As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
29To the end of twelve months,
upon the palace of the kingdom of Babel, he was walking. 30Answering
the king and saying, “[Is] not this her: Babel the great, which I have
built her to a royal house in the strength of my power and to the honor of my
majesty?”
Once again, I think it most instructive to stay in the
moment as we would ponder these words. We can read the rest of the story but
Nebuchadnezzar cannot. As he walks about apparently on the roof of his palace,
he does not know the future, but only the present – just like you and me. If we
were there on the roof with him, listening to his words, what would we learn?
As believers, probably the first thing we would see is the
Lord’s amazing patience. It’s been how long? Twelve months! An entire year has
passed since our Daniel stood there and bravely, lovingly revealed the meaning
of the king’s dream and urged him to repent.
We today don’t know how the king responded. He may have,
like wicked Ahab, “tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted...lay in
sackcloth and went around meekly” (I Kings 21:27). Maybe he did and maybe
that’s why the judgment has been detained for a year? We simply don’t know how
he responded. But what we do know is how the Lord has responded. And how is
that? With His amazing gracious patience.
He clearly warned Nebuchadnezzar. He told him the decree had
already been issued that horrible judgment was to fall upon him. Yet how long
has it been? Twelve months.
Is this not so familiar to us who know the Lord? We know II
Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as
some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to
perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” We know it literally says “He has
not purposed that anyone should perish,” and “but makes room for everyone to
come to repentance.” Even in judgment, He remembers mercy. Daniel gave the king
good counsel. The Lord has given him twelve months to take it to heart. This is
just like with Jonah. “Forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” Why, if the
Lord has determined judgment, does He not immediately rain it down? We who know
Him know that love stays His hand.
And how do people interpret His patience?
Do they not say, “Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? Ever since our fathers
died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning” (II Peter 3:4). Even if
the king was deeply impressed by the dream at first, no doubt this is exactly what
has happened. As the days turned into weeks, then months, Nebuchadnezzar’s
heart has grown to disregard the Lord’s warnings. He thinks since time has
passed, apparently the Lord isn’t really going to do what He said.
Then listen to the words Nebuchadnezzar
says: “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal
residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” We should note
that, in the Aramaic, the “I” is emphatic. That is why I have underlined it.
Once again, if we were standing there on
the roof beside him, how would us believers respond to those words? Would we
not say (at least to ourselves), “Yikes!”
No doubt verses like this immediately jump
into our minds: “Pride goes before a fall!” and “God resists the proud. He
gives His grace to the humble!” “He who exalts himself will be humbled, but he
who humbles himself will be exalted.” “Let another man’s lips praise you and
not your own!”
Pride. The Devil’s sin. “I will lift
my throne above the stars of heaven. I will be like the Most High.” It was part
of Adam and Eve’s downfall. They believed Satan’s lie, “You shall be as gods.” Pharaoh
arrogantly asked, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?” Many of the
godliest men in the Bible went down in the sin of pride: David, Hezekiah,
Uzziah, Asa. God had to give Paul a “thorn in the flesh,” “to keep me from
becoming conceited.”
Pride is a horrible sin. In I Peter
5:5, when it says, “God resists the proud,” we should all understand it
literally means is something like, “God declares
war on the proud”! My understanding from studying the Bible and living all
these years is that pride is an insidious sin. It actually hides itself from
the sinner. In other words, you or I can be being proud and we’ll be the last
to know it. As here in Nebuchadnezzar’s case, his sin of pride glares at us –
but he can’t see it.
Only the Holy Spirit can open our eyes
to see our pride. This is something we need to live in dread of. If a godly man
like Hezekiah could fall in pride, if I know it hides itself from me, then I
need to be constantly praying, “God deliver me! Help me to see my pride and
repent of it! I don’t want You to have to ‘declare war’ on me!” What I believe
He has taught me over the years is to watch not for it, but for its symptoms. I
won’t see it. But I can see its symptoms in my life. A good deer hunter doesn’t
go out into the woods looking for “a deer.” He knows, by the time he actually
“sees” a deer – with its head and tail and legs and body – it’s already seen
him! Instead, he goes looking for its signs. He looks for rubs. He looks for
its trails. He listens intently. He knows, if he is ever to “see” a deer, he’ll
have to have already noted its signs.
So it is with pride. When someone says
something to us and we find it galls us, you can bet the truth is, they’ve
wounded my pride. I remember a lady came up to me after a Sunday school class,
disagreed with what I’d taught, and then said, “I guess I just understand it to
a greater depth than you do.” Later that day, I noticed something ugly going on
inside of me. I didn’t like what she said. Of course she did not “understand
it” better than me. She was wrong. She needed to change! Then the Lord helped
me to see that her words actually angered me, then reminded me that is a
symptom of pride. I immediately saw that was exactly the problem – I was being
proud! I didn’t like someone else lifting their throne above the stars of my
heaven!! Whether she was wrong or not was really quite irrelevant. The fact
was, it was my heart that was filled with the sin of pride. And how bad is
that? “God declares war on the proud!” Yikes!!! God deliver me! Help me humble
myself. The last thing in this world I need is God against me!
So here we stand next to
Nebuchadnezzar as he walks about on his roof, surveying the greatness of his
kingdom. The words that fall from his lips, “Is this not great Babylon, which I
have built?” go off like bells in our minds – but not his. He’s gone down in
pride, but he doesn’t know it. You and I would know he’s headed for really,
really, really bad trouble. He’s even been warned. At this second, we don’t
know when the Lord’s judgment will come crashing down on him – we just know it
will. “The Day of the Lord will
come.”
God deliver us.
We’re no better than Nebuchadnezzar. I
might not be a rich, powerful, successful king, but I still have this
desperately wicked heart that loves to be “important,” that loves to be
“appreciated” and “applauded.” And worst of all that same wicked heart is
“deceitful above all things.” Only God can save us from us!
I can see in this passage, even
without knowing the end of the story, that the king is in BIG trouble. God help
me to stay deliberately near Your heart that You might deliver me from this
awful sin. Save me, I pray!
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