Exalting insanity

new article tomorrow for certain. in meantime:

"In the fourth chapter of the Book of Daniel is what’s called 'the tree vision' and it’s a rather odd account in Nebuchadnezzar’s life.

“What you have is a picture of Nebby’s insanity. He had bats in his belfry; he was a dingbat. He was an insane ruler and I’m sure they kept it quiet, and I don’t know if you know much about history or monarchs, but down through the ages, folks, many of them have been lunatics," explains Richard Jordan.

"Some of the most brilliant geniuses who have ever lived, militarily and politically, have been wacko in their private life and Nebby was one of them and he had these spits of insanity.

“They didn’t come on him all the time. They come in and go out and he has one in this chapter here that’s of divine origin. God sends it upon him.

“What you see here in the chapter is a foreshadowing of the pride, the madness and the downfall that’s going to be the characteristic of the Gentile time.

"Then the restoration of Nebby is a picture and a foreshadowing of the restoration of certain Gentile nations to enter into the kingdom.

“What you have here is not just a tragic picture of a monarch gone bad, but rather you’re having here a picture of the course of the Gentile nations.

"Nebuchadnezzar is the head of that image in Daniel 2. He’s the first king who reigns supreme in the times of the Gentiles, and in Nebby’s pride that lifts him up, and the madness that followed that pride, and in the tremendous fall he takes because of that, you see the course and the characteristics of what make up the Gentile powers.

Daniel 4:1-3: [1] Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.

[2] I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me.
[3] 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.”

“What you’ve got here is really the Babylonian state document. This is an official governmental decree and proclamation that Nebuchadnezzar sends out to the whole world.

"Nebuchadnezzar was king over all of them. Babylon ruled over everything, and he sends his proclamation and this thing literally is a confession of his sin of pride and of his subsequent conversion. In chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar gives evidence of genuine conversion to the Lord. He gives a personal testimony about how God had been dealing in his life.

“You know what the greatest testimony in the face of unbelief is? A personal testimony about what you know.

“It’s SOME dream and Nebuchadnezzar’s troubled by that thing. The thing that bothers him, no doubt, is not so much that he sees the tree, but it’s the fact that when you get on down to the interpretation, or rather to the watcher coming down and talking about it, it says in verse 14:

‘He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches.’

“See, Nebuchadnezzar knows that that tree represents somebody; it’s not just a tree, it’s a 'HIM'! It’s a personification. So Nebby’s got a problem. He’s all worried and shook up about the thing, and so he gets Daniel and says, ‘Dan, nobody else can do it, but I know you can, man. You’ve come through before. God’s with you.’

“Verse 20: ‘The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth.’

“The tree then is who? Now, wasn’t that hard to get? See. You know, folks, the Bible is that way. If you’ll keep reading, the Bible will tell you what it means. And when you don’t understand something,  you know what you ought to do? Just keep reading!

“A tree in the Bible is used to represent a man (Psalm 1). It’s used to represent nations. Ezekiel 31:3 is almost a parallel passage to Daniel 4 because it’s the same type of a tree. You see how the Assyrian is likened unto a tree? The leader of a nation. This tree represents Nebuchadnezzar and it’s a foreshadowing, folks, of God’s dealings. This is how God’s going to deal with the Gentile nations.

“You see Nebuchadnezzar the head of gold in Daniel 2—you watch how God’s going to deal with him now and you’re going to see how the course of the Gentiles is going to go. So Nebuchadnezzar is the tree. Now notice the madness that follows . . .

******

Daniel 4:33: The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.

“That madness that goes in Nebuchadnezzar; there’s a name for it in the books: lycanthropy. It’s when a man or a woman imagines themselves to be an animal and Nebby goes stark-raving buggy, or I should say beastly. He just goes berserk. He’s out in the field and thinks he’s an ox.

If you look on Wikipedia, clinical lycanthropy is defined as “a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is a non-human animal. . . Affected individuals report a delusional belief that they are in the process of transforming into an animal or have already transformed into an animal.”

“Now this madness he’s involved in here, notice the terminology. Over and over again, the madness and the reason for the detailed descriptions (in Daniel 4) are the terms that match the tribulation period. He goes out and he eats grass like a what? An ox. Do you remember when we studied Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10 and Revelation 4 and we saw who an ox was a representative of? The cherub. Who’s that? Satan.

“Some dumb thumps come along and say, ‘Well, see, your Bible’s not very scientific. It doesn’t know the difference between a reptile and a cattle.’ Well, my dear friend, you just haven’t studied far enough! There’s a revelation there that science can’t pick up on and botany and biology can’t get! That tells you that the serpent standing there was cattle—he was an ox!

