Your Future
Theme: Choose the kingdom that will never pass away.
Text: Daniel 2:29-45, 7:13-14, 12:1-3
Here’s a thought: What you see is temporary, and what you cannot see is eternal.
In 1994, Brenda and I had the opportunity to visit one of the most historic cities in the world – Rome, Italy.
More than any of the buildings I saw in Rome, one particularly impacted me – the Colosseum. This massive structure was built in 70 to 80 A.D. Here once sat mighty Roman emperors and thousands of spectators who cheered the Roman soldiers as they tossed Christians into the arena where gladiators slaughtered them, and hungry lions promptly devoured them. What a tragedy to see innocent human lives wasted and to see how low we can stoop in our quest for entertainment.
The great Roman Colosseum witnessed a clash of two kingdoms: a kingdom made and ruled by humans and the kingdom of God. At the time, it appeared that the human kingdom was the victor.
There is a distinct difference between:
Human Kingdoms and
God’s Kingdom
Human Kingdoms
Six hundred years before Christ, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a dream. God gave to Daniel the details and meaning of the dream, as described in Daniel 2:29-43:
29 As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. 31 You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue - an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. 36 This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. 39 After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron - for iron breaks and smashes everything - and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. NIV
Nebuchadnezzar was by statues, and his palace and gardens were filled with them. The prophet Daniel interpreted his dream as symbolizing the ultimate end of world powers at the second coming of Jesus Christ. A widely held view is that his dream represented the four kingdoms of Babylon, MedoPersia, Greece, and Rome.
A very small, sickly-looking man was hired as a bartender. The saloon owner warned him, “Drop everything and run for your life if you ever hear Big John is on his way to town.”
The man worked for several months without any problems. Then, one day, a cowhand rushed in shouting, “Big John is a ‘comin’!” and knocked the small bartender on the floor in his hurry to get out. Before the bartender could recover, a giant man with a black bushy beard rode into the saloon, through the swinging doors, on the back of a buffalo, and using a rattlesnake for a whip. The man tore the doors off their hinges, knocked over tables and flung the snake into the corner. He then took his massive fist and split the bar in half as he asked for a drink. The bartender nervously pushed a bottle at the man. He bit off the top of the bottle with his teeth, downed the contents in one gulp, and turned to leave. Seeing that he wasn’t hurting anyone, the bartender asked the man if he would like another drink. “I ain’t got no time,” the man roared. “Big John is a ‘comin’ to town!”
There is always someone bigger, stronger and faster. The head of gold in the statue Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of represented Babylon, and then, in decreasing world supremacy, we got to the toes, which represented Rome. Toward the end of the Roman empire, it grew weak and branched into ten kingdoms as the toes of these feet. Some were as weak as clay, others as strong as iron. There were attempts made to unite and cement them to strengthen the empire, but in vain.
The stone that struck the image and became a great mountain symbolizes Jesus Christ's first and second comings - the first coming, which initiated the invisible kingdom of God in the hearts of people, and the second coming, which will be a triumphant return of Christ as King of kings to rule over a kingdom that will be visible to all.
Our world is constantly changing. All of these nations flourished and then passed away. So it is with anything made with human hands. Whatever you can experience with your five physical senses will one day be gone. What you see is temporary, and what you cannot see is eternal.
What do you dream about having or doing with your life? What are your top three dreams? Run a checklist on these: how many will pass away when you do?
There is a distinct difference between:
Human Kingdoms and
God’s Kingdom
Daniel 2:44-45 describes a very different kingdom:
44 In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands - a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy. NIV
The stone cut out without hands represents the kingdom of Jesus Christ, to be set up in the world in the time of the Roman Empire and upon the ruins of Satan’s kingdom in the kingdoms of the world. This is the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, for it should be neither raised nor supported by human power or policy; no visible hand should act in setting it up, but it should be done invisibly by the Spirit of God. This is a kingdom in which Christ is the sole and sovereign monarch, rules by His word and Spirit, gives protection and law, and receives worship. It is a kingdom not of this world, yet set up in it; it is the kingdom of God among people.
The God of heaven was to set up this kingdom, give authority to Christ to execute judgment, establish Him as King and bring into obedience a willing people. Being set up by the God of heaven, it is often called the kingdom of heaven in the New Testament. It was to be set up in the days of these kings, the kings of the fourth monarchy, the Roman Empire. That Christ was born when, by the decree of the emperor of Rome, all the world was taxed was a plain indication that the empire had become as universal as any earthly empire ever was. God will fulfill His will when these kings contest each other, and the contending rulers hope to carve out their supremacy in all the struggles. These kings are all enemies to Christ’s kingdom, yet it shall be set up in defiance of them. It is a kingdom that knows no decay, is in no danger of destruction, and will not admit any other ruler – including you or me. It shall never be destroyed by any foreign force invading it, as many other kingdoms are; fire and sword cannot waste it; the combined powers of earth and hell cannot deprive either the subjects of their prince or the prince of his subjects; nor shall this kingdom be left to other people, as the kingdoms of the earth are. As Christ is a monarch with no successor (for He shall reign forever), His kingdom is a monarchy with no revolution. The kingdom of God is still the same; it is fixed on a rock, much fought against, but never to be prevailed against, by the gates of hell.
It is a kingdom that shall be victorious over all opposition. It shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands broke the image in pieces. The kingdom of Christ shall outlast all other kingdoms. All the kingdoms that appear against the kingdom of Christ shall be smashed.
The idea for daylight saving time came from an old pioneer who cut off one end of his blanket and had it sewn on the other end to make the blanket longer.
The kingdom of God is not subject to time. The kingdoms of the earth that had broken in pieces the nations they conquered were eventually all broken. The kingdom of Christ shall break other kingdoms in pieces and stand forever. His throne shall be as heaven's days; His subjects, as the stars of heaven, are beyond being counted and beyond measurable distance. There shall be no end to the increase of Christ’s government and peace. The Lord shall reign forever, not only to the end of time but when time and days shall be no more.
Daniel describes what he saw in Daniel 7:13-14:
13 In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. NIV
Have you ever wondered why the passenger door mirror on your car says, “Objects are closer than they appear”? The reason is that the mirror is convex, allowing a much wider angle of vision. I pray that God expands our angle of vision so we recognize that the second coming of Jesus Christ may be much closer than it appears!
Daniel 12:1-3 elaborates further:
1 At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people - everyone whose name is found written in the book - will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. NIV
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) wrote:
The doctrine of the Second Coming teaches us that we do not and cannot know when the world drama will end. The curtain may be rung down at any moment. … This seems to some people intolerably frustrating. … We do not know the play. … The Author knows. The audience, if there is an audience (if angels and archangels and all the company of heaven fill the pit and the stalls) may have an inkling. … When it is over, we may be told. We are led to expect that the Author will have something to say to each of us on the part that each of us has played. The playing it well is what matters infinitely.
There will be great judgment when the kingdom of heaven is made visible to everyone. This is the courtroom to which all humanity is headed, where God will once and for all sort out those who are for Him and those who are against Him.
I wonder how often people think about the future. I think about it a lot, but I must be unusual. I suspect most people live just for today or just for this lifetime. Some people live for their next vacation or retirement. I knew one fellow who endured a job for years that he detested, but it came with a lucrative pension. He died of heart failure shortly after he retired.
A structure in the fascinating city of Rome is nowhere near as glorious as it was almost 2,000 years ago.
Yes, the mighty Roman Colosseum ruins, which once seated 45,000 and had standing room for 5,000 more, are still standing. However, the faithful followers of Jesus Christ who were fed to the lions there live on! Their glory is not yet visible to us, but there is coming a day when we who also love Jesus will share this incredible future with our Lord and His people.
Would you take a life that was challenging and fulfilling? Would you take a life that paid eternal rewards? This is precisely what Jesus is offering you and me. Will you take it?
There is a distinct difference between:
Human Kingdoms and
God’s Kingdom
Choose the kingdom that will never pass away. Choose your future.
