Disclaimer: This post is an exercise in creative writing based on the biblical text. I am writing it from the perspective of King Nebuchadnezzar and though this post is based on the biblical evidence recorded in the book of Daniel chapters 1-4 I do take creative license to add in details and emotions that are not explicitly mentioned in the biblical text. I hope this post is beneficial to those of you who read it.

Nebuchadnezzar the king,

To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth:

Peace be multiplied to you.

I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me.

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 4:1-3 NKJV

I am the great and mighty King Nebuchadnezzar. I have accomplished more than any man before me and I seriously doubt anyone who comes after me will ever match my success. My kingdom extends further than any previous kingdom, and the wealth and power I have accumulated far surpass that of anyone else in the world.

Sure, you could argue that I am the second king of the Chaldean dynasty of Babilonia, but you have to admit that I am the greatest king. My father was a pretty great guy, but my accomplishments far exceed his, I have made Babylon the greatest city in the ancient world. People travel here from all over the world to see its splendor, especially its hanging gardens which are one of the seven wonders of the world, and if I may add, my gardens are much more impressive than the pyramids of Egypt.

I don’t want to brag, but I guess I’ll brag a bit more by adding that my military might is unmatched and no one dares to defy my armies.

I accomplished all this by working harder and being a lot smarter than all my contemporaries. Yes, I have built Babylon and created an empire like no other. Maybe you can understand why I would feel a certain degree of pride and superiority compared to others. Perhaps you can understand why I would be tempted to think of myself as a god, above mere mortals. I am not trying to excuse my behavior, but I hope you can see how it would be easy for me to disregard the weak, the poor, the needy, and those who were in need of help. In my mind, they existed to serve me and should be happy to be allowed to exist, even if only temporarily, under my dominion.

I was at the head of my kingdom and my kingdom meant everything to me and my kingdom existed to provide evidence of my undeniable superiority to all other humans. I built up Babylon, and Babylon glorified me. It was a vicious cycle. Not only did I play the game, I also made the rules, and changed them as necessary, all to guarantee my undisputable success. I was the greatest and there could never be any doubt of that. I would do whatever was necessary to increase my glory and to guarantee the longevity of my power and my kingdom.

As far as I was concerned I existed at the top and everyone else was beneath me. All was going well until the Most High God began to give me visions. He is the God of the Hebrews, the same God that humbled Pharaoh. I was under the impression that He was weaker than my gods since I had destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple. But as I was sleeping God gave me dreams that troubled me.

The first time this happened I couldn’t even remember my dream. This troubled me and I summoned all the wise men of Babylon to the palace and when none of them could tell me what I had dreamed I sentenced all of them to death (Daniel 2:12-13). To my surprise, a young captive from Judah was able not only to tell me exactly what I had dreamed, but he also told me what my dream meant. This was the first time that I was confronted with overwhelming evidence of not only the existence but also the power of the Most High God. I was used to different gods having their areas of expertise, and I was familiar with the ranking among different gods. But this was my first encounter with a single God who held all of the history of the world in the palm of His hand.

The dream of the statue made of different metals and its interpretation (Daniel 2 + audio of sermon) concerned me greatly. I was happy to be the head of gold, but did not like the idea of any other kingdoms coming after mine. The more I thought about it the more my concern grew, what if my advisers who heard the dream and its interpretations began to get ideas to overthrow me and usher in the next kingdom? No, that could not be.

I devised a great plan, I decided to make a statue, but this time make it entirely of gold (Daniel 3), meaning that my kingdom would last forever, and be passed to my son, and his son, and his son, forever! I wanted to make sure that everyone in my kingdom understood that there would be no end to the Babylonian empire! So I had all my key leaders, the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, come to the dedication of the image of gold which I King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

I was going to force all of them to bow down and worship it. I was trying to frustrate God’s plans with my own might. I was going to make sure no other kingdom would follow mine. I sent Daniel out of town on official business since I knew he was faithful and would never cause any trouble. Daniel is an interesting guy. H has a strong work ethic, is very wise, and is completely honest. I would trust him with my life. He was interested in doing what was best for the kingdom and I knew he would never waver in his faith in his God. But I was still discovering what his God was like.

As an incentive for everyone to bow down and worship my statue, anyone who refused would be thrown into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. I never imagined anyone would defy me or my decree. But sure enough, three Jews (Daniel 3:12) did not bow down. Now I am the king of a global empire, I didn’t ask everyone to worship only my gods, but I did require everyone to worship my gods. They could also worship whoever they wanted in their home, to each their own, you know? But I needed everyone to worship the statue I had made. The issue with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego is that though they were some of my highest-ranking officials over the affairs of the province of Babylon they only worshipped their God.

At this point, I began to fear the Jews were the ones planning to take over my kingdom. How convenient for Daniel to be the only one to know my dream and to interpret it the way that he did. But to be honest, I had never had any issues with them, none, until this. My mind must have been playing tricks on me. These were good men, especially Daniel. However, I could not allow such blatant disregard for my decree to go unpunished.

But because they were such great leaders I tried to give them a second chance. I would have not given this courtesy to just anyone, I was hoping they would understand things from my perspective. They could just bow down a little bit, everyone knew they were faithful to their God, this would just help me save face and help smooth things in the kingdom. I just wanted them to compromise a little bit in their faith for the greater good of my kingdom and for them to keep not only their jobs but also their lives.

They didn’t even have to really worship my statue, they just had to bow down. They could have prayed to their God in their hearts, they could continue to worship their God, I just needed them to bow down to my statue, just as a political move, just for self-preservation. Later they could repent and apologize to their God. Why lose their life over a simple, quick, and painless gesture? I didn’t think I was asking for too much. I was really hoping they would understand and see things my way.

