THE SERVANT, HIS SUPPORT AND CONTINUANCE (2)
[p. 380] THE SERVANT, HIS SUPPORT AND CONTINUANCE (2)
Daniel 3:24 - 30; Daniel 4:19 - 37
JT In the consideration of this book this morning we were dwelling on the moral power that Daniel had acquired in his experience as recorded in chapter 1 and part of chapter 2, especially the priestly approach to God by him and his three companions; and how, as having the secret revealed, they worship God and approach their service — at least it is said of Daniel — “Then Daniel blessed the God of the heavens” (chapter 2:19). So that, as having been thus in the presence of God, he would not be overawed by the king, although respecting him. It was remarked that we are to “fear God, honour the king”, (1 Peter 2:17). So that it is said in verse 27, “Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, The secret that the king hath demanded”, etc. He answered in the presence of the king. Whilst in our service we may come before “great men”, and we respect and honour those to whom honour is due, we should have a sense that God is supreme, and we must obey Him; His claims come first, and this in the sense of His greatness. All this is specially important in view of the image that Daniel has to account for in the presence of the king. For the gentile monarchies are represented in this terrible personality. It is said that the “image was mighty, and its brightness excellent; it stood before thee, and its appearance was terrible” (verse 31). That is to say, the might and glory of the gentile monarchies, extending over a period of thousands of years, and running on even today, are presented in one personality.
FWW Why do you make that remark?
JT It is an element the servant has to encounter. Satan took the Lord to a high mountain, and showed Him the kingdoms of this world and their glory in a [p. 381] moment of time; and they are all offered to Him: “All these things will I give thee”, (Matthew 4:9). Here it is seen in its condensed greatness; that is, in a person; but what a monster of a man!
JC Do you suggest that the devil is still working on that principle?
JT Yes, he is working to gather power under one head.
Ques Would this be seen in its concentrated form in the antichrist?
JT Well, the idea of one personality will be. We have to consider here the component parts of this image. The head denotes what is of God, in itself. That is, we learn to distinguish between what is of God in external government, and what is purely of man, and so evil.
JHT Does history, in that way, bring in the abuse of delegated authority in the hand of man? Would the servant of God learn in contrast, that his power lies in what is secret, and prayer?
JT I think the opposite of all this is in Daniel, where you do not get deterioration. Deterioration is a most sorrowful process. The image denotes deterioration, and that is something we must be on our guard against. The image does not denote something to be worked up to, to get to the best at the top; you begin with the gold.
GFG Do you connect the head of gold with Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony of God?
JT Yes, and the position he occupied; it was absolute monarchy. He was naturally no more equal to it than any other man, but God made him somewhat equal to it in chapter 4, so that there was some correspondence with the gold in him.
JB Is it your thought that he represents God governmentally?
JT I think so; it is the divine idea. However little he was equal to it, it was there.
ASL Given to him of God directly. The God of heaven had given him this [p. 382] place.
JT Quite so. However poorly he sustained it, it was there.
ASL That is the point, perhaps, of the gold directly from God — to stand for God’s glory; instead of that, he stood for his own.
JT So that he was king of kings, and lord of lords the imperial idea was there, which position Christ will occupy — there will be no deterioration then. One element of instruction here is to learn how to avoid deterioration.
Ques Do you think that the saints have always to recognise that this is the thought of God, no matter what time, or who governs?
JT Yes, the idea of the head. The whole image comes down at once, so that the abstract idea of the head of gold runs on even now; but the lower extremity being of such different material, we can see how far removed the idea of current government is from the divine thought.
Ques As to the deterioration: did you say we have to guard against that?
JT I think so. Daniel would be greatly impressed with this figure of deterioration from the head down. There would be solemn instruction in it for him.
Ques “The powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1); would that be the thought in the gold?
JT Yes, that is the gold carried down to the Roman Empire. But an examination of the Roman system shows how far removed it was from the head of gold. We recognise the head of gold in it, however.
ASL This direct transference by God Himself of the throne and dominion to the gentiles proves that the gentiles can do no better than Israel had done.
