October 8, 2021

[King Nebuchadnezzar] answered Daniel and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” Then the king promoted Daniel . . .  Daniel 2:47-48a

The Babylonian king correctly recognized, so far as he was able in that moment, the greatness of God. He was sincere enough to follow through with a big promotion for Daniel, one of the Jewish captives in the king’s court. However, ol’ Neb was unwilling in the “first round” to disentangle himself from his deep-seated selfish ambition. Not long afterwards, he “came out swinging” in chapter 3. But, fortunately for all of us, our God is so very patient! God did what He had to do to humble and ultimately win the stubborn heart of the Babylonian king, as Nebuchadnezzar himself testifies in chapter 4.

The process of disentanglement from the fallen world can be a complex, delicate operation. Only the loving surgical hand of the Great Physician can accomplish it. Martin Luther encountered a Bible in the university library and correctly recognized the greatness of God. But that was just the beginning of his disentanglement. In wholehearted desire to serve Him, young Martin entered a monastery. His devotion to God was grossly abused there, yet God provided the sound counsel of a friend to help him begin to escape Satan’s snares. As we saw yesterday, Martin Luther was thinking of himself as a true son of the papal church for life. His professorship and preaching provided for the scattering of good seed among others. His care for the spiritual welfare of others enabled him to receive a very eye-opening message. Providentially, God led him to Rome. One of the things in Rome he had come to do was to respond to the recent promise of indulgence by the pope to anyone who would ascend on their knees “Pilate’s staircase” (said to have been miraculously conveyed from Jerusalem to Rome). As Luther made this ascent, he heard a voice speaking to him:

“The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17b

These powerful words gave Martin the determination to stand up and walk away from Pilate’s staircase. For the rest of his life, the six simple words never lost their effect upon him. So clouded had his mind been by church tradition that it had taken years to break the heavy chain of human philosophy and the sophistries of Satan that had long been interwoven into his thinking. We have all been subjected to ideas that contradict God’s loving instructions. This is why we each need daily submission to Jesus for cleansing and renewal.

. . . if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:21-24