But these three young men, these exiles who should have been so grateful for all the great opportunities I gave them that they would never even think to disobey me, had the audacity to tell me that they had no need to answer me in that matter. (Daniel 3:16-18) But that their God was able to deliver them from my fiery furnace and from my hand, but even if the God they served didn’t deliver them they would not serve my gods or worship the gold image I had set up.

I was furious of course and had the fiery furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. The furnace was so hot that the mighty men I commanded to throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego into fire died from the heat. The three Hebrew young men had been bound and they fell inside the fire.

I will never forget what happened next.

I got up from my throne and rubbed my eyes to make sure they were not playing tricks on me. I asked some of my counselors to confirm what I was seeing. I had cast three men into the fire, but now four men were walking around in the fire, they were not hurt and did not demonstrate the slightest discomfort. Even more incredible than that, the fourth man looked like the Son of God (Daniel 3:25). I have no idea what the Son of God looks like but when I beheld the fourth man that is the thought that came to my mind.

After that, I blessed their God for sending His Angel to deliver His servants who trusted in Him. They were willing to yield their bodies to the flames of my fiery furnace rather than worship any god except their own God. So I made a decree that anyone who spoke a word against their God would be destroyed along with their house because there is no other God who could deliver like this. (Daniel 3:28-29)

Then I promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon. I knew that if they were that loyal to their God I could trust them.

After that, I just avoided doing anything that would upset the Most High God. I believed all was well until I received another dream from Daniel’s God. (Daniel 4)

I was able to remember this dream and I hoped my wise men would be able to tell me its meaning. However, none of them could and I had to call Daniel again. I had hoped it would not come to this. I was starting to be afraid of His God. His God was not just the God of the Jews but rather the God of the whole world and it didn’t seem to matter to Him what religion I adopted, He was ultimately in control of everything and I really didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of that mighty God holding me accountable. I enjoyed doing whatever I wanted, I liked to believe I was in control and didn’t have to answer to anyone.

I finally called Daniel. I knew that the Spirit of the Holy God was in him and that no secret troubled him. I was a little bit jealous of him to be completely honest. His life was not an easy life. He worked hard and had more than his fair share of challenges. But he always knew that everything would work out in the end, and he had a peace about him that just didn’t seem normal. He had a peace that was beyond all understanding. (Philippians 4:7)

So I told him my dream.

“These were the visions of my head while on my bed:

I was looking, and behold,
A tree in the midst of the earth,
And its height was great.
The tree grew and became strong;
Its height reached to the heavens,
And it could be seen to the ends of all the earth.
Its leaves were lovely,
Its fruit abundant,
And in it was food for all.
The beasts of the field found shade under it,
The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches,
And all flesh was fed from it.

“I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. He cried aloud and said thus:

‘Chop down the tree and cut off its branches,
Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.
Let the beasts get out from under it,
And the birds from its branches.
Nevertheless leave the stump and roots in the earth,
Bound with a band of iron and bronze,
In the tender grass of the field.
Let it be wet with the dew of heaven,
And let him graze with the beasts
On the grass of the earth.
Let his heart be changed from that of a man,
Let him be given the heart of a beast,
And let seven times pass over him.

‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers,
And the sentence by the word of the holy ones,
In order that the living may know
That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men,
Gives it to whomever He will,
And sets over it the lowest of men.’
- Daniel 4:10-17 NKJV

None of my wise men could interpret my dream but I knew that Daniel could. I asked him what the meaning of my dream was and he looked troubled and hesitated. This troubled me, but I had to know what the dream meant. So he told me that the tree represented me and my power and dominion. However, the dream also prophecies a divine judgment upon me. I would be banished from the company of humans and would live with the beasts of the field and eat grass like oxen for seven years. God would do this to teach me that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He chooses.

However, God would not destroy me. I would only be humbled for a period of seven years and once I learned that God is truly in control my kingdom would be restored to me. Then Daniel gave me some advice, since he knew what God is like he advised me to break off my sins by being righteous, and my iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Daniel thought that perhaps God might extend my prosperity. (Daniel 4:27)

For a while there I humbled myself, but you know how it goes. Time goes by and the old self comes back. With the passage of time, I reverted to my old ways, and in my pride, I beheld Babylon and claimed that I had built it by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty. At that moment the dream came true and the prophecy was fulfilled. I was driven from among people and ate grass with the oxen. My hair and nails grew and I lived as a mindless beast for seven long years.

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.
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?”

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. 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 NKJV

Ruling now is quite different. I still have to work hard and leading is still challenging. But I now recognize that as a ruler established by God, I have a responsibility towards those in need. My kingdom is no longer about my personal honor and glory but rather about being a blessing for all under my dominion. I know that the Most High God holds me accountable and that He is the one who keeps me in power and He could take away that power at any moment so my first concern is to do His will.

I share my story with you in hopes you can learn from my experience. Many of you who read this are leaders in your own way. A leader of a home, a leader at work or at school. All of you have influence and a level of power. I believe the lessons I learned apply to all of you. Though you work hard for your success, never take all the credit for yourself. Ultimately God is the one who provides for you and without Him, you would not even be alive, much less have the success you have achieved by His grace.

Success is not bad, it is a blessing. But if your success goes to your head it can become a great curse. When a successful leader rebels against the will of God, great suffering ensues. I did not understand that before, but I do now. God has taught me to be humble and compassionate towards the weak and powerless. I now understand that God gave me power so that I could use it to alleviate the suffering of those around me.

It is my prayer that you too will understand that your success in life is a gift from God and that God will hold you accountable for how you use the power and influence He has given you. Please learn from my experience, and use what God has given you to bless those around you. Stay humble, and always give all the honor and glory to the Most High God, who alone is worthy of all honor and praise.