Thursday, March 28, 2013

The kingdom of Daniel 2


One night, King Nebuchadnezzar had a cryptic dream which baffled his leading dream interpreters. The young man Daniel was the lone one who could unlock its mystery. After relating to Nebuchadnezzar the four world kingdoms which would rise and fall in the future, he concluded the prophecy by saying this: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure” (Daniel 2:44-45).

This is a prophecy of the church, but I would like to go a bit farther and see its promise in Daniel and its fulfillment in the New Testament. The first part of the prophecy says it will occur “in the days of these kings,” meaning in the days of the last world empire. This was fulfilled in Roman times. Jesus declared that the “time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:14-15). The second part is “without hands.” This means it would be a spiritual kingdom, which is exactly how Jesus described it to Pilate in John 18:36. The third part is the declaration that it would break and consume kingdoms. John the Baptist illustrated this when he warned about the tree (the nation of Judah) being chopped down (Matthew 3:10). The fourth part boldly says that it will “stand for ever.” Hebrews 12:28 boldly answers that the kingdom of Christ “cannot be moved” (Hebrews 12:28). The fifth and final part was the promise that it would fill the earth (vs. 35). In Colossians 1:23, Paul said that the gospel was “preached to every creature which is under heaven,” fulfilling the prophecy of the dream.

Daniel 2 does not prophesy of a time in the future. It was fulfilled in the days of the Roman Empire, when Jesus walked the earth and taught, and when Peter preached the gospel in Acts 2, opening the doors of that eternal kingdom (Ephesians 3:8-11).

Kyle Campbell

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