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THE KING OF BABYLON HEARS THE MESSAGE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 22, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 21.

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

By William Warren Prescott

  • (Concluded.)*
“THEN Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies. The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: it is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which is come upon my lord the king: that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou knowthat the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.”
God deals with every man as an individual. His messages of warning, his instruction, his “exceeding great and precious promises,” are all personal. In all effective preaching of the gospel, the message must be delivered as to the individual, and not to the mass, and each one must hear the voice saying to him, “Thou art the man.” Thus God spoke to Nebuchadnezzar through the dream and its interpretation, and through the same channel he is still speaking to all “those that walk in pride.” And so this experience is still preaching the gospel of the kingdom to every man who reads it.
The lesson which Nebuchadnezzar the king needed to learn, and which every other man must learn who wishes to be a king and to “reign forever and ever,” was “that the heavens do rule,” that the ruling powers are of heaven, and that he himself was a servant of “the Most High.” The simple recognition of this fact would establish him in his kingdom. “Thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.” This is a universal truth. Man lost his kingship and his dominion by refusing to continue as an obedient servant of the Most High. In the gospel there has been abundant provision made for his restoration to his place of privilege and power, but to avail himself of these blessings means that he must constantly acknowledge the God of heaven as above all, and himself as a servant. This is the law of the new kingdom, and so “his servants shall serve him: . . . and they shall reign forever and ever.”
What the Lord said to Nebuchadnezzar, and to all men, in the dream, is the same gospel message which he has proclaimed and is yet proclaiming: “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me. . . . I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. . . . Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” “Fear God, and give glory to him, . . . and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. . . . If any man worship the beast and his image, . . . the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Acknowledging that the Lord he is God, that it is he that has made us and that his are we, and giving unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, and serving him with gladness, mean eternal salvation; but self-exaltation, a claim to be independent of God, seeking one’s own glory, and allegiance to “the god of this world,” mean “indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.”
The message to Nebuchadnezzar was a complete one. It did not simply warn him of the coming trouble, but it pointed out the remedy. Sin was the cause of the trouble; righteousness was the only remedy. “Break off thy sins by righteousness.” It required the courage of a Christian to give such counsel as this to the king of Babylon, but Daniel was a Christian, and so he was “strong and very courageous,” and in his faithfulness to the king he did not content himself by speaking of sins and iniquities in general, but he made it a personal matter,—“thy sins,” and “thine iniquities.” The Lord was seeking to bless Nebuchadnezzar by turning him away from his iniquities, and his spokesman, Daniel, did not thwart his purpose by seeking to please men. The Lord is no respecter of persons, but sends the same gospel message to all, high and low, rich and poor. It sometimes happens that the messenger forgets that he is simply to be a mouthpiece for God, and prophesies smooth things to those in high position. Then the word becomes man’s word merely, and the power of God unto salvation is not revealed. The Lord’s instruction to every messenger is, “Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak . . . all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word.”
The result of the inward change in Nebuchadnezzar’s character was to be manifested “by showing mercy to the poor.” No grand temple was to be built in honor of the true God, which should surpass in its glory the temple of Belus in Babylon, but the king was to recognize the temple of the living God already built, “the temple of the Holy Ghost,” revealing the character of God in his treatment of the poor. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” The true king both reveals and retains his kingship by ministering to the lowly and the unfortunate. “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
W. W. P.