The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

Witness of the Three Hebrews

There were still lessons for Nebuchadnezzar to learn about the great God. In anger he called before him the three faithful Hebrews who had disobeyed a command to worship the inanimate image on the plains of Dura, and defiantly asked, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” Daniel 3:15. To which these heroic witnesses replied: AGP 146.4

“We are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” Verses 16, 17.

God vindicated their faith in Him. They came forth unharmed from their ordeal of fire, and the king by royal proclamation yielded homage to the God of the Hebrews, declaring, “There is no other God that can deliver after this sort.” Verse 29. AGP 146.5

Jehovah had yet one more lesson for the proud king of Babylon to learn for himself, and to make known by another decree. In teaching this lesson the prophetic gift acted an important part. AGP 146.6

Through another dream and its interpretation by the prophet Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar was warned against magnifying himself above the God of heaven. When later this spirit of pride in his own achievements led him to glorify himself, the judgment of which he had been warned came upon him. After seven years of humiliation, with a deranged mind, he was restored, and gave glory to the God of heaven. In a remarkably frank narrative of the entire experience, he concluded with the statement: AGP 147.1

“Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” Daniel 4:37.