Overview
Daniel: Nebuchadnezzar proclaims peace to all nations and extols God for what he has done for him. He explains that God’s works are miracles and his kingdom is forever. He then explains he had a dream that his wise men, astrologers, and magicians could not interpret. When Daniel came he acknowledged that Daniel had the “spirit of the holy gods” living in him. He told Daniel about seeing a beautiful tree that was so great that it provided for all the animals of the earth. A “watcher” came down and commanded that the tree be cut down, its fruit and leaves be scattered, and the stump be bound. The tree is then referred to as a person. He will be wet with dew, have the mind of an animal, and eat grass for seven time-periods. The watchers passed this sentence on him by the command of the holy ones so that all will know the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms. He gives them to whom he wants.
Daniel was alarmed and didn’t want to tell Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation, but he urged Daniel. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the tree and it represents his greatness and his dominion reaches the ends of the earth. It is a decree from the Most High that he will be driven from men, live in the fields with animals, eat grass like an ox, and be wet with dew until seven time-periods pass and he knows that the Most High rules men’s kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wants. Daniel then counsels Nebuchadnezzar to repent of his sins so this won’t happen.
12 months later, Nebuchadnezzar looked over Babylon and prided himself for building it and his kingdom for his own glory. While he was saying this, a voice from heaven told him the vision of the dream would now happen to him. During the seven periods of time it happened as told in the dream and his hair grew long as eagles’ feathers and his nails became like bird’s claws.
At the end of the time, Nebuchadnezzar told that he looked to heaven and his reason returned to him. He praised the Most High and honored God who lives forever. God’s dominion is forever and he does what he wants among angels and men. No one can question God’s actions. When his reason returned, his counselors and officials brought him back to rule his kingdom. He again extols the King of heaven who does right and humbles the proud.
Psalm: The Psalmist extols the word of God to make him wise, understanding, and keeping from him evil. Again, he relies on God’s word when he is afflicted and evil people try to trap him. Since God’s word is his heritage, he has sworn to uphold it.
Proverbs: No one should help a person who is under the conviction of sin for killing another. It will haunt them till death. Walking in integrity keeps a person from falling but a crooked person’s life will come apart suddenly.
2 Peter: Peter is writing to everyone who has a faith like his. This faith comes from God’ righteousness that is obtained through Jesus Christ. He asks that our peace may increase because of our knowledge of God and Jesus.
God’s power gives us everything we need to live a godly life. That comes from our knowledge of God and knowing his promises in which we actually have his divine nature in us when we leave our corrupt nature behind along with sinful desires. We need to add to that knowledge other attributes leading to love. These need to be always increasing to be effective in our knowledge of Jesus. If we aren’t growing, then we are stagnating and forgetting we have forgotten that our sins are forgiven. We need to be diligent in this to show that our calling is true and to keep us from falling. This is the way we victoriously enter into heaven.
Peter is going to keep on reminding us of this while he is alive even though we already know these things. His death in imminent so he is making sure we remember this.
He and the other apostles didn’t make up what they told about Jesus when he came in power, but they were eyewitnesses. He was there when God said that Jesus was God’s son and that Jesus pleased him. He and the others heard God say this from heaven when he was on the holy mountain. Even better than their eyewitness is God’s prophetic word. We should pay attention to that because it is a light shining in the dark world until Jesus comes. We should know that prophecy of Scripture isn’t a man’s invention, but God’s Holy Spirit moved men to speak what God wanted.
What Stood Out
Daniel: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (Dan 4:37).
Psalm: “I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts” (Ps 119:100).
Proverbs: “If one is burdened with the blood of another, he will be a fugitive until death; let no one help him” (Prov 28:17).
2 Peter: “By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:4).
Insight
Daniel: It is apparent that much of this chapter was written by Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel may have copied it from Nebuchadnezzar’s account and added some of the narrative. This chapter and parts of others in Daniel were written in Aramaic, not Hebrew. This is impressive because many people believe that only godly men could have been used by God to write Scripture. However, using Nebuchadnezzar to write his personal testimony only enhances the point that God is sovereign.
We can’t discount that Nebuchadnezzar is called God’s hammer (Jer 50:23) and that God says elsewhere that he is the king of kings (Dan 2:37). This glory and might of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar is God’s plan. It is when Nebuchadnezzar claims that it is his power that brought it about that God judges him for his pride. It is a clear indication of a newfound respect for God that this man who had everything and thought he was powerful enough to make this kingdom would make such a dramatic declaration that it was God who did it and was able to humble his pride.
It is easy to see from this account that we need to be careful about pride. We may think we are good at something or we have accomplished much in our lives. But when we don’t give credit to God for being sovereign over our lives, we are in the same position as Nebuchadnezzar before his humiliation. It is possible that God is doing that for many people right now. All we can really do is make sure we don’t become so prideful that he must bring calamity in our lives so that we will have to have our reason returned to us before we acknowledge that God in in control of all things. We should humble ourselves under his hand so that he will lift us up at the right time (1 Peter 5:6).
Psalm: I enjoy listening to young preachers who are able to effectively handle God’s word. They prove that it doesn’t always take age to bring understanding and application of God’s word to our lives. It isn’t always age that makes a person wise, but it is God’s word.
Sometimes, the older a person gets, the farther off track he can become. It is like setting a course and getting the direction off by only a fraction of a degree. By the time you get to the end, you can be hundreds of miles off course. If a young person wants to hit his target when he is old, he will do it by rightly understanding God’s word when he is young. The good news is that an older person who is off track can get back on track in the same way.
Proverbs: When we sin, whether it is grievous, like murder, or even “lesser” sins, we have a conscience that will never let us forget. People try to rid themselves of their conscience because of this. Psychiatrists get paid big money to help you but it usually doesn’t work. The only way to have a clear conscience after committing sin is to turn to Jesus. Hebrews tells us that his once-for-all death is able to purify our conscience (Heb 9:12-14). We shouldn’t try to help a person avoid their conscience, but point them to Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. Our conscience is there to drive us to Jesus before we let those sins haunt us to our death – and beyond.
2 Peter: Do you ever think about the fact that we actually have a part of God’s divine nature living in us? Yes, we have the Holy Spirit living in us and that means God’s nature is in us. He has shared his divine nature with us. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean we are now gods or anything near that. Peter makes that clear when he tells us that we should keep on adding to our faith the fruit of the Spirit. All these virtues keep adding to each other as we work on being more Christ-like. We should never forget that we can only make that effort because we have the Holy Spirit in us. It is by his power that we are able to escape our life of sin in the first place.
We also have a huge warning in that when we don’t apply any effort into living a godlier life, we stagnate. When we stagnate, we become useless in our Christian walk. Others will look at us and wonder if we are even saved. We should make sure that we really are saved by putting into practice all the qualities of the Holy Spirit’s fruit. Peter isn’t here to remind us, but his letters are. Let’s pay attention and keep working on living in Christ.
Application
I want to have a proper perspective of my own position in Christ. I need to remember it isn’t me, but Christ and the Holy Spirit that works in me to be effective as a Christian. Otherwise pride can creep in. Yet, I still must do my part in working on adding the good qualities of a Spirit led life.
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