Daniel 4:37

I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto Heaven.

An Unlikely Convert

I. HIS CONVERSION OUT OF A STATE OF HEATHENISM. There was a mass of idolatrous opinion and vicious custom, in the midst of which Nebuchadnezzar was brought up, and by which he was configured. He was ill-placed so far as an opportunity of conversion, or a radical change of heart and life, are concerned.

II. HIS CONVERSION, OUT OF A STATE OF WORLDLY PRIDE. He was uniformly prosperous. He had no change, no checks, no defeats; therefore, he was filled with the thought of himself, so as to shut out the thought of a higher.

III. THE UNUSUAL MEANS EMPLOYED IN SECURING HIS CONVERSION. He had to be humbled. His reason was taken from him, and he became like a beast in his habits. It was the greatest humiliation that could have been sent on earth’s monarch.

IV. THE EVIDENCES NEBUCHADNEZZAR GAVE OF HIS BEING CONVERTED.

1. There is no reason why grace should not have worked in Nebuchadnezzar’s heart. Full and accurate knowledge is not an essential for salvation. Nebuchadnezzar was not entirely shut in by heathenism; for in the course of his life he was brought into contact with the servants of God, and he would learn from them the part assigned to him in prophecy.

2. We are not to expect too much in the way of evidence. It was not to be expected of one who was in Nebuchadnezzar’s position that he would be the saint John or Paul was. His antecedents and surroundings would operate against him, so that there would be only an imperfect development of grace, and he would do many things a Christian knows to be wrong.

3. We have a very imperfect record of what he was after conversion; but what we have is encouraging. Nebuchadnezzar disappears from our view here under a favourable light. We remark then

(1) In the way of evidence of his conversion, his clear recognition of the Divine sovereignty. That is implied in the description of God as the King of Heaven, One whose sovereignty was not connected with a single planet and baulked here and there by others, but who had the whole dome of Heaven, and, therefore, the whole range of earth, under His potent sway. Indeed, there is no more frequently quoted or more satisfactory expression of the Divine sovereignty than that which we have from the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar (v. 34, 35). He felt that he had been in the grasp of that sovereignty; he had been sovereignly humbled, and he had been sovereignly delivered. Now it is true that a recognition of the Divine sovereignty is not enough to save us, but there must be something like this in every saved person. As it is true of the sinner that he says, “I am my own; who is Lord over me?” so it is a mark of a converted man that he recognises that God has a propriety in him, and a right to dispose of him for His own glory. We remark

(2) That he had a clear recognition of the righteousness of God’s dealings with him. All whose works are truth, and His ways judgment. He was not the erring, fickle tyrant such as he had been taught to regard the objects of his worship; but He was One who, truthfully observing all that takes place, and above all possibility of deception, applies a just and equal test to every man’s conduct, and appoints for him what is right. We do not suppose that he saw the righteousness of God in many of its bearings, that he could spell out a tenth part of what we can do; but he did not rest in the general idea of righteousness, but felt it in its application to himself, that God had not gone beyond right in degrading him as He had done to the condition of a beast. To have learned such a lesson as that from his life, was that not the mark of a saved person? We remark

(3) That there was the clear recognition of what had been the blot and sin of his precious life, what he calls walking in pride, and a humbling of himself for it. “As the rhetorician, being asked what was the first thing in the roles of eloquence, answered, pronunciation; what was the second, pronunciation; what was the third, still he answered, pronunciation--so if you should ask me concerning the precepts of the Christian religion, I would answer firstly, and secondly, and thirdly, and for ever, humility.” There is nothing more insisted on in Scripture, and there is nothing in which hypocrites so grossly fail in; and, therefore, when we see it present we may entertain a good hope regarding a man. Nebuchadnezzar could not have such an emptying of his own goodness, such a realization of personal violence as we may have, to whom have been disclosed the holiness and the love of God in the cross of Christ. But if he abased himself according to his light, accepting of the mercy of God, he would be accepted of God according to the words, “God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation,” etc. There is a beautiful exhibition of humility in what the whole of this fourth chapter is--a royal proclamation. It begins, “Nebuchadnezzar the king unto all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth.” Its design was to magnify God in his humiliation and in his restoration to his reason and to his kingdom; and it is an unvarnished record, concealing nothing, extenuating nothing. If Nebuchadnezzar gained admittance, why may not we? There is no restraining of the Spirit, no loss of virtue in the blood of Christ, no withdrawing of the Divine promise. Let us strive then to enter in while the door of mercy is standing open. (R. Finlayson, B.A.)

