"Thou
sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the
image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to
pieces.—And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and
filled the whole earth." -Daniel 2:34, 35 [KJV]
Ponder
well, my soul, this wonderful vision of the heathen king, and mark its
several features. If the Lord be about to bless and comfort His people,
how often is it done by ways the most opposite and unlikely, according
to our apprehension of things! It shall be accomplished, even by their
enemies, and they who wish most to afflict them, shall not unfrequently
be made the unconscious instruments of doing the very reverse of what
they intend; as in the instance before us, to which these words in the
writings of the prophet Daniel refer.
The
church was now in captivity; oppressed, and brought very low: the king,
in whose dominions they were in their vassalage, a despotic tyrant,
whose word became the chief law. The Lord visits this monarch's mind
with a vision of the night: he is troubled with what he had seen in his
vision; but when he awakes, the remembrance of what he had seen
vanished. Daniel is blessed of the Lord, both to bring to his
recollection his thoughts in the night, and to give the interpretation
of them. The king's heart is for the time subdued, and Daniel honoured
with favour. But the most eminent point of this vision was for the
church's comfort, and the Lord caused His people to rejoice in the
discovery of it.
The
image to be destroyed represented the several monarchies of the world,
before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the order in which
they should succeed each other. The Chaldean took the lead, and the
Persian followed; to which succeeded the Grecian; and during the fourth,
which was the Roman power, the Lord Jesus Christ, was to arise, which should destroy the image, become "a
mountain, and fill the earth." What a wonderful coincidence of
circumstances must it have been, that made every minute point in this
representation, to answer so exactly to Jesus, and to Him only!
The
birth of Christ, produced without the intervention of a human father;
nothing could more strikingly set forth, than the figure of "a stone cut
out without hands." And the triumph of His spiritual kingdom was
equally beautiful, in the similitude of breaking in pieces "the image
which, stood on his feet." And when what is said of Christ is
considered, which must finally be fulfilled in Him, that the kingdoms
of the world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ,
and He shall reign for ever; who doth not, or will not, see the
striking representation of a mountain springing up from slender
beginnings, "and filling the whole earth?"
My
soul! wilt thou not learn, this evening, from this very precious
scripture, to appreciate thy Jesus, and to behold how sweetly scripture
testimony confirms every thing concerning Him? Teach me, Thou dear Lord,
to view Thee under those delightful characters; and while I trace back
the history of Thine incarnation, low, humble, and despised, as "a stone
cut without hands;" Oh! give me to contemplate Thy glory in what most
assuredly shall be accomplished, when like a mountain established on
the tops of a mountain, all nations shall flow to Thee, and Thou shalt
fill the earth.
Divine Master! fill my whole soul with Thyself; and let
this our land, and our people, be filled with the knowledge of Jesus
and His great salvation, as the waters cover the sea!
-preacher Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)
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