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The King Who Had It All: How to Have Assurance that God is Your King

Copyright 2008 Wilma Zalabak

Scriptures to Read: Dan 4; Rev 6-7

The inventory was sealed. Only the King of the ages could open it.

Revelation and the Opened Seals?

The seven seals guarded a book which the Lamb held. The Bible does not tell what was in the book. What it does tell in detail is what happened when the Lamb opened each seal on the way to opening the book.

I might properly recognize in these seals the general fortunes of the Gospel in the world at any time since the cross. I might also profitably compare the seals to the churches of Rev 2-3, as well as to the sequential fortunes of the Christian church which I explained with the seven churches. The opening of the seals opened a moral inventory on the progress of Christianity through the ages. Only the King of the ages could open such an inventory.

The interlude extra material of the sixth seal, found in Rev 7, has some verbal links to Rev 21-22, the final consummation of God's kingdom. The progression of the seals leads me to the conviction that the Lamb was the only One worthy to open them because He was the only One who had ransomed the world and provided for that continuing history. He can open the book on a new kind of history. He can open the seals on the inventory and unfold the future in His name. He is King.

At the opening of the first seal the Bible tells of a white horse given a bow and crown which, compared to the first church, could speak of the Gospel spreading through the work of the apostles in the first century A.D. On the opening of the second seal I am told of a red horse given a great sword which could correlate with the second church, as the Gospel met persecution by the sword of the pagan emperors. The third seal with its black horse having a pair of balances could indicate the Gospel as it calls for decision, as Constantine weighed the benefits of Christianity for his empire. The pale horse at the opening of the fourth seal might tell of the Gospel rejected when the medieval church gained and abused the powers of state and of capital punishment. At the opening of the fifth seal martyrs were given white robes, perhaps speaking for the many so-called heretics being martyred in giving birth to the Reformation. At the opening of the sixth seal natural signs in the sun, moon, and stars fueled the popular revivals and proclaimed the Gospel. With the opening of the seventh seal there was silence in heaven perhaps to memorialize the Gospel or perhaps to hear the last knock of the Lord at the door of Laodicea.

This comparison between the churches and the seals would place the natural signs sometime after A.D. 1517, the beginning of the Reformation. Natural signs have been recorded all through history, some by the Jewish historian Josephus in the first century. Since 1517, however, the decades surrounding the year 1800 probably had the most such natural phenomena which were interpreted and recorded as signs of the end. The reason for the spiritual interpretation of these phenomena could have had something to do with the high religious fervor in the areas affected. Several noted revivalists and revivals coordinate with these natural phenomena both in time and location.

Examples of such revivalists and the natural signs contemporary to them include the following: 1) Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, 1700-1760, in Germany, and John Wesley, 1703-1791, in England, correlate with the Lisbon earthquake, November 1, 1755, which centered in Spain and involved all of Europe. 2) Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758, in New England, correlates with a smoke obscuration of the sun and moon, May 19, 1780, in the New England States. 3) Charles Finney, 1772-1875, over North America, correlates with a remarkable Leonid meteor shower, November 13, 1833, over North America.

In connection with that revival movement, the camp-meeting phenomenon began in 1800 in Eastern United States. Religious interest was high and spiritual interpretations common.

By comparing the churches and the seals as I have briefly done here, I now have at least a suggestion for a general time frame for the sixth step in the progression of Christianity through history. Some important events seem to cluster in the decades surrounding 1800. We will come back to this date in future sessions.

Upon the opening of the sixth seal, the world asked a most important question, "Who will be able to stand?" (Rev 6:17). Rev 7 answers that question with a preview of a great multitude, a multi-cultural multitude, gathered from "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" (Rev 7:9). Evidently the assurance of God's kingship is widely available across all lines, whether of age, gender, ethnicity, economics, or handicap. Come to think of it, Nebuchadnezzar was no Jew, and he received this assurance that God was his King.

Daniel and the King's Conversion: How to Be Sure

By the end of his story, Nebuchadnezzar was sure God was King. Someone has well said of Nebuchadnezzar in this incident, "He can be king from the point he acknowledges that actually he is not, because God is" (John Goldingay, Daniel, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1989), 94).

