Turn back with me now to the
book of Daniel. And if you have one, place a
marker there and just set your Bible down. I want to talk to
you for a little bit. And then I'm going to come back
to this vision of Daniel and show you what happened to old
King Nebuchadnezzar. I titled the message, Saving
the King of Babylon. And our study Wednesday night
in Genesis, we looked at the city and tower of Babel, or Babel
as it's supposed to be pronounced. They're one and the same thing.
The word Babel, the word Babylon, and the word Babylonian are all
the same word. If you go back and look at it,
I believe it's a Chaldean word or a Chaldean word, however you
want to pronounce that. But if you go back and look at
it, it's all one word. So whether he's talking about
that old tower and its concept in the city of Babel, or you're
talking about Babylon the city, or whether you're talking about
the Babylonian Empire, it all has the same root, the same foundation. It's all talking about the same
thing. And this city and tower of Babel was a religious concept
devised by the cursed sons of Ham. They had a bad name because
of something their father done. They had a bad name and they
wandered in the earth and everybody looked down at them because of
what their father had done. They were a cursed race and they
wandered. They were cashed out and they
wandered through the earth. And they came up on this plain,
this great plain out here. And in this great plain, one
of his sons decided that this would be the thing to do. We're
going to build a city here. And we're going to build this
great tower. And this tower is going to reach right into heaven
itself. It was a religious concept. And the whole idea of this thing
was based on what Noah done. Noah built an ark. And in the
building of that ark, God established a name in him. Anybody mentions
Noah, the first thing that comes in your head is the ark. Well,
that's what those guys knew that and wandered around out there
and they said, here, we can't build no ark. The flood's over.
Here's what we're going to do. We're going to build a tower.
We're going to build a tower. And so they sat down and they
organized this plan to do this and organized a way to sell it
and everybody agreed to it. Everybody came willingly into
it and joined in the work. And it said the people were one.
Everybody there fell into this dream. They fell into this concept. They fell into this idea of this
tower and this city and receiving this good name and making their
name good in the earth and so on, and good before God, making
peace with God. And so they came over there and
they joined in this work. And the Lord said, the people
are as one in this thing. And he came down because of what
it was they were doing and he confused the languages. so that
they couldn't communicate to one another. And that's what
that word Babel means. It means confusion. Confusion. And this city and this tower
of Babel, what I want you to understand, and we're talking
about a Babylonian king here in Daniel. This whole book of
Daniel has to do with the reign of Babylon. And so you come to
see that Babylon is a religious concept. It stands for all the
religions of the world. If you don't believe me, you
go over there to Revelation 17 and 18, you can read about the
great whore that symbolizes religion, and in her forehead is written
the name Mystery Babylon the Great. From all time, from this
beginning of this organized effort to reach into heaven and take
what was not theirs to have, That's what religion does. It
says, go on and take it. It's for you. Only God can tell
you what's yours. Only God can give what He's purposed
to give. Religion says, I'm going to take
it. I can make up my mind and have it. Ain't that what they're
saying? Ain't that what I'm hearing on
TV and radio? Just claim it. Claim it. Name it and claim it. That's
what these folks were doing, exactly what they were doing.
It's a religion of confusion. You read about it over in Revelation
17.5, Mystery of Babylon the Great, and it says that it's
the mother of harlots and all the abominations of their Babylon
is the very foundation and image of all worldly religion, especially
this free will works religion that has come into world prominence
in our day. This is what is taking place
right here in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonian Empire had raised
into world dominance. It was the thing. He was the leader. Was the world power Babylon? Is that not what you're seeing
today? Exactly what I'm seeing. Exactly what this Bible said
was going to come to pass. But here it is, we have it in
picture here, old Nebuchadnezzar come into world prominence. I'll tell you this, as it's presented
in the book of Revelations, if you go over there and read through
that and begin to have some understanding of these symbols and begin to
look about what it says, you'll find over there that during all
this period from the time of the birth of Christ and His resurrection
up into glory and in what He calls the last days, You'll come
to see these things taking place, and he's going to raise up some
witnesses, and he did. And these witnesses were slain
in the street, not physically, but slain insofar as how they
appeared before the world, just discounted. They were just, because
of this reign of Babylon coming into power, these two witnesses
were just discounted as dead men. They were just, they were
dead. But it seems to say in those last days that those two
witnesses were raised, don't it? They were raised again and
began to preach and began to turn things. And so I see us
as living in the last days of the last days. I see Babylon
raised up in power as far as worldly religion is concerned
and dominating over the world. All the nations support it, love
it, use it in their prayers. The president hardly ever comes
on. He doesn't have something to say. Any president. I see it in our day, but I also
see in our day, I see the gospel going out. And I see things right
now in our days that I've never seen in my lifetime. Gospel going
out over the internet, going into deeper sections of China
and Africa and islands. all out all over the world. Sometimes
I'll run you off a copy of that report off the internet that
shows you where all this gospel goes. It's just unbelievable.
