Daniel 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed… You will recall to your minds King Nebuchadnezzar's wonderful dream, and the interpretation of it by Daniel. God can touch the heart of a person in sleep. He can touch the heart of a man dead in sin. How easily He gains His purposes — the forgetting of a dream raised Daniel next to the throne. In the dream we find revealed a contrast between paganism and Christianity. 1. Paganism is constructed; Christianity is a growth. The image was builded of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of clay. But the little stone grew. 2. Paganism is of human origin; Christianity, like the little stone, is made without hands. 3. Paganism divides men; Christianity unites. Disorganisation is inherent in paganism, and it cannot but crumble. How different with Christianity! Its centre is God, and that Centre is everywhere, and its circumference is nowhere. Every individual in this kingdom is at the very centre of power. We have even no need of one to stand between us and this Centre, for Christ is God. The advance of civilisation is destructive to error; but Christianity is fitted for the highest civilization. The greater the advancement, the more irresistible becomes this stone cut from the mountain. Its development is the crowding out and destruction of all false systems. There need be no fear that science will harm Christianity; it will, in the end, help it, not harm it. Literature is on this side. Never has Christianity exercised so great a power over the press as to-day, Education is also helping, not hindering, religion. Our colleges are nearly all in the hands of Christian people. Nine-tenths of all educational endowments are the gifts of Christian men and women. Art is not hostile to Christianity. The best of painting, the best of sculpture, the best of architecture, the best of music, is helping to roll this stone that is filling the earth. 4. The power which makes this stone irresistible is God. It is omnipotent as is the throne of Jehovah. No man-made power can resist it. Gold, brass, iron, are crushed beneath it. The great movement for the purification of the earth is going forward. God wishes us to Join in this work. Blessed are we if we are found co-workers with Him. (Bishop Simpson.) Parallel Verses KJV: And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. |
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