Jerome comments in the next chapter that Nebuchadnezzar was unworthy to see the Son of God, and therefore the fourth man in the furnace must have been an angel. The great church father has it exactly backwards. Of course Nebuchadnezzar is not worthy to take the scroll, or to see the Lamb take it. That's the point, the point that is revealed to the mighty Babylonian in three different ways in three successive chapters of Daniel. He may be the king of kings, but he is not worthy. The truth of God's decree is a gift; the sight of the Son of God is a gift; the restoration of his own sanity and kingdom is a gift. None of them did he deserve — but God was pleased to reveal His Son to the destroyer of His temple. Sometimes grace is so ironic. Through Daniel, the mystery of the coming Kingdom of God is revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, in a tiny glimpse of the Lamb reading the scroll. But Nebuchadnezzar finds that he is not worthy, and only by grace can he understand that his own kingdom will be crushed and destroyed by the coming of the Kingdom of God, a kingdom all stone, all gold, all unified — and all-welcoming, should Nebuchadnezzar be willing to bow before the Lord of kings.