RENOUNCE YOUR SINS

Daniel 4:1-37

Key Verse: 4:27

“Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.”

From Daniel chapters 1-3 God showed King Nebuchadnezzar his sovereignty over all nations. Daniel’s three friends were ready to die rather than to bow down to the image of gold with their unconditional faith and God was able to save them from the hand of the king. King Nebuchadnezzar praised the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who had sent his angel and had rescued his servants. But he did not acknowledge God as his personal God. He was arrogant and complacent before God. In chapter 4, God gives him 7 humiliating years of training by making him an animal-man and then restoring him after he renounced his sins. Finally, he praises and exalts and glorifies God the King of Heaven. In this passage we learn that God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and the peoples of the earth. I pray that we may renounce our sins and allow God to rule our lives.

PART I. NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM OF A TREE (1-18)

When we observe King Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 3, it seems that he did not know what he was doing. One moment he decreed that anyone who did not worship the image of gold would be thrown into a blazing furnace. The next moment, he decreed that the people of any nation and language who say anything against the God of Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego would be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble. He was like a reckless driver. He was a violent man cursing others all the time. But he was changed completely. Chapter 4 begins with King Nebuchadnezzar’s opening address to the peoples of all nations. It was like President Bush’s Oval Office address to the nations. Look at verses 1-3. “King Nebuchadnezzar, To the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world: May you prosper greatly! It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.” He was eager to share the grace of God in his personal life. For the first time he said, “May you prosper greatly!” This passage is very appealing to us because it is a personal testimony of the Gentile King who experienced God’s grace very personally. This can be my story, your story, and everybody’s story. How did this change come about? Let’s listen to King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a tree.

Look at verse 4. “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous.” One day he was at home in his palace, contented and prosperous. He was abundantly satisfied with his own achievements, thinking as though he had built the empire with his wisdom and power and for his own glory. He said, “I earned it and I did it all by myself. Now I want to enjoy it every moment.” He was a selfish and proud king. He should have thanked God, saying, “Almighty God, your name be glorified. Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” But he did not do so.

Modern people are no different. Many people pursue the American dream. Most Americans have studied and worked hard to get a secure job. They wanted to buy an expensive house in the suburbs with a swimming pool and a tennis court and a two-car garage. Each dreamed to have a beautiful family with several kids. This dream was tantalizing. But there is a problem. Those who fulfilled this dream soon became very complacent. Nothing is wrong to have a dream to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, and professors. Hudson Taylor was a doctor missionary. Charles Finney was a lawyer preacher. My point is that the complacent life brings corruption and pride and it breeds the ground to deny God’s sovereignty over their lives. It causes man to ignore God’s presence in his life. Man’s chief end is to glorify God in all situations according to Genesis 1:31. M. Augustine Yun said, “Successful men are very proud. My classmates who are Ph.D. candidates have great motives to succeed.” Why? They want to say later, “I did something with my own ability.” They have a strong desire to make their own name. They have no room to accept God’s sovereignty over their lives. They think that they did everything with their own abilities. The main cause of frustration and defeat in days of the Judges was the complacency of the leaders in Israel. Three YDJ members pursue their dreams to become doctor shepherds. When they become doctors later, they should give glory to God and work for the glory of God instead of becoming complacent. S. Richard Anderson and Steve may not become complacent by remembering God’s grace and working hard for God’s flocks after they receive their Ph.D. degrees.

We can see another example of this in King David. He was known as a man after God’s own heart (Ac 13:22). Even though he was the youngest in his family, he loved God and was obedient to his parents. By defeating the champion Goliath, he became very popular among the women of Israel. When David loved God, whatever he did, God gave him success until he established the united kingdom of Israel. God blessed him to live in the palace as king of Israel. But David became complacent. While all the other soldiers went out to fight in the springtime, he slept late. Then he committed adultery and murder. Complacency or “easy-going” sounds good. But they are a hotbed of evil and corruption. God made King Nebuchadnezzar prosperous. But he did not remember God’s grace. He abandoned God and placed himself at the center of the universe, not knowing the truth that all men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field (1 Pe 1:24). When he did not thank God he claimed to be wise, but he became a fool (Ro 1:22). When he became proud, God could not bless him any more. He needed humbleness training. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (Ja 4:6, 1 Pe 5:b, Prov. 3:34).