Restitution of Nebuchadnezzar

First, Nebuchadnezzar was humbled as God humbleth His enemies; now he is humbled as God humbleth His children; that although he had more honour than he had before, yet he is not proud of it as he was before, but crieth with the prophet David Psalms 115:1), “Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but unto thy name, give the glory.” In these verses two things show themselves st the first view, that is Nebuchadnezzar’s restitution, and his thankfulness in his restitution. First, he showeth the time when he was restored, in these words, “At the end of these days,” then he showeth the manner how he was restored, in these words, “I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes to heaven, and mine understanding was restored to me.” In his thankfulness, first, he extolleth God’s power in setting him up, and pulling him down, and raising him again; then he commendeth God’s justice and truth, which deserves to be praised for His judgments as much as for His mercy, as though he rejoiced that God hath made him like a beast, that he might die like a man. “At the end of these days.” As Daniel noted the time of his pride when he walked in his palace, to show how pride grows out of buildings, and wealth, and apparel, and such roots, so he noteth the time of his fall, “while the words were in his mouth,” to show that he was punished for his pride and, ignorance, that he might know where to begin his conversion, and abate his pride. And when he had taken away the cause, then God would take away the punishment, so likewise he noteth the time of his restitution, “at the end of these days,” that is, after seven years were expired, to show how long the sickness of pride is in curing, and to show

