but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these:
Parallel Translations
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but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these:
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But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
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but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and He hath made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the end of days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these:
Cross-references (25)
Passages linked to Daniel 2:28 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 40:8 They said to him, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.” Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me.”
- Daniel 10:14 Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for many days.”
- Amos 4:13 For, behold, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought; who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: Yahweh, the God of Armies, is his name.”
- Genesis 49:1 Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.
- Daniel 2:22 He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
- Genesis 41:16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
- Daniel 2:18 that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions would not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
- Daniel 4:5 I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
- Hosea 3:5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
- Matthew 6:9 Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
- 2 Peter 3:3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts
- Deuteronomy 4:30 When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to Yahweh your God and listen to his voice.
- Deuteronomy 31:19 “Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
- Isaiah 41:22-23 “Let them announce and declare to us what will happen! Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together.
- Ezekiel 38:16 You will come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land. It will happen in the latter days, that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I am sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes.”
- Daniel 2:47 The king answered to Daniel, and said, “Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.”
- Micah 4:1-2 But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will go and say, “Come! Let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law will go out of Zion, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem;
- Hebrews 1:1 God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
- Psalms 115:3 But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.
- Isaiah 2:2 It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
- Jeremiah 30:24 The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return until he has accomplished, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it.”
- Jeremiah 48:47 “Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days,” says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
- Ezekiel 38:8 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought out of the peoples, and they will dwell securely, all of them.
- 2 Timothy 3:1 But know this: that in the last days, grievous times will come.
- Numbers 24:14 Now, behold, I go to my people. Come, I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets…
There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets For I take ברם, berem, here for the adversative particle. He opposes therefore the revelation of God to the conjectures and interpretations of the Magi, since all human sciences are included, so to speak, within their own bounds and bolts. Daniel, therefore, says that the matter requires the singular gift of the Holy Spirit. The same God also who revealed the king’s dream to Daniel, distributes to each of us ability and skill according to his own pleasure. Whence does it arise that some are remarkable for quickness and others for stupidity and sloth? — that some become proficients in human arts and learning, and others remain utterly ignorant, unless God shews, by this variety, how by his power and will the minds of men become enlightened or remain blunt and stupid? As the Almighty is the supreme origin of all intelligence in the world, What Daniel here says is not generally true; and this contrast, unless we come to particulars, is either cold or superfluous. We understand, therefore, why he said in the former verse that the Magi and Astrologers could not explain the king’s dream, since the Almighty had raised King Nebuchadnezzar above the common level for the purpose of explaining futurity to him through his dream.
There is then a God in heaven who reveals secrets; he shews to king Nebuchadnezzar what will come to pass. He confirms what I have said, that the king was utterly unable to comprehend the meaning of his own dream. It often happens that men’s minds move hither and thither, and thus make clever guesses; but Daniel excludes all human media, and speaks of the dream as proceeding directly from God. He adds, what shall happen at the end or extremity of the days We may inquire what he means by the word “extremity.” Interpreters think this ought to be referred to the advent of Christ; but they do not explain why this word signifies Christ’s advent. There is no obscurity in the phrase; “the end of the days” signifies the advent of Christ, because it was a kind of renewal to the world. Most. truly, indeed, the world is still in the same state of agitation as it was when Christ was manifest in the flesh; but, as we shall afterwards see, Christ came for the very purpose of renovating the world, and since his Gospel is a kind of perfection of all things, we are said to be “in the last days.” Daniel compares the whole period preceding Christ’s advent with this extremity of the days. God therefore wished to shew the king of Babylon what should occur after one monarchy had destroyed another, and also that there should be an end of those changes whenever Christ’s kingdom should arrive. At present I touch but briefly on this point, since more must; be said upon it by and bye.
