LECTURE II NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the world's history. Demands interpretation from his wise men. The image. Daniel's dream. I.— Babylonian power. II. The Medo-Persian empire. III.-The Grecian dominion. IV. The Roman empire. A Little Horn. Its assumptions and persecutions. Identified by Rev. 17: 9-14. Shrewd mode of persecution, without odium resting on the Catholic Church. Its overthrow, and establishing of Christ's Kingdom. IT It appears that Nebuchadnezzar had been thinking on the problem of the destiny of empires. He was curious to know what would be hereafter. It may have been a subject that had troubled him for a long time. Day after day passed without any solution of his difficulty. And finally he had a dream, and a vision which he thought foreshadowed the whole history of the world. But when he awoke from his sleep, the dream had departed. He was very much troubled in spirit, because he could not reproduce or recall the vision of the night. He called on all the wise men of Babylon and required them on pain of death to tell him his dream, and the interpretation thereof. And just at the time that all these men were about to be slain, because they were not able to comply with the king's demand, Daniel came forward. He stayed the sentence so imperiously set forth; and then spread the matter before the Lord. The result was, the whole thing was revealed to him. Nebuchadnezzar had seen in the night watches a terrible image. It was differ ent from anything ever beheld before; and was destroyed in a remarkable way. But let us give the exact words of Daniel in his description of it. They will convey a better idea than any paraphrase we may use. Dan. 2:31-35: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which 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.” It was this fearful looking image that troubled the mind of Nebuchadnezzar. And what increased his uneasiness was that he could not recall the vision. You have all probably had dreams which greatly troubled your spirit; yet on awaking, could not remember them. Just so was it with Nebuchadnezzar. He had dreamed, and the dream disturbed him. But he could not remember what it was. And yet he felt that the world's history was wrapped up in it. This was why he made such great demands of those wise men, who professed to be able to explain all mysteries. About forty-eight years after this, the prophet Daniel had a dream. It was a supplement to that of Nebuchadnezzar. It gave the world's history under a different set of symbols. In his dream he stood on the shore of some great sea. And the four winds of heaven strove together on the face of the deep. After this, four great and dreadful beasts arose out of the sea, and stood on the earth. Note this fact, that "waters" in the Bible is a common figure under which to represent the people of earth. "A sea," or a "great sea," would hence be vast multitudes of people. Rev. 17:15. "Many waters," which is a common expression, means many nations. Therefore the striving of the winds upon the great sea would mean the revolutions and commotions among the nations of earth. And now in these great overturnings which the prophet saw, were four great and fearful beasts as the consequence. But let us quote the words of the prophet in describing them. Dan. 7:3-8: "And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it; and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." But there is a seeming contradiction in these dreams. Nebuchadnezzar's was of an image that in his eyes represented great glory. But Daniel's referred to the same things under very horrid symbols. Nebuchadnezzar stood a king, and looked on great empires as the chief end or glory of kings. But Daniel stood out before men as a subject. And what seemed to Nebuchadnezzar as a great result, the subjection of nations under one head, was a dreadful system of tyranny in the eyes of Daniel. Tyranny and oppression, in the eyes of kings of old, were nothing but the proper exercises of authority over their people. But Daniel looked on these usurpations, oppressions, spoliations and conquests as fearful things in the sight of man and God. This accounts for the differences in their dreams. They both refer to the same events, but appeared very differently to the two men. But let us return to the interpretation of these dreams. Nebuchadnezzar's dream was one. It gave a history of the ruling powers of earth under an image. This was composed of different metals, to represent the different nations which succeeded to dominion over the kingdoms of the world. It stood until, in the providence of God, a kingdom was established that should continue forever and ever. Daniel's four beasts foreshadowed the same thing. They were to point out the kingdoms that should usurp dominion over the nations of earth. Let us see how these two dreams correspond one to the other. I. "This image's head was of fine gold." And the interpretation of this is given in Dan. 2:37,38: "Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold." The Babylonian Here, then, is the first kingdom. power was this great kingdom, to which the Lord had given "power, and strength, and glory." Nebuchadnezzar represented this Power. He and his family were to reign as head of the nations. It is literally true that he was then the greatest sovereign of earth. His arms had overrun the world. And no empire was ever so rich as this one. So great were the riches of Babylon that Isaiah calls her |