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It Is Written

John Bradshaw

Daniel the Prophet: The Fall and Rise of Babylon’s King

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

Daniel chapter 4 stands out as being unique and it has a strong and important message, as strong as anything else you'll find in the entire book of Daniel.

The book of Daniel is unique in the Bible.

Daniel 7, beasts, the little horn, and a prophetic time period.

Daniel 10, a behind the scenes look at the great universal spiritual war.

Daniel 11 adds a lot of detail to the earlier prophecies in Daniel and then Daniel 12 with the time of trouble to additional time prophecies and more.

The first half of Daniel contains stories which are prophetic in nature.

Daniel 1, Daniel boldly chooses to honor God and God protects and preserves him.

Daniel interprets the king's dream, outlining more than 2, 500 years of human history.

Daniel 3, The Fiery Furnace, a law compels idol worship.

Faithfulness to God endangers the lives of Daniel's 3 friends, but Jesus stands with them in their trial, a foreshadowing of what will take place in the world in earth's last days.

Daniel 5, the writing is on the wall for Babylon and Babylon falls.

Daniel 6, Daniel refuses to obey a law mandating false worship and is cast into a den of lions.

Those early chapters of Daniel are rich with insights, parallels and lessons that speak to the future.

The book of Revelation stands upon the book of Daniel.

John borrows important imagery from Daniel.

Daniel traces the rise of nations and speaks to the rise of the Antichrist power of the last days.

In Daniel 4 we encounter the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II, for the last time.

He ruled longer than any other Babylonian king.

He completed massive construction projects and conquered territory in the Levant, that's the eastern Mediterranean region.

The Babylonian Empire extended from the Persian Gulf up through what today we'd call Iraq, through Syria and parts of Turkey, and down the Mediterranean to include parts of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

King Nebuchadnezzar had transformed Babylon into a magnificent city.

120 years after it had been destroyed by the Assyrians in 689 BC, there were 3 beautiful palaces, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, 1 of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, more than 50 temples, double walls surrounding the city, in some places triple walls.

Nebuchadnezzar built the magnificent Ishtar Gate, the remnants of which can be seen today in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

He even constructed a bridge across the Euphrates River.

Outside of the Bible there's not a lot known about him, which shouldn't surprise anyone considering he died in 562 BC, almost 2, 600 years ago.

It's not easy to find specific artifacts from ancient times.

Although a stone tablet recovered from the city of Babylon before 1803 and now displayed at the British Museum in London contains an inscription that says, "...By thy command, merciful Marduk, may The temple I have built endure for all time, and may I be satisfied with its splendor." And thousands of the 15 million bricks used by his builder were stamped with his name and titles.

Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, who cares for Isaggela and Izzida, which were temples.

Eldest son of Nabo-pelassar, king of Babylon.

Daniel 4 begins, Peace be multiplied to you.

I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me.

How great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders!

His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation." That could take you by surprise when you remember that this is the same man who was feared in chapter 1, the man who sentenced Daniel and the rest of the counsellors to death in chapter 2, and cast Daniel's 3 friends into a furnace in Daniel 3.

Nebuchadnezzar is described in the Bible as God's servant, which seems an unlikely thing for God to call an idol worshipper.

During Israel's turbulent history, they were enslaved by the Egyptians, dominated by Moab, Canaan, the Midianites, the Philistines, and the Ammonites, because of their sin and idolatry.

God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to conquer Judah because He wanted to heal them of all that.

And he knew that in being in a strange land, cut off from what they were familiar with, dependent on God for their deliverance, that would give them time to think about the error of their ways.

God's hope was that they would realize He truly loved them.

The whole experience of Judah in the book of Daniel speaks to God's desire to see them saved and not lost.

It's easy to miss the point of the book of Daniel, with beasts rising up out of the sea, with dreams and visions, the abomination of desolation, statues and animals and kingdoms rising and falling.

As important as all of that is, it can obscure a very important truth.

When you boil it down, The book of Daniel is a book of salvation.

We see that God is able to reach even the hardest heart.

Daniel 4 is actually written by Nebuchadnezzar.

In Daniel 2, he dreamed of the rise and fall of great world powers, but this dream is different.

Like Daniel 2, he called his wise men to interpret the dream.

He said, I told them the dream, but they did not make known to me its interpretation." But unlike chapter 2, there is no death sentence because of their inability to interpret his dream.

Listen to what Nebuchadnezzar said, At last Daniel came before me.

His name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God.

These were the visions of my head while on my bed, " he said.

He saw a tree which grew and became tall and strong.

Its height reached to the heavens, and it could be seen to the ends of all the earth.

Its leaves were lovely, its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all.

The beasts of the field found shade under it.

The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches." A messenger from heaven gave the order to cut the tree down.

The animals would no longer take shelter beneath it and the birds would fly away, although instructions were given to leave the stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field.

Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth." The tree would be cut down, but not destroyed entirely.

And notice, the tree was referred to as It.

Let It be wet with the dew of heaven, and then as him.

Let him graze with the beasts." The dream continues, "...let his heart be changed from that of a man, and let him be given the heart of a beast, and let 7 times pass over him." If you had that dream, you'd be perplexed too.

Daniel would tell the king the truth, whatever it was.

Daniel was a man who acted with integrity.

In Daniel 1, he could please the king and dishonor God, or honor God and run the risk of displeasing the king and jeopardize his life.

Daniel chose to honor God and leave the consequences with God.

Like my friend, a truck driver, asked by his employer to falsify records.

My friend said, I can't do that because that would be a lie.

You just do the right thing when you're a follower of Jesus.

In Daniel 2, Daniel was facing execution when the wise men couldn't interpret the King's dream.

Daniel trusted God to get him and his friends through that trial.

In Daniel 3, 3 young men refused to worship an idol, even when their lives were on the line.

Now, Daniel 4, Daniel is asked to interpret the king's dream.

The king wasn't going to like what Daniel told him, but Daniel told him anyway, kindly and graciously.

He began by saying, "...My Lord, may the dream concern those who hate you, and its interpretation concern your enemies." Daniel genuinely cared for the king.

It seems that by now the 2 men were close.

Nebuchadnezzar's armies had conquered and destroyed Daniel's home and maybe Daniel's family.

And yet Daniel treated him with respect and with concern, and it was sincere.

Rather than despising people, Christians are called to show love for people, no matter who they are or what they believe, and no matter how they treat you.

Jesus said, "...blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.'" He said, "'Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'" Daniel was a captive, living as a slave in a foreign land.

This king had come close to executing him and had attempted to execute his friends.

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Daniel the Prophet: The Fall and Rise of Babylon’s King

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