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greatness in perspective

Daniel 2:36-45 (JDV)

Daniel 2:36 “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation.
Daniel 2:37 You king, are a king of kings. The God of the sky has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and glory.
Daniel 2:38 Wherever the sons of mortal humans live – or wild animals, or birds of the sky – he has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.
Daniel 2:39 “After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole land.
Daniel 2:40 A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; because iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others.
Daniel 2:41 You saw the feet and toes, part potter’s fired clay and part iron – it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay,
Daniel 2:42 and that the toes of the feet were part iron and part fired clay – part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle.
Daniel 2:43 You saw the iron mixed with clay – the seed of mortal humans will mix with one another but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay.
Daniel 2:44 “In the days of those kings, the God of the sky will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure permanently.
Daniel 2:45 You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it, and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold. The great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain, and its interpretation reliable.”

greatness in perspective

The dream that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed acknowledged his greatness. He was a king of kings, with sovereignty, power, strength, and glory. But the dream was scary because it put that greatness in perspective. His greatness was temporary. His power would not last. We all need to recognize our mortality no matter how great we may seem to be.

God has a coming kingdom that will not be destroyed. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure permanently. Wise men like Daniel seek that king today. It is unwise to ignore him.