Those Who Fear God

Reasonable People

“But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever.”

-Daniel 4:24 (NAS)

What do reasonable people look like? This passage in Daniel sheds light on that question. The passage begins with King Nebuchadnezzar bragging to himself. He boasts that the great city of Babylon was built by his mighty power and for the glory of his personal majesty.  What an audacious claim!  Immediately, God struck King Nebuchadnezzar with a mental disorder, causing him to leave his glorious palace and live in the fields. For seven years Nebuchadnezzar wandered aimlessly, eating grass like a cow. 

Then in His timing, God removed the king’s mental disorder. In verse 34 of this passage, Nebuchadnezzar is a very different man. Look at what he says, “…my reason returned to me and I blessed the Most High and honored Him who lives forever.” What a stark contrast this verse presents when compared to the first verse in this passage.

 We can conclude then, that a person who honors God is a person with a sound mind. We see this truth in the New Testament too. Mark tells of a demon possessed man who lived among the tombs crying out and cutting himself with stones. Then in Mark 5:15 we read that after Jesus had cast out the demon; the man was clothed, in his right mind, and sitting at the feet of Jesus.

 The world may try to say people who honor God, bless His name, and sit at the feet of Jesus are religious fanatics but the Bible says otherwise. The Bible tells us that such people are in their right mind and thinking clearly.

 

The Two Edged Sword

“There is no book that has less quotes of the Old Testament than the book of Revelation but there is no book that uses the Old Testament more than then the book of Revelation.” – Dr. Peter Gentry

Dr. Gentry happens to be my Sunday school teacher. He is also a professor of Old Testament Interpretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a brilliant man. I am very blessed to hear him teach every Sunday morning. This blog entry is derived from a point he made one Sunday in class. After saying the statement which I have quoted above, he explained that rather then quoting the Old Testament directly, it is alluded to in Revelation….Let’s explore this a little to see what Dr. Gentry meant.

“…And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow….” Rev 1:12-14

These two verses contain numerous allusions to the Old Testament.

Seven golden lampstands - In Exodus 25:37 and 37:23, Moses speaks of the people making seven golden lampstands for the Tabernacle and in Zechariah 4:2 the prophet Zechariah has a vision where he saw a lampstand with seven lamps on it.

A son of man - Ezekiel saw “a figure with the appearance of a man” sitting on something that resembled a throne in the expanse that was above the people’s heads.(Ezekiel 1: 26) Daniel had a vision in which “one like a son of man” came up to the Ancient of Days and presented himself to Him. (Daniel 7: 13)

Robe girded with golden girdle - Daniel also saw a “man dressed in linen whose waist was girded with pure gold.” (Daniel 10:5)

Hair that was white like wool - In Daniel 7:9, the prophet Daniel saw the Ancient of Days and “His vesture was like white snow and the hair on His head was like pure wool.”

...With this verse things get interesting. The Old Testament prophet, Daniel associates the snow white appearance and wool like hair with the Ancient of Days but the New Testament apostle, John uses those words in association with the son of man. This must have messed with the minds of the Jewish people at the time John recorded his vision. They did not understand that God was three, yet one. Remember when Jesus was on trial before the Sanhedrin? The Chief priest asked Him if He was the Christ, and tore his robe accusing Jesus of blasphemy when Jesus answered in the affirmative! Why? Because they believed there was only one God. They did not understand the trinity.

Yet, in his vision, John sees the son of man with traits that are the same as the Ancient of Days!

And that is only in two verses! Just think what we would discover is we looked at the entire book!