Studies in the Gospel Message
THE subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for August 30 is, The Living Principle in History, and the portion of Scripture upon which it is based is Dan. 2:31-49. That history which it is of any profit to study is more than a mere record of disconnected and unrelated facts. “History, when rightly written, is but a record of providence; and he who would read history rightly, must read it with his eye constantly fixed on the hand of God. Every change, every revolution in human affairs, is, in the mind of God, a movement to the consummation of the great work of redemption.” “Whoever will read the history of the world and of the church of God, with his eye fixed on the providential agency which everywhere overrules the events of the one to the furtherance and well-being of the other, will see all history illuminated by a light, and animated by a spirit, of which the mere chronicler of events knows nothing. He will feel that history has a sacred philosophy, that he is standing in the council chamber of eternity, reading the annals of infinite Wisdom and Mercy, as blended and developed in the great work of human redemption.5He will see in all history such a shaping of every event as finally to further the cause of truth.” And this orderly march of events is not controlled in an arbitrary way. It is true that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will,” but the rise and fall of nations is not fixed simply by the calendar or by an arbitrary decree of the King of the nations. It is determined rather by the attitude of these nations toward the purpose of God to make known and to establish his kingdom in the earth. The central figure in all history is the man Christ Jesus. In him we find the key to the correct interpretation of all history. Because of his wondrous self-sacrifice in identifying himself with humanity that he might win back a rebellious world to loyalty to the government of his Father, “wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This purpose of God in its relation to the nations, and his instruction to them in view of it, is clearly set forth in the second psalm:— “Why do the nations rage,
And the peoples imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder,
And cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
And vex them in his sore displeasure.
Yet I have set my king
Upon my holy hill of Zion.
The Lord said unto me, Thou art my son;
This day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance,
And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;
Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Now therefore be wise, O ye kings:
Be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way,
For his wrath will soon be kindled.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Man was created to be the ruler of this world, not independent of God, but in loving allegiance to him. “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.” But our first parents listened to the false accusations of Satan against God and his government, and attempted to make themselves like God by acting out the character of Satan. Of course this satanic plan failed, just as its author intended, and man lost his dominion. Since that time Satan has exercised the dominion which was first vested in man. “When Satan declared to Christ, The kingdom and the glory of the world are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it, he stated what was true only in part, and he declared it to serve his own purpose of deception. Satan’s dominion was that wrested from Adam, but Adam was the vicegerent of the Creator. His was not an independent rule. The earth is God’s, and he has committed all things to his Son. Adam was to reign subject to Christ. When Adam betrayed his sovereignty into Satan’s hands, Christ still remained the rightful King.” Through the work of the Son of God in becoming the last Adam, the head of a new humanity, and in giving himself as the Redeemer of the world, the lost dominion will be recovered, and God’s kingdom will again be established in the earth made new. The history of men and of nations can only be rightly understood when viewed in the light of this eternal purpose of God “which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The essential element in the kingdom of God is righteousness, and this is what makes it permanent in its character. “The kingdom of God is . . . righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” “A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.” This principle of righteousness is to be established in the hearts of those who choose to have the Lord reign over them, and when this gospel of the kingdom shall have been preached in all the world, so that each one has definitely accepted or rejected the Lord as his King, then the rebellious will be overthrown, and the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ; and “he shall reign forever and ever.” In the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and its interpretation by Daniel the prophet we have a brief outline of the course of history from that day until the God of heaven should set up his everlasting kingdom. It was shown that there would be four world kingdoms, one after the other, each one of which would go down in its turn, but the fifth kingdom would not be destroyed, nor be left to other people, but would “stand forever.” The principle which is thus wrought out in this drama of the kingdoms is the fundamental truth of the gospel: “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever.” The littleness of man and the greatness of God; the weakness of man and the power of God; the shortness of man’s span of life, “born but for one brief day,” and the eternity of God’s existence,—these are the lessons which men are to learn and apply in all the relations of life. Nations are given a place in history with a longer or shorter time upon the stage of action according as rulers and peoples relate themselves to these truths and the establishment of the kingdom of God in the earth. Those who believe in man, and seek to exalt themselves to the place which belongs to God in Christ, will be brought to desolation; those who believe in God, and exalt him in the person of his Son as King of kings and Lord of lords, will themselves become an integral part of that kingdom which “shall stand forever.”