Daniel (Six): Who Is The Greater?

Good morning

We continue discussing Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as found in Daniel 4, which you may read HERE.

The Lord warned Nebuchadnezzar through the dream and Daniel gave him an opportunity to repent after he had interpreted the dream in Daniel 4:27: “Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.” Nebuchadnezzar heard the invitation to repent, but the tugging of Mammon was too strong for him.

I cannot help but notice how much effort the Lord put into the life of this godless king to get him so far as to acknowledge that He is Lord and that He has the power of life and death in His hand. This was very obvious in the book of Daniel, since Nebuchadnezzar was very well known at the time, but this is a message for all of us as well. The Lord takes a keen interest in each of our lives. He wants us to acknowledge that He alone should be Lord of our life. I have very personal experience in this regard, since I have a weakness which I allowed to overcome me at times to the detriment of God’s glory. I conveniently believed that I was not able to overcome it in spite of the Lord’s promise Philippians 4:13 that “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

The Lord has been patient with me, but gradually turned up the heat of my circumstances. My regular yielding to this sin has cost me dearly, but still I believed conveniently that the Lord will take the temptation away when it suits Him and in the meantime my flesh cherished the opportunity to continue in this sin. Then the Lord shook my circumstances and brought me down hard, just like He did with Nebuchadnezzar. I was forced to acknowledge that the Lord and He only should be served and that the responsibility for living holy is mine and not His.

It does not matter how holy and good we appear to be and what impression we create before men, the Lord is only interested in the image of Jesus in us and will continue to mould us by turning up the heat of our circumstances until we become like Jesus. Jesus “had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not,” (Isaiah 53:2-3), and He said “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does,” (John 5:19). He also said in John 15:20: “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”

Why do we desire to make an impression; to focus attention on ourselves? Why is it our ambition to impress the proverbial Jones’ and to be acceptable to man? Satan tempted both Eve and Jesus with the lust for power, wealth and the desire to please the sinful nature – which is self. This was exactly the reason why Nebuchadnezzar was unable to repent, for the pleasure that these three issues brought him was greater that the need to be in line with God’s will. Therefore it was necessary for the Lord to bring him down hard so he could repent and acknowledge the Lord as the highest authority in his life.

Jesus did not yield to these three temptations and lived a simple life of suffering for the sake of others. His resulting treasure in heaven was all authority on heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18, Colossians 1:15-20). How about us?

“If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him,” (2 Timothy 2:11-12).

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth,” (Revelation 5:10).

“Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years,” (Revelation 20:6).

Have you died with Jesus just like He was dead to Himself all His life? Will you have an eternity of reigning with Him?

Lord, I want to say like John the Baptist in John 3:30: “You must become greater; I must become less.”

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.