Nebuchadnezzar The King of Kings, Part 1

Would you believe that the mightiest king in the world once paid homage to a lowly foreign prisoner?

King Nebuchadnezzar had recently ascended the throne of Babylon, the empire that then ruled the world. The young monarch was ruthless, privileged, and arrogant, commencing his reign with a slew of fatal victories against the Assyrians.

But one night, the king had a dream. The Babylonians were a polytheistic nation; they believed that dreams were one of the means by which their gods communicated to them. Consequently, the king demanded that his famed contingent of wise men not only explain the dream to him but also divulge exactly what happened in it.

But his wise men could not do it. “[T]here is no other who can tell it to the king,” they told him, “except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh” (Daniel 2:11). Enraged, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered for the whole lot of them to be killed.

A small handful of Jewish captives who were not present at the meeting, but who had previously found favor with the king for their intellect and understanding, were also numbered among those to be slaughtered. But after pleading for a delay in their sentence and spending time in prayer with his friends, one of them, Daniel, received a vision from God about the king’s dream. He was told that the dream was actually a prophecy foretelling the future of this world all the way to the second coming of Christ.

When Daniel relayed what he had been told to the king, disclosing that God Himself had put the dream into the king’s mind (v. 28), Nebuchadnezzar was astounded. He “fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel” (v. 46), and acknowledged Daniel’s God as superior to even the highest of Babylonian gods (v. 47).

This was the Babylonian king’s introduction to the one true God. Through this experience, God was revealed to be omniscient, real, and deeply personal. Thus began a series of direct communications between God and a king who knew next to nothing about Him.

Reflect: Has God ever revealed His character to you in a dramatic way? What was your view of Him after He did so? What was your view of yourself in relation to Him?

Key Bible Texts

The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldst reveal this secret. (Daniel 2:47 KJV)