Introduction
A. The Condemnation of Pride
1. Explained
Perhaps the most destructive attitude of all is pride. It has damned not only Satan and his angels, but also men and women throughout history. Pride is worthy of condemnation because it violates the first commandment: having no other gods before God Himself (Ex. 20:3). God alone is to be worshiped and served because His will is supreme. But pride asserts that man should take supremacy over God. God proclaimed through Isaiah, “My glory I will not give to another” (Isa. 48:11, NASB). God will not tolerate a usurper who attempts to rise above Him.
2. Expressed
The book of Proverbs gives us insight into how God feels about pride:
a) Proverbs 21:4–”An high look, and a proud heart … are sin.”
b) Proverbs 6:17–The Lord hates “a proud look.”
c) Proverbs 16:5–”Every one who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.”
d) Proverbs 8:13–”The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride, and arrogance … do I hate.”
e) Proverbs 16:18–”Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
f) Proverbs 29:23–”A man’s pride shall bring him low.”
g) Proverbs 11:2–”When pride cometh, then cometh shame.”
Pride is a serious sin that is condemned repeatedly throughout Scripture. It is an abomination because it desecrates the name of God. And it also brings about destruction because the end of pride is judgment.
3. Exemplified
A specific example of judgment against pride concerns a prophecy about Edom–a territory southeast of Jerusalem in the desert. The city of Petra, its capital, was well fortified. It was nestled between high cliffs, and the only entrance was just wide enough for a single individual to pass through. It could be guarded by just one soldier, making it virtually impenetrable.
Jeremiah 49:16-17 is a prophecy against Edom: “Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill; though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from there, saith the Lord. Also Edom shall be a desolation; everyone that goeth by it shall be appalled, and shall hiss at all its plagues.” Today Petra is empty. Its destruction came when its water supply, carried by troughs that flowed down the sides of the cliffs, was cut off by its adversaries. Eventually the people had to surrender. God brought that city down from its pride.
B. The Consequences of Pride
James 4:6 summarizes God’s response to pride: He “resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (cf. Prov. 3:34). Daniel 4 is a graphic illustration of that truth. It shows the importance of properly recognizing the sovereignty and supremacy of God and the humble state of man. That theme is capsulized in verse 17: “This matter is … to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men.” No man can set himself up above God. That same principle is repeated: “The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men” (v. 25, 32). King Nebuchadnezzar finally got the message: “I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his Kingdom is from generation to generation”(v. 34).
In Daniel 4 we meet a proud man. Nebuchadnezzar was the monarch of the first of four empires that ruled his part of the world. As king of such a great empire, he became proud and set himself up as God. He had ninety-foot image of himself built out of gold and forced the people to bow down and worship it (Dan. 3:5). However when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to do so, they were thrown into a fiery furnace (vv. 12, 20). Such was the strength of Nebuchadnezzar’s ego. But in Daniel 4 God brings him down and then gives him grace after Nebuchadnezzar humbles himself.
There is more to Daniel 4 than a historical account of Nebuchadnezzar. He stands as a symbol of several things: First, he is a symbol of any leader who exalts himself. He is a warning to all the Shahs, Ayatollahs, Amins, Hitlers, and Mussolinis who pridefully seek to establish their empires in place of God. But he is also a warning to those of us who desire to rule the little empires we invent within ourselves, in which we crown ourselves as king. Nebuchadnezzar also serves as a symbol of how God deals with all the proud empires of the times of the Gentiles. He crushed the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman empires, and will ultimately destroy the revived Roman Empire before He establishes the kingdom of Christ.
C. The Conversion of Pride
1. Its process
Daniel 4 is the climax of Nebuchadnezzar’s spiritual biography. The Lord began His work on him by bringing Daniel and his three friends into his life. When they defied him by not accepting the royal food and drink, he was immediately confronted by their unique integrity, understanding, and wisdom– characteristics superior to those of anyone in his kingdom (Dan. 1). After God established their credibility before the king, He enabled Daniel to solve an incredible dream that no one else in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom knew about or could interpret (Dan. 2). Struck by Daniel’s divinely given capability of knowing and interpreting visions and dreams, Nebuchadnezzar was led to an even deeper understanding of God. When Daniel’s three friends refused to obey the decree to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s image, they were thrown into a fiery furnace but miraculously protected by one “like a son of the gods” (Dan. 3:25). Again Nebuchadnezzar saw God at work.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
