Our scripture reading for this morning is the 10th Psalm. Psalm 10, if you'd like to follow along as I read. It's an appropriate psalm, the theme of which applies to our continuing study of Daniel. And we come to Daniel chapter 4. This morning, where we find King Nebuchadnezzar learning the hard way that God is able to humble those who walk in pride. And so here we are, Psalm 10. Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul. And the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity. His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages. In hiding places, he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless. He lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket. He lurks that he may seize the poor. He seizes the poor when he draws them into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, God is forgotten. He's hidden his face. He'll never see it. Arise, O Lord, O God. Lift up your hand. Forget not the afflicted. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will not call to account? But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands. To you the helpless commits himself. You have been the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer. Call his wickedness to account till you find none. The Lord is king forever and ever. The nations perish from his hands. Oh, Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted. You will strengthen their heart. You will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed so that the man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. That is it. a great psalm and a very, very encouraging one to us as we certainly live in days when the wicked boast about all of their schemes and how no one will ever hold them to account and there's no God and if there is, he doesn't see what they're up to. And so, of course, their day of reckoning then is coming. Well, as we come then to this fourth chapter of Daniel, let's ask the Lord's blessing upon us that his word would come to us powerfully and for his glory. Father, we ask just that now as we open the scriptures and we come to your word. Here is this great chapter in the book of Daniel. Daniel, your servant, has recorded it for us. We pray, Father, that you would encourage us by your word, convict us where we need to be convicted, and that, Father, we would always, by the leading of your spirit, walk in humility, being lowly of heart, and not succumb to the temptations to be boastful and proud like the world. And we pray this all in Christ's name, amen. Well, here we are then in the fourth chapter of Daniel. And as you come to it, when you open the book of Daniel, you find yourself transported back about six centuries before Christ in Daniel's day. And of course, he is in Babylon, where he and his three friends, and probably other Jews as well, were in captivity. Jerusalem hadn't been destroyed yet. It would be. But nevertheless, there had been incursions by the Babylonians, and already Nebuchadnezzar had taken some of them away into captivity. Now, you remember the last time we looked at Daniel, we were in that third chapter, where King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a great, huge statue. And that was actually in chapter 2. And that statue had a golden head. Well, in chapter 3, you would think that Nebuchadnezzar had learned his lesson, but he hadn't. And so he erects a huge, tall, golden statue about, and entirely of gold. And he commands all of his subjects to bow down and worship it, an image of himself, basically, once his orchestra began to play. And you wonder, sometimes I wonder when I'm reading the Bible, just some little details here, I wonder what that orchestra would have sounded like. Would it have been maybe even kind of odd to our ears? I don't know if the Babylonians had a national anthem, but maybe it was something like that. But you remember then that Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Bendigo, refused to bow down. They told Nebuchadnezzar they were not going to bow down and disobey God's law. And as a result, they were thrown into that fiery furnace where they found out that God's word really is true. When you pass through the fire, I will be with you. It was most likely the Lord Jesus Christ that met them in the fiery furnace and encouraged them and sustained them. Nebuchadnezzar himself is peering in there and sees a fourth person. And he describes him as one like a son of the gods, a divine being then of some kind. And that chapter then, that account of the fiery furnace, ended this way. 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's able to rescue in this way. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Now, that sounds, with that ending, it sounds like the king had been humbled. And you think that, OK, everything's going to be great from here on out. But we find out that his humbling had been shallow and short-lived as soon as you turn to the very next chapter in chapter 4. This is a very amazing chapter. I've mentioned to you before that Portions of the book of Daniel were written in Aramaic, and the rest written in Hebrew. This chapter is written in Aramaic, and that's not the reason that it's so remarkable. What's remarkable about it is that a pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, actually wrote a chapter of the Bible. This is actually Nebuchadnezzar speaking. Now, of course, Daniel included it the book, and it was therefore acknowledged as inspired scripture. But nevertheless, here you have this pagan king speaking and giving his testimony as to what had happened. Assyrian and Babylonian kings, and you could say Egyptian kings and others as well, regarded themselves as deity. And they regarded themselves, as long as their kingdom was prospering, as kings of the entire world. The whole world revolves then around them. And to an extent, it was true. You see, Babylon was the great kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar's time. And so here, we find that the king is addressing his testimony to, as he put it, all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth. And he had addressed people the same way back in chapter 3. But now, and this is really the most, I think, remarkable part of aspect of chapter 4, is that his purpose here is entirely different. There, in chapter 3, it was, all the peoples and nations better bow down to my image. Here, not so. He addresses them, and he writes, as he puts it, in order to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God had done for him. It's kind of amazing that he puts it this way. You would think that he would have put it, this is what God did to me, to me. But he says, this is what the most high God has done for me. He recognizes it for his good. Some commentators are divided on this question. It's because we aren't told with certainty. But numbers of them conclude that we're going to see Nebuchadnezzar in heaven, that he was, in fact, the object of saving grace. And you'll see why as we go through the chapter. I'm thinking that John Calvin didn't think that he was. Edward Young wrote an excellent commentary on this, concludes otherwise. So we'll just have to wait and see. But here's the first three verses of this fourth chapter. 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." So you see, these are the words of somebody that has learned a very, very important letter Apparently, Chapter 4 here, the words of Chapter 4, which are a declaration by Nebuchadnezzar, he must have circulated it through his entire kingdom. Probably was posted on. Well, I don't know. How did they write? They write in stone then and chipped away. Probably sent heralds throughout the whole kingdom to announce what the king had to say. There is a startling and remarkable change here in the king's tone from before, when he was ordering people to bow down then to his statue. You remember that the essence, as I said, the essence of him erecting that statue, that golden image of himself, was to defy God. Because in God's vision that he had given Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, but then there came the brass arms of silver and bronze and down to the mixture of iron and clay and so forth in the Roman Empire. In other words, Nebuchadnezzar, you are the head of gold right now, but your kingdom's going to come to an end someday. Another kingdom, the Medes and the Persians, is going to come along. And it's like Nebuchadnezzar saying, No, it's not going to be that way. Here's how it's going to be. My kingdom is going to be forever. I'm going to erect an image here of all of gold. And so my kingdom will never end. But here, obviously, there'd been a radical change in his thinking. He confesses his kingdom, God's, is an everlasting kingdom. And his dominion endures from generation to generation. And that's the truth that he wants to proclaim to everybody in the whole world then. If you study history, you find out that down through the centuries, since Daniel's time and before, how many of these kind of rulers have come along who have said, My kingdom is forever, you know. Of course, right away we think of Hitler and he's going to have his thousand-year Reich and all that sort of a thing that was over in just a few years. But there's been many of them who thought that their kingdom is going to, their dynasty is going to last forever and they will always be glorified. That's what they're always looking for. We can find that same kind of an attitude in our own nation, right? Even though our nation's history is like a drop in the bucket when it comes to comparison to other kingdoms. Rome reigned over the world for 500, 600 years, something like that. The Holy Roman Empire, which was an attempt to reestablish the Roman Empire, lasted about 1,000 years. But it's the same old story all along through history. It's the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. It's the rise and fall. One kingdom rises, and then it falls. And then another one comes along. But we're told here, as Nebuchadnezzar is declaring it, there's only one kingdom that's going to rise, and it will never fall. And that then is the kingdom of God, and its king is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Nebuchadnezzar had to learn. But he took quite a humbling in order for him to learn it. Well, here's the dream. It's remarkable, isn't it, in the book of Daniel, how many dreams and visions there are. It's what we call apocalyptic literature, apocalypses. It's revealing an opening up of mysteries. And in this case, God is communicating not with a prophet directly, but with this pagan king. And he sends him a dream. He has to have a prophet come and interpret it for him. But nevertheless, he has this dream. And so here it is. Verse four, I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed, the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. We've been there before, right, when he had his first dream. It's interesting that he calls them again. They couldn't. He thought maybe, well, this time I'll tell them what the dream was. Maybe that's what he's thinking. The magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in. And I told them the dream, but they could not. They still could not make known to me its interpretation. At last Daniel came in before me, he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my God, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And I told him the dream, saying, and here then is the dream. Oh, Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation. The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these. I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew. became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its leaves were beautiful, and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. I saw in the visions in my head as I lay in bed and behold a watcher. That's a curious title, isn't it? A watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus, chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. but leave the stump of its roots in the earth bound with a band of iron and bronze amid the tender grass of the field." Now, note the change here in the pronoun. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from So now we're talking about a man. And let a beast's mind be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end, to the goal, 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. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw, and you, O Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because 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 gods is in you." All right, well, this happens. God sends him this dream, this vision. Well, as Nebuchadnezzar puts it, he was at ease in his house and prospering in his So everything's going his way. He was free from care. He was content and secure. And we see that in the language of the vision, the nature of the tree. The tree, his kingdom, and really him, had grew and became strong. Its height was great. Its leaves are beautiful, the fruit is abundant, and all of the world and his whole kingdom is benefiting from us. Well, those are dangerous times, and they're dangerous times for all of us, and especially for a ruler and a rich man. John Bunyan, you remember, as we've been reading the Holy War, he said that Satan's favorite tactic is to come at just such times of ease and use, as he put it, the gunpowder of pride to destroy God's people and God's church. And as you think about this, it's so dangerous that we all need to be, we pray for ourselves, but we really need to be praying for President Trump. in his whole new administration. Because right now, even though there's lots of troubles and so forth, things are coming up roses. I mean, President Trump is an extremely wealthy man. He's the, you know, yesterday he and some of his administration, they went to the Army-Navy game. And just imagine, we can't imagine it. I mean, here he is, he walks in, up onto the field and the whole place, thousands of people are just erupting and saying USA and I mean to have that kind of focus even though he's been attacked so much. He's in a dangerous place and we need to definitely pray because Satan will use the gunpowder of pride to destroy. And so we need to pray that he would be protected from that. Paul wrote to Timothy, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings, and all who are in high positions. that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. So it's to our benefit as well and our nation's benefit that our leaders be protected then from pride. Well, the dream that God gave Nebuchadnezzar is remarkable and it shook him. He was full of fear. He was alarmed and it was the Lord visiting him. So he calls for his conjurers and so forth, his wise men to come. Of course, they could not interpret the dream. Nebuchadnezzar's pagan philosophy or theology is playing here. He's still in this rut. Verse 8, Daniel came before me, he who was named Belteshazzar, after the name of my God, Marduk, I guess it was, in whom is the spirit. Look how he puts it. He recognizes Daniel. He has the spirit of the holy God. So to a typical pagan here, his idea of deity is one of polytheism. There's Lots of gods, I've got my god, and so on. Babylon had a kind of a pantheon of gods. And he just recognized, he doesn't say Daniel had the spirit of the most high god. He says Daniel had the spirit of the holy gods. He goes that far. I mentioned earlier kind of the Curious question, how come Nebuchadnezzar didn't call Daniel right away? I mean, he didn't have that short of a memory. He could remember that it was Daniel that came. And remember, Daniel not only interpreted his dream, he told Nebuchadnezzar what the dream was and without Nebuchadnezzar telling him. So he knew that. And so why does he even bother calling anyone but Daniel in this case? Well, John Calvin had a theory on this, and it's something to think about. The king apparently realized that this dream was about him. He probably recognized that already. And he might well have been looking for an interpretation that would be pleasant, that would be to his favor. And maybe he knew, you know, Daniel's going to tell me what it really means. Not sure that I want to hear that. Calvin, when he was explaining his theory on this, he said, we understand that no one comes to the true God unless he is impelled to do so by necessity. And so, all right, you remember King Ahab? I hate that prophet Micaiah. He's got him in jail. Why do you hate him? Because he always tells me the truth, and I don't like what he tells me. So maybe that's what's going on. It's just a thought and why he didn't call Daniel right away. But ultimately, of course, he did. He tells Daniel the dream, this great flourishing tree and then this watcher, some angelic being probably, comes, makes this proclamation, chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit, let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But the destruction wouldn't be entire. He's told, leave the stump and its roots, but put an iron bra's band, bind the stump. You know, it's like so it can't grow. Something, it's being held there. And then as we noted, the watcher, the angelic messenger, you suddenly change it to some curious words. He starts talking as if this tree is a person. He says, let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man's. And let a beast's mind be given to him. And let seven periods of time pass over him So the tree is a hymn. And I think at this point here, probably Nebuchadnezzar, that's where he's starting to get uneasy that this is about him. In the dream, the watcher tells Nebuchadnezzar the purpose of these things. Verse 17, the sentence, you see, it's a sentence. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones to the end for the purpose 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. So this is the lesson Nebuchadnezzar that you're going to learn. And it's a lesson then for us. He's not just talking about the Nebuchadnezzar, but so that everybody, the living, everybody might learn the truth here. So when we see God blessing a nation and raising up a king or a ruler or a president who's a blessing to all, we need to remember, might put it this way, the Most High rules the kingdom of men. gives it to whom he will, and sets over it the lowliest of men. These are important lessons. That's why I'm bringing these messages to you from the book of Daniel right now at this time in our experience and in our nation. We've seen some real blessings from the Lord of late. on our country. He's delivered us from a continuing reign of evil. We've had in the last four years, I don't think it's exaggeration to say, the most wicked president that our country's ever had. Somebody who has absolutely no regard, no care for the nation, for the people of the nation, entirely self-serving, and God has blessed us by giving us a deliverance from that evil. But we have to recognize, and here's the lesson, it's God that's done this, not men. It's God that has done that, and that we need to recognize that our new president and his administration are nothing in themselves. They are, as God puts it here, the lowliest of men. God delights in taking the lowliest of men. and exalting them and entrusting them with his authority. But these rulers and the citizens of such a nation must never fall into the trap of pride and start being puffed up, and we've done this, and boy, our president did that, and he's doing all, and fail to recognize then, no, no, no. This is the Lord behind it all. He's the one that has done that. And if we become prideful, if we as a nation and our leaders fall into that trap, Well, as Nebuchadnezzar is going to say at the end of this chapter, God is able to humble those who walk in pride. And so we have to be very much on guard for this. Daniel is reluctant initially to tell the king what the dream means. Here you have verse 19. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, tell me like it is, right? 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 rather than you. The tree you saw, which grew and became strong so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived. Here's the punchline. It is you, O King, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to the heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth. And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots and the earth bound with a band of iron and bronze and the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field till seven periods of time pass over him, this is the interpretation, O king. It is a decree of the Most High which has come upon my Lord the King, that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that heaven rules, once you've learned your lesson. 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." Here we see, in the way Daniel addresses the king and how he's dismayed over this, that this is going to happen to Nebuchadnezzar, a principle that applies to Christians living in a fallen world. Here's Daniel living in captivity, in the world, in Babylon. Jeremiah and Ezekiel experienced it. And Daniel had been shocked and grieved when he realized that God's judgment was about to fall upon this king in whose kingdom Daniel lived. And they were going to live in it for 70 years. So here we are, Christians living in a nation, all right? We're living in the world. Like Daniel, we want God to bless America. We want God to bless America, but we also know that God doesn't indefinitely bless an unrepentant and sinful people. He just doesn't do that. We're surrounded by fools today. Only a fool rejoices when the nation in which he lives comes under judgment and destruction. Only a fool in our nation today really desires the downfall of America. I mean, what kind of thinking then is that? And yet there seems to be quite a few of them. I mean, it's insanity. God even told, and I can't remember if this was in Ezekiel or Jeremiah, He had the false prophets, and they were saying, oh, this captive, this is not going to last very long at all. We're going to be home real soon, and so forth. And Jeremiah told them that, no, you're going to be here for 70 years. And it may have been him as well that said, look, here's God's will for you. Build houses, settle down, live in Babylon, and seek the good of that nation, all right? That was God's instruction. So there again, what kind of a person is a citizen here in the United States and desires the downfall of this nation? I mean, that's a fool. That is not to be the attitude of the Christian. We desire good for our nation. We pray for repentance and revival. But we don't rejoin. It's like, all right, God, come and nail this nation for it. So let's do this. I mean, that's not our attitude. Our attitude is to pray for repentance, that God could bless, then, our nation. And the blessings that we've received of late were to be thankful for, but recognize that it's the pure mercy then of God. Well, Daniel desires God's blessing on Nebuchadnezzar. He doesn't want this to happen. He doesn't have the attitude, you're going to get yours now, you know. No, even though this is the king that had conquered Jerusalem, In Israel, Daniel knew that God was behind the whole thing, you see. So he pleads with the king to break off of his sin, and maybe this won't come about. Maybe this won't happen. The whole world, this is interesting now. Nebuchadnezzar's dream showed that the whole world was benefiting from the prosperity and ease of Babylon, that God had raised up Nebuchadnezzar, had established his kingdom, the Babylonian Empire. And even though the Babylonians could be pretty cruel as they conquered nations, they're represented here in this dream by this beautiful tree that everybody's being blessed by, adding you know, peace rather than anarchy in the world. And so God will do this. He raises up, at a point in history, a nation by which, then, the rest of the inhabited world is blessed. So you think of, for example, well, we think of Rome, the Roman Empire. And we think, remember, it could be cruel and oppressive. But at the same time, here's Rome that added to the peace and security of the world. And they wrote, they built these highways, which ultimately were used by the apostles to spread the gospel and so forth. We think of the British Empire. Colonialism is like a dirty word and so forth. today, you know, but although what happened to India, for example, when the British withdrew from there, it wasn't all good. The British Empire was raised up by God and was used by God for much good. At this point in our history, I think that it's pretty evident, now these would be fighting words to the lying left and so forth of our day, but It's pretty obvious that God has raised up for quite some time, at least in the history of this nation, start with World War I, if you like, that God has raised up America, our nation, for the good of the world, and you see it now. When America has kind of been pulled out of that evil four years and so forth, you're already seeing the, you know, even though if you watch some of the replays of election night, it's kind of entertaining on some of the networks and so on. And they start off all pumped up and everything. Boy, they're a candidate. It's going to win. And then they realize as time goes along, wait a minute. It's all falling apart, you see. And so they're not rejecting. But guess what? The rest of the world is. They were rooting for President Trump to be elected. Why? Because they knew, they know that a strong America has been used in history here to effect peace in the world. And they know that. And this is something that God does. He raises up a nation, in this case Babylon in Daniel's day, by which the other nations and peoples of the world are blessed. But the people of such a nation And certainly, especially the rulers and leaders of such a nation have to be very careful to give God the glory for it and not start taking the glory for themselves. And the devil's going to come along. That's why we really do need to pray for President Trump and those that are serving with him. You know, we have to admit, too, Paul's instruction to pray for those in authority over you applied to when we have an evil ruler as well and pray for them. Maybe God's answer to our prayers there would be in a little bit different form. But nevertheless, here it is. Satan wants to oppose God's plan. and God's purpose, then, for this nation. And his typical way for him to do it is through the gunpowder, then, of pride. And I think that we're going to see it. Looks like there's great optimism. We're probably, in the near future here, it's already happening, going to see successes. Our new leaders, new president, experiencing all kinds of successes and so forth. It was when Nebuchadnezzar was at ease and enjoying those periods of success when he became prideful and when things really fell apart. The greatest danger facing our nation and our leaders is pride. It is the terrible sin of failing to acknowledge and give thanks to God, recognizing that, hey, I'm nothing. This nation is nothing, but he, for his own purposes, blessed and uses us. So we need to be Daniels, and we need to pray for the blessing of God upon our nation and the prosperity, then, of our nation. But we need to give thanks and praise, then, to God. Well, Nebuchadnezzar, he doesn't listen. Verse 28. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. And that's where David got in trouble. That's apparently a dangerous place. So he's up there. And the king answered and said, is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence for the glory of my majesty. This guy's really got it bad. While the words were still in the king's mouth. their fellow 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. 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." Right? There he was. Just like that. That's amazing, isn't it? I mean, that happened fast, really fast. All that has to happen is God says, you're done. In the next chapter, chapter 5, handwriting on the wall, right? And that very night, the kingdom was taken away. And the Medes and the Persians then came in. It can happen that fast, which shows you the only reason, for example, just bring it home to our nation, the only reason President Trump is president now and is enjoying successes and so forth. It's the Lord. It's the Lord that's done it. He has decreed it. But woe to us if we do not acknowledge that. We're in great trouble if our leaders ever come to this or if we participate in that spirit. Is not this great America, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence for the glory of my majesty? Boom, it can be gone and heaven's axe can fall. Now, Nebuchadnezzar wasn't lying in this respect when he's up there on the roof. Oh, isn't this Babylon the great? Well, it really was great. You've probably heard, I don't know, some ancient writing came up with it, I guess, the seven wonders of the ancient world. You know what one of those wonders was? The hanging gardens of Babylon. Here's a description. We'll let Wikipedia explain it to us here. The hanging gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world by Hellenistic culture. They were described as a remarkable feat. of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines resembling a large green mountain constructed of mud bricks. It was said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon near present-day Hilla, Babylon province in Iraq. The hanging garden's name is derived from the Greek word chromastos, which has a broader meaning than the modern English word hanging and refers to trees being planted on a raised structure such as a terrace. According to one legend, the hanging gardens were built alongside a grand palace known as the Marvel of Mankind by King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled between 605 and 562 BC. That's our Nebuchadnezzar. And he built it for his Median, from Media Persia, his wife, Queen Amethyst, because she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland. This was attested to by the Babylonian priest Berossus writing in about 290 BC a description that was later quoted by the Jewish historian Josephus. Well, he's up on the rooftop, and he's looking out at Babylon. And that's one of the things he's looking at, is the hanging garden. And they were impressive. But that's not all. Here's Edward Young, says, from archaeology, we learned that Nebuchadnezzar was primarily not a warrior, but a builder. In the famous East India House inscription, for example, the king relates how he renovated the two temples of Marduk in Babylon and of Nebo in Borsippa. He then declares how he restored 15 other temples in Babylon and completed the two great walls of the city, adding a large rampart. Then he rebuilt the palace of Nebuchadnezzar and in only 15 days constructed a palace with which was connected the famous hanging gardens. So he had done all of that. And Babylon really was great. And yet it was the Lord that was really permitting and enabling him than to do that. So here's Nebuchadnezzar, and he's in a terrible, terrible, dangerous situation. All this came upon me because I didn't listen to Daniel. And he professes this, you see. It strikes. While the words were still in his mouth, that fast, boom, he's gone. His kingdom and his sovereignty is taken away. I wonder what he thought. Wonder what he thought. He heard the heavenly voice. The kingdom has departed from you until you know that the most high rules. This is how God judges people who refuse to give him glory. There's a sense of irony in God's judgment. Nebuchadnezzar refused to glorify God. He was living as if God were irrelevant. He was not acknowledging God. He wasn't giving thanks to God. And so the Lord comes and says, OK, you're living as if I don't even exist. So tell you what, Nebuchadnezzar, I'm going to withdraw myself from you. And I'm going to let you experience the life that you seem to want to choose here. And the king became A beast. Now, what about this? Why that judgment? Why this beastliness and so forth? God created man, what? In his image. That is not said of any of the other beasts of the field, right? It's only man. The scripture says God created him in his image. And this image of God is the only thing that makes us human rather than an animal. So if God withdraws that image from a person, what happens? They become then a beast. What is the image of God? That's kind of a little bit tough to nail down, but certainly it has to do with the fact that we are able to have a knowledge of God, think of God, have a conscience. We can speak. We can communicate. Everything that we are then as human beings is because we're created in the image of God. Increasingly, because we live in a society that doesn't want to acknowledge God, We're seeing people that look beastly, right? God has withdrawn from them. And the thing is, insane. You'd rather be at home with your Labrador retriever than with one of those people. Right? It's Romans 1. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. That's what Nebuchadnezzar was doing. Verse 26, for this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. And he goes on to describe his judgment homosexuality and all of these different kinds of perversions that we're seeing today. Why? Because God hands them over. He withdraws his image from them. And that then is the result. And so here is the once mighty exalted, glorious King Nebuchadnezzar. He's out like a beast in the field, grazing on grass. It must have been quite a sight. And he's there then for seven periods, probably seven years, you see, God's judgment then upon him. Well, he's finally brought to his senses. These are some of the, I really, this is one of my favorite passages of scripture here, verse 34. 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? At the same time, my reason returned to me and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my Lord sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right, and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. And so there's Nebuchadnezzar, true repentance. He'd learned the hard way what God would have him to learn. As I was studying this chapter, I thought, you know, man, this is a sermon that should be preached often in the capital. in Washington, DC. This is something that our leaders, especially, they really, really need to hear this. He's able to humble those who walk in pride. And Nebuchadnezzar finally got it. Nebuchadnezzar, these last few verses that I just read, they really are a confession of the heart of Christianity. And if we would want to know, am I a Christian? Well, read verses 34 to 37 and honestly ask yourself, do I believe that? Am I living my life according to that Confession. You see that God is the one who raises me up. I'm accounted as nothing. God does according to his will in heaven and earth, and nobody can say to him, what do you think you're doing, God? Nobody. You can't say that to God. He doesn't have to give a defense of what he is doing. So there in that confession is really a confession of true religion. He is able to humble those who walk in pride. Father, we thank you for This great passage of scripture, we pray for our nation, we pray for President Trump, and we pray for all of those that are going to be in his administration. We pray for the Congress, all the people there, and we pray, Father, that these would be truths and lessons that would cause them to be humble before you. and to acknowledge you. Thank you, Father, for your blessings upon our nation, and thank you mostly for humbling us in our sin and saving us and giving us a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.