how everything was fulfilled which was prophesied, even to the point of time. Yet another note is set upon this beast; lest we should think that God only regardeth the season, and thinks seven years’ punishment enough for such a sin, he saith not barely, that his understanding and honour was restored unto him when seven years were ended, but that they were restored unto him when he began to lift up his eyes to Heaven, to show that this blessing came from above, and that He which had humbled, him had restored him again; as if he should say to all that are cast down with sickness, or poverty, or infamy, or any trouble whatsoever in body or mind, He which hath humbled you will raise you, as He hath done me; but you must look up unto Heaven, and lift up your hearts to Him, and then your understanding, and comfort, and wealth, and pleasure, and health, and liberty, and good name, and all, shall return unto you again, like Job’s sheep, and camels, and oxen, in greater number than he had before. Like a man which is wakened out of a long trance, now: he began to stir and lift up his eyes. When the heart is once lift up, it will lift up the eyes, and the hand, and voice, and all to Heaven. He which never looked up to Heaven so long as his comfort was upon the earth, now his mind is changed, his looks, and gestures, and speeches, and all are changed with it, as though God would show a visible difference between the spiritual and carnal, even in their looks and gestures, as there is between a child and an old man. The spiritual minds are heavenly, and look up, because their joy is above. Now he talks no more of his palace, nor his power, nor his majesty, though it be greater than it was; but he looked above his own palace to another palace, from whence that terrible voice came down unto him, “Thy kingdom is departed from thee”; which expresseth his contrite heart and wounded spirit, how many passions battled within, as if he should chide himself and say, Unthankful man, my power ever descended from above, and I ever looked upon the earth and mine honour came down from Heaven, and I never lift up mine eyes before; but now, saith he, go up, my voice, and my hands, and my eyes. How long will ye pore upon the earth like a beast? So he lifted up his eyes unto Heaven. After he had lifted up his eyes, he beginneth to pray, and praise, and give thanks to God, which showeth that he did not only lift up his eyes, but his heart too (Psalms 25:1). Now God thinks the time long enough; and as He reformed the ground after the flood with fruit, and herbs, and flowers again, so He reformed Nebuchadnezzar with understanding, and beauty, and honour again. As when he repented himself and said, I will drown the earth no more Genesis 8:21), so I will chase Nebuchadnezzar no more. Now he knows a King above him, he shall be a king again; now he seeks my honour, I will give him honour; now he magnifieth him that debased him, I will return to exalt him. So the voice which thundered from Heaven, “Thy kingdom is departed from thee,” sounds again, “Thy kingdom is restored to thee.” Thus the displeasure of God is but an interim, until we know something that we should know, and then Nebuchadnezzar shall be king again, then the sick man shall be whole again, them the bondman shall be free again, then the poor man shall be rich again. His mercies are called everlasting, because they endure for ever (Psalms 136:1); but His anger is compared to the clouds because it lasteth but a season. Now the first cure of the king’s restitution was of his mind. “Mine understanding,” saith Nebuchadnezzar, “was restored unto me.” To show what an inestimable gift our understanding and reason is, whereby we differ from beasts; for which we cannot be thankful enough, therefore he records it twice, as though his heart did flow with gladness, and his tongue could not choose but speak often of it, as a man thinketh and speaketh of that which he loveth: “Mine understanding was restored unto me,” etc. That which was first taken away was first restored again, which so soon as it was gone, he was counted a man no more, but a beast. After he had said “Mine understanding was restored to me,” he annexeth, “mine honour was restored to me”; so he grew to a king again. As he was wont to put on one robe after another when he was a king, so when God would make him a king again, first he puts upon him the robe of understanding, as it were the foundation of a king, like the princely spirit which came upon Saul (1 Samuel 10:9); and when he had a prince’s heart, then God gave him a prince’s power, and proclaimed, like a voice from Heaven, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel; so gloriously he rose again like the sun, with a triumph of his restitution, and welcome of his subjects, like the shout which went before Solomon (1 Kings 1:34). Here a wise man may study and wonder, like Elisha, when his master was rapt to Heaven. For as though a snuff had been taken from the ground, and set in the candlestick again, and shined brighter than it did before; so Nebuchadnezzar was raised from the dust and set in the throne; even now no man cared for him, and now no man dare displease him. That which Solomon saith in Proverbs 16:7, “When the ways of a man please the Lord, he will make all his enemies at peace with him”; so when Nebuchadnezzar pleased the Lord, God gave him grace with men, and his glory was augmented: “My glory was increased,” etc. That is, he received not only his kingdom, and power, and honour again, but he received usury of them. When he sought God’s honour, and cared not for his own, honour was increased, according to that (1 Samuel 2:30), “I will honour them that; honour me.” Now he hath received grace, let us examine his thankfulness. Now let us see the parts of this king’s confession, that we may see how his thankfulness did answer to his sin. Before, he had robbed God of his honour; now, as though he came to make restitution, he brings praise, and thanks, and glory in his mouth. First, he advanceth God’s power, and saith that His “kingdom is an everlasting kingdom”; in which words he confesseth that God was above him, because that his kingdom was not an everlasting kingdom, but a momentary kingdom, like a spark, which riseth from the fire, and falleth into the fire again. Therefore, he showeth what a fool he was to vaunt of his kingdom, as though it were like God’s kingdom, which lasteth for ever. Secondly, he magnifieth the power of God, and saith that God “doth what he listeth both in heaven and earth,” and nothing can hinder him, or “say unto him, What dost thou?” Under which words he confesseth again that God was above him, because he could not reign as he listed; for when he thought to live at his pleasure, he was thrust out at doors, and God said not to him, Wilt doest thou? but “Thy kingdom shall depart from thee.” Therefore, he showeth what a fool he was to vaunt of his power, as though it had been like God’s power, which cannot be checked. Thirdly, he commendeth the justice of God, and saith that His works were all truth, and His ways were all judgment. Under which words he confesseth again that God was above him; for his ways were all errors, and his works were all sins, as the end proved. Therefore, he shows what a fool he was to vaunt of his works, as though they had been like God’s works, which cannot be blamed; therefore, he concludes, “I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and magnify the King of heaven.” Such a schoolmaster is affliction, to teach that which prophets and angels cannot teach. Thus you have seen pride and humility, one pulling Nebuchadnezzar out of his throne, the other lifting him into his throne; whereby their which stand may take heed lest they fall, and they which are fallen may learn to rise again. (H. Smith.)

Daniel 4:37

And those that walk in pride He is able to abase.

Nebuchadnezzar

There is a grandeur and at the same time an awe cast around the history of Nebuchadnezzar which draws out the reverential attention of childhood, and the careful investigation of those who are interested in watching the course of human character and motive. His terrible invasion of the Holy Land; the way in which the Almighty seemed to go before and to follow him; the voice of prophecy, which proclaimed his advent from time to time; his evident fulfilment of God’s own designs with regard to his sinful people, and the remarkable pride of his disposition meeting with so signal a punishment from Heaven; all alike invest him with an importance which forbids us to pass him by in the study of the characters of the Old Testament.

