Inquiring Minds… Was Nebuchadnezzar a Prophet?

Part 1

Tim Moore: So let’s consider a few of those unlikely mouthpieces used of God. So how about it, fellas? What are some of the examples of folks or individuals, entities in Scripture, that we would not have expected to be a mouthpiece, a conduit of God’s revelation?

Nathan Jones: Well, I like what Amos said. He said, “Surely the Lord does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servant the prophets.” That’s Amos 3:7. So we always know that the Lord wants us to know about the future, about His plans, about His victory, for the purpose, and I’m just going to give it away right now, to give us hope in these trying times.

Tim Moore: So we often think that the prophets were Jewish, but not all of them had the same sort of background. Some of them were kings, like David in Psalm 2, some of them were sheep herders or shepherds, some of them were fig pickers. I think that’s one of your favorites.

Nathan Jones: Tekoa, yes. Amos from Tekoa.

Tim Moore: Yeah, but not always were they even Jewish as far as revealing a revelation of God. Interpreting, yes. But what were some of the non-Jewish individuals that sometimes were conduits of His revelation?

Dave Bowen: Well, I go back to Pharaoh, go back to Pharaoh in Genesis. In fact, there’s a couple… Abraham had a king in Genesis that spoke like prophecy, that we wouldn’t have called prophecy or understood it back then. So I think God uses whoever He needs to use. And I think it’s more about who the audience is. Who is He trying to reach? Because it’s not who He’s using, it’s who He’s trying to reach, I think is more important.

Tim Moore: Who He’s trying to reach. I like the example of Balaam, who was a pagan seer, we’re told in Scripture, and yet over and over again, he speaks a word that was revealed to him by the Lord either in his inability to curse the Jewish people, as Balak had wanted him to do.

And even Balaam sometimes heard from a very unusual source. At one point his own donkey began to speak. So the Lord can use a talking donkey if He wants, or the three of us. I’m not trying to make an analogy here, fellas, but He can speak a word of truth through anyone he chooses, right?

Nathan Jones: Well, look what he did with Pilate’s wife about the dream she had about not having Jesus killed. Of course he didn’t listen. But, you know, we get this idea that, well, unless you’re a born again believer in Jesus Christ, you can’t hear from God.

But we hear about dreams and visions, especially in Iran right now, where people are coming to know the Lord and Savior. Jesus is going right to them in dreams. He goes to unbelievers because He wants all to be saved.

And so throughout the Bible we see that, too. Caiaphas, who was an enemy of God, was also one who gave prophecies. And the one I think we’re going to cover for the next, at least two episodes, Nebuchadnezzar, one of my favorite characters in the Bible. One of my favorite Veggie Tale characters, too.

Tim Moore: Yeah. Veggie Tales really captured his personality, I think, very well. But he was, let’s be very clear, a pagan king, not one who initially trusted in the Lord or even revered the Lord, and yet the Lord gave him a vision, and indeed not just one vision. But let’s dive into this. So tell us a little bit more about Nebuchadnezzar and the visions he had.

Dave Bowen: Well, I’m amazed by the fact that God called him His servant. When did he serve God? He was not that. So, again, perspective and who God is trying to get the message across to. Why in the world…. I don’t know about you. Would you look at Nebuchadnezzar and call him God’s servant?

Tim Moore: I wouldn’t.

Dave Bowen: Yeah.

Tim Moore: But again, but God…

Nathan Jones: Well, he was God’s instrument of wrath. Because we’ve got to remember that the Jewish people were promised, back in Deuteronomy 28, that if they rebelled against God, God would send them into exile.

Hundreds of years later, 586 BC, this is the third time Nebuchadnezzar had attacked Jerusalem. This time he totally sacks it. He dragged, like, he dragged Daniel and his friends earlier up to Babylon and resettled them. He was God’s instrument of wrath against the Jewish people.

So it must have been hard for Daniel, who had his town destroyed and ripped from his families and forced to live in the King’s court, every day he’s seeing his oppressor. And yet we know eventually they become good friends because the Lord uses Nebuchadnezzar to express His great plan for the ages.

Tim Moore: And we know that the Lord also says, if necessary, He’ll put hooks in the jaws of the kings to turn their heads, almost like you would with a horse, to steer them in the direction He wants them to go, to fulfill His purposes. And we also know, speaking of visions, Nebuchadnezzar is not the only pagan king to have had a dream. Very famously, Pharaoh had a dream.

