Observe several striking particulars in this man's account. First, he tells us, that he was at rest in his house, and flourishing. Yes! the word of God teacheth the people of God to be on the lookout for the sudden downfall of sinners. When such say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as upon a woman in travail, so that they cannot escape. I venture on this occasion to observe, that God's people are not as attentive as they ought to be, and as the word of the Lord recommends them to be, to those sudden judgments of God upon the enemies of his Christ. For though the great day of their ruin is deferred to that day, when the Lord will arise to punish the ungodly, and to minister true judgment to the people; yet, very frequently now, the Lord speaks in a loud voice, for his people, and to his people, in the striking chastisement shown to the Christ-despising generation of the present day. Reader! I pray you henceforth, look more to this in what is going on in the world, and depend upon it, you will find continual instances in proof, that, for the oppression of the poor, and the sighing of the needy, the Lord doth arise. Psalms 12:5. Secondly, in this account of Nebuchadnezzar, he is compelled to see and to confess, that his misery was of the Lord. Here was a bitter aggravation of his ruin. It was that God whom he had defied, which now smote him, and which made every scourge a scorpion. Thirdly, the wretch trembled, he tells us, in the very recollection of his vision. His own mind, his own conscience, his own guilty fears, sounded the alarm, and left him no retreat. What an awful representation of this kind the man of God hath given of this state of hell upon earth, Deuteronomy 28:65-67. Fourthly, the magicians and wise men he consulted could afford him no help: no, not so much as to be able to explain to him what he wanted to know. Reader! think what a dreadful state that is, when a soul is out of Christ, and under the alarms of a guilty conscience, which no brother, no kind neighbor, no tender-hearted friend, can in the least minister unto. Precious Jesus! how sweet is it to have thee for a brother upon all occasions of sorrow! thou art indeed one born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17. Fifthly, behold the necessity imposed upon him to send for Daniel, whose advice he had so set at nought, and whose God he had so boldly despised. Such is the case not unfrequently in ordinary life. Who so laughed at as God's faithful servants, by the sinner in the days of his jollity and mirth? Who so earnestly sought after in the day of sickness and death? When the Reader hath paused sufficiently over these solemn considerations, as they arise out of the view of the state of Nebuchadnezzar's mind; let him attend to the several features of the alarming vision of the night, with which the Lord visited the King, according to the interpretation of Daniel.
Daniel 4:4-18
4 I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace:
5 I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
6 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.
7 Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
8 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: and before him I told the dream, saying,
9 O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof.
10 Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw,b and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great.
11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:
12 The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.
13 I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;
14 He cried aloud,c 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:
15 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:
16 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.
17 This matter 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 basest of men.
18 This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation: but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee.