There is a vast difference between lawmaking and governing. Law expresses a ruler's will; government demands observance.
Without government, wickedness would be allowed a free hand and the world be made unbearable. Before the Flood there was no government, and the earth was filled with violence, grieving God at His heart (Gen. 6:5-13).
After the Flood God instituted government; violence must now be restrained, and human life respected. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed" (Gen. 9:6). Inquisition for blood was placed in man's hand, and God supported him in it; hence, probably, the expression so widely known, 'Murder will out' (see Acts 28:4).
The Necessity for Government
The necessity for government points to its use-the restraint of lawlessness and the support of well-doing. "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well" (1 Peter 2:13,14).
In order to rightly appreciate God's present use of government, we must bear in mind that it is only a temporary provision until the scepter is given to "the Prince of Peace." "Of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:33). In the meantime, God has two objects of interest on the earth-ISRAEL and the CHURCH. Take a simple illustration. A farmer has seed in his granary. Though making no present use of it, he will, on no consideration, part with it. He intends to sow it in a certain field, and only waits for the harvesting of another crop, one of very peculiar interest, growing in the same field. He has a stake in both, and both will he preserve. But it is the growing crop that engages his special attention for the time being.
So with the concerns of the Great Husbandman. The natural seed of Abraham must wait until the Church is gathered home. The apostle of the Gentiles could say, "The Lord... will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom" (2 Tim. 4:18). But a remnant of the Jewish nation will be preserved for the earthly kingdom.
Notwithstanding all the enemy has done to spoil it, the presence of the Church on earth is a precious reality to Christ. God's eternal purposes are connected with it. When the due season comes, it will be taken to heaven suddenly, and the field cleared by judgment of every noxious weed. This done, He will cause the preserved of Jacob to "take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit" (Rom. 9:29; Isa. 27:6).
On account of these two objects of interest, and until His designs for both are accomplished, God will have the world kept in a measure of order: though, if He sees it necessary, He may, "as the eagle stirreth up her nest," permit persecutions, or national conflicts, or commercial upheavals, to prevent their settling down, for they are neither yet in their destined position. Israel's place is Canaan; the Church's home is heaven; and God is behind the scenes acting for both. He could use Claudius Caesar to disturb the Jewish "nest" at Rome, in order to find suitable lodgings for a heavenly stranger at Corinth (see Acts 18:1,2).
God's Ideal in Government
God's ideal in government is to have all power placed in the hands of ONE MAN-the one only HEAD (Eph. 1:10; Psa. 2:6-8).
He gave Nebuchadnezzar absolute control. But instead of using it for God's glory and man's blessing, he used it for his own glory and man's destruction. In a little while absolute dominion shall be given to another Man-CHRIST. Then the whole earth will be filled with God's glory; God's will shall "be done in earth as it is in heaven;" and "men shall be blessed in him" (Psa. 72:17,19). With this before us, let us consider the significance of the IMAGE IN NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM.
In New Testament language it is thus expressed, "The powers that be are ordained of God" (Rom. 13:1).
An image does not set itself up. It stands just where it is placed-a silent witness of the power and will of another. The thing formed cannot dispute with the will that formed it (Rom. 9:20).
In this image we get a glance at the whole scope of Gentile government as God foresaw it to its end. Four great kingdoms or monarchies comprise the whole. These four imperial powers are represented in this image by the four chief materials that form it (Dan. 2:38-43). The head is of fine gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, with a combination of "potters' clay" at the lowest extremity-"the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay" (v. 42).
The whole is a graphic picture of the steady decline of imperial power. Nebuchadnezzar's power was absolute. Fine gold represents it (Dan. 2:38;5:18,19). "Thou art this head of gold." Succeeding powers are said to be more and more "inferior," down to the toes. For example, the second in order, the Medo-Persian, is represented by silver; that is, "inferior to thee"-the Babylonian (v. 39). It is important to take note of this, for we can only gauge the present whereabouts of Gentile government in the light of THE REAL SECRET OF ITS DECLINE.
It is said of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, "Whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive" (chap. 5: 19). But Darius the Medo-Persian could maintain no such supreme authority. He tried his utmost to deliver Daniel from death in the lion's den, but failed. What was the secret? It was the intrusion of other wills. A few princes and presidents had put their heads together to make a law that would serve their own ends, and then got the king to sign it. That principle has been gradually developing ever since; until today it is not a few wills backed up by royal assent, but millions of wills-wills strong and weak (iron and clay), wills combining and making their voice heard by representation, to make laws that suit themselves, and to which the king is expected to put his seal! When subjects rule and kings are expected to submit, we are approaching the very antipodes of God's ideal, and, according to the image, the end of Gentile government.
But pause here a moment to notice one thing. The figure of "potters' clay" is associated in Scripture with the supremacy of God's will over man's. "Hath not the potter power over the clay? Who hath resisted his will?" GOD will have the last word, let men do what they may. He who set up Gentile government will, in His own time, set it aside forever. It is when the utmost extremity of the "image" is reached that the "STONE cut out without hands" (that is, not of man's framing) will smite "the feet... of iron and clay," and completely destroy the whole image, and the atoms will be carried away as the chaff is driven from the summer threshing-floor.
This will end Gentile government. "The times of the Gentiles," as the Lord speaks of it, will be over. But it will not be the end of Gentile blessing. In the day of Messiah's reign something brighter and better than was ever known on earth is in the mind of the blessed God for the Gentile nations brought to bow to His beneficent sway. (See Isa. 66:19, and Psa. 96:10-13.) Happy day! Then will the "King of kings" make manifest to all created intelligences, that God's perfect will and man's truest happiness are bound up together.
