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.”

Daniel 4:1–“Peter Parker”

 

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

¹Nebuchadnezzar the king to the all of the peoples, the nations, and the languages which dwelling in the all of the earth: May your (pl.) peace/prosperity increase.

I suppose, in some sense, this might be considered one of the most unusual chapters in the Bible – the chapter where a great king is turned into a cow! The last chapter – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace – is certainly one of the most amazing. In that, the Lord showed His great power by conquering raging flames, while here in chapter 4, He displays His great power by humiliating a seemingly powerful man. Nebuchadnezzar, it would seem, finally “got the point,” and so he embarks on this proclamation recorded for us in the book of Daniel.

First of all, a minor exegetical matter is to note that in the Aramaic text, verses 1-3 are actually attached to the previous chapter. The chapter/verse breakdowns of course are not part of the inspired text, so they are not necessarily of any profound importance, but I personally think our English arrangement to be correct. Verse 1 is a very typical ancient heading for a letter or proclamation, appearing exactly as it does here, at the head of the manuscript. Interestingly, after the “Daniel in the Lions’ Den” events later in chapter 6, King Darius (a Medo-Persian) issues his own proclamation in precisely the same words (v.25) and there, also clearly at the head of his proclamation.

Next, I think it worth noting exactly who we are dealing with here in 4:1. This is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, whom we have met in every chapter so far. Notice that his letter is being addressed to “the all of the peoples, the nations, and the languages which dwelling in the all of the earth.” Some commentators are quick to minimize this address, acknowledging that, of course, he didn’t rule over “all the world.” However, I will beg to differ on this basis: In chapter 2, verses 37,38, when Daniel was interpreting the king’s dream, he said to him, “You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands He has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, He has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.”

Notice, “He has made you ruler over them all.” I would note that, whether Nebuchadnezzar ever actually extended his reign to the ends of the earth or not, he could have. As Scofield noted, “He was divinely authorized to do so.” I believe it worth noting that this king is possibly the most powerful man who ever lived. Even the city of Babylon itself was astounding. There are various accounts of the size, population, and wealth of the city, but it was enormous – something like 4 miles by 4 miles square. Again, estimates vary, but the population could have easily reached 1,000,000.

It is a marvel to pause and consider an ancient city that large. As a civil engineer, I can’t fathom how they got water in to all those people and their sewage out. Both had to happen. People cannot live without water and obviously the sewage must be removed in some sanitary manner, or the whole city would soon be dead. Even trash and garbage would have to be removed in some frequent, systematic manner or the city would very soon be overrun with rats. I even wonder about their traffic control. Even if people were walking and on horse (or camel) back, still, that many people would mean crowds at every major intersection. How did they “control” that traffic, so it could move smoothly in both directions?

My point in all of this is simply to notice just who we’re dealing with. This is Nebuchadnezzar, possibly the most powerful king who ever reigned, ruling perhaps one of the greatest cities ever built, ruling (or authorized to do so) over literally the entire planet earth.

His opening words are, “May your (pl.) peace/prosperity increase.” On one hand, we can’t read into these words too much good will. It’s a nice wish from a king to his subjects, but, as I noted above, this a very typical way to begin a proclamation and would be standard form whether the king possessed any good will or not. On the other hand it truly is a nice wish, “May your (pl.) peace/prosperity increase.” The word I translated “peace/prosperity” is just that. It is the familiar Jewish greeting of “Shalom!” which we tend to translate as “peace.” However, in the original languages it meant so much more than our English word “peace.” It really refers to “everything” good and right. It is kind of a “Norman Rockwell” word, a picture of the happy family with everyone there and healthy and happy.

So it certainly is a nice wish. This is, however, exactly the point at which I want to note something. Nebuchadnezzar is the king. He is a very powerful king, a very wealthy king. He has it within his power and wealth to fulfill for his people this very wish. He has within his power the ability to do great good for all of these peoples. However, he also possesses the power to do them great harm. He has the power.

