Understanding Kingdom Attributes in a Secular World
Do you ever get freaked out by the news? We are living in a world with nuclear weapons and terrorists, a world with war raging on in the Middle East, pandemics happening, interest rates, stock markets rising and falling, and presidential candidate propaganda lurking. The news has a way of freaking us out. Funnily enough, though, the History Channel is a channel you can put on your TV screen without feeling the same panic. Why? Because we already know how it ends and we know it isn’t our current reality.
Everything is Made Known in the Kingdom of God
Pastor Matt gives us an example of when he and his wife, Beth, went to the Auschwitz Museum in Boston. With Jewish blood in his DNA, it was an incredibly sad experience, but it didn’t scare him because he already knew what the outcome would be. Pastor Matt tells us this to explain that there is nothing new within the Kingdom of God. Everything is history, and the future is made known. God has revealed it. The end of our story is a victory because God wins.
In response to King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 2:37-44 reads, “Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the animals and birds under your control. You are the head of God. But after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise and take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise and 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 strength of iron. But while some parts of it will be as strong as iron, others 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.”
Finding Perspective
This passage tells us that the Kingdom of God won’t ever be dominated, nor shall the kingdom ever be taken over by anyone God does not assign authority. Within the understanding of the Kingdom of God, we must stop worrying about how weak or worldly the church is and remember that not every institution with the name ‘church’ is a part of the kingdom. It may sound offensive, but there is truth to it.
There is no righteous kingdom on the planet right now apart from the Kingdom of God. We cannot pin our hopes, dreams, and future on political elections, the rise and fall of the stock market, national policy, or the Supreme Court. Sure, those things are essential, but at some point, Jesus is going to crack the sky and annihilate every earthly kingdom as he fully establishes the Kingdom of God.
Are You Worshipping Your Country or God?
A word of caution as the political election quickly approaches: It is a good thing to love one’s country, fight for it, and serve it, but watch how far your loyalty goes. Love your country, but do not worship it. As much as we may love it, it is fleeting. Our country, too, will get stoned down, dispersed, and destroyed.
John 1:1 states, “In the beginning, there was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” Christ is the cornerstone gifted to us from the Kindgom of God—he is the rock to our salvation. In the above passage, Daniel 2:37-45, the main point he is trying to make is that King Nebuchadnezzar may be the “king” right now, but another one is coming, and when that man comes, his and every other knee will bow to that man.
Your name and your tongue will confess the name of that man. On this side of heaven, we know that name to be Jesus. We, as Christians, need to be reminded today that this is the history of God’s Kingdom. These are the attributes of God’s Kingdom, and Jesus is the king. So, as we go about our day, experiencing the ways of the world, we must find perspective, for this is not our eternity—He is.