JT And these chapters show what an immense advantage God gave the early monarchies, so that there should be some correspondence with the head of gold; so that it should not be a mere empty, abstract thought; that it should be expressed in the monarchy — and it was, according to chapter [p. 383] 4.
ASL The deterioration is the gradual departure from God — progressive departure.
JT Yes, from the thought of God, which, as we remarked, was expressed to some extent. So that Nebuchadnezzar knew. To Belshazzar Daniel says, “thou knewest”. He is the apostate from this. The thing was presented to him.
FWW Do we learn that every divine principle is to be held by the servant in accord with the thought of God, without any deterioration?
JT Yes, and that he may see how the principle of public government is interwoven in the instruction, so that he should be intelligent as to it.
Ques Would the Lord’s expression as to prayer, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10), be suggestive of the head of gold?
JT It would. He alluded to authority from heaven, when He said to Pilate, “Thou hadst no authority whatever against me if it were not given to thee from above”, (John 19:11). He recognised the gold in Pilate, but, alas! he was very far from it characteristically; he did not even have the brass!
ASL What a wonderful word from the Lord to Pilate, “given to thee from above”. He recognised that even Pilate’s position was from above.
JT Pilate had a great opportunity, as the head of the gentile power in Judaea, to have the mind of God, because his wife was sent to say to him “I have suffered today many things in a dream because of him”, (Matthew 27:19). It is very much like Daniel’s position — bearing witness to the head of the gentile system, in Judaea, but Pilate does not answer to it as Nebuchadnezzar does here.
Ques Would you say that the principle of the gold should be better understood by the assembly at the end of the dispensation, in contrast to the deterioration in the world-government?
JT I think it should, and that is what God is working [p. 384] out. We should be on our guard constantly against deterioration in what God has graciously given us.
Ques Do you think that the servant, as being subject to the authorities, would look for holy operations of God in these conditions?
JT This book shows that God can carry on His operations under these conditions, that His truth, His principles and His people can be carried through without deterioration. Daniel represents all this; he increases in faithfulness and acceptance with God.
JHT Would chapter 2:44 show His operations, as in Matthew’s gospel?
JT “In the days of these kings shall the God of the heavens set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the sovereignty thereof shall not be left to another people”: that is what you mean. “In the days of these kings” God introduces His kingdom; He has done it now in a moral way. The kingdom of God as we have it now is the moral sway of God, not the actual outward form.
Ques Is that in the Spirit?
JT The kingdom of God is in the Spirit; it is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”, (Romans 14:17).
JHT To those who are maintained in that there is no deterioration?
JT This new kingdom never comes to an end; “it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, but itself shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke 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”. The ‘stone’ would mean permanency. The kingdom of God is permanent.
FW The head of gold was weaker because of the base?
JT Yes, there was no moral foundation. And Pilate [p. 385] showed this; but he had an immense advantage in the testimony of his wife, “Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man”. Judas had said that the pieces of silver were the price of innocent blood, but innocence alone will not do in government: you want righteousness. And that is what Pilate’s wife observed; Christ was a righteous Person: “Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man”, (Matthew 27:19). So that the Roman system represented in Pilate had a great opportunity. The Lord is very gracious to Pilate; He exhibits the spirit that becomes us in service now in relation to the authorities.
JB In Psalm 45 He goes forward in truth, meekness and righteousness.
JT These gentile monarchies have come down to us in the Roman system, and christianity has developed under that system. It behoves us that we should exhibit the spirit of Christ in relation to it at the end; if antichrist arises immediately from the closing testimony of the church, it will be in spite of that testimony.
JHT If the Lord is accused personally before Pilate, He is silent; but if the authority or truth of God is called in question, He speaks. Is that the model?
JT Yes. It is a remarkable thing that the history of the testimony as coming into Europe is marked by the Spirit of Christ. “The Spirit of Jesus”, Luke says, “did not allow them” (Acts 16:7). It is the Spirit of Jesus that comes into the Western Empire, and I believe it is a point that the Lord would make, as to whether that Spirit is exhibited now. If He began with such a testimony to the gentile monarchies, He would finish with it. During the recent convulsions, the saints were brought peculiarly into touch with the authorities, and I believe the Lord helped them. As we remarked this morning, the Lord said to the leper, “for a testimony to them” (Matthew 8:4), however much or little they took notice.
