as a buffer between itself and the rising Babylonians. But as a prince, Nebuchadnezzar’s father gave him an army. In 605 BC, he defeated Pharaoh Necho II in a stunning and decisive battle that galvanized Nebuchadnezzar’s reputation as a mighty warrior leader like his father. Shortly after this victory over Egypt, his father died, and he returned to Babylon to solidify his power as the next Babylonian King.
Here is how all this plays out in our study of the sovereignty of God. In 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar heads back to the Middle East to clean up things and conquer Jerusalem, defeating Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24:1), who later rebels against Babylon. During the short reign of his son, Jehoiachin, Nebuchadnezzar settled the score with Judah and defeated Jerusalem.
“At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it,
and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign
and carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as the LORD had foretold.
He carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained, except the poorest people of the land.” (2 Kings 24:10-14 ESV).
This was when Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, as the new king:
“And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.” (2 Kings 24:17 ESV).
During the reign of Zedekiah, Jeremiah was sent to Jerusalem to tell the people that God was raising up the Babylonians to exercise His judgment over Judah for their sins. His message was simple and very unpopular: do not resist the judgment of God. In the eleven or so years of Zedekiah’s reign, they watched the Babylonians grow weaker. The Babylonians had tried to once and for all defeat Egypt for a second time but failed miserably. They watched conquered nations slowly start to rebel, and people began to think that perhaps Babylon was just a paper tiger. These were the political winds that Zedekiah experienced.
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you.” (Jeremiah 27:14 ESV).
and
“Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation?” (Jeremiah 27:17 ESV).
Yet, Zedekiah looked to Egypt as the wagon to hitch their star. They so desperately wanted to remove the cruel and burdensome yoke that the Babylonians put upon them that they were blinded to the message of Jeremiah.
“Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, Pharaoh’s army that came to help you is about to return to Egypt, to its own land. And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. They shall capture it and burn it with fire. Thus says the LORD, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away.” (Jeremiah 37:7-9 ESV).
The die is cast from the Lord. While the rest of the world hoped that Babylon was a paper tiger, the words of Habakkuk were being fulfilled. God was raising up these people for a single purpose: to execute His judgment upon the people of Judah. This is why Jeremiah lays it on the line for Zedekiah:
“Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.
But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” (Jeremiah 38:17-18 ESV).
Yet Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and when it failed, he tried to flee. But it was too late. Rather than God sparing his life in this judgment, his children were slaughtered before his eyes, and his people were led into captivity a second time. Jerusalem was destroyed, along with the temple.
Okay, so I spent an inordinate amount of time discussing history here. But here is what I want us to remember as we transition to the biblical text. Keep these points in mind as we read how God teaches this powerful leader about true sovereignty:
God works on His timetable: The events we read about in history were set into motion by God long before we read of their fulfillment. It started in the reading of the curses and blessings by Moses and Joshua. Even though God warned the Israelites and showed His longsuffering and lovingkindness to them, their rebellion led Him to bring the promised judgment when they turned away and refused to repent. Even at the very end, God offered a way to avoid the full brunt of His judgment, but His people refused to heed the prophets’ warnings.
God will accomplish His purposes, and man cannot alter it: When God sent the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity by the Assyrians, there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. I hope our time spent on Babylonian history helped us see the same thing. When the time came in God’s mind to exercise His judgment, He began to shift things in the world to make this happen. He looked at a general in the mighty Assyrian army who came from the conquered region of Babylon and helped Him build a mighty empire to be His instrument of judgment. Habakkuk 1:6 puts it this way: “I am raising up the Chaldeans….” What we spent time studying via history was this verse being put in motion by God. Even though the Assyrians and the Egyptians fought, nothing could ultimately alter the plans God determined to set in motion.
