what kingdom?

SCRIPTURE: Daniel 2
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. [Daniel 2:44]
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream describes the rise and fall of future kingdom’s, as well as the eventual coming of God’s kingdom.
No empire or kingdom or powerful nation state will last forever; it is only a matter of time before it succumbs to the weakness of human nature.
Whether it be the Roman Empire or the Roman Catholic Church of the middle ages, whether it be Communist Russia (do you even remember the USSR) or the Democratic USA.
Some may be stronger and last longer than others (gold vs. clay and iron), but all of them will eventually collapse.
But one kingdom is coming, not weakened by human nature because it is “not cut by human hands”, but by God.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. [Matthew 25:34]
Jesus spends most of His time teaching about the coming Kingdom of God; after all He is the rock not cut by human hands.
As God’s chosen Messiah, He is ushering in the Kingdom of God by the power of His Spirit.
But this is not something new, this is a part of God’s plan for restoring the world that we messed up.
From the creation of the world, it was God’s plan to entrust a creation paradise to His human children.
When humanity rebelled against God, and took matters into their own hands, this world became the fragile, miserable kingdom that it is.
We have twisted and ruined God’s paradise into a place of cruelty, greed, unrestrained lust and selfishness.
But thankfully, since the rebellion, God has been at work preparing for His kingdom to come again.
This dream is a sign that God has been at work through all times and cultures to establish His kingdom.

Notice how God’s kingdom comes.
Worldly kingdoms cut by human hands use force, violence, deception, oppression to establish themselves.
But Jesus does not come in power, but in humility – grace, mercy, love, compassion, generosity, etc.
And this is what He is looking for in His kingdom followers; the quote from Matthew above is where Jesus talks about the King one day separating the sheep and the goats.
And the criteria for those who are welcomed into God’s eternal kingdom are the qualities of grace, mercy, love, compassion, generosity, etc.

Am I working for the right King, working towards the right kingdom?
Daniel was not just saying nice things to please King Nebuchadnezzar (what the other wise men were suspected of doing), but only what God (Daniel’s King, and the only true King) told Him to say and do.
I need to decide what kingdom I am working for, what King I am loyal to.
Jesus has made it clear the kind of kingdom God has been working to establish since the beginning.
Am I committed to living for this kingdom, already today?

PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for not giving up on this world, or on the mess that we’ve made. Show me how to live in Your kingdom, for You as my King – just like Daniel did in his day.