Transcription
For today, we're here in Daniel chapter four. I'm gonna read the first eighteen verses, and then we'll pray and we'll take a look at this chapter together. This happens to be what I consider the the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar in his final surrender to to the Lord. This chapter concludes any other reference in the Bible to Nebuchadnezzar. I mean, his name might be mentioned elsewhere, but but for all intents and purposes, at the end of chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar fades off the pages of the Bible. And he fades off though in a in a wonderful way by finally coming to the place where he surrenders to God. Will we see him in heaven? I personally think so, but who knows for sure. And and so this is a wonderful chapter having to do with a man who finally came to the place where he realized, you know what, I just really need to surrender to God.
And so here in chapter 4, I'm gonna read the first 18 verses. It says this: Nebuchadnezzar the King to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth. 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. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore, I issued a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Then the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers came in, and I told them the dream, but they did not make known to me its interpretation. But at last, Daniel came before me, his name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God. And in him is the spirit of the holy God. And I told the dream before him, saying, Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I have and its interpretation. These were the visions of my head while on my bed. I was looking, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became 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 it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it. The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. I saw in the vision of my bed, while I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. He cried aloud and said, Thus, chop down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts get out from under it and the birds from its branches. Nevertheless, 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. Let his heart be changed from that of a man, let him be given the heart of a beast, and let seven times pass over him. This decision is by the decree of the Watchers, and the sentence by the word of the Holy Ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, Daniel, declare its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make it known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for the Spirit of the holy God is in you.
Let's pause there and pray. Father, we thank You now as we look here into Daniel chapter 4, this story about a man who finally came to the end of his own life and the bottom of himself and realized that the only place he had to look was up towards You. And Lord, his story is a familiar story because it's our story. And so we pray today as we look at this chapter that You will bear witness to our own hearts and that You will help us to see ourselves in the pages of Your Word today. Thank You for loving us and thank You for sending Jesus, Your Son, to die for us on a cross. We give You praise and thanks together in the name of Jesus, we pray these things. And everybody said, amen.
Nebuchadnezzar's story really is our story. This is a guy who had it all and yet lacked everything. This is a guy who was pursued by God time and time again, but didn't really surrender to Him until something terrible happened in his life. This is a story about a guy who paid the price for pride and understood a little bit about the agony of arrogance. But this is also a story about redemption. This is also a wonderful story about restoration, someone who got to the end of his life and realized that the only one that he could really look to was no longer himself, but was to the Lord.
Nebuchadnezzar's story is our story. When chapter 4 opens, as we study this chapter together today, Nebuchadnezzar, this pagan Babylonian king, is actually, if you noticed with me in the first few verses of chapter 4, he's actually ascribing glory and honor to God, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This Babylonian pagan king is honoring and worshiping and praising God. And the opening verses of chapter 4 almost read like verses lifted from one of the Psalms of David. Because when you look again at verse 3, look at how Nebuchadnezzar just worships God. And he says in verse 3, "How great are his signs and how mighty his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation." And so here he is, ascribing honor to God, almost like a royal proclamation, because it begins written in the first person, "I, Nebuchadnezzar, declare." And it's almost like this royal proclamation throughout the entire Babylonian Empire about just how great God is, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the. And no wonder Nebuchadnezzar is awed about God, because God has been pursuing him, and God has been revealing Himself to this pagan king. Remember back in chapter 2, in chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has this dream, the first dream that he has. It's about this statue made of different metals. And you remember from our study in chapter 2, he calls some of his own advisers and asks them, "What was the dream and what's the interpretation?" They can't give him the dream, they can't give him the interpretation. So he has them killed. And Daniel steps up and says, "Well, if you give me some time to pray about this, maybe I can come up with it." And so the king gives some time to pray, he prays, and by inspiration of the Lord, Daniel then gets the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, and its interpretation. Goes back to Nebuchadnezzar, tells him what his dream was, tells him what the dream means. And Nebuchadnezzar gets a glimpse of God. Because in that moment, you see Nebuchadnezzar realize, "All my other enchanters, diviners, and sorcerers could not come up with the dream or its interpretation, but Daniel, you come to me and you've given to me exactly what I've asked and more. And it's a testimony of your God." And at the end of chapter 2, verse 47, Nebuchadnezzar makes this first statement honoring and praising the God of the Bible when he says in Daniel 2:47, "Truly, Daniel, your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal the secret." So Nebuchadnezzar is starting to move towards God, and he acknowledges God.