God is always in control: This was the theme of Jeremiah’s warning to Zedekiah and the people of Judah. God is in control, and you cannot run from Him. God was telling His people precisely what He was about to do as punishment for their sins, yet in a show of grace, He also offered them the path to accept this punishment in a way that would lessen the pain and suffering. All they had to do was accept the will of God, and He would avert some of the painful parts of the consequences in store for them. They refused and fought against God to the bitter end, and His cup of wrath was poured out upon them in full measure. But God was in control over everything. He foretold it, warned the people, and offered measures of grace, yet everything He set in motion happened as He indicated. Though He offered to lessen the consequences with a show of obedience and repentance, He and He alone made these concessions. No man, throne, army, or power could alter what God set in motion.
This sets us up nicely for our following lessons on God’s sovereignty. We have already tasted the evidence that God rules over the nations and now, let’s take a deep dive into the life of this monarch whom God raised up for this purpose. God has a lesson He wants Nebuchadnezzar to learn, and by extension, as a lesson for us to learn as well.
Nebuchadnezzar Meets God
In conquering Judah, Nebuchadnezzar begins to solidify his position as the monarch of the sole world power. As we read earlier, he brought people from Judah to his nation to be trained as good subjects of his empire. He did this for a couple of reasons. First, it was a way to help control the political peace in the empire. A politically peaceful empire was much easier to rule. But second, this was in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise that the ultimate judgment upon the people was that they would lose their land (Deuteronomy 28:64) and “be scattered among the nations.”
Now, here is where we need to be careful in how we determine that God accomplishes His purposes. We will deal with this at great length in the next chapter. But we don’t know how God chose the Babylonians to fulfill this role. We know His purpose was set in motion for years (as evidenced in Habakkuk). But whether God picked a people for this role and set into motion the events which led to His judgment, or whether God looked for a people who had the heart to act in the way He needed to carry out his judgment, is something we are not told.
What do I mean? Well, perhaps God was looking for a people who valued the practice of bringing conquered people into their land to fulfill the role of administering His judgment. When Nebuchadnezzar’s father began his rebellion against Assyria, perhaps the Lord chose him because He knew that this would be how Nabopolassar’s people would treat conquered nations. Or it is just as possible that God set this value into the hearts of the Chaldean leaders. Or perhaps, God taught them through experience that this was the easiest way to tamp down dissent and control conquered people. I point out that we don’t always know the “hows” that God works, and it is a dangerous game to try to figure it out definitively. We run the danger of saying God DOES act in a way that He may not act or that He DOESN’T act in a way that He may act. This was the great sin of Job’s three friends.
Nonetheless, we are in Babylon with 4 Jewish youths: Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. While Nebuchadnezzar is leaning into his god, Marduk, for victories, these four nondescript Jewish men would be the vessels through which the one true God would teach this king what true sovereignty is. As we will see, Nebuchadnezzar is a very pragmatic man. His father seemed to be a pious man because he attributed success to his god, Marduk, and counseled his people to revere this deity. In the book of Daniel, Marduk and the God of the Jews would go head-to-head, and the God of the subjected people would demonstrate He indeed was the One who controlled all things, even the things of the great empires.
In Daniel 1, we read how the four youths found themselves in the service of this great king and how God began to show favor of them to their captors. We remember how Daniel and his three friends kept themselves pure in this evil land, and God caused them to prosper. When presented before Nebuchadnezzar after going through all the preparations, we read:
“As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king.
And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.” (Daniel 1:17-20 ESV).
This sets us up for the first lesson God would teach Nebuchadnezzar. In the second chapter, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. Now, it might be helpful to understand what this king had endured up through this time. Even though he had an early, resounding victory over the mighty Egyptian empire as the crowned prince, he later lost a battle to them, and people began to think he was a paper-tiger king. The people of the Levant began to believe that they could rebel, and soon, his own people began to question his orders. Nebuchadnezzar had to go home, rebuild his army, and crack a few skulls to secure his leadership. At this time in the book of Daniel, he had pretty much settled the question of who was in charge, but it left him with very little trust or patience with those around him.
In Daniel 2, this king had a dream that troubled him, so he brought in the magicians and spiritual leaders to find out what the dream meant. The people he brought in claimed to have a connection to the gods. Only, he had a very pragmatic request (or demand is a better word):
“if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” (Daniel 2:9 ESV).
According to Nebuchadnezzar’s way of thinking, if these people truly connected to the gods, then the gods could make the dream known. After all, anyone could make up an interpretation, but if someone could tell him the dream’s details, he would know for certain that person was speaking on behalf of the gods. Well, this didn’t sit well with the court magicians and wise men:
“The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean.
The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” (Daniel 2:10-11 ESV).
Well, we know the story. The king became furious and commanded that all the wise men in Babylon be executed because, in his eyes, they were frauds, and he had no use for more frauds. This is an excellent time to make a connection between chapter 1 and chapter 2. King Nebuchadnezzar probably didn’t know much about the four Jewish youths, except he was impressed with their show of wisdom. In fact, after questioning them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians in the land (Daniel 1:18-20). But the details of their preparation and how they stayed loyal to their God were probably kept from the king. So, when this edict to kill everyone came, Daniel and his friends would not be spared.
But word comes to Daniel about the king’s command, and he seeks an audience with the king to tell the interpretation of the dream. And then, the boys pray that God will give Daniel the interpretation of the dream and tell him the details of the dream. This is precisely what God did. So, when Daniel goes before the king, Nebuchadnezzar asks a straightforward question: “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?”
Lesson 1 from God on “sovereignty” is about to begin for Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel responds by telling the king that only the one true God in heaven, the one he serves, can know dreams and interpretations, and this God has made it known to Daniel. Now, if this is true, Nebuchadnezzar would be very impressed. No games, no politics, no “yes men”; this was exactly what the king was looking for. After all the palace intrigue he had endured, this would be something he could get behind and count on.
Daniel tells him about the dream and its interpretation. It had something to do with a statue. Put a peg here because that detail will be important in Lesson 2 that God would teach Nebuchadnezzar about “sovereignty.” Well, the king is stunned, impressed, and elated all at the same time. This dream had done a number on him, and now he knew he had the authentic interpretation. Listen to how he responds to Daniel’s interpretation and reciting of the dream:
“Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him.
The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” (Daniel 2:46-47 ESV).
Don’t let this get lost on you. Here was the most powerful man in the world who learned a lesson of absolute sovereignty, bowing down and paying homage to a slave from an insignificant nation he had utterly conquered. What would cause the king to act this way in his court? We know from history that part of the reason may be that Nebuchadnezzar was betrayed, lied to, and rebelled against at every turn. While this wasn’t a wholesale conversion to the one true living God, it was an acknowledgment of this God’s power. He is “God of gods and Lord of kings.”
Whatever it was about Daniel, the king realized he didn’t lie, and a force more powerful than him was with Daniel. God would use the relationship that the two men forged over time to teach Nebuchadnezzar more about the sovereignty of the one true God, but this is where it all started. And Nebuchadnezzar wanted to keep a man like Daniel close, so he promoted Daniel to ruler over the whole province of Babylon and the chief of all the magicians. Perhaps, the magicians in Babylon did not have the envy and jealousy over Daniel that we will find in the Persians. After all, they were a step away from death, and Daniel became their savior. I bet there were a lot of happy people on the day Daniel was promoted. And what was his first official act in his new capacity? Securing promotions for his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
So, God is about to teach Lesson 2 on “sovereignty” to Nebuchadnezzar. Do you remember when I said the dream Daniel made known and gave the interpretation for had something to do with a statue? Well, the king must have been listening and liked what he heard. For our purposes, we only need to know that God told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the head of gold on the statue. The rest of the statue represented other kingdoms of lesser quality and strength.
The next thing the king did was create a golden statue ninety feet tall and set it in the middle of the Plain of Dura. Along with the statue came an order from the king that whenever the music started, everyone would fall down and worship the statue or be cast into a furnace of fire. This furnace may have been one of the two-story furnaces used to create some of the most magnificent tiles he used to adorn the city of Babylon. But there’s a problem… Daniel and his Jewish friends could not bow down and worship anyone but the living God.
Now, Daniel is conspicuously absent in this chapter. Perhaps he was away on business when this decree went down and was not there to influence the king in a way that would allow worshippers of the true God to get around this command. Whatever the reason, Daniel is not mentioned in the chapter, but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are there, and they would be the focal point of God’s next lesson.
