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The Bible Breakdown
Daniel 04: Beast Mode
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, daniel, chapter 4, and today's title is Beast Mode. We're going to talk about Beast Mode today, and if you're a football fan, there is a player who he just gets into this zone and they call it Beast Mode, and that's just where he just takes over the game. He just runs over people. That's a good thing. Today's Beast Mode is a bad thing. We're going to talk about that in just a moment. But if you like what we're doing here while you're getting your Bible out. Turning to Daniel 4, make sure you also take a moment, pause the video or pause the podcast and like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. It really does help and it doesn't cost you anything. Make sure you also leave us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. Do a wonderful job there and, as always, the more we dig, the more we find.
Speaker 1:Well, once again, we are continuing to move through the book of Daniel, and the overall theme of Daniel is God is in control, and that's such an important thing that we remember because he is in a place where it doesn't look like God's in control. All kinds of crazy stuff is happening, but it doesn't stop God from being in control, and we saw in chapter one how he said I am not going to defile myself, and so I'm going to honor my God, even when I'm in a place I don't want to be. Chapter two we saw how God used him to interpret a dream and just did amazing things, bringing glory to God Yesterday. In chapter three, we talked about how, you know, even in this horrible position, shadrach, meshach and Abednego were like I am going to continue to serve God, and they were thrown into a fire because of it, but they didn't die and it brought glory to God again and we love that phrase. When they basically said God is able, but even if he doesn't, he's still God. I love that so much.
Speaker 1:Well, today we're going to jump into Daniel, chapter 4. We're going to watch just some weird stuff. This is just kind of some weird stuff that is happening in the area of Babylon, especially when it comes to Nebuchadnezzar. Apparently, he's a dreamer. He has another dream and he turns into a beast, maybe something close to a werewolf. We'll see. Are you ready?
Speaker 1:Daniel, chapter 4, verse 1, says this King, nebuchadnezzar, sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world. As you do right when you're in charge of like everything, here we go Peace and prosperity to you. I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders the most high God has performed for me. So he's given glory to Yahweh. Here we go. How great are his signs, how powerful his wonders. His kingdom will last forever, his rule through all generations.
Speaker 1:I, nebuchadnezzar, was living in my palace in comfort and prosperity, but one night I had a dream that frightened me and I saw visions that terrified me as I lay in my bed. So I issued an order calling all the wise men of Babylon so they could tell me what my dream meant. When magicians, enchanters, astrologers and fortune tellers came in, I told them the dream. They could not tell me what it meant. At last, daniel came in before me and I told him the dream. He was named Belshazzar after my God, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him. I said to him Belshazzar, king of the magicians or chief of the magicians. I said to him Belshazzar, king of the magicians or chief of the magicians. I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too great for you to solve. Now tell me what my dream means.
Speaker 1:While I was lying in my bed, this is what I dreamed I saw a large tree in the middle of the earth. The tree grew very tall and strong, reaching into the high heavens for all the world to see. It had fresh green leaves and it was loaded with fruit for all to eat. Wild animals lived in its shade, birds nested in its branches. All the world was fed from this tree. Then, as I lay there dreaming, I saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. The messenger shouted cut down the tree and lop off its branches, shake off its leaves and scatter its fruit, chase the wild animals from its shade and the birds from its branches, but leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass. Now let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and let him live with the wild animals among the plants of the field For seven periods of time. Let him have the mind of a wild animal instead of the mind of a human, for this has been decreed by the messengers, and it is commanded by the holy ones that everyone may know that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world. He gives them to anyone he chooses, to everyone. Let me try this again he gives them to anyone he chooses, even the lowliest of people.
Speaker 1:Belshazzar, that was what I dreamed, I Nebuchadnezzar, and I had it. Now, tell me what it means, for none of my wise men in my kingdom can do it, but you can tell people, because the Spirit of the Holy Gods is in you. Upon hearing this, daniel, also known as Belshazzar, was overcome for a time, frightened by the meaning of the dream. Then the king said to him Belshazzar, don't be alarmed by the dream and what it means. Belshazzar replied I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, not to you.
Speaker 1:The tree you saw that was growing very tall and strong, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. It had green leaves and was loaded with fruit for all to eat, and even the wild animals lived in the shade and the birds nested in its branches. That tree, your majesty, is you, for you have grown strong and great, and greatness reaches up to the heaven and your rule to the ends of the earth. Then you saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven. Let him live with the animals of the field for seven periods of time. This is what the dream means, your majesty, and what the whole the most high has declared will happen to my lord, the king. You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with the wild animals, you will eat grass like a cow and you'll be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses, but the stump and the roots where the tree were left in the ground. This means that you will receive your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules.
Speaker 1:King nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice stop sinning and do what is right. Bring from a break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper. But all these things did happen to king nebuchadnezzar to prosper. But all these things did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar.
Speaker 1:Twelve months later, he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal palace in Babylon. He looked out across the city and said look at this great city of Babylon. By my own power have I built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor. While these words were still in his mouth, a voice called from heaven O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you. You are no longer. You are no longer ruler of this kingdom. You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with wild animals. You will eat grass like a cow. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses. That same hour, the judgment was fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society. He ate grass like a cow. He was drenched with the dew of heaven and he lived this way until his hair was long as eagles' feathers and his nails were like birds' claws.