But then there's a 15 to 20 year gap between chapters 2 and chapter 3. Last week we studied chapter 3, and again, God reveals Himself to Nebuchadnezzar. And the scene from last week was Daniel's three friends, known by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to bow down to this image, this idol, that Nebuchadnezzar had built. And for that, they're thrown into the fiery furnace, only to be rescued by God. It's a miracle. The Bible describes it as such. The Lord Himself appears in the midst of the fiery furnace to rescue these three guys. Nebuchadnezzar sees this and he says, "Didn't we throw guys into the fiery furnace? Why is there a fourth one? And he looks like the Son of God." Because Jesus actually did visit these guys, protect them, such that they came out of the fiery furnace without, the Bible says, even the smell of smoke on their garments. And Nebuchadnezzar once again was like, "Wow, this is a this this can only be attributed to your God. God has rescued you." And at the end of chapter 3, he says in verse 28, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted Him." And Nebuchadnezzar makes this decree throughout the entire empire that nobody can ever trash-talk that God, the God of the Bible, again. And if you do, you're gonna be cut into little pieces. And so at the end of chapter 3, verse 29, he says, "Because there is no other God who can deliver like this." And so time and again, God's getting Nebuchadnezzar's attention. Chapter 2 with the dream, chapter 3, the fiery furnace. And now here comes chapter 4. And at the beginning of chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar is, as I've said, he's praising God. Here he's glorifying the God of heaven because he's been wowed by God on several occasions. But as much as Nebuchadnezzar was amazed by God, wowed by God, and goes around telling everybody about God, he just simply has not yet surrendered to God. He's a proud man. He's a self-made man. He just simply was not willing to bend his knee to the God of the universe and to surrender to Him and to submit to Him as Lord. The only one wearing a crown in Nebuchadnezzar's life wasn't at the cogniser, and he was not willing for God to be king of his life.
Nevertheless, what is amazing about this man's journey is that God continued to pursue this pagan king. How many of you are glad that God continued to pursue you? God is a pursuer, and God goes after us because He loves us. And He goes in this story to great lengths to try to reach this pagan king. But unfortunately, here's what happens: the more God pursues us, and if it is met by our resistance, in other words, the more God pursues us and we don't respond to Him, and we don't surrender to Him, and we don't finally acknowledge that He is Lord and King, what happens then is God steps up His game. And that's exactly what He does with Nebuchadnezzar. Because the more He pursued Nebuchadnezzar, the further Nebuchadnezzar gave a passing reference like, "Yeah, wow, that God of the Bible, that God of Daniel, man, He's a great God. Everybody should take note of Him. And He's wonderful." But a passing acknowledgment and praise every now and then is very different from a surrendered life. And Nebuchadnezzar just simply did not surrender to God. And so God steps up His game with Nebuchadnezzar. And you can almost ask yourself, when you look at chapters 2, 3, and 4, words like, you know, "Why did God go after this pagan king as much as He did? I mean, why not just, why not just let the guy go? And, you know, it obviously didn't get, he didn't get it after chapter 2, he didn't get it after chapter 3. What, why even bother with chapter 4 here?" And the answer to that question is, well, why does God continue to pursue this guy? Is is the same answer to why He continues to pursue us. Because He loves us. And because God knows that left to ourselves, we're on a reckless path, a path of self-destruction. That the human condition is fallen. We are bound by sin. We are bound by things that are destructive in our lives. We we are eternally separated from God without God. And therefore, we need God. And the only Savior given unto man, the only name given unto us by which we must be saved, is the name Jesus. And so God pursues us and pursues and pursues us until we finally will get so tired of running that we turn to Him and recognize our need for a Savior. And Nebuchadnezzar is this kind of a guy, a picture of all of us. You know, we we esteem people who are self-made people. You know, we we honor, we think it's noble, "Wow, you're a self-made person. I'm the captain of my ship." Well, that's that's that sounds really nice, but in reality, that's just arrogance. That's just saying, "I'm, you know, I'm king of my life, and God isn't." And Nebuchadnezzar is that guy. Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of every single one of us who just think that we're in charge of our own lives, and we're successful because of our own skills and our own abilities, and we're smart because of our own education, and we're this, and we're that, and we're wealthy, and we're all. And we begin to think, "I've done this. I've created this. I am who I am." And this is Nebuchadnezzar. This is us. And so God pursues us because He wants to be king and Lord of our lives, because He sees us on a path of self-destruction. And so God is, as the poet Francis Thompson called Him, and in in a really old poem written in 1893, entitled "The Hound of Heaven," God is the Hound of Heaven. That poem written in 1893 was about how God relentlessly pursues the fleeing soul like a hound on the hunt. How God never gives up the chase, no matter how fast or how far we try to run from Him. God runs faster and farther still to go after us because of His love for us, until we are finally exhausted with ourselves that we turn to Him and receive His grace. And I suspect if I were to ask for a show of hands, there's probably a few of us in the room that have some some hound at paw prints on our back because God has been hunting us down and we've been on the run.
And so here in chapter 4, God gives Nebuchadnezzar yet another dream. God's gonna step up His game here with Nebuchadnezzar. Like, "Okay, you didn't get it in chapter 2, you didn't get it in chapter 3, so you're gonna get it here in chapter 4." And so God gives Nebuchadnezzar yet another dream, a dream that torments him, another dream that none of his astrologers and sorcerers can answer. So he turns to Daniel, and Daniel interprets it by inspiration from the Lord. Now, Nebuchadnezzar's dream is about a tree. He has this dream of a big tree, and it's mentioned in verses 10 through 12. So I'll just read those verses again, verses 10 through 12. "These were the visions of my head while on my bed. I was looking, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great." And I noticed a different language to describe it. "Its height was great. The tree grew and grew and became 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, and all flesh was fed from it." So I just kind of pulled out some descriptive terms there from those verses, and this is what we see about the tree: it was noted for its size, strength, prominence, beauty, fruitfulness, and shelter.
And so Daniel interprets this dream for him, and the Lord shows Daniel what it all means. What is it referring to? And Daniel first starts out by saying, "King, I'm gonna tell you what the meaning is, and I wish it didn't apply to you. I wish this applied to your enemies, because you're not gonna probably like what I have to say. But nevertheless, you need to hear it." And Daniel ends up telling him in verse 22, "Nebuchadnezzar, you are that tree." I'm gonna read verses 22 to 26 so you can just see a little bit about what Daniel says to him. He says in verse 22, "It is you, O King, who have grown and become strong, for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your dominion to the end of the earth. And inasmuch as the King saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, 'Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its 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 of the field till seven times pass over him.' This is the interpretation, O King, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the King. They shall drive you from men, your dwellings shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He chooses. And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you after you have come to know that heaven rules."
Daniel ends up giving Nebuchadnezzar this interpretation. He says to him, "You were that tree." He says, "You've become great and strong. Your kingdom, your empire is powerful and prominent in the world." He says to him, "This is a picture of your empire, in that man and beast alike have found a shelter and shade and sustenance in the shadows of your kingdom." He says, "But unfortunately, Nebuchadnezzar, you do not glorify the sovereign God who gave you all this and who made you successful." He says, "You do not glorify the sovereign God who rules over the earth, and you do not glorify the sovereign God who is king over your kingdom and over every kingdom." And so Daniel says further, giving the interpretation of this dream, "So your kingdom is going to be cut down, and a stump is going to be left in the ground, and that stump is going to be bound by iron and bronze." And he tells him that this is what it basically means. He says, "You're gonna be cut down. Your kingdom will become a stump, bound with iron and bronze." Those metals in the Bible are always pictures of judgment. He says, "God's gonna judge your kingdom. It's gonna judge you because you've been on the throne of your life, despite the fact that God has revealed Himself to you time and time again, you still think you're king, and you need to recognize that God is king. He's king over your life. He's king over your kingdom. He's king over everything about you. And until you surrender and acknowledge that, you're gonna go through some really painful, dark days to get to the bottom of yourself so that you'll eventually cry out for God."
