We are going to be occupied
with the book of Daniel, but not with any one particular passage
in it. You know that in that great summary of faith's devotion
and activities in Hebrews 11, some referred to in this book are
mentioned (though not by name) as amongst the great men of faith,
that great "cloud of witnesses" (for that is what they
are called). It seems to me that the message of this book, so far
as the men of God in it are concerned, is faith's witness in a
dark and difficult day. There are many features in this book of
Daniel which correspond to the position in our own time, and the
spiritual principles are those of all time. They are fully
revealed in the New Testament in relation to Christ and the
Church. Some of those features I want to bring again to your
remembrance.
The
Saints the Focal Point of all That is Going On
In the first place, we are made
to understand that the object in view with all that is going on
is an elect people in whom the glory, the honour, the rights and
the purposes of God are centred. How many times in this book of
Daniel do the words "the saints" occur. In chapter 7
they occur six times, and you know that chapter 7 is a consummate
chapter. If you glance at it, you will see how everything is
gathered into the end of that chapter in the great throne, the
great judgment; all is now brought to consummation, and in the
consummation of everything those words "the saints" are
repeated six times, suggesting that this is the object which has
all along been in view and comes out with great emphasis at the
end.
Of course, here you are able to
observe that "the saints" has two sides. On the one
side, it refers to Israel, that elect nation. They are here
called the saints, and are such in type and in an earthly way.
But it is quite clear also that what is here goes beyond Israel
to the Church, and "the saints" are those of the New
Testament inclusively - and not now in an earthly way but a
heavenly, not in type or in figure but in fulness. That is what
the Lord is concerned with, an elect people with whom He has thus
closely and inseparably bound up His glory, His rights and His
purposes. For that reason, their importance is such as to explain
all that is recorded in this book, and it is a wonderfully
far-reaching and comprehensive story; heaven and earth are both
bound up with this great concern.
Prevailing
Spiritual Poverty in the Saints
But here we find that people in
a state which expresses anything but the glory, the honour, the
rights and the purposes of God. They are out of touch with those
things; a low spiritual life has resulted in a loss of the very
testimony for which they existed, the testimony of God's
authority. Looking at Israel in the time of Daniel, you certainly
have anything but a testimony to the authority of God. They were
called to be a witness to God's absolute supremacy in all realms.
We know how God did stand by them in that respect in the days
when their spiritual life was true, and there was not a nation
that was able to stand before them; the authority of God was
truly set forth. But now that testimony is lost, and, further,
they are in a state of defeat and in bondage to the world. They
are having to pay homage to the world, to seek at the hands of
the world the very means of their subsistence; they are entirely
dependent upon the world for everything. They are totally
incapable of standing up in strength, in testimony, without help
from the world, and they are in such a position as to be
altogether out of immediate touch with what represents the full
mind of the Lord: they are away from that.
Now all that is literally true
in the case of Israel as seen here in the days of Daniel. I do
not think it wants a very great deal of perception to recognize
that, speaking in general, there is a state in the Church in our
time which very largely corresponds to that. We are not able to
say very much about our high level of spiritual life as the
people of God. We deplore the poverty, and weakness of it, and
while being unspeakably grateful for any and all who are going on
with the Lord, we have to say of the great mass of those who fear
His name that spiritual life is not on a very high level, not
very rich, strong, clear; and consequently the testimony of the
Lord's authority as expressed by means of His Church is very
largely lost. The Church has not an authoritative message and
word and position in the nations today. Surely in these days of
world crisis we are feeling, Oh, that a voice might be raised!
Oh, that some Divine authority might be expressed! Oh, that there
might be something from heaven to make people aware of their
state and their responsibility! Oh, that there might be something
to halt this rush toward destruction and perdition! We do not
stay to speak of how terrible the outlook is unless something
happens from heaven. Well might men's hearts faint for fear and
for expectation of what is coming on the earth. Truly the word of
Christ has meaning that unless those days be shortened, there
shall no flesh be saved (Matt. 24:22). Oh, for a voice of
authority from heaven! Oh, that the Church meant something today
in the nations! But we have to say that it is not so, that the
Church hardly counts. Rather is she in a state of defeat and
bondage to the world. Is it not true, speaking very generally,
that the Church today is dependent upon the world almost for its
existence, having to call on the world for its supplies, having
to go to the world to maintain it, to keep it going? It is like
that. And who will say that Christians are really in closest
touch with the mind of the Lord as to His great purposes in the
very election of the Church? I think I need not labour that there
is a correspondence between Daniel's time and ours.
