Nebuchadnezzar was in secular history, a powerfully brutal king. He is credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,In the Bible, in 597 BC with his general, Nebuzaradam, he invaded and conquered Judah and completely destroyed the temple and most of Jerusalem.
In Daniel 2, he has a dream from God about the kingdoms that would come after his own. In the dream, Nebuchadnezzar was a head of gold on a statue. The rest of his body was comprised of silver, gold, bronze, and iron mixed with clay. These were the kingdoms that were less powerful than his had been.
He then ordered his astrologers and wise men to tell him what the dream meant. There was a problem. He didn't tell them what the dream was about. And so of course, they couldn't even give him a good guess at it and so what did he do? He had them killed. Nice king.
He promoted Daniel to be one of his influential advisors and it was he who interpreted the dream for Nebuchadnezzar and the king said, "Truly, your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery. Daniel 2:27
In Daniel 3, the king had made a gold statue of himself and required everyone to bow down to it when the music played. But there were three men that would not do this. Their names were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were friends of Daniels. When they refused to bow down as was so ordered by the king, he threw them into a blazing furnace. While in there, God had protected them and when they came out, the king could hardly believe it but he realized that their God had delivered them and that anyone that dared speak against their God, they would be torn from limb to limb, and their homes would be shambles because there was no other god that was able to rescue them other than the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel 3:28-29
Source for today: Who was Nebuchadnezzar?
Three men that would not bow down to anyone except the true God, and he rescued them from pain and death. Could we do the same if at some point it comes to something similar in our own lives? As we know, even Peter denied Christ three times before he was arrested. What about you and I?
Will it ever come to that? I don't know. But as part of the human race, I do know that we often cry and bellyache at the stupidest or at least the smallest things. Could I do it? Could you?
April 23, 2019 Promise: Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Genesis 18:14
Hello Friends, thanks for stopping by. I pray that your celebration of Easter this year has been special and the life of Christ will go on for you every day and not for just a season.
The life of Daniel did not stop there. There is more to learn about him so please come back tomorrow as I share about this great and special man of God. In the meantime, God bless!
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