Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1892-05-26
THE KINGS DREAM.
LESSON TX, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY 20

", Is-Commentary by the Rev. ID. M.
stearn.
&c. '"rhis is the dream, and we will tell
| the Interpretation thereof before the king"
| Daniel offered to show the king both the
dream and the Interpretation if he would
| give him time Then Daniel and his COM
panions gave themselves to prayer, and
the secret was revealed unto Daniel in a
night vision oversees 1919; after which
| Daniel stands before the king, and giving
| all the credit to the God of heaven he tells
the dream and is now about to give the in
depreciation oversees 27-35). Consider Jo-
seph in similar way clarifying God Gen.
xii, 49, 18). And as to dreams see Gen. Xxx,
8; XXI, "a; xxxvii 5, Q; xl, .; | Kings iii, 5;
Dan. iv, 8; vii 1; Math. i, 20; ii, 12, 10, %.
81. "The God of heaven hath given thee
q kingdom, power and strength and
glory" Not by his own might had he OBJ
tanned it, but God had given it to him.
| One of the greatest facts of this book is
that The Most High ruleth in the king
dom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever
He will" Chapter iv, II, 49, 32). There is
nothing good which we possess which God
has not given to us (Jas i, ~; and His
gifts are bestowed upon us that thereby
we may glorify Him. We are expected to
| glorify the God in whose hands our breath
is and whose are all our ways Chapter
v,23).
80. "And hath made the ruler over them
all. Thou art this head of gold" We are
reminded of the original dominion given
to Adam Gen. i, 2S whereby he was to
magnify Cod but as he failed so all his
children have failed, and shall fail till He
come, the king who shall reign in right
eousness, the last Adam who shall subdue
all things unto Himself and be king over
all the earth lisa, XXxii l; Cor. XIV, DO, %;
Zech xiv, 0; Rev. Xi, 15)
80. And after these shall arise another,
and another, which shall bear rule over all
the earth" One great popularity of the
kingdoms designated by the metals of this
| image is that they were to have dominion
over the known world. Their authority
was to he world wide, The two world
powers to succeed the Babylonian were,
without Il possibility of mistake, the Medic
| Persian, and then the Grecan. This the
Spirit plainly states in chapters v. 2s; viii.
90, 81.
40. "And the fourth kingdom shall be
strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh
| in pieces and subdueth all" 1t is equally
clear that the next world wide dominion
after the Grecian was the Roman duke ii,
y, under whose principles of government
all nations may be said to continue. There
has been no world wide dominion by any
empire since the Roman, nor will There be
till the stone kingdom of the Lord Jesus is
established on earth.
Al, A. And whereas thou sawest the
feet and toes part of potters clay and part
of iron, the kingdom shall be divided;
partly strong and partly broken" There
will be power mixed up with that which
is wholly Of man: power in the hands of
the people having no internal stability
though something is left of the strength of
the iron. (Tregeles)
IS. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed
with miry clay, they shall mingle them
selves with the seed of men" This seems
to refer to Gen. vi, 9, where the marriages
of the seed of the godly Seth with the
daughters of ungodly Cain are described
in similar words. The reference, therefore,
seems to be to the blending of the Chris.
tanned Roman empire with the pagan
nations. a deterioration being the result.
Charlcmagne and Napoleon made an effort
to reunite the parts into one great empire,
but in vain. Christ alone shall effect that,
Fausset)
Al. And in the DAYS of these kings shall
the God of heaven set up a kingdom which
shall never be destroved.n "Thcse kinosn
signify the final state of the Roman EN-.
pire, represented by the ten toes They
cannot mean the four successonal mon.
arches, as they do not coexist as the hold
ers of power If the fourth had been
meant the singular. not the Mural would
be used The falling of the stone on the
image must mean DESTROYING Judgment on
; the fourth Gentle power, not gradual
evangelization of it by grace. and the de-
stroying Judgment cannot be dealt bv
Christians, for they are taught to submit
to the powers that be. so that it must he
dealt by Christ Himself at His comino
again. CTregelles).
a.. THE great God hath made known r.
the king what shall come to PASS hereafter
and the dream is certain and the internro
; tation sure" That Christ shall break in
pieces the Kingdoms of this world when
He returns in mower and glory is minis,
tallably clear from such passages as Us ii
s @. cylix. 40. Rey. ii o6 o.. Vi us
xix. 11-15. His kingdom will end and
sunersede all the others. and shall not ILL.,
|