1. See what his position historically was. He is a person of considerable interest in connection with the providential dealings of God with the human race. His name, his character, and his punishment, are alike a proverb. His connection with the Church of God and the people whom Jehovah loved, and the way in which he is made the subject of prophetic revelations, excite our surprise when we consider the marked manner in which his personal conduct is condemned and punished by a signal display of God’s chastening anger. His position, therefore, as well as his personal character, become matters of interesting consideration. The point with which we have to deal in this character is the paradoxical union of overbearing pride with the strong conviction of the almighty power of God. This was not only a convection, but a fully realised truth, and one which frequently affected the practice of the king in such a way as to induce him to alter his whole mode of life; nor only that, but to go to the humbling extent of recognising before his people the errors of his idolatry and the purity of the persecuted religion.

2. The first question we have to consider is the nature of pride itself. It is one of the most inexplicable of the feelings to which we are subject. It is by many looked upon as of the same family with vanity, though, perhaps, no two faults are more widely apart. It is often applauded in the same breath with self-respect and independence of character, on occasions when it is a simple scandal upon those attributes to class them with it. In some of its manifestations it is capable of defying God; in others it is simply reducible to that amount of self-reliance and manly energy which is one of the highest and noblest attributes of man. There are so many gradations of pride, and so many feelings akin to it, that one of the best ways of ascertaining its distinctive nature is seeing it by contrasts. Compare the pride of Nebuchadnezzar with that of Saul, and with that of Herod. Amongst the holy and eminent servants of God, Moses had the tendency towards the fault of Herod. Paul, perhaps, more than any other among the saints of God, resembles in natural character that of Saul; while the character that most resembles Nebuchadnezzar amongst the servants of God is that of Jehoshaphat. Saul’s was a character of genuine pride; one which firmly believed in its own inherent power of existence and action, independently of any superior authority or source; and if he professed belief in such, he only did so in conformity with national prejudice, or the associations of education. The pride of Nebuchadnezzar, on the other hand, rested on circumstances which were the adventitious accidents of his life; his empire, his successes, his vast dominion, and his prestige of conquest; while side by side with the pomp of circumstance he clearly saw the present Deity, acknowledged His power, and humbly bent beneath His vengeance we was not essentially proud, though “his heart was lifted Up within him.” With these two cases, what is strictly called pride ceases, for Herod’s case is one of vanity--a fault far removed from genuine pride. Pride recognises some positive, indefeasible claim to independence of action, and irresponsibility, and is pained rather than otherwise when others attribute to it its own quality. Vanity simply takes pleasure in being praised for the possession of what it very often does not possess, cares far less for having it then being thought to have it.

3. In the world there are many representatives of both these classes. There is the man who has the impression that he stands independent of any being or power. There is the man who bases his sense of independence on some special attribute or circumstance connected with his life. The modes in which these two men should deal with themselves are very various. Representatives of the former class are Saul, using Samuel but as a tool, and the Mosaic law but as a machine. There, too, in the elder world is Cato, the representative of Roman independence; and Diogenes, the cynic philosopher, who, wrapped round in the ragged mantle of humility, covered a boson essentially proud. Widely different, and vastly more numerous, are the followers in that other wake; men proud of something; an attribute, a talent, or a circumstance. Nebuchadnezzar, boasting of his vast dominion; Sardanapalus, tenacious to the death of indomitable purpose. Xerxes, proud of millions; and Leonidas, prouds of tens. Pompey, proud of being leader of the aristocratic East; and Caesar, proud of guiding the destinies of the more popular West. Alexander, boasting of worlds which left no more to conquer. If members of the former class would correct their faults, they must first try to realise definite and dogmatic Christianity; they must hold and gaze at the creed, as if it were a limited, impersonating form of truth revealed by God. They must get rid of their tendency to subjectivity and contemplation, leading them into scepticism or latitudinarianism in their views of religion, and consent to become dogmatic. They are worshipping an idol made without hands, even “self.” (E. Monro.)