Whether you and I are great kings (or queens) or simply parents or bosses or teachers or coaches or even president of the local butterfly collectors’ club, we human beings find ourselves in various ways and at various times people granted positions of power. We, like Nebuchadnezzar, can use that power to do people good or to do them great harm. Sometimes the harm we do can be deliberate (like dirty crooked politicians) or it can be simply neglect, but, with our position comes the ability to affect others. Obviously, as people in power would think of those under them, they should be thinking, “May your (pl.) peace/prosperity increase,” and act accordingly.

What is too bad is that the human race has rarely embraced this idea, reflected in today’s “Peter Parker” principle. That is the words spoken by Uncle Ben, “With great power comes great responsibility.” In the Spider-man series, this is the advice given to young Peter Parker by his uncle when he suddenly is granted the super “spider” powers. Ben’s  point of course is that Peter now faces a choice. He can use those powers for his own personal ambitions or see them as the opportunity, even responsibility, to do good to others.

This of course is nothing less than the Biblical principle of servanthood, “Even the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), but, whether it’s the Peter Parker principle or straight out of the Bible, the world has largely missed it.

But you and I can be different. We can acknowledge that any “power” we possess is a gift from God and intended by Him to be used in the service of others. We truly should desire “peace/prosperity” for anyone over whom we possess the power to impact and we should use “power” very deliberately to do good to others. I would suggest, in one sense, that is our calling as Christians – to use whatever power God gives us to do good to others. I fear too often American Christians only see their faith as practical when they’re at the church building. We need to see instead this is our life – that the Lord wants to adorn His Gospel literally everywhere we go, in everything we do, to everyone we intersect, precisely because we use whatever power we may have to do them good. Our souls toward others should live, ““May your (pl.) peace/prosperity increase.”

Whether it’s Peter Parker or the Bible, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Romans 2:25-29 “Unseen”

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

²⁵For, on the one hand, circumcision is being profitable if you should be practicing law, but if you should be being a transgressor of law, the circumcision of you has become uncircumcision. ²⁶Therefore, if the uncircumcised one is observing the righteousnesses of the Law, will not the uncircumcision of him be reckoned into circumcision? ²⁷And the one uncircumcised out of nature fulfilling the Law will judge you, the transgressor of law through [the] letter [of the Law] and circumcision. ²⁸For one is not a Jew in the appearance, neither [is] the circumcision in the appearance in flesh, ²⁹but the one in the secret [is] a Jew and circumcision [is] of heart in spirit not letter, the praise of whom [is] not out of men but out of God. 

Here is an interesting little quote from the book The Little Prince, p.97, by Saint-Exupery:

“‘Goodbye,’ said the fox. ‘And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’

‘What is essential is invisible to the eye,’ the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.” (The Little Prince, p.97, Saint-Exupery).

What Paul is doing here in Romans 2 is dismantling the defenses of the self-righteous Jews of his day. They were the “religious,” yet such people were the religious lost. As in every generation, they had fallen prey to the delusion that their outward practices of religion were their salvation. In this chapter, he’s already demonstrated their knowledge of the Law not only does not save them but rather only intensifies their condemnation – since they violate the very Law they pride themselves in knowing!

In verses 25-27, he tackles their final line of defense – their circumcision. They might have grudgingly admitted to Paul’s every assault up to this point, but their final defense would be, “Yes, but we’re circumcised.” When all else failed, they were quite confident that being circumcised Jews assured their final salvation. In these verses, what he shows is that the outward, physical act of circumcision in the end means nothing if a person doesn’t go on to actually keep the Law.

As the old writers used to point out, you could replace the word “circumcision” with “baptism” or “church membership” or “serving the Lord” and the exact same truths would apply to us in the church today. We too fall prey to the delusion that our outward practices of religion are our salvation, that those things are certain proofs of our being “right” with the Lord.

But verses 28 and 29 establish a truth which underlies every possible aspect of “religion,” and that is, just as the fox told the little prince, “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” Jesus made this very clear to the woman at the well: “God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). No wonder the Lord repeatedly told the Jewish people to “circumcise your hearts” (Deut 30:6; Jer. 4:4; etc.).

“God is spirit.” No wonder our outward acts and ceremonies mean nothing to Him unless they come from our hearts. Could we all agree that any religious “act,” no matter how apparently commendable, is in reality worthless if the person’s heart isn’t in it? Isn’t that something we can all see? How then do we deceive ourselves into believing that mere, outward acts are somehow in and of themselves significant. Then, how can we possibly deceive ourselves into believing they matter to God???

