Nebuchadnezzar's Fall (part 7 of 8)

What was involved in Nebuchadnezzar’s return to sanity?  A precursor to this return has already been covered, in that the Creator God said that Nebuchadnezzar would live like an animal until he understood “that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever He wishes” (Daniel 4:32e).  This come to fruition when Nebuchadnezzar, sanity returned, can be heard saying “I extolled the Most High, and I praised and glorified the One Who lives forever” (4:34b). 

Now it seems, with real conviction, Nebuchadnezzar points to Israel’s God and says, “His authority is an everlasting authority, and His kingdom extends from one generation to the next” (4:34c).  In humility, he adds, “All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing.  He does as He wishes with the army of heaven and with those who inhabit the earth” (4:35a).  With what would appear to be a mild flourish of self-introspection concerning his previous demonstration of high-mindedness, this king adds, “No one slaps His hand and says to Him, ‘What have You done?’” (4:35b) 

As Nebuchadnezzar’s fall has been shown to have mirrored Adam’s fall (the fall of man), would it not be appropriate to say that his restoration will ultimately be mirrored by mankind’s restoration as well?  This would seem to be an eminently reasonable proposition that possesses the full support of the Scriptural narrative.  If it is true that Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity returned, that he was returned to human society, and that his time spent living like an animal was ended upon his acknowledgment of the Most High, would it not reasonable to take the step of making the same, albeit wider application?  Nebuchadnezzar’s time of living a sub-human existence began with his self-exaltation.  This was true for him just as it was for Adam.  Nebuchadnezzar’s period of time spent living a sub-human existence ended when he confessed that it was the Most High God that ruled.  Does it not stand to reason that it would be much the same for all of mankind? 

Until there is an acknowledgment, on the part of man, of the Creator God, of His rights, and of the failings of humanity, mankind remains in a sub-human condition---not being what the Creator God intends, not bearing the divine image, and not being truly human.  It could be said that such is a state of insanity.  With the requisite acknowledgment like that of Nebuchadnezzar,  humanity is freed from that sub-human state, regaining a long-lost sanity, with a restoration and re-purposing to rightly bear the divine image, so as to reflect the Creator God’s glory into this world, and no longer falling short of the glory of God.

According to the Scriptural narrative, all of which points to the Christ as the revelation of the Creator God and His intentions for His creation, this long-needed recognition and restoration occurs through a believing union with Jesus the Christ, which is achieved through a confession of Him as Lord and King of all.  Effectively, this confession and concomitant allegiance is one that looks to Jesus and says “His authority is an everlasting authority, and His kingdom extends from one generation to the next.”   

This is a statement of faith (loyal allegiance), in recognition of the Creator God’s covenant faithfulness as shown through the Christ, that demonstrates that one has come to the place of a trusting allegiance in the One that perfectly bore the divine image in every way.  

Nebuchadnezzar's Fall (part 6)

Of course, something like this has been previously heard from Nebuchadnezzar, when, following Daniel’s revelation and interpretation of the king’s dream about the great statue, Nebuchadnezzar responded by saying to Daniel, “Certainly your God is a God of gods and Lord of kings and revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery” (2:47).  Interestingly, Nebuchadnezzar’s reported response to the telling of the prophecy of the statue was to build a statue of himself, though made entirely out of gold, whereas in the dream, only the head of the statue of himself was gold, while the rest was composed of different materials. 

In the Daniel story, the prophet informs the king that the various materials used from top to bottom represented kingdoms that would rise up and pass away, beginning with his own kingdom of Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar’s response, after speaking quite highly of Daniel’s God because of the revelation and interpretation, was to construct the previously referenced image, doing so completely from gold.  This would seem to be an indication that it was his belief that it was in fact the kingdom that he himself had assembled that would never pass away. 

To the construction of the statue Nebuchadnezzar added the requirement for all peoples to bow down and worship the image, doing so as an act of worship towards him and presumably in recognition of what he had now come to think of as his own eternal kingdom.  This, of course, is what precipitated the “fiery furnace incident”, which in turn engendered his proclamation that is recorded at the beginning of the fourth chapter of Daniel.  So it seems reasonable to surmise that there may have been a small bit of disingenuousness in Nebuchadnezzar’s great proclamation concerning Daniel’s God, so the Creator God that had been so gloriously referenced by this great king, seemingly took it upon Himself to make Nebuchadnezzar into a true believer, with the thoughts of his heart eventually coming to match up with the words of his lips. 

Moving on to the thirty-fourth verse of the fourth chapter of Daniel, the reader finds the Creator God’s words to Nebuchadnezzar ringing true.  There it can be read, “But at the end of the appointed time I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me” (4:34a).  Remember, he had been judged and driven from human society.  He had lost his sanity.  He had become, for a specified and appointed time, something less than human. 

These words from Nebuchadnezzar force a consideration of Adam, a recall of his being driven out and his loss of sanity (in a way), as he became (along with all those that followed in his wake) something less than human.  This is said, of course, as one continually bears in mind that man was made as and to be the image of the Creator God, that he might be the reflection of His glory into the world, as well as the being that gathered up the praises of the creation and returned them to their Creator.  Considering this the, truly the failure to rightly bear the divine image---the failure to be truly human---is what it means to fall short of the glory of God.