Dave Bowen: Right. We were saying that. I think it’s important, though, because I think people can get confused when we talk about God can use anybody, anytime, anything. You brought the donkey up.

Tim Moore: Yes.

Dave Bowen: Well, how did he respond to the donkey? He beat the donkey.

Tim Moore: Right.

Dave Bowen: But he beat the donkey…

Tim Moore: Balaam did.

Dave Bowen: Yeah. He didn’t know what’s going on until he saw the angel. And the angel said, “If that donkey did not stop, you would have died.” So I think people get confused. If God can use anybody, anytime, anywhere, anything, how do we know what’s from God and what’s not?

Tim Moore: Hmm.

Dave Bowen: How do we understand that? If Nebuchadnezzar can be used as a servant, then how do we know that this is from God or that’s not from God? It’s only by being in His Word.

Tim Moore: That’s a great point, because we have others who would claim falsely to have heard from God. “I found some golden tablets and I was able to interpret them,” or, “I heard from a moronic angel,” or whatever.

Dave Bowen: Yeah, exactly.

Tim Moore: And so we don’t want to heed those who give any kind of revelation that is contrary from the Word of God, so we test everything against what God has revealed, right?

Nathan Jones: And that’s why we have the 66 books of the Bible, because the councils over the first three centuries of Church history said, “Does this jive with the Word of God? If it doesn’t, then it’s pseudepigraphal. It goes out. We don’t… It’s not a real book.”

But we know, too, that not only did the Lord use Nebuchadnezzar to give His message, but He also provided a trustworthy prophet, so going back to what Amos prophesied there. So Daniel was there on the scene.

You know, if Nebuchadnezzar hadn’t taken Daniel up, then Nebuchadnezzar wouldn’t have been able to share his dream with anybody and we wouldn’t have got that prophecy and, frankly, all the wise men would’ve been dead because Nebuchadnezzar would have killed them all.

So the Lord had the right prophet in the right time period. And it’s interesting, as we’ll read later when we get to Daniel’s dreams, He does give them directly to the prophet, but He also gives them to a pagan king who was at the time the greatest king in the entire planet.

Tim Moore: He certainly was. So we’re bringing out a dream that is first revealed in Daniel 2. So those of you all saying, “All right, this Nebuchadnezzar, where can I read more about him?” Go to the book of Daniel and you’ll read about Nebuchadnezzar and the way that Daniel was able to not only tell Nebuchadnezzar what his dream was. All his wise guys, his seers, his Chaldeans, they couldn’t tell him what the dream was.

And I think that was Nebuchadnezzar’s test: “You know what? You guys have been filling me full of hot air for years. You tell me what my dream was and then interpret it.” And none of them could, kind of putting to the test their false witness. But Daniel was able to tell him what the dream was and to reveal its meaning.

Dave Bowen: Right. And I think both of you made two great points. A.) He can use a pagan king, but He needs the interpretation from a man of God to interpret that correctly.

Nathan Jones: And on top of that, what do we read that Daniel does? Daniel just doesn’t start spouting anything off. He goes to God…

Tim Moore: Exactly. Right.

Nathan Jones: And he says, “God, you know, my life’s on the line here, but tell me what this dream means,” because only, you have to go to the source of revelation. If a man is making… We read about, in Deuteronomy 18, the test of a false prophet. If they say something in their own words and it doesn’t come true, they’re a false prophet, don’t fear them.

Tim Moore: I’m going to build on that. But you get to your point B. What was the second?

Dave Bowen: Well, the second one was that you had to test the, what’s being said. So he tested that by saying, “Tell me what the dream was. Don’t tell me what it means. Tell me what it was.” There was a test there. And how do we test God’s Word? Does it come together? It would never conflict with each other. If it’s conflicting, it’s not from God.

Tim Moore: So Daniel, very wisely, in Chapter 2:17, upon hearing about the dream… And we’re going to tell you what the dream is in just a minute, folks, I promise. But he goes into his house and he gathers three friends, three godly men: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. We know them famously as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, their Babylonian names…

Nathan Jones: Rach, Shack, and Benny.

Tim Moore: Yeah, make the bed, shake the bed, and to bed we go. So that they together might request compassion from the God of Heaven concerning this mystery so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed. In other words, he sought wise counsel, but they turned to the Lord. So now let’s actually peel back the layer. What dream are we talking about that Nebuchadnezzar had that Daniel was able to tell him about and then interpret?

