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So welcome back to our resumed short series of studies on the book of Daniel. And there once more for you is a suggested table of contents for Daniel's prophecy. In previous sessions, we have concentrated more recently on Daniel's critique of Gentile politics. But when I say Daniel's critique, I mean, of course, God's critique of Gentile politics. And so we concentrated on chapters two, then chapter seven, two very different assessments of Gentile politics given by God through Daniel. Now let's go to see once more the table of contents as a whole of the, uh, prophecy. The critique of Gentile politics occupied chapter two and chapter three, And we considered along with them, considered the two visions of Gentile powers and governments, uh, under the figure of wild beasts, the four beasts of chapter seven and the two beasts of chapter eight. Tonight we leave this, the topic of Gentile politics, and with God's help, we'll consider chapter four of Daniel, which I shall suggest to you is a critique of Gentile culture. And by culture, I mean in particular Gentile art and architecture and town planning and, uh, music, if you like, and perhaps also the scientists- sciences. For Daniel was, by any standard, a superb city. It had had a long and distant past, of course, but it fell under foreign powers, and for a while its brilliance dipped considerably. Then it had a revival, a renaissance. And under Nebuchadnezzar particularly, it flourished perhaps as it had never flourished before. He was the rebuilder of Babylon and embellished it. He was the moving spirit behind it. As a policy of his foreign affairs, when he conquered a nation, he would cream off all the people of ability and take them to Babylon. So that by time he had finished, he had the cream of able people in the arts and the sciences and other such, uh, occupations there in Babylon, and set them for his great rebuilding projects and the beautifying of his capital city. We are told that the city was surrounded with walls so broad that a four horse chariot could turn round on top of the wall. The wall around Babylon went to some twenty plus kilometers. On the processional road into the city, there was eventually its main gate called the Ishtar Gate. It was a very impressive work, not only of architecture, but of art. Now, if ever you find yourselves in East Berlin, don't go to the fashion shops. You can go to them anywhere, and if you must go, well, there's this new lot, uh, uh, down the town of Belfast, you'll see, with temptation, I'm told, on every floor, you'll see. So, um, go there, but if you're in East Berlin, go to the Pergamon Museum, where one of the early archaeologists who uncovered a great deal of ancient Babylon and the Ishtar Gate in particular, saw to it that in this museum in East Berlin, there is a reconstruction of the gate, and some of the tiles that he salvaged from the archaeological digs are actually on that gate still in the Pergamon Museum, though of course they had to make a lot to match them. A magnificent gate, and I brought you along so that you may care to see it afterwards. The cover front of the book by Joan Oates on Babylon. It deals not only with Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon, but the previous Babylon before it fell under foreign powers, and then it's rising again in glory under Nebuchadnezzar. And on her front cover, she has a picture of one of the tiles on that gate, which is blue background, bluish gray background, and then these symbolic animals. They're not exactly pictures of real animals, they're symbolic animals in bas relief on the tiles, representing some of the gods of Babylon, presumably. It was a magnificent work of art. Daniel must have been awestruck when he came from Jerusalem, for however beautiful you think the ancient Jerusalem was, it was only a handkerchief-sized little city. And to be taken from there as a young man and introduced for the first time to the culture, the size of it, the glory and the splendor of it, of Babylon, must have been an overwhelming experience. It had a steeped temple, what we've come to call ziggurats. In, um, Donald Wiseman's book, Nebuchadnezzar, his name is not really Nebuchadnezzar, but Nebuchadrezzar. Donald Wiseman, a believer in an assembly in the south of England. I haven't heard that he has yet gone home. He must be of great age now, but he's an archaeologist and was there on the site working when the great and famous Malouin was there doing the dig, Malouin who married Agatha Christie, though you wouldn't know about who Agatha Christie, I'm sorry, I, I, you wouldn't know who Agatha Christie was, dear me, no. But anyway, he was there, uh, when she was there, you'll see, and uh, they eventually discovered in Babylon the, you know, they have uh, the mud bricks kind of thing, which they write with a stylus with the uh, whatnot on, have