Daniel 4
Daniel 4
The present is a moment of great
significance in the world’s history. We often speak of other days as having
been strongly characterized by great importance in the progress of the way of
man and in the unfolding of the purposes of God. Were we in the position to
look at them rightly, the present would be seen as equal to any of them in
importance and meaning.
Man is preparing that great
exhibition of himself whereby the whole world is to be ensnared and deceived to
its final, utter ruin. Many situations have already resembled in miniature such
a condition, and nothing has escaped the snare but the man of God led by the
Spirit through the spacious and commanding delusion.
In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream there
was a tree, the height of which reached unto heaven and the sight to the end of
all the earth, whose leaves were fair and whose fruit was much. The beasts of
the field had shadow under it; the birds of the air dwelt in the boughs of it;
and all flesh fed on it. It was the admiration and boast of all; their desire
was towards it; the heart of the man who planted it considered it his glory and
joy. "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" said King
Nebuchadnezzar.
Before long, heaven visited Babylon. The Watcher and the Holy One came down, as the Lord Himself had done in the
earlier days of Babel and Sodom, and inspected this tree of wondrous growth.
With Him it was no object of admiration or worship. He was not moved to desire
its beauty. In His thoughts it was not a tree good for food, or pleasant to the
eye, or desirable for any end, as it was in the thoughts of all flesh. He
looked on this tree as a thing ripe for judgment and said, "Hew down the
tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his
fruit" (v.14).
How solemn that in this time of
universal exaltation, when the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and
all flesh were glorying in the grandeur of the tree, heaven was dooming it to
destruction. But Daniel was one among men in that day who had the mind of
heaven, the mind of the Watcher and the Holy One (v.13) respecting this tree.
The saint on the earth can have the mind of heaven. All flesh may feed on that
which faith or the mind of Christ in us sees under the sure judgment of God.
This is so; and may we
experience it! But moral danger and temptation beset our hearts. "That
which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God"
(Luke 16:15). Even Samuel when Eliab, David’s oldest brother, stood before him
said "Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him" (1 Sam. 16:6). But
Samuel looked where the Lord did not look. He eyed the countenance of the man
and the height of his stature while the Lord eyed the heart. We too are in
danger (in these days of both religious and secular attractions) of mistaking
Eliab for the Lord’s anointed. Paul was held in some contempt at Corinth because of his "bodily presence" which was "weak." He was no
Eliab. He was unimpressive in outward appearance and even the disciples at Corinth were beguiled away from him. (See 1 Sam. 16:7 and 2 Cor. 10:7.) ,
All this is a warning to us in
this solemn and significant day when man’s exaltation of himself is growing
rapidly, and things are judged by the mind of man and in their bearing on the
advancement of the world.
Again, when the disciples
admired the buildings of the temple, we have another occasion of the rebuke
which the mind of man met from the mind of God. One of the Lord’s disciples
said unto Him, "Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are
here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings?
there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown
down" (Mark 13:1,2). The erring judgment of man spends its delight and
wonder on what the righteous judgment of God has already solemnly renounced. The
Lord was as the Watcher and the Holy One of the prophet, delivering the
sentence of heaven upon the boast and pride of the heart of man. Has not this a
voice in the ear of this present generation?
The incident which above all has
my attention at this time is that in Luke 19, in which the multitude are
following the Lord on His way from Jericho to Jerusalem. We are there told of
them that "they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately
appear" (v.11). This tells us again of the expectation of man’s heart. The
people judged that the present scene, the world as in man’s hands, could get
its sanction from God. They thought the Kingdom would be set up at once. But
this can never be. Christ cannot adopt man’s world. Through repentance and
faith, man must take up with Christ’s world and not think that Christ can take
up with his. The Kingdom cannot come till judgment shall clear the scene of
man’s iniquities and pollutions. But this is not what man calculates on at all.
He judges that the kingdom may immediately appear without any purifying or
change. All that is lacking is a little more progress, and the kingdom will be
fit for God’s adoption. This is the mind of this present generation—like those
who, in this chapter in Luke, "thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear." Things are so advanced, so refined, so cultivated by a
multitude of fresh moral, religious, and scientific energies that under the
success and progress of such energies the world will satisfy Christ in a very
little while. But no, it is man’s world still, and this will never do for
Christ. You may sweep and garnish the house, but it is the house of the old
owner still. For all the pains spent upon it, it is only the more fitted for
the old owner’s designs, and not one single bit more suited to God’s great and
glorious purposes.
Jesus goes up to Jerusalem. But He finds there a field of thorns and briars; there were moneychangers and
sellers of doves in the temple of God. The house of prayer was a den of
thieves. The rulers, chief priests, and scribes were seeking to destroy the
Just One. The religion of the place was chief in the offence. Jesus wept over
it. Instead of all being ready for the immediate appearing of the Kingdom, all
was ready for judgment. And thus the city, as Jesus said, was soon to be
intrenched, encompassed, and laid even with the ground instead of being the
habitation of glory and the witness of the Kingdom of God. "That which is
highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." Jesus, as a
Holy One and a Watcher, again on this occasion as in Matthew 24:1,2, inspected
the fair tree of man’s worship and joy and in spirit said, "Hew down the
tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his
fruit."
Has not all this a voice for our
ears in this generation? My soul is deeply assured that Christ is the Watcher
of all the progress, boasted toils, and successes of this present hour. He that
sits in the heavens has different thoughts than men vainly imagine. He is not
about to sanction, but to judge the world in this its day of loftiest
advancement and exaltation.