In July of this year we saw some terrible flash flooding and tragedies in Texas, which was then repeated in more than ten states. But there a powerful storm caused the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country to rise twenty-six feet in forty-five minutes before dawn Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old Christian camp for girls, was in the path of the flood.
In Kerr County, where the camp is located, the floods killed at least sixty-eight people, including twenty-eight children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said. In total, at least eighty are dead and many more are missing, according to officials.
This year’s Fourth of July was the first time that the town of Comfort, Texas, used the sirens intended to warn its roughly 2,000 residents of imminent flooding. Founded by German abolitionists in 1854, Comfort sits along the Guadalupe River in an area known as “Flash Flood Alley.” It installed its siren-based warning system last year, a move that neighboring Kerr County, where well over 100 people died in this month’s floods, opted against.
One Comfort resident told Grist that when she heard the sirens, she had no way of knowing just how much urgency was called for.
“In my mind, I’m going, ‘Okay we’ve got a couple hours before it gets up to the house, because it’s a 50-foot drop from our house to the creek,” she said. Her husband started walking down to check on the water level, but quickly ran back inside. “You’ve got five minutes,” he told her. “Grab everything you need.’”
Ultimately, she and her husband were lucky — they were able to shelter with a neighbor whose house is on higher ground — but their close call captures a dilemma that’s taking on new urgency as flash floods claim lives from Texas to North Carolina: Even the most comprehensive disaster warnings are only as helpful as the responses of those who receive them.
Did you notice two realities: First, you need to have a warning system in place, because flash floods can be deadly. Second, “disaster warnings are only as helpful as the response of those who receive them.”
Throughout Scripture God gives warnings of coming judgments. He did this for His chosen people Israel (Lev. 26; Deut. 28). The curses would worsen as the people remained impenitent, culminating in the worst covenant curse of all—exile, the banishment from God’s special place of blessing. He did this for other nations. Some examples are the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), prophecies against Babylon (Isaiah 13), and the judgments on nations surrounding Israel (Jeremiah 46-51), ultimately Matthew 25:31ff speaks of the end times judgment of how nations treated Israel during the tribulation.
God also warned individuals of impending judgment, like Noah (Genesis 6); Lot (Genesis 19:17), Eli (1 Sam. 3:11-14) and, of course, here in Daniel 4 with Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel has been interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s troubling dream. So far he has said…
24 this is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, 25 that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. 26 And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.”
This dream is a warning to Nebuchadnezzar that no matter how powerful and important he thought he was, God would cut him down and humble him, turning him into an animal unless he broke off from his sins. Of course, the primary sin issue in Nebuchadnezzar’s heart was pride, but it was expressed in the ways he took advantage of people.
So in vv. 24-25 we see that those beasts and birds that had previously benefitted from his rule (Dan. 4:12) would now be his companions in the fields. “The one who thought of himself in godlike terms as the very center of the universe will be transformed into a beast so that he can learn that he is merely human after all” (Iain Duguid, Daniel in Reformed Expository Commentary, p. 67).
In his dream, when the tree was cut down, the stump and roots were allowed to remain (Dan. 4:15). This represents the hope of renewal, with potential new growth to emerge from the stump. God’s act of judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar was not a permanent cutting off, for the command to leave the stump (Dan 4:26) meant that his kingdom would be restored. But the condition for restoration was that “your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that Heaven rules” (Dan. 4:26). The full period of judgment was expressed as “seven times,” since seven is the number for completion. When that time was complete and when Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that “heaven rules”—that is, that the true God, Daniel’s God, rules the universe and not Nebuchadnezzar himself—then his sanity and his kingdom would be restored to him.
God very graciously warns us before He sends judgment. This dream was given to Nebuchadnezzar like a warning shot across the bow, so that he might repent of his pride. Daniel adds, and you can hear his pathos and tenderness here, in verse 27, “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” (v. 27).
Daniel needed real courage to inform his royal master that his rule was marred by the sin of oppression and callousness toward the poor and disadvantaged among his people. Daniel’s candor could have cost him his position or even his life.
