Now I, Nebuchad-nezzar, 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 4:37
King Nebuchadnezzer had an encounter with Daniel’s God when Daniel interpreted the king’s dream in Daniel 2. He reacted by proclaiming that Daniel’s God was the “God of gods” (2:47). But the king remained unconverted.
In Daniel 3, the king witnessed a miracle as the three Jews survived the fiery furnace. As a result, he proclaimed that “there is no God who can deliver like this” (3:29). But he remained unconverted.
In Daniel 4, God gave the king a prophetic dream about what was to happen to him. Daniel interpreted the dream, challenging the king to repent, to avoid judgment. The King disregarded the warning. God gave him a whole year to repent, but instead of humbling himself, he swelled in His pride.
So God struck the king with insanity for seven years after which he looked up to God. His sanity was restored and he became a worshiper of the one true and living God (4:34). This time the king was converted!
A key lesson to be learned from this brief overview of these three stories from Daniel is that salvation is not based witnessing miracles, or even on words acknowledging God as God. Salvation is by the grace of God, resulting in humbling ourselves before Him, and surrendering to Christ. Let us not forget that.