The lost dream ; or, An exposition of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and other dreams and visions of the book of Daniel

Front matter

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] ,ulhe? Wilson

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

Preface

This work is not a commentary nor an exposition of the Book of Daniel as a book, but merely a brief exposition of its prophetical part. Hence the reader will not find in it any discussion of controverted points connected with the date, authorship, authenticity and inspiration of the book. The author of this work proceeds upon the accepted and well-nigh universal belief of evangelical Christendom upon these questions, and, consequently, does not enter upon their discussion at all, as matters or things in doubt or requiring discussion.

That the Book of Daniel was really written by the one who claims to have written it, and at the time, place and circumstances in which he states that it was done, to the great mass of evangelical and orthodox Christen¬ dom is not an open question, and admits of scarcely a reasonable doubt. It goes almost without saying.

Of course, there are some who profess to have doubts on these points, and there always will be some, until Daniel himself can arise from the dead and satisfy their lingering doubts, and remove every shadow or suspicion of uncertainty, as to whether the matters he narrates did or did not take place, and take place just when and wh/ere and how he states that they did. But until tbat takes place, these doubting ones will just have to nurse

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their suspicions and hold to their doubts with all the zeal and conscientiousness they can, and get what comfort they can out of them, while the great overwhelming mass of the thinking, believing, reverent Christian world will continue to receive, believe and revere the writing's of Daniel as those of an inspired Prophet and a true child of God, as they have been doing for ages. One would think that when a Prophet's character and genu¬ ineness and authenticity of his writings as well as the inspiration of those writings, should be so unqualifiedly and so conspicuously borne witness to, as was done by our Savior to Daniel and his writings, speaking of him as “Daniel the Prophet,” and appealing to certain mat¬ ters and things that were to take place as being matters and things that had been foretold by that Prophejt—one would think that such statements would set at rest for¬ ever all douibt and uncertainty as to the genuineness, truth and inspiration of his writings. Confirmed as it also is by the Apostle Paul's manifest allusion to one of Daniel's prophecies, when describing the coming revelation and development of the /Lawless One who was to sit in the Temple of God and as God—it would seem that at least Daniel’s character and truthfulness as a prophet, and the inspiration of his writings, would be placed beyond the shadow of a doubt or suspicion. Con¬ sequently, such has been the almost universal belief of the Christian world for ages, and he has occupied the place of a true prophet of God. And the more that his book has been assailed by fierce and hostile criti¬ cism, the more has its truth and genuineness and im¬ pregnability been established and its reliability as a true and trustworthy historic record. Like so much of the other Scriptures that have been questioned, doubted, rejected and pompously thrust aside by these self-in¬ flated and self-constituted “Critics" as improbable, im¬ possible or spurious and false, and which, nevertheless, was afterwards found to be not only possible and proba¬ ble, but, also, absolutely true—so it has been with this book. Everything in the way of discovery by modern research into the hitherto undiscovered and undeciphered

PREFACE, records of the past, and bearing upon the questions con¬ nected with the reliability and trustworthiness of Dan¬ iel’s writings, has but served to confirm them and esr tablish the disputed facts and statements of his book, and put them upon a surer foundation than before. Their truth has been confirmed in a manner little anticipated by these arrogant and eagerly-destructive critics. Con¬ sequently, the author of this work upon the Prophecies of Daniel has not deemed it necessary to enter into these questions at all, such as the truth and reality of the scenes described, the genuineness and authenticity of the book, or the date of its composition. The Pro¬ phet speaks for himself—tersely, impressively and con¬ vincingly—and evangelical Christendom has everywhere unhesitatingly accepted his statements as unquestiona¬ bly true, and, therefore, worthy of all credence and confidence.

