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Based in Hillsville, Virginia, this is the podcast of ReCreate Church. We are a community of Life and Love.
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Tuesday May 10, 2022
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Daniel’s Prayer and the Vision of the Seventy Weeks.
Today, Pastor Michael is picking back up with his study on Daniel. In our past lesson, Daniel had predicted the rise of Alexander the Great. When Alexander strolled into Jerusalem, the priests and rabbis brought out Daniel Chapter 8 and showed Alexander that their God predicted his coming and he was so impressed he didn’t destroy the city or the temple.
In Chapter 9, today, Daniel is an older man now around 80 or even older. He is reflecting about all that he has lived and how he saw the Babylonians take over, move him to Babylon and spend his career as a royal advisor to the King of Babylon. Then he retired and the Meads and Persian empires arose and on the last day of the kingdom of Babylon and the king called Daniel out of retirement for a prediction and Daniel predicted the fall of Babylon.
Which. Happened!
Now Daniel saw a regime change and Daniel started seeking understanding by reading the scriptures, notably Jeremiah. He found in Jeremiah 25: 11-12, that it seemed like it’s time for God to bring His people home.
(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) Daniel 9:1-4. Daniel longs for the era of restoration, for the establishment of the kingdom of God and of the messianic kingdom. To this end he fasts and prays for the restoration of his people to the land (9:3).
9:4–19. Daniel’s prayer consists of confession and petition. In the confession he identifies with the history of his people, with their sin and punishment. The prayer of confession consists of a repetition of four themes: Israel’s rebellious attitude to the law and the prophets, God’s righteousness in judgment, the fulfillment of the curses, and the hope of renewal of divine mercy and grace.
Daniel begins with an affirmation of God’s mercy, inherent in Israel’s confession of who God is (9:4). In contrast Israel has sinned against their covenant God (9:5). They have rejected the prophets (9:6). Therefore the Lord is righteous in his judgment. Yet the disgrace of Israel is apparent wherever they have been scattered (9:7). Their lot has changed by their own doing, but the Lord is still the same (9:9–10). Israel has received the curses of the covenant (9:11; cf. Lv 26:33; Dt 28:63–67). The Lord has been faithful in judgment, even in bringing about the desolation of Jerusalem (9:12). Again Daniel affirms the righteousness of God (9:14).
Daniel throws himself on the mercy of God as he prays for the restoration of Jerusalem, the temple, and God’s presence among his people (9:17–19).
We look around our nation today and wonder when unbelievers will get serious with God. God looks around and wonders when believers will get serious with Him!
Daniel didn’t say they deserved His help. He stated because of “His mercy”, showing the righteousness of God. God sends Gabriel, the angel, to Daniel in a vision. Gabriel tells Daniel that it will take 70 weeks (here weeks not being weeks today, but years then) to finalize judgment on sin, atone for sin and transgression and bring in everlasting righteousness, fulfill the prophetic word and anoint the most holy.
One of the lessons here is that the Bible can be trusted. It predicted to the year how things would transpire right in Daniel, chapter 9!
Verses can be found today in Daniel 9: 1-27 and Jeremiah 25: 11-12.
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Friday May 06, 2022
Friday May 06, 2022
Downsizing the Stuff of Our Lives.
Today, Duncan Crook is standing in for Pastor Michael. Duncan gives a wonderful story of taking care of his father as he was aging and how his dad had hoarded away quite a few items. Items that meant something to him but the next generation wasn’t perhaps so sure and was tasked with cleaning it up.
And therein lies Duncan’s message today: Things are either given away or taken away, and the biblical guidance is we should know what is valuable and set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. Sooner or later we all lose control over things in our lives and it’s best to come to terms with that and not let things become idols.
Be on your guard against greed and realize it’s not all about possessions.
(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) 12:13–21. The next section is on possessions (12:13–34). First, Jesus warns against greed (12:13–15). A man wants Jesus to arbitrate in an inheritance dispute between his brother and himself (12:13). This would be typical work for a rabbi. But Jesus refuses, insisting that this is not his role (12:14). In 12:15 he warns of the root problem: greed. A greedy person thinks that the good life is found in things, but this is a distorted perspective.