Pride Abased

There, is in this dream much of that incongruity which is characteristic of dreams; yet the turn of the angel’s words, whereby he indicated that the tree represented a man, and the moral purpose of the whole, as expressed in the concluding phrases, could not but impress the heart of Nebuchadnezzar; and even before he had received the interpretation from Daniel his conscience must have whispered that the tree was designed to represent himself. But his conscience only gave him a vague presentiment of its real meaning. When Daniel had interpreted the dream, he passed into the counsellor, and valuing the welfare of the monarch more than his good opinion for the moment, and fearing degradation for him more than the loss of favour for himself, he added these words, which are not more remarkable for the courtesy of their tone than for the sternness of their fidelity. “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 it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.” We do not know how this wise advice was received. For a full year things went on as before. But though God’s retribution may come slowly, it comes surely, and ere long all that Daniel descried was realised. Much has been written by commentators in all ages on the illness of Nebuchadnezzar, but it is generally agreed that he became insane. The disease from which he suffered goes under the generic name, zoanthropia. After seven times had gone, the king lifted up his eyes to Heaven, and his understanding came to him gain, but came in a form more clear than before, for now he perceived that his greatness was not all his own. He discovered that he had nothing which he had not received, and he was disposed to give to the Most High God the glory of all he was, and all that he had done. With this recognition of the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only wise God, his reason came to him, and the glory of his kingdom and the honour and brightness of his court were restored. What did Nebuchadnezzar design by the publication of the decree in which these facts are here preserved? Did he mean to represent himself as having become an adherent of the Jewish faith? Probably, while acknowledging the supremacy of Jehovah as the Most High, he still clung to the worship and service of inferior divinities. His was but an imperfect conversion.

1. We have here a very solemn warning against pride and vainglory. With all his ability, Nebuchadnezzar had nothing which he had not received from God. Whoever plumes himself upon what he has done in the world, as if he were the author of it all, and not simply the instrument in the hand of God, is as really and truly proud and haughty as was Nebuchadnezzar here. The merchant who speaks of his business as the sole result of his ability, and calls himself, with supreme satisfaction, “the architect of his own fortunes”; the author who thinks of his book as the creation of his own genius; the statesman who looks upon his position as entirely self-made, the artisan who prides himself upon his foremanship; and the millionaire who, looking upon his glittering heaps, congratulates himself as the sole author of his gains--all alike are guilty of Nebuchadnezzar’s sin; for they have shut God out of their hearts, and they have not given Him the acknowledgment and the honour to which He is entitled. Then let us be “clothed with humility,” and, wherever we are, and whatever we have, let us acknowledge God.

2. An illustration of the proverb that “pride goeth before a fall.” Sooner or later the spirit which I have been now exposing will bring punishment upon him who cherishes it, and the punishment will be of such a nature as to make the sinner see and know the heinousness of his sin.

3. A beautiful illustration of fidelity in the proclamation of God’s truth. It cost Daniel a great deal to give this interpretation of the dream to the monarch. The king had been very kind to him. But necessity was laid upon him, and faithfulness, alike to Jehovah and to Nebuchadnezzar, required that he should speak the whole truth. Hence he gave the interpretation with the utmost exactness; and then, in the most courteous manner, he advised the king to repentance.

4. A loud call to us to thank God for the continuance of our reason. How seldom we think of this!

5. We are here reminded that the Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men. God is the King of kings. This our comfort amid the movements of our times. (W. M. Taylor, D.D.)

The Downfall of Pride

This is a very remarkable confession, considering it only as the acknowledgment of a mighty, and proud king, thoroughly and sincerely humbled before his God. The humiliation of so great a monarch in the sight of the whole world--both of the Jews, whom he had brought low, and of the Babylonians, who were inclined to make him an idol--was in itself a great example of God’s power over the hearts of men, and a powerful witness before the heathen to the name and honour of the true and only God. But the case is full of deeper and diviner meaning, when we regard Nebuchadnezzar as the type and pattern of the great anti-Christian power, the power of the world, opposed from the beginning to the Kingdom of the saints of the Most High, and the power of His Christ. In this light we see that the king’s humiliation was also a type and pattern of the complete victory, one day to be attained, of the Christian Church over all opposing forces. That Nebuchadnezzar was a type or pattern of the great anti-Christian power we may discern from the following considerations.

1. Babylon is in Scripture opposed to Jerusalem. It is the proper name of the city of the world, as opposed to the city of God.