Real Christianity and salvation itself is first and foremost a matter of the heart. It has to be because we’re dealing with God! From beginning to end, nothing we might do and consider “religious” is of any value whatsoever if it isn’t done deliberately in the presence of God! Someone has pointed out that there is not a single “outward” act considered important to Christianity which an unregenerate person could not do. They can pray the right prayers, give testimonies that say all the right things, be baptized, join churches, teach Sunday School, even be pastors and missionaries – and all the while have no real relationship with God through Christ. The one thing they lack? Heart.

What they lack is the one thing which is “essential” – a real heart relationship with God – the one thing that is “invisible to the eye.”

This whole matter leads me to two conclusions that to me are profound.

The first is the realization of this fact, that “what is essential is invisible to the eye.” I’ve never really thought about how true it is that all that really matters is what we can’t see. In Hebrews 11:3, we learn, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” The very “stuff” our universe is made of (including us!) is actually invisible! Hebrews 11 goes on to say in verse 6, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I think too of I Peter 3:4, “Instead, it should that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” And, once again, we’re reminded, what are the two great commands? “Love God and love people.” “On these two commands hang all the Law and the prophets.” In Galatians 5:6, Paul asserts, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

God is spirit. In this world, spirit is unseen, yet that is what God is and He’s the most important of everything! What is seen can only possibly matter if somehow it is reflecting the reality of spirit things. No wonder we must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

The second thing I see from this is the profound importance of learning to distinguish between spirit obedience and mere legal obedience. Verse 29 refers to this as “the spirit” versus, “the letter.” One could write an entire book on the subject (God already did!), but one must understand the difference. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this so clearly. Legal obedience is simply “keeping the rules.” For instance, the Bible says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” so I shouldn’t cheat on my wife, right? Well, if we obey God for no other reason than such legal obedience, we’ll certainly be better off than not obeying Him at all. The man who is faithful to his wife will certainly save himself from a host of horrors. Well enough. But “they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” And it is. But it is only the beginning. And what is the end of wisdom? “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” It isn’t about simply “keeping the rules.” Legal obedience may have its place, but the Lord wants something far more. “My son, give Me thine heart.” We’re back to the heart. And how does that relate to “Thou shalt not commit adultery?”

It goes something like this: Here I am enjoying this marvelous relationship with this God who loves me. I know what a failure I am and yet here He is blessing me and protecting me, giving me strength for every day. I so enjoy His ever-present love. Then I look to my wife and sincerely wish to show her that same love. I know God loves her just like He loves me. I want her to know His love but I want to be an expression of that love. I want to be to her His hands and feet and voice. And what was that someone was saying about adultery? What? That isn’t even on the radar screen.

That’s spirit obedience. It’s not just “keeping the rules.” It’s living a relationship with the God who is spirit, treasuring His heart, and longing to live all day every day in His presence, caring because He cares, loving because He loves, living because He has given me life. To someone living spirit obedience, the Bible is not a book of rules, it is the book of God’s heart. It’s there I truly learn who He is, what matters to Him, what pleases Him and what doesn’t – and that’s all I need to know … because I love Him, or rather, because He loves me.

I would suggest the bottom line of what Paul is saying is to get people to realize this is what a real relationship with God is. If someone doesn’t have this spirit relationship with Christ, then all the “religion” in the world will not save them. And how do we gain this relationship? What new religious act is required of us? None at all except simply to believe – to realize that Jesus Himself (and not “religion”) is “the Way and the Truth and the Life,” and that “no one comes to the Father except though Him.”

But then we’re getting ahead of Paul.

What a passage! Once again, I feel like I’m scraping on the bedrock of reality itself. Romans is certainly the book of the unseen – the real truth.

“‘Goodbye,’ said the fox. ‘And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’

‘What is essential is invisible to the eye,’ the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.”

Like the little prince, we should “be sure to remember.”

God help us.

