There’s a story of a young girl who visited Bonn, Germany the birth place of Beethoven, who slipping under the rope and began to play the piano Beethoven that composed his symphonies on. An attendant at the museum came over to her, she said to him ‘I suppose every musician who comes here wants to play this piano’. The attendant was so stunned by the girls actions he explained that recently they had a visit by the great musician Paderewski and someone asked him to play on this very piano. The girl expected to hear of some wonderful performance, instead the great Paderewski declined to play. He didn’t feel worthy to play the great masters piano. Our lives are filled with stories of stepping over the mark. Like do you ever wonder what drives us to become who we are? Just like we see playing out in Nebuchadnezzar’s life again. Nebuchadnezzar has another dream and this is one that would totally change his life forever, uncovering a self-reliance and pride. As Nebuchadnezzar keeps on butting heads against God in the first dream he had of that statue. It was a challenge to the wisdom of God then he takes his dream and turns it into a reality with the golden statue requiring all his subjects to bow down to each time Nebuchadnezzar dreams Daniel or his mates appear to steer him the right direction, and each time Nebuchadnezzar praises God. He is forced to recognize there is none like the God of Daniel or Shadrach, Mescach, Abenego. Nebuchadnezzar’s praise however is short lived, as each time he forgets what’s just happened. We are filled with pride more than we realize. Which is where we find ourselves land this morning, as Nebuchadnezzar will have a journey of feeling like he is no longer human. As we read in verse 10-12
10 These are the visions I saw while lying in my bed: I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. 11 The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, and the birds of the air lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed.
Nebuchadnezzar ruled an empire spanning from Egypt through to western Iran and from modern Syria to Saudi Arabia. This dreams unsettles by what follows verse 13
13 "In the visions I saw while lying in my bed, I looked, and there before me was a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14 He called in a loud voice: `Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field. " `Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him.
There are two parts to the dream. This is a vast tree being chopped down leaving only it’s stump shifting from the tree to a beast who is forced to roam eating and living like an animal no longer human in his actions. Here again Nebuchadnezzar calls on Daniel to reveal the meaning, and again Daniel succeeds as the wise man of God, when the wise men of Babylon are unable. This time there’s a moment of hesitation on Daniels part. There is something horrifying in the King’s dream, that he takes no pleasure in delivering. Daniel spells it out for Nebuchadnezzar that he is the tree and he’s the animal that roams wild. Nebuchadnezzar as King provides protection and sustenance to the people who inhabit his vast empire, and he is about to face up to how frail and mortal he is; just as the tree is made desolate Nebuchadnezzar will also be made desolate. Nebuchadnezzar will be reduced to roaming the earth in an animal like state. It is quite shocking to be told you will loose your sanity. Please notice something with me here, this hasn’t happened yet. There’s something Nebuchadnezzar can do, verse 27
27 Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue."
Then it occurs verses 28-32
28-30 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. Just twelve months later, he was walking on the balcony of the royal palace in Babylon and boasted, “Look at this, Babylon the great! And I built it all by myself, a royal palace adequate to display my honor and glory! 31-32 The words were no sooner out of his mouth than a voice out of heaven spoke, “This is the verdict on you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your kingdom is taken from you. You will be driven out of human company and live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like an ox. The sentence is for seven seasons, enough time to learn that the High God rules human kingdoms and puts whomever he wishes in charge.” (The message)
Nebuchadnezzar had much to do with the greatness of Babylon, as he had great wealth, he was an accomplished builder. All his power and accomplishments led to a pride, had self blinded him from broader realities the self-centeredness, the wants, hopes, fears, expectations, “needs” crowded his heart as we are aware of how these can also crowd out ours. The effect was Nebuchadnezzar was the god of his life god of the empire in the world he’d made his foolish pride sent him from the palace to the paddock from grandeur to grazing. His insanity drives him into open spaces where he lives like an animal, as someone put it this way “a man who thinks he is like a god must become like a beast to learn that he is only a human being.”[1] Change was possible even here, as God hadn’t totally closed the door (if only Nebuchadnezzar would humble himself seek healing from the true God of the world.) Which takes us back to the start of our passage verses 2-3
as we catch Nebuchadnezzar reflecting back on all that had gone on and how it was now making sense:
2 It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.3 How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.
Nebuchadnezzar learns his lesson only after he had tasted the bitterness of humility
he finds himself needing to acknowledge God’s ultimate superiority humility is the place where he finds himself restored as king of Babylon
37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. (verse 37)
The question is we are asked how does humility or pride play out in your life? How pride occurs when our sense of our self worth exceeds the reality of our situation, sometimes we only learn that the hard way, like Nebuchadnezzar did. It was not the way Jesus acted even when he had every right to be boastful as to who was as Philippians 2:6-11 puts it:
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father. (The Message)
The question is how receptive are we to receiving to God’s love? Living out the reality of ”The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want” is absolutely necessary prerequisite for any sort of active obedience to God. Thw gospel story is that God himself experiences shame on our behalf subjected himself to the humiliation of the cross to free us from shame and invite us to the glory of the resurrection, “as Jesus endured the shame of the cross because of joy – joy in glorifying his Father, and joy in redeeming his brothers and sisters. We are invited to bear his disgrace and offer ourselves as a sacrifice of praise to God’s glory and goodness”[2] Nebuchadnezzar learnt that God calls us to humble our hearts before him acknowledging him as the Lord our lives and submit them to his rightful rule over us. Only God can deal with our pride and remove our sin, and cause us to be the people of God he call us to be
as the invitation of Jesus is how will we live this week in humble, sacrificial life in those ordinary little moments of life.
Let’s pray…
David Hassan @ Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 10/9/17
[1] Fewel cited in Longman III NIVAC Daniel p 122
[2] quote from Longman III NIVAC Daniel p 130.