cover some little truth in the Bible that no one had previously brought to our attention. Then we go about speaking as though we wrote it. When will we mortals display any wisdom of our own so that we give God the glory and honor which are due Him? Many years ago, when I first be gan in the ministry, I preached fre quently from the book of Romans. Sometimes to this book alone I went for my texts. My wife frequently accompanied me on speaking engage ments. One evening I'd finished preaching from Romans and asked her on the way home, “Honey, what did you think of the message to night?” She replied helpfully, “I’m beginning to feel that you think you wrote the book of Romans!” That was a real eye-opener to me. Here we find Daniel a humble man of God giving the Lord all the glory. How difficult it is to escape the sin of intellectual pride. Don’t forget that the sin of intellectual pride began with the devil. Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. What an excellent ex ample is given to us by Daniel.
C hapter S even I T WAS NO wonder King Nebuchad nezzar’s dream troubled him. None of his soothsayers, magicians, as trologers and scholars could tell him what it was, much less interpret it for him. Daniel came and asked for the privilege. With his three com panions he kneeled before God for the necessary wisdom. In 2:31 to 35 the ruler is told his vision. It was of a great image whose head was of fine gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part iron and part clay. Then there was a stone cut out without hands which struck the image on the feet and destroyed it. The iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold broke into pieces and became like the chaff of summer which the wind carries away. The king admit ted this was his dream. The impres sive statue did not move. The climax of the dream reveals the stone smit ing the image. The stone then grows to such gigantic proportion that it becomes a huge mountain filling the entire earth. What a masterpiece of the divine revelation! The king made no attempt to correct or to contra dict Daniel on any point. One can imagine the evil ruler’s emotion as he listened to Daniel. He was actu ally hearing a voice from another world. The God of Heaven was speaking to him. In verses 37 to 45 Daniel com mences his definition of the details. The statue represented a succession of kingdoms until Messiah should come. In your Bible underline the word “kingdom” because this is what the dream is all about. “Thou art this head of gold.” This is the evi dence of the prophecy Isaiah wrote (14:4). The king and the kingdom are associated tog e th e r. Daniel points out the absolute sovereignty of God in all of these kingdoms. They all will conclude with the Lord taking them from man and finally 11
Biola student Dave Leeman Is music director at Redeemer Covenant Church In Downey, Cs'ifornla.
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