| The great England wicket-keeper Alan Knott owned
a sports shop in Kent. The year after he retired after an
illustrious careen, a boy came into the shop and asked Alan if he
had some connection with the Kent County Cricket Club. Alan said
that he did. The boy asked Alan if he could get him some of the
players’ autographs!
This brought home to Alan rather forcibly that, although he had
played more tests and achieved far more than any of the current Kent
team, that was irrelevant to the boy. He was no longer a player and
therefore of no importance to the young fan. His career had ended
and his fame had passed away.
Nebuchadnezzar was a great king of Babylon. He was arguable the most
powerful man in the world. In a culture were dreams where seen as
communication from the gods, he had a disturbing dream. God enabled
Daniel to give Nebuchadnezzar an interpretation of it. The dream,
Daniel tells him, refers to a series of kingdoms which will succeed
each other. However, all human kingdoms will pass away to nothing.
Then Daniel comes to the crux of the dream’s message for
Nebuchadnezzar: 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. Daniel 2:44
Nebuchadnezzar had to understand that God was King and that he
revealed himself, making known that human kingdoms and empires were
given their authority by God, which would one day be taken away. In
contrast God’s Kingdom was eternal and complete.
We need to grasp the same truth that human kingdoms are temporary
and will pass away, but that God’s kingdom lasts forever.
We need to live our life in the light of eternity. But we need to
get the balance right. As Jesus said we are to “Give to Caesar what
is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.” (Matthew 22:21). If we earn
our living in Babylon we need to give value for money, to work hard
and with integrity but we recognize that ultimately our home is in
heaven.
If we believe in Jesus, we will have a part in that eternal
kingdom.
 We
will be there. There will be the cup final of cup finals of European
league cup final premierships and we will be there! And we'll
go home and we'll stay there forever. We will be finished with
Babylon! Like everything else that this world can offer and which
people trust in, it will pass away. The power of sin will be broken
and the battle against it over for good. We will be in the presence
of God. Yes!
Also in this series on Daniel
Drawing the line
Not getting carried away
Master yourself
Life's a rollercoaster
The long haul
Making a
difference
An audience of one
He
could never become a Christian
Does it matter?
Being there for
Christ Writing
on the wall |
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