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Jeremiah 27:6 (KJV) 6
And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
How could Nebuchadnezzar be a servant of the LORD if he was a ‘pagan’ who served the Babylonian god Marduk?
Nebuchadnezzar did God service when he besieged Jerusalem in 605 BC and
The Lord gave Jehoiakim into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, Daniel 1:2 and II Kings 24:1.
Nebuchadnezzar did God service when he fell upon his face and gave homage to Daniel and said :
your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings, Daniel 2:47.
Nebuchadnezzar did God service when, after misunderstanding the implications of Daniel's dream, he made an image and demanded worship, but saw his folly after the furnace incident and then made a decree :
That every people, nation and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces [...], Daniel 3:29.
Nebuchadnezzar served God when, after being lifted up and was humbled and ate grass like an ox and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, he said :
I blessed the most High and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, Daniel 4:34.
But, above all (in my own view) Nebuchadnezzar did God service when, as he watched three - then four - figures in the fiery furnace he became the first person, ever, Jew or Gentile, to utter the words
the Son of God, Daniel 3:25.
Nebuchadnezzar was a very privileged man, indeed, and did God much service.
Every Servant is under authority: It is the core definition
"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." (Romans 13:1)
"And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish."" (Luke 4:6)
It is this simple: God uses willing and unwilling. No one is not under Him, and no one is exempt. God (the Father) is the ultimate Authority. There is coming a point when the Father is going to put "all things under His (Jesus) feet." "He will be King of kings and Lord of lords" (Civil and Religious Government).
"For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." (1 Corinthians 15:27-28)
There is no such thing as authority that is not under God the Father.
Yes, He was God's servant, a minister of His wrath to bring judgement to a backslidden nation, Judah, that refused to return. Back in the days of Elijah, Israel/the northern kingdom had left to worship the true God and slid to idolatory. The land was full of corruption and Elijah had step on the scene with the word of God. The people and their king had slidden to a perpetual backslidden condition. They rejected correction. What did Elijah tell Elisha:
1 Kings 19:14-17
14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
15 And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:
16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.
17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.
God is a good God all the time but many times we take it for granted. God is also a judge. Let's take a lesson from the scripture of the goodness and severity of God.
Romans 11:22
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Now as long we remain in his goodness by abiding in His word then His goodness will continue with us, otherwise His severity is as strong as His goodness. In the days of the first coming of the Messiah, the Jews took the goodness of God for granted, they failed to honour their king. The next thing to befall them was wrath and the Prince (Rome) to minister the wrath of God was at Hand. The time was ripe for judgement. They did to the messiah as they wanted to fulfill the prophetic words:
Daniel 9:26
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Luke 21:22-24
22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Titus the Roman vessel was a vessel in the hand of God to bring God's wrath upon an evil, wicked, adulterous and yet religious generation. He was a minister of God's wrath. He was a vessel at hand.
Romans 13:3,4
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
With scriptural eyes of understanding we see the same shadow of darkness cast upon Christianity, a falling away, religious hypocrisy, departure from the doctrine of Christ, the ministers have become false teachers of the word in this nuclear age in which Israel has returned to their homeland to be grafted into their own olive tree. We see signs of great judgement, nuclear proliferation, dictators of the nation's of the world having weapons of mass destruction. What is it? Signs of judgment, ministers of wrath upon a degraded covenant people. The scripture of this day has to be fulfilled.
Isaiah 24:1-3,5,6,13,17-21,23
1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
Yet He gives remedy to avert the great judgement.
Zephaniah 3:6-9
6 I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.
7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.
8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
The craftment raised in their time are ministers of wrath and they will do what is appointed for them to do to purge the land of evil.
Leviticus 18:24,25,27-29
24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
Nebuchadnezzar was God's servant in that he fulfilled Moses'prophesey thatGod would allow the nation of Isreal to be invaded and taken captive should they choose to turn away from Him. As created beings, we are ALL God's servants and He will use any or all of us to forward His glory whether we personally believe or not. Through Nebuchadnezzar's captivity of the nation, God gave us Daniel and his prophecy, through the furnace God gave us our first visual glimpse of our Saviour. While not a Jew himself, Nebuchadnezzar unwittingly set up many scenarios for God to display His glory and power.
This question will inevitably invite answers such as the following:
Nebukanezer was evil, god allowed him to do inhuman things to people for his own revenge..... that makes god not a redeemer of sinners but someone so cruel for his own ends.... Jesus cane to save souls. So his father came to destroy them. No wonder people cannot believe he is what he says he is.
Julite, 2020-07-29 05:47:32Z
Such answers will ultimately be removed as "poor quality", even though they do actually address the question. The logic is simple: if a servant perpetrates evil, then the master who boasts that servant is his, must also be a perpetrator of evil.
God, of course, is not an apologist in regard to perpetrating evil:
7I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Isaiah 45:7 (KJV)
Nebuchadnezzar's heart was inclined to coercion:
12... the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
Daniel 2:12-13 (KJV)
10Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image:
11And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:10-11 (KJV)
Even when Nebuchadnezzar eventually acknowledges he is dealing with the Most High God, his heart is still moved to coercion:
29Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed -nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
Daniel 3:29 (KJV)
The inclination of Nebuchadnezzar's heart made him the ideal "rod of discipline", but his pride was an issue so he, himself, had to be disciplined:
33The same hour was the thing [the decree of the Watchers] fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.
Daniel 4:33 (KJV)
Then Nebuchadnezzar repented, and was restored:
34And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
Daniel 4:34 (KJV)
A wayward child whose heart is contrary to his father's is going to experience reproof and discipline. Israel was a wayward child, and Nebuchadnezzar was the rod God used to effect His discipline.
However, the God who disciplines is also the God who restores. For those who are inclined to think like Julite, it is important to keep in mind: the servant Jesus was sent to save by the same God who sent his servant Nebuchadnezzar to discipline.
It is also important to keep in mind that "perpetrating evil" is not the same as "being evil". Matthew records:
16And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Matthew 19:16-17 (KJV)
"Being evil" is the polar opposite of "being good", so in Jesus' judgement ALL BUT God "are evil".