THE STONE THAT SMITES THE IMAGE will fill the whole earth. Does the reader ask, What is the significance of this "STONE"? Four inspired witnesses agree in their testimony: David, in the Psalms (Psa. 118:22), Isaiah (Isa. 8:14,15), the Apostles Peter (Acts 4:11,12) and Paul (Rom. 9:33), all declare that the "STONE" IS CHRIST. And this is confirmed by the Lord Himself (Luke 20:17,18). Speaking of His rejection and its solemn consequences, He says, "On whomsoever it [the Stone] shall fall, it will grind him to powder." If, therefore, to have part with both the "image" and the descending
"Stone" will be an utter impossibility then, why try it now? To spend your best on that which is certain to be demolished is not true wisdom, and can only diminish your interest in the Kingdom which God has "set up" and "which shall never be destroyed" (Dan. 2:44)-"a kingdom which cannot be moved" (Heb. 12:28). How much better to take the blessed Savior's advice, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33). One great help toward this is to see the import of DANIEL'S DREAM (Dan. 7).
In this dream the same four powers are brought before us, but this time under the figure of four beasts. We read, "These great beasts... are four kings." "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom." It is clear, therefore, that a "beast" is God's symbol of earthly government; but the figure is not intended as any personal slight upon the king himself, for God says, "Honor the king" (1 Peter 2:17). The first three powers are definitely named: Babylonian, MedoPersian, and Grecian. The fourth and last-the Roman Empire-is named in the New Testament (Luke 2:1). This power is by far the most important to us, not only because it is in existence today, but because it held sway during the lifetime of the Lord and His apostles, when God's Kingdom in the hearts of men began to be set up (compare Dan. 2:44, Luke 17:21, John 3:5). So that the way the Lord and His apostles acted towards Gentile government is definite light for the Church now, and will be to the end.
It was set up shortly before Christ's first appearing, and will be ended by His second. As to territory under Roman sway, speaking generally, it included all the countries touched by the Mediterranean, together with their dependencies, of which Great. Britain was one. This great Empire has since been divided into many kingdoms, but it will again be united under one political head, spoken
of in Rev. 13 as a beast rising out of the "sea," graphic figure of a state of things that can be neither satisfied nor pacified (Eccl. 1:7; Isa. 57:21). This crafty political upstart will endeavor both to satisfy and to pacify; and in those given over to the "strong delusion" will for a season succeed. He will be the devil's masterpiece of deceit and iniquity, and be endued with power from beneath. The "DRAGON" will give him his "power, and throne, and authority," and the mass will gladly hail his advent as the very man they have been looking for!
The Beasts.
In the "image," as already noticed, the prominent idea seems to be the sovereignty of God's will in earthly government. In the "beasts," it is more the ravaging of man's will. The symbol is a simple one. With the exception of the fourth, they are all beasts of prey; unclean, but with conquering power.
Now, a beast naturally follows the bent of its own will, without any reference to God, or even to man save for its own protection. But, all unknown to itself, you can make use of a beast's will for the accomplishment of yours. Take an illustration. A sheep-dog, being of a wolfish nature, takes delight in pursuing sheep. The shepherd knows how to make good use of this ravening beast; and what it imagines it is doing for its own pleasure is really for the welfare of the flock. But the shepherd keeps a keen eye; and should the dog be inclined to bite or harass, he instantly and energetically overrules.
The Lord Himself provides us with a key for the understanding of this figure of a "beast." The unjust judge in the parable "neither feared God, nor regarded man;" and a judge is clearly the representative of governing power. As a matter of justice, this judge disregarded the widow's appeal. It was only when her trouble gave him trouble that he interfered for her. As to motive, he served himself; in result, he served her. So with God's symbol.
Men in power may think they have hit upon some splendid stroke of policy, by which their own ends and their party's will be served. But they forget that, long before their scheme was thought of, God had secret designs of His own to further. By a hidden link with theirs, He can give effect to His own. The cat is no doubt gratified by the free access the farmer gives her to his granary. Devouring vermin suits her admirably, but allowing her to pursue her tastes serves the farmer's interests equally well. If governing powers will not by choice carry out God's will consciously, they shall, by the very force of their own wills, carry it out unconsciously.
If rulers are God-fearing men, all the better, but while things are in disorder, God does not confine Himself to good men for earthly government, though many blindly think He does. "The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men" (Dan. 4:17). Mark, not the best, but the "basest." Take a familiar example. One of the greatest boons in British history came to the nation through one of the basest of her kings. When, for his own ends, Henry VIII defied papal authority, the very BOOK which most condemned his wickedness was opened to millions of his subjects. By the will of God, however dark the monarch's motive, this was the bright result, an open Bible and full liberty to read it. "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever He will" (Prov. 21:1). Even if there be a combination of powers, it is all the same. If ten kings at last combine to give their power to the beast and destroy the harlot, it will be because God puts it into their hearts to fulfill His will (Rev. 17:16,17). It was so at the beginning. "Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together." What for? Was it not for their own wicked ends? Yes. But in God's account it was "to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done" (Acts 4:27,28).
`The very spear that pierced Thy side
Drew forth the blood to save.'
Weigh well those three words, "whomsoever he will," "whithersoever he will," "whatsoever" He predetermines.
`Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.'