Some twenty-five centuries ago a great king had a wonderful dream, in which he saw a great image -a super-man, "whose brightness was excellent, . . . and the form thereof terrible" (Dan. 2 :31); and although Daniel made known to the king the interpretation of his dream, and what would befall that great image at the time of the end, we find, in the immediate chapter following, that Nebuchadnezzar did actually set up the image of his dream, with the command that all nations should worship it!
Think not, reader, that this was but a transient, foolish and wicked idea of a world-ruler of long ago who, intoxicated with pride, sets up this image to be worshiped as the representation of himself in his great power ; for the same mind-the exaltation and deification of man – is intoxicating this present generation. Man has risen to a wonderful height in his own estimation. No doubt the many discoveries with their scientific applications do show how wonderfully endowed man has been by his Creator-made in God's image, His offspring. But instead of giving glory to God, men are so intoxicated with these developments that, under the leadership of Satan, God our Creator and Benefactor, to whom we owe our existence, our faculties, our all, is ignored, or denied-man fills the whole vision, and the great image is set up again.
But there is always something lacking to this human development. This alluring power, this self-exaltation, it brings neither peace nor rest in this groaning world. It can never be seven, the number of completeness, of perfection and rest, to which the ;th day pointed-the rest of God. No, man away from God, will never, never can, bring rest. Without God, his greatest efforts and attainments can be but 6, 6, 6, three times repeated-the mark of the Beast and the number of man (Rev. 13:17, 18).
And what will befall this great image "whose brightness was excellent . . . and the form thereof terrible ? " A Stone (Christ from on high) "smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them:and the Stone that smote the 'image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2:34, 35). The pride of man shall be abased, and Christ shall reign from pole to pole.
"Jesus, Thy fair creation groans-
The air, the earth, the sea-
In unison with all our hearts,
And calls aloud for Thee!
Come, blessed Lord; let every shore
And answering island sing
The praises of Thy royal name,
And own Thee as their King ! "
What touching accounts are given us in the Book of Acts of the meetings and partings of early Christians. In bidding adieu to the elders come from Ephesus to meet the beloved apostle Paul, we read that they all wept sore," and ardently kissed him, falling on his neck," as he said they would see his face no more (20:37, 38). Then they accompanied him to the ship ; and, says Luke the narrator, "When we had torn away from them, we sailed away." What ardent love, what concern for one another in those little bands, surrounded by the hostile world, and often in peril of their lives!
Arriving at Tyre, these devoted shepherds of Christ's sheep seek and find the few brethren there (whom they seem never to have met before); and on leaving them, these brethren, with wives and children accompanied them to the ship, where they " kneeled down on the shore and prayed." Sweet and tender partings of the pilgrim band from their fellow-pilgrims remaining on the Tyrian shore.
Two or three years later, the beloved Paul, then a prisoner of the Romans, is on a long and perilous voyage to the imperial city, where he is tried for his life. After shipwreck and through many perils, landing is at last made on the coasts of Italy. The brethren at Rome, learning of his arrival, go to meet him as far as Appii Forum and Tres Tabernae, one forty-three miles from Rome, and the other thirty-three, on the way to Puteoli, where the ship discharged. It touches a responsive chord in our hearts to read, "Whom when Paul saw"-these same brethren to whom he had written the Epistle to the Romans some four years before- '/te thanked God, and took courage" (28:15).
It is quite possible we might be somewhat shocked by lack of order in some of the early Christian assemblies, as at Corinth, and in Crete, and elsewhere (the saints having just come out of heathenism), and the apostle bids Timothy and Titus therefore to "set in order the things that remained" to be put in order (Tit. i:5 ; i Tim. i:3, 4). But what love, what joy, what power, and manifestations of the Holy Spirit was experienced among them! Does it not make our hearts long for the joy and power of those early days ?
Well, thank God! better days even than Pentecost are before us, when gathered in the Father's house with our Saviour and Lord Jesus. Meanwhile, let us pray, as we sing:
" Lord, since we sing as pilgrims,
Oh, give us pilgrims' ways !
Low thoughts of self, befitting
Proclaimers of Thy praise.
Oh, make us each more holy,
In spirit pure and meek,
More like to heavenly citizens
As more of heaven we speak."
We quote the following from an unknown writer:
"Years ago, in the great rush of men to the goldfields of Australia, it happened that a man who kept a store near the diggings, and had brought a lark from England, placed the caged bird on a Sunday morning outside his door. The sun was shining, and the little prisoner began to sing. One and another of the gold diggers passed by and stopped to listen. Others came along and also stopped to listen. The men stood in silence as the little bird sang. The sweet familiar notes spoke to their rough hearts of home in dear old England. More than one bowed his head, and wiped tears from his face, as the song of the lark brought up memories of loved ones left behind for the sake of gold. Some of them went to their tents, brushed themselves up and returned, sitting down with their caps off, listening to the lark's song on that Sunday morning."
Lord, let us see and hear the sweet singers of heaven, in whose hearts and lives the mind of Christ is rehearsed, drawing our hearts to things above, our eternal home in heaven.
At a conference of ministers, one of them came in late, and, much agitated, asked his brethren to return thanks for his wonderful escape from death ; for, coming down a certain dangerous hill, his horse had run away, exposing him to what seemed an inevitable death. Another, an aged man, then arose and asked that thanks be returned to God for him also, for he had come down the same road, with a safe uneventful journey. He counted that he had more to thank God for than his brother minister who had passed through such a trying time. -Extract.
The above contains a lesson for us all. How often we are unmindful of God's gracious care, until some hard shake awakes us to the fact of our constant need of God's care ; then we count an escape from danger as something extra to thank Him for, instead of asking why we were put in such circumstances.