4:34Daniel 4:34

At the end of seven years of divinely appointed banishment from men, Nebuchadnezzar looked up to heaven in humility and his reason returned to him, and he blessed and honored the Most High as the living God whose dominion is everlasting and whose kingdom endures from generation to generation.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29+4 He had exalted himself in pride over great Babylon and trusted in his own power without acknowledging God as the source of his strength, so after warning God took away his kingdom and his understanding and drove him to live as a beast.Lt 71, 1894, par. 27–31+4 His lifting up his eyes and praising God marked a true conversion under rebuke, from a tyrannical monarch who defied heaven to a humbled ruler who confessed his guilt and acknowledged God's mercy in chastising and restoring him.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29+4 The verse teaches that God, not man, is supreme Ruler over all kings and nations, able to create and to destroy, and that success comes from Him for His glory and not for man's glory.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29+4 It therefore warns all who walk in pride, especially those exalted to trust with great light, that God is able to abase them, and that safety is only in humility before Him, with pardon and restoration for those who repent and make Him their trust.8T 126.3+4

Daniel 4:34 belongs to the account of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and its fulfillment.8T 126.3 In that dream the lofty tree represented his greatness and prosperity, with nations living under his sovereignty and his kingdom firmly established among loyal subjects.8T 126.3 The account stands as a warning against self-sufficiency and pride in prosperity.8T 126.3

The dream was God's further dealing with his pride and self-trust after he had lost the holy impression made by the deliverance in the fiery furnace.13MR 60.1–61.2 God had first revealed Himself by the dream of the great image with Babylon as the head of gold, but the king and his heathen counselors were flattered into self-exaltation and image worship.13MR 60.1–61.2 Though the miracle in the furnace convinced him that the God of the Hebrews was the living God, he did not continue to walk in the light.13MR 60.1–61.2 His experience shows he had received heaven-sent light but disregarded it and lost benefits he could have received through obedience.Lt 201, 1899, par. 3–4 God gives lessons to instruct people and lead them to reform, and neglecting and failing to practice those lessons brings judgment.Lt 201, 1899, par. 3–4

Nebuchadnezzar placed a high estimate on his own human ability and did not consider God as his source of strength and ability, persisting in his own strength and feeling himself to be a man of power.Lt 71, 1894, par. 27–31+2 He exalted himself in a proud boast over great Babylon, taking glory to his own name.Lt 34, 1900, par. 24–27+1 After warning and twelve months of testing in which his actions were weighed, God removed his kingdom and ability from him when he exalted himself, and took away his wisdom.Lt 71, 1894, par. 27–31+2 That judgment was fulfilled in a divinely decreed banishment and degradation in which he was driven from men to eat grass as oxen, with loss of reason lasting seven years.Lt 34, 1900, par. 24–27+3

God gave man reasoning powers and can remove them when they are not used to His glory, as happened to Nebuchadnezzar.Lt 19a, 1897, par. 1+1 Reason was never given to lead man to suppose that he can climb higher than the Source from which that reason flows.ST Jan 28, 1897 Continued refusal of correction can lead to loss of reason and an unimpressible heart, as his resistance of the Lord's word showed.Lt 19a, 1897, par. 1

His ambition to exalt himself and his desire for glory and power is a warning that self-exalting ambition can possess a person and turn the heart from God.Lt 123, 1898, par. 1–3+1 Self-exaltation loses sight of the work to be done for this time, erects barriers between workers and the church, creates unbelief in the position occupied as a people, takes the firm banner from the hand, and fails to hold fast the faith once delivered to the saints unto shipwreck of faith.Lt 123, 1898, par. 1–3 His greatness as ruler of the greatest earthly kingdom did not gain him acceptance with God, and his power was taken from him.Lt 205, 1903, par. 14

