Daniel 4 - Pride

Our text tonight is going to be Daniel 4.

Proverbs 29:23 says:

”A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” (Proverbs 29:23)

I’ve been reading a book this week called “Ego is the Enemy,” and it’s got some great stories about leaders from the past in it. One of my favorite stories was about Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin was just a teenager. He was cocky. He was coming home from his first time away from Boston. He had a little money and a good paying job in Philadelphia, and it went straight to his head.

Benjamin Franklin had crossed rhetorical swords with a Puritan pastor named Cotton Mather many times. For whatever reason, Benjamin Franklin decided to pay Cotton Mather a visit on his trip home, so he was walking and talking to Cotton Mather, who was telling him that he was getting a big head.

Suddenly, Cotton Mather said to Benjamin Franklin, “Stoop! Stoop!” Franklin thought he was telling him to be humble, but actually he wasn’t looking where he was going and walked right into a low hanging beam. Ouch.

For the rest of his life, Ben Franklin would learn the lesson that you can avoid a lot of pain if you don’t hold your head too high.

Tonight we are going to look quickly at Daniel 4. It’s interesting because the key character in this chapter isn’t Daniel. Daniel isn’t even the one talking. The key character and the narrator of this chapter is King Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar got a big head and God had to teach teach him to “Stoop! Stoop!” God had to teach Him to be humble.

Let’s read the chapter:

”1 Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 2 I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. 3 How great [are] his signs! and how mighty [are] his wonders! his kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion [is] from generation to generation. 4 I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: 5 I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. 6 Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise [men] of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. 7 Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. 8 But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name [was] Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom [is] the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, [saying], 9 O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods [is] in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. 10 Thus [were] the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof [was] great. 11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: 12 The leaves thereof [were] fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it [was] meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. 13 I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; 14 He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: 15 Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and [let] his portion [be] with the beasts in the grass of the earth: 16 Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. 17 This matter [is] by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.”

Nebuchadnezzar had another dream. I know you are probably thinking, “This guy has a lot of dreams. What does he eat before bed?” I don’t know, but this time, Nebuchadnezzar remembers his dream. He goes through the whole thing all over. He calls the wise men, but they can’t figure it out. He calls in Daniel, and he tells him the dream. If you read the chapter, Daniel is troubled.

You see, this isn’t a good dream for Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar had got a big head. Another story I read this week was about the ancient king Xerxes. This will tell you a little bit about how big-headed these ancient leaders could be.

Xerxes was on his way to fight Greece, and one of the bridges they had just built was washed out by the river. So do you know what Xerxes did? He wrote a long pronouncement against this river and commanded that his soldiers whip the river. During another time, he threatened a mountain. You want to talk about a big head.

Nebuchadnezzar was getting there. He really had accomplished a lot. He’d built an amazing empire. He’d built palaces and gardens that were a wonder of the world. He’d kept political factions at bay for decades. He was the most powerful and respected man in the world.

And he was obviously starting to believe his own press clippings, so God sent him this vision. In the vision, there was this amazing tree with its branches spreading far and wide. The tree represents Nebuchadnezzar.

But Brother Ernie comes and cuts the tree down right down to the stump, and he puts a metal band around the stump. For seven years, that stump has to be low—down at grass level.

Then after seven years, the tree grows again. That was Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

So when Daniel hears it, he’s scared. This isn’t a good dream for Nebuchadnezzar. He doesn’t want to tell it to him.

But he does. He tells him that God is going to bring him low for seven years, and that he is going to be like a beast of the field. Then after seven years, God will restore him.

Does Nebuchadnezzar listen? Does he repent?

Skip down to verse 28, and let’s read the rest of the story:

”28 All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. 30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? 31 While the word [was] in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, [saying], O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. 32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling [shall be] with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' [feathers], and his nails like birds' [claws]. 34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom [is] from generation to generation: 35 And all the inhabitants of the earth [are] reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and [among] the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? 36 At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. 37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works [are] truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”

Nebuchadnezzar didn’t listen, so God drove him mad, and he went out into the fields and lived like a wild animal for seven years. I can’t even imagine it.

Proverbs 16:18 says:

”Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Galatians 6:3 says:

”For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”

Finally, James 4:6 says:

”But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” (James 4:6)

Before rebellion, there is pride. Before theft, there is pride. Before adultery, there is pride.

There is a little liar inside all of us constantly telling us that we are good; we are important; we deserve that raise; we deserve that recognition; people should be making a bigger deal about me. This little liar looks at our accomplishments and rewrites the story to make us look really, really good.

Pride makes us useless for God and unbearable to others. Pride convinces us that we are the smartest person in the room, when what it’s really doing to us is blinding us to our own stupidity. Pride and ego keep us from growing because you can’t grow when you’ve already arrived.

There is a little boy on the swim team who will not listen to his coaches. He doesn’t swim right, you see, but he won’t listen. He’s about six years old. When you ask him why he won’t listen, he says, “I don’t have to listen. I won a ribbon last year.”

Proverbs 26:12 says:

”Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? [there is] more hope of a fool than of him.”

There are two main things I want us to learn from this story of Nebuchadnezzar being driven mad and sent into the wilderness.

1. If you set yourself up, God will knock you down.

” Every one [that is] proud in heart [is] an abomination to the LORD: [though] hand [join] in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” (Proverbs 16:5)

”A man's pride shall bring him low:” (Proverbs 29:23a)

Isaiah 2:11 says:

”The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.”

Can you imagine God in heaven, looking down at frail little pipsqueaks like us, beating our chest and thinking we are something?

I think He looks down on us and says, “Oh, that’s cute. Let me teach this guy his place.” And then He does something—any of the millions of things He can do—to knock us down a peg.

God knows a million different recipes for humble pie, and He loves to feed it to us when we least want to eat it.

Nebuchadnezzar learned the hard way. He got off easy. Herod didn’t have so easy a time.

There is only room at the top for one King of the Hill, and if you try to push God off and put yourself up there, you are cruising for a bruising.

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A second thing thing I think we can learn from this passage is...

2. God wants Christians to be humble.

James says, ”God gives grace to the humble.”. Romans 12 says we should ”Mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.”. Philippians says we should ”in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

The greatest ability that God can use is humility. Let the world beat their own chests and toot their own horns, but God is looking for humble people.

The very first words Jesus preached in the New Testament were ”Blessed are the poor in spirit.” A true Christian is humble.

If God hates it when a worldling is proud, how much more do you think it makes God sick when we Christians get proud? It’s ugly on the world, but it’s absolutely repugnant on us.

I have one more point.

3. The way to stay humble is to look to Jesus.

Look at Nebuchadnezzar’s last words in verse 37:

”Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”

God had to bring Nebuchadnezzar down so Nebuchadnezzar would learn to look up.

A. Jesus is our great example of humility.

”[Phl 2:5-9 KJV] 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:”

B. The gospel should remind us to stay humble.

We aren’t saved because we were good, but because we were bad. We weren’t saved because of our ability, but through our inability. We are redeemed sinners.