This discussion leads Jesus to relate the parable of the rich fool (12:16–21). The problem with the rich fool is not that he has bumper crops or that he decides to build more storage space (12:16–18). The problem is that he invests his entire life in his possessions (cf. 12:15). He draws all his security from his material goods (12:19) and fails to reckon with God. He is living as if he will never die and has forgotten the importance of spiritual riches (12:20–21). Such a shortsighted investment in temporal things is foolishness indeed.
Verses can be found today in Luke 12: 13-21 and Ecclesiastes 2: 18-19.
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Sunday Apr 24, 2022
Sunday Apr 24, 2022
Can We Trust the Bible?
Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study on Daniel. At this time in history, Daniel is about 70 years old and this about a decade plus before the lion’d den that we know him so well for. Daniel is praying and has a vision of himself outside a river and he knew well the river (Ulai) and the city (Susa) in his dream.
A ram appears in his dream. This ram has two, curving horns. One of these horns starts out smaller but grows bigger than the other horn. This ram starts a ‘rampage’ and is knocking over animals, everywhere. Suddenly, from the horizon a goat appears, running so fast his feet don’t even appear to be hitting the ground.
This goat has one horn between its eyes, a ‘goaticorn’, if you will, and he runs right into the ram and smashes right into him, hitting him so hard that both of the ram’s horns are broken off and the goat takes a victory lap on the ram.
The goat, now grows bigger and stronger and seems unstoppable.
Then, without warning, the goat’s horn breaks off and four, little horns, take its place! Crazy!
We learned in prior studies of Daniel that a horn represents a king or kingdom. The ram has two horns, representing two kingdoms. At first, the goat has one, big horn, which must be one, big, undivided kingdom. Four horns growing out to replace it, become four more kingdoms.
Just when it can’t get any weirder, yet another horn grows out of one of the four horns. Symbolic but weird, but hey, it’s prophesy, so we do have to pay attention to it!
This newest horn, this little sprout of a horn, starts attacking the Holy Land. Somehow, Daniel the uber-interpreter, is seeing all these strange things going on, takes it in apparent stride, because a figure appears by the river and a loud voice commands, “Gabriel, make this man understand!”.
Gabriel tells Daniel that he has been sent to him to explain what will happen in the end times at the indignation.
Gabriel goes on to explain to Daniel that the Ram’s two horns represents the Meads and the Persians (in an alliance). The horns growing dissimilarly represents the actual way the Meads declined and the Persians gained prominence.
The the goats big horn represents Greece. When Daniel had this vision it was hundred of years before Greece became the power it would be. And that large horn breaking off, likely represented Alexander the Great dying, which occurred after his arrival in Jerusalem.
After Alexander the Great died, Greece was divided up into four, divisional kingdoms. The last horn that grows represents one of the kings of one of those kingdoms, and it may be said to be Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This is one of the great villains of history and most people don’t even know he existed!
Antiochus loved clashing with the Greece-run side of Egypt. Antiochus was so frustrated that he couldn’t take over Egypt, so he started persecuting the Jews, as Israel was smack dab in the middle of the two Greek run kingdoms.
Antiochus thus became the first ruler that systematically persecuted the Jewish people. He made the Jewish religion illegal, essentially. Eventually Judas Maccabee lead the Jews in a revolt against Antiochus. They purified the Temple in a holiday still celebrated as Hanukkah. Antiochus did suffer a bad fate, being struck with intestinal parasites! Yuck!
How do we know the Bible is true, to get back to our theme? The Bible can be trusted because prophesy is accurate. And it has stood the test of time. The Word of God has prophesy and its fulfillment, time and time again.!
All this shows us that the Word of God can be trusted.
Verses can be found today in Daniel, Chapter 8.
Sunday Apr 17, 2022
Sunday Apr 17, 2022
Easter Sunday. Along with, Unmet Expectations.
Today, Pastor Michael is studying the resurrection and unmet expectations. He is in the book of Luke and Cleopas and friends are walking towards Emmaus and thinking something was supposed to happen and it didn’t. The something was Jesus and being crucified and dying; folks had expected him to be the Messiah and now he was dead! Talk about unmet expectations!
