I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me. 3 How great are His signs, And how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And His dominion is from generation to generation.
Daniel 4:2-3
Daniel 5 is Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony of how God saved him. The backstory is important. In chapter two, Daniel explained the king’s dream. God showed the king that though he was a great king, he would be replaced by another, who would be replaced by another, who would be replaced by yet another, who would ultimately be destroyed by God Himself. The king was impressed with Daniel’s ability to interpret dreams, and gave verbal acclaim to “Daniel’s God,” but the king refused to repent.
In chapter three, the king erected a statue like the one in his dream, but the statue represented his belief that he would live and reign forever. When three Jewish men refused to worship this statue, the king had them thrown into a furnace. When the king saw that they survived, he again paid verbal tribute to their god, but again he refused to repent.
Now in chapter four, God gives the king another dream to warn him that God was going to humble this proud man. Rather than humbling himself, he swelled with pride in the face of God, so God made the king insane for seven years after which God restored the king’s sanity and changed his heart so that he finally repented and he praised God for what “the Most High God has worked in me.” The king was at last a believer—not in Daniel’s God, but in the God the king now knew.
Read the king’s declaration of Almighty God recorded in Daniel 4:34-37 and tell me that he was not a converted man. May we all have similar testimonies of coming to know God as He truly is. Our stories s may not be as spectacular, but in content they must be similar.
And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?" 36 At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down. Daniel 4:34-37