EG Do you mean the late war?
JT Yes.
CMJ What is meant by “the Spirit of Jesus” in the passage referred to?
JT The Man that stands over against the monster that we have here. Think of the image that was seen, in contrast to the lowly Jesus!
ASL Is that the point of the expression in Philippians 1:19, “The supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”?
JT The Philippian assembly represents the crop of that seed, the sowing “in tears” of Acts 16.
ASL It is very beautiful. That is the spirit that should mark us.
JT Philippi was spiritually the gateway into Europe. And the sowing was indeed in tears, and the reaping with joy; all is in the Spirit of Christ.
ASL The great object of the apostle personally was that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his mortal flesh.
JT Just so; at the end of the church’s history, as in each of our histories, “bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus”. As we grow older we realise more that we are mortal. It is forced upon us. The apostles say, “that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body”, (2 Corinthians 4:10,11). Where the dissolution is imminent, we the more desire to be clothed with the life of Jesus. I think that is what God would emphasise, that the powers that be should have such a testimony. That is what we get in these chapters, and what they began with in this sense they should finish with. So that you get in chapter 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. Their names are gone over by the Spirit of God about thirteen times in this chapter and these are the three men who have in their suffering the companionship of the Son of God. That is a very fine prospect for us — to acquire in our service of testimony and the sufferings that go with it — the companionship of the Son of God.
ASL “Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me”, (2 Timothy [p. 387] 4:17).
JB You might develop that a little.
JT The position and testimony of these three men are magnificent. Daniel is not mentioned. It is what they came into. Nebuchadnezzar says, “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said to the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of God”.
ASL “Walking in the midst of the fire”: the fire, we may suppose, had only burnt the bands that bound them, and set them in liberty.
JC Do not these men acquire this companionship through their refusal of idolatry?
JT Well, that is the way the passage stands: idolatry that arose, evidently, out of what God presented to Nebuchadnezzar. The image that he set up was evidently the outcome of what he had seen, and what Daniel had explained.
ASL If Nebuchadnezzar had been humbled in the presence of the interpretation of his dream, and recognised that God had given it to him, and that he was the head of gold; he would never have had recourse to the image.
Ques You mentioned that Daniel was not with these three men. Have you any thought about that?
JT I think he represents the mind of God here. His time of suffering came later.
JT-l Are these the sufferings of Christ — normal sufferings in connection with the testimony?
JT That is chapter 3. Chapter 1 is the moral side; chapter 2 is the priestly side, and chapter 3 is the suffering side. What these men endured is simply and purely in connection with the testimony. They say to him, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter”. In other matters they would certainly be obedient, but not in this matter. There can be no part [p. 388] in idolatry; death must be accepted rather than that. The matter is settled.
WSS The thought of the “Son of God” is very striking. I was thinking of the passage in 1 John 5:5, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” Would that be in line with this?
JT Quite. It is victory; the “Son of God” is victory. “Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
WSS These three men had overcome the world.
JT They had, indeed.
JC Would you say that suffering is a great incentive to save us from deterioration?
JT Yes. Nebuchadnezzar had evidently no judgment as to deterioration. Daniel expounded the vision to him, but he did not take it in. If he had he would have understood that the system he was connected with was coming down. We have to wait for chapter 4 for that: God has recourse to other means.
Ques Is not pride the secret of all deterioration? It says at the end of chapter 4 that “those that walk in pride he is able to abase”.
JT That is the thing. “He is able to abase”. What an opportunity Nebuchadnezzar had in the explanation itself! If he had taken it to heart that the whole system of gentile authority was coming to chaff, he would never have set up the image in the plain of Dura.
JT-l Would you say it is fidelity in testimony that would pull this down in the consciences of men today?
JT Quite so. I think these three men are mentioned, as I said, so many times over, expressly to call our attention to the third feature in our service in testimony seen here — the feature of suffering for it. There is no question in their minds: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter”, they say. It is a settled matter. It is very fine to come to a decision [p. 389] like that.
