Daniel 2:5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if you will not make known to me the dream… The king, it would appear, had two dreams at different times. One passed clean out of his memory, the other hung about his memory so that he could not shake it off. The first dream caused a very slight uneasiness, and gave him very little concern, compared with the second dream. The first made but an evanescent impression, the second an enduring one. Look at the dreams, and we may discover the reason of all this. The first vision was about the coming of Christ's Kingdom, its power and glory. The second vision reference to himself. Because of his pride, God ordered that he should become deranged for seven years, and all his power forsake him, and that he should be driven from his kingdom and be treated more like a beast than a man. At the end of those years he should recover his reason, and with it his power and majesty. The second vision was all about the king himself and his worldly prosperity. All that was revealed to him about Christ's Kingdom he forgot directly. All that was revealed to him about his own fortunes he remembered well enough. The revelation of the future of Christ's Kingdom gave him some anxiety. The revelation of the future of his own affairs filled him with lasting distress. The only vision that goes clear out of remembrance is that with reference to Christ's Kingdom. Is it not so now? is it not so with you? is it not an old story repeated over and over again? Everything that has to do with your earthly fortunes, every scheme that has to do with worldly advancement, every dream of human prosperity, sticks firmly in the memory. Bad telegrams in the morning papers, what uneasiness do they not cause? The thoughts upon your bed and the visions of your head trouble you. Very foolish and improvident persons you would be if you did not feel anxious about your incomes, your speculations, your crops. But then if you remember these visions, do not forget those which belong to Christ's Kingdom. I suppose there was a time with most of you when your mother, or father, spoke to you earnestly of your duties to God, and the care you must have for your soul. But time passes, and "the thing is gone from me." Some sickness fails on you. On your bed you are brought near to the brink of the grave, pain and fear of death distress you, eternity assumes a more real aspect, God's judgments appear more fearful, the service of God more obligatory. Oh, if you might recover, how you would walk in newness of life! You get well, all the business and care of this present life begin again to engross your attention, and as for the dream of God's Kingdom — "the thing is gone from me." There are solemn moments of solitude, when the heart is especially awake to spiritual influence, and when the soul sees God in an extraordinary, supernatural, manner. Does this last? Sometimes. But too often the clouds roll again over the horizon, "the thing is gone from me." (Anon.) Parallel Verses KJV: The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. |
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