As God Sees Man’s View by Abdiel

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 13, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 40.

As God Sees Man’s View

By Abdiel

By Abdiel

(Read Daniel 2 Carefully)

The second chapter of Daniel is preeminently a disclosure to man of God the Revealer.

Babylon was one of the mightiest empires of earth. She was great in extent, great in wealth, great in education, but far greater in her religious influence upon all the nations of earth then and thereafter. She has “made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunk of her wine.” Jer. 51:7; Rev. 18:3.

She reached the height of her glory under Nebuchadnezzar, one of earth’s greatest rulers, a mighty warrior, a great scholar, a wise statesman, a devout religionist. He took pride in the enlargement and establishment of the later Chaldean empire. He determined it should stand forever, yet questioned as to “what should come to pass hereafter.” Dan. 2:28–30. God, in answer to his longing desire, revealed it to him in a dream, which none of the wise men could tell or interpret. God gave through His servant Daniel—who gave to God all the glory—the dream and its interpretation.

This Is the Dream

**“Thou, O king, sawest, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible. As for this image, its HEAD was of fine GOLD, its BREAST and its ARMS of SILVER, its BELLY and its THIGHS of BRASS, its LEGS of IRON, its FEET part of IRON, and part of CLAY. Thou sawest till that a STONE was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer thrashing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them; and the STONE that smote the image became a GREAT MOUNTAIN, and filled the whole earth.” Verses 31–35, A.R.V.

Here Follows the Interpretation

“Thou, O king, art king of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens hath He given into thy hand, and hath made thee to rule over them all; THOU ART THE HEAD OF GOLD. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

“And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay. And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

“Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” Verses 37–45, A.R.V.

It needs but a few words of comment. The succeeding kingdoms are not symbolized by the anatomical parts of the image, but

by the various metals. The head of gold represented Babylon, for which Nebuchadnezzar then stood; the golden kingdom of a golden age, but which closed its career of glory in B.C. 538, when it was succeeded by the Medo-Persian empire, the breast and arms of silver. Dan. 5:28, 30, 31.

The Medo-Persian empire lasted until B.C. 331, and was succeeded by Grecia, the “belly and thighs of brass.”

Grecia was, after years of struggle, in her divided state, finally conquered by the imperial iron monarchy of Rome, represented by the legs of iron. The mixing of the clay with the iron, representing the coming in of socialistic and republican principles, symbolized the breaking up of the Roman empire into various divisions. The same four powers are symbolized in Daniel 7 by cruel wild beasts.

Weakness of Human Government

Babylon was a unit. Medo-Persia became one. But Grecia, launched as one under Alexander, became later divided into four. Rome, beginning as one, represented by the strongest of metals, crumbled into numerous divisions, so to remain till the end of all earthly power.

That great image of a man represented the kingdom of man in this world. It tells us in a simple way just what all history demonstrates, that man has not within himself, however great or wise, the cohesive power, the principle of integrity, to hold together for long any kind of rule or government.

Charlemagne tried to unite the discordant elements of Western Rome, but he failed. Napoleon tried it, and failed. It has since been tried by means of intermarriage and diplomacy, but all its union and peace are as fragile as a spider’s web. God’s prophecy declares that so it will continue till He sets up His everlasting kingdom on the thither side of all the wreck of nations, at the glorious coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. “And the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”