The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 161

Veni. 19-27.-The Saviowr in the fire. "The form of the fourth" (ver. 3). A sketch of the further development.s of the history will well introduce the following topics. I. Tm: 6.A.VIOUB OF '1'BE xmo's DUGINATION. "Like unto a son of the gods.'' The king wae certainly not acquainted with the Hebrew doctrine of the Messiah, and even if he were, the appellation, " Son of God," would not be familiar to him. The deliverer to him was perhaps an angel, bnt surely a visitant from the unseen. IL THE REAL DELIVERER. "The Angel of Jehovah," the Angel-God of the Old Testament, the Lord JeB11S, in those temporary and special epiphanies which preceded the great Epiphany of the Incarnation. This "coming down to deliver" does not stand alone. Therefore the other emergences out of eternity into time of the Lord should throw light on this; e.g. two appearances to Hagar (Gen. xvi.; xxi. 19-21). Two in the life of Abraham (Gen. xviii., xix., xxii.). Several instances in the history of Jacob (Gen. n:viii. 10-22; mi. 11-13; xxxii. 24-32; xlviii. 15, 16). At the burning bush (Exod. iii.; see also Exod. xx.i.ii. 20-25 ; xiii. 20-22; xiv. 19, 20; xl. 33-35; 1 Kings viii. 10, 11; 2 Chron. vii. 1-3). The eame august Personage was at Sinai (comp. Exod. xxiv. and x:uiii. 11-20 "'.ith Gal. iii. 1~). S~veral manife~- tations, too, in the desert-life of Israel (Exod. xvi. 10; Numb. xu. 5; xiv. 1-21; xvi. 19, 42; x..x. 6; Exod. xxxili. 3). So in the life of Joshua (Josh. v. 13; vi. 5). See further epiphanies in J udg. ii. 1-5; vi. 11-24; xiii.; 1 Kinga viii. 9-11, Isa. lxiii. 8, 9. (On the significance of these pasfa.ges, see• Mediatorial Sovereignty,' by George Steward, vol i. pp. 111-137; Dr. Pye Smith,' First Linea of Christian Theology,' pp. 248-251.) "Tbe Angel of Jehovah" is none other than Jehovah himself manifested in the Person of the Lord Jesus. The doctrine of the 'l'rinity the only adequate explanation. What Robert Hall said of the Divine Being ie strikingly true of the ducLrine of the Trinity: "Inexplicable itself, it explains all besides; it caste a _clca1:1ess upon every question, accounts for every phenomenon, solves every problem, 1llumrnee every depth, and renders the whole mystery of evidence as perfectly simple as it is otl-,trwise r,erfectly unintelligible, whilst itself remains an impenetrable obscurity." 'l'he foll.,wing are rtuons for believing that the Lor1l Jesus was present in this fire: 1. It CR. III. 1-30.) THE nooK OF DANIF.T,. ------------------------------------ Wl\t! antecedently probable that ho would be, 'I'aking into·acconnt antece<lent e.pp~ar u.ncos,ob8crve tho time of the Cu.ptivity was a critical epoch in the history of the kin~<l,,m of God; tho place-Babylon-a. gmnd theatre for the manifestation of the Divine. Evil olo.ehcd wiLh conscience. Tho faithful there were helpless. It was for Christ to deliver. 2. It would/uij1l a promise a thouP11nd years old (Lev. xxvi. 14-44). 3. The moral effect of the epiphany would be great--on Jews, heathens; aU to the end of time. III. THE BAME BAvroun Now. 1. The Lord Jeane can be present with us in tbo fire of our trouble. This depends on whether we give him welcome or not. He wait3 to come in unto us in our sorrows. Different is the intensity of the fire with different saints, with the same at various times. 2. Hie presence is relief. 3. Will b~ ultim,al-, deliverance and perfected salvation.-R. Vere. 28-30.-Salvations demonstrate the Saviour. "There is no other God that can deliver after this sort" (ver. 29). Explain the king's real state of minrl. He did not own Jehovah as the only God, nor command him to be worshipped. He only declared him to be able to save his servants as none other could, and commanded that there should be no reviling of his Name. Curious commingling of tolerance and intolerance. So slowly do men. learn the principles of religious and ecclesiastical freedom. (Matthew Henry is full and good on this section.) But the text may be used as the starting-point for a good missionary sermon. Illustrations will be abun- dant in proportion to our acqnaintance with the best missionary literature--not merely that which appears in so fragmentary a form in magazines, bat with full and exhaus- tive treatises, of which there are now many. The following outline is merely suggestive, and would have to be taken up selectively; for the whole would be far too much for one discourse. I. EVILS FROM WlIICII MAN CRIES FOR DELIVERANCE. 1. Internal. (1) Darl<ness of intellect in moral questions. (2) Dwarfed, misplaced, perverted emotion. (3) Tor- pidity of comcience (e.g. the extraordinary Pharisaism of the Chinese apart from the gospel, contrasted with his fear and pain when led by the convincing Spirit to a sense of sin). (4) Terror of the awakened conscience, which nothing but the gospel can assuage. (5) Paralysis of the will; i.e. sheer inability (i.e. moral) to do the thing we would. "I approve the good, but the evil I pursne" (Rom. vii.). 2. External,. (l) Individual. Perhaps most of the sorrows and discouragements of life will fall under thio classification. (a) Limitation. Nearly all forms of pain fall under this head; e.g. the feebleness of youth, weakness, sickness, deprivations, bereavements, discourage- ments, debility of age, etc. (b) Strain. Battle of life. Work of life. (c) Impending death. (a) Imperfection of character; i.e. of the external manifestation of the good within. (2) Social. There are evils that fall to us in our relations to our fellow-men. These arise from the extreme difficulty of-carrying ourselves morally, rightly, in relation to our associates (see "Righteousness a Personal Relation," in Wace's • Christianity and Morality,' p. 37, most suggestive). Hence many sorrows. Hence, too, many sins; wrongs in the family; unjust subjection of womrn; slavery; cruelty ; neglect of ministration to suJl'ering; breaches of the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth commandments; war, etc. Hence, too, all political tyrannies and religious persecution. No liberty, equality, humanity, unity, or true independence. II. DELIVERERS PROVED INCOMPETENT. All religions which have declined from the purity of the primreval revelation, and iu proportion to the extent of their departure. It may be necessary here to contrast the rasy and flippant assumption that each religion is an evolution from the genius or each race, and congenial with it, and con- ducive to its moral elevation. E.g. the contrast between the comparatively pure idea, which the New Guinea people have, of a Great Spirit and the horrors of their cannibal life. Surely these may not be left to such religion as they have evolved. In showing incompetence to deliver from evil, the religions of the world must be classified, and then the incompetence of each demonstrated in relation to evils enumerated above. Tho following classification is suggested: 1. Indifferentism; i.e. any negative system that ignores the religious nature of man. 2. Polytheism. 3. Pantheism. 4. Mere theism; e.g. the Brahrno-Samaj movement in India. Its failure to meet the ~in and sorrows of men is abundnntly proved (see its own literary organs in India). 5. .Atheism  TIIE BOOK OF DANIEL. [dn. 1t1. 1-llO