Now, it's interesting because in God's mercy, He says, "The stump and the roots shall remain," because it's a picture of the fact that God is going to restore his kingdom, that God is gonna have mercy on him yet again. He's not completely cutting away everything here. He's leaving this remnant as a stump and the roots, and things are gonna grow back. But there's gonna be judgment along the way. Because Daniel says to him, basically, "You have to be humbled first, and you will be." He tells him in verse 25, "You're gonna be drenched with the dew of heaven." He goes into this description about how men are gonna cast you out, you're gonna be put out of your palace, you're gonna end up living like oxen and cattle grazing in the pasture lands, because this is what's gonna happen to you. You're gonna lose your throne, and you're gonna lose your mind, and you're gonna end up grazing like a farm animal. This is what he tells him in advance, until, until this is the end of verse 25, "till you know the Most High rules." He says to Nebuchadnezzar, "When you get to the place you finally recognize and surrender to God that the Most High rules, until then you're gonna be miserable. But when that happens, you're gonna see a whole new day."
The question becomes to every single one of us: who is ruler of your life? Who is ruler of your life? Because if you say that you are ruler of your life, then God has no room. And on the other hand, if you say, "God is ruler of my life," fine. But that also means that there's no room for you, because God will not share His throne with us. There's no co-regency with God. He's either fully King and completely Lord, or He's none of those things at all. It's one or the other. We are either on the throne of our own lives, or God is. But it won't be both. Nebuchadnezzar had lived his life with himself fully on the throne, and it's gonna take some hardship and some difficulty to get him to the place where he's finally gonna surrender to God. And again, his story is our story. Because there are a lot of us that would testify to the same thing: we had to go through something really terrible and humbling. We had to be broken before we finally acknowledged and surrendered to Jesus as king.
And so Daniel has some closing advice here for Nebuchadnezzar. He interprets this dream. This is what the dream means: you've been on the throne of your life, you think that you're king of your kingdom, you're not. God is king of every kingdom. You need to surrender to Him. You need to see Him as king. And here's a little advice: verse 27, "Therefore, O King, let my advice be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity." In other words, get right with God and be merciful to people, and who knows, maybe God will continue to bless you. But unfortunately, Nebuchadnezzar does not take the dream seriously, nor does he take Daniel's advice. And so all of this dream comes to pass. Look at verse 28: "All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. And at the end of the 12 months, he was walking about the Royal Palace of Babylon. The King spoke, saying, 'Is not this great Babylon that I have built, for a royal dwelling, for my mighty power, and for the honor of my majesty?'" Going around, listen, he's walking around the palace grounds, and he's just surveying everything, and he's like, "Wow, I'm good. You know, I'm like, I am good. Look at all I built. Look at all I've done. Nobody nowhere like me. Never, never, never, never, never could answer." You know, and that's why he's and he's saying all this stuff.
Verse 31: "While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven: 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you. And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He chooses.'" Verse 33 says, "That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men, and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws." What's happening here? Here's what's happening: he loses his mind. He goes insane. They put him out of the palace, and he ends up just living outdoors. That's why I talked about how the dew of heaven, he just, you know, no shelter. So now, you know, the dew is covering him, all the elements, he's exposed to all the elements. And because he's just, he's temporarily out of his mind, you know, he doesn't bathe, he doesn't keep himself groomed, his hair just grows, and it's described here, you know, metaphorically here, and it just like feathers, you know, of an eagle. And his fingernails, he's not cutting his fingernails, they just become like claws. And this happens, it's until seven, until seven passes over you, in other words, seven years. He's like this for seven years. He's like this, and he's eating, literally eating grass, and he and he takes on this persona of a beast, and he he goes out of his right mind, and he begins to think that he's actually cattle or oxen. And there is actually a medical diagnosis. It's a rare thing, but it's called boanthropy. Boanthropy is a rare psychological disorder in which a person believes himself or herself to be a cow or an ox. Dr. R.K. Harrison documented the first case in a British mental institution in 1946. So there is such a thing. It's pretty rare. And some of you are thinking, "That's utterly ridiculous." I know. Let's move on. But anyhow, it's rare. I'm not making fun of anybody. But here's the thing: this is what happens to him, and he begins to think, "I'm just, I'm just a cow." You know, and he's out grazing, and and he's lost his mind, he's gone insane. You know, his old pride has caused him to go insane.
