May 25: TIMES AND BOUNDARIES

(subtitle: WESTERN CIV IN A NUTSHELL)

This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. Daniel 2:36

Daniel includes the God in heaven in this “we”. As he begins to address Nebuchadnezzar in his magnificent, gilded throne room, the Hebrew captive renamed Belteshazzar (a feminine version of the pagan god Bel) identifies himself by his relationship with the God whom he loves supremely and trusts implicitly. The true God who sees all and knows all cares for each of the people He has created.

“You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 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.” (vv.37-44)

These eight brief verses from the inspired record embrace world history, in its pomp and power, from Daniel’s day until the second coming of Christ. It is so comprehensive that it embraces all this, yet it is so brief that it is a perfect outline of earthly kingdoms from twenty-six centuries ago through to the end of time as we know it. Human wisdom never composed so succinct a record that covered such a vast span of history. “Human language never set forth in so few words such a great volume of historical truth. The finger of God is here. Let us heed the lesson well.” Uriah Smith

And what is the lesson? We begin the sovereignty of the Almighty God of love, the Creator who grants each of us the freedom to choose our loyalty in the great controversy. Nebuchadnezzar is in his role because God has allowed it. We will see how the divine Majesty of heaven eventually draws this powerful pagan king into the kingdom which shall never be destroyed…

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being…  Acts 17:26-28a