"The Eternal Kingdom"

November 18, 2024 Daily Devotion: "The Eternal Kingdom" Daniel 2:44 New International Version 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. To most readers, the dream King Nebuchadnezzar had doesn’t seem that scary. However, something about it obviously made him very uncomfortable. By God’s grace, Daniel was able to understand and interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Based on Nebuchadnezzar’s past responses, it would make sense for Daniel to have been nervous about how his interpretation would be accepted. This meeting with the king would require Daniel to be brave and honestly share what God had told him. King Nebuchadnezzar learned not only of the limitedness of his kingdom but also that what would follow after him would be inferior to his kingdom. However, Daniel also told Nebuchadnezzar of a greater, everlasting kingdom, which would end all other kingdoms and would stand forever. Even though King Nebuchadnezzar was thankful to Daniel for interpreting his dream, he actually missed the main point. He even offered a sacrifice and incense to Daniel! While he gave lip service to praising God, we will see his life sadly doesn’t change, yet. Nebuchadnezzar promoted Daniel to being in charge of the province in which he lived, which was a very important job. With this promotion, Daniel did not forget his praying friends. He actually got them a promotion to work with him, too. As we know from our reading in Luke, Jesus is the one whose kingdom will never end. He is coming back, and He will return to fully establish His everlasting kingdom, as we saw in our Thessalonians reading. All that is wrong in this world will be undone. We will be with Him and other believers forever all because of Jesus’ sacrificial love for us. How amazing!