J. G. Bellett
Daniel 4DAN 4
The present is a moment of great significance in the world's history. We often speak of other days as having been strongly characterized and of high importance in the progress of the way of man, and in the unfolding of the purposes of God. Were we but in the due position, so as to look at them aright, the present would be seen by us as equal to any of them in importance and in meaning.
Man is preparing that great exhibition of himself, whereby the whole world is to be ensnared and deceived to its final utter ruin. Such a condition of things has already had many a miniature resemblance, and nothing has escaped the snare but "the mind of Christ." That is, the man of God is led by the Spirit through the specious and commanding delusion.
This Great Babylon
There was in other days a tree whose leaves were fair and whose fruit was much, the height of which reached unto heaven, and the sight of it to the end of all the earth. The beasts of the field had shadow under it, the birds of the air dwelt in the boughs of it, and all flesh fed on it. It was the admiration and the boast of all; their desire was towards it. The heart of the man who planted it claimed it as his glory and joy—"Is not this great Babylon that 1 have built," said the king Nebuchadnezzar.
This was the fair, luxuriant tree. All flesh was content, and man's heart feasted on it; the ends of the earth gazed at it, and thus it got its sanction from all that was in man or of man.
In a little space, however, heaven visited it; it was altogether another thing in the opinion of heaven. The Watcher and the Holy One came down, as the Lord Himself had done in the still earlier days of Babel and Sodom. This visitor from heaven inspected this tree of beauteous, wondrous growth. But with Him it was no object of admiration or worship. He was not moved to desire its beauty. In His thoughts it was not a tree good for food, or pleasant to the eye, or desirable for any end as it was in the thoughts of all flesh. He looked on it as on a thing ripe for righteous judgment, and He said of it, "Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit.”
This was solemn, in a moment of common, universal exaltation, when the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and all flesh were glorying in the thing which heaven was thus dooming to destruction. But Daniel was the only one among men in that day who had the mind of heaven, the mind of the Watcher and the Holy One respecting this tree. The saint on the earth has the mind of heaven in him. This is our place.
Esteemed Among Men
Moral danger and temptation beset our hearts. "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." And the saint, in these days, is in great danger of having more of the mind of man in him than that of God. Look at even such a one as Samuel. When Eliab stood before him he said, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before him." 1 Sam. 16:66And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. (1 Samuel 16:6). But he looked where the Lord did not look. He eyed the countenance of the man, and the height of his stature, while the Lord eyed the heart. And we are also in danger, in these days of both religious and secular attractions, of mistaking Eliab for the Lord's anointed (2 Cor. 10:77Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's. (2 Corinthians 10:7)).
Paul was held in some contempt at Corinth because of his bodily presence, which was weak. He was no Eliab; he was wanting in outward appearance. Even the disciples at Corinth were beguiled away from Paul.
All this is a warning to us in this solemn and significant day when man's exaltation of himself is growing swiftly. Things are judged by the mind of man, and their bearing on the advancement of the world.
Religious Admiration
While the disciples held in religious admiration the buildings of the temple, we have a like occasion of the rebuke which the mind of man met from the mind of God. "As He went out of the temple, one of His disciples saith unto Him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Mark 13:1, 21And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! 2And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Mark 13:1‑2).
This has the same moral character in it. It is the erring judgment of man, spending its delight and wonder on what the righteous judgment of God has already and solemnly renounced. The Lord was as the Watcher and the Holy One of the prophet, delivering the sentence of heaven upon the boast and pride of the heart of man, found, too, in the place o religion. Does this not have a voice in the ear of this present generation?
The case, however, which above all should fix on: mind at this time is that in Luke 19 the multitude was following the Lord on His way from Jericho to Jerusalem, and we are there told of them that "they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear" v. 11. This tells us of the expectation of man's heart. The people judged that the present scene, the world as in man's hand, could get its sanction from God. They thought the kingdom would be set up at once. But this can never be. Christ cannot adopt man's world. Through repentance and faith man must take up with Christ's world, and not think that Christ can take up with his. The kingdom cannot come till judgment shall have cleared the scene of man's iniquities and pollutions. But this is not what man calculates at all. He judges that the kingdom may immediately appear—or be set up—without any purifying or change. Man assumes that all that is wanting is to advance a few steps farther, as from Jericho to Jerusalem, a little more progress in the growing scene and all will be the kingdom fit for God's adoption.
Man's World
This is the mind of this present generation-like those who, in this chapter in Luke, "thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." Things are so advanced, so refined, so cultivated by a multitude of fresh energies—moral, religious, and scientific—that under the success and progress of such energies, the world will be fit for Christ in a very little while. But no, it is man's world still, and this will never do for Christ. You may sweep and garnish the house, but it is the house of the old owner still. And for all the pains spent upon it, it is only the more fit for the old owner's designs, and in no way one single bit more suited to God's great and glorious purposes.
Jesus goes up to Jerusalem, but He found there a field of thorns and briars. There were money changers and sellers of doves in the temple of God. The house of prayer was a den of thieves. The rulers, chief priests, and scribes were seeking to destroy the Just One. The religion of the place was chief in the offense. Jesus wept over it. Instead of all being ready for the kingdom appearing immediately, all was ready for judgment, for the stones crying out immediately. And thus the city, as Jesus said of it, was soon to be entrenched and encompassed and laid even with the ground, instead of being the habitation of glory and the witness of the kingdom of God.
This Generation
Again the question: Is this not a voice for the ears of this generation? "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." Luke 16:1515And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15). Jesus, as a Holy One and a Watcher again on this occasion (as in Matt. 24:1, 21And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. 2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Matthew 24:1‑2)) inspected the fair tree of man's worship and joy. And in spirit He said, "Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit." My soul is deeply assured He is so doing at this moment, touching all the progress, advancement, boasted toils and successes of this present hour. He that sits in the heavens has another thought about it all than men vainly imagine. He is not about to sanction, but to judge the world in this its day, a day near at hand, of loftiest advancement and exaltation.