The Invisible Kingdom

If you ever feel like a foreigner in your own culture, be not dismayed. You’re a citizen of a different kingdom.

Daniel, a young Jewish man exiled to Babylon, was used by God to identify and interpret a dream that plagued King Nebuchadnezzar.

“You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:31–35, ESV)

The image of this single rock destroying the great statue is a picture of Christ, the chief Cornerstone. The statue symbolizes the empires of the world, the wickedness of the earthly kingdoms, and the false ideologies of the culture. That singular rock, uncut by human hands, seems at first insignificant compared to the august statue. But the other-worldly rock takes over, crushing all that would stand against it.

It means that God’s kingdom is the one that eventually will cover the whole earth. The other kingdoms may laud themselves like a prominent statue, and they may parade their vast armies, but the invisible kingdom of which we are citizens is the only realm that lasts; it will NEVER be defeated!

So do not despair. Grieve, pray, work hard, speak out, do as the Lord leads you to do good in this world, but do not despair. Instead, rejoice in the Lord always!

The pandemic won’t have the final say. Nations won’t have the final say. And, most assuredly, the devil won’t have the final say. God will. And that’s the Gospel!