a diagram of the ziggurat, the steep, the stepped uh, great building upon which the top of it was a temple. They have the actual, uh, some of the actual plans of it rescued in the digs of Babylon. It was about two hundred and seventy five feet high, the temple on the top of it. According to Herodotus, the Greek historian and teller of yarns, there were several statues made of solid gold weighing tons all around the city. It was famous for what came to be called its hanging gardens, though they weren't hanging after all, actually. And again, Donald Wiseman's book, I have here the Sights Lectures, they're very technical, but if you're interested, borrow it by all means. Here is a layout of what the gardens looked like. They were one of the seven wonders of the world. They weren't hanging gardens, they were terraced gardens, do you see, and must have been superbly beautiful, particularly in that part of the, uh, Middle East. And supplying the gardens and a good deal else was a marvelous system of canals, do you see? In general, therefore, Babylon was a center not only of high politics, imperial politics, but a world center of art and architecture, of culture. The education went with it, of course. They were interested in astronomy and an observation of astronomy. They could have told you all about the planets in those days and where to find them in the sky. Unfortunately, it got mixed up with a lot of astrology as well, and they wouldn't quite have seen the difference between the two. Even to this present time, in our talking i- i- about a- astronomy and in geometry, we still carry on the systems that the Babylonians invented. Their sexagesimal system, for instance, we still use. We talk about a circle being not four hundred degrees, but three hundred and sixty degrees. A right angle is not a hundred degrees, it is ninety degrees, do you see? And so forth and so on. Uh, we owe it to the Babylonians, who then influenced the Greeks, and from the Greeks we got our astronomy. Changed out of recognition, of course, now, but built on those early foundations. So tonight we're going to think about the culture of Babylon and God's critique of it through the dream he gave to Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation of that dream through his servant Daniel. So let's turn to Daniel chapter four and we will read the chapter. Daniel chapter four. Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has wrought toward me. You will notice as we pass the title he uses, the Most High God. For Nebuchadnezzar, for all he was a pagan, wasn't an atheist. He believed in gods galore. His favorite god was Marduk, and he built temples, of course, to the gods. It was an idolatrous system, but when idolaters tend to think about and come in contact with the true God, they are won't to use the title the Most High God. 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. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in mine house and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told them the dream before them, but they did not make known to me the interpretation thereof. But at the last, Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. Notice his pagan terminology. And I told the dream before him, saying, O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubles you, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen and the interpretation thereof. Thus were the visions of my head upon my bed. I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of the earth. The leaves thereof were beautiful, and the fruit thereof, uh, much, and in it was food for all. And the beast of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the branches thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and behold a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven. He cried aloud and said thus, Hew down the tree and cut off his branches. Shake off his leaves and scatter the fruit. Let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from her branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him, and let seven times pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the lowest of men. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have have seen, and thou, O Belshazzar, declare the interpretation, for as much as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the temptation, the interpretation, but thou art able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. Let's pause there, for we have enough read to show us what God was saying to Nebuchadnezzar, and we can then concentrate on the interpretation. The tree, says Daniel, is your majesty himself. No wonder the other interpreters were not prepared to say so. Nebuchadnezzar wasn't always so placid as you might have wished him to be. Uh, some days decidedly the opposite, and to tell the king that he was the tree that was about to be cut down and a beast's heart be given to