Daniel 3:8 tells us that by this time, some leaders in Babylon may have started to grow jealous of the favor and power Nebuchadnezzar gave these Jewish leaders because the Bible tells us that when the music started, some people maliciously told on Daniel’s three friends. Nebuchadnezzar had spent a lot of time dealing with loyal subjects who had turned disloyal to him, so you can imagine what went through his mind when three of his best servants rebelled against him. Daniel tells us that it sent him into a rage. But he was the king, and his word was final. Before passing judgment, he would give them one more chance to obey and prove their loyalty to him. If they did, they could all forget this indiscretion and go on as if nothing had ever happened:
“Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?
Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:14-15 ESV).
Is it true? Perhaps there was a bit of disbelief in his tone. “Et Tu, Brute?” Could a hint of disappointment of betrayal be what escaped the king’s lips? Perhaps. Or maybe he was ready to lay down the law in his court and force capitulation upon these boys. What would happen if he let the conquered servants of another land pick and choose what laws they would and would not obey? No, the king had to get a grip on things fast. So, he publicly gives them one more order and prefaces it by reminding them, “who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
Well, we know the story. The boys stood by their God, even though it meant death. And true to his word, king Nebuchadnezzar heated the furnace seven times what it was usually heated. The heat of his rage over this rebellion spilled into his judgment. What made him this angry? Listen to the words of the boys in answer to his demands:
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18 ESV).
Their answer was simple and to the point. “We serve a God who can deliver us, but even if He doesn’t, we won’t obey you.” Did you see what these three boys did to the most powerful monarch on the planet? They taught him a lesson on sovereignty. Here were conquered slaves who presumed to tell the most powerful man on earth that there was a God who could deliver them from his hand. And further, if their God chose not to deliver them, they would still not obey the king’s command and worship the image. They taught Nebuchadnezzar that their God could not only interpret dreams, but He could even save them from the king’s hands if He wanted.
Thus, the heating of the furnace to seven times its normal temperature. It was as if Nebuchadnezzar was accepting the challenge. “Okay, let’s see what your God can do.” Remember, he had conquered nation after nation whose gods proved impotent to stop his army. The burnt flesh of a few rebels would be a wise investment to discourage others who might want to ignore his sovereignty over them. So, they bound the three boys, and a few guards threw them into the furnace. Now, the furnace was hot enough to kill the guards, but look what Nebuchadnezzar saw when he peered into the furnace:
“And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:23-25 ESV).
Remember, Nebuchadnezzar was a pragmatist on all accounts and how he responds is in line with his character. He saw the impossible and concluded that he had witnessed the power of a mighty God. So, they took them out of the furnace. As the boys stepped over the dead bodies of the guards who had thrown them in, the king began to examine them. Not only were they not burned, but even their clothes had no scent of smoke on them. Isn’t that awesome? God even protected the fibers they wore. Faced with irrefutable evidence of God’s deliverance, Nebuchadnezzar had a change of heart. Even Marduk had never done anything like he witnessed from the God of the Jews.
“Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.
Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” (Daniel 3:28-29 ESV).
Lesson 2 on sovereignty: God is in a league of His own. Not even Marduk could deliver the way that the God of heaven could deliver. Nebuchadnezzar had a long way to go before he would surrender totally to God’s sovereignty and even pen the words himself for the next chapter in Daniel’s book. But this chapter is a huge step forward for him. The God of the Jews just took a giant leap forward in the king’s eyes. Perhaps, the Jewish God was even on par with his god, Marduk. His decree, which forced reverence for the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, said as much. God began making His mark on the most powerful man on earth. In doing so, the king would soon learn that the Jewish God controls everything, including the people who rule upon the earth. God will prove to be the sovereign of even Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar.
But Nebuchadnezzar is not the only audience for Daniel’s book, is he? The Jews who were taken from their land also learned that their own God orchestrated these events. Babylon only destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple because God allowed it, not because He was among the impotent gods who could not stand against Marduk’s people. And the lesson is left for you and me to learn as well. We will read other passages where God claims sovereignty over the nations, but there are few places where we see this sovereignty jump off the pages like we do when we read how God deals with Nebuchadnezzar. And in the next chapter, God leaves no doubts about who He is and what true sovereignty means.
