NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM.

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CCIX.

NE BUCHADNEZZAR's PREAM.

ST -FDY

EBUCHADNEZZAR was
a very powerful king ;
and he was proud of his
power and his conquests,
and his possessions. He
knew something about the true
God; Daniel, and the other Jewish
captives, had often talked to him of
the great God whom they loved and
worshipped ; and when Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego were de-
livered from the fiery furnace, Ne-
buchadnezzar confessed that their
God was indeed more powerful than
any of the idols of the heathen.
But Nebuchadnezzar had not yet
truly repented and turned to God;
his heart had not been made new
by the Holy Spirit; it was still
full of pride, and ambition, and
love of worldly things. But God,
In mercy, determined to subdue the
pride of this great king; and to
teach him his own sinfulness and
folly, and to make him to give
praise to Him alone. God was
pleased to teach Nebuchadnezzar all
this in a very wonderful way. We
are going now to read how it was.
One night, when Nebuchadnezzar
was asleep, he dreamed a very cu-
rious dream. This dream was sent
by God to teach and warn Nebu-
chadnezzar. God was often pleased,
in past ages, to speak to people in
dreams. We have read before of
the dreams of Joseph, and of the
butler and baker in Egypt, and of
King Pharaoh, and of the soldier in
the camp of Midian, which com-
forted Gideon so much. All these

 

 

dreams came from God; but we do
not hear of such dreams now. God
might, if He chose, still speak to us
in this way; but He is pleased
rather to speak to us in His word.
We have much more knowledge of
God, from His Bible, than the peo-
ple we read about in the Old Testa-
ment had. Let us attend to what
we read, and thank God who has
given us His holy word to teach
and guide us.

When Nebuchadnezzar awoke, he
thought very much about his dream.
He knew that there was something
wonderful in it, but he could not
understand what it meant; so he
called all the wise men of Babylon,
and asked them to explain it. But
these wise men had no knowledge.
in the things of God, because they
were not taught by His Spirit, and
therefore they could not help Ne-
buchadnezzar to understand his
dream. At last, the king remem-
bered that Daniel, the Jewish cap-
tive, was able to interpret dreams;
so he sent for him. Then Daniel
came before the king, and heard
the wonderful dream. Nebuchad-
nezzar said to him, “O Daniel, I
know that the spirit of the holy
God is in thee, and no secret troub-
leth thee; and I have sent for thee,
to tell me the interpretation of my
dream. In my sleep, I thought I
saw a very high tree, so high that
the top reached above the clouds.
The leaves of the tree were very
fair, and its fruit was much; all
the birds of the air made their nests