him, might not have earned the wise men a promotion in the kingdom to a chair in the department of the interpretation of dreams, do you see? So they profess themselves unable to do it. Daniel spoke true. Thou, Nebuchadnezzar, art the tree. Now we must get it well into our hearts that this is God's picture of Nebuchadnezzar and the culture that he had fostered in Babylon. So first of all, let's notice the description that was given. The tree was wonderful. The leaves were beautiful. The shade offered rest and relaxation for man and beast and for the fowls of the air, and the b- tree produced fruit by which everybody was fed. It's imagery, of course. It's metaphor. It's picture language. It is God's description of Nebuchadnezzar's culture. The leaves were beautiful to look at. Pray notice that God isn't criticizing the culture. He is affirming it as something good, sheer beautiful. In some parts of history, dear believers have gone from one extreme to another and have developed what is known as the Puritan culture, in which beauty was almost banned, and people got afraid of culture and dressed all in black from head to foot. That's not a true representation of God, is it? Open your eyes even now and look at spring, even in our part of the world, and the daffodils and the crocuses and all the other plants and wonderful things. God is a God of beauty. Would you like to know his, his attitude to dress? Well, our Lord said, you see, consider the lilies of the field. They don't toil or spin, of course, they haven't got the ability to do it, but look at the way God dresses them. Magnificent, isn't it? God is the God of color, of beauty. We shouldn't forget it, should we? And this tree was so large that it gave shade to man and animal and bird. And if you live in a country where it becomes unbearably hot and the sun glares down at you, to have a lovely big tree whose leaves are broad and not only beautiful, but the shade, oh, magnificently refreshing and relaxing. God is congratulating Nebuchadnezzar. Of course, I mustn't forget it was good for food. Now here all Christians are agreed, we do need potatoes, and it's not wrong to work for potatoes and eat. You shouldn't eat too many, of course, but eat potatoes. Food is okay. Okay to spend your time on digging a garden or elsewhere and getting potatoes. Not always been so, so sure about the aesthetic side of life. But then beauty and music can be as important as food, can't they? If you had a friend who was seriously ill in hospital, well, I don't know if they'd allow it nowadays, but what would you take them to comfort them? Bag of potatoes? Or a bunch of flowers? So many years ago, there was a number of people, and they had discovered how harps could soothe patients seriously ill in hospital, and were allowed to go around and play softly their harps. Music. God-given, isn't it? To sh- offer shade and comfort and relaxation and restoration of mind and emotion in this boisterous world. That was God's summing up of the culture of Babylon. I personally am pleased to see our city here getting over the habit of bombing every shop in the town two or three times over, do you see, with the litter all around the streets, to see it reviving a bit. So it's a pleasure to go to some parts of Belfast anyway, do you see, even to a city. Thank God for the wonders and the beauty of life. Having said that much, the dream has come to Nebuchadnezzar, by God's good providence, to warn him of the danger of culture. The The warning. warning that there could be something wrong in our attitude to culture that would require God's discipline of us. And so, when Daniel had interpreted the dream, he gave Nebuchadnezzar some advice as to what to do, seeing God in his mercy had intervened to warn him of what would happen if he didn't change his ways. So in verse twenty seven, Daniel says, wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if there may be a lengthening of thy tranquility. Two things Daniel points out where Nebuchadnezzar was coming short, and that was in sheer Righteousness. righteousness. One thing to have a mal- magnificently beautiful city and a con- culture that could turn, uh, even the brightest of our modern cities, by comparison, into slums. But built on what? If the culture underneath is built on injustice and cheating and lying. To bring it down to practical things, is it right to run up a debt you can't pay in order to get the very best television and the most wonderful pictures that science can invent? Is that right? Is it right of the banks to lend a hundred percent mortgages that they know people can't afford to pay because the banks are making profit and their officers are making great profit and get big bonuses, right? And what about the poor? Marvelous to have a lovely cultural city, isn't it? But what if it's done at the expense of the wages of the poor and is accompanied by heartlessness to those in