NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S CONVERSION.
By S. N. Haskell
“Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all the people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. 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.” Dan. 4: 1–3. In the fourth chapter of Daniel is found the experience of Nebuchadnezzar as first related by himself, and recorded by the Spirit of God for the benefit of all who might live in subsequent time. In some respects it is the experience of every truly converted soul. It was first written by himself, and sent to “all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth.” It was the first impulse of a soul set free by the grace of Christ. He published this to show “the signs and wonders that the high God” had wrought in his own heart. He was free from the fear of man, from the restraint of pride or position, and with a spontaneous outgushing of soul, declared what God had done for him. This is the first impulse of the soul that has been truly illuminated by the Holy Spirit. He was not ashamed to tell to all the world that the ruling sin of his life had been the means that God had taken to humble his proud heart before Him. Pride had so blinded his heart that he could not discern spiritual things; it had so closed the avenues of his soul that the Spirit of God could not enter. This sin of pride is shown by his own words: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” About thirty years before this, God had sent to this proud monarch the following message: “Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all.” It was God who had given him wisdom to perfect the city of Babylon; it was God who had given him power and strength and glory; it was God who had given him control of the nations, and made him ruler of the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. In the eyes of man, and from a worldly standpoint, he occupied much the position in a fallen world as Adam did in an unfallen world. The kingdom of Babylon was the mightiest and the most magnificent that ever existed in this world. The prophet Isaiah, a hundred years before the king was born, had called Babylon “the glory of kingdoms.” Jeremiah had said that it was God who gave all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and had declared that he was “my servant.” He was simply the agent which God used to bring that nation to its height and glory in order to reveal to the universe certain principles that show the falsity of Satan’s charges against Christ, and to show what man would become without Christ, when ruler of the world. Nebuchadnezzar did not recognize that God’s hand was in the affairs of the nation; he did not recognize that God had given him success, but thought it was because he possessed superior qualifications. Thirty years before this the wise men of Babylon, in whom the king had trusted, were brought to confusion by Daniel’s revealing the dream and giving the interpretation, a record of which is given in the second chapter of Daniel. At that early date the Spirit of God had begun to work upon the heart of the king, but he did not submit to its influences. Pride stood in the way. This had so closed the avenues of his soul that the Spirit of God could not enter; and, although his wise men were confounded, and He was obliged to acknowledge that God was a God of gods and a revealer of secrets, still, in the form of idolatry, he worshiped Daniel instead of worshiping the true God. It was pride which prevented the conversion necessary to bring him into close relation with God, and so he commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors to Daniel. Twenty years later the Lord called his attention in a public manner to His power again, by delivering the three worthies from the fiery furnace. On this occasion he acknowledged that he knew God and His Son Jesus Christ, for when he beheld the four men walking in the fiery furnace, he said, “The form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel and his brethren must have taught that the Son of God had a form, and that the angels could and would protect His people. He acknowledged their deliverance to be by the ministration of an angel, for he said that God had sent His angel to deliver His servants who trusted in Him. He also acknowledged that there was no other god who could deliver after this sort. Isaiah’s prophecies had been recorded concerning King Sennacherib, and how God had said to him: “Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defensed cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way which thou camest.” Isa. 37: 26–29. The king must have been acquainted with all this, and with the proud Assyrian king’s humiliation by angelic ministration. God does none of His work in a corner, but that all nations should fear before Him. This should have been a lesson to this proud monarch; and if he had regarded it, he would have been saved from the sad experience recorded in Daniel 4. From the beginning there have been wrecks stranded on the shores of time, prominent among which are such characters as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who have sailed on the seas of life boasting that wisdom, power, and might were theirs, without acknowledging the God of Israel. Notwithstanding God had thus spoken to the king, he manifested his pride, as recorded in the third chapter of Daniel, when he made the image all of gold, not recognizing that the future kingdoms of this world would greatly deteriorate, as represented by the silver, brass, iron and clay, in the image of the second chapter. The decree issued by the king, as recorded in the third chapter, was far from the decree that would come from an enlightened conscience that could say, “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” It was not religious liberty to force men not to speak against the God of