Getting the Leader’s Attention
“…Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled,” (Daniel 2:1)
Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, the most powerful kingdom on earth. He had riches and power in abundance. Even the people of Judah, whose God had parted the Red Sea and freed them from slavery in Egypt, were under his hand. He was on top of the world, until one night he had dreams that so troubled him he could not sleep. Something was wrong. He did not know what it was, but it would not go away. He could not remember the dreams, much less know what they meant, and his wise men were of no use.
Yet Daniel, by God’s grace, gave him the dream and the interpretation. Daniel spoke of a great image with a gold head, silver chest and arms, brass belly and thighs, iron legs, and feet part iron and part clay. The gold head represented Nebuchadnezzar himself, first and most powerful. The silver represented another kingdom, not so powerful, that would come after him, the brass another, and so on. At the end of the dream a stone, representing God’s kingdom, would wipe out all these kingdoms and stand forever.
Nebuchadnezzar was impressed with Daniel and with the dream. The next chapter tells how the king built a huge image of gold and commanded all to bow down to it or be thrown into a fiery furnace. The king may have gotten this idea from Daniel’s interpretation of the dream, with Nebuchadnezzar being the head of gold. Yet he obviously missed one point of the dream: that his kingdom and life were temporary.
Nebuchadnezzar supposedly had everything, but one thing he did not have was a personal relationship with the true God. God was dealing with his heart through his dream. God would deal with the king in other ways, as well. Chapters 2 through 4 of Daniel tell how God showed his love to a heathen king. As 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” There is no one to whom the Lord Jesus does not want to give forgiveness for sins and eternal life.
America has no king. We have a divided government to keep any one person or branch from becoming too powerful. We have a President, senators, congresspeople, and Supreme Court justices; then governors, mayors, and local leaders. Some leaders are considered liberal, others more conservative, and still others moderate. Yet regardless of their political conduct, they all have one thing in common. They all have souls, and as we saw in 2 Peter 3:9, God wants them all to know the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour.
1 Timothy 2:2 says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority;” We are to pray for our leaders, whether we like them or not. We are to pray for their safety and that of their families; for God to convince their consciences to stand for what is right and against what is wrong. Most of all, if they do not know Jesus as Saviour, we are to pray for God to show them their need, as He did with Nebuchadnezzar.
John 15:26 says, “…the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” When people do not know Jesus as Saviour, the Holy Spirit speaks to their hearts of their need for Christ. When this happens, people often become troubled. When Paul talked to the Roman governor Felix about Jesus, “…Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time;” (Acts 24:25) If Felix had received Jesus as Saviour, he would have had the peace of mind Jesus gives. Sadly, the Bible has no record that he ever did.
Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” There is no peace of mind like that of having Jesus as Saviour. Pray for our national, state, and local leaders to know this peace. To see from the Bible how to receive Jesus as your personal Saviour, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org, click “Helpful Links,” then “How Do I Go to Heaven?”
Brian Miller 6/20/2025
Cleveland Baptist Church 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 4414 216/671-2822