poverty. Danger, isn't it? And we have around us at this present time evidence, do we not? Small evidence may be of advanced culture getting into trouble by the neglect of these two things. Of course, then we have to listen as Christians, don't we? Culture can have its dangers for believers, can't it? You know, Christ will never ask you to sacrifice something that is bad in itself. True? Because you shouldn't have had it anyway. No good saying I sacrificed my, my cheating to you, Lord, I'm gonna give you ten percent of it. Shouldn't be cheating at all. But Christ will ask for sacrifice. And he who was grateful and showed, talked with pride of the color of the flowers of the field, and was grateful for the hospitality of Martha and Mary, very often hadn't anywhere to lay his head. It's not for us to put down rules and regulations for fellow believers, is it? But we shall have to balance in our mind enjoyment of culture that is quite pure and necessary, and the call to sacrifice for Christ's sake, to take the gospel to places where the culture is very difficult. I sometimes get wicked thoughts, like Nebuchadnezzar, upon my bed, you'll see. And I say, you know, those marvelous missionaries that went out in the eighteen hundreds and the nineteen hundred and twenty, Oh, it was easy for them. They didn't have much here anyway. Two-bedroomed house and one downstairs and a toilet in the yard. Well, they hadn't got much to give up, had they? I mean, much more difficult for us because we have so much. The danger... our culture. Nebuchadnezzar didn't listen to the warning. He'd be warned of the danger he was in, that his great tree, if he didn't repent, would be cut down. Not destroyed absolutely, it would be cut down and put a band around the top. They knew their forestry in those days, and and so that it eventually would sprout up again, you'll see. That is what happened. Nebuchadnezzar was sorely disciplined, but marvelous to relate, this is a book written by a Jew. And the very Nebuchadnezzar that had bashed the temple in Jerusalem and ruined Jerusalem city. Now being disciplined by God, and I dare say some of the Jews said hallelujah, wrote a psalm about it, but uh, um, the man was restored while Jerusalem was still in ruins. That's amazing, that, to find that from a pen of a Jew, isn't it? But then he was an inspired prophet, you see. But Nebuchadnezzar didn't repent and therefore had to undergo God's discipline. And it came to its critical point when, do you see, the king was, uh, walking on his roof, do you see? Look at verse twenty nine. At the end of twelve m months, he was walking in the royal palace of Babylon. The king spake and said, is not this great Babylon which I have built for the royal dwelling place? I built it by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty. While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from you. Two evil attitudes. As he walked on the roof of his palace. Kings had a way of doing that, you know. King David was on the roof of his palace when he ought to have been at the war and looked around, and the sad consequences of it are written down in the second book of Samuel. Nebuchadnezzar was looking over the city, proud and enjoying its effect, but notice the pride that is entering in. This is the city that I have built, says he, for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power. You say, what's so wrong about that? Uh, wasn't he powerful? Wasn't he industrious? Wasn't he a good organizer? Didn't he have the go in him to get the artists of working and the architects and all the rest of it? By the might of my power. Ah, ah. But he'd just been warned of God, hadn't he? And in it there is no acknowledgement of the source of all his strength and all his wealth, or any sense of dependence on the living God. I've done it by my own power. I see a poet that wrote, in Christian times, no God for a God God gave us. Mankind alone can save us. Sad, isn't it? When people take all the lovely things of life, their own gifts and abilities Is included. included. And pride themselves on it. And own no dependence upon God. I have used an analogy before, and if you remember it, you must forgive me for my mentioning it again. But that's what old men do, you'll find out that. Old men can't think of new things. They keep repeating the old things till you're fed up with hearing them. But I use it, you see, of, um, it's like a girl with an engagement ring. And when you first see it, you see, you, you, of course, you take notice of it. How couldn't you possibly take notice of it? Even the hardest-hearted among the men would notice it, you see. And you inquire about it. What, what is this thing then? Is that an amethyst? No, no, no, no, that's a diamond. Oh yes, I see. And how many facets has it got? And uh, is is that, is that gold? No, that's platinum. I say, absolutely magnificent, you see, marvelous. And when you've