JHT So that Paul writes to the saints before whom he had exemplified the Spirit of Jesus, the Philippians: “stand firm in one spirit, with one soul, labouring together in the same conflict with the faith of the glad tidings; and not frightened in anything by the opposers, which is to them a demonstration of destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God” (chapter 1:27,28). Is that the principle?
JT Exactly.
PP Do you think God always warns us if we are on a wrong course? If we do not heed it, it will perhaps come in some other way.
JT The power of the world is peculiarly brought to bear on these three men. We spoke of the attractiveness of the king’s meat this morning, but you will notice the great prominence given to music in this third chapter, the repetition of the various musical instruments: “Now if ye be ready at the time that ye hear the sound of the comet, pipe, lute, sambuca, psaltery, and bagpipe, and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made”. The influence of music is in view. The peculiar effect of music to support idolatry. I suppose there is nothing that appeals more to the refined ear than music, especially such a variety.
ASL It appeals to the religious side of man’s nature.
EG According to verse 6, it would appear that the king was suspicious that all would not fall down; there was a warning given to those who would not fall down.
GFG Is your thought that the enemy would use music to drown spiritual instincts and desires?
JT It works on the flesh; as presented here, it belongs to Cain’s world.
GWW In a very touching letter of Mr. Darby’s to a young christian he says that music appeals to the senses, but it does not touch the conscience at all.
JT One is struck with the mention of all musical instruments, “all kinds of music”.
[p. 390] Rem When we are awake to the fact that the enemy is aiming at us in something, then we are on our guard.
WSS I was wondering if you had something to say in regard to verse 27, “upon whose bodies the fire had had no power”?
JT It is a question of the Son of God now. He can keep the believer alive even in fire — quench its violence — or He can raise him from the dead. What a scene this is! Daniel’s place, in making four, is taken by the Son of God.
EG In all the special attractions of the world, Satan has the people of God in view.
JT “Woe to the world because of offences!” (Matthew 18:7). It is aiming at the saints. It becomes a stumbling-block to the saints.
Rem In Romans 12 it says, “be not conformed to this world”. It says of these men that they yielded their bodies.
JT They had presented their bodies a living sacrifice. The Son of God appearing changed the whole position. There is no power in the fire. Nebuchadnezzar says, “Lo, I see four men loose”. That is, they were in the liberty wherewith Christ had set them free, a liberty acquired in suffering.
ASL What wonderful places we can walk in when the Son of God is with us! We find another man walking on the sea when Jesus is with him.
AED What do you understand by the “son of God”? I have not quite got your thought.
JT Well, it is the Person of Christ viewed in that light. Nebuchadnezzar had some understanding of what he saw.
WCG Does that suggest One able to bring the soul on the ground of counsel?
JT Yes, and One who will bring you through all circumstances. He can prevent death or raise one out of it; He also sets us free, bringing us [p. 391] into sonship.
WCG I was thinking that Abraham was on the same ground in Genesis 14, Melchizedek met him and blessed him, and he refused the offers of the king of Sodom.
JT Yes, that is the idea of it. The Son of God, in figure, came in thus early. Then, later, He comes in in Isaac. But Melchizedek is striking in that way, because he is said to be likened to the Son of God. Abraham was to go through his course with that light in his soul. Later on, he says, “I and the lad will go yonder and worship”, (Genesis 22:5). That is the Son of God in type. “I and the lad”, and what a lad he was! He was submissive to his father, and allowed himself to be bound on the altar; and then Abraham received him from the dead in a figure. So that faith goes through, in the light of the Son of God. So Paul says, “God ... was pleased to reveal his Son in me”, (Galatians 1:15,16).
ASL And, “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”, (Galatians 2:20).
JB Do you think that the Son of God, being the object of veneration in contrast to the image, the servant can count on His support in what he is passing through.
JT That suggests a sort of key to the book: the suffering remnant are joined by the Son of God. Allusion was made a moment ago to the disciples rowing and the wind against them, but He appears to them. He joins them; it is the suffering remnant. We want to have the idea before us of being joined by the Son of God in our services and sufferings; He comes in.