At the end of the days, when the appointed period of chastisement and discipline was ended, after seven years of degradation and humiliation, Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes to heaven and looked to heaven in humility.Ms 21, 1899, par. 6–7+4 His reason and understanding returned at that moment of looking up, when the time of his appointed humiliation was complete.Lt 114, 1903, par. 19–20+4 When he turned his eyes to heaven his understanding and reason returned, bringing him to recognize his own weakness and the supremacy of the living God.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29+4

He then blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever, acknowledging that God lives forever and rules eternally.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29+4 His praise confessed an everlasting dominion and a kingdom that endures from generation to generation, through every generation.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29+4 That acknowledgment marked recognition of God's hand in his chastisement and that his restoration was an act of divine mercy, God and not the king ruling.Lt 114, 1903, par. 19–20+1 He publicly acknowledged his guilt and God's mercy in restoring him, showing his punishment was not in vain and his return to understanding and praise marked true conversion.PK 520.2–521.1+1

The verse shows God is Lord over all His creatures and all His works, the supreme Ruler and King over all kings.Lt 71, 1894, par. 27–31+2 He is the living, present, active God, Jehovah the living God who lives forever.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29+2 The God to be worshiped is no golden image but He who made the heavens and the earth, able to create and destroy.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29+1

His dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom is from generation to generation, enduring through every generation.Lt 114, 1903, par. 19–20+2 God, not man and not human rulers, governs the nations and rules, and restoration is an act of His mercy rather than the king's own power.Lt 114, 1903, par. 19–20+2 Nebuchadnezzar learned this by stern discipline, that God and not man is Ruler and His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.7MR 69.1–3+2 Success in the work of the Lord comes from God for God's glory and not man's glory.7MR 69.1–3+1

He acknowledged that his kingdom's glory came from Jehovah, and that human rulers must not take glory for themselves or set themselves above God.Ms 15, 1896, par. 20–21+2 This echoed his earlier understanding that earthly kingdoms would pass away and God's kingdom would ultimately supersede them.PK 514.1 Even the greatest earthly kingdom was meant to honor God and seek the good of its people rather than defy Him.Ms 15, 1896, par. 20–21

His lifting of eyes to heaven at the end of the days marked a true conversion after his proud heart was humbled under divine rebuke, his punishment not being in vain.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29+2 He no longer exalted himself, but recognized that being a king did not make him righteous, and he humbled himself to allow God to shape his character.Ms 233, 1902, par. 18–19+1 That return of understanding and reason brought him to recognize his own weakness and the supremacy of the living God whose dominion and kingdom are everlasting.3MR 186.2–3+1 Through severe suffering and humiliation he came to recognize God's authority and the power and mercy of the God of Israel, acknowledging Jehovah as supreme Ruler.PK 529.2–3+2

The verse records a reformed and transformed character, marking the change from defying God to acknowledging His power.Ms 15, 1896, par. 20–21+1 The tyrannical, overbearing, fierce monarch who had defied and blasphemed the God of heaven became a wise and compassionate ruler who acknowledges God's everlasting power and dominion.13MR 66.1–2 He now seeks earnestly to promote the happiness of his subjects and the good of his people, so that even the greatest earthly kingdom was meant to honor God and to know and show forth His praise.Ms 15, 1896, par. 20–21+1

Having seen God's greatness and tasted God's goodness, and partaking of the mercy and grace and righteousness and peace of the divine nature, he became a witness for God on the Babylonian throne.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29 From a grateful heart he gives warm and eloquent testimony as a living epistle, desiring all the people of his realm to learn the same lesson that the God to be worshiped is no golden image but He who made the heavens and the earth.Ms 29, 1895, par. 27–29 He recognized God's hand in his chastisement and publicly acknowledged his guilt and God's mercy in restoring him, blessing, praising and honoring the Most High as the eternal God whose dominion and kingdom endure through every generation.PK 520.2–521.1 His praise stands as an example of a great monarch publicly proclaiming God's supremacy, and the faithful witness of a few captives led Babylon's greatest king to proclaim the knowledge of the true God to the whole world in a royal proclamation.DA 28.3+1

