Reading… and Thinking

“And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

— Daniel 2:44-45 (ESV)

A young Jewish man named Daniel, probably a teenager, was taken from his home as a captive of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. He fared better than most. Because he was from a good family, and was smart, he was designated to receive training and become part of Nebuchadnezzar’s court.

The passage quoted here is the conclusion of Daniel’s interpretation of an amazing vision given by God to Nebuchadnezzar. In the vision the king saw a great image, composed of different metals. Daniel gives the interpretation: these represent a succession of empires, beginning with Babylon. The feet of the image are described as a patchwork of iron and clay, part strong and part fragile. The final aspect of the dream is a stone, cut out by no human hand, which strikes the image on the feet, toppling it and grinding it all to powder, then growing to be a mountain that fills the whole earth.

All the aspects of the image are empires, and this last is no exception. But with a difference: this kingdom will be set up by the God of heaven, it will destroy all human governments, and it will last forever. When we turn to Daniel chapter 7, we find another vision (given to Daniel himself this time) that likewise lays out the same succession of empires. This vision concludes:

And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed… And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. (Daniel 7:13-14,27)

Same message – an everlasting kingdom displaces all human governments, and lasts forever. Two additional facts appear. First, “one like a son of man” is given the rulership, and the kingdom is “given to the people of the saints of the Most High”.

What’s described in these passages is the ultimate goal of the Almighty God. He has sworn that the earth will be filled with His glory (Numbers 14:21, Isaiah 11:9, etc) This will be accomplished when He establishes His kingdom, ruled over by His own Son, the “son of man”, the Lord Jesus Christ. Besides these chapters in Daniel, this is foretold in many other places. To mention a few:

• Psalm 2 – God will set His king on Zion, His holy hill (in Jerusalem) to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.
• Isaiah 2 – all nations will go up to Jerusalem to be taught by God, the law of God will go out from there throughout the earth, and there will be peace everywhere.
• Isaiah 11 – the offspring of Jesse (David’s father) will rule the world in righteousness, there will be peace and knowledge of God throughout the earth.
• Matthew 24 – Jesus’s great prophecy of his return in clouds of glory seen by people everywhere, who are in fear, and he gathers all his people together to him.
• 1 Corinthians 15 – at Christ’s return the dead are raised and given immortality, and Jesus conquers all the enemies of God, returning the sovereignty to God when he has subdued everything.
• Revelation 19 – Jesus, with the names “the Word of God”, and “King of kings and Lord of lords”, strikes down the nations and rules them. (And from chapter 5, the saints are to reign with him as a kingdom of priests.)

And there are more. Clearly, this is not an obscure topic! It is the culmination of God’s whole plan for human beings, in particular for His faithful people. It is the fulfillment of all God’s promises. It is the Christian hope.

Our job is to make sure we are among “the people of the saints of the Most High”, so that we are among those Jesus calls together when he comes, to reign with him and to inherit the kingdom with him. “The interpretation is sure.” And it could happen really, really soon! The “days of those kings” sounds an awful lot like right now.