Read Daniel 2

The Kingdom That Shall Stand Forever

The power of the Babylonians was unmatched in their day. The king, Nebuchadnezzar, had a dream that troubled him, and no man seemed to be able to interpret the dream for him. Angry with their incompetence, Nebuchadnezzar put to death many of the wise men, and sought to execute Daniel and his companions as well. Daniel, however, stepped up and told the king the meaning of his dream.

Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a great image with a head of fine gold, a chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay. The image was then destroyed by a stone, and that stone because a great mountain.

Daniel explained to the king that the head of gold is Babylon; the power that Nebuchadnezzar enjoyed was given to him by God. Another kingdom would come after Babylon, inferior to Babylon, then another, and another.

We can now look back through history and identify these kingdoms that followed Babylon. The chest and arms of silver represented the Medo-Persian Empire, in power from 539-330 BC. The belly and thighs of bronze prefigured the Greeks, in power from 330-63 BC, initially led by Alexander the Great. The legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay represented the Roman Empire.

Daniel explains that during the days of that fourth kingdom, that is the Roman Empire, another kingdom would arise. “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).

We are now many years removed from the Roman Empire, but that kingdom that God set up, prophesied by Daniel, still exists. Jesus, who lived during the time of the Caesars, told His disciples that upon their confession of Him as the Son of God, He would build His church, “and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:13ff). In that same passage, Jesus equated the church to the kingdom.

Are you in God’s kingdom, the church? It is the only kingdom that will stand forever.