Pastor and 1st Lady Mims

Mims Chapel Church

LESSON 6 • Second Week

KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S
DREAM AND THE
FULFILLMENT OF
THE DREAM

Background Reading

Proverbs 6:16-19; Isaiah 13:11; Jeremiah 48:29, 16:18; James 4:6; Daniel 4:10-18, 19-27

Devotional Reading

Daniel 4:33-36

Central Verse
"Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways are judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase."
Daniel 4:37 KJV

"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All His acts are just and true, and He can humble the proud."
Daniel 4:37 NLT

Key Terms
Precursor—A person or thing that comes before another of the same kind; a forerunner.
Transformative—Causing or able to cause an important and lasting change in someone or something.
Combat—To fight with or against.

Introduction

Nebuchadnezzar was the chosen king of the Babylonian Empire. After capturing people from Israel, he met the true and living God. Because of this encounter, he was able to recognize the greatness of the God of the Universe. His testimony was that the true and living God is great and mighty and rules over all (Daniel 4:1-3).

Nebuchadnezzar learned this lesson the hard way. It all began with a disturbing dream that none of his wise men in Babylon could interpret. After attempts by many of his wise men, Daniel was asked to interpret the King's dream. With God's help, Daniel interpreted the King's dream. Daniel urged the King to confess his sins and do what was right. Daniel was concerned about the King's selfish pride which was causing him to be a harsh leader over his people and center everything around himself. Scripture tells the believer to not think more highly of himself than he ought, but to think soberly (Romans 12:3). Pride is a very serious sin to God, and Scripture states that God hates the spirit of selfish and prideful people. Believers must learn to refuse proud thoughts, giving God the credit He deserves.

Proverbs 15:5 lets believers know that pride will destroy them because proud thoughts lead to boastful words and proud actions. When a believer is proud, he takes all the credit himself instead of giving the credit to God, who deserves all the praise, glory, and honor. But King Nebuchadnezzar did not understand that, so he was headed for doom.

Discussion

Pride is destructive. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, so, there are consequences for pride, hate, and bitterness. God will turn the tables on His believers when they just can't let go of pride. When pride is present in the heart of a believer, they will resist the guidance of the Holy Spirit and fight against God's will, because it becomes a tug-of-war between the flesh and the spirit.

Failure is more common in life than success. Success is often the result of many failures; God uses trials and pain to purify believers, restore them, and take them to higher places. Success makes people proud of themselves, but failure causes them to become humble and ready to trust God. So, God uses failure to lift the believers up to a place of complete trust in Him.

Humility is the key to divine blessings. But most humans want to feel proud of their accomplishments when they use their God-given talents to accomplish great things. God wants them to have great accomplishments, but He also wants them to know and understand that humility is the best way to go.

King Nebuchadnezzar just would not humble himself like Daniel had encouraged him to do. Even after Daniel told him what the dream was and what it meant, he continued boasting about his accomplishments. Suddenly the King's dream came true: he lost his sanity and his kingdom for seven years. He was no longer the powerful leader who commanded respect from all but he suffered the terrible effects of mental illness. His sinful pride had finally overwhelmed him. Pride is not the believer's friend; it can hurt them, causing them to lose friends and causing people to stop trusting and respecting them. God wants His children to refuse proud thoughts and give Him the credit that He deserves. It is God who has made each person and given each one gifts, abilities, and talents. Believers need to remember that without Christ, we can do nothing, but because of Jesus Christ, we can do all things.

The enemy of God wants believers to become lifted in pride, for he knows that pride is an insult to God. The next time proud thoughts come into the mind of a believer, they must begin to thank God for all that He has done for them, ask God to remind them of His goodness, and praise Him. Believers must not allow pride to overcome them as it overcame Nebuchadnezzar.

Eventually, when the judgment of God was upon him, the King looked to God, and this terrible illness left him. The humbled king began to praise, worship, and honor God. It was sad that God had to put judgment on him before he became humble. God drove him outside of his wonderful palace, away from men, where he was on all fours, eating grass like an ox, his body wet with the dew from heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws. It took seven years before he returned to himself.

Conclusion

The Old Testament shows believers several arrogant kings and other great leaders. It allows believers to read about dangerous battles, murderous plots, giants, and more. But they will see that, despite turbulence in leadership, strong enemies, and spiritual decay, God is very much at work, orchestrating the fall of the proud and the rise of the humble.

Pride is the enemy's weapon to stagnate your purpose. Pride isolates and causes a person to wither away in the wilderness. Pride will delay a person's promise and will keep them in generational bondage. Pride is the precursor to destruction and is the enemy's weapon to keep people in cycles. But God can lead and soften anyone's heart as they read and receive a transformative message from His Word.

Questions

Who was Nebuchadnezzar and what was he noted for?
How was Daniel's life involved with the King?
What was his dream about?
Why did God judge him so harshly?
Why does God hate pride?
What does pride do to a person?

Essential Thought- "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall."