Daniel 4:13–18

13“In the visions I saw while lying in my bed, I looked, and there before me was a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14He called in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field.

“‘Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. 16Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him.

17“‘The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.’

18“This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means, for none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”

In his dream King Nebuchadnezzar saw a messenger, an angel, come down from heaven. The word used for “messenger” here is an unusual one. It describes the angel as “waking” or “watchful,” a “watchman,” alert to the will of God. The Scripture has much to say about how eager the angels are to serve the Lord by serving his people. The Bible offers many examples of how angels provide physical protection for God’s children. Angels are interested also in the spiritual welfare of God’s children. It was God’s angels, for example, who preached the first Christmas sermon, as well as the first Easter sermon.

The Bible does not spell out in as much detail how God uses his angels as he rules over those who are not his children. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream does show us that God also uses his angels to control earthly kingdoms. The magnificent tree that the king saw in his dream was to be cut down. In other words, there was to be a mighty overthrow, and the angel served as God’s agent of judgment. When he rendered this kind of service to the Lord, the angel acted as a “watchful one.” He alertly observed all things, including the persistent wrongs of a great king. This called for God’s judgment.

The angel announced God’s judgment: “Cut down the tree. . . . But let the stump and its roots . . . remain in the ground.” Here was the judgment that faced the proud king. Up to this point there had been no clear indication of what the tree symbolized. Now, however, the angel made it quite clear that the huge tree symbolized a person: “Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals.” Here we begin to understand why the king had trembled with fear when he had that dream. The dream was God’s way of announcing an awesome judgment. The proud king was going to be brought low. His power to think would be taken from him. “Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal.” For a definite period of time, the man on whom this judgment would fall was going to have to live like a beast of the field.

The dream also included the explanation why this judgment of God would strike the king: “so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men.” Human beings were designed by the Creator to live under him as creatures, not alongside him as equals or even rivals. God never designed human beings to be independent creatures, existing all for themselves. When any human being refuses to live to God’s glory but instead rebels against the will of his Creator, he invites God’s judgment down upon himself.

In case the king was inclined to dismiss this message as “just a bad dream,” the angel added this solemn postscript: “The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict.” This assured the king that his dream was no idle and meaningless nightmare. God was revealing the judgment that would strike the king.

“This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means.” Once again the king’s official interpreters had failed him, and he had to turn to the man whom God had placed in the royal court of Babylon for just such a time as this. Unfortunately, the superstitious mind of Nebuchadnezzar recognized only that Daniel had supernatural wisdom. The king was not interested in the God who had given Daniel that wisdom.