Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in
all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs
and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs!
and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and
his dominion is from generation to generation (Dan 4:1-3).
We have spent some time looking at the Bible types in Dan 3:29-30. Let's look further at Nebuchadnezzar.
"Chapter four is going to give us a great deal more information about this man Nebuchadnezzar than we have had before. Actually, there was a skeleton in the family closet—something I am sure they didn't boast of: Nebuchadnezzar suffered from a form of insanity. This chapter is a leaf of history taken from the archives of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar's form of insanity is pretty well identified and known today, and it is something which a number of world rulers have suffered from" (McGee).
All people, nations, and languages. At first glance it would seem that he is addressing all the people, nations, and languages that he has incorporated into his vast Babylonian Empire, at least 120 provinces. Nebuchadnezzar reigns in Babylon after a long and bloody struggle with the Assyrians to the north, especially its capital city of Nineveh. Assyria destroyed the city of Babylon; Babylon is rebuilt and then the nation of Babylon finally destroyed Nineveh. Nebuchadnezzar II has made political peace with all these former enemies by destroying their ability to make war.
When conquering a country, it is not desirable to destroy everything. Land is almost useless unless you leave enough people on it to engage in occupations to produce tax revenue and to serve as buffer zones around the main kingdom. We may also assume that with such a vast geographical area controlled by the central government of Babylon, many pockets of land are virtually untouched by their conquerors. Whether within his kingdom or those outlying areas not important enough to occupy, he is wishing them all to know the God he has discovered.
Peace be multiplied unto you.
It would be pointless for him to be wishing his conquered neighbors to have more and more peace since he has imposed peace upon them. Here he is talking about a brand new kind of peace—a spiritual and heart peace. The kind of peace he never had before. That's the way God's people think. If they are right with God they want everyone to have the peace and joy they have. If they don't have peace, they hate anyone who says they have peace. "If I can't have peace I'm going to see to it that you don't have peace." Being a church member will not give you peace. A lot of church members don't know the Lord. This is nothing new.
The kind of peace Nebuchadnezzar speaks of can only come to people who truly know God. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Rom 5:1). Peace WITH God is in a legal sense. No conflict with God…."the peace which He made by the blood of the Cross. It is the peace which can come to a sinner's heart that is all right now because of the penalty which Christ paid—God is for him now and God is on his side. Back of all the trouble and travail that is in the world today, back of all the troubled hearts, is the question of sin. Things are not right" (McGee).
Peace OF God is more of an emotional state or sense of well-being imparted by the Holy Spirit into the spirit of man. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Php 4:7)
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful (Col 3:15).
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom – "Nebuchadnezzar was doubtless led to this reflection by what had occurred to him. He, the most mighty monarch then on earth, had seen that his throne had no stability; he had seen that God had power at his will to bring him down from his lofty seat, and to transfer his authority to other hands; and he was naturally led to reflect that the throne of God was the only one that was stable and permanent. He [was] convinced that God reigned over all, and that his kingdom was not subject to the vicissitudes which occur in the kingdoms of this world. There have been few occurrences on the earth better adapted to teach this lesson than this" (Barnes).
Dan Carr
Memory Verses for This Week: (If you know your phone number you can memorize Bible verses.)
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Dan 3:17-18)
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