SERMON: THE RISE AND FALL OF HUMPTY DUMPTY

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
26 March 2006

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Daniel 4

29. Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon,
30. he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?"
31. The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, "This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you.
32. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes."
33. Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.
34. At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
35. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?"
36. At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.
37. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

-- Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall -- Humpty Dumpty had a great fall -- And all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again

-- now in this familiar nursery rhyme, we are introduced to the tragic character of Mr. Dumpty -- we don't know much about Mr. Dumpty, but we do know that he was evidently a very successful man -- he had risen to the top and found himself perched on a wall, overlooking life and all that he had accomplished
-- you know that's how the top businessmen in the world judge if they have truly made it or not, don't you? -- when they have the top office -- the office that is on the top floor with the large window that overlooks the city -- then they know they have arrived -- they know they have it all together -- they know they are truly successful in life
-- we may not have the opportunity to get the top offices in our careers, but we have other measures to let us know if we have made it to the top or not, don't we? -- for teachers, it might mean getting a Master's degree and being recognized as the top teacher in the county for that year -- for businessmen, it might mean reaching a certain milestone in annual profits or a certain number of sales for a given year -- for others, it might be an award given from your peers or from those in authority over you
-- regardless, if we are honest, most of us want to be just like Mr. Dumpty in the start of this story -- we want to be at the top -- looking over life and all it has given us and thinking to ourselves, "I have made it."

-- Mr. Dumpty was there -- he had arrived -- he was at the top -- but his story doesn't end there -- something happened, and Mr. Dumpty was unceremoniously dropped from the top and ended up at the bottom of the wall
-- that happens a lot, doesn't it? -- how many stories have you read of successful men and women who had risen to the pinacle of their career -- to the pinacle of life itself -- only to have something come in and pull the rug out from under them -- sending them crashing from the heights of success to the depths of misery and brokenness
-- we don't know what caused Mr. Dumpty to fall, but we've seen a variety of things take out other leaders in our very own nation -- right now, we have the trial of Ken Lay and his associates at Enron going on -- at one point, Ken Lay was one of the most successful businessmen in the nation -- well-respected -- financially secure -- admired by business leaders and Christians alike -- pointed to as an example of what a Christian businessmen should look like -- in fact, I have a book in my office on how to live out your Christian walk in the work-place, and one chapter uses the example of Ken Lay as a model for us to follow
-- but bad decisions -- unethical decisions -- and, apparently, outright fraud and deceit, caused Ken Lay to tumble from the top of the business world to the bottom, fighting for his freedom in a court of law
-- other leaders have been toppled through sexual immorality -- drug and alcohol addictions -- illegal behavior or ties to corrupt organizations -- there is no end to the list of things that could cause a person to tumble from the top of a wall to the ground below
-- something apparently happened to Mr. Dumpty -- while he was sitting happily on top of his wall, enjoying life -- something came along and knocked him from his perch and sent him falling to the ground
-- but the story doesn't end there -- Mr. Dumpty was not one to stay at the bottom -- he enjoyed the top -- he wanted back on the top -- he wanted to be repaired and fixed and restored back to his previous position on top of the wall
-- so he did like a lot of those who have fallen in their lives -- he looked for help from those around him -- evidently, Mr. Dumpty was of the mindset that the Government had all the answers -- so he went to the government in his day -- he went to the king -- the king sent out his horses -- his workers -- the blue-collar guys -- to see if they could help -- these were the programs and the projects that the government had in place to help people get back on their feet again -- but it obviously didn't work -- Mr. Dumpty was still at the bottom of the wall, broken with no repair in sight
-- so the king sent his men -- the leaders of his day -- the men with connections and power and prestige and resources -- surely these men would be able to help Mr. Dumpty and get him back up on the top of the wall where he belonged
-- but they, too, were unsuccessfull -- nothing that either Mr. Dumpty or the King tried worked -- and in the end, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty back together again -- he had fallen and couldn't get up

