Daniel 2 gives Daniel a broad understanding, and verse 47 is transitional and very important to Daniel 3, “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 couldest reveal this secret.” Emphasis added.
When Nebuchadnezzar said that what does it infer? ________________________________
Nebuchadnezzar is convicted to at least be an acknowledger of the God of the universe. It is interesting that he prefaces his statement to Daniel with “that your God…”, he does not claim Daniel’s God as his own. This is not to minimize the effect this encounter had on Nebuchadnezzar, but his heart was still hard.
Nebuchadnezzar had a fear (afraid/terrified) of God, but not a fear (respect/reverence) for Him. His heart was still hard, and was not yet cleansed from worldly ambition and a desire for self-exaltation. He had the same problem of Satan…pride.
Who else in the Bible had a hardened heart? ________________________________
We looked at Pharaoh as the symbol of being hard-hearted. Over-and-over again he hardened his heart against God. Even though he conceded a few times, it was only to get relief from a plague but then he would quickly turn against God again. His zeal of conquest increased with each encounter. Unfortunately, Pharaoh grieved away any opportunity to be saved. He was determined in his heart/mind to out craft the God of Heaven. His pride was the cause of his hardness which led him to destruction. This is what happened with Lucifer and he will experience the same end…destruction, not by water but by fire.
A very important point, for Nebuchadnezzar this is the beginning of his journey with God. God wants to save him just as he wants to save us. He works with us in our most ‘raw’ condition and will walk the journey with us as long as we don’t shut the door to him as Pharoah did.
Why is this significant? _______________________________________________________
Self-righteousness is the conviction and absolute belief in one’s moral superiority. It is an attitude of being pious or smug, leading to conceit and pride. There is no room for the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to the heart, and prevents the development of humility, which is necessary to ‘put to death’ our sin problems. It has been said that, ‘self-righteousness encourages me to commit that which compassion would never permit’.
Once we read what Nebuchadnezzar did in Daniel 3, we can quickly surmise that he is not yet ‘convert to monotheism’ even if he did acknowledge Daniel’s God.
There are many that acknowledge God, but their heart remains unconverted.