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This, says he, is the dream and vision of thy head upon thy couch It may seem absurd for Daniel here to profess to explain to the king the nature of his dream and its interpretation, and yet to put in something else. But, as he will add nothing out of place, we ought not to question the propriety of his saying, this was the king’s vision and his dream; for his object was to rouse the king the more urgently to attend to both the dream and its interpretation. Here we must; take notice how the Prophet persists in this, with the view of persuading the king that God was the author of the dream about. which he inquired of Daniel; for the words would be entirely thrown away unless men were thoroughly persuaded that the explanation given proceeded from God. For many in the present day will hear willingly enough what may be said about the Gospel, but they are not inwardly touched by it, and then all they hear vanishes away and immediately escapes them. Hence reverence is the principle of true and solid understanding. Thus Daniel does not abruptly bring forward either the explanation or the narration of the dream, but prepares the proud king to listen, by shewing him that he neither dreamt at, random nor in accordance with his own thoughts, but was divinely instructed and admonished concerning hidden events. It now follows,-
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He affirmeth that man by reason and art is…
He affirmeth that man by reason and art is not able to attain to the cause of God’s secrets, but the understanding only thereof must come of God: whereby he smiteth the king with a certain fear and reverence of God, that he might be the more apt to receive the high mysteries, that should be revealed.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Dan 2:28 But there is a God in heaven…
Dan 2:28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
Ver. 28. But there is a God in heaven.] The saints are ever tender of God’s glory. {Ezr 8:22} Let these that are indued with singular gifts beware of self-admiration, apt to steal upon them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Here the prophet gives God entirely all the glory,…
Here the prophet gives God entirely all the glory, proving all the powers on earth to come short in it, it being one of God’s peculiar prerogatives to reveal secrets. Yea, in great humility he denies himself to have any share in it, as also Dan 2:29.
What shall be in the latter days: observe here the prophet’s wisdom in this discovery, he doth not fall abruptly upon the dream, but first prepares this lofty king for it in general, and by degrees he doth labour to win him to the knowledge of the true God.
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1. By this his power; and,
2. By his gracious favour to the king, in revealing to him the greatest secret in the world about the change of kingdoms and governments, and touching the power of Christ’s kingdom over all in the latter days. See Dan 2:44.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But there is a God in heaven that revealeth…
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets,.... By this Daniel meant to inform the king that there was but one God, in opposition to the notion of polytheism, that obtained among the Heathens; that this one God is in heaven, and presides over all persons and things on earth; and that to him alone belongs the revelation of secrets, and not to Heathen gods, or to any magician, astrologer, &c.; and of this kind was the king's dream, a secret impenetrable by men:
and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days: in the latter days of his monarchy, which should be subverted, and succeeded by another; and in ages after that, during the Persian, Grecian, and Roman monarchies; and in the days of the Messiah, even in the latter of his days:
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thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; which were of God, and of great importance; and, that the king might observe it, Daniel introduces these words with what goes before, and says what follows:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain What shall be - Observe the prophet's wisdom, he…
What shall be - Observe the prophet's wisdom, he does not fall abruptly upon the dream, but first prepares this lofty king for it, and by degrees labours to win him to the knowledge of the true God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 28. There is a God in heaven] To…
Verse 28. There is a God in heaven] To distinguish him from those idols, the works of men's hands; and from the false gods in which the Chaldeans trusted.
In the latter days.] A phrase which, in the prophets, generally means the times of the Messiah. God is about to show what shall take place from this time to the latest ages of the world. And the vision most certainly contains a very extensive and consecutive prophecy; which I shall treat more largely at the close of the chapter, giving in the mean time a short exposition.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But there is a God in heaven that revealeth…
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets - One of the principal objects contemplated in all that occurred respecting this dream and its interpretation was, to direct the mind of the monarch to the true God, and to secure the acknowledgment of his supremacy. Hence, it was so ordered that those who were most eminent for wisdom, and who were regarded as the favorites of heaven, were constrained to confess their entire inability to explain the mystery. The way was thus prepared to show that he who “could” do this must be the true God, and must be worthy of adoration and praise. Thus prepared, the mind of the monarch was now directed by this pious Hebrew youth, though a captive, to a truth so momentous and important. His whole training, his modesty and his piety, all were combined to lead him to attribute whatever skill he might evince in so difficult a matter to the true God alone: and we can scarcely conceive of a more sublime object of contemplation than this young man, in the most magnificent court of the world, directing the thoughts of the most mighty monarch that then occupied a throne, to the existence and the perfections of the true God.
And maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar - Margin, “hath made.” The translation in the text is more correct, for it was not true that he had as yet actually made these things known to the king. He had furnished intimations of what was to occur, but he had not yet been permitted to understand their signification.
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What shall be in the latter days - Greek ἐπ ̓ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ep' eschatōn tōn hēmerōn - “in the last days.” Vulgate, in novissimis temporibus - “in the last times.” Chaldee, יומיא באחרית be'achărı̂yth yômayâ' - “in the after days;” or, as Faber expresses it, “in the afterhood of days.” The phrase means what we should express by saying, “hereafter - in future times - in time to come.” This phrase often has special reference to the times of the Messiah, as the last dispensation of things on the earth, or as that under which the affairs of the world will be wound up. Compare the notes at Isa 2:2. It does not appear, however, to be used in that sense here, but it denotes merely “future” times. The phrase “the latter days,” therefore, does not exactly convey the sense of the original. It is “future” days rather than “latter” days.
Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed - The phrase “visions of thy head” means conceptions or notions formed by the brain. It would seem from this, that, even in the time of Daniel, the brain was regarded as, in some sense, the organ of thinking, or that “thought” had its seat in the head. We are not to suppose that by the use of these different expressions Daniel meant to describe two things, or to intimate that Nebuchadnezzar had had visions which were distinct. What he saw might be described as a dream or a vision; it, in fact, had the nature of both.
Are these - “These which I now proceed to describe.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Times. In the Old Testament, this commonly signifies when…
Times. In the Old Testament, this commonly signifies when Christ shall appear; but in the New, it refers to the end of the world. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain God--in contrast to "the wise men," &c. (Dan 2:27).
God--in contrast to "the wise men," &c. (Dan 2:27).
revealeth secrets-- (Amo 3:7; Amo 4:13). Compare Gen 41:45, Zaphnath-paaneah, "revealer of secrets," the title given to Joseph.
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the latter days--literally, "in the after days" (Dan 2:29); "hereafter" (Gen 49:1): It refers to the whole future, including the Messianic days, which is the final dispensation (Isa 2:2).
visions of thy head--conceptions formed in the brain.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 28. But, though human skill is unable to satisfy…
28. But, though human skill is unable to satisfy the king, there is a God in heaven, the revealer of secrets, who has in reality by means of this dream disclosed to him the future. Cf. Gen_41:28.
and maketh known] and he hath made known.
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in the latter days] lit. in the end (closing-part[210]) of the days. An expression which occurs fourteen times in the O.T., and which always denotes the closing period of the future so far as it falls within the range of view of the writer using it. The sense expressed by it is thus relative, not absolute, varying with the context. In Gen_49:1 (spoken from Jacob’s standpoint) it is used of the period of Israel’s occupation of Canaan; in Num_24:14 of the period of Israel’s future conquest of Moab and Edom (see Dan_2:17-18); in Deu_31:29; Deu_4:30, of the periods, respectively, of Israel’s future apostasy and return to God; in Eze_38:16 (cf. Dan_2:8—with years for days) of the imagined period of Gog’s attack upon restored Israel; in Dan_10:14 of the age of Antiochus Epiphanes. Elsewhere it is used of the ideal, or Messianic age, conceived as following at the close of the existing order of things: Hos_3:5; Isa_2:2 (= Mic_4:1); Jer_48:47; Jer_49:39; comp. Jer_23:20 (= Jer_30:24)[211]. Here, as the sequel shews, it is similarly the period of the establishment of the Divine Kingdom which is principally denoted by it (v. 34, 35, 44, 45); but the closing years of the fourth kingdom (v. 40-43) may also well be included in it.
[210] For the sense of אחרית see Job_8:7; Job_42:12 (where it denotes clearly the latter part of a man’s life).
[211] Cf. in the N.T. Act_2:17 (for the ‘afterward’ of Joe_2:28), Heb_1:2, 2Ti_3:1, 2Pe_3:3.
visions of thy head] Dan_4:5; Dan_4:10; Dan_4:13, Dan_7:1; Dan_7:15.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (28) Visions of thy head.—Called “thoughts,” Dan_2:29, which were…
(28) Visions of thy head.—Called “thoughts,” Dan_2:29, which were the natural means through which the supernatural revelation was communicated. These “came” into his mind without his forcing them upon himself. He was thinking of other things, further conquests, perhaps, and the like, but these thoughts came from a higher source.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain But there is a God in heaven that revealeth…
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these. All the versions are at one with the Massoretic text to the beginning of the last clause, which begins a new sentence. This last clause is omitted in the Septuagint. The clause is pleonastic; therefore, seeing it is omitted by the Septuagint, we may consider it not genuine, but due to a case of doublet in the Aramaic copies. Some copies have the present clause here, without the opening clause of the next, and others without this, but having the opening clause of ver. 29. Then came a copyist, who, unable to settle which was the better reading, inserted both. There is a God in heaven. No nation in ancient times was so addicted to the study of the stars of heaven and to the future as were the Chaldeans. Here Daniel announces that the God of heaven, Jehovah, the God of oppressed Judah and conquered Jerusalem, was the God who ruled all the stars from which the Chaldeans derived the knowledge of the future they thought they had, and arranged for his own purposes all things that were coming upon the earth, and he could tell what no one on earth could do. And the reason of this he also makes plain God had expressly sent the dream to Nebuchadnezzar in order that he might know what was to "be in the latter days." He, Nebuchadnezzar, was the first of the great imperial powers who ruled after Israel ceased to be so much a nation as a faith. After the Babylonian Captivity Judaism became a Church over against a heathen state. Hence to him with whom this new state of things began was this message given. It has exercised many why this revelation of the future was made to this heathen monarch. Yet we must remember that, though made directly to him, through his obstinacy, it arrived at the Prophet Daniel, for whom it was meant. Yet again, no one can read the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar and fail to observe how deep and unfeigned was his piety according to his light. He worshipped Merodach, and if, in his ascriptions of praise, we were to place "Jehovah" instead of "Merodach," these prayers and thanksgivings would appear almost as if borrowed from the Hebrew Psalter. God, who readeth the hearts of men, might well have seen such a heart in this conqueror that he might be honoured with a revelation. The phrase, "latter days," had a special reference in Jewish prophetic language to the times of the Messiah; (Isa_2:2) hence we may assume that this vision would stretch in its revelations on to the times of the kingdom which the Lord would set up. It is unscientific to press this as meaning the absolute last time, as does Hitzig. It is not the future generally, as Havernick. We must be led by the usage of prophetic literature. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these. This clause, as we have indicated, is probably one of two parallel readings. There is probably no distinction intended between "dream" and "visions of the head upon the bed." This is really to be regarded as a case of parallelism, in which one portion of the verse was balanced by the other. What shade of difference there is, is between the dream as a totality and the portions of it as seen.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain But there is a God in Heaven that revealeth…
Dan_2:28
But there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets.
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A God in Heaven
I. THE ASSERTION. There is a God in Heaven. Daniel was not one of those who say in their hearts there is no God; he was well persuaded, both of His existence and of the perfections of His nature. Daniels God is a God of wisdom and knowledge; a just God; a powerful God; a great God; a good and merciful God; a faithful God; a holy God: a God of love.
II. WHAT IS SAID OF HIM. He revealeth secrets. He is capable of doing this because He knoweth all things. He makes known to men the pride, hypocrisy, unbelief, of their own hearts. He reveals to His people, who are called by grace, the secret of His love and favour. This secret is revealed in the work of regeneration. He reveals also His covenant to those who fear Him. He shows them the necessity, nature, and stability of the covenant, and their interest in it. He reveals His people a sense of their pardon and acceptance in Christ. And as the Lord will reveal these secrets for His peoples comfort in this world, so also He will reveal to them the secrets of that which is to come. (S. Barnard.)
My Dreams
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, was sorely troubled by a vision of the night. The wise men of the age acknowledged that the secrets of the mind were beyond their ken. The whole narrative affords us an excellent illustration of the limits of human reason, and the necessity of a revelation from God; and in these days, when both science and philosophy are employed to cast doubts on revelation, when the wise men of our time would decry the Word of God, it is well for all lovers of the Gospel to give a clear and settled answer to these who question the hope that is in us.
I. THERE ARE SECRETS, THE REVELATION OF WHICH IS OF THE GREATEST IMPORTANCE TO HUMANITY. I, also, in common with all mortals, have dreamed a dream, ay, dreams of God, of responsibility, of happiness, of immortality; but they have gone from me; the pictures are blurred, the ideas are indistinct.
1. I dream of the existence of a God. I have a dim consciousness of a great First Cause, an innate conviction independent of creeds, and which defies the impious foot of Atheism to crush it, or the breath of a cold Materialism to wither it away. I see around me a thousand irresistible tokens of His creating power and wisdom. He is my Maker, hence my Master! the Creator and Maintainer of the Universe, hence the Universal King! My lot, my destiny, is in His hands. To Him I am responsible. On Him I depend. Who is He? How does He regard me? I would secure His favour. For the sake of my happiness, my life, it is essential to me to know my God. Who art Thou, Lord? What is Thy will, that I may do it? What are the conditions of Thine approval, that I may obtain it? I have faint dreams of God, of truth, and right, and duty. Tell me, ye wise men, Who is the Ruler, and what is the rule of life? I also have dreamed a dream, and, like the vision of the king, it has left an intermittent horror on my soul.
2. I am conscious of wrong-doing. I am sensible of the existence of a certain something, which condemns or approves, according to the nature of my deeds. This conscience which is native to my soul upbraids me with my guilt, and saddens me with the responsibility of my own I will! All peoples, all individuals, have this conscious wrong. God is angry with me, and justly. It defies argument What can I do? Must His justice take its course? How can a man be just before God? This guilt oppresses me, this sense of sin embitters my life and fills me with unspoken dread. Is there an interpreter, one among a thousand, who will deliver me from going down into the pit, saying, I have found a ransom? Like Nebuchadnezzar, I also have dreamed a dream, but it has gone from me.
3. I dream of a possible rest. Toiling and moiling amid the cares and anxieties of time, wrestling with ever-multiplying trials, my weary spirit gets fitful and broken glimpses of a state of quiet. I strive to bear my disappointment with a manly spirit, but I miserably fail. I hanker after contentment. I am a searcher after happiness, and my search is vain. All men seek it, but gold cannot buy it; honour cannot invest me with it; pleasure is a false and gilded substitute; I dream, and the world dreams of a one time golden age, but it has gone from me. I ask the wise men of the age, Is there a possible happiness for my poor soul to-day? Like the King of Babylon, I also dream a dream, and it fills me with anxiety and unrest.
4. I dream of an after life. My mind refuses the idea of dying like the beasts below me. I am repelled at the thought of annihilation. I shall live!--this is the innate instinct of every human mind. The conviction isuniversal. Then, what is there awaiting me in that unseen future? I submit to you that these are primal questions of man; and while these secrets are unrevealed, what good will my birthright do me? I cannot live by bread alone. I cannot subsist on theories and propositions. Who will recover and interpret my dreams and bring me satisfaction and repose! Oh, ye wise men, ye sages of to-day: I sit at your feet! I open my ears to your words. My anxious soul awaits your answer to these problems. But leave me ignorant of these vital matters and my life is chaos, existence is a riddle and a curse, death is a horror, and the mysterious afterward a terror and a woe!
II. THE REVELATION OF THESE SECRETS ALTOGETHER SURPASSES HUMAN WISDOM. Nebuchadnezzar called to his aid the wise men of his kingdom, the philosophers and scientists of the day, men who professed to read the secrets of the stars. To these the king stated his difficulty; they honestly confessed that the thing was beyond their skill. This, I submit, is the position occupied by the wise men of to-day as regards these solemn problems of the soul. In the presence of my questioning heart, Science is voiceless, Philosophy makes an effort to reply, flings a little border light upon the mystery, flounders in a sea of contradictions, then lapses into silence. The Astronomer talks with me on the composition of the sun, he tells the number of the stars, calculates their distances, and calls them by their names. He cannot tell me by what law my wandering soul may gravitate towards Deity, and circle in the orbit of truth and duty around the Eternal God. The geologist, who digs among the deep foundations of the earth, can read the wondrous scroll of the earths biography; can echo in mine ear the testimony of the rocks; but he finds no rock on which my restless soul can settle and build its hopes of Heaven! The depth saith, it is not in me! The Zoologist thrills me with his descriptions of animated nature. He discourses on all the winged denizens of air, from the eagle with the sweeping pinions to the sparrow chirping amid cottage eaves, but he hath found no single messenger who can bring to human hearts, fearsome and sorrowful, the true olive-branch of peace! The botanist, splendid sage, expounds the secrets of the vegetable kingdom, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop upon the wall, from the tropic palm to the lichen amid northern snows; but, tell me, glorious magician! canst thou tell me where the herb hearts-ease grows, to soothe the moral sores that run in the night of sorrow? The mathematician hath a marvellous power over numbers, and proudly calls his, par excellence, the exact and certain science; but can he calculate the unknown quantity of the price required to redeem a law-condemned life? The geographers eye ranges over the wide surface of the globe from China to Peru, from the scorching equator to the shivering poles. But he hath never found the river of life among the unknown hills! If we were to travel thus around all the circle of the sciences, if we questioned thus at the portals of every school and system of philosophy, the answer of the Babylonian astrologers must come alike from all: There is not a man upon earth that can show the kings matter, and there is none other that can show it except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. Great and precious and important are all these in their legitimate domain. All honour to the men who patiently study the mysteries of nature, and explore the secrets of mind; but there are higher studies, there are grandar laws. Discarding all secondary illumination, we must go the the Fount of Light and utter our humble prayer to the Highest--Teach me Thy statutes, even wondrous things out of Thy law. Let human wisdom honestly avow its limits.
III. These great secrets, so important for humanity to understand, have been revealed by God himself! Daniel received the desired knowledge direct from Heaven. Even so hath God revealed these great mysteries to the human mind. He hath reproduced the dreams that had gone from us, hath showed the great necessities of our moral nature, and hath produced in His glorious Gospel an efficient satisfaction for every yearning of the human heart. Jesus Christ is Gods answer to mans questions, and the answer is redemptive and complete. Come and hear Him, then! His lips are touched by an unkindled fire. He speaks as never man spake, for He is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. He hath come to answer the cry of humanity. Sit at His feet and propound your heart-questions. Do you ask Him for rest and peace? He says, Come unto Me, and ye shall find rest unto your soul. Do you ask for power and guidance, comfort and aid? I will send unto you the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, who shall guide you into all truth. Afraid of death, do you ask for help and victory? He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoso liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Oh! surely these are glad tidings of great joy! Oh! my Saviour, I will trust Thee! I will listen and believe! My fears fade, my doubts vanish, my terrors die! Here, then, lies the key to unlock all secrets. We are, by the mediation of Christ, brought back to God--to God, the true home of the soul. Offended God and offending man atone and reconciled, and Jesus Christ the healer of the breach! From Nebuchadnezzar went forth the edict that, should the secret remain unrevealed, the men must die. There is but one decree for you. That edict was a cruel wrong, a strict injustice. But that decree has also gone out from God. There is but one decree for you if this divinely-interpreted secret is not made clear to you; and this decree is just. You have the dream and the interpretation; you have the statement of your need, and you have the Gospel that will meet it to the full. If you reject this great salvation, so adapted to your need, so attested as to its authority, so simple in its terms, so mighty in its transformations, so glorious in its results, so tremendous in its cost--there is but one decree for you--He that believeth shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned! Alas for us if the slope of natural religion, the ladder of science, were the only stair to lead us up to God! But where natural religion abandons us, where science at its highest leaves us, where philosophy in its purest form forsakes us--then revealed religion takes us up. (J. J. Wray.)
God as a Revealer of Secrets
Men have secrets, or what they consider secrets, for really there are no secrets in the universe, nor should there be such. Sin alone has secrets, virtue has none. With it, all is as open as the day. Looking at the Great One as the revealer of secrets, we observe:
I. HE MAKES NO OMISSIONS. When men reveal the secrets of others, from ignorance they omit something; but God knows the whole--the most hidden thought of the most obscure mind in the universe.
II. HE COMMITS NO MISTAKES. Men who reveal secrets, commit great errors; they either say too much or too little. Omniscience commits no blunders; the revelation will be severely faithful.
III. HE HAS NO UNKINDNESS. Men often tell the secrets of others maliciously, but not so with Him. God is constantly revealing the secrets of men now:
1. Through the dictates of human consciences.
2. Through the unguarded actions of human life. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:28 a God in heaven: Daniel proclaimed one true…
2:28 a God in heaven: Daniel proclaimed one true God who rules all things (2:20-21), not a limited local deity such as the ones the Babylonians worshiped. The God of Daniel’s ancestors (2:23) is the God in heaven who reveals secrets. The Babylonian gods could not do this. • what will happen: In the ancient world, dreams were often understood as revealing the future.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.