Islands I didn't even know existed. Languages and peoples I didn't
even know anything about. Going out, sometimes there's
just one little click. Somebody reads, just one in a
whole nation. But there's one where there never
was one. And then shortly after this revival
of sorts, the coming of the Son of God in all His majesty and
glory to gather home His elect unto Himself. And it's important
that you understand these symbols and types of the Old Testament
because they're referred to quite frequently in the New Testament
and especially in the book of Revelation. These things have
already been established. John's not just coming up with
all these visions and symbols and things with no understanding
of what to say. These things have already been
established. They've got great impact on what's
to be understood when you read it. The Bible, I was talking
to different ones and I made this point, the Bible is a book
of redemption. If all you can find in it is
facts and things and miracles and fascinating things, then
it's of no benefit to you at all. You might as well go home
read some mystery book or something like that. This book is all about
the glorious purpose of God in Christ to save sinners for the
glory of His name. Here in Daniel chapter 4, I want
to give you some things here about what took place and what
preceded this vision of Daniel. The book of Daniel, if you go
back to chapter 1, and you're reading this afternoon, you don't
have to do it right now, but if you go back to chapter 1,
you find out that this book of Daniel opens with a siege of
Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the city of God.
It represents the people of God. And you find in the Scriptures
that there's two Jerusalems. You read through the book of
Galatians and you find there that there's an earthly Jerusalem,
And it's a picture. This earthly Jerusalem stands
as a symbol. And this earthly Jerusalem is
located right beside Mount Sinai. It's vitally connected to the
mountain upon which God gave His law. And Paul said that's
the condition of natural Israel. They're joined in a curse to
this law. This law has become a curse to
them. And they're in bondage to it. They're under siege. They can't get out of it. They're vitally connected to
it. But he said, heavenly Jerusalem,
the true Israel of God is in heaven and they're free. They're
under no such bondage. They're under no such curse.
So what I want you to see in this is this, that this siege
on Jerusalem is very important here. This Babylonian king was
a great man who by his own confession, which I'll read to you here just
a little bit later on. By his own confession, he said,
is not this great Babylon that I had built. He was a self-proclaimed
king. May have been a powerful man,
might have been a big man, might have been an intimidating man,
most of them are. But this man by his own power
and by his own intellect, by his own will over other men's
will, become king of Babylon. Made himself to be a king. And
if you go down through time, and you'll see here in those
early visions of Daniel, you'll see here all these nations represented
that's going to come into power in time. The nation of Greece,
and the nation of Persia, and the nation of Rome, you're going
to see all these things come in. And one thing they all had
in common, they all want to take siege of Jerusalem. They all
want to take possession of God's city. And in that respect, they're
a picture of false religion, just like Babylon. It's just
a little different phase. Religion is like a chameleon.
It changes colors with its age. It changes colors depending on
the time and the place. Catholicism here is nothing like
Catholicism down in Mexico. The Baptist religion here is
nothing like the Baptist religion is down in Mexico. It changes. It's like a chameleon.
And so it changed. Under the Greeks it changed,
become philosophical. And under the Romans it changed.
And under the Persians it changed. And you can read about all these
things in the Bible. But one thing they all had in
common, they wanted to take by force the city of God. And so
here's this self-proclaimed king, and his first act is to take
possession by force of the city of God, and he takes it, and
it's his. And he's proud of it. Now, he
said, I'm the king of all the earth. Do you see his opening
remarks there in Daniel chapter 4? He said, I'm Nebuchadnezzar,
king unto all people and nations and languages that dwell in earth.