I will explore with you today assurance, confidence, knowing for sure who He is and who I am to Him. I will list the steps in Nebuchadnezzar's conversion. By following Nebuchadnezzar's steps, I can know for sure that God is my King.

Royal Inventory: Take an Honest Inventory (Dan 4:2)

Dan 4 is the only passage in the Bible written by a pagan. It is King Nebuchadnezzar's testimony of his conversion experience. He told it openly, honestly, with no hiding of the embarrassing parts. Dan 4 is the written record of a King's personal, internal journey, his moral inventory. One of Nebuchadnezzar's steps toward knowing for sure that God was his King was to take an honest inventory.

It is not easy to be honest with myself about my liabilities as well as about my assets. Yet I believe that taking an honest inventory will help me find that assurance of God's love for me.

Now, it is possible to take an inventory which is not an honest inventory. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar did just that before he learned to take the honest one. In Dan 4:30, he stands atop his palace overlooking golden buildings and exotic hanging gardens. With a sweep of his hand to take it all in, he said, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" (Dan 4:30, emphasis mine). This king had reached all his goals. What was left but to congratulate himself?

Notice that the "I" and the "my" have a high profile in this inventory. There was another king of Babylon for whom "I" became the way of life (Isa 14:4, 12-15). He hijacked this world, claims to be its ruler, but has been beaten back by Jesus Christ. More about him in another session. A personal inventory which focuses on "I"-power is not likely to be an honest inventory.

Such is truly the case with Nebuchadnezzar. Listen to Dan 4:27 to learn that he had problems which could be corrected only by "showing mercy to the poor." Evidently some of his administrative policies had been abusive. Now let me ask, Was Nebuchadnezzar's problem his pride or his abuse? Which do you think?

I say it was both! When I think I have built my kingdom, then it is that I am most in danger of thinking I am better than those who have no kingdom. Those who have no kingdom often reap abuse and oppression from those who think they have built their own kingdom.

Well, there are other ways to build a kingdom than with gold and gardens. I built my kingdom by rules and right living and righteous busyness. Others build a kingdom in their families or churches by dominating, by always advising (correctly of course), or even by ridicule or violence. When a person thinks to build a "perfect" kingdom, then the imperfect get abused.

History records that even the Christian church built a kingdom. My history professor, Walter Douglas, cited the Christian church as "perhaps the clearest example of an institution becoming victim of its own success." The church gained the empire through Constantine, and little by little, the persecuted became the persecutor. The power it had gained, it then maintained at all costs. As the Medieval church gained power over the lives of the people, the church persecution cost more lives than the pagan persecution had. Kingdom building is hazardous.

On the other hand, God did preserve a great kingdom for Nebuchadnezzar to rule. He has actually invested each human being with power in some way. The only way to avoid the hazards of power is to take an honest inventory.

Some of you made a decision for Christ during the last session of this seminar. You took the first three steps toward recovery. You said, I can't, God can, and I decide to let Him. Then here is the next step. An honest inventory is imperative in order to celebrate those first three steps, I can't, He can, and I decide to let Him. In fact, taking an honest inventory is included in the Fourth Law of Recovery.

Someone asks, "How does a person take an honest inventory?" First, I get quiet. Turn off the television, the radio, go to the office early, put the children to bed early, or find a place outdoors where the children can play while the adult thinks. It takes a little time to get quiet inside; I wait for it. I get quiet in order to face myself honestly.

Second, I listen. Listen to God in prayer and the Bible. Listen to myself. Listen to the voices of those around me. Had Nebuchadnezzar listened to the cries of his people, he might have taken an honest inventory sooner.

Third, I write. Writing helps me to hear myself. Writing helps me to get quiet. Writing need not be organized or beautiful, but just whatever I think and feel at the time.

It is true that taking an honest inventory is not easy. I believe it is really only a gift from God. But I can place myself in quiet and listening with a pen in my hand so as to receive that gift more readily. I can know for sure that God is my king by taking an honest inventory.

