Posted on 07/25/2008 11:52:29 PM PDT by John Leland 1789
NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM
Daniel 2
By Mr. Louis Liesching
(At the Nottingham Conference, May, 1894. First Address)
To the student of prophecy my subject may appear a very elementary one, but, as I understand it, we have not come here to speak to those who are students of prophecy, but rather to those who are not.
There are many who have an idea that there is a great deal of prophecy which they know nothing about, and which they can know nothing about. Now as to their not knowing about it, I am willing to admit; but I think there is a great deal which God has revealed, and which consequently they can know about.
I am going to address you on the wonderful dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which you find related in the second chapter of the book of Daniel. That great King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream which he forgot, but was most anxious to recall, and the Revealer of all secrets revealed it to Daniel, His servant, and, to the astonishment of the King, he had one event after another, which formed the subject of the dream, repeated, and the interpretation given.
Naturally, the king would think that the man who could know a dream which nobody had told him, would, in all probability, be right in the interpretation of it. This King Nebuchadnezzar, saw a magnificent statue of a man. His head was of gold, his arms were of silver, his thighs were of brass, the legs were of iron, and the toes were partly of iron and partly of potter's clay. That was the dream, and now as to the interpretation.
When a sculptor proceeds to make a statue, he first forms a model of clay, from which he makes the actual statue. The great and important question for you and me is to know how far the man who is working out this statue has got, for it is a history of the events which are to take place from the time of King Nebuchadnezzar until the end of this present age. It is also most important for us to know where we are at present, and on that subject the word of God has given no uncertain sound.
The head of the statue was of gold. Daniel tells the King that it represents himself, Nebuchadnezzar. "Thou art this head of gold," he said to him. Now the Divine idea of perfect government is that of one single individual ruling under God, receiving his commission from Him, ruling in His fear, and doing justice, and answerable to Him. That is the Divine idea as represented in this head of gold.
God had given to him the dominion of the world. Had Nebuchadnezzar seen fit to extend his conquests to the remotest parts of the earth, he would not be circumscribed by anything but his own will. God gave him the whole world, provided that he should rule as God would have him. But that head of gold—the absolute monarch ruling in the fear of God—proved a failure, because, as in all other governments, man is a failure; and man being a failure, all man's works must be failures.
When the handwriting on the wall said to his son Belshazzar, "Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting," I understand it to allude, not merely to Belshazzar, but also to the dynasty which was to terminate in him. Absolute monarchy had been tried, and it had failed. What next?
The next is very aptly represented by silver (as silver is inferior to gold), and the two arms and body represent the Medo-Persian Empire. It was inferior to the golden head, because it was not absolute monarchy, but monarchy controlled by an oligarchy, by nobles and princes; and its characteristic was this, that if, with the advice of the nobility, the king made a statute and put his seal to it, nothing on earth—no fiat of the Council or King—could change it.
You see [the unchangeableness of the decree] in the case of Daniel. The king was caught in the trap which was laid. The princes had persuaded the king to sign the edict forbidding his subjects to pray to any God under the penalty of death, and their design was to get Daniel destroyed. When the king discovered the plot, he labored till the going down of the sun to get Daniel delivered. But the nobles said what the King thoroughly understood. "Know, O King, that it is the constitution of this realm that when a law has been passed it cannot be altered!" [paraphrased] If he broke a law his own sovereignty would have been in jeopardy. Consequently he was obliged to put Daniel into the den of lions. It was the same when the edict afterwards went forth under Ahasuerus that all the Jews should be slain [Book of Esther]. The king could not alter it.
In that respect, taking absolute monarchy as the standard, the next government was inferior.
The third government was brass, and that represented the Grecian Empire under the sway of Alexander the Great, who, in three pitched-battles, destroyed the Medo-Persian Empire, and acquired the supremacy of the world. Then he died. His government was inferior to that of the Medo-Persian, for [Greec] was a sort of court-martial. That monarchy was divided into four parts.
I want to ask this question at this point. There are those who tell us that Daniel did not write this book. If they would tell us who did, it would be more easy to answer them. But whether Daniel wrote it, or whether somebody else wrote it, I want to know how did the man who wrote it know that there would be four empires and never another afterwards? How did he know that the Roman government would not have been followed by another?
