Fleeting Power
In the end, only God’s kingdom will prevail and endure. All other political powers are transitory, and already they are passing away. Despite human pretensions, History demonstrates the impermanence of political power and governments. Rome endured for a thousand years, but its empire fell all the same. Like life itself, political power is fleeting, and regimes often collapse quickly and unexpectedly when their allotted time expires. Only the “Kingdom of God” will last forever.
At the height of his power, the absolute
monarch of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, boasted before heaven and earth, “Is not
this Babylon the great and exceptional kingdom that I built by the might of my power and for the
glory of my majesty?” His boast was not an idle one. Babylon was one of the
greatest powers of the Ancient World.
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| [Roman Columns - Photo by Dim 7 on Unsplash] |
After destroying the remnants of the Assyrian Empire, and having subjugated Syria and the kingdom of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar expanded Babylonian dominion up the border of Egypt. But his presumptuous words and imperial ambitions received an immediate response from an angelic figure:
“O King Nebuchadnezzar the dominion has
departed from you…until you come to know that it is the Most-High who has
dominion over the kingdom of men, and to whomever he pleases, he gives it” -
(Daniel 4:28-33).
Consequently, the king lost his rational
mind and was driven by society to live like an animal outside the city. After “seven
seasons,” his mind restored, he lifted his eyes to heaven and declared:
- “I, Nebuchadnezzar, my eyes to the heavens did uplift, and my understanding returned to me, and the Most-High I blessed, and to him that lives everlastingly I rendered praise and honor, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and according to his own pleasure deals he with the army of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth, and none there is who can smite upon his hand or say to him, What hast thou done?” – (Daniel 4:34-35).
From time immemorial, kings, emperors, dictators,
prime ministers, and presidents have engaged in the imperial conceit of this
magnitude - the Babylonian monarch’s boast was nothing new. His kingdom was the
greatest and most exceptional political power the world had yet seen.
EMPIRES RISE AND FALL
Nevertheless, within two generations the
Neo-Babylonian empire was overthrown and replaced by an even greater power, the
“kingdom of the Medes and the Persians.” And it has been thus throughout
human history. Nebuchadnezzar should have known better. Previously, he learned
the same lesson when he received a troubling dream that only Daniel could
interpret.
The king saw a “great image” with a
head of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, and legs
of iron with feet comprised of iron and clay. But a “stone cut out without
hands” struck the great image, pulverizing it, and that small and
unimpressive “stone” became the “mountain that filled the whole earth”
- (Daniel 2:31-45).
Nebuchadnezzar’s “great image”
represented four successive World Empire wannabes, beginning with
Babylon. But the final kingdom of God would fill the whole earth after the
demise of these four imperial upstarts. Thus, from the start, the end of the Babylonian
empire was inevitable.
Political power will pass from one regime to the next until the day God “sets up a kingdom for the ages that shall not be destroyed.” The “stone” that destroyed the “great image” symbolizes the everlasting kingdom appointed by Yahweh that is destined to replace all existing political powers.
In the Book of Daniel, the prophet declares
that God alone “changes times and seasons, He
removes kings and sets up kings.” According to His own purposes, He
gives dominion to even the “basest of
men.” Nebuchadnezzar himself declared to Daniel that “Your God is
God of gods and Lord of kings.” Hence, the pagan ruler acknowledged that
his sovereignty was derived from a higher power.
Political authority comes from God and no government
can reign without His say-so - there
is no exception to the rule. And this is the key theme of Daniel
- God gives rulership to
whomever He pleases.
It begins in the first paragraph of the Book.
The capture of Jerusalem, the captivity of Judah, and the destruction of its
Temple all occurred in accord with God’s purposes:
- “The Lord gave the king of Judah into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand with the vessels of the House of God” - (Daniel 1:1-2).
HIS PURPOSES
Despite the national disaster of
Jerusalem’s capture, Yahweh used Daniel to direct the policies of the Babylonian
empire that overthrew the kingdom of Judah. He enabled His prophet to do
what none of the astrologers, priests, “wise men,” economists, bankers, or
soothsayers of Mesopotamia could do – Recount and interpret the king’s dream.
The result of his insight into the king’s
dream was the elevation of Daniel to a high position where he influenced the course
of the latest incarnation of the World Empire - (Daniel 2:1-49).
Thus, God uses His sovereign power to
accomplish His purposes regardless of human intentions, machinations,
successes, and failures. He is never surprised by events. Kingdoms endure until
He decides otherwise. Rulers who arrogate to themselves prerogatives that
belong to God alone risk removal from power.
History confirms that all kingdoms, empires, and regimes WITHOUT EXCEPTION fall sooner or later. Greece, Rome, and Byzantium all rose to great heights only to collapse.
No nation today is an exception to the rule.
Not one is indispensable to God and His purposes. His redemptive plan is to
fill the whole earth with His righteous reign under the authority of His
Messiah.
All other governing powers are impermanent
realities - fleeting powers and “perishing meat.” In the grand scheme of
things, investing time and resources in the political institutions of this age
is a fool’s errand.
HIS KING AND KINGDOM
Yahweh
promised a coming day when the Messiah will sit at His right hand and rule
until He makes all his enemies his footstool. He will give His Son the “uttermost
parts of the earth for his possession.” Though the nations rage and oppose “His
Anointed One,” he is destined by the Creator of all things to rule them all
- (Psalm 2:6-9, 110:1-4).
The New
Testament is explicit and uncompromising. Not only is Jesus of Nazareth this very
“Son” and “anointed” ruler, his messianic reign on the “Throne
of David” commenced following his death and resurrection. As the risen Jesus
declared to his disciples - “ALL authority in heaven and on the earth has
been given to me.”
Before his exaltation
to reign at the “right hand of God,” Jesus commanded his disciples to
wait in Jerusalem until they received the Gift of the Spirit, then they would
become his witnesses “to the uttermost part of the earth,” an echo of
the second Psalm - (“the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession”).
And so, as the Good News of God’s kingdom is proclaimed among the nations, so
the reign of His anointed king advances across the earth.
Having received the Spirit, the Apostle Peter declared that the very
man rejected by the Jewish nation had been raised from the dead and installed to
reign from the “right hand of God.” It was not King David who ascended
into heaven, but Jesus; and therefore, God made him “both Lord and Christ”
just as He promised - (Acts 2:34-36).
When Yahweh raised His son from the dead, He placed him “far above
all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named, and he put
all things in subjection under his feet.” Because of his obedience, He gave
him the “name which is above every name” - (Ephesians 1:20-22, Philippians
2:6-11).
By his death, he “despoiled the powers and principalities,”
triumphing over them. By his resurrection, he became the “firstborn of the
dead” and in “all things preeminent.” Already he reigns, and all
angels, powers, and authorities have been subjected to him. All other existing political powers
constitute the “meat that perishes.”
Thus, Yahweh’s “anointed” reigns over
all things, and there are no exceptions to this PRESENT reality. By the
time of his return at the end of the age, the “stone cut without hands”
will fill the whole earth, and all other regimes and kingdoms will vanish from
the Earth forever.
