Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

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Christ As Revealed in the Book of Daniel
Retiring Moderator's Sermon Before The Synod of 1955
by Frank E. Allen, D.D.
"I am an old man and have never seen God," said a gray-haired
Indian to Sir John Franklin when he was making his way into the
Arctic region. So said Pharaoh when Moses was sent by God to de
mand the release of the Hebrews: "Who is the Lord, that I should
So said Nebuchadnezzar when Shadrach, Meshach,
obey his
and Abednego refused to bow before his golden image: "Who is that
"
God that shall deliver you out of my hands
But that God whom Pharaoh defied caused the water of the Red
Sea, which fled before Israel, to roll over the head of Pharaoh and
his host. That God stood in the inidst of the furnace of fire with the
three men who had been thrown into it, protecting them from all
harm.
He Was Christ
That God was the Lord Jesus Christ who is declared in the second
Psalm to be the one whom the Father has commissioned to break the
rebellious nations as with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces as a
potter's vessel. He is the same Christ spoken of in the 45th Psalm
whose arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies. He is the
Christ of the 72nd Psalm who has dominion from sea to sea and to
the ends of the earth. He is the Christ of the 110th Psalm to whom
God said, he will make his enemies his footstool.
Rev. F. E. ALLEN, D.D.
Moderator of the 1954 Synod
The Stone
The second chapter tells us of the stone cut out
of the mountain without hands which was to break
in pieces all those kingdoms. The stone was un
doubtedly Christ. The record of the destruction of
those kingdoms, through much of the Book, demon
strates how Christ in His providence breaks them
and executes His decrees.
How could it be true that Christ was to be
raised up, or anointed, in the days of these kings,
and also break them all in pieces Most of the com
mentators are confused on this point. Christ was
King from eternity but was given special honor, or
invested in a special manner, after His work was
completed on earth. In the gospels we are told that
the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The King was
to be revealed in human form, but He had been both
Saviour and King through the ages. He was a Sav
iour to Abel and Enoch and Abraham, and was King
over Pharaoh, and David, and Nebuchadnezzar. He
called himself "Captain of the Lord's Host" when
He appeared to Joshua as the latter was becoming
the leader of Israel.
Examples are common among earthly kings of
those who were kings a considerable time before
their coronation. The Queen of Great Britain,
Elizabeth II, was a queen with all the rights of a
queen, several months before the coronation cere
mony. So Christ was King ages before the special
honor of His crowning, when
following His death on
the cross His name was exalted above every name.
Christ Now King
Andrew Melville boldly declared to king James
that when he was in his swaddling clothes Christ
Jesus reigned freely in Scotland, and he might have
June 8, 1955
added, when Adam was hunting fig leaves to clothe
himself Christ reigned in all the world.
In the Alps there is a little circular church with
statues of the twelve apostles ranged around its
wall, all pointing their fingers to Christ as He is por
trayed emerging from the tomb on the resurrection
morning. Written above is the text, "To him give all
the prophets
Dr. J. R. W. Sloane, in his sermon on "Christ in
History,"
said: "All events are to be ascribed to
Christ as Mediator." He showed that Christ is: (1)
The author of all events ; (2) He controls them ; (3)
He limits all events.
On the "appointment of Christ to Mediatorial
dominion, "William Symington, in his book, "Mes
siah the Prince," says: "Christ was formally ap
pointed to the kingly office by His Father from all
eternity in the covenant of (p. 40). We are
told in Scripture (of the personal wisdom of God in
Christ) : "I wTas set up from everlasting, from the be
or ever the earth (Prov. 8:23).
ginning,
Christ the Center
Christ is the center of the Book of Daniel, not
Nebuchadnezzar not Belshazzar not Darius or Cy
rus, but Christ in whose hand all these great kings
and empires were as the dust of the balance. The
book deals mainly with the kingship of Christ. It
presents Him also as priest and prophet, but it does
not dwell upon His priesthood with nearly as much
emphasis as His kingship. It shows that He is as
truly king of the Gentile nations as of the Hebrew
nation.
In All the Chapters
Christ is referred to definitely in six, possibly
eight, chapters of Daniel. Since He is spoken of so
often as having power over these nations, is it not
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