When Nebuchadnezzar dreamed and it passed from him so that he could not recall it, he demanded of the magicians, the astrologers, and soothsayers to declare to him the dream with the interpretation. But to them it was a secret that none could reveal, according to their own confession, "except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh." (Daniel 2:11)
Because they were unable to do this, the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men should be slain, because, as he said, "you have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me." (Daniel 2:9)
Then the captain of the king's guard brought Daniel and his companions to put them to death, as they were counted among the wise men. But Daniel confidently told him that if he would give him a little time he would make known the dream with the interpretation. Then with his companions he sought mercies of the God of heaven concerning the matter, and the simple record is, "Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision." (Daniel 2:19)
This secret that they desired to know was the secret of God. He only could reveal it, and they knew it. But their experience is simply the experience of finding out the Gospel secret. The knowledge of this secret is to every individual just as much a matter of life and death, as was the knowledge of the king's secret to the wise men of Babylon. And just as only God could make known to Daniel and his fellows the secret they desired, so a knowledge of the Gospel can be revealed only by Him.
In the Gospel the word used to represent this secret is "mystery." Christ said, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God," (Mark 4:11) "the mystery which was kept secret since the world began." (Romans 16:25)
This secret, according to the apostle is: "God manifest in the flesh," (1 Timothy 3:16) or, "Christ in you the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27)
He is then the "mystery of godliness;" (1 Timothy 3:16) and anyone who knows what it is to have Jesus Christ dwelling within him, knows the Gospel secret, and in no other way can he know it. And yet it is a mystery after all. No one can explain it or reason it out, because the deep things of God are beyond human reason. It must simply be accepted as a fact.
There is something more to this secret than simply the abstract knowledge of it. To him who knows it, it is a "well of water springing up into everlasting life," (John 4:14) not alone to himself, but to others also. Christ will in him be manifest in the flesh, (2 Corinthians 4:11) and the works that the Master did for those around Him, he will do. (John 14:12) In his everyday life, the Saviour will be lifted up, and thus others will be, drawn to Him. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." (John 12:32)--Present Truth, August 3, 1899--Daniel 2:9-19
E.J. Waggoner