Daniel 2:44 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.
Today’s verse has two possible interpretations. One is the coming of Christ during the Roman rule and the establishing of His Church through the Apostles. The other is looking forward even further to the end times and the Thousand Year Reign Christ will have on earth when He returns.
I don’t claim to be a history expert or an apocalyptic expert. Like many, I struggle to truly grasp the truth that is spoken of through imagery, but today’s verse is the interpretation by Daniel of the imagery that was in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The imagery is spoken of in terms that we can understand simply by reading the words. The questions that arise are WHEN this future kingdom would be established.
The people of Israel were in bondage at this time. They NEEDED hope in their life. And that hope came through prophesies such as this. God gave them a message of hope through the dreams of their captor. Why He chose to use a pagan king to share His message is anyone’s guess. Our ways are not His (Isaiah 55:8) and He has a plan we don’t see the full picture of, so cannot comprehend with our human minds.
Why is it included in our devotions for this month if there is uncertainty in my writing? Because regardless of WHEN it happened/happens, we can find hope in the words. Either we praise God for His Son who came to earth, died on the cross and wiped out all of our transgressions OR we look forward to the future with hope and joy at the time when Christ returns.
Again, regardless of the time of this kingdom’s establishment, our hope should be in Christ. We should be followers, believers, recipients of His forgiveness and grace. He is our hope and He should be the focus of our lives.
I will ask the same question as yesterday to wrap this up. Where is your hope? Is your hope in Jesus? If not, we need to talk.
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