The interpretations of most of the dreams and visions, as found in this work, will not be new or startling to the reader, because being already so clearly fulfilled his¬ tory, and, therefore, matters with which he is no doubt sufficiently familiar. But there are other of these in¬ terpretations that may perhaps be new to him, and, therefore, not so readily assented to. Of course, that is his privilege, and if he is not convinced of their correct¬ ness by the reasons presented in support of them, it still is his right and privilege to reject them. It is, however, the belief of the writer that, although some of these new interpretations may, at first, be rejected, yet that subsequent thought and reflection will serve to confirm them. He, at least, hopes that if possibly they miay not be, entirely assented to in all their par¬ ticulars, they will, nevertheless, open up to the reader new and untrodden fields for thought and reflection, and fields, too, that may afford him much pleasure and satisfaction in reading them now perhaps for the first time.

And, further, it is his hope that all who read this work, may be drawn to the Prophet Daniel and his writ¬ ings more earnestly than ever before, and be led by that

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to rever© and esteem him as unquestionably one of the greatest of the Prophets. The .Book of Daniel, to many persons, is too much a neglected and but little-perused book. But it should not be such. It occupies too prom¬ inent a place in the sacred Canon, sheds too much light upon the history, experience and destiny of God's Church, and has furnished too much prophetic imagery and description to other writers of Scripture, to be a neglected or overlooked book by God's people. Not only have Ezekiel and Paul alluded to it, but much of the gorgeous imagery and impressive description of the book of Revelation by the Apostle John has been drawn, likewise, from the pictured pages of Daniel.

One who has been so highly honored of God as to be one of the favored few who were to announce long be¬ fore his birth the coming of the Messiah, and who fore¬ told, not only that fact, but, also, his atoning death, finished work and righteousness, and, also, the very time of his coming—who was so affectionately addressed as the “Man greatly beloved" by the Angel Gabriel, and afterwards so emphatically designated as “Daniel the Prophet" by that Messiah himself—whose coming he foretold, cannot be otherwise than one of the greatest of the Prophets, and deserving of the confidence and highest honor by all who love and revere the Word of God, as well as those faithful servants who have pro¬ claimed that Word.

As to why these dreams and visions have all been ex¬ plained, both in verse as well as in prose, by the writer of this exposition, it may be sufficient to say that this mode of exposition perhaps naturally suited his turn of mind, and the prose exposition was added afterwards to give fhe reasons for the views expressed as well as to present a fuller explanation of the prophecy. He also felt that very often the mind will be impressed with facts and take hold of truths expressed in verse, more forcibly and hold them in memory more securely than when expressed in plain and simple prose. All the great facts and truths of religion have been thus expressed in the hymnology of the Church, and have often been bet-

PREFACE.

ter remembered thereby than if they had not been so expressed. And many a one will turn to the sweet hymns and expressive songs of the Church because more easily learned, and remembered longer, than when these same truths are presented in simple prose.

The exposition of these wonderful dreams and visions has been to the writer a pleasurable employment, and he trusts that the reading of them may prove no less a pleasure and enjoyment to the reader. Hence, both po¬ etry and prose have been employed in this exposition of the prophecies of Daniel. May the reading of this work be instrumental in enthroning the Prophet more securely in the heart as one inspired of God, and secure for him that reverence and honor due to one of those ‘ 1 holy men of old who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” and who was used by that same Holy Ghost to foretell both the experience and destiny of his persecuted people down through the ages, the suffering and death of the Lord’s anointed, their great Messiah, his wondrous work and its imperishable effects, and also to announce the very period of earthly history in which he was to appear and accomplish his glorious work.

With this hope and prayer, this work now goes forth upon its silent mission with the added burden from Dan¬ iel’s own book, “Go thou thy way till the end be.”

Introduction

The Book of Daniel is largely a book of fulfilled prophecy. Much of it is already accomplished history, and has been for a long, long time. Some of its predictions were accomplished ages ago. The interpretation of the book is, therefore, a comparatively easy task, and is to be looked for principally in the records of the past, and not in the occurrences of the present, or the wild and hazardous speculations of the future. The book consists of but twelve chapters. In these chapters there are really but five great prophecies, viz.: the Great Image smitten and destroyed by the mystic Stone; the Four Wild Beasts emerging from the storm-tossed sea; the Ram and the Goat; the cutting off of the Prince Messiah, and the rise, development, growth and overthrow of the Wilful King.

The prophecy, contained in the fourth chapter, of the towering Tree and seven times passing over it, was evi¬ dently not intended or delivered as a prophecy in the same sense as were the other visions and prophecies of the book, and contains only incidentally a prophecy of the future, and with no minute details.

The predictions made in the fifth chapter refer only to the approaching end of Belshazzar and the overthrow of his kingdom—all of which took place and were ful¬ filled within a few hours after their delivery. So that

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tihere are really only five great prophecies or visions, which have all been largely fulfilled, most of them centu¬ ries ago* At the same time it is also true that not one of these great prophecies has ever been completely or entire¬ ly fulfilled, and some of them may have centuries yet to run before they ever can be thus fulfilled.

In this respect the Book of Daniel differs very con¬ spicuously from some other of the Prophetical Books. Isaiah has quite a number of prophecies, and some of them very important ones, too, that have long since been completely fulfilled. So, too, has Jeremiah, and also Ezekiel. But not so with Daniel. None of his great prophecies have yet been thus completely accomplished.

The interpretation of the book, for some cause or other, seems to have given some commentators considerable trouble. But why it should have done so does not appear very clear, for there are certain great principles under¬ lying its interpretation, which, if they had been observed and adhered to, ought to have relieved this difficulty. But being approached too often with preconceived opin¬ ions as to what the prophecy must mean, and what it must be made to mean, the interpretation of the book has occasioned much difficulty, and has yielded as a necessary result some very divergent, contradictory, and in some instances absolutely absurd and impossible con¬ clusions. On this account not only the Book of Daniel, but also all prophecy in general, has often been brought into great disrepute and great discredit.

If the reader will constantly bear in mind while study¬ ing this book, 1st, that the object and aim of all prophecy is not to reveal or foretell future history, but to shed light on God’s purposes relative to the future trials, vicissitudes and experiences of his Church, it will aid him very materially in ascertaining the fulfillment of that prophecy as revealed in history. It is not the disclosure

* Strictly speaking, Daniel had but four visions himself, and Nebuchadnezzar two, which were interpreted by Dan¬ iel, making in all but six visions in his book, and in these visions only five great prophecies.

INTRODUCTION.

of what kingdoms or empires are to eome into being, what they are to do, or how long tney are to continue, or when or how they are to fall, that God is making known to mankind in prophecy—but what is to be the experience and history of his Church during that time, how it will fare, what it will suffer, and what will be the final issue of these trials and sufferings which it is called upon to undergo. Hence it is only incidentally as bearing on this history and experience of his people that this revelation of the rise and fall of empires, king¬ doms and kings comes in. It is the Church that God is guiding, directing and watching over as she journeys through the wilderness to her home in heaven, and it is her future, her trials, and her vicissitudes that he is outlining in prophecy, and for her comfort and encour¬ agement, and not the rise and fall of empires, or the history of wars and conflicts that will constantly be oc¬ curring amongst mankind. The object of prophecy is not to gratify human curiosity, or merely to foretell coming events, or what great wars, civil or religious commotions or revolutions are one day to take place, but to reveal the trials and sufferings, the conflicts and conquests and final destiny of his people, and his own deep hidden purposes in connection with these events. Hence the Apostle Peter says that, “no prophecy is of any private interpretation, but holy men of old spake as they werei moved by the Holy Ghost. ” And, therefore, in its proper interpretation, prophecy cannot be applied to compara¬ tively trivial events of insignificant actors, and these occupying only a very small place in history, and with no bearing upon the welfare or prosperity of his Church. The history of Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome for many centuries comes out in Daniel's prophecies, not because God is purposing to reveal the career and conquests of these mighty empires, but only because that under them and during their continuance his people were to have a marked and most eventful experience. And it is only in connection with their trials and experience that the history of these colossal empires is so briefly, yet so majestically made known.

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The remembrance and application of this principle will at once rule out a great deal of what is often given as the interpretation of prophecy, and prevent the ob¬ server of current events from rushing to the pages of Daniel or of John for an explanation of every political commotion that takes place among the nations of the earth, or every gigantic war that occasionally breaks out between different peoples and countries. Ever since the French Revolution, the reign of Robespierre with its carnival of blood, and t'he wars of Napoleon, this ten¬ dency has continually manifested itself amongst the students of prophecy and the so-called “observers of the signs of the times. ”

The great Crimean War, our own Civil War, the war of Napoleon III, and almost every other outbreak since amongst the nations of Europe or Asia., has been thus in¬ terpreted and applied by these persons to some of the prophecies of Daniel or of John, simply because this plain fact is so often forgotten, that it is not wars or commo¬ tions that God is foretelling by his servants, but only the future of his people and his own kingdom. Hence noth¬ ing of the future is made known except so far as it has a bearing upon them and their destiny.

2d. That prophecy must, therefore, necessarily em¬ brace and include vast periods of time for its fulfillment. This is particularly true of Daniel *s prophecies. It is neither the lifetime of an individual, nor a generation, nor an age, no matter how conspicuous or remarkable the life of that individual may have been, that can at all meet its requirements. To so interpret any of its pe¬ riods, or thus to apply its solemn and majestic disclosures to the exploits of such insignificant actors as Antiochus Epiphanes, Robespierre, Napoleon Bonaparte and the lit¬ tle brief period of time in which they acted or strutted pompously across the stage of history, is beneath the dignity and majesty of prophecy. Its scenes, its actors and its periods of time are vastly greater and of vastly more importance to the Church of God than are any such scenes and actors as these, and to apply its solemn and

INTRODUCTION.

majestic predictions to such performers and such per¬ formances as theirs, is to bring it down to a very low level, and almost make a 'burlesque of it. When it speaks, it speaks of periods of long duration, and not of mere days and weeks, or even years. When, very often, one of its single statements includes the sweep of cen¬ turies, or embraces an unbroken line of actors running through a period of more than a thousand years, how absurd, as well as how belittling to it, to attempt filling up its stupendous outlines with such insignificant periods as three and a half literal years, or with such individual lives as those mentioned above.

It seems positively degrading as well as dishonoring to prophecy thus to do. Antioohus did indeed forcibly set aside the offering of the “daily sacrifice” of the Jewish ritual and cause to cease the oblation of dumb irrational animals at the temple in Jerusalem for three and a half years, and he did, also, persecute and destroy many of the Jewish people themselves for that period Of time—but what was that removal of the “daily sacrifice’* in comparison with the perverting, trampling under foot and removal of Christ’s one great offering, the real “daily sacrifice” and the real oblation for the sins of the world, and for 1,200 years and more, as has been done both by the Moslem and the Papacy?

And what were those three and a half years of perse¬ cution of a comparatively infinitesimal part of God’s flock in comparison with the ravages, desolations and sav¬ age ferocity with which the great Church of God has been wasted and desolated and destroyed, and for so many hun¬ dreds of years, by those ferocious Powers? It actually shrinks into almost nothingness in camparison with this so much greater “desolation of the sanctuary’’ and those so much severer and longer-continued persecutions.*

♦Antiochus Epiphanes is indeed foretold in one of Dan¬ iel’s prophecies (11th chapter), but the space given to a foretelling of his exploits is taken up by a very few sent¬ ences, and he forms but one out of a number of actors foretold in the first part of that chapter, one and all

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And what bearing, on the trials and vicissitudes of the vast Church of God ,did Napoleon and his brief career have—or the mad revelings of the French Revolution continuing only for a few months?

In those scenes of riot and shocking shedding of blood which marked the progress and continuance of that revo¬ lution in Paris and throughout France, God’s true Church was scarcely involved, and its destiny was in no manner perceptibly affected by them. It was a judgment that fell largely on the Apostate Church and her blood-stained clergy, who had themselves been for centuries the savage persecutors of God’s flock in France, and even in that very Paris, where so many of these sanguinary scenes took place, and was simply the just retribution of Provi¬ dence in giving her that cup of blood to drink that she had so often and so ruthlessly pressed to the lips of his innocent and unoffending people.

When God, therefore, so briefly and so graphically sketches the outlines of the trials and struggles and changing vicissitudes of his persecuted people, and the outlines of the savage Beasts of prey that were to so devour, devastate and tear in pieces that people, and for such amazing periods of time, it is simply foretelling the conflicts of his Religion wth other Religions, which were to trample down and destroy his flock during all that time. And even to hint at such a fulfillment as has some¬ times been suggested by some interpreters of prophecy, is entirely beneath its dignity and majesty.

Centuries, and not days or years, is what is ordinarily necessary to meet its requirements.

Sd. That the ravages and havoc wrought upon the Church, as foretold in these prophecies, were to be wrought by persecuting Powers, and not by mere indito be vastly overshadowed and vastly surpassed In gigan¬ tic wickedness by that colossal Power that was afterwards to trample down, persecute and destroy, and for long, long ages, the suffering Church of God . In comparison with its long, weary, desolating reign, that of Antiochus was short and almost insignificant.

viduals as such. Neither “horns” nor “kings” means single individuals, but Ruling Powers, unbroken lines or succession of rulers. They mean dynasties, Ruling Pow¬ ers viewed as a whole, and continuing down for centu¬ ries. But it is the same Power or Government, whether administered by kings, emperors, princes or popes. They were to be political or ecclesiastical forms of government continuing down through centuries of rule and dominion. They simply mean kingdoms or states, continuous ruling Powers. Even the instance of Alexander the Great, the “notable horn” of the Grecian Goat, which was so sud¬ denly snapped 1 asunder and came to an end, is no excep¬ tion to this principle. It was not Alexander alone that was there represented under the symbol of the Great Horn, but his dynasty, consisting of himself and his two sons, one of them as yet unborn at his death, but all three of them constituting one line or race of kings. And while two of them never reigned at all, but were cut off very soon after his own death, yet all three were included in the symbol of the Notable Horn, because be¬ longing to the same dynasty, and when all three were cut off within a very few years,.- the Great Horn was com¬ pletely broken. It was the extinction and abrupt termin¬ ation of Alexander and his dynasty.

He was succeeded by four other 11 horns, ” i. e.: four other kingdoms or lines of rulers. Likewise with the “little horn” of the seventh chapter, having “eyes like those of a man,” and a “mouth speaking great things.” It does not refer to any one Pope more bold and blasphemous than the rest, or even dozens of them, but to the entire Papacy from its beginning to its close— the whole succession of Popes viewed as a continuous unbroken ruling Power. *

The “little Horn” of the eighth chapter is also an¬ other of these political as well as ecclesiastical Powers —not Mohammed alone, nor Mohammed and his suc-

*The Papacy, or Papal Monarchy, does not begin with the first of the Popes of Rome, but long years afterwards. There were quite a number of Popes that lived and died

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eessors, but the Religion of Mohammed exercising a continuous and unbroken sovereignty for ages over the entire Eastern Church— a sovereignty and sway both ecclesiastical and political, but still a sway of the same governing power. So, with the “Wilful King ’’ of the eleventh chapter. It is not a single individual that is here designated, but a succession of rulers, a continuous line of Popes, all representing the same ecclesiastical and political form of government and the same princi¬ ples, and exercising the same unbroken sway. It is a succession of rulers, occupying the same authority, and holding and enforcing the same set of principles. No one individual has ever done all that is there attributed to this wilful king, nor could it all have ever been ac¬ complished in the lifetime of one individual. But there has been a succession of rulers, all exercising the same authority, perpetuating the same dominion, wielding the same sway, and continuing through centuries of rule and power, that has done each and every one of the things there foretold over and over again. And that was the Papal Monarchy. It is the 11 Little Horn” of the seventh chapter, and the “ Wilful King” of the eleventh chapter.

Let the reader constantly bear this in mind, that a “Horn” in the prophecy, as well as a “King,” simply means a kingdom or state, a continuous line of rulers until it comes to an end, and not merely an individual.

In the eleventh chapter, from verses 5 to 30, individuals are spoken of and their actions and exploits minutely

before the Papacj began. Historians differ as to the ex¬ act beginning of this monarchy, becauhe more than one Pope made some arrogant and pretentious claims before they were admitted by other Rulers in the Church or State, and its most monstrous pretensions were not even thought of for some time after it began its career as one of the “Horns” of Prophecy. Somewhere in the sixth or sev¬ enth century it began to appear, and thrust up its head as a political as well as an Ecclessiastical Power among the nations of Europe, and by the end of the seventh century it was generally recognized as such and took its place as the Papal Monarchy. It then became one of the “Horns” of Prophecy.

INTRODUCTION.

foretold, and they ave spoken of as “Kings,” but they form no exception to the principle laid down above, for they each form parts of one or the other of the two “horns,” the kingdoms of the North and the South warring against each other, until they are both broken off and destroyed by another Mighty Power that now comes into view, and designated as “Arms.”

So, also, with this same “Arms.” It is Rome in her entire history as a warlike military Power, whether un¬ der kings, consuls or emperors. The form of the gov¬ ernment changed several times during the course of centuries, but it was the same military Power exercising its sovereignty and sway over the nations of the earth. When the military power of Rome was broken and the empire fell, the supremacy passed silently and by degrees into another form of government, and another set of hands, and the Papacy became seated on the throne and henceforth rules the world. And this “King,” the Papacy in its entire history, is the “King” who does “according to his will,” and of whom the subsequent declarations of that chapter are made.*

4th. Prophecy never repeats itself. I do not mean by this that Prophecy never alludes to the same events or series of events more than once, for this it often does —but that the same Prophet never utters two prophecies covering exactly the same ground, or alluding to exactly the same series of events. If one Ruling Power comes in again after having been already foretold and its career sketched off in outline, it is because another phase of its character and some new facts entirely distinct and not as yet disclosed before, have now been developed and are to be sketched off.

But if it is the same old Power already foretold and described, and nothing new to be revealed about it, it does not come up again in detail, for the Prophet never repeats himself in this manner. It will readily be seen

*As a military power, Rome appears in Daniel’s Proph¬ ecy as “Arms.” As an Ecclesiastical Power, it appears as the Wilful King.

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that the application of this principle at once rules out the Jew from Daniel’s eighth chapter as the “trans¬ gressors” now “come to the full.” These are an entirely different set of “transgressors/ never alluded to before, and not to appear again in Daniel’s prophecies.

The Jew, as the great “transgressor” in rejecting hi* King and putting him to an ignominious death, even that of the cross, will appear in the ninth chapter and be fully described there, receive his punishment, and pass from view to re-appear no more in Daniel’s visions.* But in the eighth chapter neither he nor the rejection of Christ by him is the subject of the Prophecy, and consequently neither one is alluded to.

Bo, likewise, is the Roman also ruled out as the Power that took away the “Daily Sacrifice,” and “polluted the sanctuary of strength” in that same chapter. Be¬ cause in that capacity, taking away the literal daily sacrifice and polluting the literal sanctuary of strength, he will be foretold in the ninth chapter. Hence it can¬ not he, and it is not the Roman who is there spoken of. It is another Power now rising into view, of whom noth* ing had been foretold before, viz.: the Moslem and his fierce and fanatical Religion. It is the Religion of the Koran, representing the Mohammedan Power, and no>t the Roman there coming on the stage.