Another person comes along and starts walking with them and he asked them what they were talking about and why they were so sad. Cleopas felt that this stranger knew very little about what all had been going on, but he gave the story of Jesus, hoping he was the Messiah and now he had been crucified and had been dead for 3 days. Now, further evidence today shows that, the tomb was empty. But they were going home, nothing had been confirmed, they didn’t really understand what all had been happening and yet this stranger felt this was exactly as it was supposed to be!
The Messiah was always destined to lay down his life, according to this stranger, who went over all the background of the prophesy of what happened to Jesus and how it was predicted long, long ago. This person gave them many prophesies about how he would suffer and die. And that it was not really, unexpected!
These folks walking along the road, asked the stranger to come to their house and have food with them. When they asked him to bless the food, they recognized him but, he soon disappeared!
They ran back to Jerusalem and let everyone know that they had seen Jesus! The Risen Lord!
(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) 24:13–27. The first resurrection appearance recorded in Luke’s Gospel is found here in 24:13–35. Two people are traveling to Emmaus from Jerusalem (24:13). As they travel, they are discussing the events of the previous day, and Jesus catches up with them as they journey (24:14–15). They cannot recognize Jesus, not because he looks different, but because in God’s sovereignty they are prevented from identifying him (24:16).
When Jesus inquires about the topic of their conversation, Cleopas (cf. Jn 19:25, which may refer to the same person; the identity of Cleopas’s partner is unknown, but perhaps it was his wife) responds by identifying Jesus as a prophet through whom God has worked in a mighty way (24:17–19). Nevertheless, he has been executed by the religious leaders, indicating that he could not have been the Messiah (24:20–21). To make matters worse, some women are saying that this Jesus is alive (24:22–23). They are right that the tomb is empty, but such a report could not be believed because no one has seen Jesus (24:24).
The “unknown” Jesus counters the belief of these two by pointing to the Scriptures. The OT Scriptures clearly teach that the Messiah must suffer before he enters into glory (24:25–27). For the texts that Jesus used, one should probably refer to the speeches in the book of Acts (Ac 2:14–39; 3:12–26; 13:16–41).
Verses can be found today in Luke 24: 13-49.
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Sunday Apr 10, 2022
Sunday Apr 10, 2022
Daniel’s Vision of Beasts and Judgments.
Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study on Daniel. Last week he covered Daniels dreams from Chapter 7 with the four fantastic beasts, that represented four world empires. He only lived to see two of them: Babylon and Persian but Greece and Rome were coming down the line.
Why would God bother to enshrine these empires in prophesy? These four world empires played a huge part in getting the story of Jesus out to the world.
Babylon ensured that the Jews would take the Lord seriously and never turn back to idols. The Persian empire gave them a fresh start in the promised land. Greece allowed a language that would be widely spoken across the civilized world.
Rome owned practically everything. It was safe to travel and they built roads and infrastructure. We now have a world where the good news of Jesus could be spread across the world.
Salvation and renewal made it across the world because of these four civilizations. God orchestrated the flow of human history so that we could get to know him through his Son.
So we pick up the story with the fourth beast, representing Rome. There are ten horns on this beast and a little horn came up amongst the other horns and it had eyes and a mouth and was actually speaking!
This represents another king and kingdom, one far worse that Rome.
Daniel 7:8 (ESV Study Bible Notes) Even more surprisingly, another small horn came up among the horns, uprooting three of the 10 others. This horn had eyes and a mouth that spoke arrogantly. If this vision corresponds to the statue in ch. 2, then it would represent the Roman Empire and emphasize its ruthlessness. The Roman Empire was significantly different than the earlier empires, for it far surpassed them in power, longevity, and influence. The world had never before seen anything like it. The 10 horns could emphasize the extreme power of this empire (five times the normal number of two horns), or more likely it signifies 10 rulers or kingdoms (cf. Dan. 7:24; from Julius Caesar to Domitian there are actually 12 Caesars; but two reigned for only a few months). The little horn was significantly different than the others, for it had teeth of iron, claws of bronze, and eyes like the eyes of a man. It started “little” but grew up to overpower three of the other horns. Some scholars understand this horn to refer to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, but many have understood it to refer to the Antichrist.
Further along, we start seeing the Lord on His throne. His hair is white, symbolizing wisdom and his clothes also are white, repressing purity. He has a thousand thousand (likely how Daniel saw an uncountable number) serving him, likely the angels standing before him. This is where the Lord judges the beasts.
Daniel 7:9-10 (ESV Study Bible Notes) The scene depicts in powerful imagery a judge who has the wisdom to sort out right from wrong, the purity to persistently choose the right, and the power to enforce his judgments. Even though the beast with the boastful horn continued to mouth defiance at the heavenly court, it was swiftly slain and its body thrown into the fire. 7:10 Ten thousand times ten thousand is meant as a picture of an innumerable multitude, representing not one kingdom but all the kingdoms of the earth standing before God (cf. Rev. 5:11). The books that were opened represent God’s records of the deeds of those on the earth (cf. Dan. 12:1; Luke 10:20; Rev. 20:12, which echo this passage).
The Coming of the Son of Man. After the beasts were judged and the fourth beast slain, Daniel’s vision turns to the coming of the Son of Man.
(ESV Study Bible Notes) 7:13–14 The Coming of the Son of Man. The one like a son of man combines in one person both human and divine traits. Elsewhere, this phrase “son of man” often distinguishes mere human beings from God (e.g., Ps. 8:4; Ezek. 2:1). However, this son of man seems also greater than any mere human, for to “come on the clouds” is a clear symbol of divine authority (cf. Ps. 104:3; Isa. 19:1). This “son of man” is given dominion and glory and a kingdom (Dan. 7:14; cf. ESV footnote at v. 27; this is parallel to God’s dominion, 4:34), which at present resides in the hands of human kings such as Nebuchadnezzar (cf. 5:18). But he is far greater than Nebuchadnezzar, because he will rule over the entire world forever: all peoples, nations, and languages will serve (or worship) him, and his dominion . . . shall not pass away (7:14). Thus, he must be much more than a personified representative of Israel (cf. vv. 18, 27), and certainly more than a mere angel, for no created being would have the right to rule the entire world forever. Jesus claims he will fulfill this role (cf. Mark 14:61–62), and it is ultimately fulfilled in Rev. 19:11–16 when Jesus comes at the end of the age to judge and rule the nations. Jesus refers to himself as “son of man” more than any other title (see notes on Matt. 8:20; John 1:51). This title was used in the OT in two different ways, first, to refer to a mere human being (see esp. Ezekiel, where it is used over 90 times referring to Ezekiel), and second, to refer to the son of man in Dan. 7:13, who is a divine being dwelling in heaven with the Ancient of Days. When people heard Jesus use the term “son of man” for himself, they had to decide which type of “son of man” he was. Technically he was both, but it took faith to believe he was like the “son of man” in Daniel. At the end of Jesus’ ministry, when he claimed to be this heavenly “son of man” predicted in Daniel’s vision, his opponents said he had committed blasphemy (see notes on Matt. 8:20; 24:30; 26:64).
The summary of all of this is, it’s a fantastical, hard-to-fathom story of Daniel’s vision of beasts and the Lord on His throne and judging these beasts (and therefore, the kingdoms they represent). Yet it all is to open up the door to the entry of the Son of Man. Jesus, our Lord.
“Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
Verses can be found today in Daniel, Chapter 7: 7-28.
Saturday Apr 09, 2022
Saturday Apr 09, 2022
Fantastic Beasts.
Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study on Daniel and we’re in the seventh chapter of Daniel in the Bible.
The first six chapters were a narrative, telling a linear story. But in Chapter 7 something different happens. Chapter 7 describes something that happens 14 years BEFORE Chapter 5!
So Daniel is famous for interpreting dreams, for years he did that. So finally he gets a dream, similar to Chapter 2 where King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a huge statue of a man. In this new dream, the four empires are represented by four, fantastic beasts. These beasts are coming up, out of the sea. The four winds blow on the sea and stir it up. This represents the power of God. These are empires that did not rise up from human intervention but God allowed them to happen in his providence.
The first was like a lion with eagle’s wings. This would represent the empire of Babylon, whose symbol was a lion. The lion being given the heart of man and standing on two feet, like a man, similar to what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.
The second fantastic beast was a bear. Raised up on one side and had 3 ribs in its teeth. In the Bible the bear is a symbol of savagery and hunger. So who came after Babylon? The Meads and the Persians. The three ribs? They probably represent three fallen enemies: Babylon, Egypt and Lydia.
The third fantastic beasts is a leopard with four heads and four sets of wings. Leopards were symbols of strength and speed. Four wings mean it’s even faster. What empire was equivalent to the speed of a leopard? Greece and Alexander the Great expanded the empire and made it HUGE. He was undefeated in battle and partly due to his battle skills and soldiers but also due to God and His providence. But he died at 32 in Babylon and the Greek empire continued on but was in four parts! Hmmm…wonder if that’s related to the four heads?
Spoiler. Yes, it is related.
Then came the empire that was greater than any before them.
The fourth beast was dreadful, terrible, with huge iron teeth. It was different than all the other beasts before it. Daniel could not compare it to anything he had ever seen. It even had ten horns on its head. Iron is important because Rome was represented by iron in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
It is clear from the book of Daniel that this succession of empires (Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome) was not the result of clever rulers. God had a plan for it. God allowed these kingdoms to arise and fall for HIS purposes.
We see these four empires in succession and that there is a greater purpose for these empires. That God’s providential hand raised up these kingdoms for His purpose. He has organized history so that you can get to know His son, Jesus.
Verses can be found today in Daniel, Chapter 7.
Sunday Mar 27, 2022
Sunday Mar 27, 2022
Daniel and The Lion’s Den.
Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study on Daniel and today is the ‘famous’ Daniel story. The one we *all* remember Daniel for. Spoiler alert: The lions didn’t eat Daniel!
What is not as well known is how Daniel wound up there in the first place!
This message deals with a preying on a person’s need to feel that we are good for something and how we unconsciously organize our world to validate that perception.
Today’s story takes place about 60 years from the first chapter of Daniel. Daniel is in Babylon and has lived quite the life and he thinks he’s finally retired but he would up being present at the very last day of the Babylonian empire and the Meads and the Persians have taken over. Cyrus is the High King and Darius is ruling Babylon, under Cyrus.
One of the three governors appointed to this role is Daniel. He’s not young anymore but he’s doing such a good job that King Darius is considering appointing him over all of Babylon. However, as is typical even today, his co-workers aren’t exactly crazy about his great work ethic. “How can we trap Daniel?”, goes their thinking and they finally have their nirvana moment, “Hey, Daniel prays to that Jerusalem God” and that caters to the Devil’s playbook.
His enemies go to King Darius and throw Daniel under the proverbial bus. They ask the King to pass a law that the people of Babylon can only pray to King Darius for 30 days. This obviously appealed to the King’s sense of divinity and was a cunning political move.
Daniel continued to pray to the true God of Jerusalem, whereas the snitches turn to the King and turn him in. The King wasn’t happy with this, as he knew at this point it was a setup but he had to do what he decreed. The King had to cast him into the den of lions and did so. But Darius is holding on the the hope that Daniel’s god will save him.
They lowered Daniel into the pit of lions but we know the outcome, don’t we?
When the sun rose, Darius went to the lion’s den and cried out to Daniel. Daniel replied back and reminded Darius that he was in the den for nothing that he had done wrong!
The story here is that God can deliver us from impossible situations!
Bible for Hope Study Notes: A Glimpse of the Miraculous (6:23) King Darius and Daniel experienced the miracle of the lions’ den from significantly different perspectives. The king mouthed faithful-sounding encouragement when Daniel was thrown into the pit (6:16), but his sleepless night (6:18) didn’t show faith in God. Daniel, on the other hand, approached his sentence with complete confidence in God’s will. As a result, Darius was only able to witness the event as a spectator, only able to appreciate it from afar. In contrast, Daniel experienced the miracle firsthand and felt the loving, protective hand of God “because he believed.” When we trust in God, we will recognize His touch on our lives.