Speaker 1:Wow, after the time had passed, I, nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned. I praised and worshipped the Most High and honored the One who lives forever. His rule is everlasting. His kingdom is eternal. All the people of earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say anything to him. What do you mean by doing no one? No one can stop him or say to him. What do you mean by doing these things? When my sanity returned to me, when my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisors and nobles sought me out and I was restored as head of my kingdom, and with greater honor than before. Now I, nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All of his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud. Wow, okay. So here's what happened. I'm going to break this down for us.
Speaker 1:King Nebuchadnezzar was a jerk. Apparently, he was really, really prideful and he was like see all this as me, see everything that's over there as me too. No one's as awesome as me. See all this over there as me too. No one's as awesome as me. And God had enough of it. And so he gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream and he told him in the dream that is what's going to happen. You are way too proud, so you are going to basically lose your mind for a season. You're going to run off and you're going to live in the woods until you realize that you are not all that, sir.
Speaker 1:And so you know, what's amazing is, the heart of Daniel is, when Daniel understood what this was, he was brokenhearted for the king and he said King, I would pray that this is what happened to your enemies, not to you. I don't want this to happen to you, my king, but it did. And what's also amazing and we don't know this, I'm going to use my imagination, but when he somehow lost his mind, we don't know exactly what happened. Many people think he had some kind of psychotic break, maybe he developed some kind of schizophrenia or something, but whatever happened, he basically just went insane and he lived out in the fields and just could not be contained for a season and it was just really, really sad, if you think about it, and he just he should have lost everything. But you know, what I wonder is I wonder if it was Daniel who said wait a minute.
Speaker 1:God said this was going to happen and the Most High said he was going to bring him back to sanity and all that. So to me, there's multiple miracles that's happening here. First of all, the miracle is that God decreed this was going to happen and then it did. But the second miracle was is that he didn't die while he was out there. If he's living with the animals, he could have easily been overrun, died of exposure, whatever, and he didn't. Number three is he got his sanity back and gave glory to God. And then, number four, they gave his kingdom back. Like there's a lot of miracles happening in this. They gave him his kingdom back. Like there's a lot of miracles happening in this. And the bottom line was he said that God is able to make humble the proud, but the goal of it was not just to humble him. The goal of it was to bring glory to God and restore him with the right attitude. And so what? Based on God's word, what can we apply today? So many things.
Speaker 1:You've got to go to the Bible breakdown discussion and listen to what they're doing with this and then also give us your takeaways. But here's a takeaway for me, and that is this it is possible for anybody to go through seasons. When they deal with pride, it's possible for people to forget where it all truly comes from. It really is. I know good people who have struggled with pride before, and you don't have to be a jerk to struggle with pride, right? Here's the thing. The Bible says that pride comes and then a fall. So God will sometimes humble us, but here's the thing God loves us, so he doesn't humble us in order to destroy us. He humbles us in order to fix our perspective, so then he can restore us with the right perspective.
Speaker 1:And so I think sometimes we get this idea that, you know, god is mean and angry and vengeful and he is out to destroy you and he's just done. Well, haven't we read enough of the Bible to know that's not our God? Remember when we were reading Ezekiel and all these bad things were happening? And throughout all those bad things, god kept saying but I'm going to redeem you, but I'm going to restore you. I've still got a plan for you.
Speaker 1:And so the main takeaway to me in this is when I'm reading about the life of Nebuchadnezzar, I see somebody who could very easily be us. You look around at this home that God has given you and for just a moment you forget that he gave it to you and you start being so thankful you were willing to work those extra hours so you could earn it. You look around and you see your kids doing well in school and just for a moment you forget that they're primarily his kids and you're so thankful that you're such a good parent. You know you're able to afford to do great things for your family and you forget that the very heartbeat that you have comes from him, and so we start taking the glory for ourself. Well, god, because he loves us, will not let us stay in that, because that will destroy us and so many times he will humble us. But the lesson here is he doesn't humble us to destroy us. He humbles us so he can build us back up again, so we can have more honor than before, but this time giving glory to God.
Speaker 1:So if you're going through a difficult season and you feel like maybe God has humbled you, can I just encourage you? God's not trying to destroy you. He's trying to heal you of a dangerous and broken attitude, so that he can restore you. So your next step is repentance. Bring it before the Lord. God, I'm so sorry. I walk in pride. I'm so sorry that I forget that it all comes from you. God doesn't want you to walk in shame. He wants you to walk in freedom. Freedom is freedom from pride or shame. It's walking in the middle, going man. God's given me gifts, but it's all from him. That's the balance you're looking for. When you do that, just like Nebuchadnezzar, god wants to restore you, so then you can bring glory to him.
Speaker 1:Let's pray together right now, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're with us and that you're for us. God, I have no idea what some people may be going through right now, but I know that you do and I know, lord, that you want to bring glory to yourself through us. I pray you will help us to see everything we do as a gift from you, so everything we see and everything we do is an opportunity to celebrate. I'm thankful for you today. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen. Well, God's word says in Daniel 3, verse 17,. God is able to save us, but even if he doesn't, we will never serve your God. My prayer is that you have that kind of confidence in God to realize that, no matter what happens in your life. God is in control. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Daniel, chapter 5.
