“I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. So I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.” Daniel 4:4-6
Have you ever had a dream where it seem so real that it didn’t seem like a dream? Where you couldn’t discern reality from the dream and then you decide to take the red pill (i.e., The Matrix) and you wake up and then you see the real world…
King Neuchadnezzar had such a dream. So perplexed was he that his dream troubled him greatly and he searched his entire kingdom to find an answer. He had a dream where a great tree, which was huge in size, reaching heaven and whose beauty was incomparable, provided shade and fruit for all. Suddenly an angel came from heaven and ordered it to be cut down and its stump to be left in the ground. He asked Daniel what the dream could mean.
In a time of peace and prosperity, “Nebuchadnezzar was at his ease,” God sent this dream to the king as a warning for him to repent of his sins and give all glory to God. The king lived in security, false security, similar to the one Jesus pictured in the Parable of the Rich Farmer (Luke 12:15-21). It is when the world is resting in “peace and safety” that God’s judgment will fall (1 Thess. 5:3). The only safety and rest one can find is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
I recently was witnessing to a young man who dared to say, “Where is God? If He is real, why doesn’t He just strike me dead?” Later on he said to me, “I know there is a god, maybe the real God you are talking about but right now, I am having too much fun and when I am ready, then maybe I’ll go to church.” I wish God gave me a dollar for every person who told me that. And yet, this young man reminded me of King Nebuchadnezzar.
The king decided to take the blue pill and continue on as before… “Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. The king reflected and said, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:28-30) Nebuchadnezzar walked the grounds of his palace marveling his work which we should never do… When we think that we are responsible for what we do and achieve, and we do not recognize that even when we achieve great things it is due to God, we have taken His glory and that is a sin God will not tolerate.
“While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven” (4:31) “he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.” (v.33) The king awoke from his dream of security and found himself to be a beast of the field. But that is not the end of the story. “The Lord is patient, not slow in keeping promises as some might think, but desiring that all men will not perish but come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) “At that time my reason returned to me… Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways are just and he is able to humble those who walk in pride.” (vv. 36-37) The king then took the red pill.
Beloved, live in reality and not your sense of false security. Walk humbly and offer your life as a living sacrifice to Him (Rom. 12:1). And for those who believe you are king of the world, don’t take the blue pill and continue on as before, take the red pill and wake up- there is a God who loves you but He will not share His glory of this life. May God bless you.
Pastor Sung