Nebuchadnezzar refused an honest inventory until God gave him quiet and listening in a seven-year sabbatical!

Seven-Year Sabbatical: Take a Weekly Sabbath (Dan 4:25)

Nebuchadnezzar spent seven years in the great outdoors, among the grass, dew, and animals, until he could know for sure that the Creator was the Ruler even of kings.

Similarly, God asks all human beings to take one day in seven, a weekly Sabbath, to recognize His claim to Creatorship of the world. He says in the fourth of the Ten Commandments: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it" (Exod 20:8-11).

Remember the First Angel of Rev 14? His message sounds similar: "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters" (Rev 14:7).

When Nebuchadnezzar took his sabbatical he learned how to worship the Creator, and he came to know that the Creator was King. When I take a weekly Sabbath to worship the Creator, then I will come to know for sure that God is my King.

But there is more to Sabbath than one day in seven. The one day is simply a reminder of a way of life. "There remains therefore a [Sabbath] rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest" (Heb 4:9-11).

This is a rest which requires labor, or effort, a strange mystery. I invite you to hear some other biblical mysteries. I am called to work because God works in me (Phil 2:12-13). I am dead but empowered to live because Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20). I am invited to rejoice in my works (Eccl 3:22), but Paul could boast only in the cross of Christ and his own weaknesses because they showed forth the power of God (Gal 6:14; 2 Cor 12:9).

These passages no longer puzzle me so much as they once did, although I still claim no ultimate authority as to their meaning. Jesus' words to the Pharisees warn me against preaching one truth to the negation of another. He says, "These you should have done, and not left the other undone" (Matt 23:23). I am suggesting that these are not dichotomies nor unintelligible gibberish, but that to the Christian they are simply evidence that God's mind is bigger than human either-or thinking. Rest and work go together as two sides of the same coin. Cross and resurrection cannot be separated; they are part of the same Christ event. Giving up and great big expectations will be cherished simultaneously in the same Christian mind.

So I have heard in my own experience, Sabbath is a rest which requires effort. The effort comes because it is not easy to give up on my own trying to be good enough. I clung to the kingdom I had built. It was my security. I did not want to turn off the "I-way." The weekly Sabbath is meant to remind me that every day, every moment, the first labor I must do is that of entering into rest in Him, of giving up my own frantic and addictive activity.

You see, creativity needs rest in order to come to fruit. Maxwell Maltz studied the experience of creative people like inventors and writers. He observed that creative ideas come "when the conscious mind has let go of the problem and is engaged in thinking of something else" (Maxwell Maltz, Psycho-Cybernetics (New York: Pocket Books, 1960), 80-81). Thomas Edison, when stymied, would take a nap. Elias Howe received in a dream the idea to put the eye in the tip of the needle for the sewing machine. Since God is the ultimate in creative persons, He knows the value of rest. Since the work He wants to bring about in me is a creative work, He calls me to rest.

It is by taking a weekly Sabbath and letting the Sabbath idea permeate my entire lifestyle that I can know for sure that God is my King. It is in this way that I celebrate and nurture my first three steps, I can't, He can, and I decide to let Him. The Fourth Law of Recovery says, "We take Sabbath time, in the presence of God, to face ourselves and renew our surrender."

Someone asks, "How does one get to the Sabbath idea, the resting from my own works?" I believe it is a gift from God, that I cannot get there on my own. But I find help toward that end in being in the Word. Whenever I am in the Word, I first need to pray about it and then I need to tell what I learned.

I want to talk about this witness, telling what I learned. It works best in "I"-language. There is a difference between telling my story in "I"-language and taking my inventory around "I"-power. Nebuchadnezzar began his testimony in clear "I"-language: "I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God has wrought toward me" (Dan 4:2, emphasis mine). He also closed his testimony with clear "I"-language: "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven" (Dan 4:37, emphasis mine).

Had Nebuchadnezzar made a decree to worship the King of heaven, he would have been using "You"-language. Instead, he focused on His own experience, his own response to God. Sometimes when I discover some wonder in the Word, I am inclined to compel others around me with some sort of "You"-message, which often includes some form of "should." That can sound like oppression and abuse to those others. They need the same freedom of discovery which I had. Of course, they may indeed come to discovery by listening to how I discovered.

"I"-language will not turn into "I"-power unless I start taking the glory to myself or abusing others. "I"-language focuses on myself and God; "I"-power focuses on myself. "I"-language focuses on sharing my story; "You"-language focuses on fixing another person. The difference lies much in motive, but the words are important, too. The biblical word "witness" implies telling only what I hear, see, and know for myself. The Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, did no more than tell what they had seen and heard (1 John 1:1-3). I can learn to share the wonders of the Gospel in "I"-language.

Besides prayer and sharing, I find being outdoors a wonderful help toward the Sabbath idea. There is so much in nature to remind me that I am not God and that God loves me without strings attached. I can know for sure that God is my King by taking a weekly Sabbath.

Nebuchadnezzar heard the sentence from God of an outdoors sabbatical, and because of his sabbath, he became sure that God was his King.

I can know for sure that God is my king by taking an honest inventory and by taking a weekly Sabbath.

Looking Up: Take Assurance in Need (Dan 4:34-37)

Remember that in the first session of this seminar I said that "wisdom" or "understanding" is a theme in the book of Daniel? In that light I will not close my ears to the fact that insanity takes such a high profile in this story of a king who played God. Perhaps insanity was merely the outworking of his obsession with himself. Or perhaps it was an especially appropriate example of a punishment which fit the crime.

At any rate, the Bible says that when Nebuchadnezzar "lifted up his eyes unto heaven," his understanding returned to him (Dan 4:34, 36). This reminds me of God's words in Isaiah, "Look unto me, and be ye saved" (Isa 45:22). Nebuchadnezzar looked up and he was saved. Nebuchadnezzar just looked to God and knew that God was his King.

I think it is important to hear that the direction he had to look was up. You see, there was something else he had to know first before he could even look up or ever be saved. He had to know that he was down, not up. He had to know that those who walk in pride, God is able to bring down. Then he could look up. Then he could know that God was his King. Nebuchadnezzar found assurance in his need, in the very fact that God could bring him down (Dan 4:37).

If I know by experience the first three laws of recovery, I can't, He can, and I decide to let Him, then I can have the same assurance that Nebuchadnezzar had. When I am at the bottom, and when I am looking up from there, that is my assurance. It is a gift from God.

Christian assurance is grounded in the cross, in nothing of myself, in neither feeling nor act, for it is Christ Jesus who came to save sinners. Yet, if I want to know that assurance, it will be found most surely in admitting that I am a sinner, for it is sinners whom Christ Jesus came to save (Luke 5:31-32). Near the end of his full life of faithful ministry, Paul affirmed to Timothy, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (1 Tim 1:15). Nebuchadnezzar could be sure of God's kingship in his life precisely because of his abasement. I can know for sure that God is my King by taking assurance in my need.

Most kings demand obedience; this King empowers obedience! But I am not allowed to take assurance in my obedience; I may take assurance only in owning before God my need. Taking assurance in my obedience would only lead to arrogance like the man who went to church to pray in order to announce all his good inventory and went home unblessed. Another man went to church the same day and prayed his inventory of need and went home blessed (Luke 18:9-14). I can know for sure that God is my King, that He will be about His business of empowering my obedience, if I will take assurance in my need.

Jesus died to ransom this world, and you and me, from the hijacker, called the King of Babylon (Isa 14:4). And that which he purchased, He will not leave lying on the checkout counter. I am worth so much to Him that my own recognition of need is the assured guarantee that He is now my King and Saviour. Have I faced myself honestly? Do I know my need? Am I looking up? Then I can know that I am already His, purchased at enormous price by the King of the universe. Yes, the exhausted relaxing of the human hand, while looking up, is the surest human sign that Christ can now take over.

I can know for sure that God is my King, by taking an honest inventory, by taking a weekly Sabbath, and by taking assurance in my need.

At the Bottom Looking Up

My inventory had not always been this discouraging, but somehow it was now.

