Nebuchadnezzar Praises God

 

Daniel 4:1-2

 

March 13, 2026

 

Nebuchadnezzar Praises God

King Nebuchadnezzar to all 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 Highest God has done for me.  How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.

 

A pagan king to whom the Highest God calls His servant, and is it necessary to define servant? A servant is someone who carries out the will of the master.  We do understand that King Nebuchadnezzar had no understanding that it was God who was allowing him to be so successful.  

 

The king put three men in a burning fiery furnace; a heat seven times hotter than normal, and yet he witnessed 4 men, and the fourth looked like a son of the gods, his words.  He called the three young Jewish men who refused to bow to serve his god, and they came out untouched.

 

He had witnessed God's power, which was previously unknown to him, and like him, many who identify as Christian are in the same place.

 

Jan and I have been blessed to know Bob & Carmen Pate.  Jan volunteered as a counselor at the Pregnancy Assistance Center, where Carmen was the director.  They also went to the same church as us, and Bob is a very quiet and godly businessman with a degree in theology.  Carmen has been a voice on Christian radio for a number of years and is currently the Host for Saving Grace, a broadcast ministry for Grace School of Theology.  

 

Carmen was diagnosed with leukemia, and she battled it for six years. We saw both her faith and trust in God grow, even down to the wire of just weeks to live without a bone marrow transplant.  What Jan and I witnessed was just like that fiery furnace of King Nebuchadnezzar when God showed up. Carmen and Bob witnessed a young man from somewhere in the world giving his bone marrow that was a perfect match, and he, like the king, did not know why he did so.

 

When you witness something like this, it changes your understanding of how mighty our God is.  It also humbles you to better understand your role as a servant and His as a Master.

 

From our Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice