Mar. 13, 2024

1. Daniel 4:1-37 Worksheet

Main Idea: Because God is supremely glorious, he will not allow  others to steal his glory, and he graciously humbles all who proudly trust in themselves. For this is “the great sin” as C.S. Lewis calls it, and for good reason. This is the sin that led to the fall of Satan and to the fall of humanity driving Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden.

• It is good to honor our Great and Sovereign God for sorrow that leads to Repentance (4:1-3).
  • Proverbs 18:12

“Do you wish people to think well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.” Blaise Pascal

• What happened to King Nebuchadnezzar here in the opening of Chapter 4?
• It’s evident that he knows what God did and he wants the whole world to know. 
• V.3 He wants to tell of the amazing things the Hebrew God has done in his life.
• Psalm 145:13 

How great are God’s miracles, and how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.” 

• Making it that no God is like this God in all His ways.
• How did all this take place?
  • Because God’s work brought a great sorrow into his life, therefore leading him to repentance, making him a new  man.

“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and , of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”- C.S. Lewis

• Nebuchadnezzar had been looking down on people, but now he is looking up and he is glorifies the God he sees.
• It is good when our great and sovereign God troubles our Hearts in order to get our attention (4:4-18)

Psalm 10:4

“If you plan to build a tall house of virtues, you must first lay deep foundations of humility.” -  Augustine

“Was fed from it” (v.12) - If this tree represents the king, and it does, what a testimony and witness to his greatness and glory.

• “The angel is described as “a watcher, a holy one” (v. 13).
• V.17 is the key that unlocks  the purpose of the chapter and the interpretation of the dream. The sentence of judgment on the tree for the purpose that “the living will know that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms.” 

“Talent, brains, and opportunity mean nothing apart from God’s provision” Bryan Chapell

• King Nebuchadnezzar must have had a strong yearning from his visions as he affirms Daniel a third time to interpret his dream.
• (v.18)“You have a spirit of the holy gods”
• Why did he trust Daniel?
  • He didn’t need a yes man, he needed a truth man. The head of state needed a man of faith to speak truth into his life.

It is good when our great and sovereign God exposes our sin and calls us to righteousness (4:19-27).

Proverbs 16:5

(19) Daniel is stunned and alarmed, (Perplexed and terrified). 

• Daniel wasn’t frightened for his own life, he feared for what might happen to Nebuchadnezzar. 
• Daniel’s compassion for the King doesn’t compromise the conviction and commission that God has put in Him. 
• Daniel’s interpretation was straight forward as he shares how gracious and loving God is to forgive and show mercy. 

1. Listen to counsel
2. Stop sinning and start doing the correct thing
3. Quit wicked injustice and show mercy to the oppressed (v.27). 

• We must be willing to tell others that God is not pleased with pride. 
• Which is the human tendency to push Him aside, thinking we are the measure of all things. 

No matter how gifted, talented we are, if we don’t humble ourselves before Him, Pride will ruin our lives!

Also, we must be willing and ready to call for repentance and offer hope.

What do we take away from this?

Daniel didn’t shrink from speaking God’s word into the life of the most powerful man in the world. 

God provided him the spiritual backbone he needed to be faithful, just like when God gives us opportunities

Psalm 13; 40:11

It is good that our great and sovereign God humbles us when we are arrogant and prideful (4:28-33).

Isaiah 2:17

• (v.30) Nebuchadnezzar pays the price for his “I” and “my” perspective.
• “At the end of 12 months” (v 29), after Daniel interpreted his dream and called the king to repentance and mercy (27).
• The hammer of God’s judgment came down, and it came down with a vengeance. 

God humbles us so that our pride doesn’t withhold the message of hope, and mercy which lies on the other side of repentance.

James 4:6,10

It is good to praise our great and sovereign God because He always does what is right (4:34-37).

Psalm 121:1-2

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble… Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:6,10

“Jesus came into the world to convert people from God-like dependence on self to child-like dependence on God. And then he died to pay the penalty for our pride and to show us the way to humility and to send all our boasting toward God and not toward ourselves.” - John Piper

We learn about God’s attributes through scripture, not by embracing our preferences of what God is like. 

We are his workmanship, He is able to do whatever He wants when He wants.

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of the heavens.” 

(37) Three reasons:

1. “All his works are true”
2. “His ways are just”
3. He is able to Humble those who walk in pride”