Dave Bowen: Well, it comes to the future and what happens with Gentile nations and so on and so forth. But I think it’s important to point out this was a pattern that God used, because when look at this, it’s plural. There were dreams that the king had, but this one in particular bothers him so much that he had to find an answer for it.

Tim Moore: So he sees a great statue. Describe the statue for us, Nathan.

Nathan Jones: Okay, so Daniel amazes everybody because he sees the dream, and he sees this tremendous statue. It’s got this head of gold. It’s got a chest and arms of silver. It’s got thighs and belly of bronze, legs of iron, and feet which are a mixture of iron and clay. And so this massive statue is there and it’s so impressive.

But the stone, and Daniel says, “Not cut out by human hands,” in other words, from Heaven, comes flying out of the sky. It hits the statue, it blows the statue up, and even the dust blows away so there’s nothing left of it.

And then that stone grows into a great mountain and it fills the earth. And I won’t give away the interpretation, but that was what the dream is. And you can see why Nebuchadnezzar was bothered by that.

Tim Moore: He was bothered by that, but he was also inspired to a degree because, I will give away this part, Daniel said, “You represent one aspect of the statue,” and I think it kind of went to Nebuchadnezzar’s head.

Nathan Jones: He had a massive ego.

Dave Bowen: No pun intended there, right?

Tim Moore: No pun intended, because he was the head of gold. And so Nebuchadnezzar thinks, “Wow, yes, this does reflect my majesty and my kingdom.” And it’s easy for us to have, as we’ve discussed in previous editions on Psalm 2, a worldly perspective and not necessarily see things from a heavenly perspective.

It went to the king’s head, but it also did reveal a whole sweep of human history and the kingdoms of the Earth that would follow even that Babylonian kingdom.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, so let’s back up a little bit because, you know, we’re saying that the head of gold is Nebuchadnezzar, but it’s also because each of these four that we’re seeing are empires, and they’re empires around the Mediterranean and they’re empires that directly affect Israel. So we’re not talking about China or the Mayans or the Iroquois nations, these are the empires, the world empires, that directly affect the people of Israel.

And so there would be four successive, and technically a fifth, successive empires that will come throughout history leading up into, you’ve made a great point, the times of the Gentiles, Daniel prophesies this all the time, the time where the Gentiles would trample down the Jewish people. And it started, I believe, in 586 BC…

Tim Moore: It did, yeah.

Nathan Jones: And it goes until the very end of the Tribulation, where Jesus comes back and defeats the Antichrist. That is the time of the Gentiles.

Dave Bowen: Yeah. 605 BC it really started. There was three times that they brought Jewish people over to Babylon, but 586 BC was the destruction of Jerusalem and the capital with that.

But you brought up something about it went to his head. Now that’s not just, that’s not a thought, that’s not something we throw out there, because the Bible says later on… I don’t want to get ahead of myself again, but when Nebuchadnezzar goes out there, he says, “Look at what I’ve done. I’ve built all this.” It did go to his head…

Tim Moore: It certainly did.

Dave Bowen: And we do see that. Again, Scripture will verify that. But the times of the Gentiles. So Israel has been dominated by Gentile nations from Nebuchadnezzar until when? When does that time end? That’s what this whole dream and book is about.

Tim Moore: I think we cannot understand any of the Old Testament and indeed much of the New…

Dave Bowen: Correct.

Tim Moore: Without the context that God still has a plan for the Jewish people. We, brothers, have been grafted into God’s plan for the Jewish people. They have not been cast aside permanently. They have been disciplined. Boy, you talked about the wrath of God, the discipline of God toward His people, we cannot look at that lightly. But He does intend to bless them, and so in the fullness of time, they will be. I think it’s very important.

Again, Daniel sought counsel from God. He sought the counsel of wise friends to pray alongside of him. That should tell us that nobody should be a lone wolf Christian. We should be amongst other believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, dare I say, in a body of Christ, which we call the Church, so that we can seek wise counsel and that we can mutually encourage one another.

But even as Daniel is given understanding and goes back to the king, here’s what he has to say in Chapter 2:26. The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar in that Babylonian kingdom, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?”

Now, some of us might say, “Yes, I am.” But that’s not what Daniel said. This wise man of God said, and answered before the king, “As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king.” And he could add to that list, “Or me.” “However, there is a God in Heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar that which will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the vision in your mind while on your bed.”

In other words, right as he’s going to describe it, Daniel gives reverence and honor to the Lord, who is the revealer not just of dreams, but of truth from beginning to end. I think we have to stop right there and say praise the Lord that He has indeed revealed to us His plan of salvation and we live in such a time that we’re seeing His ancient promises come to pass before our eyes.

Nathan Jones: And this was a very, very dire time for Daniel and his friends and all the… I mean, Nebuchadnezzar promised, if that dream wasn’t told, he would chop them up into little pieces and burn their houses down. I mean, their lives were on the line. He better give God the credit for it because that’s where it’s coming from.

I want to bring up a point that’s interesting. We know that each of these are successive empires that will go through time from, like you said, 605 or 586 all the way down to the end of the Tribulation.

Tim Moore: So we need to tell what those empires are…

Nathan Jones: Yeah, I think it’s very important…

Tim Moore: For our viewers.

Nathan Jones: But also notice that the value of the metal decreases as you go. It gets stronger, but it also, the value… Like gold, I mean, gold is so valuable. And he’s saying that, you know, “You Nebuchadnezzar are that head of gold.” In other words, Nebuchadnezzar was Babylon. At that time, he was the ultimate king. He was judge, jury, and executioner. He was the guy in charge, so no wonder it went to his head. Every day he was treated as the ultimate human on the planet.

Tim Moore: So we know that the head of gold is the one who the dream went to his head to a degree, and that is Nebuchadnezzar, that is the Babylonian empire. That was followed not just in the statue, but in human history by which empire?

Dave Bowen: Well, then you go into Persians and you go into the Meads. But do you think… And Greece comes…

Tim Moore: Okay, so Persia being, or excuse me, the Greeks, rather, and then the two legs of iron being Rome.

Dave Bowen: Rome. Rome, right.

Tim Moore: Okay. And so you can think of the Medo-Persian Empire as the silver. Bronze, we think of the Bronze Age represented by Greece. Folks, if you think of Greece, think of Alexander the Great who was from Greece and conquered the known world at the time. He was on his way to conquer India when he was struck down very quickly. And the next empire that followed is Rome. And we’ll get to that last fifth empire in a moment. So those are the successions. And I didn’t mean to interrupt you other than that.

Dave Bowen: No, it’s just, I don’t want to get on a rabbit trail because of time, but I think it’s important that we understand the whole, again, the big picture of this. The whole focus is that Gentile nations are going to control Israel until a time. And I think people watching, I know people I talk about say, “Well, Israel, does God still have plans for Israel? Is Israel still happening? How does Israel fit into the Bible?”

And it goes back–our doctrine, our teaching comes from the Reformation period. So you go in the 1500s, around that timeframe, Israel was not a nation for 1500s, Hebrew was not a language, the shekel was not around. So the scholars that put together our doctrine that we go by in the Christian faith didn’t talk about Israel. So a lot of people are confused about that.

So we get to the Book of Daniel and we talk about these nations are controlling Israel, that that’s the whole purpose of them, but someday God will come back and control that. We have to understand the importance that Israel, God is not done with Israel, that there’s still a plan and a purpose for Israel.

And I think the Christian Church needs to really be aware of that because I think we’ve gotten off track. It’s a general statement as far as Israel, which ties us right back to Daniel in Chapter two and the dream.

Nathan Jones: Well, we’re Gentiles, most of the Church is Gentile today. We are falling into that same hubris as the time of the Gentiles. The Church has been trampling Israel as part of the time of the Gentiles, I mean, it really has.

But you get these successive kingdoms. And what’s also fascinating is that the metal quality is lesser and lesser. And so each shows that the government is, the power is starting to be spread out amongst, you know, a body of people like a senate or a congress, until eventually you get the Rome. But the Rome is the most powerful one.

But it’s interesting that there’s two arms on Medo-Persia because there were two empires united. There’s two legs. You’ve got the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire would spread. And so we’re seeing that history, but then we’re like, “Well, wait a minute. Rome was destroyed in the 500s or so AD, how can we say that the Roman Empire is around today?”

Tim Moore: Well, we say the Roman Empire is around today because it has so much influence. And even our own nation, as we created…

Nathan Jones: Rome does?

Tim Moore: A republic here, that hearkens back to Rome. So the Roman mentality still has influence today. Most of Western Europe, even Eastern Europe hearkens back to the Roman Empire’s mentality. It still echoes down through the centuries, I would submit…

Dave Bowen: Can I ask you a question?