We are, then, led to consider
Daniel and his friends in Babylon and what they signify, with
reference both to their own day and, in figure, to today.
God's
Need of an Instrument to Express and Embody His Thoughts
Firstly, they were an
instrument of mediation between God and His people in their low
spiritual condition, and between the people and God. There those
men stood, there they poured themselves out to heaven, there they
cried to God: they were the only mediatorial instrument that God
had there to bridge this terrible gap between God and His people;
to speak for God, and to speak to God about these things.
Much is said that indicates
they were men who had intelligence and understanding, men who
knew the Scriptures. They were probably the only ones who really
had this insight, and together they embodied the mind of the
Lord. They were the embodiment of God's mind about His people.
Had His people been what the Lord would have had them to be, they
would have been like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and
any others that may have been of their type, prevailing with
heaven concerning conditions here in this world. These alone were
the embodiment of that mind of the Lord for the elect, for His
people, for the Church. And then they were standing
uncompromisingly for that Divine mind which they knew and of
which they were the embodiment; uncompromisingly they stood for
it at all costs.
We come by way of them to see
what God's need is in all such times, and in our time so very
greatly, namely, of an instrument to stand between Him and the
poor, weak, defeated spiritual state of His people at large - an
instrument that has knowledge of the time, has intelligence about
God's thoughts for His people, understanding what the will of the
Lord is, to whom the Lord has disclosed His counsels and His
purposes as to the elect. He needs a people, an instrument, like
that. But more than that, it must be not just as those who have
knowledge, but a people who are themselves the embodiment of the
Lord's mind, a corporate embodiment and expression of what He
wants concerning the Church. That is a Divine principle which
applies to all times. The Lord is not satisfied just to have
people to preach His truths. He must have a people who embody
those truths and express them in a living way - a voice, a
corporate instrument. He must have a company or companies like
that. It is so easy to speak about the purposes and thoughts of
God, to give them out and then to think that is all that is
necessary. It is only when the truth has been made known, and the
Lord's thoughts have been revealed, that the work really begins.
It is from that point that the revelation has to become embodied
and expressed in a people, and all the work of the Holy Spirit to
get a people according to that revelation has to be done. It has
to be like that. The Lord must have a people who embody in
themselves what they know by revelation of the Holy Spirit the
Lord wants for His Church, and who stand positively and
uncompromisingly for it.
Satan's
Antagonism
We pass from the vessel itself
to what such a vessel has to meet, and it is perfectly clear in
this book of Daniel that the men of this kind had to meet no
small thing in the matter of antagonism, hostility, hatred, and
every kind of evil work. This antagonism, moreover, this cost
attaching to their testimony, was universal in character. It
embraced heaven and earth. You are familiar with that part of
this book which brings out so clearly how that by Daniel's
praying and fasting the very powers of heaven were shaken.
Principalities and powers were stirred to attempt to frustrate
this activity. Yes, that whole realm of spiritual antagonism in
the lower heavenlies came into operation because of these men and
the testimony for which they were standing. It seems that all
heaven was moved, so that when Satan and his angels went out to
oppose, God had to put into commission even His archangel Michael
to overcome them.
Then of course there was the
play of those evil powers upon the earthly forces. Those who
could be used by them were all fully employed to destroy this
testimony and to put these witnesses out of commission. It is not
difficult to see the reflection of Satan in Babylon, of that
pride which caused him to challenge the very throne of heaven. It
was there in Babylon, man's glory in the place of God's glory. It
is pride which will be found in Antichrist. It is at the heart of
all antagonism to God. And when it is the Lord's glory alone that
is the concern of His people, there is nothing else for them but
a seven times heated fire and the den of lions and such like
things. The antagonism against this kind of ministry and service
to the Lord is terrific. The cost is great.
