Wednesday, April 11
Daniel 3 ended with Nebuchadnezzar’s acknowledging the existence and power of the true God. But knowledge of God and of His power isn’t the same as having the born-again experience that Jesus said was crucial for salvation (see John 3:7). Indeed, the man depicted in Daniel 4:30 was anything but a converted soul.
By the time, though, that the chapter was done, Nebuchadnezzar learned, even if it was the hard way, that all true power exists in God, and without God, he is nothing at all.
“The once proud monarch had become a humble child of God; the tyrannical, overbearing ruler, a wise and compassionate king. He who had defied and blasphemed the God of heaven, now acknowledged the power of the Most High and earnestly sought to promote the fear of Jehovah and the happiness of his subjects. Under the rebuke of Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords, Nebuchadnezzar had learned at last the lesson which all rulers need to learn — that true greatness consists in true goodness. He acknowledged Jehovah as the living God, saying, ‘I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” — Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings , p. 521.
Read Daniel 4:35. What truths about God did Nebuchadnezzar express here, as well?
Daniel 4 ends with a Gentile acknowledging the authority, dominion, and power of the “Hebrew” God. In a sense, this scene is a precursor to what happened in the early church, when, through the witness of Jews and through the power of God, Gentiles learned the truth about the Lord and began to proclaim that truth to the world.
Read John 3:7. Though we think of last-day events in terms of the death decree, worship, and persecution, what does Jesus say here that, above and beyond everything else, prepares people for the end of time?