Daniel. Pride in the soul prevented the working of the Spirit of God. It is the same with every other heart that is filled with pride; should God work with our efforts, the instrumentality would attribute the glory to his own smartness, his own wisdom, his own ability, and do as the Pharisee, boast of his own accomplishments:683“I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” Nebuchadnezzar still felt to boast of all that he had done. But when self is hidden in Christ, pride and boastfulness will not be manifested, but the practical side of Christianity will be revealed. Eight years before Nebuchadnezzar wrote this letter to all the nations of the earth, he had received a warning of what would come upon him. God had given him a dream, and had sent the warning by the prophet Daniel: “O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be an healing of thine error.” One more year of mercy was granted to the proud monarch, but even then his proud heart was boasting of what it had done: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? 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. 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. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.” There is a limit to God’s mercy; there is a last call before mercy takes its everlasting flight from any soul. Had not this sad experience humbled his proud heart, his destiny would have been forever sealed. He was driven from men, and he was compelled to eat grass as oxen. During these years of insanity, he must have had some knowledge of God, and he must have known that he was wrestling against the Spirit of God; for when he lifted up his eyes to the God of heaven, his understanding returned to him, and he blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him. Then he relates his own belief that “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?” Many walk over the same road that Nebuchadnezzar did. Self is exalted, and they feel that the success of the work of God depends wholly upon them; they have wrought wonders; they have built up Conferences; they are the ones who have done such wonders in such a wonderful manner. “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?” Other means of building up the cause of God are not necessary in their estimation, for they can accomplish more by their own methods than others can accomplish by different methods; in short, no one is capable of doing what they can do. Such a spirit gives evidence of an unregenerate heart and an unsubdued soul; and unless their hearts are renewed, they will find that God has no use for them in His work. Had not God prospered this monarch, and does Babylon not stand forth to-day as a monument of a kingdom of glory as far as this world is concerned? In all the history of the past six thousand years, who gives wisdom and strength and power? Is it not God? God should be acknowledged as the author of every bright idea, as the source of every intelligent thought expressed. Our success must be in God. When self becomes so large, God cannot dwell in the soul. It is Christ’s life that brought salvation to the world; in the cessation of His life, the surrendering of His own self, lay the secret of salvation. The great apostle to the Gentiles said, “I die daily.” There is no room for selfishness or self-righteousness when Christ has possession of the heart. He will take no inferior place; for it is either He himself that fills the soul or self swells up to importance and fills the soul-temple. It is because of this pride of heart that Nebuchadnezzar could not see the true spirit and be led by the Spirit of the Lord into true conversion when God first called him by a direct message from heaven. It is the same at the present time; man cannot see God. Pride shuts the avenue of the soul so that the Spirit of God cannot enter the heart. It was God who humbled the proud king. The language of the apostle Peter is: “Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” When God humbles men, it is after they refuse to humble themselves. It is not always pleasant, but it is quite effectual. It was thus in Nebuchadnezzar’s case. He who swayed the mightiest scepter ever swayed by mortal man, was brought to where he could acknowledge God, and God alone. “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?” A holy watcher had the guardianship of the king from the beginning. God had bestowed upon him wisdom, glory, and power. The king in his dream had seen this “holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it.” It was the last call that inspiration records that God ever gave this king; but it accomplished its object. This is the last we hear of Nebuchadnezzar. We hope that his last days were as recorded in this chapter. If so, he will be saved as a monument of grace, having passed through an experience that brought him where his whole soul felt that he must acknowledge God before all people, nations, and tongues. When he was restored to his former position, the promise that God will restore the years that the cankerworm hath eaten was fulfilled. He spoke of himself as an instrument in God’s hands to accomplish what was done, and acknowledged God’s works as truth and His ways judgment. The last words of this letter which the king sends forth are, “Those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” We learn two important principles from this record: First, the proud heart is ever seeking to divide the glory with itself until self becomes god, and is worshiped by himself and others. The evils which come from this state of mind and the different ways of manifesting itself are legion; second, a heart thoroughly humbled before God will so appreciate the saving grace of Christ that its first desire will be, not what I have done, but, “Hear what the Lord hath done for my soul.” The work of changing the human heart is the greatest of all miracles.