But there's a good ending to this story. Verse 34: "And at the end of the time, when the seven years had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation." God restored him to his right mind. That's what God does with people. God restores us to our right mind. God gives us a new heart. God changes us from the inside, and He gives us new life, new hope, forgiveness of sins, the assurance of having all of this through faith in Jesus. For Nebuchadnezzar, this is a guy that God pursued time and time and time again, and he finally, after God took him to a place where he had nowhere else to look but up, he acknowledges the God of heaven. He lifts up his eyes, he turns his countenance to heaven, and he recognizes that God is the true king, not himself. God is the true king.
Last verse of this whole chapter, look at verse 37: "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice; and those who walk in pride, He is able to put down." In other words, He is able to humble. And Nebuchadnezzar knows this full well himself. This is his story. This is our story.
I want to leave you with four quick points, four takeaways from this story. Here's the first one: God pursues us because He loves us. When you look at chapters 2, 3, and 4, which basically describes the spiritual journey of Nebuchadnezzar, chapter 2, God reveals Himself to Nebuchadnezzar. Chapter 3, God reveals Himself to him. Chapter 4, another dream. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 cover about 30 years. God has been pursuing him for 30 years. Aren't you glad that God pursues us? God has pursued you. God has pursued me. And why does He do that? Because He loves us, and He doesn't want to see us eternally separated from Him. We're all on a path of destruction. You may not know it now, but at some point, you'll get to the bottom of yourself and realize it. Nebuchadnezzar finally got to the bottom of himself and realized, "I'm not king." I mean, I might be a king (small K) over over a territory, but God is King (capital K) over the universe and now over my life. He comes to a place of full surrender here. And I'm so thankful that God never gives up on us. God never gives up on us. 30 years, He kept going after this guy. There is nothing we could do to keep God from pursuing us. There is no sin too great. If you're thinking this, I want to dispel this myth: there's no sin too great, and no valley too low to discourage God from loving us or pursuing us. God says to the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31:3, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, and I have drawn you with loving-kindness." From the moment you were born, God has been pursuing your heart because His greatest longing for you is to have relationship with You.
Number two: We also see in this story that God is patient with us. God is patient with us. I don't know if you've noticed it, but when we were reading through it, in verse 29, it tells us that 12 months had passed from the time that Daniel gave Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation of this dream until the time that God pronounces judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar. And the only reason God pronounced judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar is because Nebuchadnezzar didn't get it. And so he walks around with pride, taking pleasure in and in his arrogance, thinking that everything about his kingdom was his own doing. That's when God said, "Enough is enough, and you're gonna be humbled to the place where now you realize I'm King." It was a whole year between the dream and when God finally did humble him because of his own, Nebuchadnezzar's own arrogant testimony. A whole year. A whole year. God is patient with us. I mean, we don't we don't deserve an extra minute, let alone an extra day, let alone an extra week or an extra month. God gave Nebuchadnezzar an extra year. Here's the dream, here's what it means, your kingdom's gonna be cut down, maybe you'll finally realize I'm King. How long has God gone after? Wait. God is so patient with us. The Bible says in 2nd Peter 3:9, "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance." God is patient with us. How many are thankful that God has pursued us? How many are thankful that God is patient with us? Amen.
Number three: Pride is the biggest obstacle to a surrendered life with God. So God will humble us if we don't humble ourselves. That's a big takeaway from the story too, isn't it? Pride is our biggest obstacle. "I don't need God. Yeah, as for weak people, I don't need God. I'm fine." So you're getting a mess, and then you realize how much you need God. John Calvin said, "Pride is the pregnant mother of all sins," because you can trace most sin issues to some aspect of pride. The very first sin, the very first central order to the Bible ever, pride. The very first sin was when Satan rebelled against God because pride filled his heart. He thought he was as good as God. Pride, so destructive. And we can either humble ourselves, or God will do it for us. And any of us who've experienced the humbling hand of God can testify, it's a lot better if we humble ourselves than when God has to do it. The Bible says in Matthew 23:12, Jesus said, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." See, God is the one who puts down the proud, and He raises up the humble. And so God says, "If you humble yourself, then I'll lift you up. I'll promote you. I'll use you. I'll give you opportunities to make Me known. But if you go around bragging about yourself, I'll put you down." Because until we recognize that it's all about the Lord and from His hand, we're in serious trouble. That's why James 4:6 says, "God resists the proud but He gives grace to the humble."
Last point: God will hear us, forgive us, and restore us when we cry out to Him in our brokenness. Because that's what happened in this story. The Prophet Jeremiah said it this way in Jeremiah 29:12-14: "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you," says the Lord. God will be found by us when we seek Him. When we humble ourselves and we cry out to Him in our brokenness, we say, "Lord, I'm so tired of running. I'm so exhausted trying to be king of my life." God hears that prayer. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
I don't know, I suspect I mentioned this last week that we will probably see Nebuchadnezzar in heaven. I think this is his swan song. This is his closing, departing testimony. And as I said at the beginning of our study, we don't hear about Nebuchadnezzar anymore. He fades off the pages of the Bible. And I think it is God's way of giving us the last glimpse into this guy's heart, that he finally, finally got to that place after chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, after 30 years of God chasing him down like the Hound of Heaven, where Nebuchadnezzar finally said, "Yes, Lord, I finally see You as King. I finally acknowledge You as King." And I would not be surprised if we see Nebuchadnezzar in heaven. The question is, is the Lord King of your life? Does He rule your heart? Is He sovereign and supreme over the throne of your life?
Let's pray together. Father, as we think about Nebuchadnezzar's story, it is our story. We all are filled with pride, and we're all self-sufficient people, often running from You, thinking we can do life on our own, only to realize we're on a path of self-destruction. Thank You for pursuing us, Lord. Thank You for being so patient with us. Forgive us, Lord, of our pride that stands in the way, often between us and You. And thank You that when we humble ourselves and turn to You and ask for forgiveness, You hear our prayers, You forgive us, You draw us near to Yourself. Lord, no doubt there are some today here or later who will listen to this by podcast that would say, "Lord, I've been king of my life for too long. It's time to humble myself like Nebuchadnezzar did and ask You to be king of my life. I surrender to You." I'm just gonna pause in my prayer with your head still bowed. If that's if that's you, if you're here today and you would say, "I just want the Lord to be king of my life. I'm sorry that I've tried to be king of my own life," then I just want to ask you to invite Christ into your heart and to surrender your life to Jesus as king. And you could just simply pray this prayer. This is the beginning point of a journey of living a life where He is king of your life and Lord of your life. But it begins with a decision. Make a decision today for Christ. Turn your life over to Him. Surrender to Him. I hope it doesn't take for you what it took for Nebuchadnezzar. Do we really need to lose our minds before we come to a place of full surrender? What do we have to go through before we will finally bend the knee and acknowledge that Jesus is king? Well, you can do it right now. You can pray a prayer with me. You can just pray this. Just I'll leave you quietly. You can whisper this prayer right where you're seated. You can say this. Just say with me: Say, "Lord Jesus, I'm tired of being king of my life. I surrender to You today. I acknowledge You as my Savior and Lord and King. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse my heart of every sinful, wicked thing I've ever said, thought, or done. I yield my life to You right now. I acknowledge You and I surrender to You as King of my life. Be King over me, Lord. I invite You into my heart and I receive You by faith in Jesus' name." And everybody said, amen. And amen.