Like any good evangelist, he is pleading with Nebuchadnezzar to “Turn back, O man, forswear thy foolish ways.” Like any good preacher, he makes an application to his sermon. It’s far too easy to leave prophecy in the arena of speculation or information. For transformation to happen, it has to be applicable. We have to be able to “do” something about it (James 1:22-27).
For example, Peter’s admonition in 2 Peter 3:11-18 explains how believers behave when they really believe that the Lord is returning soon.
So there was hope. He could avoid all this if he remained humble; but even after judgment he could return through repentance.
“Renounce your sins by doing what is right” represents both sides of repentance; turn away from sin and turn to righteousness. Replace evil deeds with good deeds.
Matthew Henry notes: “It is necessary, in repentance, that we not only cease to do evil, but learn to do good. Though it might not wholly prevent the judgment, yet the trouble may be longer before it comes, or shorter when it does come. And everlasting misery will be escaped by all who repent and turn to God.”
More specifically, the good you are to pursue is good towards your neighbor.
We don’t have to look very far to see how cruel and ruthless Nebuchadnezzar could be. He took summary vengeance on the Judean king Zedekiah. He murdered Zedekiah’s sons right in front of him and then blinded him so that the very last thing this wretched man saw was the slaughter of his own sons (2 Kings 25:5-8). Then, too, on penalty of death, he forced his subjects to bow to his idol.
God had warned the leaders of Israel about exploiting the poor in Isaiah 3:14-15; Micah 2:1-2.
14 The Lord will enter into judgment
with the elders and princes of his people:
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard,
the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing my people,
by grinding the face of the poor?”
declares the Lord God of hosts. (Isaiah 3)
1 Woe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
2 They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance. (Micah 2)
Exploiting the poor is never a good policy for kings under God’s providence. Proverbs 29:14 says, “If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever.”
The poor – widows, their children, or others – need protectors from those that might take advantage of them due to their vulnerability and weakness. Therefore, God ordained civil government and established laws for their protection (Prov. 22:22-23; 23:10-11; Exod. 22:22-24 Deut. 27:19; Psa. 12:5). This rule of wisdom is important to God and should be to you.
So Daniel was calling for a change in the king’s behavior and policies. If he repented, he would be blessed. If Nebuchadnezzar humbled himself, then God would not need to further humble him. If he failed to repent, however, then he would once again be reminded who was really in control of the universe—not him, but the LORD God.
We can be thankful that God does that for us as well. He sometimes impresses upon our hearts the likely outcome of a present course. He may warn us by having a pastor that we greatly respect fall, giving us a glimpse of what might happen to us in a dozen years or so if we continue giving in to “little lapses” of judgment. Or God may give us a glimpse of our own heart, realizing how dangerous our thinking or desires have become. You may not have committed the act yet, but in your secret thoughts who were planning it. If God gives you a shot across the bow warning you, take that opportunity to repent, please…now.
David Jeremiah points out how this prophecy of judgment, although severe, was interwoven with evidences of God’s mercy:
- God promised to preserve Nebuchadnezzar’s life and kingdom during his seven years of insanity.
- The judgment was preceded by a warning. God always warns before he judges.
- The judgment was presented as a condition. God gave the king twelve months to repent.
- The judgment was proposed with a remedy (v. 27).
But as so often is the case, God gives people space and grace, and people often use those mercies to harden their hearts against God. Ouch!
Nebuchadnezzar knew enough about Daniel’s God to know what Daniel spoke was the truth, but he did nothing about it. The king was passing up a gracious opportunity to make a new beginning and submit to the will of the Most High God. He made the wrong decision.
Warren Wiersbe asks, “Did God know that the king would not repent that day? Of course He did, because He knows all things. Did that make His offer less than sincere? No, because neither Daniel nor the king knew what might happen when Daniel urged Nebuchadnezzar to repent. Had the king repented, the Lord would have relented and called off the judgment. The situation was similar to that of Jonah and Nineveh” (Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: OT Volume, p. 1360, footnote 9).
