This morning we are going to be finishing Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 4 concerning the creation and getting a start into Confession of Faith chapter 5 concerning God's providence. In your bulletin you should have Westminster Confession of Faith 4.2 printed. We will begin there. We're going to be handling four doctrines this morning, and the first three in short order. We're going to tick these off pretty rapidly, because it doesn't seem as if there's much need to develop them in great depth. Confession of Faith 4.2 After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls. endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness after his own image, having the law of God written in their hearts, empowered to fulfill it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject unto change. Our first doctrine, and a very important one, Because it explains much. Man was created mutable. Now there's not that much to say about this in the sense that it's pretty obvious. But it's a very important doctrine to have in mind. It's a necessary doctrine for explaining the fall, really. First of all, let us do a little bit of review so that you can see the problem that is going to be answered here. Man was created in the image of God. We considered that last week. And that image seems to be reflected in various aspects of man. Man as he is, his being, he is a spiritual being. Not only physical, but a spiritual being. Immortal and immaterial, like God himself. And so in that sense, having something of the image of God. He exercises dominion, so there's something of a functional image of God in him. But when we go to Paul's epistles, what Paul wants to highlight is that man is created in God's image in the sense that Adam was created, not innocent or naive, but morally perfect. As the Confession of Faith says here, which is really just a collection of what's said in Ephesians and Colossians, He was created in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. He was created with knowledge in his understanding, he knew God, he knew himself, and he knew what God required. That's why they could go on to say that the law of God was written in his heart. It wasn't that his heart was a tabula rosa, a blank slate. He had the law of God written in his heart from the beginning. He had holiness in his affections. His affections were set upon their proper objects and all in their proper order. So he loved his wife, a proper object of his affection, but not more than God. They were all in their proper order. And since he had holiness in his affections, he had righteousness in his will. He had his affection set upon the proper things and all of his acts of the will were done in accordance with that. You remember something that we did earlier in chapter 3 concerning man. Remember we are free in the exercise of our will and that we always do the thing that we want most. In other words, our will is determined by the strongest inclination of our heart. And that's why it's so important to recognize that Adam had holiness in his affections. His affections were set on the right things. So his acts of the will were always going to be righteous in keeping with what's going on in his heart. So he knows his duty and he's fully inclined to do that duty. He's created in this morally perfect state. But this raises a question. How was it that Adam fell into sin? a great and mysterious question it's not difficult at all to understand why sinners sin we're inclined to sin we have our affection set upon the wrong things and even when they're set upon the right things they're in the wrong order we tend to make an idol of even good things that God has made and entertain other gods in his presence so sinful people with Sinful hearts, of course, are going to do or will sinful things. How is it that Adam, with nothing other than holy affections, ends up falling into sin? Well, we can't answer that question altogether, but here the divines point you about as far as we have gone in the history of theology. They said we can't explain the mechanism, of why he fell into sin, but the fact that man is mutable raises its possibility. He is created holy, but subject to change. And that's how a fall is possible. Now proving this biblically, you need to do nothing other than read Genesis 3. It starts off holy, and he ends falling into sin. Obviously he's mutable or changeable. But Solomon teaches us as much in Ecclesiastes chapter 7. This only have I found, that God hath made man upright. This is the way that he was made, but they have sought out many inventions, gone after many sins. You see, so he was made upright, righteous, but he changed and ended up pursuing sins. Now follow what I'm saying here. Mutability makes the fall possible. The temptation of Satan provides the occasion, but it still doesn't provide the mechanism. What was it that ended up misordering Adam's affections? You see, because these two things, the possibility he can change, does it mean that he necessarily will change and an external temptation doesn't necessarily mean that you'll fall you remember the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of a fast with every disadvantage in a howling wilderness resisted the temptation of the devil temptation from the devil doesn't necessitate a fall so what we're lacking here is a mechanism I wonder though, R.C. Sproul talked about this problem. I heard this lecture many, many years ago, shortly after my conversion. I haven't gotten any closer to an answer in all of these years, but he mentioned a time when he was preaching on this subject, and he told the congregation that he didn't have the answer. As he searched the history of Christianity, he didn't find any answer, although some men had tried, and that he didn't think there would be an answer. Afterwards, he was reproved by one of his professors, a man older than himself, that had taught him in school, and said, R.C. Sproul, how could you be so arrogant? I think I can tell this story because he told it. And he said, well, what do you mean? I said that I didn't know. I didn't expect that any time in my lifetime I would