To Read
“In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight. The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.
“That was the dream. Now we will tell the king what it means. Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honour. He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the wild animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold.
“But after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise to rule the world. Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth one, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes. The feet and toes you saw were a combination of iron and baked clay, showing that this kingdom will be divided. Like iron mixed with clay, it will have some of the strength of iron. But while some parts of it will be as strong as iron, other parts will be as weak as clay.This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage. But they will not hold together, just as iron and clay do not mix.
“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. That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain.”
(Daniel 2:31-45, NLT)
Daniel 2 – A Different Kingdom
Daniel explains and interprets King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and, in doing so, shows the contrast between the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God. Living as exiles in the world – because heaven is our home – we want to live differently. But we don’t live differently from the world because we don’t like the world. We live differently because we belong to God’s heavenly kingdom and it is a radically different kingdom. It is represented by ‘the stone that was cut out but not by human hands.’ In this study, we explore the kingdom of God by looking at where it is from, what it is like and how it works.
Where is the kingdom from? It originates in heaven. It is a heavenly kingdom. We are ‘born from above’ and our citizenship is in heaven (Phil.3:20). We, therefore, fix our eyes on things above, not on the seen and temporary, but on the unseen and eternal (2 Cor.4:18). This will mean we are not intimidated by the giants of our world (note the statue was frightening – v.31), nor are we distracted by the stuff of the world. We live secure and satisfied because we belong to another world.
What is the kingdom like? It is radically different from the kingdoms of this world because we serve the king who was crucified. It is the slain lamb who is on the throne (Rev.. Instead of fighting, the citizens of this kingdom lay down their lives, even for their enemies. We always see God’s kingdom through the lens of the cross and we realise it’s totally countercultural in nature, challenging our understanding of power, authority and success. In this kingdom the last are first, the greatest are the servants of all, we lose our life in order to gain it, the humble are exalted, the poor can say I am rich, and when we are weak, that is when we are strong. This is so different from the way of the world.
How does the kingdom work? In its essence, God’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. The kingdom of God is not about religious rule-keeping but about life in the Spirit (Romans 14:17). It is not true to say that everything is spiritual (see 1 Cor.2:13-3:3). To live naturally is to live from ourselves and for ourselves – by our strength and for our glory. To live spiritually is to be directed and empowered by the Spirit and to live for the glory of God. We, therefore, want to be filled with, led by and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is life in the kingdom.
To Discuss:
- What practical difference should it make to us if the kingdom of God is a heavenly kingdom?
- What practical difference should it make to us if the kingdom of God is radically, counterculturally different because it is understood through the lens of the cross?
- What practical difference should it make to us if the kingdom of God is spiritual (of and in the Spirit) in how it works?
To Do:
Take one of the practical differences you have discussed/reflected on when considering the questions above and make a conscious effort to apply that to your life over the next week.
There is a PDF version of this study here.