Is there someone in your life or in the world that you can’t imagine ever turning and following Jesus? Alice Cooper was known as the Godfather of Shock Rock; his father was a Presbyterian pastor, and after God continued to pursue him through addiction and the lifestyle of a rock star, Cooper gave his life to Jesus in 2006. The Chicago Tribune called Brian “Head” Welch’s rap metal band Korn “perverts, psychopaths and paranoiacs” because of their dark and explicit lyrics; in 2005, fans were shocked when Korn parted ways with guitarist Brian Welch because Brian had “chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior.” More famously, 250 years earlier, a mutineer, thief, and slave trader named John Newton also gave his life to Jesus. Newton had joined the slave trade at the age of 21 until one day he picked up a copy of Thomas a’ Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ; he had never read anything like it and in 1748 he surrendered his life to Christ. After forty years of following Jesus, Newton published Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade, describing the horrors of slavery, repenting of his personal responsibility for it, and calling for its abolishment. Newton would later write one of the most famous hymns in history: “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound.” All of these were some of the last people you would imagine that God would get ahold of, but God continued to pursue them despite their sinful and rebellious lives. In our study of Daniel, we see God pursuing King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful king in the known world. He conquered God’s people, boasted that no god could stop him, and tried to kill the only faithful servants of God in his empire. No one could ever imagine Nebuchadnezzar bowing the knee to anyone, let alone the God of heaven. Until one night he had a dream.