Even though we will find out in the rest of this chapter that Nebuchadnezzar failed to heed this warning and experienced the judgments illustrated here, there was still mercy in God’s declaration to Nebuchadnezzar, for he says in v. 25, “and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till [or until] you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”
God predicts that there would come a moment when Nebuchadnezzar would come to the realization that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men…” But he would suffer “until” that moment occurred. Responding positively now to God’s warning would result in “a lengthening of your prosperity” (Dan. 4:27), but if not, his sanity can be restored when he acknowledges “that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”
We can also see God’s mercy as contrasted to Nebuchadnezzar’s mercilessness. Nebuchadnezzar had not shown mercy to the poor in his land and yet God was merciful enough to send a judgment against him so that he might repent.
Ligon Duncan says: “There is a contrast all along between the sovereignty of Nebuchadnezzar which was really tyranny, and the sovereignty of God which was good and which was designed to set us free from sin. Nothing breaks down pride like a view of God’s sovereignty. God’s sovereignty is perhaps one of the greatest evangelistic tools we have. It is precisely when we realize that God is God, that evangelism begins. Pat Morley says it this way in his book, “There is a God we want and there is the God who is, and the two are not the same.” And it is precisely when we realize that the God who is is, not the God we want, [but] the God who is is, that’s when spiritual life begins.” And that view of God’s sovereignty is God’s tool for breaking down our own pride.
During the great awakening, Jonathan Edwards commented on how frequently the doctrine of God’s sovereignty was used to bring about spiritual conversions. He said this, “I think that I have found no discourses have been more remarkably blessed than those on the doctrine of God’s absolute sovereignty with regard to the salvation of sinners.” Isn’t that interesting. Because we’re usually told today, “The problem with you Presbyterians is you believe in God’s sovereignty and that’s going to keep you from doing evangelism.” But it’s the other way around, isn’t it? We really have a view of bringing those who are puffed up in pride and self-righteousness to the Lord and lift up the biblical truth of God’s sovereignty so that they might be humble and cast their hope on the Lord. God’s sovereignty is His great evangelistic tool.
Sam Storms points out the negative affects of dismissing God’s sovereignty. If I did not believe in the absolute sovereignty of God:
1. I would despair of my eternal destiny. I would have no assurance of salvation. Knowing the depravity of my soul, I would most certainly apostatize were it not for God’s sovereign preservation of me (cf. Rom. 8).
2. I would be terrified of all suffering, with no confidence that God can turn evil for good and bring me safely through (cf. Rom. 8:28 and relation to vv. 29-30).
3. I would become manipulative and pragmatic in evangelism, believing that conversion is altogether a matter of my will/skill vs. will/skill of unbeliever.
4. I would cease praying for God to convert and save the lost. If the ultimate causal factor in human conversion is the self-determined human will, not the divine will, it is futile and useless to ask God to work or touch or move upon the human will so as to assuredly bring them to faith.
5. I would despair of the political process and live in fear/anxiety/resentment of those elected officials who oppose the kingdom of God. See Daniel 2:21; 4:17,25,32; 5:18-31.
6. I would live in fear of nature: tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, wind and hail and rain (cf. Psalms 147-148).
7. I would despair of ever doing anything of a spiritual nature that God requires and commands of me. Phil. 2:12-13.
Excepted from: If I did not believe in the absolute sovereignty of God, Nov. 8, 2006, http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com
This king who delighted in cutting down trees would himself be cut down. It is indicated that the cutting down and destruction of the tree in the dream symbolized the fact that God would remove Nebuchadnezzar from his office of king. Just as the stump in the dream was bound with a metal band, so God would bind the king with a form of mental illness. This illness would cause the king to act like a wild beast. He would be driven from the palace to live outdoors in all kinds of weather. His hair would get matted from the dew. He would eat grass like other wild animals. This madness would last until Nebuchadnezzar would acknowledge the fact that Jehovah is sovereign over the kingdom of men” (Renald Showers, The Most High God: Commentary on the Book of Daniel).
Grace Still Amazes 