THE WISDOM OF BABYLON CAN NOT SAVE FROM DEATH.
By W. W. F.
“The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter; therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” In their effort to convince the king of the unreasonableness of his demand, these professed wise men really threw up their whole case, and practically acknowledged that their system was a deception. While claiming that their course of training had opened up to them supernatural channels of wisdom, which were not at the command of ordinary people, they were forced to acknowledge that their wisdom consisted merely in speculation on the possible meaning of facts that must be supplied to them by others. Their utter failure, and their positive declaration that “there is not a man upon earth that can show the king’s matter,” only served to make the triumph of God’s system of education the more complete. They had the first opportunity to demonstrate the value of worldly wisdom, and to win a signal victory for their own system; and in defense of their own failure to meet the demand made upon them, they declared that the ability to do what the king required would be an unmistakable proof of divinity manifested through humanity. But this is just where the heathen religion fails. It deals with “the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” It is the vain effort of the flesh to satisfy the hunger of the soul after its Maker, with forms and ceremonies of human invention. It deals with “imaginations” and “reasonings,” but has no means of acquiring a knowledge of invisible realities. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Thus was the gauntlet again thrown down by the heathen, and the superiority of the kingdom of heaven over the kingdom of Babylon was again to be demonstrated. The way was prepared now for the true God to reveal himself as “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,” and yet as the meek and lowly One whose dwelling is with flesh. It was now to be shown that there is such a thing as genuine communion with the God who gives wisdom to those who seek it, and that such wisdom is life to those who find it. The difference was to be made plain between a philosophy that is merely human and a knowledge that is merely speculative, and a philosophy that is divine and a knowledge that is positive. The one is heathenism, the other is the gospel. The one is the mystery of iniquity, the other is the mystery of godliness. “For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.” Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, but he was not king of himself. His dominion was an outward one, and was maintained by fleshly power. He was a stranger to that kingdom whose scepter is a scepter of righteousness. He had not learned that a man may sit upon a throne, and deck himself with all the outward signs of royalty, and yet not be a king. The circumstances were revealing that the men who occupied the place of wise men were not wise men at all, and that the man who occupied the place of a king was not a king at all. This was why it was necessary that the gospel of the kingdom should be proclaimed in Babylon, in order that true wisdom and genuine kingship might be revealed. The failure of Nebuchadnezzar to maintain his claim to the outward profession that he made was no less apparent than the failure of the Chaldeans. He is called a king, but the very fact that he “was angry and very furious” shows that he had no real claim to the name. He was really in bondage, a slave to his own passions. Thus it is in Babylon, and thus has “the god of this world” confused right principles, so that kings are found in hovels, and slaves upon thrones. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” Anger is unreasoning, and so the command goes forth “to destroy all the wise men.” It matters not that “in all matters of wisdom and understanding” the king found Daniel and his companions “ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers.” They are now all classed together. The wise men have failed to do what he required, and so they are all to be destroyed. The first intimation that Daniel has of this whole matter is when he is sought to be slain. “Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men.” Having learned the cause of the hasty decree, Daniel did not hesitate to assure the king that he would show the interpretation of the dream. He did not ask the king to tell him the dream, but that he would give him time; and this time he did not use in gazing at the stars or consulting with evil spirits, but in seeking mercies from the God of heaven. It was a case of life or death. The knowledge of this secret meant life to them. Unless Daniel could fulfill his agreement with the king, they would all perish together. All the circumstances of this experience make it clear that “this secret” that was to be made known to the king through the interpretation of his dream is the “mystery of the kingdom of God.” This is that which is hidden from “the wise and prudent,” and revealed unto babes. This is the gospel, whose chief glory is that divinity is joined with humanity, that “Christ liveth in me,” and that “the tabernacle of God is with men.” God has commissioned his servants “to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery,” and it was for this purpose that Daniel and his fellows were in Babylon. They were to make known the power of a kingdom greater than the kingdom of Babylon, and to show that this power is revealed in man, in human flesh. They were to reveal in themselves the fact that this power in man, this power of the divine character, determines not simply the destiny of individuals, but also of the nations of the earth, and that the kingdom of God within man is the only enduring kingdom. It is only a living communion with God that can enable anyone to fulfill such a commission as this; for it is the life which is to be manifested, a fellowship with “that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested,” and is always to be manifested by every true child of the kingdom. Thus only can the contrast be sharply and distinctly drawn between the professed wisdom of this world and that wisdom which comes from above, between a man upon a throne and a genuine king, between the kingdom of Babylon and the kingdom of God.