Word of Salvation - October 2015

Who's in Charge?

Text: Daniel 4 - By Rev. Pieter Tuit

Was God teaching Nubuchadnezzar a lesson in humility here in this chapter as many sermons from this passage seem to think? Or, was God comforting and encouraging the exiles in Babylon that God and not Nebuchadnezzar is sovereign over all? And is this Scripture’s encouragement to us this evening?

Well, I am not going to deny that the need for humility is evident in this chapter. Let’s face it, the mighty ruler of that awesome empire Babylon had a lot to learn in this area. But there are other things going on. There are other things to learn.

Actually, three times chapter four mentions what the most important thing is. And it is not humility, even though it will take humility to learn the lesson alluded to. Turn to verse 17. There a messenger from heaven said to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, ”The decision is announced by the messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men."

Now turn to verse 25. Here we have Daniel interpreting the dream. Daniel announces what will happen to that mighty ruler and says,” You will be driven away from people and will live with wild animals, you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until,..... and now listen carefully,..... you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. We read the same thing in verse 32.

These verses make sense when we understand the context. The context deals with the question who was sovereign? The overall context of Daniel is that God’s people found themselves in exile in Babylon. Judah had been conquered by king Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. The exile was God’s punishment upon his people for their refusal to accept him as their sovereign king.

God had told his people that they had to make a life for themselves while in exile. They had to work, raise families and even pray for Babylon and its rulers. However, the faith perspective of the exiles was very different from that of the Babylonians.

The faith perspective of the Babylonians is personified in the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. There it is clear that he saw himself as sovereign over all. There was no room for anyone besides or above him. Daniel told him that he was that tree. That tree basically filled the whole earth. This tree provided comfort, protection and food to beasts and birds.

What we find here is a picture of a total and all of life encompassing view of government. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream shows us a world power that is extensive and all encompassing. It shows a world power that is vast from a territory point of view. It also shows a world power that was into people’s lives. It is noteworthy that this empire provided food and shelter for all.

I realize that this is a sideline in this message. At the same time the question can be asked is it good to a government provides this much? Is it good for a government to have such a sovereignty or authority and care over people’s lives.

Reformed people throughout the centuries have debated this question. Now, most Reformed people tended to have a positive view of government. This means that they see government as a force and institution for good. This view was very much based on what Paul wrote in Romans 13 where he exhorts Christians to be obedient to the governing authorities. According to Romans 13 government authority comes from God.

However Reformed people have always been very nervous ascribing too much sovereignty, too much power, too much authority, to an earthly government. From this came the Reformed political philosophy of sphere sovereignty. This political philosophy taught that there is only one power that is over all, and that is God, or the Lordship of Jesus Christ. All other authority is not absolute, but derived authority. All other authorities are therefore also limited authorities.

Consequently Reformed thinking said that there are a variety of spheres in life that are accountable directly to God. First they spoke of four basic spheres. These are the spheres of the church, family, government and society. The societal sphere has sub-spheres, such as business, arts, sports, education and others. They also taught that, though these spheres do interconnect, not one sphere was to have complete authority over another sphere but that each sphere had its own sphere of authority. One sphere was also not to absorb the responsibilities or the authority of the other.

Now history shows that there has always been a battle between spheres. This battle occurs when one sphere tends to become too powerful and takes authority and responsibility from other spheres upon itself. For example it is the responsibility first of all of a family to take care of its own needs. Other spheres like government or the church can help when needed but they do not have a primary responsibility. We see throughout history that especially the sphere of government has a tendency to encroach on other spheres and takes on too much sovereignty, authority and responsibility.

The communist experiment, this past century is a prime very negative example of what happens when a government absorbs all the other spheres into its own sphere. However, it can happen from a right wing or fascist perspective also. A Reformed understanding of sphere sovereignty which is based on the teaching of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility continues to be an important antidote to any kind of totalitarian thinking whether from the right or the left as well as an abrogation of human responsibility.

Nebuchadnezzar saw himself, in accordance with pagan thinking of his day, as having authority over all spheres. He wanted all people to look to him and his government for all things necessary for life, including food and drink. For his own people this was not so much a problem, and even for the nations he had conquered. This was their world view. This was their faith perspective.

However, the worldview, the faith perspective of the exiles from Jerusalem was different. Their worldview was based on the fact that all sovereignty did not belong to an earthly ruler but to the God, the creator of heaven and earth. They believed that this God deserves all honour and should therefore be worshiped. For the Israelites their God was not a tribal God. No he was a global God. There was no one besides him and definitely not above him.

So their exile did raise for them a question. Was their God, whom they knew as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, sovereign also in Babylon? Was he all powerful, also after the destruction of the temple, the place where God was worshiped, and from where Israel called the whole world to worship God. According to pagan thinking their God was defeated.

There was so little evidence of God’s sovereignty. There were really no examples of God’s authority and presence. Could it even be true that Nebuchadnezzar, and the gods of Babylon were more powerful?

Nebuchadnezzar certainly thought so. We find it reflected in his dream. It was the dream of an all powerful megalomaniac, who taught that he had conquered all. And he was not the first and the last one to think that way. History has seen its fair share of so called Nebuchadnezzars. Some of us have lived through that history in one form or another.