know. It seems humble to me. And he said, do you really think you've reached the pinnacle of human knowledge? to where you can't go further or that nobody after you will go further I don't know that maybe one of our children won't put the biblical pieces together and discover the mechanism at some point and come up with an explanation but at this point for my survey of the history of theology I'm not sure that anybody's answered this question what was the mechanism by which Adam was changed we've got a possibility and an occasion But how is it that it actually happened? It could be that it's just locked up as one of God's mysteries. But we'll see if perhaps one of our children will penetrate that mystery at some point. Our second doctrine this morning, one that's worthy of consideration, not because it's difficult to prove, but because it leads so much to thanksgiving in the heart. God's providence to man before the fall was very good. We would have to say, considering the fall and what we have done in God's universe, His providence to us is still good. But in that original first creation, it was indeed even better. So Westminster Confession of Faith 4.2 continues, Beside this law written in their hearts, they received a command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. which, while they kept, they were happy in their communion with God and had dominion over the other creatures. So here man is described in his unfallen state. He has the law of God written in his heart, as we've talked about it, and there was a positive commandment, in addition to the law of God written in his heart, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now we're going to set that discussion aside for the time being because we'll have some more of that when we get into the chapter concerning man's fall and God's covenant because that positive command was very much tied up in what we call the covenant of works. But we'll set that to the side for the time being. While man was obedient in this context, God gave him great blessings when we consider his state. The confession here simply says that he had fellowship with God, certainly a happy condition, and he had dominion over the other creatures. But what they say in brief here, they explain it large in the larger catechism, number 20. So look there with me if you will. Consider all of these great blessings that they're going to unfold for us here. The providence of God toward man in the estate in which he was created was the placing him in paradise. You remember it appears that Adam was formed out of the dust of the ground outside of paradise and then brought into it as something of his inheritance. But this is the situation he's placed in, not going to face Satan like Jesus Christ did in a fallen world in a howling wilderness, but in a garden, a paradise constructed for him. Appointing him to dress it, he was given good work to do in the midst of it. We ought not to think of labor as a curse, but even before the fall of the curse, here Adam was given profitable work to do to glorify his maker. He was given the fruits of his labor. See there, giving him liberty to eat of the fruit of the earth. An earth that at that point was not resistant to his efforts, but ready to yield fruit to all of the labor that he would put into the soil. Of course, all of the creatures were put under his dominion. We already saw that in the confession of faith. And marriage was ordained for his health. We can't develop this. We'll actually have a whole chapter in the Confession of Faith on marriage and divorce, so we won't develop it here. But right from the beginning, you see it's first institution. Something I say, and I'll just say a brief word about this. A lot of times, even in conservative circles, it's become very popular to talk about, this is the man's work and this is the woman's work. These are his jobs and those are her jobs and so we have kind of a traditional division of labor and I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with the division per se, but theologically all of the jobs are the man's job. They're all of his job and all his responsibility to make sure that they get done. She's given to him as a help. to help him perform those things. Now there's a traditional way that that's fallen out. Men have generally not thought it wise to send the weaker vessel out into the world to gather bread. But we shouldn't say that such things are necessarily unlawful either. You find the Proverbs 31 woman apparently involved in international trade to help her husband and for the blessing of her household. Basically, all of those things in Proverbs 31, those are all the man's job, and she has become his help to make sure all of those things get taken care of. So it is helpful sometimes to think of the household in those ways. All of this, man, is your responsibility to make sure it gets done. Why? If you are to help your husbands do all of their tasks, because the task of a household and the many tasks that are involved in it are too much for two hands. So God is appointed to help. God, probably the greatest of all blessings there in the garden, Adam had unhindered communion with God and fellowship with Him. What a wonderful picture we have of what life was like before the fall when you find God showing up to walk in the cool of the day and expecting, as it were, that Adam would show up there and fellowship with Him. we see the institution of the Sabbath that Adam also had a rest from his labor he wasn't going to be working the soil all of the days of his life but one day and seven was set apart so that Adam would be completely free to worship God together with his wife and the children that they were to anticipate God entered into a covenant of life with him A little bit about nomenclature, sometimes in the literature you will find the covenant of works called the covenant of life. They refer basically to the same thing under two aspects. It's called the covenant of works because you enter into life by means of. works perfect personal perpetual obedience was what God required of Adam in the garden and then he would give him life so one focuses on the means of entering into life and one the reward of the obedience but they refer to the same thing and we should say that because Adam was equipped for obedience to God this is a good covenant We ought not to look at it as being anything evil or anything wrong with it. Here it's stated as part of God's good providence to man that he was given such a good covenant. And when you consider the great disproportion between what was offered to Adam, eternal life, and the small thing that he had to do in order to get it, which is live happy in fellowship with God, You see a great disproportion between the reward that was offered and what was required of him. So it's a covenant, some have said they don't see grace in it per se, which seems to indicate sin, but superabounding goodness, more than what Adam would have deserved. Just as it's described by the Lord Jesus, even when Adam was perfectly obedient, he was still an unprofitable servant. We'll see that in our scripture reading this morning in the book of Job. What have you profited God by your obedience, Job, or can you harm him by your sins? You can't profit him or harm him by your conduct. But we see a further description of the covenant of life. It's given upon condition of personal perfect and perpetual obedience and the tree of life was given to him as a pledge of the reward in other words after this probationary period if you're obedient I will give you access to this sacrament the tree of life which is a sign and a seal that you are going to continue forever in perfect blessedness and felicity as it were as the eternal state offered to him immediately you obey during this probationary period and you will enter immediately into life but there was a prohibition of course if he had broken any of the commandments there would have been a fall but there was a specific prohibition a positive command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then there was a threat and the day that you eat of it you will die spiritually and physically so we see there in brief the covenant works which we will treat later in more detail just a brief recommendation John Murray once said that Romans chapter 5 and 1st Corinthians 15 where you have the comparison and contrast of Adam and the covenant of works and Jesus Christ and the covenant of grace. He said they are the most important and all comprehensive rubrics of theology that exist in the Bible. As if there were only two people and two important things that ever happened in the world. Adam The covenant of works and Jesus Christ and the covenant of grace and all other people that have ever lived are only significant and that they are united to the one or the other. It's a very humbling thing but he said they are comprehensive, all embracing rubrics of biblical theology and it's a good place to start as you're trying to understand theology. As I said, we'll talk about those more when we get to it. I'm quite excited to get to it, chomping at the bit really. Well, we move on now to our chapter on Providence, and we've already had a good introduction to this when we considered Confession of Faith, Chapter 3, concerning the Divine Decree. They're very closely related. This is why I included a shorter catechism 8. God executes his decree in the works of creation and providence. In other words, he decreed these things would happen and then they happen. So you see the close relationship between the decree and providence. He eternally decreed all things that would come to pass and we are now living out that decree. It's called providence. Confession of Faith 5.1 God, the great creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things from the greatest even to the least by his most wise and holy providence according to the infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own will to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy. Our third doctrine this morning we can also treat just very briefly. Typically, providence is divided under two heads if you look at a systematic theology book. The first aspect of it is that God by providence upholds all of the things that he made. In other words, we don't have being in and of ourselves. You might say absolutely or independently. We have being dependently. God must uphold us even as he created us or we will cease to be. We were not created as miniature gods to have independent being but we are always dependent upon him for all things. If he should, as it's frequently characterized in the Bible, withdraw breath, you're done. You see? And this is the way that it is with all of the things that he's made. He is constantly holding them together. This is a doctrine very easily proved. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. We've already had an occasion to look at this text. It's amazing that these three verses could be so full of theology. We had it in Confession of Faith chapter 1 because it's significant when we talk about the doctrine of scripture and Jesus Christ himself being the apex of revelation. It's important in the doctrine of creation. It's important in the doctrine of providence and it's important in the doctrine of Christ as mediator. and important in the great affair of our redemption very densely packed bit of theology here God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets so here the doctrine of inspiration talking about the Old Testament hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. So here Christ is portrayed as creator, a Trinitarian creation. who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power so we don't even have to complete the sentence and we see several main heads of doctrine already expressed but here at the very end we see that Christ is the preserver of all things that he upholds all things by the word of his power and we're told specifically in the Psalms and this is where this is a doctrine that tends so much to thanksgiving It's that God preserves the living. Day by day, He gives us breath and the food that we need, the clothes that we wear, and the shelter that we need from the elements. These are all gifts from God. The 36th Psalm reads this way, Thy righteousness is like the great mountains. Thy judgments are a great deep. O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast. If I could just make a brief use of this, I would encourage you, I hope it's already your regular practice, but if you sometimes fail in the practice, we ought day by day to be giving thanks for the food that we eat and for the clothes that we wear, for our shelter, because God has given these things to us and we don't deserve them. So we ought day by day to give great thanks and not to take these things for granted. It's the most common thing in the world to get so used to having a particular blessing or benefit that you just take it for granted. But we should remember day by day that in giving us these things God has heard and answered our prayer to give us our daily bread and so is therefore worthy of great thanks for that and praise for the goodness that is revealed in it. I want to spend the rest of our time on our fourth point of doctrine. God governs all creatures by his providence. I should point out here that God is governing all things, great affairs in the world and small things. The Arminians would be completely happy to talk about a general providence. where God has set certain things in motion, kind of as a first cause, he's implanted certain natural laws in the creation, and even certain spiritual laws, so there's a general providence in that way, but that God isn't working out the particulars of that. And so it's necessary to say that God is governing, by his providence, all things, great things in the world and small things. We've already handled this in one way when we said that He has decreed all things, great things and small things, and now here providence is just the outworking of it. He decreed that they would happen, great things and small things, and now they're happening. they're unfolding around us so then we looked at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11 in Jesus Christ also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will big things little things simply stated here as all things to look at this I thought it would be more powerfully presented to see it at work turning your Bibles to Daniel chapter 4 children this is a wonderful story and narrative here we have Nebuchadnezzar who was the king of Babylon you remember Nebuchadnezzar had invaded Judah Israel, God's people and carried them away captive so now they're living out in Babylon at least a portion of them with Nebuchadnezzar we know from scripture and from history that Nebuchadnezzar was a very cruel and violent man but somehow by God's providence and gracious favor this cruel and evil king takes a real liking to this Hebrew boy Daniel who is able to unfold some mysteries and give him some insight into the mind of God. So he really takes a liking to Daniel. As Daniel has aged in Nebuchadnezzar's presence, we find that he never did fall out of favor or out of Nebuchadnezzar's affection. It's interesting that in the interpretation of this dream, we'll see something of Nebuchadnezzar's affection for Daniel because Daniel is downcast by its interpretation and Nebuchadnezzar says, oh Daniel don't be troubled by the dream I wouldn't have you downcast, what a remarkable thing that this heathen and brutal king would be concerned about this Hebrew boy's feelings doesn't want him to be downcast but Nebuchadnezzar had called to his magicians I want you to interpret this dream for me, and none of his magicians could do it. And so he calls for his right-hand man, the one that he knows that can do it, Daniel. He says, in his pagan terms, he knows that the spirit of the holy gods is in Daniel, and Daniel can open this up. And so we pick up with Nebuchadnezzar's troubling dream in verse 10. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed. 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 reached 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 of 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 vision of my head upon my bed, and behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven. He cried aloud and said thus, Hew down the tree and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit. lest 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 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 for man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him, and let seven times pass over him. This matters by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. Here we have a dream is given to Nebuchadnezzar by God about the future. In other words, here God is doing something that only God can do. He's telling about the future. And a future that couldn't be predicted. But what I want you to notice here is how absolute God's control is over the events. He has control over big things, this great kingdom he said I'll give kingdoms to whomever I will give kingdoms it's up to me but also over very small things he's in control of the small things that will happen to this individual man Nebuchadnezzar now just a little bit about this vision the tree in the vision is Nebuchadnezzar as king of his kingdom and all of the peoples of the earth his kingdom was the largest kingdom that the earth had ever seen up to that point And his kingdom became a shelter and a shade for all of these people. He takes care of all of these people. But because of his pride, he is cut down, as it were, but his stump is not pulled up. Basically, what's being foretold here is that he's going to be driven mad for seven years, and he's going to go out and he's going to eat grass, like a cow. and that the dew of heaven is going to rest upon him because he's not going to go indoors at night he's going to be stark raving mad but that God isn't going to cut him off completely he leaves the stump in the earth so that Nebuchadnezzar can be restored to his kingdom which is what happens but look at this the great affair of a kingdom that is ruling over almost all of the earth God's in control of that but also over control of details This man, this individual man, is going to go mad. Nobody would expect it. And it's going to be for seven years. And I'm even going to tell you what it's going to look like. He's going to be outside. And he's going to be eating grass. His hair is going to grow long. His fingernails are going to grow long. Until such a time as he's ready to acknowledge me as the sovereign of heaven and earth. So you see, God is in control of all things. Now, of course, the Arminians look at this kind of thing and they say, well, God just foreknew it. He saw it happening beforehand, and that's why He could predict it. And certainly He did know it beforehand, but not because He studied it beforehand, but because He decreed it. Verse 17. this matter is by decree of the watchers and by the demand by the word of the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men you see it's not so that people might know that he can look and see what the future is going to be that men have worked out for themselves which would be the Armenian doctrine but all of this has been predicted and prophesied so that human beings would know that he ruleth over them by his decree worked out in providence so here it's a ruling function not just if you will it's not just a cognitive function an intellectual function I knew it beforehand I caused it to happen a ruling function and that's very different you might be what we call a provident person somebody with an understanding of cause and effect might be able to predict that something's going to happen but that doesn't mean that he caused it to happen that's a completely different thing one is an intellectual function and one is a ruling function and the ruling function is what we're after here and what it leads Nebuchadnezzar to do at the end of the chapter beginning in verse 34 is to praise God's government not just as foreknowledge but as government and that's very important At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? See, it's his government that Nebuchadnezzar praises. He said, I was the greatest king in all of the earth. And then I realized something. That there's a greater king whose government doesn't just last for the life of a man, but whose government is forever from generation to generation. And he rules over the inhabitants of the earth. And to him they are reputed as nothing. You know, it's like he's a great king of all things. You might imagine a human king. And the least of all of his concerns is his ant farm. They're refuted as nothing. He has an ant farm, but they're very small to him. And none can say to him, his government is so pervasive and so powerful, nobody can grab his hand, as it were, and say to him, what are you doing? He'll do whatever he wants to do. And nobody can resist him. In this we see another important aspect of this doctrine that it's according to the free counsel of his own will. And we talked about this before under the decree. Men are free, we always do the thing that we want most given the choices that we're given. But our choices are very limited. We're not always faced with the choices that we want. Do I want the radiation or the chemotherapy or nothing? Sometimes we're exercising our freedom in that kind of context. But it's not so with God. No external constraints upon him at all. You see what Nebuchadnezzar is getting at here. A powerful bit of theologian. All reputed is nothing. Not to be considered. Only the free counsel of his own will. That nobody can gainsay, withstand or even question. It's a very powerful presentation. He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. He just does his own will, whatsoever pleases him. Now certainly to unbelievers this doctrine is a great terror and it ought to be. It's something that frequently makes me tremble whenever this God, the God of the Bible is presented even to another professing Christian and they say, I don't like that God. That's grotesque or obscene. You're saying that God is responsible for the tsunami and for the destruction of cities and for wars and all of these sorts of things if you say that he's sovereign over all things great and small yes I am saying that and we can't draw back from that God has a controversy with this world he is not only a good governor but he's a holy judge that stands in a controversy with the sinful and fallen world and he does all of those things and the presentation of any other God and that means no words at this point is an idol and not the God of heaven and if people don't like this God they have a reason to be concerned about the state of their soul because this is the only God that judges and this is the only God that works salvation and there is none other Paul warns about a time when people will come and they'll preach a different gospel and a different Jesus a gospel which is another and really no gospel at all And a Jesus Christ that is not the real Jesus Christ that descended into heaven. You see, so this doctrine is a terror to unbelievers, and unconverted people do not like it. But to believers, this ought to be the most comforting thing in all of the world. That with all that's going on around us, all of it is superintended by our loving Heavenly Father, who has told us that He intends nothing in it for us but our good. All of it. we're assured, listen to the words of the Lord Jesus are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, in other words they're not worth anything, you get these two little birds not sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father superintending the whole thing watching, superintending having decreed that it would come to pass but the very hairs of your head are all numbered fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows God superintends the sparrows, you can be sure that He is going to superintend the business that concerns His children. And when you add that to His gracious promise, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate them he also called, and whom he called them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. What a comforting thing to think that two really precious things, everything that happens to you, the pleasant things and the painful things, you have this assurance that it is good for you. And some of these things come to you as gentle gifts, like we give gifts to our children to show them our affection and even the chastenings and difficult things are spankings that are lovingly administered as Paul tells us in the epistle to the Hebrews so that's one point of consolation but then he said in this great business of your redemption I will not stop until it's finished And this is the same God that said, nobody can resist my hand. It's the way the Lord Jesus said it in the Gospel of John. You've been placed in the hand of my Father. You're safe there because there's no one that can snatch you out of his hand. There's no one mightier. And what a comforting thing that he said, when I have set my electing love upon you, those he had foreknew, his predestinated to make sure that they are called the effectual call of the Holy Spirit under their justification and that they will ultimately be glorified not a single one is going to fall out of his hand it's the most comforting thing in the world when you consider this I don't know how an Arminian can be comfortable if he's thinking I've got to stay at work or I'm going to fall out of grace Well, if you think that you have to work for grace, it's not any grace anymore, as Paul told the Galatian Christians. This, when it's lived out, can be very profound. You know, here we are, more than 150 years later, and people still marvel at Stonewall Jackson and how he was practically convinced of the truth of this doctrine. He would go out on the battlefield. They say, how can you just sit there on the horse? You're unflinching, you're ordering your men about, no cowering, no hiding, no retreating, perfectly calm. And he had become fully convinced, I'm as safe here on the battlefield as I am in my bed. God will take me in God's time and I don't have anything to fear here or there and it was so profound that people still talk about it 150 years later and that's a profound conviction when bullets are whizzing around you and you're seeing people die by the thousands and you say I'm as safe here as I am anywhere Because here, I'm in the hand of my father. And when I lie down in my bed, I'm in the hand of my father. Equally safe in all places. And I won't die when he has ordained for me to die. And even then, it's a going to sleep. This is the way that death is always portrayed for the Christian. It's a simply going to sleep and a resting in the in the bed of the grave until the time of the resurrection when the body, which our larger catechism most beautifully says, is united to Christ. It's hard to think of two bodies in that. But they belong to Jesus Christ. And at his appointed time, after superintending them and watching over them, he will call them up again and reunite soul and body. A most wonderful thing and a most comforting thing. And no one will stop our mighty King from completing that task. Also, a second use, and we'll conclude with this. Just as Nebuchadnezzar did, we ought to greatly glorify God for this. Consider the display of his attributes. You see, if providence is just sort of a mechanical process, the deistic notion that God just kind of shoved it into motion and stopped paying attention, you don't have this wonderful display of his attributes. It's a personal government of the world that we're talking about. Consider the display of His power. He's controlling all of these kingdoms and look at how easily He can cut Babylon off if He's pleased to cut it off. Just drive that man mad and take it away. What a striking thing to be sure. Consider the wisdom that Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges. This God, the God of Daniel, Knows how to humble a man. There I was in my pride, considering, hey, look at the great kingdom that I've built. You see, he's putting himself in the place of God. The decree comes from heaven. God has now cut you off in your pride. And you're going to go out, and rather than seeming like a great and glorious king, you're going to seem like a beast. And Nebuchadnezzar sees the wisdom of God in it. Verse 37. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, pray and extol and honor the King of Heaven. All His works are truth in His ways, judgment, and those that walk in pride He is able to obese. He knows how to do it. You are proud and He knows how to humble you. And He did it effectually with Nebuchadnezzar. But also as Nebuchadnezzar witnesses here, we see His justice in it. Nebuchadnezzar had been a proud man, puffed up, he knew how to humble him, and he humbles him at the point of his sin. You are proud? I will make you abased. I will make you like a beast of the field. But we also see God's goodness and mercy. In the vision, he preserved him like a stump that was surrounded in a metal so that it wouldn't decay, as it were, so that he might, upon Nebuchadnezzar's repentance, revive him again and restore him to his kingdom. and there was certainly no promise of that I mean consider the affairs of man what a marvel it is in the earth that in that seven years nobody took Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom from him while he was stark raving mad and he couldn't defend himself if you know something about the history of the ancient Near East that is nothing short of a most remarkable working of providence that he was not killed out in that field or that he was able to step back in that somebody hadn't just supplanted him and said no you're not king anymore I'm king I got the army behind me study the history of Rome and you'll see those things can turn pretty fast and whoever's in charge of the army is going to be ruling the kingdom but not so in this case and Nebuchadnezzar marvels when I came back I was restored to my advisors and my kingdom and everybody just picked up where I left off a remarkable thing So we ought to, with Nebuchadnezzar, praise this glorious God who has so magnificently displayed his attributes in his providence. 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And remember that John Kelvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart, from his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions. since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.