Living Faithful in a Faithless Land: A Study of DanielSample

Week 2: Make a Stand for God

The Everlasting Kingdom

Read: Daniel 2:36-49; Luke 1:31-33; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18

SOAP: Daniel 2:44

“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.”

Into the Text

To most readers, the dream King Nebuchadnezzar had doesn’t seem that scary. However, something about it obviously made him very uncomfortable. By God’s grace, Daniel was able to understand and interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

Based on Nebuchadnezzar’s past responses, it would make sense for Daniel to have been nervous about how his interpretation would be accepted. This meeting with the king would require Daniel to be brave and honestly share what God had told him.

King Nebuchadnezzar learned not only of the limitedness of his kingdom but also that what would follow after him would be inferior to his kingdom. However, Daniel also told Nebuchadnezzar of a greater, everlasting kingdom that would end all other kingdoms and would stand forever.

Even though King Nebuchadnezzar was thankful to Daniel for interpreting his dream, he actually missed the main point. He even offered a sacrifice and incense to Daniel! While he gave lip service to praising God, we will see his life sadly doesn’t change, yet. Nebuchadnezzar promoted Daniel to be in charge of the province in which he lived, which was a very important job. With this promotion, Daniel did not forget his praying friends. He actually got them a promotion to work with him, too.

As we know from our reading in Luke, Jesus is the one whose kingdom will never end. He is coming back, and He will return to fully establish His everlasting kingdom, as we saw in our Thessalonians reading. All that is wrong in this world will be undone. We will be with Him and other believers forever all because of Jesus’ sacrificial love for us. How amazing!

Prayer

You are the Everlasting God. You are faithful, and your steadfast love does not waver or change. You keep your promises. Jesus will return. While I don’t deserve it, I will be part of your everlasting kingdom because Jesus has paid my ransom. Thank you, Jesus. You have saved my soul. Lord, help me to be brave and lovingly tell others the truth of how you saved me and how they, too, can be saved. Amen.