Supposing the Turks had overrun Europe (as they almost did), you might have put the book of Daniel into the fire, or amongst the false prophecies. But every single detail in this dream is fulfilled up to the very little that remains. The Roman Empire was the fourth great monarchy, and it is most aptly represented by iron.
Now comes the strange part. This workman who is making the statue, when he comes to the feet, changes the material. There are the two legs—the Roman Empire, of course, was not in existence then [i.e. when Daniel was written]—one foot standing upon Constantinople and the other upon Rome, and, like a Colossus, bestriding the world.
How did the writer of this book, who, we are told, was not Daniel, know that the Roman Empire would be divided into two kingdoms? As the sculptor makes the feet he first makes iron and then potter's clay—such as our flowerpots are made—and he puts this in amongst the toes. When he has done toe No. two, and gets to No. five, he finds that No. two has gone all wrong, because clay and iron cannot mingle.
The important point to us is that we are just about the place where these ten toes are in process of development. The old Roman Empire is to be divided into ten kingdoms—five toes on the right foot and five on the left, and do not, as some would make it, ten on one foot. When the old Roman Empire is divided into ten kingdoms, there is nothing beyond the ten toes. Then the statue will be finished. But in the meanwhile what is happening?
I have not one single word to say against any class of men, for all men in the sight of God, even the humblest man, stands as regards his soul on an equality with the highest; but in its governmental aspect the empire of clay represents Democracy—the rule of the people—contending with the iron hand of governmental authority. Is that not what is going on? Do we not see in representative government a perpetual difficulty arising? They cannot mingle.
We began with the head of gold, the universal absolute monarchy; now we hear of the "sovereign people." God intended that every form of government should be tried in succession and to say to each one, "Thou Art weighed in the balance, and found wanting."
What do we find at the present moment [1894]? Europe armed to the teeth, the nations ready to fly at each other, each nation arming itself in the interests of peace. What next? Would you, Dear friends, have believed a year or two ago that it would have been possible that, seated as we are quietly and peaceably, a man might come in at that gallery door, throw a bomb shell into our midst, and leave a dozen or two in agony, and go out and declare that he has done it for the good of society?
Do such things teach us that the world is getting better? Do they teach us that education is going to rectify every thing? Take away God from a people and there is nothing to prevent them from doing whatever the devil puts into their hearts. When every thing has failed what remains?
A Stone cut out without hands (see the 45th verse) falls upon the feet, and then the clay and that the iron, and the brass and the silver and the gold are swept away like the chaff of the thrashing floor. All earthly government fails because man is a failure, and then the Lord Jesus Christ the Stone that the builders rejected, becomes the Head of the corner. He dashes the statue in pieces as a potter's vessel. All is completely swept away, and He as King of kings and Lord of lords, the only Ruler who knows how to settle the difficult questions that are perplexing men.
In His day [(the Day of the Son of Man)] shall righteousness flourish, and there will be happiness and peace. He shall come as a shower watering the whole earth. He will be the Sovereign who shall reign in righteousness, and shall care for the poor, the meek, and the downtrodden.
"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Doth its successive journeys run; His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Till kingdoms rise and set no more."
Brothers, Sisters, are you looking for the bright celestial dawn? Are your loins girded, your lamps burning? Are you waiting for the Masters voice? Soon He will come, and will not tarry.
"Watchmen, what of the night? Do the dews of the morning fall? Have the Orient skies a border of light Like the fringe of a funeral pall? The night is fast waning away, and soon will the darkness flee, And morn shall spread o'er the blushing sky, And bright wool its glories be."
The topics that FR gives lumps Baptists and evangelicals all together, even though many of us may consider that to be incorrect.
See my tag line!
What excludes your statements from being considered a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
Actually, they latter were people of great hope who contributed to the understanding of millions, and their words remain effectual today.
The speaker/writer actually told nothing future to 1894. Daniel (I believe Daniel wrote Daniel) obviously knew he could not live beyond the Babylonian Empire in which he lived and was actually promoted to one of the highest positions in that kingdom in his day. As a “president” in the kingdom, used his God-endowed wisdom “as the technical manual for understanding and structuring ‘life, the universe, and everything.’”
Generations of Christian ministers from 1894 to the Second World War benefited from the teaching of these English Brethren, and were encouraged to study God's Word — being used in some great revival periods in both England (The Welsh Revival, for example, in the UK) and several successive revivals in the United States (Moody, Sunday, James Brooks in St. Louis, and many more) which we believe contributed to the stability and survival of our nation in times of depression and war.