The other day M. Pauline Oh made a timely 1 King book presentation for our “Go back to the Bible” series. She emphasized that the king’s greatness was not measured by his accomplishments but it was measured by how they lived in the sight of God. Though King Solomon made many achievements, he did not live in the eyes of the Lord and his end was not good. However, King Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and his heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. (1 Ki. 11,14) He was regarded as a good king. Our life will be measured not by how we started our life of faith but by how we ends our life. It is whether we acknowledge God as our ruler and king in our family, job, school, marriage, and ministry or not.

In the past, King Nebuchadnezzar looked awesome and glorious in his palace. But now he was afraid and terrified by his own dream. King Nebuchadnezzar confesses that he had a dream that made him afraid and terrified (5). First, he told all the wise men of Babylon his dream and asked them to interpret it for him, but no one was able to interpret it. Finally, he turned to Daniel for help. King Nebuchadnezzar looked like a typical sheep and Daniel a good shepherd. Sheep turn to their shepherds as a last resort after they fail to solve their problem through their human effort. Whenever the king was in deep trouble, he came to his shepherd Daniel.(9) Whenever we have trouble, we should turn to God’s servant who will pray to God in our behalf. Jennifer is happy because she can go to M. Rebecca Forbes whenever she needs a prayer support. Previously the king asked the dream and the interpretation. But this time he told the dream and asked only for the interpretation. What was the content of the dream? Let’s read verses 10-17. The gist of the dream was that the king became powerful like a huge tree but later he was humbled by God and became an animal-man. Because King Nebuchadnezzar had no God in his heart, he could not keep the mind of man. The mind of man in him degraded into the mind of an animal (16). God wanted to train him because of his spiritual blindness so that he might somehow come to know that the Most High is the Sovereign Ruler of history. The verdict was clear. It was to help the living know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.

PART II. DANIEL INTERPRETS THE DREAM (19-27)

On hearing the king’s dream, Daniel was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him. When Daniel was alarmed, the king was also alarmed. Why was Daniel terrified? Daniel was terrified not because of his personal safety but because of the harsh training the king would receive from God. Then Daniel cordially answered, “My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!” (19) “You, O king, are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth” (22). In short, God upheld him to be the king of a great empire. But he abandoned God, so God was going to train him. The training he had to receive was to become an animal man and live that way for seven years (23). This mental sickness called ‘insania zoan thropica” makes man think that he is an animal and act like an animal.

Daniel was an alien and a POW. Nevertheless, he spoke to the king straight-forwardly, “O king, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king” (24b). He continued, “You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle.” Here we learn that when a man lives without God, he becomes an animal man. We also learn that God in his great mercy helps man come back to his senses so that he might know God. God never gives up on men. Look at verse 26. “The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules.” God wanted to restore Nebuchadnezzar’s power and kingship when he repented. We see God’s loving patience towards the king.

What did Daniel say to him in conclusion? Look at verse 27. “Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.” Daniel not only interpreted the king’s dream but also applied this dream to the king. He could have interpreted the dream and have walked away in order to avoid any trouble saying, “O king, have a nice day!” But Daniel was a good shepherd and gave a clear direction to the king. The king might have upset about Daniel’s direction and punished Daniel by saying, “How dare you call me wicked!” Daniel cares about the king’s spiritual condition more than his own life. This verse indicates that King Nebuchadnezzar was an unjust and oppressive person. He was ruthless and unkind to others. We find through excavation that the Babylonian civilization was the most glorious compared with any of the civilizations throughout history. In order to make his palace and his kingdom, King Nebuchadnezzar did many evil things. He invaded other countries and took their property. He captured innumerable people as prisoners to use as labor power for his building projects and killed useless people like sitting ducks, regardless of number, even 100,000. That was not right in the sight of God. He had to repent of his injustice and cruel oppression of God’s people. So Daniel said, “Renounce your sins....” Here we learn from Daniel that he was truly a messenger of God. He clearly delivered the gospel message, “Repent and come back to God.” This message seems to be insolent to the despotic king. But it was the good news of great joy. When a sinner repents and comes to God for his mercy, he can see God. He can also see the kingdom of God. So Daniel, risking his life, delivered the gospel message to King Nebuchadnezzar. Repentance is the only way for the sinner to restore their relationship with God. No matter how much we may become unpopular, shepherds must deliver the message of repentance to their sheep. Nathan rebuked King David’s sin by saying, “You are the man!” (2 Sam. 12:7) Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Sam. 12:13) King David was able to repent of his sins and God forgave his sins. If Nathan was just nice to the King David, then David would not have a chance to repent. Of course, it is good to be nice to our sheep. But shepherds need faith to rebuke sheep’s sin problem when they do not acknowledge God as their King and Ruler. That’s the way that shepherds lead their sheep to God so that they can live under God’s rule. Apostle Peter delivered the message of repentance in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Of course, it is easy to say to our sheep, “May God bless you!” but it is not easy for us to say to our sheep, “Renounce your sins.” But if we love our sheep, we need to deliver the message of God to them with shepherd’s heart.

