Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-09-14
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON SEPT. 10

| high government position. lie had
! scarcely entered upon the duties OF ms
profession when the kaiser, Neouchad-
nezzar, had a dream. 1t is an inter-
| esting story-the dream, how it got lost
and was found, what it meant. and how
| God revealed to Daniel and to Kaiser
| Neb what His plans were down to the
| present day. 1t is too long to go into
| in detail now.
THE DECREE AND DEDICATION.
| In the dream however NebucnaGneZzar
was represented in the head OF gold, the
| first and the finest of all the world en-
! perors. Six years after TINS the great
| Babylonian monarch, having conquered
many ether nations meanwhile, came
second time AGAINST Jerusalem and con-
auered it taking back to Babylon its
! king Jephiachin, and many OF its lead
ers like Ezekiel and treasures galore.
| Still eleven years more and he came
| a third time against the city Where Jc~
| hovah the God of Judah had His won
derful temple, starved the city into SUD-
mission after three years siege cap
| tured its king, slew his sons, ournt OUT
his ewes and carried him to Babylon
hnt not until he had torn down the walls
| of the city and made a ruin of the mousse
of Jehovah. Now he attributed all OF
| his success to his god, Merodoch, the
| lord of battles"
Pulled up by his success as world con
| queror, for there was no nation known tnst nHu
| NOT fallen under his conquertng sword ne ue-
| ternined TO take the next step. This hetero-
| geneous number of peoples must De mouiueu
| into nation. How could that ne done . oet
| ter than by giving them one reLGlou' [nu
what religion was comparable TO that which
| gave honor to the ''lOrd of battles Dy MhOnl
| an of these victories had been accomplished
| And what better or more appropriate form
\ could be given than Il statue OF the KING nlH-
self who as the of his god was the lhsuu-
| ment through whom the victories had Oeeh
| wonf -. -
! So Nebuchadnezzar erected huge image OF
| man Ito feet high by IL feet broad maIe
| of gold 1.-THE metal which most appropriately
represented HIMSELF; set it up in the pam OF
| Dura where multitudes might gather ABOUT T"
| and see it and do honor to It,. -
| Then he gathered the various officials from
| ali the nations composing his unwleldy worIu
| empire, and made decree that when MS pahd
| played every should bow down ana wOr,
| ship IL. lie further decreed that II any shouiu
| disobey this decree that one, or those, shOuid
| he cast into a furnace of fire and destroyed.
The mistaken rather one mstake-Nebueh-
aduezzar made was in supposing that worship
| was 4 matter that could be secured by com
| pulsion. He could order a man to DOW down
| to the image, but he coud not secure heart
| worship by command You can not eompel
| man to worship. You may compel him TO go
| through a certain form of outward observance,
but worship is matter Of the heart and must
| be voluntary. How gladly we would Drihs
| every man to the feet Of Christ II we had the
| power to compel them to worship Him, Tor we
| know the 10Y that fellowship with Him brings;
but we cannot compel them, we can only plead
| with them to love them into the kingdom
THE ACCUSATION AND ANSWER
| So when the band played the various officials
gave outword assent to the superiority OF tne
| lord of battle and praise TO the son OF tnls
| god IL was the supreme manifestation up TO
| that time of the spirit that is rampant today
| the exaltatton Of man.
But there were three officials who were non
| conformists. They were the original protest
| ants. Nor did it take long for Jealousy on the
| part of others against these captive Jews 70
make itself known. They were reported TO the
| tyrant emperor. The accusation against them
was definite and serious. Their accusers were
correct when they told the king that these
three Jews-Shadrach, Mesback and Abenego-
did not regard the kings decree, did not wor-
ship the image and did not serve his gods
The king evidently redheaded! He flew
into a rage, but he cooled down little when
he saw these faithful young officers He told
ITEM the accusation and said it had probably
been an oversight on their part, he would give
ttem another chance. And then he showed
the real animus when he said, And who is
that God who is able to deliver you out Of my
hEndsT'
1t was a spirit Of seIf-deification in oppo-
sition to God that the real basis of the
affair. Now it unnatural that Nebuchad-
nezzar should feel that way. He was self
made man"-CIod pity them! He had three times
captured the city which God was sup
posed to preside; he had just recently desolated
His temple. If God had been able to do so
would He not have defended Himself, His city
and His house from the invasion by one who
fought under the banner of the god of bat
tlesE' thought NebuchadneZZar.
Their answer was very simple, but very direct.
1t will not take long to decide what we
will do. for we have already decided, they said
If God wants TO He will deliver out Of
your hands; but If He does not want to, it is
just the same to us; we will never bow down
to any other.
They we're very decided, because they were
those who Served. Do you think they were
afraid? Did they shrink from the torture that
was ahead? They would not have been natural
| bod IBV,k k1I -,
they could see beyond the present and were
determined to endure anything for little time
ather than suffer for an eternity.
THE TRUTH.
My! how mad he was! Tha furnace was
heated sevenfOld--so hot that 1t killed the
mightiest men in Babylon. The three Jews
were cast in bound and dressed in everything
easily inflammable. But the kings eyes nearly
popped out when he saw the sight-four men
was like n son of the gods. The fourth was
not only like son of the gods; He was the
kings command the three out, and he
found that the fire bad not even singed their
hair! 1t had only burned away their bonds!
God had been wall about them better than
asbestos, for asbestos would have prevented
their bonds from having been burned.
Then the king gave another decree-a decree
which granted religious liberty to them and to
all Of their brethren
David's prophesies relate always to the end
times these days in which are now living, |
we believe. This first king of the Gentiles. |
this first world emperor VINO rOd Jerusalem ul- |
der foot, was but a picture of the last world |
emperor who is about to be manifested we fear, |
and whose spirit is eXtant This last king |
of the gentiles. the antichrist will also set up
an image, will require universal Obeisance with |
the hope of securing universal worship. The |
image will be Of man whose number is 666. /
and who will exercise great power over many /
nations Particularly will his persecution OF
the Jews be terrific; but. thank God, there /
will be some who will be faithful Shadr8ck, |
Meshack and Abednego were, and who will be
delivered in the same way, but more gloriously |
by the coming of Him who is their Messiah, /
the Son of God.
These men were delivered because they trust /
ed God and yielded their bodies. On them 1
the fire had no power. You may be delivered /
the same way-by trusting God and yielding /
your bodies.
And then the promotion will come!