The Finger of God Touches Nebuchadnezzar
As we get into Daniel 4, the narrative shifts from Daniel’s point of view to Nebuchadnezzar’s. There is no mention of how much time has passed. The king opens the chapter with the lessons he learned from God, which forced him to these conclusions.
“King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you!
It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:1-3 ESV).
Wow! What a statement from a man who ruled the world. Here are the lessons of sovereignty that Nebuchadnezzar learned. First, whatever happened to him, God now moved into the preeminent place among all other gods, including Marduk. The God of Daniel was now the “Most High God.” Only one God could occupy that position. Second, this was a God who could work signs and wonders, something an inanimate idol could not do. Third, God worked the signs and wonders that He chose to work. No one coerced Him or forced His hand. And finally, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that the God of Daniel is King over an everlasting Kingdom with eternal dominion. Nebuchadnezzar had buried his father, and there was no doubt that his son would one day bury him, but Daniel’s God was eternal and would out-reign all kings of the earth. We will look more into this at the end of his account. So, what led the most powerful monarch on earth to this revelation? He tells us, and it begins with a dream.
This time, he calls for the magicians and tells them about the dream. To their credit, they don’t give a false interpretation. Perhaps this was because of some level of integrity, or maybe it was because they were well aware of what king Nebuchadnezzar did to people who lied to him. Whatever the reason, they tell him they have no clue what the dream meant. We know this was a dream for God alone to interpret, so Daniel comes onto the scene. Don’t overlook the lesson that God is setting up for the king here. Before God interprets the dream, He ensures everyone gets a chance to give the dream’s meaning. Ultimately, no one could stand up after Daniel’s interpretation and say, “I knew that. Of course, this is what the dream means.”
I find it interesting that when Daniel comes in, Nebuchadnezzar refers to him as one in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. This is how he viewed Daniel before the dream and before the lesson God was about to teach him about sovereignty. But after hearing about the dream, even Daniel grows alarmed when God gives him the interpretation.
Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about a huge tree that was home to all the animals under heaven. This tree provided food and refuge for all living things. But a watcher from heaven came down and commanded that the tree be cut down, its leaves and fruit scatter along with the animals, and let an iron and bronze band be put around the stump. Then the dream turns even stranger. The watcher declares that he will be driven away from man and be like an animal, and he will be given the mind of an animal until this happens:
“The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.” (Daniel 4:17 ESV).
As we will see in a moment, Nebuchadnezzar still had some pride in him, which led him to believe that most of what he had accomplished came from his own hand. He was able to achieve wonderful things and accomplish mastery over men because of his power. But the God of Daniel was about to teach this proud King that He and He alone was calling the shots. At best, Nebuchadnezzar was a pawn in the sovereign God’s hands. This notion would have been insulting to the great king. But God’s word often insults us when it crashes against our pride. So, the watcher gives the objective of the lesson found in the dream, an objective that lies at the heart of this book. God is sovereign. He and He alone is sovereign. He does what He wants when He wants to do it, and no one can alter or challenge Him.
Daniel understands this lesson from the interpretation and knows what is in store for the king. Something special seems to have developed between Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel by now. The king made no threats to Daniel and spoke respectfully and with honor to him. A trust had developed between the two, reflected in how they spoke to each other, including Daniel’s response to the dream.
“Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said, “Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered and said, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies!” (Daniel 4:19 ESV).
So, Daniel gives the interpretation of the dream. Nebuchadnezzar is the tree, but there is a sovereign power that can allow the tree to stand or command the mighty tree to be cut down and stripped of power. This sovereign power can even command that the mighty king be reduced to an animal, having everything he valued stripped from him until he acknowledges that there is a God in heaven who is absolutely and supremely sovereign over everything, including Nebuchadnezzar and his mighty empire. Daniel says that God will prove this by taking the kingdom away from him and giving it back in His own time when the king learns the lesson of Who is truly sovereign. Daniel follows with some advice on how the king can perhaps avoid what God has in store for him:
“Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.” (Daniel 4:27 ESV).
