New Boss Same As The Old Boss

Feb. 4

Read: Daniel 2:36-45

New Boss Same As The Old Boss

“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…” (v.44)

God is setting up a kingdom that “SHALL NEVER BE DESTROYED.” God is actively expanding the Kingdom of God, and the Father has set up the son, Jesus, as the King. The kingdoms of this world pass away… they are fleeting. It is hard for us to fathom, isn’t it? Could you imagine a brand new country or nation forming? Can you picture a proverbial “king” coming along and conquering Russia and China to form a new nation? What if 50 years from now the United States are no more and we all live in a different “kingdom”? How do the people of Ukraine feel today as another nation is on their doorstep? What about the people of Tokyo? Or Cyprus?

The truth is that earthy kingdoms come and go… we don’t like to think it but it is true. Sometimes these earthly kingdoms are conquered by force. Other times these kingdoms will try to mix together ideas, people, resources, etc. in a way that simply will not work… like “iron and clay”; “As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.” (v.43) These are nations or institutions built on the merging of ideas, values, principles, and/or people who do not being together. In the end, they fall apart and cannot hold. Strength has no place with brittleness in the support (the feet) of a thing. (v.41,42) As God’s people we must live out this truth: nations, rulers, and earthly kingdoms PASS AWAY, but God is building a KINGDOM that will last FOREVER. Look at the dream God sent to Nebuchadnezzar all those years ago: “As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” (v.34,35)

Jesus is “the stone” that will break apart ALL OTHER kingdoms, blow them away like dust in the wind, and then become a “great mountain that fills the whole earth.” Why do we keep thinking that God is going to pick an existing earthly nation and team up with it? Why are we so eager to give our loyalty to an earthly nation when we have been made royal priests, ambassadors, and co-heirs with Jesus… THE KING OF KINGS. We are children of a kingdom that will last forever. Jesus is the rock, the “cornerstone” that the builders rejected, and he is going to drop from the sky and break into pieces every other Kingdom besides his own! (cf. Ps. 118:22, Matt 21:42, Luke 20:17, etc.)

You will never be able to interact with the kingdoms of this world until you embrace this. As God’s people, we will have an unhealthy attachment to the systems of this world when we are duped into thinking they are “eternal”… or the things that will “endure forever”. This is actually the TRUE GOSPEL OF GOD. Look at Mark 1:14: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” The real good news is that God’s Kingdom is being established and that it will last forever, and that Jesus has come like a stone to break into pieces… and will come again to finish the job… and that Jesus is the mountain that will fill the earth. There will be no room for any other kingdom… no competing “kings”.

The cyclical nature of human history stands in direct contrast to the truth of the gospel of God… the good news that God’s kingdom is invading the earth and breaking apart all other competing systems. God is an everlasting God. His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom. So we must not “fret over” the twists and turns of history. We are to keep our eye fixed on the everlasting Kingdom. The Church of God is expanding and “the gates of hell cannot even hold it back”. (cf. Matt. 16:18) Imagine how much courage it took to tell the king this truth. Daniel stood in front of Nebuchadnezzar and basically said, “this game of thrones, of empire, of conquest… it is nothing but a long string of one disintegrating kingdom after another. God is going to send a stone that breaks it all apart, fill the earth, and HE is the one whose Kingdom shall reign over all the earth.” Nebuchadnezzar knew it was true! He praises Daniel for the message because he knew it was from God. Even those far from God will acknowledge the power of God when they see it.

*** The people of God can and must carry the supernatural words of the Lord to the people around us. They will not come from things we expect. The word of the Lord will come from scripture and the indwelling presence of God within us. The Holy Spirit will lead us into truths that we can’t know on our own; he will open our eyes to the scriptures and bring them to life. We will live as Acts 2 says. We are not fit to do so if we are beholden to or afraid of anyone or anything other than the Lord. Our clarity of vision is clouded when we forget that these games as old as empire are passing away. *** We must declare along with Nebuchadnezzar that “Truly, God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries”. God is making us “able to reveal his mysteries” to the world! So whose Kingdom are you living in? Love you guys. - JDP