Verses can be found today in Daniel, Chapter 6.
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
The Writing Is On The Wall.
Today, Pastor Michael is back on track with his series on Daniel. This is the fifth (5th) installment of this series and Daniel is really in interesting person, once you start drilling down on his legacy.
The story of the first half of the book of Daniel was about the Babylonians taking over Jerusalem, the “Babylonian Captivity”. Lots of folks, including Daniel, were re-located to Babylon during this time. Daniel not only found a way to survive, but a way to actually thrive, as one of King Nebuchadnezzar’s most trusted advisors. Now, in Chapter 5, King Nebuchadnezzar is dead. There is actually a huge gap in the timeline between Chapter 4 of Daniel and Chapter 5.
Daniel was maybe in his late twenties the last time we saw him and now in Chaper Five he is around eighty! So where’s he been? He’s been doing his job, serving the king and the Lord. He was just being faithful!
Nebuchadnezzar’s successors are out fighting and Belshazzar is appointed reagent of the Kingdom, being Nabonidus’ son. Belshazzar was a ‘grandaddies money’ kind of guy. And when the story opens, we find Belshazzar partying! Now he’s partying with religious articles from the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. The timing of it, was equally as terrible, as a time to throw a party. Cyrus the Great is outside the walls of Babylon, getting ready to conquer them! The overall timing of everything here is just really bad on an epic scale.
A ghostly hand now appears in the room…bizarre! This hand floats over to a well lit section of the wall and starts tracing words on the wall. Belshazzar calls for his aids to interpret this writing…so all the wise men come in and they cannot ascertain the answer (third time in Daniel where wise men couldn’t help, by the way!). Belshazzar’s mom hears the disturbance and informs them that she remembered Daniel used to help Nebuchadnezzar’s dream interpretations.
Daniel gets called in and interprets the writing. And the news isn’t good. Daniel lets Belshazzar that he needs to humble himself and chides him for using the articles of the true Lord in his partying. The meaning is “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and time is up”. And up, TODAY!
The end of the Babylonian empire had come. The empire fell that night and Belshazzar was killed.
A new empire took its place, a partnership of the Meads and the Persians. This is the end of Babylon but not the end of Daniel!
What can we learn from Belshazzar? He certainly didn’t learn from history, nor humble himself. He needed to get ahold of God with both hands and beg his help and favor. He is the example of what not to do!
Verses can be found today in Daniel, Chapter 5.
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
Vision, Passion, Purpose.
Today, Pastor Michael is taking a slight detour off the Daniel series he’s been covering, due to a freak winter storm cancelling our in-person services. So, he’s chatting about how we started.
Vision, Passion and Purpose define that we represent at ReCreate Church and how we apply the Lord’s vision in what we do.
Michael speaks especially on “Passion”, which originally meant suffering. God’s good purposes for your life will involve some struggle. God will give us help in going through those times!
Does God have a purpose for you? Have you stopped and asked Him for His vision for you?
At ReCreate we are always asking, what does God call us to. What does God want for our lives?
Verses can be found today in Proverbs 29:18 and 55: 10-12 and 19: 21.
Sunday Mar 06, 2022
Sunday Mar 06, 2022
Daniel and the Werewolf King.
Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his series on Daniel. And King Nebuchadnezzar is having another of his dreams…this time about a big tree and a ‘watcher’ (angel). Daniel interprets the dream and the news isn’t particularly good…Daniel interprets the dream as the tree representing Babylon and its ultimate fall.
Fast forward a year and the King has seen nothing happen and he feels embolden by how very rich his kingdom is, by his own design, through no help, apparently, from God. Yet, a voice comes down from Heaven, telling the King that the kingdom will fall but the King still feels the kingdom is successful because of his own design.
Judgement however, comes quickly. Nebuchadnezzar is banished from his kingdom, has to eat grass, and his nails become like claws. The man who had everything and his pride knocked him down.
Seven years pass and Nebuchadnezzar looks up to heaven and his understanding returns. Only when he acknowledges the Lord, does he finally understand. He discovers that everything is a gift from God; from Him and for Him.
Verses can be found today in Daniel, Chapter Four (4).