Repentance plays a big part in understanding God’s sovereignty. This is precisely what Daniel counsels the king to do. Repentance only happens when one accepts that a standard is imposed on him by a sovereign power. It is the sovereign one who demands repentance and submission. As king, Nebuchadnezzar was used to being the one who could demand repentance of the people he subjugated. He set the terms, and the people had to comply. He enforced his sovereignty and power to require repentance through force. This is how he learned the lessons of sovereignty. He who was the strongest could impose his will on others. And so, this is the method God chose to teach the king the lesson of sovereignty to ensure he got the message. God would impose His sovereignty by force in a way Nebuchadnezzar could not miss.
But alas, the proud king did not heed Daniel’s advice. Were there continuous discussions between these two friends over Nebuchadnezzar’s need to repent? Perhaps. We know that twelve months passed before the dream’s interpretation came to pass. Maybe the king had been spooked enough by the dream to tread carefully for a while, but eventually, his heart of pride reared up, and God fulfilled his word when it did. As he looked over his mighty empire, Nebuchadnezzar was proud of what he had accomplished by his hand. No thought to giving credit to God, even though the Most High God had given him every opportunity to know that he was a pawn in the hands of the sovereign God. And as the prideful words of praise for himself fell from his lips, the dream’s interpretation began to be carried out. Remember, this is not Daniel’s rendition of what was happening. Nebuchadnezzar was penning these words himself as he looked back over these events and recorded his lessons for all to hear. We are reading the testimonial of the monarch in his own words.
“While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you,
and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”
Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.” (Daniel 4:31-33 ESV).
Think about this. Only a sovereign God could impose His will upon the most powerful man in the world in this way. No army, no wisdom, no riches or power could stop what the sovereign God intends to do. So, the king was driven away to live like an animal until he learned the lesson of God’s sovereignty. God stripped Nebuchadnezzar of everything. God used the language of force so the king could not conclude anything but that Daniel’s God was sovereign and could do whatever He wanted to do, whenever He wanted to do it, upon whomever He wanted to do it. This is sovereignty in its rawest form. And the king learned the third lesson of sovereignty that God taught him; this time, the lesson seemed to have stuck.
“At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34-35 ESV).
Nebuchadnezzar was a man whose spirit was broken by the sovereign God of heaven. Kings and people had tried to touch him all his life, but he had always proven stronger, wiser, and luckier than them all. And when faced with an attempt upon his life or rebellion against his will, Nebuchadnezzar always used force to prove his sovereignty over the people and gain compliance with his will. Do you remember what he did to king Zedekiah, the last king of Judah who rebelled against him? He killed his sons before his eyes and then put out Zedekiah’s eyes so that the image of his slain sons would be the last thing he saw. Nebuchadnezzar was telling Zedekiah and all of Judah that he was sovereign and could do as he pleased. But when God touched this mighty king, God was correcting Nebuchadnezzar’s misconception about sovereignty.
God taught the king that he only conquered Judah because Daniels’s God had allowed him to accomplish his purposes. It wasn’t Marduk who raised up the Babylonians; it was the one true God of heaven, the Most High God, who merely used Nebuchadnezzar as a pawn to accomplish his purposes. When Nebuchadnezzar lost sight of his smallness in the sight of God, God stepped in, touched the monarch, and took everything away from him; his kingdom, health, sanity, power, and sovereignty. And God would not give any of it back until Nebuchadnezzar learned who the true sovereign was.
Where was Marduk when God lifted his hand against Nebuchadnezzar? Where was his mighty army or his wise men? What could his wealth and prestige do for him when the Most High God lifted his hand against him?
The answer, he found, was nothing.
Not a single thing.
And this is the essence of true sovereignty. God acted with absolute impunity. When Nebuchadnezzar praised the Most High God, he learned the lessons we have put forth as the three fundamental truths about God’s sovereignty:
God has inherent authority, power, and ability to do whatever He wants.