“ ‘And his hair grows like eagles’ feathers.’ You go over in Ezekiel 1 and you’ll see that eagle associated with that same type of thing. That’s a Second Coming passage, by the way.

“His nails are said to grow like bird claws. You ever read in Revelation 18 about Babylon over there being the habitation of every filthy and foul bird? You know what birds are types of in the Bible? Demons.

“Did you ever read that parable in the Book of Mark and in Matthew about the sower who went out there and sowed that seed, and then the fowls of the air came out and what did they do? They snatched that seed away and Christ said, ‘That’s what Satan’s done; taken that word out of those peoples’ hearts.’ Those birds are demons that go in and snatch out that Book, see? That’s why in Revelation 18 they’re used in a passage that’s describing demonic activity.

“When Hitchcock put that movie out about how the birds are coming, you just thought he had a nightmare, didn’t you? You didn’t know that that fellow had . . . I tell you people that the creative genius of unsaved people is satanically inspired. Satan knows that Book even if a bunch of dumb Christians don’t.

“The greatest handbook on types and symbols in the universe is that one right there in your hands! Don’t you let somebody come along and say that Book isn’t important. That Book right there will explain to you what’s going on in the world when you don’t understand what’s going on.

“The types and the symbolism in art, movies, theatre of today come right out of that Book! In the great movie ‘Star Wars’ they say, ‘The Force be with you.’ That’s a quotation out of Daniel 11. See people, that book is THE Book!

“The tribulation period is going to be a time when God looks at the Antichrist and says, ‘He’s the beast! He’s a mad man!’ And what does the world do? They bow down and worship him and exalt insanity! Madness!

“Psalm 49:6 says, ‘They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.’ Verse 10 says, ‘For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
[11] Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.’

“ ‘They call their land after their own names.’ Boy, isn’t that the telling the truth! ‘Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.’

“He said, ‘If you’re a guy like that, you know what you are? You’re a beast.’ Peter in II Peter 2 warns about a class of people who are literally beasts. II Peter 2:12 says, ‘But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.’

“Natural brute beasts. Just fit for nothing but destruction. That’s a class of people that are just beasts.

“Notice the reference to Balaam in verse 15? Come over to Jude. Compare II Peter 2 with Jude and you’ll notice references to Sodom and Gomorrah preceded the passage we just read as they do in Jude verses 6 and 7 and then verse 8:

“Verse 10 says, ‘But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.’ All of that’s like Revelation 2:14 and 2:20.

“Verse 16 says, ‘These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.’

“You get the idea that these are a bunch of bad rascals, don’t you? This is just man gone mad and it’s the madness of self-will, and that willful king leads the nations in a mad pell-mell rush to destruction.

“Go back to Daniel 4 and notice Nebuchadnezzar is restored into his kingdom here. Daniel 4:34 says, ‘And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.’

“Folks, when Nebuchadnezzar humbled himself, God restored him and he’s found in his right mind. In verse 26 he comes to know that the most high rules in the kingdoms of men; he comes to know that the heavens DO rule!

“He’s not just saying, ‘God’s the boss.’ He’s saying that the heavens RUN things!

“There’s an interesting reference in verse 13: ‘I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;’ That holy one, by the way, Nebby understood that to be angels. If you go back to verse 8 he talks about ‘the spirit of the holy gods.’ Those are angels.

“Verse 17. In verse 23 he talks again about the watcher and the holy one coming down and giving the word. There’s a decree these angels bring down that results in what happens to Nebuchadnezzar happening.

“People, the watchers and the holy one there, that is a reference to the administration of the affairs of the universe. God Almighty has a government over this universe, not just over the earth, but over the whole universe.

“Notice they’re called the watchers. There’s a special class of these people who have the function of going about in the earth and seeing what goes on and carrying back to God the report before the judgment throne of God.

“Go to I Kings 22 and you’ll see a little glimpse of some of the activity of this deal. 22:19. There is a courtroom scene whereby what is going to happen on the earth, and what is determined, is decided upon, and there’s one that’s sent from that court down to the earth to see to the execution of God’s purpose.

“Now I can’t give you perfect understanding about how all that goes on, but Nebby came to understand that God Almighty ran the show and that what happened down here, happened according to His governmental authority and His control and His rule and His decision-making!

“The Book of Daniel is full of this stuff. Daniel 10:13. The reason Daniel and his prophetic import is so full of this is because in the tribulation period this is going to be the issue!

"Jesus Christ is going to come back down into the heavens and take over the government of the heavens, cast Satan down onto the earth (Rev. 12) and then follow him down here and take the earth away from him.

“People, the issue from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, is the authority of a throne over this universe!”