Daniel 2:31-33 You, O king, saw, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you… We see the hand of Providence in bringing Daniel and his friends forward at the Babylonish court at the time when it was the most proper they should be honoured. God never forsakes those that trust in Him. I. THE DREAM, ITS PREDICTIONS, AND THEIR FULFILMENT PROVE THE SUPREME AND PARTICULAR PROVIDENCE OF GOD, AND THEREBY ALSO SHOW THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. Now this prediction of the future destinies of nations could not be without revelations from God, nor could it be unless God be both sovereign in providence and in nature. It is God only and alone who can foretell the distant changes of time and nations; and this He can do and has done as infallibly as He knows the revolutions of the heavenly bodies. God knows as perfectly and as certainly what the commotions of the people and the thousand passions of kings and statesmen will produce, as what the thousand attractions of the stars and their most distant courses will bring about in immensity. Astronomers give us beforehand the details of eclipses, because the Creator has impressed His will upon the universe as a code of physical laws. He rules mankind, who dwell on the earth, as well as the worlds which roll in infinite space. He stays the commotions of the people, as well as the billows of the sea. He holds in His hand the hearts of the rulers of the earth, as He counts the hosts of Heaven and calls them all by name. II. THE HISTORY OF NATIONS PRESENTS TWO ELEMENTS IN THEMSELVES PERFECTLY DISTINCT, AND YET ALWAYS MORE OR LESS UNITED, AND ALWAYS MORE OR LESS SUBJECTED TO MUTUAL AND RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES. I mean the political and religious history of a country. The religious habitudes of a people do of necessity deeply affect their morals, and their social and national characteristics. So palpable is the influence of religion upon a nation, that it has long been received as a canon of philosophical history, that the religion of a country being known, all the rest of that country's history can be easily known. It is not essential to mere physical existence that we have comfortable houses to live in, and that they are adorned with the products of industry and filled with the comforts of commerce. We could live in tents. But certainly those who have once tasted the elegances of refined life will not desire to go back to semi-barbarism. So it is not essential for all pious people to be politicians, yet all the members of Christ's Church are interested in the political interests of the world; and Christian young men should prepare themselves to take a part in the civil affairs of their country. If the administration of our laws and the outwork of our great institutions are left wholly in the hands of ungodly or unprincipled men, we cannot expect God's blessing to rest upon us. III. Observe HOW CAREFUL DANIEL WAS TO REMEMBER HIS FRIENDS IN PROSPERITY. Like Joseph, when exalted, he was not ashamed of his poor kin. At his request his three friends were promoted to high employments in the department over which he presided. IV. Throughout Daniel's history we see in him, as in Joseph, A DISPOSITION TO HUMBLE HIMSELF AND EXALT HIS GOD. Without prevarication or hesitancy he shows his abhorrence of idolatry, and his deep and earnest conviction that the God whom he served was the only real and true God. He claims nothing for himself. When the king asks him if he is able to make known the dream and its interpretation, he reminds the king that there had been no power in the gods of his diviners which had enabled them to do this; but "there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days." And in the whole affair we hear him ascribing everything to God. And his object was in part attained. The king's mind became so powerfully impressed with Daniel's arguments and demonstrations, that he made the remarkable declaration: "Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings." (W.A. Scott, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. |
    |