Rem So it says in Galatians 3:1, “to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified among you”.
JT That was in the apostle’s manner among them. I think that this point is of very great importance, and the place the Son of God has with the man of faith strikes me peculiarly. Abraham is the father of us all; and the Son of God in figure appears and blesses him after his victory, as returning from the slaughter of the kings. It is a tribute to Abraham’s power. He had trained servants in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and he pursued the enemy to Damascus. But, in returning, Melchizedek met him. Paul, in Galatians, opens up the subject of faith in connection with the truth of the Son of God. The Lord would give His people to understand that He joins us in our service and sufferings.
JHT “The just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4) would apply to these three men.
WG Would this be seen in John 9? The blind man got the company of the Son of God.
JT That is it; he was suffering, he was cast out. These men are loose, suggesting the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free. “If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free” (John 8:36) — be it in the furnace or elsewhere.
GWW Do you think the reason that our attention is directed to the Son of God is that the circumstances at the moment demand full acquaintance with His Person?
JT Well, I have been thinking that. The Lord is disclosing Himself to us, and we do not want to miss this great gain. We need to understand His greatness more fully. Here He gives complete victory over the power of the fire.
Now, chapter 4 is what you might call Nebuchadnezzar’s psalm.
ASL What he had learned by experience?
JT Yes. “Nebuchadnezzar the king unto all the peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. It hath seemed good unto me to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation” (verses 1 - 3). What power would enter into these words as said for the first time! Something [p. 393] extraordinary had happened. He had been through severe discipline under the hand of God, and it had its own effect. He begins with this wonderful note; then he proceeds to tell us how it happened, and the finish of the chapter reads, “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto the heavens, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the army of the heavens, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time mine understanding returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my nobles sought me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent greatness was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of the heavens, all whose works are truth, and his paths judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase”. That is his psalm. How great a testimony to the gracious dealings of God!
ASL He learned more of God in his afflictions than a good many christians have learned. What infinite grace! Nebuchadnezzar was definitely converted.
JT Hence what a wonderful start the “times of the Gentiles” had in this man!
JHT There was recompense for the Spirit of Jesus shining in Daniel: “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity”. Would that represent the attitude and spirit of the saints amongst the monarchies that you spoke of?
JT That is what I thought. “Break off thy sins by righteousness”. It is not a mere negative thing; sins are broken off by righteousness.
ASL Paul spoke like this before Agrippa, “O king” (Acts 26); there is feeling in it.
JT It is the same kind of thing. God “left not himself without witness” (Acts 14:17), as I was saying, “for a testimony to them”. I think the powers that be will have to answer before God for the testimony presented to them recently.
GCS What is the “dew of heaven”? He was “bathed with the dew of heaven” till seven times passed over him.
JT It would be one of the parts of the discipline. Of course, dew is also refreshing, if you look on it, for instance, as “the dew of Hermon”; but if you look upon it as falling on a man in the night, it is hardly that; it is a hardship, which I think is the sense in Song of Songs 5:2. Nebuchadnezzar was like a cow or horse, suffering as they would.
Ques When you speak of the testimony rendered to the powers that be, recently, what do you mean?
JT Those young men who stood before the tribunals and confessed Christ and suffered reproach for Him.
Ques Do you think there is a certain analogy — that after the testimony is rendered, God comes in and does what men cannot do?
JT Yes. Daniel’s rebuke was not effective. Verse 27, as we had it, shows how faithfully Daniel dealt with him, but it was not effective. Then it says, “All this came upon king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking upon the royal palace of Babylon: the king spoke and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” That was his thought, notwithstanding the faithful testimony of Daniel, and the Spirit of Christ in Daniel. In the king you see the spirit of pride: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?” There is [p. 395] a big I.
ASL You do not find him talking like that till twelve months had elapsed. He had evidently forgotten about Daniel’s admonition.
WW If there is one thing that God will not have, it is pride, whether in the greatest monarch or in the least creature.
JT Yes, that is what Nebuchadnezzar himself comes to. He says, “those that walk in pride he is able to abase”.
