Pride's Proud Prisoner
Introduction
One need not go far in God’s Word to find the sin of pride rearing its ugly head. Genesis 3: 4-5 recounts for us the fall of Adam and Eve. Their fall was the direct result of pride having taken root in their hearts. Satan tempted them with the same idea and lie that had caused his own fall. He told Eve, “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen.3: 5b).
In Isaiah 14: 12-15 we are given the account of the fall of Lucifer, who was one of God’s most beautiful creations. After his fall, Lucifer (“Son of the Morning”) became known as Satan (“Adversary”). This passage vividly points out the core issue in the sin of pride. Five times, in verses 13 and 14, we find the words “I will.” Satan had an “I” problem. And so it is with the sin of pride—the individual is always the focus. Just as a matter of interest, if you’ll look at the words “sin” and “pride,” you will notice that “I” is in the center of both.
Pride has been wreaking havoc with men and women ever since the fall of Satan. Even Christians are not immune to the ravages of this wicked sin. F.J. Huegel said,…
Just remember that more Christians go on the rocks, defeated, over the nasty little thing we call “hurt feelings” than over the so-called great crises which test the very fiber of the soul.1
Pride affects people in a strange way, for, “Pride is the only disease known to man that makes everyone sick except the one who has it.”2 We must learn to recognize this sin in our own lives in all of its ugliness. If we don’t, God may have to knock the props out from under us. And believe me, He knows just how to do that.
Nebuchadnezzar is a prime example of a man who thought everything revolved around him. He felt there was no one to thank for his accomplishments but himself. But God took him down more than a notch or two to show him differently. At the end of it all, Nebuchadnezzar learned that God is supreme in all things.
In God’s dealings with Nebuchadnezzar, we notice…
I. Nebuchadnezzar’s Pride
A. He Took Pride In His Position
1. Nebuchadnezzar Saw Himself As The Center Of Everything
Daniel 4:10, “Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great.”
Someone once wisely noted that, “God pickles the proud and preserves the foolish.”3 The way I see it, either way you wind up canned.
It’s always a mistake to view one’s self as the center of one’s own universe.
A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, “Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?”
The pastor replied, “Mary, that’s not a sin, why that’s just a mistake!”4
2. Nebuchadnezzar Saw Himself In Control Of Everything
Daniel 4:20-22, “The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; 21 Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: 22 It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.”
B. He Took Pride In His Power
Daniel 4: 29-30, “At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. 30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?”
C. He Took Pride In His Prosperity
Daniel 4:4, 12a, “I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: 12a The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all…” The idea here is that “outwardly all was prosperous.”5
Prosperity can be very dangerous. Some people can handle it; others cannot. As one man noted: “I’ll say this for adversity — people seem to be able to stand it, and that’s more than I can say for prosperity.”6
D. He Took Pride In His Productivity
Daniel 4:30a, “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built…”
Nebuchadnezzar mistakenly believed that he was solely responsible for the greatness and productivity of Babylon. This is the same shape America is in today. There is no doubt that America is a great nation. But I’m afraid that she has forgotten who made her great. Abraham Lincoln once made the same observation.
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.7
II. Nebuchadnezzar’s Pruning
A. This Took Place Via God’s Decree
Daniel 4:23-24, “And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; 24 This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king:”
B. This Took Place Via Nebuchadnezzar’s Demotion
Daniel 4:30-31, “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? 31 While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.”
Nebuchadnezzar thought he was in control. And though that may have been the way it appeared, ultimately, God was in charge of everything.
II Chronicles 20:5-6, “And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, 6 And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?”
Nebuchadnezzar was a man caught up in self-importance and self-deception. In his mind, he was the sole source of Babylon’s greatness. He saw himself as having to answer to no one. He was a legend in his own mind.
We humans are really good at self-deception. If we try hard enough, we can color our world any way we want, in order to make ourselves appear right.
Jessica Hawn, former church secretary who committed immoral acts with Jim Bakker (former host of the PTL Club), and later brought down the PTL Empire, said today (9-28-87) that God gave her “real peace” about granting an interview to Playboy magazine and posing for topless pictures. On 9-29-87 the news reports that she still considers herself a Christian, but goes to God “one-on- one,” not through any church or organization. Also, she doesn’t consider herself a “bimbo.” But her mother does.8
C. This Took Place Via Nebuchadnezzar’s Dementia
Daniel 4: 16, 32-33, “Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. 32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.”
III. Nebuchadnezzar’s Praise
A. He Recognized God’s Position
Daniel 4: 34a, “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever…”
B. He Recognized God’s Power
Daniel 4:34b-35 “…whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”
Nebuchadnezzar finally realized that he wasn’t so powerful after all. When compared to the power of God, his power was practically meaningless.
A young boy traveling by airplane to visit his grandparents sat beside a man who happened to be a seminary professor. The boy was reading a Sunday school take-home paper when the professor thought he would have some fun with the lad. “Young man,” said the professor, “If you can tell me something God can do, I’ll give you a big, shiny apple.” The boy thought for a moment and then replied, “Mister, if you can tell me something God can’t do, I’ll give you a whole barrel of apples!”9
C. He Recognized God’s Point
Daniel 4:37, “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.”
When God got through with Nebuchadnezzar’s haughty heart, believe me, he was a different man. He got God’s point.
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1. F.J. Huegel, quoted in Our Daily Bread, December 6, 1986.
2. Our Daily Bread, December, 1986.
3. Source unknown.
4. Source unknown.
5. Charles F. Pfeiffer and Everett F. Harrison, Editors, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, published by Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois; pg. 783.
6. Kin Hubbard.
7. A. Lincoln, Proclamation of a day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, 1863.
8. Source unknown.
9. Today in the Word, April, 1989, p. 43.