Daniel 4:2,3–“Freight Train of Reality”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²The signs and the wonders which the God the Most High made with me, it seemed good before me to make known. ³His signs like what great ones? His wonders like what mighty ones? His kingdom [is] a kingdom everlasting and His dominion from generation and generation.

Coming from a king who would have no natural reason to acknowledge the true God of Heaven, this seems like an amazing statement. In just these two little verses, he speaks a wisdom the whole world should know. In fact, one of the debates around these verses and the entire chapter is whether Nebuchadnezzar ended up a true believer, a regenerated man. I will withhold my own judgment until I’ve studied the entire chapter through, however, one thing I notice is that all he is seeing is God’s power.

The Psalmist can declare, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever!” Those are the words of a repentant heart and a true believer. Now, it certainly is a good thing to recognize God’s power and be humbled by it. But I do wonder myself whether the king is truly humble or just humbled? To get whipped humbles a man, but it is a matter of real heart business whether or not he is actually humble. On the other hand, we should always be careful criticizing someone who is in reality a recent convert. At that point in their life, they only know what they know. In Nebuchadnezzar’s case, all he’s ever known was power. Perhaps he’ll need to learn to see the world through different eyes before he can truly understand the fullness of the life the Lord intends for him.

Regardless of exactly how far along these events have brought the heart of Nebuchadnezzar, I want to notice the big picture of what has happened to him and what he is saying.

It is true of all the universe but equally true in each person’s life, “The Day of the Lord will come.” Like Nebuchadnezzar, men may live their lives, do this and do that, go here and go there, think this or think that to be true, yet, “The Day of the Lord will come.” The Lord is the truth and He will have His day. The Truth remains the truth. God’s reality is like a great granite mountain. Like a freight train, people dash here and there their entire lives until suddenly the tracks lead square into the mountain’s rock wall. The train is totally destroyed. The mountain remains. Nebuchadnezzar’s life has hit the wall of God’s eternal truth. When he expresses, “His kingdom [is] a kingdom everlasting and His dominion from generation and generation,” he is acknowledging the most basic truth any human can (and must) learn: The Most High rules. There is a God and I’m not Him.

Here he is, a man who has “succeeded.” He has done what he wanted, lived life the way he wanted, and emerged as an extremely wealthy powerful king. However, in this chapter we see him hit the granite wall. He now knows there’s something far bigger going on than even his seemingly successful world. He went down bragging in his greatness. Now he’s issuing a public proclamation to acknowledge God’s. He had had his day. Now God had His.

“The Day of the Lord will come.” This is true in the big scheme of things – that there will be a “day” when the Lord steps in and this world as we’ve known it will end. That is an appointment all share. But sometimes it happens in life-shattering ways just like it did to Nebuchadnezzar.  In fact it is a grace-gift if the Lord brings us to such a day in this life when we still have the chance to repent and, like the king, “come to our senses.”

Nebuchadnezzar was granted the grace of seeing God’s truth in his disaster. It remains for you and me, when our lives collide with reality, whether it will lead us to God or to rage or even to despair!

Although none of us are kings or wealthy or powerful or anything even remotely like that, yet we do live our lives. We come here and go there. Like Nebuchadnezzar, we may enjoy some measure of what we think is success. We may have our “days.”  But may Nebuchadnezzar remind us all God will have His. “The Day of the Lord will come.” To accept that truth and genuinely humble ourselves under it is to truly live in reality.

Our freight train doesn’t have to crash into the wall.

We can choose to believe and live like “The Most High rules in the nations of men. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His dominion from generation to generation.”

“The Day of the Lord will come.”