A throne, and its ache for the true King
Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar was the mighty pagan king of Babylon who conquered Judah and carried her into exile. Through fiery furnaces, terrifying dreams, and seven years of madness, the God of heaven humbled him until he confessed that the Most High rules.
“Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”Daniel 4:37
His reign
His reign. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and carried away the vessels of the house of God and choice young men, among them Daniel and his three friends (Daniel 1). God gave him a dream of a great image with a head of gold, and Daniel, when no wise man could, revealed that Nebuchadnezzar was that head of gold, but that a stone cut without hands would one day break all kingdoms and stand for ever (Daniel 2). Proud of his glory, the king set up a golden image and commanded all to bow, but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused, and were cast into a furnace heated seven times hotter. He looked in and saw four men walking loose in the fire, and the form of the fourth like the Son of God (Daniel 3:25). Later Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a great tree cut down, and Daniel warned him to break off his sins. Twelve months later, boasting over Babylon which he had built, a voice from heaven drove him out to eat grass like an ox until seven times passed. When his understanding returned, he blessed the Most High, saying, those that walk in pride he is able to abase (Daniel 4:37).
What it revealed
What it revealed. Nebuchadnezzar reveals that God rules over pagan empires as surely as over His own people, raising up and casting down the greatest kings on earth. His dreams reveal that the whole procession of world empires stands under the sovereignty of the God of heaven, and that all human kingdoms will finally give way to a kingdom that shall never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44). His madness reveals God's zeal against pride: the man who boasted, is not this great Babylon, that I have built (Daniel 4:30), was reduced to a beast until he learned that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men (Daniel 4:25). His reign reveals that God will humble the proud, however lofty, and that He can bring even a heathen emperor to genuine confession and praise. It reveals too that God preserves and honors those who will not bow to idols, meeting them in the furnace itself, so that the fire had no power over His faithful ones.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. In Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, the king saw a fourth figure whose form was like the Son of God (Daniel 3:25), a picture of the King who is present with His people in their deepest trials, so that when they pass through the fire the flame does not consume them (Isaiah 43:2). Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the stone cut without hands, which shattered every earthly kingdom and became a great mountain filling the whole earth (Daniel 2:34-35), points to the everlasting kingdom of Christ, which shall never be destroyed. The proud king humbled to confess that the most High rules foreshadows the day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11), even those who once exalted themselves against God. The empire of gold passed away; the kingdom of the Son of David has no end, and its King reigns over all the kingdoms of men.
Questions people ask
Who were the men in the fiery furnace?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. Cast into a furnace heated seven times hotter, they walked unharmed, and the king saw a fourth figure like the Son of God with them (Daniel 3).
What happened to Nebuchadnezzar in his madness?
Because of his pride, God drove him out for seven times to live like a beast, eating grass, until he acknowledged that the most High rules over the kingdoms of men. Then his reason returned and he praised God (Daniel 4).
What does the stone cut without hands mean?
In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, a stone cut without hands destroyed the great image of world empires and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:34-45). It represents God's everlasting kingdom, ultimately the reign of Christ, which no earthly power can destroy.