God answers to no man, no power, or to any other authority.
God has the right to make the rules and the power to enforce those rules on whomever He chooses.
The third fundamental truth of God’s sovereignty was learned when Nebuchadnezzar roamed the earth as a beast. God could touch the most powerful man in the world and do whatever He wanted to do to him. This led to the acknowledgment of the first fundamental truth that Daniel’s God was the Most High God who “does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.” And finally, Nebuchadnezzar learned that no one could make God answer for His actions. This is the ability to work with the purest of impunity. We see this when Nebuchadnezzar says, “and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
Little else is known about Nebuchadnezzar, either biblically or historically. He fades off the world scene, recognized as the most powerful ruler of his day. Was he ever fully converted to Daniel’s Most High God? What was his relationship with God when his senses returned to him, and he made these proclamations about God? We simply do not know. That seems to be between God and him. But if the Most High God replaced Marduk as the supreme God in his eyes, it’s not hard to understand why the Babylonians might have erased any evidence of conversion or elevation of the Jewish God from his nation. All we have for this is Daniel 4, penned by Nebuchadnezzar’s own hand. Then, perhaps, old lessons were hard to learn, and he may have slipped back into resisting the sovereignty lessons God had taught him. Sound unlikely? Hasn’t man been rejecting the evidence of God’s sovereignty since the creation? Haven’t each of us done it at times in our own lives? The spiritual fate of Nebuchadnezzar isn’t revealed to us. All we have is that at one point in his life, he came face to face with the sovereign God Most High and learned there was none like Him.
God not only taught this lesson to Nebuchadnezzar, but He has taught man time and time again that He is supremely sovereign over nations. This lesson is as true today as it was during Nebuchadnezzar’s days. God claimed authority, power, and sovereignty over the world. The entire earth is His creation, and He has total control over it. Listen to these passages from the Old and New Testament:
“and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.” (2 Chronicles 20:6 ESV).
God is seen as the One who rules over the kingdoms of the nations. We got an inside look as we focused on Babylon, but the same is true of all nations and kingdoms. Each nation in antiquity set up idols and bowed down to their god. What a futile thing to do. Not because God is stronger than the idols, but because idols are nothing more than rock, stone, and metal that God has created. Only the one true and living God can impose His sovereignty over nations. Isaiah says.
“All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.” (Isaiah 40:17 ESV).
A nation’s power is only power as it relates to others. Compared to God, even the mightiest nation is as nothing…. less than nothing according to the prophet. This is because God Himself determines the course of a nation. People rule only by His consent. Nations rise and fall according to His will. And when God shuffles the nations of the earth; when He gives power from one people to another; when He brings judgment, it is at His time and according to His pleasure. We sometimes think we know when God will change the balance of power. We look at a nation’s sin and evil and become convinced God is about to shake things up. We think this way, partly because we know He can, and we see He has done this in the past.
But we need to be careful when we ascribe actions to God. We are not Him, and we do not have the wisdom to act in His way. What seems to be a line in the sand that nations cross may end up being nothing but God’s longsuffering still playing out. Perhaps God is not done using the evil nation for His purposes. Short of God telling us what will happen to the nations, the fate of kings and kingdoms rests wholly in His hand. Think about how long the Roman empire lasted before it was finally brought down. It existed for a thousand years, and many of those years were full of sin and even attacks against the people of Jesus. Yet that doesn’t change the fact that God was in control.
Paul says in Romans 13:
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1 ESV).
Honestly, this is often hard for us to come to grips with, isn’t it? Do you mean that an evil nation that kills its babies, turns to all sorts of perverse sexual sins, perverts justice, persecutes the godly, and has no regard for the living God can stay in power? Well, yes, if God wills. God never does tell us when He will make a change in the governments of men, except by the prophets and inspired writers when God chose to make His will known. Perhaps, if the decision were left to us, we would show less grace and more justice than God. Or maybe the opposite would be true. In any case, Paul reminds us of a simple truth: God has instituted governments and authorities, and because of that, we should live in subjection to those authorities.
