“Surely your God is the God of gods…”

King Nebuchadnezzer had dreamed the unimaginable. Now he had just witnessed the impossible. The dream disturbed him so much that he “could not sleep” (Daniel 2:1). So troubled was he, in fact, that he demanded, on point of death (v. 12), that the wise men tell him the dream first to prove they could interpret it correctly (v. 9). Does that sound like an easy thing to do? Only God himself knows what is going on between one’s ears. Indeed, sometimes we don’t even know what’s going on in our own heads, let alone others!

Of all the wise men in the king’s service, God revealed the king’s dream only to Daniel. After Daniel shocked the king by describing and explaining the dream, Nebuchadnezzer picked himself up off the floor and exclaimed, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries…” (v. 47).

But what about this title, “God of gods”? Didn’t God say earlier, “I am the first and the last; apart from me there is no God… You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one” (Isaiah 44:6b, 8b)? Yes, he certainly did. Then what exactly does “God of gods” mean? And who or what are these other ‘gods’? Good question!

In the ultimate sense, there is only one God who, as theologian/philosopher Francis Schaeffer used to say is “back of all things.” This is what Isaiah records when God said he is “the first and the last.”

But the matter of “gods” is another issue. If you have been to places like India, for example, you can see temple after temple built in honor of some god. Even the Bible supplies names of false gods such as Baal, Chemosh and Dagon, to name a few, all having their own temples and priests. Generally speaking the Western world doesn’t have temples per se. But our gods, while in one way more subtle, are all over the culture, largely through the media. They take the forms of money, power, pleasure, physical beauty and the ever-present focus on sex. They appeal to “the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does” (1 John 2:16). I once knew a guy whose god was his car! He spent every lunch break waxing it, cleaning it, adding this, fixing that. He was literally in love with his car! He lived just for the thrill of driving it and being seen in it. It was his god.

The Bible also says that God “gives judgment among the ‘gods’” (Psalm 82:1). These ‘gods’ are later called, “sons of the Most High” (v. 6). Who are these gods? From the context they are those who “defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked” (v. 2) but shouldn’t. They are ones who should “[d]efend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed [and] rescue the weak and needy” (vs. 3-4) but haven’t. Who are they? Presumably those with the authority to do so: judges, governors, kings and other leaders. They have the power and responsibility to help the hurting and downtrodden. But because of their disobedience, even though God said, “You are ‘gods,’” they “will die like mere men [and] fall like every other ruler” (vs. 6-7). So this term ‘gods’ can mean several things.

All of this merely amplifies the fact that our God is indeed the God of all gods. He is over all other gods, good and bad, which means he is the supreme God, over and beyond and behind and under everything. This God of gods knows all and comprehends all. Psalm 148 tells all of creation — from angels to shining stars, from earth to ocean depths, from mountains to fruit trees, from wild animals to flying birds, from kings to children — to praise the Lord. One author says, “Creation praises God by simply being what it was created to be in all its incredible variety. And since most of creation is beyond the awareness of mankind…[i]t was created for the enjoyment of God.” Who else knows, understands and enjoys everything that is made? Do you? Do I? Hardly…not in a million years! Only the God of gods can fathom the universe and all that is in it. That is Nebuchadnezzer’s point. It can only be the Lord, creator of heaven and earth.