ASL There are seven things which are an abomination to the Lord, and at the head of the list is “A proud look”. We should not have put that first, but God has (see Proverbs 6:17).
JT All this ought to be encouraging to all of us, but especially to any one who needs restoration; this stump left in the ground is to bring before us the grace of God in dealing with one of His people. He says, You are going to come back to that. It is not punitive here, it is restorative. How well repaid God was in this wonderful psalm, and in this proclamation to the whole world!
ASL What renders restoration impossible is pride! Pride cannot come down.
EG Is not Nebuchadnezzar’s proclamation a reversal of chapter 3, where they were to bow down and worship the image? Does it show that you can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth?
JT It is what God can do, even where such a testimony as that of Daniel is ineffective. God can bring the man down. There are cases that the brethren are unequal to meet; God gives us to know our inability to meet certain cases. But He is able to meet them; and it is a solemn thing that seven times passed over Nebuchadnezzar.
Ques Would you say that God’s thought is always to exalt one? 1 Peter 5:6 says, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you”. Would that keep one from what is here?
JT Yes. I hardly know any chapter that is so educative as this for any one of us who needs restoration. How [p. 396] solemn it is if we pay no heed to the voice of the brethren! Daniel’s testimony was most conclusive. In opening up the vision to Nebuchadnezzar, explaining it to him, his heart is moved to speak to the king. He is no longer revealing secrets, but he speaks to him as a faithful servant, in saying, “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee”. It is a very touching appeal. It is a sorrowful thing if we disregard the solemn appeal of brethren; then God will come in. He loves us too well to allow us to go on. The stump is there — looked after. The stump means what I am in the purpose of God. He will bring me back to that.
WSS Would the tree suggest what I profess to be?
JT Well, I think it was what he was under the government of God. God had given him the place, but the stump remains. So that the last part of the chapter is to show that he is in his own place, but in different circumstances. I think the thought of the stump ought to be very reassuring to us. God brings Nebuchadnezzar back to that, but a different man.
Ques Is this what Peter refers to, when he says “the mighty hand of God” (1 Peter 5:6)?
JT Exactly.
Ques Had you something in your mind in regard to “seven times shall pass over thee”?
JT Well, seven is a complete process.
RMcB Naaman went down into Jordan seven times.
JT That corresponds.
JB It would speak of the perfect operations of God in relation to the stump.
JT It alludes to the completeness of God’s dealings in restoring us.
Rem And we have to be careful not to interfere with that.
JT Well, you feel you have to leave a brother in such a case with God. God would say to Daniel, You have done your part; you have borne a faithful witness, but I have to take him in hand. And Nebuchadnezzar does not hide the pride of his heart, the position he was placed in,
[p. 397] and what he experienced. He tells us all about it, which is an evidence of a truly restored man.
HB God expanded him after that.
JT God would convey to us that what He has effected He has effected for ever. The stump refers to this, and so it is cared for.
Ques Does the way in which Nebuchadnezzar writes show that he had come under the healing hand of God — the wound had been healed?
JT I think so. Thorough recovery is always evidenced in the way you speak of what occasioned it. You take God’s side in regard to it. As we were saying, the Lord healed the dropsical man and let him go; it was a finished thing. The same appears here.
Rem There are no bitter after effects.
JT No. If the dropsical man were to record what happened, he would not hide anything; but, as far as the Lord was concerned, it was a settled matter.
JHT In another sense, there was no ill-effect from the furnace of chapter 3: “nor had the smell of fire passed on them”.
GWW Does not the discipline of God result in the scent or taste being changed? I was thinking of Moab; his taste is not changed. Nebuchadnezzar would come out of this with his natural scent left behind.
JT His restoration is especially seen in his last words here: “those that walk in pride he is able to abase”. As already said, it is very important that the head of the gentile system should have a psalm through experience under the discipline of God, and that he should make it known universally. It is one of the great testimonies that God has presented to men.
ASL So that the “head of gold” passes on the testimony.
JT Quite so; and it will come up against every one of the later rulers, as we see indicated in Daniel’s rebuke to Belshazzar.