I know this may not be a popular view among many. It’s hard to look into the eyes of a reprobate leader who fights against God and goodness every step of the way and think that God expects us to be subject to that leader. But when Paul wrote this, Rome was not the picture of virtue. You don’t have to get past Romans 1 to see the sins God gave them over to. And these Roman leaders were some of the very same men who would bathe the empire in the blood of Jesus’ followers. And yet Paul says we should remain subject to them, not because they are good people, but because our sovereign God has set them in that position. We honor them because our God said He wants us to honor them. I am in no way defending evil leaders, but I am fully defending God’s command to us. It is not for us to rebel; it is for God to lift up and bring low every leader, every nation, and every government by His sovereignty.
When David was running from king Saul, he refused to lift His hands against the Lord’s anointed. It was God, and God alone, Who had the authority and sovereignty to bring Saul low. David understood this and waited for the Lord to lift him up and take Saul down. Even when encouraged by his followers to take Saul’s life, David refused. We all can find ways to justify what we want to do. Unless we have King Jesus sitting on a throne here on earth, we will never have a man we can’t make a case that we are justified to rebel against. But Paul tells us that God is sovereign and sets nations and leaders where He wants them to be.
The Israelites in Jesus’ day were looking for a Messiah to overthrow Roman rule. But when pressed to take a stand, what did the Son of God tell the people?
“Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.” (Mark 12:17 ESV).
Think about this for a moment. If you believe that Jesus is God, then you have God saying in no uncertain terms to render to the king what the king is due. Not render to the king if he deserves your rendering. Not render to the king if he aligns with God. Jesus told the people to render to Caesar what was due him, even though Caesar would play a part in executing him. And when Jesus came face to face with Caesar’s representative, the Son of God and Pilate had this interaction:
“So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:10-11 ESV).
Sovereignty. Jesus tells the truth of His sovereignty before the one He would lay His life down to. Pilate thought Rome had the final sovereignty over Jesus, yet Jesus looked into his eyes and told Pilate that he only had the authority God had bestowed upon him. So, the terrible work of sacrificing Him on the cross was not because Jesus was too weak to stop his execution but because the one true sovereign God would lay down His life and take it up again. Even Rome had to submit to God’s sovereign will.
We see in the Old Testament how God continually used the nations to bring about His judgment upon people. But here’s the thing, we are not always told how God determines when He uses one nation as his cup of wrath over others. We are not always told how God determines to choose one nation over another. We aren’t privy to the secret things of God. We don’t have all the details about when God acts. He doesn’t have to explain Himself to us when He allows one nation to rise and another to fall. Nebuchadnezzar learned that God works in the kingdoms of men as He pleases, and no one can question Him regarding His choices. That’s sovereignty.
We may never know why God makes quick work of some kings and why He allows other evil kings to have lengthy reigns. We don’t know why He sometimes cuts down an individual ruler, like Herod in Acts 12, while allowing the nation to survive, and in other cases, chooses to bring down the entire empire. We don’t know why God sometimes erases an entire nation as He did with the Edomites while allowing others to fall from within as He did when He moved Rome from a Republic to an Empire. Here is what we do know: God is sovereign over the nations. Ultimately, He chooses who is in power and for how long. We don’t have to figure out how or why; we just need to respect His sovereignty. And that means we never put God on trial to force Him to explain Himself. That was Job’s error that prompted God to speak to Him from the whirlwind.
Suffice it to say, at best, we need to remember God is in control. He always has been, and He always will be. He can bring down a leader by worms or by the sword. Even in a democratic republic like ours, there is no shortage of ways that the sovereign God can accomplish His will. He can suppress the vote via weather or by allowing despair to keep people away from the polls. He can let things take their course, allowing voters to choose even an evil candidate according to their will, or He can ensure that the voters pick a person of His choice. How does He do this? I don’t know. Understanding how the sovereign God does all He does is beyond me. But I don’t have to know how in order to believe He does. In fact, could it not be a sign of faith when we believe without understanding how? Perhaps, we need to have the heart of the Psalmist when he says,
“Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” (Psalm 115:2-3 ESV).