The GOSPEL of KINGDOM by W. W. P.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 15, 1900

The GOSPEL of KINGDOM

By W. W. P.

THE KING OF BABYLON HEARS THE MESSAGE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH.

The fourth chapter of Daniel consists of a most remarkable document, which is complete in itself. It is a personal confession in the form of a public proclamation by one of the greatest kings of either ancient or modern times, in which he gives his own account in detail of the experience which resulted in his conversion. On two occasions the God of heaven had revealed himself through his servants to Nebuchadnezzar, so that the king had acknowledged that he was “a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets,” and that “there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.” Thus the gospel of the kingdom was publicly proclaimed throughout all the king’s realm, and the existence of the true God and his power to save were made known to all the people. But the gospel of the kingdom is not preached as the Lord would have it, by merely calling public attention to these facts. The message, “Behold your God,” must be brought to each individual with a clearness and power which will require him to make a definite choice whether he will personally acknowledge the right of the King of heaven to rule in him, and whether he will yield himself to be his servant. So it was with Nebuchadnezzar, and it is this experience which he himself relates.

“Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.”

The God of peace had set up his kingdom in the heart of Nebuchadnezzar, and the same power which had delivered the three captives from the burning fiery furnace had now wrought in him to deliver him from the violence of his own passions. No outward sign or wonder can be so great to any person as his own experience in being rescued from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God. There is then revealed to him and in him “the power of an endless life,” and the conviction is wrought into his inmost soul that the kingdom and the dominion are eternal. And he who has had such an experience is prompted by an earnest desire to make it known “unto all people.” “We can not but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”

“I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of

Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.”

The failure of the wise men of Babylon to meet the requirements of the occasion was more complete than when the king dreamed the dream of the great image. Then they said, “Tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation;” but now they did not offer any interpretation, although the dream was related to them. They were utterly unacquainted with the King of heaven, or the principles of his kingdom, and so they could not interpret these mysteries to anyone else. But the king evidently remembered his former experience, and knew where to turn for help in his extremity.

“But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying, O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; he cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass in the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation; but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee.”

Daniel was known and recognized in Babylon as one “in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.” This was not due, however, to any claim which he made for himself, but to the simple fact that a power and a wisdom were manifested in his life, which testified to communion with a God greater than the gods of the wise men of Babylon. This is the testimony which carries weight with it, and is just what is needed in the world now. The gospel of the kingdom can not be proclaimed simply by expounding creeds and prescribing ceremonies, but by revealing the principles and the power of the kingdom in the life. Those who have the form of godliness, but deny the power thereof, are really the worst enemies of the truth, and they do more to hinder the kingdom of God in the earth than do the avowed unbelievers. Men are wanted to-day who know “the mystery of godliness,” and who like Daniel are living representatives of the kingdom of heaven, and then in time of perplexity many of those who have come to feel their need of help will turn to them. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isa. 60: 1–3.

The picture presented to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream was not an arbitrary one. The tree in the vegetable kingdom answers to man in the animal kingdom, and these two kingdoms may very properly be regarded as two portions of the same kingdom of life, and the man as a tree with a power of moving at will from place to place. And so the trees are constantly declaring to us that we should be “rooted and grounded in love,” that it is God that “causeth . . . to grow,” that “every good tree bringeth forth good fruit,” and that “by their fruits ye shall know them.” Thus every tree, through the interpretation given to it in the written word, ought to preach to us the gospel of the kingdom, just as the one in his dream, through the interpretation given to it by Daniel, preached the same gospel to King Nebuchadnezzar. With fair leaves, and abundant fruit, supplying food for all, it is a universal object lesson which tells of the man “crowned with glory and honor,” a king and a priest, ministering the gifts of God to all about him.

And there is nothing in the structure of the tree which would indicate that it was not intended to “stand forever.” Under right conditions it ought to continue from generation to generation; but the tree of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was to be hewn down, the branches to be cut off, the leaves to be shaken off, and the fruit scattered. When Daniel had heard the dream, and the words of the watcher and the holy one, he saw that the King of heaven was sending a message of warning and yet of encouragement to Nebuchadnezzar, that he might cease to be a cumberer of the ground and become a tree of righteousness. But the experience was to be a severe one, and the contemplation of it disturbed the mind of the interpreter.

W. W. P.

(This study to be concluded next week.)