Nebuchadnezzar was a proud and ambitious king who sought to establish a great Kingdom and who wanted to be like a god over the nations. But God was working in his midst, laying the foundations of an eternal Kingdom of righteousness that would vanquish every other Kingdom on earth. Ironically, God was building this Kingdom amongst those who were Nebuchadnezzar’s captives. God wanted to speak to his people about the eternal Kingdom that he was building for them and by them. He wanted to assure Daniel and his friends that the Babylonian kingdom would one day be destroyed to make way for this eternal Kingdom. So, again ironically, God gave a dream to Nebuchadnezzar that symbolised the demise of his kingdom and the kingdoms to follow. The climax of the dream was a vision of the coming of a Kingdom that is “not by human hands,” that is, the Kingdom of God. Only Daniel had access to the dream and its meaning because the dream was for Daniel. But it was a declaration of judgement upon the human endeavour that Nebuchadnezzar epitomised and so it was first inflicted on him. The message was delivered by a slave who was the seed of the very Kingdom that would one day prevail, the Kingdom that Isaiah predicted when he saw that one day “the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it” (Isaiah 2:2). You have come to this mountain, and you belong now to this Kingdom. Your future is assured.
Ask God to establish his will in your life and extend his Kingdom through you.
Read Daniel 2
