Page:Hope-of-a-tree-1934.djvu/4

⁵ On a former occasion Daniel, at the request of Nebuchadnezzar, told him of his peculiar dream and gave him the interpretation thereof. Nebuchadnezzar for that reason had confidence that Daniel was the servant of the Holy One. (Dan. 2:1-45) Again Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and again the magicians of Babylon had been called and had failed to interpret the dream of the king, and again the king caused Daniel to be brought before him. Then Nebuchadnezzar told Daniel his dream concerning 'a great tree' in these words: "I saw, and, behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof ranched unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts o the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one cam down from heaven. He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, snake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass [copper], in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him." --Daniel 4:10-16.

⁶ That dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and which was recorded in the book of Daniel, being a prophecy, must some day have its fulfillment. Since the Scriptures declare that whatsoever things were written aforetime where so written that God's faithful people might in patience and comfort have hope, and that this grater enlightenment would come to those at the end of the world, we may be sure that the Lord God, sometime while the remnant is on earth, would give to them an understanding of that prophecy and that such understanding would be had before the day of Armageddon. (Rom. 15:4) Jehovah God brings about the events that fulfil these prophetic visions, and they cannot be understood until his due time to have them understood. It now seems to be Jehovah's due time to permit his people on earth to have an understanding of the prophetic dream concerning the "tree in the midst of the earth", as recorded in the fourth chapter of Daniel's prophecy. The understanding of this has come only at God's appointed time and gives consolation to those who love him.