Romans 2:17-24 “Cornered”

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

¹⁷But if you are being called a Jew and resting in law and boasting in God and ¹⁸knowing the desire and examining the differing [things], being instructed out of the Law, ¹⁹and you are persuaded you yourself to be a leader of blind ones, a light to ones in darkness, an instructor of simple ones, a teacher of infants, ²⁰having in the Law the form of the knowledge and the truth, ²¹the one teaching others, are you not teaching yourself?  The one preaching not to be stealing, are you stealing? ²²The one saying not to be committing adultery, are you committing adultery? The one abhorring idols, are you committing sacrilege? ²³Whoever [is] boasting in law is dishonoring God through the transgression of the Law, ²⁴for, just as it is written, “The name of God is being blasphemed because of you (pl.) among the Gentiles.” 

Paul has been developing his argument since at least 1:18, trying to show us that everyone needs the Gospel, that no one will be saved by trying to keep the Law. In chapter 1, he presented the case of the very immoral of this world. To that, any thinking person would easily agree. Certainly if anyone should be judged, it is the very wicked people who do so many “bad” things. In 2:1, Paul turns the argument on anyone who had enough sense of morality to agree with chapter 1. In fact, he proves, the very act of judging others condemns each of us because it proves we know better – leaving us with no excuse for why we ourselves so often have failed and continue to fail.

If anyone was truly one of the “immoral” of chapter 1, read those verses, saw themselves, repented and turned to Christ, that would be a wonderful thing. If anyone read on into chapter 2, saw in themselves the hypocritical moralizer they are, repented and turned to Christ, that too would be a wonderful thing.

But I believe now in 2:17, Paul turns on the most difficult person, the people least likely to ever see their need of a Savior – the very religious lost. Obviously, reading the text, Paul applies his words directly to those who “are called Jews.” What I would ask everyone to see, however, is that today he could have just as easily said, “You who are called Christians…” Paul is talking to people who are very familiar with the Bible, probably people who “grew up in church,” people who attend church regularly, own several Bibles, teach Sunday School, go to Bible studies, sing all the right songs, etc., etc.

Just as in the case of the Jewish people, all of the above is highly commendable. Anyone who “grew up in church” is certainly someone blessed with privileges others did not enjoy. This is true, especially if the church really did teach the Bible, if the message of the Gospel has been clearly presented, if a person can honestly say the stories and teachings of the Bible are very familiar to them. Just as with the Jewish people, it really is true that those are great blessings.

However, the question for each person is, what have you done with all those privileges?  “To whom much is given, much will also be required.” All of those privileges added up do not somehow make us “good.” They only make us more accountable. And, if we would search our hearts, what do we find? Given all this knowledge and opportunity, have I thus been able to pull off a perfect life before God?

The obvious answer should be “No.” Probably even the most religious would admit the answer is “No.” But what does that mean? It means we have sinned against the very bright light of God’s truth! The very immoral were lost even though they perhaps knew nothing of the Bible. The moralizers were lost because their very moralizing proved they had some sense of right and wrong. But here you and I stand, claiming with our own mouths to be people very knowledgeable of God and the things of the Bible. If anyone, we should be the people who in fact are “righteous.”

Yet we are not.

This, I would offer is perhaps the worst form of blindness a human being could suffer – to enjoy the privilege of living in the bright light of Bible truth, and yet to think those privileges somehow equal a righteous standing before God, instead of seeing that all of it utterly robs me of any excuse whatsoever for my sins. It doesn’t make me more righteous. It makes me more guilty!

If anyone ever needed to take hard stock of their life, it’s not the very immoral, it’s the person who knows most the Bible.

In fact, as Paul asserts here in Romans 2, even the very religious have failed to obey the Law, and then it’s even worse than that because, claiming to be religious, their sins (which they do commit) provide opportunities for the enemies of God to blaspheme Him!

This is it. If salvation is to come to those who perfectly keep the Law, then even the very religious are lost. The ones who seem to “try the hardest” are, if anything only more guilty before God!  Salvation does not come to “those who try hardest.” Being very “religious” does not save us. It only makes us more guilty.

We’re cornered.

Sounds to me like we need God to come up with some other way of salvation besides us “doing our best.”

Sounds to me like we need a Savior.