Mexico weekly ledger., 1922-07-06


! GOLDEN TExT-The kingdoms Of this
| world are become the kingdoms of our
|, Lord. and OF His Christ: and He shall
| reign forever and ever.-Rev. 11:15.
REFERENCE MATERIAL = lisa. 9;6.
| T:13. l4:4T; John 1S:SS-SS.
, PRIMARY TOPIC-How God Answered
Daniels Prayer.
/ JUNIOR TOPIC = Daniel Reveals tie
( Kings Dream.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC
! How Daniel Met Severe Test.
J YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
Gods World Kingdom: Its Nature and
! Method:
I. Nebuchadnezzar's Dream wv.
1-13).
This dream made 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 it's
! Interpretation. Because of their fail
ure the king was very furious and
commanded all the wise men Of Baby
! Ion to be. slain.
| u. The Revelation Of the Dream
| wv. 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. 14-16) 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.
Q Daniels ascription of praise to
God (yv. 1929. God heard their
prayer and Daniel responded in lofty
| strains of praise to God.
| 3. Daniel before the king (vv. "a
BOZ. Because he had been with the
Lord and had obtained wisdom. he was
confident before the great king.
A. The content of the dream (vv.
B1-35). Daniel made known to tile
king that In his dream he had beheld
q great image with a head nf 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 smltten by a stone and
the stone became great mou.ltain.
III. The Interpretation Of the Dream
wv. 38-46).
/. The head Of gold represented the
Chaldean monarchy with Nehuchad
pezzar as its head (vv. 81, 38l. With
the accession of Nebuchadnezzar 10
il the throne the times of the Gentils,s
began.
i 2 The breast and arms of silver
represented the Medo-Persian power
". 800. 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 4. The legs of iron represented the
, Roman empire wv. 4043). &
"a 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 inhered
in the Roman empire and are present
today in all forms of government.
namely, absolutism and socialism, or
Imperialism and democracy. ThesT
elements have no coherency.
5. The stone cut out Of the noun
tain wv. "A, 45). This is the kingdom
of heaven so graphically set forth hi
the New Testament, for the kingdom
Of heaven Is the kingdom which the
God of heaven shall set up. ~ The
stone is Christ Elsa 2S:16; Matt.
21 :42-44). (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 stoas
shifting the feet shows that the stone
will strike when the Roman empire
shall have been divided up into ter
kingdoms. (3) The kingdom of heayeh
is thus seen to be brought into realiza
tion through a great catastrophe The
end is not by gradual and peaceful ex-
j. tension through preaclAng the gospel
but by crushing blow. The stone
!. does not fill the earth by crowdlng the
colossus out, neither by securing its
submission TO God, but destroying It,
i Gentle dominion shall end in i crash;
! upon its ruins shall be built the king,
| dom of heaven, The action of the
stone is of judgment, not grace. Tn,
] text plainly says 1t is after" the stone
has done its shifting work that 1t be-
comes great mountain and fills the
whole earth (see Psalms 2: s. 6; Zech.
l4:1-9). Just us the first part OF tLis
dream was literally fulfilled, NO shall
the last part be fulfilled aiessisA's
kingdom shall b.. a real and lite al
kingdom.