Unimpeachable (And Aren’t You Glad?)!
This blog post is Part 3 of a three-part blog series. If you’d like to start at the beginning of the series and read Part 1, click HERE.
“If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”[1]
Recently I’ve been reading through the Book of Daniel and have been struck by a recurring theme. Some of earth’s most powerful rulers are brought face to face with their own limitations.
Humble leadership is itself a joy to behold. But even greater, Daniel preserves the clear testimony of potentates who acknowledge the One who is supremely sovereign. And he points us to God’s promised “assured future.”
The Hebrew prophet Daniel begins his historical recitation with these words: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.”[2]
Think of it: the king of God’s chosen nation, who sits on David’s throne in Judah, is deposed by God and replaced with the pagan ruler Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel tells this Babylonian emperor,
You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all.[3]
Hearing these words doesn’t stop Nebuchadnezzar from erecting a statue of himself and demanding his subjects bow in worship. But “King Neb” has a close encounter of the first kind with deity. “One like a son of the gods” joins the three Hebrew slaves the king had tossed into the blazing furnace – and all four remain unharmed.[4]
The newly humbled regent responds:
Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God . . .inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.[5]
Alas, humility is a lesson too easily lost. In Daniel 4 we read of Nebuchadnezzar’s prideful arrogance resulting in God’s judgment. Neb loses his sanity – to the point where he lives like a beast in the field, eating grass.
After seven years his senses return. “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”[6]
In a “like father, like son” sequel, Daniel rebukes the next Babylonian emperor: “Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven.”[7]
The handwriting indeed was on the wall. That night Babylon was conquered by Medo-Persia. “God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it.”[8]
Who doesn’t enjoy it when an arrogant ruler gets his comeuppance? But even more, our hearts long for a kingdom of peace under a righteous ruler.
In visions given to both Nebuchadnezzar (chapter 2) and Daniel (chapter 7), God reveals a succession of empires: Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and a revived Roman Empire. Each is subsequently conquered until history finally culminates with the fulfillment of God’s promise to King David of One who will sit on his throne forever.[9]
I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.[10]
Until that final chapter, we live with the broken political systems of human governments. Braggadocio and bravado – and much worse – are readily found among the world’s strong men throughout history. How precious, then, the wisdom from a humbled potentate of Nebuchadnezzar’s stature:
In order that the living may know
That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind,
And bestows it on whom He wishes
And sets over it the lowliest of men. . . .[11]
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,
But He does according to His will in the host of heaven
And among the inhabitants of earth;
And no one can ward off His hand
Or say to Him, “What have You done?”[12]
Amen! Even so, come Lord Jesus! We joyfully anticipate what You have prepared for those who love you.
Written by Wes Taber, LIFE Global Ambassador
Want more good news? Messiah’s people will be the beneficiaries of His righteous reign, participating in His eternal rule.[13]
If you want to discern your eternal destiny, you don’t need a vision from heaven. God’s Word tells us all we need to know about how to have a right standing with Him. Explore the resources at www.insearchofshalom.com or contact us at office@lifeinmessiah.org.
Footnotes:
[1] The “make God laugh” quote is not from the Bible – but Psalm 2 does tell us what makes God guffaw:
Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and against His Anointed [Messiah], saying,
3 “Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.
[2] Daniel 1:1-2 (NASB95). Daniel further states, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. 21 “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings” (Daniel 2:20–21).
[3] Daniel 2:37–38.
[4] Daniel 3:1-25.
[5] Daniel 3:28–29.
[6] Daniel 4:37.
[7] Daniel 5:22-23.
[8] Daniel 5:26.
[9] 2 Samuel 7:8-16.
[10] Daniel 7:13-14. See also Daniel 2:44; 4:3, 34; 6:26.
[11] Daniel 4:17.
[12] Daniel 4:34-35.
[13] “Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him” (Daniel 7:27; see also vs. 18).