A Poem
A few weeks ago, I was preaching on Daniel 4 at our evening service. It’s a breathtaking chapter in which the King of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) is humbled by God & eventually brought to saving faith in Christ. It reveals the depths of man’s pride, the wonder of God’s patience, and most of all the power of the Gospel.
After the service, one of our members sent me a poem she had written on this story, 40 years ago. As Claire & I read it over our Sunday night cheese on toast, we were amazed at how Julia had so brilliantly & powerfully expressed the truths of this chapter in prose. With Julia’s permission, I’ve shared this below, for a wider audience to enjoy.
The Conversion of Nebuchadnezzar
by Julia Grier (April, 1982)
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the mighty heathen king,
Captured Jerusalem, as God planned because of the people’s sin:
The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom He will.
Nebuchadnezzar the king was proud. God sent a warning dream,
And only Daniel, the Jewish captive, could tell the meaning to him:
Our God is in control of kings,
He reveals the deep and secret things,
He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him;
The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom He will.
Nebuchadnezzar ignored the warning, and set himself up as a god,
Bow down to my golden image, he said, or die in the furnace hot.
Our God is able to deliver us from out of your hand, O King,
And if He doesn’t wish to, still, we will not do this thing.
Nebuchadnezzar was given by God the second terrible warning:
Three men walked in the fire, with One, who saved the three from burning.
Nebuchadnezzar tells all his people there’s no other god like this,
But still in his pride and prosperity, he goes on taking his ease.
Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a tree cut down by a hand from Heaven,
Daniel says it is time to repent, the third warning is given:
The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom He will.
Nebuchadnezzar was left to walk in pride for another year,
Daniel’s urgent message from God awoke in him no fear.
All I can see from my palace tower
Is what I’ve built by my own power.
Is not this great Babylon, made for the honour it brings?
Mine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, and I am the King of kings.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was driven out to feed with the beasts of the field,
In madness he lived like an animal, till God in His mercy healed.
Nebuchadnezzar then worshipped God, and called Him the Lord of all;
He knows how to bring the proudest down, till low at His feet they fall.
A letter from Nebuchadnezzar the King, in the Bible, reminds us still:
The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom He will.
Elections, and governments overthrown, and revolutions, and wars,
It is God who is working His purpose out, and gives to men their powers.