2. Nebuchadnezzar was a king of extraordinary valour, wisdom, and spirit; a thorough sample or specimen of what this world entitles “a great man.” He had been influenced for good by a former dream: still the great change, from pride to humility, remained to be wrought in Nebuchadnezzar. A complete victory was obtained by God’s almighty grace and providence over the spirit of the world and of anti-Christ in the person of this great king. .. These astonishing providences of old, these dealings of God with His people on a large scale, are in reality and substance the same as His dealings with each individual among us. (Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Time. ”)

The Most High Able to Abase the Proud

I. WHO THEY ARE THAT WALK IN PRIDE. There is not a man, however near his walk may be with God, but he hath cause, abundant cause to deplore his self-seeking, his want of entire motive in following after God, and that sad admixture of self, that defiles all that he does, and all that he thinks. And, I believe, the nearer is the approach to the living God, the more is the soul made conscious of the hatefulness of that pride that lurketh within it. The cross is the great revealer of it. And yet, though believers in the Lord are ever constrained to mourn over the pride that is in them, they are not “those that walk in” it. This is the feature of the unregenerate soul: and it is true of all of them. I need hardly attempt to prove that the careless sinner “walketh” altogether “in pride’; for he setteth up his own will, his own pleasure, above the will, and above the pleasure, of God; he is his own rule, and his own master. The self-righteous formalist, who “goeth about to establish his own righteousness,” “walketh in pride”; it is a remarkable expression--he will a not submit himself to the righteousness of God”; he cannot stoop so low. Need I attempt to prove that the more lover of the world “walketh in” his”pride”? “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life,” mark out his features, and at once disclose his character. And what is that lofty, independent spirit, which the self-important man has, that will not for one moment allow that all he is, and all he has, and all he can do, belongs to God?

II. THEY THAT WALK IN PRIDE SHALL BE ABASED. God hath said it; and what He has said He will most surely accomplish. Both the apostle James and the apostle Peter make use of the same words: “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace unto the humble.” If you ask why so great a stress is laid upon this in God’s Word, it is because pride is infinitely hateful to God. There is in all sin that which stands opposed to God; but there is in pride that which insults Him, that which rejects Him, that which dethrones Him. And as destructive is it to the soul. For no proud, unsubdued spirit can ever see aught of beauty in Christ.

III. But now observe that GOD IS ABLE TO ABASE THEM. So Nebuchadnezzar knew. Truly he had lessons, awful lessons; he had proof, awful proof, laid upon him, that God “is able to abase.” There are some striking exhibitions of this same truth in the prophets. In the sixteenth chapter of Isaiah, we have a particular notice of proud Moab; observe, in the sixth verse, “We have heard of the pride of Moab (he is very proud), even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath”--so notorious, it Is mentioned thrice in one verse--“Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab; every one shall howl; for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.” Look at the thirteenth of Jeremiah, and there see how awfully the Holy Ghost directeth us to Jerusalem (in the eighth and ninth verses), “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, Thus saith the Lord, after this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem: this evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart; and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.” Remark what the Lord says of Babylon, in the fiftieth of this same prophet, the twenty eighth verse: “The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His temple; call together the archers against Babylon; all ye that bend the bow camp against it round about; let none thereof escape; recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her, for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel; therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be out off in that day, saith the Lord; behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of Hosts, for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee; and the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.” Observe how again and again the Lord speaketh of her as most proud. I bessech you mark His dealings with His own people. They know it. Look at the great work of conversion. How He layeth low! For in what doth the life of faith consist? Many a believer here present can reply, “Dependent upon Christ for all I want and all I have; just as poor at the last as at the first; Christ my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; living upon Him for what He has done, receiving from Him what He has promised, and having not one thing in myself to recommend, me to His notice, but bringing my poor empty vessel to receive out of His inexhaustible abundance.” What is this but the “abasing” of those that did “walk in pride?” And what is the very life of a close walking with God? Why, it is but the continued denial of self. For what is the Spirit’s victory? It is but His victory over that nature of mine that would always lead me to self; it is but substituting, as it were, the love of Christ for the love of the creature. Truly God is able to do this; and no one but God is able to do it. Afflictions cannot do it--the deepest awe upon the conscience cannot do it--the most alarming representations of eternal woe cannot do it--and the most winning unfoldings of Divine glory cannot do it. The ministers of Christ cannot abase the soul of man--angels and archangels cannot; they can rejoice over the abased spirit, but abase the soul they cannot. It is the work of God, the eternal Spirit, and no one but Him. And by what simple means can He do it! By a word, by a thought, by a glance of the mind, by a conversation, by a text, or by bringing before us some glimpse of the cross of Jesus. And the same power doth it take to keep them low. He always abases, that He may exalt. How patiently, then, ought you to submit yourselves to the will of God! “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” And, above all, He would ‘have you learn the perpetual causes for abasement. That is hew we ought to reason--what cause have I for deep abasement, that I require it so much? (J. H. Evans, M.A.)

God Abasing the Proud

1. PRIDE AND VANITY. In one of our famous English universities an annual sermon is preached on “Pride.” No one will say that once a year is too often for a congregation, young and old, to be bidden to meditate on that thesis. Many learned things have been said and written upon the nature and essence of pride. Probably none of them could equal in impressiveness this account of pride-speaking, this repeated pronoun, the persona| and-the possessive: “Great Babylon, that I have builded by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty.” Whatever other definitions may be given of pride, certainly this is true of it, that it is the contemplation of self, a concentration in self, the having self in the throne of the being, as the one object of attention, of observation, of consideration, always, everywhere, and in all things. It is often assumed that this attention given to self is of necessity the contemplation of supposed excellence, that it is, therefore, so far as it is characteristic of pride, of the nature of self-complacency, or self-admiration, and yet some of the proudest of men have been at the very antipodes of self-satisfaction. It is the very consciousness of their own deformity, moral or physical, of their own inferiority in some prized or coveted particular of birth, gift, or grace, which has driven them in upon themselves in an unlovely and unloving isolation. Self-complacency is not the only form of pride. It is doubtful whether that self-complacency does not rather belong to the very different title of vanity. A beggar may be proud; a cripple may be proud: failure takes refuge in pride. Pride is self-contemplation, but not necessarily self-admiration; self-absorption, but not necessarily self-adoration. It is not quite evident from the words of King Nebuchadnezzar whether his besetting sin was pride or vanity. Something may turn upon the unanswerable question whether he thought or whether he spoke the “Is not this great Babylon?” I think that vanity always speaks. I doubt if the vain man ever keeps his vanity to himself. I am sure that pride can be silent; I am not sure that pride, as pride, ever speaks. If I would ascertain which of the two was Nebuchadnezzar’s failing, I should look rather to the hints dropped first in the Judgment upon him, and then in the account of the recovery. From the one I learn that what he had to be taught was that “the heavens do rule”; from the other I learn that he then first praised and honoured Him that liveth for ever. This decides me that, however pride and vanity may have mingled (if they ever do mingle) in his composition, pride was the differentia; that pride which contemplates self as the all in all of life and being, not necessarily as beautiful, of perfect, or happy; not necessarily as satisfactory, either in circumstance or in character, but as practically independent of all above and all below it,--the one object of importance, and interest, and devotion; knowing neither a superior to reverence, nor an inferior to regard. Vanity, though, or perhaps because, a poorer and meaner thing, is also a shallower thing, and less vital. Vanity may still be kind, a charity. Vanity may still love and be loved. Vanity, I had almost said, and I will say it, vanity may still worship. Vanity does not absolutely need to be taught the great lesson that “the Most High rules in the kingdom of men,” or “does according to His will in the army of heaven.” Pride and vanity both ask, “Is not this great Babylon?” but vanity asks it for applause from below, pride asks it in disdain of One above. But in all this we may not have found our own likeness. There may be some here who are not by natural temperament either proud or vain; and yet when I think once again what pride is, I doubt whether anyone is born without it. We may not dwell complacently upon our own merits. Certainly we may not be guilty of the weakness and the bad taste which would parade those supposed merits before others. Pride itself often casts out vanity, and refuses to make itself ridiculous by saying aloud, “Is not this great Babylon?” But the question is not whether we are self-admirers, but whether we are self-contemplators; not whether we are conceited in our estimate of gifts or graces, in our retrospect of attainments or successes, in our consciousness of power, or our supposition of greatness, but whether, on the contrary, we have constantly in our remembrance the derivation and the responsibility, and the accountableness of all that we have and are; whether there is a higher presence and a diviner being always in our view, making it impossible to admire or to adore that self which is so feeble and so contemptible in comparison; whether we are so in the habit of asking ourselves the two questions: “What hast thou which thou hast not received?” and “What hast thou for which thou shalt not give an account?” as to maintain always the attitude of worship, and the attitude of devotion within, and this superscription ever upon the doors and gates of the spiritual being, “Whose I am and Whom I serve.”