The
Ground of Triumph - Separation From the World
We must hurry to note this
final thing, namely, the ground of triumph. I think there is one
thing that goes to the heart of it. It is an inclusive thing,
that is, it touches so many other things, so many aspects. It may
be gathered into one word - separation. I am not so fond of that
word, but it is the word we need here. You notice that it says in
the very first chapter of the book that Daniel and his brethren
determined that they would not defile themselves with the king's
dainties, nor with the wine from the king's table; and that is
how they spoke of it when they went to Arioch, the king's
representative, to plead their case. They asked - you would think
hardly tactfully or diplomatically! - 'that they might not defile
themselves'. It is hardly complimentary, at any rate, to speak so
of food from the king's table. They pressed this matter of
defilement. They had seen the principle - that by this means they
and their testimony would in some way be compromised. It was a
link with this world and with Satan's kingdom as in this world,
and the effect of it would be - oh, how inclusive and
comprehensive this is! - that they would be denying in their very
persons the all-sufficiency of the Lord. If they were to go the
way of the world and look like the people of the world, where
would be the testimony of the Lord? If they did not go the way of
the world and were to refuse to have any kind of compromise with
the world, there would be great opportunity for the Lord to prove
that He can go one better than the world, and is more than all
the world put together.
This is the challenge. On
various grounds and by various arguments, young people especially
are tempted to compromise on this point. They think they will
gain influence with people of the world by coming down to their
level and doing as they do, thus getting on an even footing with
the world; but they do not recognize that such a course so often
involves compromise. More rarely still do they recognize that
when God's people are going to the world for their sustenance and
nourishment and pleasure and gratification and so on, it results
in a question being cast upon the ability of the Lord to prove
how far greater He is than this world. The bad spiritual state of
the people in Daniel's day was wholly due to their being in
bondage to the world. Daniel and his brethren would have none of
it. They stood apart in complete separation from the world, its
standards, its ideas and all its resources, to give God the
opportunity of proving that He is better than the world, and His
servants, by His grace, better than the men of the world. That is
the testimony, and until that is true, we have no authority, no
ascendency, no real testimony. Separation therefore, unpleasant
and hard as the word may sound, is a very fundamental matter if
we mean by it that we are separated unto the Lord, that He may
show by means of us that this world is a poor thing compared with
what we have in Him.
There was a deep rooted
seduction in that table of the king, and they were alive to it.
It was the snare of the good time, as people call it. It was the
snare of a lost clearness and distinctiveness of testimony. It
was the snare of arguing wrongly, "I am become all things
to all men, that I may by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22)
- so often a misapplied Scripture and carried altogether
outside of what the Apostle meant when he said it. Do you think
the man who gave that phrase to be written in Holy Scripture ever
compromised with this world, with sin, with the principles of the
Satanic kingdom, or ever lowered his standard?
That was not the Paul we know.
With him the words quoted had another meaning. Do not be caught
by a catch phrase like that. How many do you win? How many are
won out and out for Christ by that policy of compromise? For
after all, it is only policy, and policy is an accursed thing in
spiritual matters. It is a low standard. The whole work of Satan
is to get us somehow defiled, and then we are put out.
Satan's first effort, then,
with Daniel and his brethren was to destroy them inwardly by this
kind of compromise; but they refused to be defiled. When he found
he could not do that, he turned to outward methods of
destruction. Hence the fiery furnace and the lion's den -
anything to accomplish their destruction, to nullify them, to
quench them. The Lord needs men like this as His instruments. It
is good to know how the Lord does stand by such. Read the last
verses of the book of Daniel. "Go thou thy way till the
end be; for thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot, at the
end of the days" (Daniel 12:13). Daniel continued
despite fiery furnaces and dens of lions. A true heart meant that
the Lord stood with him and he finished his testimony, and no
powers of heaven or earth could bring an untimely end to that
testimony. The Lord will look after us so long as we are on this
line of testimony for which these men stood, the absolute glory
and dominion of the Lord, expressed here in a people of this
kind.
First published in "A Witness and A
Testimony" magazine, May-June 1951, Vol 29-3