The verse shows that God can so humble kings and nobles for His glory that they acknowledge a power above themselves and use the tongue to praise Him.Lt 34, 1900, par. 24–27 God worked with power upon the mind of proud Nebuchadnezzar, the mightiest king on earth, until he acknowledged God as King over all kings, the Most High whose dominion is everlasting and whose kingdom is from generation to generation.Lt 34, 1900, par. 24–27+1 Even the high ones of the world and ruling powers can thus be moved to honor and glorify God, so those working in large cities are to reach them in faith.Lt 132, 1901, par. 7–15

The account stands as a warning against self-sufficiency and pride in prosperity, against trusting in human wisdom, relying on human strength, trusting in oneself and one's own wisdom, and making flesh one's arm.8T 126.3+2 What befell Nebuchadnezzar will surely befall those who have had great light yet do the very things God warned them not to do, for God will uproot them and bring their ambitious projects to confusion.Lt 71, 1894, par. 27–31 Yet if they repent and humble their hearts before God there is pardon, if they walk in humility there is peace in His forgiveness and approval, and if they make God their trust and do justice and judgment they will be accepted and have another trial and proving.Lt 71, 1894, par. 27–31

It is a lesson and warning to all humanity, especially to wise men exalted to positions of trust, that all who walk in pride God is able to abase, that men today must learn God is supreme, that the wisdom of men is foolishness, and that safety is only in humility before God.13MR 66.1–2+1 Stealing a ray of light from God's glory brings punishment for presumption.7MR 69.1–3 When a people boast in their own wisdom and exalt self, when a church becomes proud and boastful, and when leaders of an institution take credit for success and glory in their wisdom and efficiency, humiliation and being laid low will surely follow.7MR 69.1–3+1

Pride and kingly self-exaltation lead to humiliation by God.Lt 297, 1903, par. 2–4 Willful obstinacy and exalting one's own judgment as supreme bring a person under Satan's influence, progressively blinding and ensnaring the mind.MWISDAP 20.2 Workers in God's vineyard must not bring in principles that God will not sustain or favor.Lt 188, 1901, par. 1 When understanding returns, the same duty rests on those in danger of exalting self to humble the heart before God, bless and honor God, and keep the eye single to His glory.Lt 45, 1900, par. 18–21 Heeding that lesson brings the sweet spirit that truth and righteousness impart, while refusing it leaves a faction spirit that cannot sustain what self has created.Lt 45, 1900, par. 18–21

God places a man as a steward to become a power while God upholds him, but if he exalts himself as a man of power and puts his own work above God's order and demerits the ministry, God will leave him just as surely in the position in which Nebuchadnezzar was left.Ms 103a, 1899, par. 20–22 Never is a pin to be lifted nor a landmark the Lord has given His people as truth to be removed, and matters are never to be manipulated to suit one's own plans and devices.Lt 126, 1898, par. 10 Just as soon as influence is used to lead away from the strait and narrow path the Lord has cast up for His people in order to accommodate self, prosperity ceases because God will not be guide.Lt 126, 1898, par. 10

Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged Jehovah as supreme Ruler only after fearfully severe experience, which teaches yielding the will to God and giving oneself to Him rather than holding back until severe discipline forces acknowledgment.7MR 151.1–2 God waits for willing surrender so He can mold and fashion the perverse human mind into His own likeness, giving from Christ all excellence necessary for perfection of character to those who practice self-denial and self-sacrifice, and as they behold the beauty of the Saviour's character they grow more and more like Him until they are complete in Him.7MR 151.1–2 Restoration comes through a change of heart that turns from human wisdom and personal devising to acknowledge God as supreme.11MR 310.3–311.1 That change enables the head to work and plan rightly so that medical-missionary and sanitarium work is carried on as God requires and all others are given a chance to accomplish the work after the wisdom given them individually by God, on which eternal interest depends.11MR 310.3–311.1 A similar humbling would be escaped only by rejecting ambitions and a high opinion of one's own plans and wisdom.Lt 256, 1903, par. 10–11