I'm it. I'm it. That's what he said. I'm somebody. I've got this thing
by the tail. Nobody is going to resist me.
Nobody. But God comes and begins to trouble
him. He gives him this vision. And
it troubles his heart. And this vision, he sees this
thing and it had a head of gold. And he looked at this image that
he saw in his dream. It had a head of gold and then
it had a chest of silver. And its thighs and its belly
was made out of brass, and its legs were made out of iron, and
when it came down to its feet, that foundation upon which it
stood was mixed with iron and clay. He goes on to say, which
will not mix. It was standing on a foundation
that would not mix. You're already getting the picture,
aren't you? And this vision troubles his
heart. He doesn't know what to think about it. And so he calls
in all the magicians, and he calls in the soothsayers, and
he calls in the seers, and all these people that he has at his
touch, at his beck and call, all these Babylonian wise men,
all these religious counselors. He calls them in to himself,
and he said, I've got a dream that's troubling me. And they
said, well, if you'll tell us the dream, we'll tell you the
interpretation. He said, if you're that smart,
you can tell me the dream. Huh? I don't know how many times people
come to me with questions, questions, questions, questions. Wanting
answers. I can tell you the dream. And
then I can tell you the answer. Daniel knew both. He knew what
the image was. He knew what these things were
because God showed him what they were in his own experience. He
knew what this thing was all about. And Daniel told him, he
said, well, he said, we're going to start up here with the top
and that's you. That's Babylon. And then God's
going to come along and He's going to take Babylon down. And
He's going to set up Persia. And then He's going to rip Persia
down and He's going to set up the Greeks. And He's going to
tear the Greeks down and He's going to set up the Roman Empire.
And then this great stone, this great stone, It's cut out of
the mountain, but not with hands. And it's going to come down and
fall on his image. And the whole outfit from Babylon
to Rome is going to crumble into powder. Every one of these nations with
a little different face and a little different variation, they all
stand for the religions and authorities and powers and all these things,
principalities and all these things that represent the rule,
Satan's rule over this world. And he said, every one of them
is going to have their turn. Every one of them is going to
show their side. Every one of them is going to come and manifest
something a little bit different. But their object is always the
same, to take something that God didn't give them. They're
going to take the city of God. They're going to take the blessings
of God. They're going to take the temple of God. They're going
to take this thing, this work that God has determined to do. They're going to take it by force.
They're going to take it by force. Boy,
he said, Daniel, you're pretty smart. You've answered some things
that have been troubling me for years. I had no idea where I'm
at in my notes. He said, these things have been
troubling me. Been troubling me. And so he goes on. Now he's
giving Daniel, he raised Daniel up in power here a little bit.
Gave him a pretty good station down there in Babylon. And then he comes up with this
idea to make an image. I have no idea what the image
was. Might have been an image just like the one he saw in his
vision. I don't know. But he got this bright idea to
build this big image and then he said, now here's what we're
going to do. We're going to get all the All the people in here that
plays the harp and the psaltery and the timbrels and all these
things, and we're going to have some music and we're going to
get all these things stirred up. And when you hear all these
things begin to play and everybody's clapping their hands and everybody's
having a good time, then he said, everybody run in here and bow
down to this image. Daniel said, I ain't bowing.
These three Hebrew children, we ain't going to bow. He said,
you'll bow or you'll go in the furnace. They said, we'll go
in the furnace. We're not even careful how we're going to talk
back to you. We're just telling you flat out we ain't bowing
to your image. We ain't dancing to your music
and we ain't bowing to your God. Oh, you'll bow or burn. And so
he heated up the furnace and they threw him in and nothing
happened. They just walked around in there. The guards that threw them in,
that thing was so hot it devoured the guards that threw them in.
But no harm came to them. And Nebuchadnezzar saw the power
of God. He saw that the fire can't burn
God. It can't burn His objects of
grace. And he went over there himself and peered into that
oven and he said, there's three of them in there and one of them
like unto the Son of God. Old Nebuchadnezzar began to see
a little bit of demonstration of God's elect being in Christ,
of God's power to preserve because His Son is with us and we're
in Him. He began to see some of these
things. He began to get some answers to his curious questions,
and his curiosity helped out a little bit, and so he exalted
Daniel a little bit more. And then he got this vision of
this great tree over here in chapter 4. I see in all these things, I
see the man or woman making a profession of faith, who for whatever reason
has reached out in the strength of their own arm, taking siege
of the city and promises of God. And they enjoy their reign for
a little while. They enjoy it for a little while. And He may, as He does some,
just give them over to that strong delusion and just let them go
on in their reign. Let you find satisfaction in
yourself. But not His sheep. He'll have
His own. Christ said, ìAll that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out.î He said, ìIt is written in the prophets.î
Thatís what Daniel was, a prophet. ìIt is written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.î And
this coming to Christ begins with a troubled vision. Thatís
how it begins. It wonít go away. You lay down
at night and rest and it don't go away. And you wake up the
next day and it don't go away. And you go to work and it won't
go away. It troubles you. And you can't figure it out.
God has to send you an interpreter. He has to send you the answers
that you need. And what this vision reveals
is that you're just a vessel in the hands of the potter. It's
a vision that ends with only one in authority and the rest
broken into little pieces. It's not my intention this morning
to delve into all these deep mysteries of the future events
and into all that kind of stuff that men who read the book of
Daniel go into. This is about this man who believes
himself to be king over his own destiny. That's what men think.
They're self-proclaimed kings. God can do His work, but He can't
do anything I won't let Him. Sounds like a king to me. God's not going to violate my
will. Sounds like a king talking to me. He believes Himself to be a king
over His own destiny. Believes Himself to be a king
over Jerusalem. King over God's providence. King
over circumstance. Captain of his own vessel. But
God begins to trouble him in his heart and what he sees he
doesn't understand. And he asks questions and gets
answers. That's what the religion of Babylon
makes in a man. You go back over there in that
first chapter of Daniel and you find out that he took a few things
out of the temple. That's what religion does. It
takes a few things. It takes the pomp and pageantry
of the priesthood. It'll take that. It'll take those
golden vessels. It'll take the table. It'll take
the ark. It'll take whatever appeals to
it. It likes that big bonnet you stick on your head, that
big mitre. They like that. They like them big robes. Look
at them on TV come out in those big robes dragging behind them
and all that kind of pomp and pageantry and stuff. They'll
take what they want. But they won't take for a second
what those things represent. They won't take for a second
what was represented in there and they don't want any part
of that blood. They don't want any part of that
suffering. They don't want any part of that. And he comes to see this image,
and it's confused. These images, if you'll read
the Bible, all the old images, the idols that they worshipped
were made out of wood and stone and overlaid in pure gold, every
one of them. The golden cap that Israel had,
Baal, all these things, they were all overlaid with gold.
The Lord tells them, I don't know how many times in the book
of Isaiah, He said, you're going to compare me to those old gods
that you carved out of wood? You got somebody in here and
they carved you out a little god and you put a little gold
on it and bowed down to it? Is that how you're going to compare
me? Is that how you're going to liken me? But here was an
image and it had gold on the head. It had a little bit of
gold. It wasn't all gold, it just had a little bit of gold.
The image of religion just has a little bit of God. That's all
it has. It just has a little bit. Just
enough to make you feel good, like a rabbit's foot you carry
around in your pocket. A little bit of gold. It had
a little bit of silver, a little bit of purity. It had a little
bit of strength. It had a little bit of iron.
It had a little bit of man in it. It would be that brass and
had a little mix. God begins to work in the heart.
He begins to show you what your image is made of. It has a little
bit of gold on its head, but the rest of it is full of this
world. It has a little silver overlay
surrounding the heart, but its standing is on a foot of clay
and iron. We got a little bit of grace,
and a little bit of works, and a little bit of law, and a little
bit of faith, and a little bit of God, and a little bit of man.
And we've got an image made of things that cannot and do not
represent the living God. That's what was trouble in his
heart. We've got an image conceived by a mixture of authorities,
and powers, and influences. And they're out of our control.