Tim Moore: Sure.

Tim Moore: Was Rome destroyed or did they implode?

Nathan Jones: Yes.

Dave Bowen: I mean, Rome kind of imploded on itself.

Tim Moore: It did.

Nathan Jones: Well, notice that the legs go right to feet. And the feet are a mixture of iron and clay. There’s no break in it. There’s no stop.

Tim Moore: Yes.

Nathan Jones: So even though we would say that the Roman Empire was destroyed in the 500s, actually it just kept going on, broken up as nation states, but then, through the EU, has come back together again.

And the Bible prophesies that the final one-world ruler will rise out of the people to destroy the city and the Temple, in 70 AD. We know that’s Europe. So the European Union is a revival of that Roman Empire. Now, the only thing that I question, because this goes to what you said, Tim, about American all, is the 10 kings that we also will read about later in Daniel.

Tim Moore: The 10 toes.

Nathan Jones: Or the 10 toes.

Tim Moore: Right.

Nathan Jones: They’re brittle, but they’re also strong. We see that the European Union is brittle, but it’s also strong. Or as these 10 toes, or 10 kingdoms all the kingdoms of the world divided into 10 regions? That’s a question. I don’t know.

Dave Bowen: But it’s iron and clay, and they don’t mix.

Nathan Jones: Not at all.

Dave Bowen: So those 10 kings aren’t going to all be in the same, you know, thinking and they’re not going to be all compatible because of iron and clay.

Nathan Jones: That’s why I take a global interpretation of it. I don’t think we’re talking about Europe is going to be, in the final phase, 10 kingdoms inside the European Union, but the world will be divided into 10 economic regions. And actually you had this great deep dive recently where you talked about the 10 regions. Maybe real quickly tell us what that means because it’s the answer to the 10 toes.

Dave Bowen: We can go back in history and find a lot of things. Things that we deal with today in our world, it’s not new, it goes back now 50 years, 100 years some of it. And that what you’re talking about goes back to the Club of Rome.

Now, they put the world into 10 categories, which was interesting because Greenland was tied into America, and now Trump comes in and says, “Well, we should buy and conquer Greenland,” you know? And no one gets that. We go, “Wait a minute, wait. That goes back 50 years, to the ’70s, with the Club of Rome.”

Now, I cannot say that the map the Club of Rome came up with 50 years ago will be the 10 kingdoms, but it does, it’s interesting they put those 10 kingdoms together, and that’s what the deep dive is about.

Tim Moore: I think as we pull back even from the immediacy of this vision, we come to what Nebuchadnezzar, this pagan king who had the dream in the first place, who heard the interpretation, what he responded. And this is captured in Daniel 2:46.

King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, did homage to Daniel, yes, gave orders to present him an offering and fragrant incense. And the king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and revealer of mysteries since you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

You think, “Wow, that’s a great testimony of faith.” And yet in the very next chapter, as we’ve been alluding to, Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden statue of who? Himself so that people could worship it. So his faith was not at the heart level; at this point, it’s at the head level. And obviously he did not follow in true faithfulness to the true and living God. And so he erected the statue.

We don’t know where Daniel is during that scene, but his three friends that have already come together to pray with him were caught up and thrown in a furnace because they refused to worship this false image.

Nathan Jones: And I think this is because Nebuchadnezzar missed the point of the dream in Daniel 2. He got stuck on the head.

Tim Moore: Yes, he did.

Nathan Jones: And made himself: “Well, I’m the most important of all the kingdoms that will ever be.” And he missed the stone not cut out by human hands that came out of the sky and destroyed that statue and filled the Earth.

The real interpretation, the ultimate meaning of this passage is the destruction of Gentile world powers, fallen human government, and the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on this Earth, the Messiah’s kingdom. That’s what it’s about. And I think Nebuchadnezzar was also jazzed that Daniel came up with it: “Oh, surely God’s great, but, hey, I must be really awesome,” and he missed the stone.

Tim Moore: He missed the stone.

Dave Bowen: Which really questions the word you used. Did he have faith?

Nathan Jones: Not at this point.

Dave Bowen: Because you said his faith was, his faith. I don’t think…

Tim Moore: No, no, no.

Dave Bowen: I don’t think it was faith at all.

Tim Moore: No, it wasn’t faith. You’re correct.

Dave Bowen: Right.

