Albert Barnes Commentary Daniel 4:3

"How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation." — Daniel 4:3 (ASV)

How great are his signs! — How great and wonderful are the things by which he makes himself known in this manner! The allusion is undoubtedly to what had occurred to Nebuchadnezzar himself—the event by which a monarch of such state and power had been reduced to such a humble condition. He would rightly regard this as a signal instance of divine intervention, and as suited to give him an exalted view of the supremacy of the true God.

And how mighty are his wonders! — The wonderful events that he performs; the things suited to produce admiration and astonishment. (Psalms 86:10; Isaiah 25:1).

His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom — Nebuchadnezzar was undoubtedly led to this reflection by what had occurred to him. He, the mightiest monarch then on earth, had seen that his throne had no stability; he had seen that God had power at his will to bring him down from his lofty seat and to transfer his authority to other hands; and he was naturally led to reflect that the throne of God was the only one that was stable and permanent. He could not help but be convinced that God reigned over all, and that his kingdom was not subject to the vicissitudes that occur in the kingdoms of this world. Few occurrences on earth have been better suited to teach this lesson than this one.

And his dominion is from generation to generation — That is, it is perpetual. It is not liable to be stopped by death, as human dominion is; it does not pass from one family to another as an earthly scepter often does. The same scepter, the same system of laws, the same providential arrangements, and the same methods of reward and punishment have always existed under his government and will continue to do so to the end of time.

Perhaps there is no more sublime view that can be taken of God’s government than this. All earthly princes die; all authority lodged in the hands of an earthly monarch is soon withdrawn. No one is so mighty that he can prolong his own reign, and no one can make his own authority extend to the next generation.

Earthly governments, therefore, however mighty, are of short duration. History is made up of the records of a great number of such administrations, many of them exceedingly brief and of very varied character. The scepter falls from the hand of the monarch, never to be resumed by him again; another grasps it, only to retain it for a little while, and then he passes away. But the dominion of God is in all generations the same. This generation is under the government of the same Sovereign who reigned when Semiramis or Numa lived; and though the scepter has long since fallen from the hands of Alexander and the Caesars, yet the same God who ruled in their age is still on the throne.