Kingdom Down: A Study in DanielSample

Jesus is King

Many more years pass between chapters 3 and 4, and, at this point, Daniel is about 45 years old. At the same time, king Nebuchadnezzar has become wealthy beyond what we can even fathom. He now owns the entire area which makes up modern-day Turkey, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, and part of Iran. He is rich, comfortable, and secure. The problem is that Nebuchadnezzar has built the most impressive, powerful empire on the earth, but it's not part of God's Kingdom. And, as a result, it's in conflict with God's kingdom.

Here’s the big idea: whatever you have, whatever you do, don't build your own little empire. Instead, invest in the Kingdom of God. Ultimately here you're dealing with the difference between a testimony and a biography. Up until this point in the story, every time God uses Daniel for something wonderful, he gives credit to God. He says, "Let me interpret that dream. Well, actually, I can't do it, but my God can." “Let me help you, actually, I can't help you, but my God can." He always gives the credit or the glory to God. That's a testimony. Nebuchadnezzar only has a biography. You'll hear, "I, I, I, my, my, my" a lot.

Nebuchadnezzar has another dream that his “wise” men can’t interpret, so he calls for Daniel. This is a key to understanding Daniel: three times in this chapter, the unbelieving Nebuchadnezzar looks at Daniel and says, "The Spirit of God is in that guy." To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be able to live by God's presence and power in a place that is opposed to you like Babylon. Make no mistake, we all live in Babylon, and we need the Spirit of God if we're gonna make it.

Because Daniel knows that in addition to the physical world we see, there is also a spiritual world, he is able to understand the dream. It speaks of spiritual beings like watchers and angels, which are like God’s divine staff, similar to Nebuchadnezzar’s staff in the palace. He gets the interpretation from God and it bothers him, it troubles him, it concerns him. Why? Because he loves Nebuchadnezzar. He has faithfully served his kingdom for 30 plus years, and when Daniel gets a word from God about the doom and demise of his spiritual enemy, he's heartbroken because he loves his enemies. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, and here Daniel is.

God is calling Nebuchadnezzar to repent. This is a foreign concept to him, but God gives him 12 months to turn his pride around or He will remove His blessing from this empire and the kingdom will fall. Nebuchadnezzar stands on the top of his palace, looks down on everyone, and doesn’t budge. Because he doesn’t change, God humiliates him. Either you humble yourself before God, or you’ll be humiliated. Those are the options. When God says he’s going to do something like drive you out of your palace so you realize He’s God, you can bet it’s going to happen.

Again at the end of this chapter, we see Nebuchadnezzar extolling God. There’s a big debate here as to whether or not he got saved, but regardless, we see God’s grace to him as he restores him and makes him even greater than before. Even when we are faithless, God is faithful.

Are you building God’s Kingdom or your own?