exhausted all your vocabulary on on describing the thing, pointing out its merits, you see, as is proper, you say, who is the um, fortunate young man? And she says, what do you mean, young man? Well, you said the young man that gave you the ring. And she says, there isn't any young man. I don't believe in young men, and I don't want any young men. What do you say now about the ring? Well, it's a bit of a ring anyway. Have a cup of coffee or something. And you think of the folks with their marvelous gifts. Here, perhaps a young lady, she's a beautiful pianist. And you sit with delight and listen to her, and when you've finished, you congratulate her, of course, how magnificent. And you say to her, you must love the Lord a lot for giving you this gift. Oh no, she says, I'm not interested in religion. Oh. I don't believe in God. I see. Takes all the benefits and the glory and the wonder of life from God the Creator, has no time for God. If she goes on like it, she'll come at last to a place where music never comes. I did it myself. I did it my way. Paul had to remind the Corinthian believers that there was a danger. He said, talking of, uh, things in general and spiritual things and other things in particular. one Corinthians chapter four it is. He said, for who maketh you to differ? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? But if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Everything I have that's any worth having, I've got from God, and by God's help. What a fool I should be to glory in it as though I didn't receive it from him, but got it just by myself. That would be disastrous, wouldn't it? And then to say, I built it by myself and for my own glory. That is pride, isn't it? Not for the glory of God, but for his own exaltation. I have to confess my weakness in these things. Early on, when I was in Queens in Belfast, I got a, a number of students, and I had to, they had to write Latin proses or things like that, you see, for this, and, uh, they had to hand them in, and I had to mark them, you see, and there was this student who always had down the top of his page AMDG. I thought that was his initials. I couldn't make out because his name didn't sort of agree with the initials he put on the top of the page. So ignorant was I. I hadn't realized till some years had passed what the initials stood for. ADMG. Ad Maiorem Gloria Dei, to the greater glory of God, on his Latin prose. How sincere it was, I couldn't tell, of course. Wasn't my job to find out. It ought to be motivation, didn't it, in our lives, to enjoy all the wonderful things that God gives us and the wonderful things he gives us to do, but always and ever, ultimately, for the glory of God. Because there's a danger in culture. Listen to John talking to his fellow believers in his first epistle. Don't love the world, says he. You have to use it, you know, but don't love it. Why not? For the world passes away to start with. It's only a temporary thing. But all that is in the world, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. What is this thing, the pride of life, aludzenia, as the Greek called it? Well, it is not merely enjoying little things, it is boasting in them, as somehow that made you superior to other people. You know the good lady that comes along. And uh, he says, how did your boy get on in the eleven plus? Did he get through? Knowing that the poor boy hadn't got a chance, of course. Uh, uh, his mom says, no, I'm sorry, he didn't, no. No. Well, we were on difficult times and and so. Oh, I say I'm sorry. My boy, he got through with flying colors, you know. My boy did. Oh, I see. Yes, they say he's the, he was the leading one in the whole of the province. Oh, I see, yes. Why rub that into this dear soul just then? Using it to try and be better than other people and putting other people down. Not merely keeping up with the Jones, but being better than the Jones. Alezania, the pride of life, when the whole of us are nothing but bankrupt sinners, who, if we had our desserts, would deserve nothing and have everything we have by the grace of God, for the glory of God, and for the benefit of our fellow believers and the world around us. They were the dangers of the culture, and Nebuchadnezzar didn't listen, and he was disciplined. But we must spend a few moments just thinking about the discipline that God put on him. He recovered, of course. That was the point of the discipline. But the discipline was exceedingly painful. The medics, as far as I know, still can't tell you what exact disease it was. Boanthropy, some of them talk about. That's even more mysterious, I do say. But from being a king, a human being, exalted, brilliant, full of aesthetic sense, he lost his wits or something, and And lived lived and and behaved like an animal. He went out to grass, so to speak, and let the grass of the field, and let his hair grow long, and didn't pare his fingernails nor his toenails. Lived like an animal. Now, it is the fact that when we look through Daniel, we shall find this theme of man and the animal recur. And we must take notice of the imagery. It's not just code that once you've deciphered, you can throw it aside. The imagery is part of the meaning. And so here you'll see the four beasts and the two beasts. In chapter six, Daniel thrown into the den of lions. Here in chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar becomes like an animal and behaves like one. Let me ask you, you ought to know anyway, what's the difference between a man or a woman, a human being, and an animal? What if I pushed you to it, would you say, I wonder? Or perhaps you'll turn me over the chocolates. But you do have a lot in common with the animals, don't you now? No good denying it. You have a stomach, I do believe you have, just like the animals. And all the other contraptions, kidneys and, and not to mention all the unmentionables. And they have children too, don't they, animals do? You notice that, and we don't call them children, but that's their equivalent. And they have arms and legs, yes, don't they? A lot of them walk on all four, though, you see, but we can do it if we try. So they've got brains, and you've got a brain. Um, what is the difference between you and an animal, would you say? Possibility of being related to God. Ah, now listen to that. The ability to relate to God. Man with a spirit of such kind that it can relate to God who is spirit, a God Consciousness. consciousness. You lose that, and mankind is liable now to go downhill and become a little bit more like an animal. You will have noticed, I suspect, that man also has this effect, that he imposes order on life, his activities, and the the earth around him. Well, I know birds do it. Birds have a way of making nests, don't they? Marvelous, most intricate things. But dogs and lions and buffaloes, you know. Well, they, they'll eat anywhere. If I come to your house and you're going to eat, you see, and you invite me, somebody gracious and so heart, you invite me to join you at table, you see. I'm interested to see you do have a table. And lo and behold, you don't just have a table and eat with plates. I mean, some ba- I tell you, well, I'll tell you in private what some bachelors do, but I mean proper people, humanized people, just civilized, and they got plates, you see. Aha. And uh, it's not just the food thrown on either, particularly if it's a special day. It's beautifully arranged, and the red of the carrots matches the green of the broccoli and all that kind of thing. You have to think of those things, do you see? Don't you, what? Now you give your food, beautiful steak, to Fido, your dog. I don't care where he eats it. You could throw it in the garden, you could throw it in the dust if you like, he'd still eat it. And what is more, at your table, of course, when it comes even to food, you might be as hungry as you like, uh, and I'd be as hungry, but I have to observe a certain order, you see. I must consider, uh, my behavior and whether the other guests have got enough, and this, that, and t other, you see. Not a dog. He'll be very grateful for the beef steak. You try and take it away and find out what's happening. Wow. Manners? He hasn't got any manners. It's interesting, isn't it? Even over those humble things of life, humans tend to impose order. Well, I know the birds sing like, uh, don't they? What, oh, what a lovely sound they make. Some of them, some of them don't, of course, more like me, but some of the birds have delightful songs and develop different trills. Man has mastered music, hasn't he? Put an order on sound. And mastered painting, which used to be putting order on a canvas. Nebuchadnezzar, the great builder and beautifier of Babylon, under the discipline because of the false attitude of his heart, ceased to live like a human. You just imagine the beautifier of Babylon eating his food off of grass, like the ox who uses the bedo both as the feeding sock and his toilet. And no personal concern for himself, his nails growing long like claws and his hair uncut. Lost respect for the human body, his own human body. Lived like an animal. Now I must be very careful what I say because I'm ancient, you see, and brought up in a different generation, and the mood and values of generations change, don't they? But have I got it completely wrong when I say there sometimes appears to me something gone amiss with art? When in the Tate Gallery you can get somebody putting an object there as fine art to be observed. A lavatory pan. Art? Well, perhaps he's saying something philosophically, but so far it's missed me. And an unmade bed. And here I confess my, all my prejudices, you see. There are some forms of music that I personally have a difficulty in distinguishing it from sheer noise. Appears to have no form, no culture, but screaming and shouting.