If you find your answer in science, psychology, or something else, then you are welcome to that, and I wish you well. We posted the article for the encouragement of Christians who still see the Hand of God at work, and still believe that the Scriptures explain the past, present AND the future.
“What do we find at the present moment [1894]? Europe armed to the teeth, the nations ready to fly at each other, each nation arming itself in the interests of peace. What next? Would you, Dear friends, have believed a year or two ago that it would have been possible that, seated as we are quietly and peaceably, a man might come in at that gallery door, throw a bomb shell into our midst, and leave a dozen or two in agony, and go out and declare that he has done it for the good of society?
[Still looks like this in 2008.] “Do such things teach us that the world is getting better? Do they teach us that education is going to rectify every thing? Take away God from a people and there is nothing to prevent them from doing whatever the devil puts into their hearts. When every thing has failed what remains?”
The article was posted, as the title suggests, for Baptists, Evangelicals, and/or Dispensationalists. And of course, we do not expect such titles to rule others out, but we thought that general enough as describing some who we think would be most interested in this kind of article.
We have yet to see the issues in the two cited paragraphs answered by science, human government, psychology, or general religion itself. You may not be aware that millions and millions of Americans and multitudes of millions of Christians world-wide (I am in China presently) still see, in the crumbling world, Jesus Christ Himself as the answer. We pray that you will also.
The original anthropology of man was composed of body, soul, and spirit. At the fall in the Garden, the spirit of man suffered death.
All humans today are born with a dead spirit.
We have body and soul, but are condemned without a living human spirit.
That human spirit is regenerated by God the Holy Spirit upon our acceptance of faith alone through Christ alone.
Without that regenerated human spirit, if one reads Scripture, it will appear no different than some ancient anthology of interpretive history, legal codes, poetry, superstitious prophecy, eyewitness accounts of religious debates, moral stories and comparative religious guidance.
Such is a soulish perspective.
A significance of Scripture is it contains the Word of God, which is used by God the Holy Spirit in continuing to sanctify the human spirit, the human mind, and the human heart, so that we are able to function at the right place, in the right time, doing the right thing, as living creatures in body soul, and spirit, not merely just body and soul.
The Christian way of life includes living in the spirit. This is discernibly different than living in a worldly or fleshly fashion, only perceiving reality from our bodily senses and from reason or rationalism. Faith provides a system of perception of things not seen, but are indeed very real.
You know, I owe you an apology. I only match one of those categories (evangelical) -- and the word caucus defines a thread as a mutual congratulation society, no contrasting views permitted.
IOW, I have barged in, uninvited, into someone else's party. Let me invoke God's favor upon your life, family, and work, and politely egress.
No, Friend, NO apology necessary. Your comments were not so unwelcomed. They stir us, and we never thought of you as having “barged in.”
Karl Marx, the apostate prophet of power, wrote "the purpose of studying history is not to understand it, but to change it."
Scofield's tribe tell us, "the purpose of studying (past, present, and future) history is not to change it, but to understand it."
As a Biblical Christian, I am content to leave the future in God's hands, and do what I can to shape it. (see my tagline) History books celebrate the exceptional. Most of life, however, is routine. It is routine faithfulness in prayer, fasting, working, tithing, and child rearing that makes the most significant impact upon history. As a Catholic novelist Michael Flynn had one of his characters say, "Yes, this is a small thing. But faithfulness in small things is a big thing."
Don't ask me to predict the details of future developments. I mean, the fall of soviet communism came as a stunning, and wonderful, surprise to me. I wonder, though, which of our Lord's enemies will feel His wrath next -- Islam, or the west's smug secularism? As God's faithful people, in this hour, I believe we are called to make progress on both fronts. Undermine secularism by withholding our children from Caesar's indoctrination camps, and undermine Islam by befriending college students from Muslim nations. (now if only I can get my home schooled daughters to share my interest in Turkish ... !)
THANK YOU !!
Please, ALL, read this Brother’s posts! He is not an antagonist.
RJR_fan, I have nothing to argue with you about. Although I will continue to teach that a hope in the Lord’s Return has a purifying affect on the Christian’s life (1 John 2:1-3), I agree with your intent.
Post on these threads, please, and remind us about present realities and responsibilities.
Just a Bump.
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