II. The Rise and Fall and Rise of Nebuchadnezzer
-- let's look now at the story of another man who found himself at the top of the world and let's see what happened to him -- this is the story of King Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon -- the ruler of the first world empire
-- before we start looking at this passage in detail, let me give you a little of the context and background of King Nebuchadnezzer
-- in the book of Daniel, we learn about the rise of Nebuchadnezzer -- under his leadership, Babylon had risen to become a major military and financial power in the world -- and Nebuchadnezzer was attacking and conquering all the countries near him

-- because His people had turned away from Him and sought after foreign gods, the Lord God Almighty used Nebuchadnezzer to conquer the nation of Israel as a means of disciplining the Israelites -- after Nebuchadnezzer had conquered Jerusalem and Israel, he carried off the Israelites into captivity for a period of 70 years -- the prophet Daniel, who wrote this book, was one of those carried off into captivity early in Nebuchadnezzer's reign
-- by the time Chapter 4 rolls around, Nebuchadnezzer was at the top of the world -- he had conquered and ruled all of the known world -- he was rich beyond belief -- his capitol city was expansive and recognized as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world -- and spiritually, he wasn't doing too bad, either -- after the incident with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnance, Nebuchadnezzer had professed faith in the God of Israel -- not exclusive faith -- maybe not even saving faith -- but he professed belief and fear and awe at the power of the Lord God Almighty
-- however, God knew Nebuchadnezzer's heart, and so He sent Nebuchadnezzer a dream to warn him of the danger of spiritual pride and to warn him what would happen if he failed to repent of his sins and follow God with all his heart and all his mind and all his strength
-- but, like all men who find themselves sitting on the top of the wall, Nebuchadnezzer didn't listen to God's warning in the dream

-- let's pick up with the story now in verse 27 as Daniel completes his interpretation of the dream and gives God's final warning to Nebuchadnezzer --

27. Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue."

-- what God was telling Nebuchadnezzer was, "You're on the top of the wall -- I placed you there -- and if you want to stay there, you must acknowledge Me and My hand in your life -- you must turn to me with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength -- repenting of your sins and seeking to live in My kingdom and not your own" -- but the king was stubborn, and so Daniel gives us a glimpse of Nebuchadnezzer's rejection of God by offering up this one line of commentary in verse 28

28. All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.

-- everything that God decreed in the dream of warning that Daniel interpreted was about to come to pass -- let's read on and see what happened to Nebuchadnezzer -- verse 29

29. Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon,
30. he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?"

-- ah, here we see the folly of the man living on top of the world -- or, in this case, walking about on top of the royal palace looking over all of Babylon and all the lands that he possessed
-- notice the arrogance in Nebuchadnezzer's comments as he looked at what he owned -- "I have built" -- "my mighty power" -- "the glory of my majesty" -- I -- me -- mine -- my -- danger words -- words that let you know that you're straying too close to the edge of the wall -- and if you don't pull back and remember how you got up there in the first place, you might just find yourself falling to the bottom

-- and that's exactly what happened -- verse 31

31. The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, "This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you.
32. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes."
33. Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

-- just like Humpty Dumpty, Nebuchadnezzer fell -- what God gave, God took away -- his position -- his power -- his finances -- his resources -- even his own sanity -- in one moment, gone -- taken away by God because of Nebuchadnezzer's belief that he had done it on his own and with his own power
-- God told us in the first commandment that we should have no other gods before Him -- and that was exactly what Nebuchadnezzer had done -- he had made an idol out of himself -- maybe not a 90-foot tall golden image like last time -- but an idol none-the-less -- by using words like "I" and "mine," Nebuchadnezzer had put himself in the place of God -- and so God pushed Nebuchadnezzer off the wall
-- God gave Nebuchadnezzer twelve months to repent of his sins and turn to Him -- but Nebuchadnezzer refused -- and in the end, he wound just like Humpty Dumpty -- one moment he's sitting on top of the wall -- the next he finds himself falling
-- when Nebuchadnezzer fell, he hit the bottom -- he became a shell of his former self -- a broken man -- and, unlike Humpty Dumpty, he has no one else on earth on whom he can call -- Humpty called on the king for help -- but in this case, the one who has fallen is the king -- and no one on earth can put Nebuchadnezzer back together again -- there is no one he can even cry out to for help -- his only hope is in the mercy and grace of God