I had set out to be like Jesus; instead, my puzzlement persisted and increased as I struggled to decide what Jesus would do in each daily situation. I found myself powerless to keep a friend from committing suicide, or to heal a family's abuse, or to fill a roommate's loneliness, or to make an alcoholic quit drinking, or to feed the starving millions, or to hold back the nations from war. I asked where was the power I believed Christians would have.

I had determined to freely give of myself and help others, yet clarity eluded me as to the best ways to help. If I made one person happy by my help, I often heard I made another person unhappy by that same act of helping.

I had renounced all selfishness, and even eating and sleeping seemed selfish in the light of the need around me; yet by denying myself to care for the need around me I was breaking God's command to care for my health. And all I could do even in overtime to help others fell far short of the need.

Then again, even my desire to serve God seemed tainted with selfishness; was I seeking the gold of heaven? or escape from fire? Even my great drive toward one day obtaining the accepting word from Jesus seemed selfish. Guilt dogged my every moment. My love was not big or pure enough. My cheerfulness was not pervasive enough. My energies were not focused or strong enough.

I had set out to be like Jesus. I was not like Jesus. My inventory was discouraging.

Now, harking back, I know I was addicted to people pleasing. I also have listened to other people who have different addictions which make life just as crazy for them.

I had a friend who sensed my honesty with my inventory, and tried to lead me on to the assurance in my need. I argued with him for six months or so. My arguments were many.

I said, "But I want to do His will. I am not helpless to do His will. That's what Christians are supposed to do."

He told me the story of flying to Hawaii. As long as I insist on flapping my arms to fly to Hawaii, I will have a hard time getting on the airplane by which I could succeed in my desire to fly to Hawaii.

I said, "But if I quit, I'll never get there!"

He invited me to trust the promises of the King to Whom I could turn my life over.

I said, "Listen to all the promises He hasn't fulfilled. He said I'd hear a voice to tell me what to do. He said He'd cause me to walk in all His ways. He said he'd make me a partaker of the divine nature. Where is all that now?"

My friend reminded me that God is a gentle God, never forcing His way, always standing back until I let go.

I cried out, "What will people think? They'll think I don't even care about the mess my life is in." I knew the answer to that one. The question that really mattered to me was "What will God think?"

I said, "But I feel so guilty. If I give up, my guilt will simply multiply with no alleviation. It will overwhelm me."

He said, "Jesus forgives."

I countered, "What about all the people I've disappointed or hurt because I wasn't big enough? If I've failed to help someone, have I not in reality failed to help Jesus Himself?"

He had no flip answer. But he reminded me that God loves those people, too, and can handle whatever I've done or failed to do.

I said, "I got myself into this. I'm the one who must carry the guilt and get myself out of it."

He reasoned that since the way I was doing it had not succeeded so far in solving my guilt and getting myself cleaned up, what could I lose in trying this other way? What really could I lose in turning it all over to God?

So one night on the mountains of Colorado, I fell on my knees and then my face in the pine needles and turned it all over to God. This is what I said. "God, I've tried every way I know to do it right. I've begged You to remove me if You can't make me right. Now, whatever I do from here on out is Your problem because You could have stopped it or changed it."

I know that sounds rather crude. I was at the bottom looking up. I lay there a long time because relief and peace flooded my mind and body. I knew at that moment that God was my King. When I got up I had an agreement with God that He could do anything in my life from here on out to keep me on my face in the dust before Him. I wanted that sweet assurance forever in my life.

The first difference I noticed was that the Bible was to me a new Book. I ate it ravenously. I took much Sabbath time outdoors in the Word soaking up this new sound to everything familiar. God was now my King and I knew it. He was in charge of my world and that was OK. I knew I was worth the universe to Him.

It is truly amazing to me how He has little by little since then sorted out the tangled strands of my life and led me on to a most happy and fulfilling life in Him. I still do not love perfectly or care for myself or others fully. I am growing, and what I cherish most is that I still know that God is my King.

I can know for sure that God is my King by taking an honest inventory, by taking a weekly Sabbath, and by taking assurance in my need.

How to Have Assurance that God Is Your King: