The Holly chieftain., 1922-07-06

Lord, and Of His Christ: and He shah
reign forever and ever.-Rev. n:b.
REFERENCE MATERIAL-I lisa. ~.
7:13 H:47: John 1888.
PRIMARY TOPIC-How God Answered
Daniels Prayer.
JUNIOR TOPIC : Daniel Reveals the
Kings Dream.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC
How Daniel Met Severe Test.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
Gods World Kingdom: Its Nature and
Method.
I. Nebuehadnezzar's Dream (vv.
l-13).
This dream made a tremendous I'M
preston upon the kings mind. but he
had forgotten Its content. He urgent
ly demanded Of the wise men that
they make known the dream and its
Interpretation. Because of their fail
ure the king was very furious and
commanded all the wise men of Baby
Ion to be slain.
II. The Revelation Of the Dream
(vv. 14-35).
When the decree was in process of
execution Daniel was sought out to be
slain. He sought an Interview with
the king and obtained time. Note:
!. The prayer meeting in Babylon
wv. 14-1S). Daniel was the leader in
that prayer meeting. He called his
fellows together and most definitely
prayed to God. Their lives were at
stake; their need was great.
2. Daniels ascrlption of praise to
God (vv. 1929. God heard their
prayer and Daniel responded in lofty
strains of praise to God.
3. Daniel before the king (vv. "a
3O). Because he had been with the
Lord and had obtained wisdom, he was
confident before the great king.
4. The content of the dream (vy.
31-35). Daniel made known tos the
king that in his dream he had beheld
great image with head of gold,
breast and arms of silver, belly and
thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet
part of iron and part of clay. He be-
held the Image smitten by stone and
the stone became great mountain.
~. The Interpretation Of the Dream
wv. 36-46).
/. The head of gold represented the
Chaldean monarchy with Nebuchad-
nezzar as Its head (vv. 81, 3S). With
the accession of Nebuchadnezzar to
the throne, the times of the Gentiles
began.
q The breast and arms of silver
represented the Medo-Persian power
". 39). The Medo-Perslan empire
was kingdom inferior to the Chal-
dean.
8. The belly and thighs of brass rep
resented the Grecian empire under
Alexander the Great ". 39).
4. The legs of iron represented the
Roman empire wv. 40-43).
() The two legs represented the
eastern and western divisions of the
Roman empire. (2) The feet of iron
and clay represented the two elements
of human government, which lnhered
in the Roman empire and are present
today in all forms of government,
namely. absolutism and socialism. or
Imperialism and democracy. These
elements have no coherency.
5. The stone cut out of the noun
tain (vv. A, 45). This Is the kingdom
of heaven so graphically set forth In
the New Testament, for the kingdom
OF heaven Is the kingdom which the
God OF heaven shall set up. az The
stone Is Christ lisa. 2S:18; Matt,
Fl :42-4N. (2) When did the stone
strike? The impact of the stone
was upon the feet of the col
umns ". 34). This shows that
1t did not strike at ChrIst's first COM
Ing, for the Roman empire was unit
at that time; not even the division Of
the empire as represented by the two
legs had taken place as yet. The stone
shifting the feet shows that the stone
VIII strike when the Roman empire
shall have been divided up into ten
kingdoms. (3) The kingdom of heaven
is thus seen to be brought into realiza.
tion through great catastrophe. The
END Is not by gradual and peaceful ex.
tension through preaching the gospel
Dut by crushing blow. The stone
does not fill the enrth by crowding the |
colossus out. neither by securing its
submission to God, but destroying II.
GENTLE dominion shall end in a crash.
upon Its ruins shall be built the king.
dom OF heaven. The action OF the
stone ,s Of Judgment, not grace. The
.e4t plainly says 1t is after" the stone
mas done Its shifting work that IT he
comes great mountain and til,s the
who1e earth (see Psalms 2: s. 8: Zech
- :l-s). Just as the first part Of this
cream was literally fulfilled, so shall
tne last part be fulfilled. MessIah,s
kingdom u ''eraA