II. GOD’S JUDGMENT ON PRIDE. We have formed now from the history perhaps some idea of pride. We have heard what pride says to itself in the secrecy of its solitude. The same history shall suggest another thought or two about it, and the first of these is its penal, its judicial isolation. “They shall drive thee from men.” We are not going to explain away the literal, or at least the substantial fulfilment of this prophecy. Though it would be untrue to say that medical history furnishes a complete illustration of the judgment threatened and executed upon King Nebuchadnezzar, yet medical history does afford a sufficient likeness of it to render the fact, not credible only, for that its being written in the Bible would make it, but approximately intelligible. Some grievous forms of insanity in which the sufferer finds himself transfigured, in imagination at least, into an irrational creature, of which he adopts the actions and gestures, the tones and the habits, under which, in that harsh and cruel treatment of madness, from which even kings down to our own age were not exempt, the dweller in a palace might find himself exiled from the society and companionship of men. Something of this kind may seem to be indicated in this touching and thrilling description, and the use now to be made of it requires no more than this brief and general recognition of the particulars of the history from which it is drawn. He was driven from men; the Nemesis of pride is isolation. The proud man is placed atone in the universe, even while he dwells in a home. This is a terrible feature; this is the condemning brand of that self-contemplation, that self-concentration, that self-absorption, which we have thought to be the essence of pride. The proud man is driven by his own act, even before judgment speaks, if not from the presence, if not from the companionship, at least from the sympathy of his fellows. This isolation of heart and soul is the Cain-like mark set upon the unnaturalness of the spirit which it punishes. No sooner is self made the idol, than it shuts the windows of the inner being alike against God above and man below. “They shall drive thee from men.” Thou hast driven thyself from God! Another thought comes to us out of the history. Mark the words describing the discovery, “Mine understanding returned unto me; my reason returned unto me.” What was the first use of it? “ I blessed the Most High; I praised and honoured Him that liveth for ever.” It is deeply interesting to notice, and it fully accords with the observations of medical men, that the return of reason is here prefaced by a lifting up of the eyes to Heaven as though in quest of reconciliation and recognition. Yes, prayer is no stranger to the hospitals and asylums of the insane. Our moral is, the pride which will no worship is of itself an insanity. Worship is the rational attitude of the creature towards the Creator. Pride, dreaming of independence; pride, placing self where God ought to be; pride, tolling of the Babylon which it has builded; refusing to recognise any being above or below external to it, yet possessing claims upon it, is a non-natural condition. Before it can recover intellect it must look upward. The first sign of that recovery will be the acknowledgment of the Eternal. We have yet one word, and it is that of the text itself: “Those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” Nebuchadnezzar puts it into his proclamation of thanksgiving: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, and extol, and honour the King of Heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment, and those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” King Nebuchadnezzar knew it by experience; he had lived in ignorance, he had lived in defiance of it, he had reaped as he had sewn, he had walked in pride, he had been driven from men. “Seven times had passed over him.” Not till he had lifted his eyes to Heaven, not till he knew that self was not all, did reason return to him. Honour and brightness came back with it. His councillors and his lords sought him. We in England know, by tradition at least, what the rejoicings are when a monarch recovers his understanding, though there may have been no judgment in that insanity which was the calamity and the sorrow of an earlier generation of Englishmen. Nebuchadnezzar may have meant only to enthrone the God of Heaven as cue God, though the chief God of the crowded Pantheon. That is nothing to us now. We can read his words and put our own construction: “Those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” Solemn, awful, terrible confession; verified day by day in history, not modern only, but of to-day! How often in our experience has a proud man, quite apart from act or deed of his own, found himself under a treatment but too nicely calculated to humble him! How often has a rich man, building his house on the winnings of chance or of speculation, found to his discomfiture that he has built it upon the sand! How often has a selfish man, having but one tender spot or two in his whole moulding and making, staked his very life, we will say, upon two well-beloved sons, and then found, to use the Scripture similitude, that he has “laid the foundation of his prosperity in the first-born and set up the gates thereof in the younger.” How often has a professional man on the eve of the last step to greatness developed some fatal symptoms of palsy, or consumption, which made him bid farewell to all his glory, and betake himself to his last gloomy home, in the vaults, perhaps, beneath this church! How often has a statesman, brought by the last turn of the wheel of politics to the very summit of his ambition, been laid low by the importunate strokes of a jealous and envious rivalry, and compelled to exchange earth for the melancholy Pantheon of posthumous fame! (Dean Vaughan.)

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