-- verse 34

34. At the end of that time, -- "at the end of that time" refers to the seven year time period of punishment that God had warned Nebuchadnezzer about in his dream -

34. At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
35. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?"
36. At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.
37. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

-- for seven long years, Nebuchadnezzer lay at the bottom of the wall -- broken and battered -- out of his mind -- living in the fields with the animals -- but, finally, he turned his eyes towards the only One who could help -- he looked towards God and, even in the midst of his insanity and his brokenness, called out to God for mercy and grace and restoration
-- and God heard the cry of Nebuchadnezzer's heart and restored all that Nebuchadnezzer had lost -- his sanity -- his position -- his power -- his resources -- his palace
-- God picked Nebuchadnezzer up out of the pit that he had fallen into and placed him back on the top of the wall again -- what all the king's horses and all the king's men could not do, God did
-- but this time, the man on top of the wall was not the same -- he had been changed through the grace of God -- he still had the power and the prestige and the palace -- his kingdom still stretched from the sea to the mighty rivers in Babylon -- in fact he even became greater than he was before -- but the pride and the arrogance and the idolatory were gone -- and, in its place, was humbleness and respect and true worship for the Lord God Almighty
-- the story of Nebuchadnezzer is similar to that of Humpty Dumpty -- but it is not nearly so tragic -- Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall and fell, never to get back up again -- Nebuchadnezzer sat on the wall and fell, too, but he was raised back up through the redeeming grace of God

III. Closing
-- we are constantly surrounded by stories of modern-day Humpty Dumpty's -- men and women who rose to power or prestige and who fell to the bottom again -- our papers and our news stories are filled with their tragic tales -- such is the fate of those who put their hope and faith in themselves and in the things of this earth
-- but we are also surrounded by the stories of modern-day heroes of the faith like Nebuchadnezzer -- men and women who fell, but who put their hope and faith in the living God and who rose again -- perhaps not to the same positions of power -- perhaps not to the same levels of income or prosperity -- but to something better -- to the heights of heaven itself
-- if I had to point to one modern man whose story most closely parallels that of Nebuchadnezzer, I would have to mention Chuck Colson
-- Chuck Colson was one of Richard Nixon's most trusted advisors when he was president of the United States -- Colson had it all -- he had power -- he had prestige -- he had money -- he had the ear of the president of the most powerful nation on earth -- he lived on top of the wall
-- but then Watergate happened -- and Colson made some bad decisions -- some illegal actions -- and went to federal prison -- the mighty man had fallen off the wall and landed in a hole -- but, he didn't stay there
-- during the time he was on trial and later in prison, Colson placed his trust and faith in the saving grace of Christ Jesus -- and, just like Nebuchadnezzer, God restored Colson to his place of prominence
-- only this time, instead of being in the west wing of the white house, it was as the leader of Prison Fellowship Ministries -- a place where Colson could use his new-found faith in Christ to minister to prisoners and give them a hand up to help them make it to the top of the wall, too
-- as I close, let me ask you this question -- what are you putting your faith and trust in? -- do you find yourself saying far too often, "I" and "My" and "Mine?" -- is your faith and trust in God or is it in yourself?
-- the answer to that question is the difference between night and day -- between being Humpty Dumpty or Nebuchadnezzer
-- no matter where you are this morning -- whether on top of the wall or at the bottom of it -- your hope lies only in the redeeming and restoring grace of the Lord Jesus Christ -- if you have never accepted Jesus as Lord, then this morning might be your moment to do so
-- if you have, but you have found yourself drifting away from God -- following your own plans and desires and trusting more in yourself than in the Holy Spirit to lead your life -- then this morning might be the day you need to come back to God by rededicating your life to Him and asking Him to keep you from falling away
-- regardless of where you are, I would invite you to respond to God's Word as you feel led -- as always, the altar is open for any who wish to come forward -- let us pray