Daniel 4:36
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.
After seven years of humiliation and banishment as chastening, when Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes to heaven and humbled himself and acknowledged God, his reason returned to him and with it his royal honor and splendor returned for the glory of his kingdom, his counselors and nobles again sought him, he was reestablished as king, and even greater majesty was added to him. He had lost reason and royal honor in a moment when, after warning and a twelve-month proving, he boasted over Babylon built by his own power and majesty, because he exalted his human ability without reckoning God as the source of his strength. The restoration shows that God is the living supreme Ruler of heaven and earth, whose dominion is everlasting and whose kingdom is from generation to generation, who does His will with none able to stay His hand. He takes honor and kingdom from leaders who exalt self and trust in human wisdom, and He pardons, restores to favor, and even exalts with added honor those who humble their hearts, acknowledge a power above themselves, and walk in humility and trust toward Him. Thus restored and truly converted from pride and self-sufficiency, Nebuchadnezzar became a grateful witness, publicly praising the King of heaven and calling his realm to learn and worship Jehovah as the living God.
Setting and Restoration
The verse belongs to the account of Nebuchadnezzar's greatness and prosperous rule, in which the tree in his dream represented his greatness, with the nations under his sovereignty and his kingdom firmly established among loyal subjects. At times he credited Jehovah with the glory of his kingdom and the splendor of his reign, in connection with the dream of the great image showing that earthly kingdoms would give way to God's everlasting kingdom.
The verse belongs to the fourth chapter of Daniel, which records another dream God gave Nebuchadnezzar after he lost the holy impression made by the deliverance of the three Hebrews from the fiery furnace because he did not continue to walk in the light. It was the second dream God gave him after he had failed to keep the impression made by his earlier experience, and his pride brought God's warning and a humiliating punishment.
Before the restoration the king was warned in a dream of coming judgment and counseled through Daniel to break off sins by righteousness and iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, but the warning was treated as commonplace. For twelve months he was tested and proved while his actions were weighed in the balances of the sanctuary in heaven, and when he boasted over great Babylon built by his power for his majesty the kingdom departed from him. In a moment his power as ruler of the greatest earthly kingdom was taken from him, for his greatness did not make him acceptable to God. He was left without reason and without royal honor because he felt himself to be a man of power and placed a high estimate on his human ability without considering God as his source of strength.
At the end of the days of his humbling, after seven years of humiliation and banishment and degradation allowed as chastening, when he lifted his eyes to heaven and humbled himself and acknowledged God and blessed the Most High, at the same time his reason returned to him. With it his honor and brightness and royal splendor for the glory of his kingdom returned to him. His counselors and lords and nobles again sought unto him. He was established again as king in his kingdom, and excellent and greater majesty was added to him.
The restoration was an act of God's mercy after humiliation. It belonged to a real change of heart and true conversion, for he was no longer lifted up by pride and self-sufficiency but humbled himself before God in recognition that God rules, so his punishment had not been in vain. It was a miraculous restoration that Belshazzar later knew of. That change of heart made right planning possible.
Teaching and Warning
Daniel 4:36 teaches that God is Lord over all His creatures and all His works, the supreme and living Ruler and Maker of heaven and earth, not a golden image to be worshiped in His place. He lives forever, His dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom is from generation to generation. He counts all the inhabitants of the earth as nothing, and does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth, with none able to stay His hand or ask Him what He is doing. Nebuchadnezzar's restoration to reason, honor, brightness, kingdom, and added majesty came only after stern discipline had rebuked and humbled his proud heart and led him to acknowledge Jehovah.
Success and prosperity come because God gives them, not for human glory but for God's glory, and they last only while He is guide and men remain under His guidance. Whoever steals a ray of light from God's glory, boasts in his own wisdom, exalts self, indulges pride, trusts in self and human wisdom and makes flesh his arm, and takes credit for success and wisdom and efficiency will be punished for presumption and certainly brought to humiliation. For as surely as the sun shines, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. As soon as influence is used to lead away from the strait and narrow path God has cast up in order to accommodate self and suit own plans and devices, prosperity ceases.
God is able to abase those who walk in pride. When a leader exalts himself, the honor, brightness, kingdom, and added majesty that are gifts from God are removed. God humbles a ruler who exalts himself, removes ability, uproots ambitious projects and brings them to confusion. The same will surely be fulfilled upon those who have had great light yet through unholy confederacy sustain one another in doing what God warned them not to do.
God restores and even exalts with added honor the kings and nobles He has humbled once they repent and acknowledge that there is a power above themselves. If they humble their hearts before God, walk in humility, make God their trust, and keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, there is pardon, peace, forgiveness, approval, acceptance, restoration to favor, and another trial and proving. He causes them to use the tongue in praising Him for His glory, and He molds and fashions the yielded will into His own likeness. This restoration came through a real change of heart that made right planning possible, so that the work is carried on not by the wisdom of human minds but as God requires.
The restored reign makes Nebuchadnezzar a witness for God, giving warm and eloquent testimony from a grateful heart that partakes of divine mercy and grace and righteousness and peace. He wanted all the people of his realm to learn and worship Jehovah as the living God. His public recognition of the supremacy and power and mercy of the God worshiped by the Hebrew captives, and his praising and extolling the King of heaven whose works are truth and whose ways are judgment, belongs to the account in which faithful witnesses lead Babylon's greatest king to proclaim the knowledge of the true God to the world. It shows that God's plans can go forward even when His people are captive and without their cooperation.
The verse warns against willful obstinacy that exalts one's own ways and judgment as supreme. It warns against prideful ambition to obtain glory for self and to exalt self and spread power by making self an idol and claiming glory that belongs to God. It warns against trusting in human wisdom or strength, manipulating matters for self, seeking popularity, and lifting a pin or removing a landmark of truth God has given His people. It warns against waiting so long to yield to God that fearfully severe discipline becomes necessary, for God gives light to instruct and lead to reform, and neglecting it brings loss and judgment while heeding it brings its benefits, and turning from pride and presumptuous confidence can avert a similar humbling experience.
The warning applies whether it is a people, a church that becomes proud and boastful and will be laid low, those in charge of an institution, or those bringing into God's vineyard principles the Lord will not sustain or favor. It rebukes exalting self, losing sight of the work for this time, erecting barriers between medical missionary work and education and the church, failing to fit medical missionary students to work in connection with the ministry of the Word, creating unbelief in the position held as a people, exchanging the banner to be held firmly for one with a different inscription, and failing to hold fast the faith once delivered to the saints unto shipwreck of faith. A man placed by God as a steward remains a power only while he stays humble and keeps medical missionary work as the hand and not the body and does not demerit the ministry, for as soon as pride comes God surely leaves him in the humbled position in which Nebuchadnezzar was left.