Tim Moore: And so we see a subsequent dream that Nebuchadnezzar has, where he sees a great tree. And once again, in Daniel 4, Daniel is able to interpret that vision again. Now it’s coming down Belteshazzar and being another king with another vision and Daniel once again is able to interpret this dream and the vision being fulfilled. I say Belteshazzar, that, of course, is Daniel.

The dream fulfilled in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, as he was the great tree. And Daniel says, “The tree is going to be uprooted.” And so sure enough, for a season, Nebuchadnezzar, in his arrogance and haughtiness, as he looks out upon his kingdom and all that I have done, in an instant, was struck and went raving mad.

As a matter of fact, it says he wanders the fields, or wandered the fields like a beast. His fingernails and his hair grew out and he was like a wild beast until he came back to his senses. And only after he came back to his senses, in Chapter 4:34, did Nebuchadnezzar make this statement. Nebuchadnezzar raised his eyes toward Heaven and said, “I bless the Lord Most High and praise and honor Him who lives forever. His dominion is an everlasting dominion,” contrasting against his own, “and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.”

I think he’s come to realize, “Mine will not.” “All the inhabitants of the Earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of Heaven and among the inhabitants of Earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have you done?” In other words, Nebuchadnezzar comes to a right perspective on God.

And that’s our whole goal, even with this Inquiring Mind Series, is to put all of us in a right perspective with the Lord God Almighty. And most importantly, don’t get caught up on the statue, don’t get caught up on the visions. We want to focus on the stone cut without human hands that will smash all these earthly kingdoms.

Nathan Jones: And that’s what’s neat about this vision that he has in chapter four, is that the bound the stump. In other words, He wasn’t going to destroy Nebuchadnezzar, He was going to hold him until Nebuchadnezzar was humbled enough to understand what the purpose was, that there is somebody greater than him.

So here we got the greatest king. And I would argue that the Bible makes the case that Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest Gentile king in all of human history until the Antichrist. And yet in the end, I think when we go to Heaven one day, we will see Nebuchadnezzar there because the Lord brought him low unto faith.

Dave Bowen: Is that not a picture of God’s grace?

Nathan Jones: Yes.

Dave Bowen: It is God’s grace right there. I mean, Nebuchadnezzar, with the three friends, called, “That’s the Son of God. There must be a Son of God here.” With the one you brought up, at the tree, it’s an angel of God. Never, he did not have the correct vision of who God is, but God’s grace is sufficient.

Nathan Jones: And he was the, remember, in the beginning, the instrument of God’s punishment. So He used a Gentile ruler who was godless to punish Israel, to bring Daniel to prominence. And we know that Daniel was the founder of the wise men. And the wise men would, a few hundred years later, go and proclaim the birth of Christ to the world. So it is all tied together.

Tim Moore: And what a privilege we have to go and proclaim the Word of God. Any of you can proclaim a Word of God. As a matter of fact, every time a pastor gets up to preach, what do they oftentimes say? They’re reading from the Word of God, and the prophets themselves say, or said oftentimes, “Thus sayeth the Lord.”

And so I go to Daniel 9:22, where Daniel is being revealed yet another vision. He’s visited by Gabriel, an angel, and Gabriel said, “He, God, gave me instruction and talked with me and said, ‘O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.'”

Closing

Folks, we hope that this series gives you insight with understanding not because of any great insight we have, but because of what the Lord has revealed. And frankly, all of us who aspire to, as Paul tells Timothy, rightly divide or accurately handle or correctly teach the Word of God must do so with the same humility Nebuchadnezzar came to express. You know, too many wield their knowledge and authority in a manner that does not convey true humility.

Nathan Jones: There are many things we do not know simply because God has not revealed them to us. and there are other things that are unclear only because we look through a glass dimly and do not yet have the advantage of hindsight.

Dave Bowen: You know, we study the Word of God because it’s His beautiful love letter to us. It’s how He’s chosen to reveal Himself, His plan for salvation, and the fate of the world, and it’s where we come to know His only begotten and Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Tim Moore: You know, one thing is certain. God does not need to call on talking donkeys or pagan seers or kings to convey His truth. The canon of completed Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that all of us called of God may be adequate and equipped for every good work. As Dave said, it’s all you need to come face to face with our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

We pray that the Holy Spirit, not Nathan or Dave or me, will teach you all things and guide you into all truth. The most important truth of all has a name: Jesus Christ. “In the name of Him who was and who is and who is to come, the Almighty” Rev 1:18. Godspeed!

End of Program