PART III. THE DREAM IS FULFILLED (28-37)

This part seems to be the repetition of parts 1 and 2. But it is a vivid picture of the training scene of King Nebuchadnezzar. The king heard Daniel’s interpretation of the dream, that he must renounce his sins. But the king was not a good sheep. He was slow to learn. He was okay for twelve months after he received Daniel’s advise. He was like some sheep who becomes spiritual for a while after the conference and then goes back to his old habits. Old habits are hard to break. It sounds like you and then you have to renounce your sins before too late. However, the king did not repent. He became even more arrogant. In his arrogant mind, Nebuchadnezzar said in verse 30, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” From God’s point of view, it was not the king’s achievement but people’s blood and suffering. Most of all, in the sight of God the king became conceited and fell into delusion; he became an animal man. King Nebuchadnezzar had a glorious kingdom. But he lost the image of God and degraded to an animal man. Before the holy God, he was nothing but a vicious and brutal animal. So the king was driven away from people by God and ate grass like cattle. Suddenly he did not like to eat Babylonian hamburgers. He began to eat the vegetables. Then he began to eat clovers like cows. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird (33). When he received animal man training, he looked exactly like a demon-possessed man of Gerasenes in Mark 5 with long hairs and with the voice of many mountain dogs. This scene of God’s training is the exact picture of the king’s inner man. Outwardly the king looked okay but inwardly the king looked like an animal man seeking lust and power of the world. At the same time he was an unhappy man though he enjoyed his luxurious palace life. God created man in his own image. If man loses the image of God, he has only the image of an animal. When we lose the image of God, we become fallen men. Fallen men always long to live their lives with unlimited freedom like the prodigal son in Luke 15, leaving God out of their lives. They keep on saying, “Leave me alone.” Fallen men do not honor God or thank God. These animal men only want to enjoy fun by having many animal man parties. But in light of Bible teaching, they are nothing but animal men. Why did God train the king? The king did not listen to Daniel’s advice. Now God had to deal with the king directly. Then he received God’s direct training. God’s direct training is harder than shepherd’s training. He received 7 year animal-man training insane and isolated. The purpose of training was not out of vengeful heart but it was out of God’s love. Hebrews 12:6 says, “the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” God decided to use the king to reveal his sovereignty over all nations. God wanted to help him to be changed through this humble training. God will train us until we become humble if he chose us as his children. God will not leave us alone until we repent. God sent his people into the exile to make them humble and listen to his word. Sometimes we wonder why these terrible things are happening to me. But it is God’s way to make us humble and to acknowledge his sovereignty over our lives. Why do we need a humble training? Our pride prevents us from repenting and we cannot acknowledge God without repentance. In the past I said to myself, “I am my own king.” I was proud and selfish. I was a self-sufficient proud man. So God gave me many humble training. When I acknowledge his sovereignty over my life, God blessed me to serve world campus mission. By grace of God I am what I am.

What happened next? Look at verse 34. The animal man, King Nebuchadnezzar, raised his eyes toward heaven. In verse 34, “raised my eyes toward heaven,” means he looked up to God for his mercy. Then what happened? Verse 34 says his sanity was restored. Through drastic training in the field, Nebuchadnezzar realized that he was king by God’s grace. So he could not but praise God. He praised God in verses 34b-35. “Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.” God was waiting for the king to repent. When the king repented, God gave him grace. His mental sickness was healed. His honor and splendor were returned to him for the glory of his kingdom. He became a gracious nicer king. Advisers and nobles welcomed him to resume his kingship. In short, he was restored to his throne and became even greater than before. After receiving God’s intensive training, he was changed from a self-centered wild man to a gracious humble king. The king learned God’s way of working. It was very costly and he learned this lesson in a hard way. He confessed that God’s ways are just and everything God does is right. In this passage God taught the king that he rules the world and uses the humble and trains the proud until they acknowledge his sovereignty very personally. Let’s read the key verse 27.