And the more our hearts are troubled by this vision, the more we come
to realize that all the magicians and astrologers and soothsayers
and counselors and teachers and babblers are totally ignorant
of what's going on in your heart. Totally ignorant. Some of you
in this place right here this morning, in the same boat with
Nebuchadnezzar, By your own profession of faith, you come to this thing
that I'm going to be king. I'm going to set my destiny.
I've made up my mind. This is what I'm going to do.
This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to be saved. I'm going
to reach out. I'm going to take those things
that God didn't give me, but I'm going to take them. I'm going
to have them. I'm going to live forever because
I want to. I want to. You found yourself to be a king
in Babylon. You made your decisions and your
profession, and you took what was never given to you to have.
And now you're beginning to question that image. Now he's beginning
to interpret and interrupt your sleep just a little bit. And
you begin to get troubled about these things. Well, I don't know
so much about this gifts and things that he's talking about.
I don't know so much about this change of heart. I don't know
so much about this being blind and then giving you sight. I
can't relate to those things. And you begin to be troubled
a little bit. And you begin to see something of that image.
And it's mixture. And it's awful, ungodly mixture. And it doesn't represent anything.
You go through the Bible and you can't find any connection
between those things that you've experienced and these things
that relate to God. You can't find any connection
in this conversion that has anything at all to do with setting forth
the name of the Holy God. It's just a mixture. It's just
an image. And it's trouble in your heart.
And you got questions to ask, and so God sends His servant
to you with some answers. And you hear what he says, and
you agree with him, and you say, you're a pretty good old fellow.
I'm going to let you stay here. I'll let you stay here. I'll
let you be my friend. That's what Nebuchadnezzar said.
I'll let you be my friend, Daniel. I'll let you be my friend. I'll
let you teach me. When I've got trouble, I'll come
to you and ask you my questions. And so he decides to give Daniel
a pretty good place in his life. And then you go on for a little
while and you begin to see some things
and begin to see something about that unity, something about that
person of Christ and those people of God in whom they've been chosen
and put and protected. And you begin to see those things
and those things amaze you. They amaze you. You've never
heard such things before. How can a man be in Christ? And
if he's in Christ, even the furnace don't... the smell of smoke wasn't
even on their clothes when they come out. That's salvation, ain't
it? Still his heart and his mind
is on himself and in this kingdom that he thought he'd made. He
had been warned and told and preached to and seen the work
of the living God, but still the King glories in Himself.
Now look down here at Daniel chapter 4 verse 29. Daniel gives him the vision.
He tells him that this tree is going to be whopped off at the
roots. Going to cut this big tree down. All these birds and
animals and this thing that is home to all these creatures,
God is going to cut it down. He's going to take this tree
and all of its glory. What's more glory? I mentioned
cutting one of these trees down out here and I thought these
ladies were going to excommunicate me. God said He's going to take that
tree and whop it off. The whole outfit is going to
fall down. But then He's going to do a work. He's going to do
a work. Now let's read about it down
here in Daniel chapter 4 verse 29. At the end of the twelve
months, Old Nebuchadnezzar, he walked in the palace of the kingdom
of Babylon, in the king's robe and in the king's palace and
in the king's chambers. He walked wherever he wanted
to go. And he walked out there on that balcony and threw them
thumbs up in that big robe and looked out there and just kind
of rocked back and forth. Looked out over that great kingdom
and he spake and he said, it's not this great Babylon that I
built for the house of my kingdom by the might of my power and
for the honor of my majesty. That's the heart of Babel. That's
what Babylon's all about. That's what religion's all about.
So you can stand there with your thumbs in your lapels and look
back over your life and say, look here what I built. Look
here what I've done. Everybody gather around and look
at my righteousness. Look at my works. Ain't I somebody? That's what Babylon is all about. Salvation is not about your glory,
it's about God's glory. Not about your works, it's about
His works. Not about what you do, it's about
what He does in you. And that great king sat up there,
sits in the secrecy of his own palace and glories in his own
accomplishments. Verse 31, And while the word
was yet in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven
saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, your kingdoms departed from you. It never was yours to start with.
And I'm taking it back. Cut the tree down. He had heard the preacher. He
gave some mental assent to his doctrine. He had seen the work
of God on those three Hebrew children, and he was impressed
with what he saw. But now God speaks. I stand up here every Sunday
and I preach to you, and sometimes on Wednesday nights, and it fills
my heart with tears and terror. I know something about the terror
of the Lord. I know something about conversion
and receiving your sight and conviction of sin. I can tell
you the dream and I can tell you the interpretation because
I've been there. That's what this chapter in Daniel
is all about. He's saying, I was the king and
God chopped me down. He chopped me down. Oh, now God
speaks. That's what I'm waiting for. I can stand and speak to you.
I can preach to you for hours. I can put my notes up and stand
up here and talk about this and talk about that for hours, but
I'm waiting on God to speak. When He speaks, the kingdom disappears. You turn it loose. It's gone. The kingdom's departed from you
and never can The glory of it's gone, the rule of it, the comfort
of it, the benefits of it, the majesty of it, it's all gone.
It was mine and you put forth your hand and took what God didn't
give. You put forth your hand and your
will and your greed and your desires and you took what you
wanted with no respect to the will of God and the way of God.
And now I'm going to show you what my servant has been telling
you all along. I'm going to show you what this
thing is all about. Verse 33, And the same hour was this thing
fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, away
from their ministry and counsel, and away from their company and
comfort, and away from their presence and fellowship, and
away from their traditions and ceremonies, driven away from
men who would bow to him and praise him and beg on him and
tell him everything is all right. driven away from their excuses
and explanations. And they took him out there and
he began to eat grass as an ox and his body was wet with the
dew of heaven until his hair grew like eagles' feathers and
his nails like birds' claws. Showed him he was a beast before
God. That's all we are. That's all
we are. Only one thing separates you
this morning, Winston. If you're a child of God, only
one thing separates you from the beast, that's the purpose
of God in Christ. That's it. That's it. He was a beast in
his nature and a beast in his appearance and a beast in his
mannerism. God left him out there on that
old plain eating that grass until he understood what he was. He
left him out there, John, until his back become wet with the
dew of heaven. Until all the perfections and
the glory of God was made known to his heart. Then look here
in verse 34, and at the end of the days, this self-proclaimed
king of Babylon, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven,
and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth, me included. 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
even question what He does." Huh? And we thought salvation
was walking down an aisle and crying for a few minutes at it
all. Salvation is when God comes into your heart in sovereign
grace and sets up His rule. I'm so tired of men and women
talking to me about grace and then fighting everything that
God's will to do in His objects of grace. Don't you get sick
of it? It turns my stomach. I'll tell
you what you're going to do when God saves you. You're going to
obey. That's what you're going to do. And down there on your
knees, you're going to look up and you're going to say, He rules.
He rules. Times are hard, ain't they, Fred?
They sure are, but He rules. He rules. The old doctor comes
in and shakes his head. He said, you've just got a few
days to live. I know, but he rules. He rules. That's what he shows the kings
of Babylon. Those who set themselves up in religion, he's going to
chop you down. Chop you down. That's what the
gospel does. And then it raises you back up.
At the end of the days, he told old Nebuchadnezzar, he said,
now, now we can reason together. He said, my reasoning returned
unto me. Ain't that something? Ain't that
something? Now, he said, I'm going to let
you rule in Babylon. I'm going to let you rule. Just
so you know who really sits on the throne. The Lord turns His sheep loose.
I don't have a rope on you. I don't have a collar on you.
I don't run around here every Sunday telling you how much to
give, what to wear, how to cut your hair. I don't have to do
any of that stuff. You know who sits on the throne, don't you?
Huh? That's exactly right. All His
sheep know that. They all hear His voice. He said
He just comes up there to the porter and He said, I want My
sheep. And the porter knows who he is, and he says, here's your
sheep. And he calls his sheep by name, and they all come out,
and he puts them out in front of him. He doesn't go up there
with a whip and dare them to move. He just walks out and puts
them out in front of him, and they just meander around. And
wherever he's at, that's where they are. They know the shepherd. That's what these prophets are
all about. Children of God, it's how God saves sinners. for it to help them.