Nebuchadnezzar had to learn a very important lesson. This is why it is mentioned three times in this chapter. He had to learn that not him, but the God of the exiles he had conquered, was all powerful. He had to learn that eventually, not him, but the God of the Israelites he had conquered, is sovereign over the kingdoms of men, including his own kingdom. He had to learn that he who had submitted kings and nations to himself had to submit to the one who was over him and had given him his power.

The exiles had to be comforted by that same lesson. They had to learn that, in spite of all appearances, God had not abrogated his throne but that he continued to rule over all. They had to learn that just because they were conquered, this did not mean that their God was conquered. They, like Nebuchadnezzar, had to learn that it is God who first of all gives power and authority and can also take it away.

In the New Testament we find the Lord Jesus Christ teaching this lesson also to Pilate. Jesus told Pilate that the only reason Pilate had authority was because God had given it to him.

Nebuchadnezzar, the hard way, learned this lesson of the sovereignty of God. He even confessed it. He even confessed that the God of the Israelites does what he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth and that no one can hold him to account.

Yes, he was humbled in the process. It certainly took a lot of humility for a king of is statue to say and believe what he did. But learning to be humble was an outflow and not the reason of what he had to learn. He needed a change of worldview. He needed to reassess the way power works in the world.

Congregation of Jesus Christ, none of us present this evening is in a position of authority and power like Nebuchadnezzar. It is also very unlikely that any of us will ever be. However, it is possible that we need to learn the same lesson. We also need to learn that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men. We may also need to be reassured again, especially since our government has raised the terror level that God is sovereign also over terrorist groups.

This means first of all that we are not sovereign over the kingdom that is called me. We know that kingdom, the kingdom called me, the kingdom that we think we are in control over, the kingdom that may even have a place for God and the Lordship of Christ, but where we also hold on to our own ropes of power and sovereignty.

Scripture tells us that God in Christ is sovereign over that kingdom called me. God is sovereign over the kingdom called me because he created me and he redeemed me. The Heidelberg Catechism in LD 48 asks the question what does the prayer “Thy Kingdom come” means. The answer is ,” Rule us by Your Word and Spirit in such a way that more and more we submit to you.”

It is clear that we can only truly pray this prayer when the real me is not sitting on the throne of our own hearts, but the Lord Jesus Christ is instead. We can only truly live this prayer when we, in repentance and faith, have renounced our own sovereignty and authority and submitted ourselves to the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can only pray and live this prayer when we have experienced what a good thing it is to live under the sovereignty and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

John Piper writes,” The truth that God rules the kingdom of men ( including the kingdom of me), must grip your mind and the sovereignty of his will must become the solid foundation of our thinking.”

Daniel four also helps us to have a Biblical perspective on the authority structures of our world. Most of the authority structures of our world do not accept that the God of heaven and earth is sovereign. They like to assume all sovereignty and authority. Especially government authority likes to do that, and often its citizens gladly oblige. They oblige because by relinquishing their own responsibility and authority they begin to look on government not only as an authority but also as a provider.

And yes, governments do have a responsibility to provide but not at the expense of the citizens’ own responsibility. Citizens in democratic countries must therefore always be careful in not giving too much responsibility and consequently authority and sovereignty to the ruling authorities of the day whether they come from the left or the right. The Reformed teaching of each sphere having its own sovereignty remains therefore a very good antidote to any form of totalitarianism.

In other cases it can happen that for example, the sphere of business, or the free market, is given, or takes on too much sovereignty, and there are no other sphere strong enough to provide a balance. The same can happen with the sphere of labour. During the Middle Ages the sphere of the church took on way to much sovereignty and authority.

As Christians therefore we see government authority as something that God gives, but also can take away. In our country God does that through the democratic process. In that sense we confess that God, in his own inscrutable way, is involved in the democratic processes of our country. The fact that he is does not mean we should not vote.

It also does not mean that any elected government can claim divine authority over its policies. It does not mean that governments can baptize their policies saying that this is God’s will. God’s sovereign rule over sinful governments is not a divine endorsement of their deeds.

As citizens therefore, also as Christian citizens, we accept governing authorities as coming from God in line with Romans 13 Whether our preferred party wins or loses we can rejoice in the sovereignty of God over the affairs of humans. God reigns. At the same time we recognize that a Romans 13 can become a Revelation 13 government which shows us a government that is total, in every which way opposed to God and his people.

Christian citizens therefore will be critically obedient or obediently critical. And following the example of the apostles in Acts five we obey the government authorities in so far they make us not go against God’s authority We will always obey God rather than men. If, in the process the government considers us subversive and disobedient we will gladly and joyfully suffer the consequences.

Yes, we confess that governments are from God and where possible we will obey. At the same time it is not an invitation to a total surrender to the state. We should never assist government in becoming all powerful and all encroaching into our lives. To say that God is all sovereign makes all other authority, including political authority tentative, temporal, and it can be disobeyed when in conflict with God’s authority Christians therefore should always maintain a sense of tentativeness of the government as a servant of God.

At the same time, Daniel four teaches that governments can change their minds about their own sovereignty. Things can change. Governments can change. God can change governments. As Christians we should always work and pray towards this also within our present day political structures. This does not mean that we should work and pray towards a theocracy. We therefore do not discourage our children from studying political science and seek a career in government. Maybe a future prime minister may come from one of our congregations.

But regardless what happens we confess and are comforted by God’s sovereignty over the nations including the political power structures of the nations. We continue to pray for them so that as Paul wrote to Timothy we may live quiet and peacable lives. We continue to trust his providential rule over the nations even when the opposite seems to occur.