August 31

31 "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

32 This image's head rest of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass.

33 It is legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

34 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.

35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind caused them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

36 This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.

37 Thou, O king, are a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.

38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and beasts.

41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with mity clay.

42 And at the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with mity clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

44 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.

45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the 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; and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Nebuchadnezzar dreams a dream. The wise men were summoned to interpret it; but they could not. Daniel shows the king the interpretation of it.

Now what was this vision for? Not to show the glory of the golden head, nor the splendor nor power of any of the succeeding kingdoms. It was to disclose the fact that all these earth-kingdoms, resplendent and powerful as they were to be, were yet to perish, and to be superseded by a divine kingdom that should never be destroyed. It was not only never to be destroyed, but was to fill the whole earth.

"There on the hillside overlooking the sea of Galilee sits Christ. He is gathering around Him the passing population—men from their farms and from the villages—men ragged, ignorant and suffering. He opens His lips, and says: 'Blessed are the poor in heart, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.' But then and there began a kingdom that is still rolling on. The wealth of the world is in its treasury; the learning of the world is in its schools; the power of the world is in its greatness; the eloquence of the world is in its life, and the sympathy of the world is in its heart. It is to fill the whole earth; its mission is to every island, every mountain top and every valley, and it will conquer all, for the mouth of the Lord hath said it."

Closet Promise.—Thou shalt show us wonderful things in Thy righteousness, O God of our salvation: Thou that art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of them that remain in the broad sea.—Psalm lxv. 5.

Let the world call, herself my foe,

Or let the world allure;

I care not for the world; I go

To this dear Friend and sure.

And when life's fiercest storms are sent,

Upon life's wildest sea,

My little bark is confident

Because it holds by Thee.

—George Macdonald.