“How
great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endures from generation to
generation.” -Daniel 4:3 (ESV).
The
amazing context of this declaration about the Lord God and His
everlasting kingdom is that the words were written by King
Nebuchadnezzar, pagan king who ascended the throne in Babylon in 605
B. C. He made a golden image and commanded the people to worship
(see Daniel, chapters 2 and 4). He became temporarily insane, but
was restored to sanity, and with his association with the godly
Daniel, acknowledged God. Daniel became his mentor and instructor
about the one true God. In a letter “to all people, nations, and
languages that dwell in the earth” (Daniel 4:1.), King
Nebuchadnezzar prefaced his statement about the one true God and His
kingdom with these words: “It
has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most
High God has done for me.”
(Daniel 4:2).
How
did the statement about God foretell the qualifications of the
Messiah? “His
signs and wonders are great”: When
Jesus was upon earth, He went about doing good. He fed 5,000 with
five loaves and two fishes. He said “Peace be still,” and the
winds and waves obeyed Him, the sea became calm, and the storm
stilled. He cast out demons, healed the sick, gave sight to the
blind, raised persons from the dead, and forgave sinners and
outcasts. And these are but a few of “His signs and wonders.”
“His
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom”: In
His testimony before Pilate as He stood on trial before him, Jesus
said, “My
kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). As
He was ready to ascend into heaven following His resurrection, his
disciples asked Him: “Lord,
will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts
1:6). He answered them, “It
is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by
His own authority” (Acts 1:7).
Only
through the revelation from God could the prophecy King
Nebuchadnezzar wrote in 600 B. C. have been about Christ’s kingdom.
Certainly Christ could speak of the kingdom while He was upon earth.
Also
in Nebuchadnezzar’s declaration were these prophetic words, “and
His dominion endures from generation to generation.” This
shows the responsibility one generation has to another to tell of the
King and His kingdom, to “pass on” the good news. In our
observance of Christmas, if we truly seek the Spirit and truth of the
Lord’s coming to earth, and, living after the event, we know how we
have responsibility to “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills
and everywhere, that Jesus Christ is born!” The gospel came to us
from someone, and it goes to someone else through our telling others
the story of Jesus and His love. Thus “His
dominion endures from generation to generation.”
A scholar once said, “We are one generation from paganism.” If
someone had not witnessed to us (as Daniel, the captive Hebrew,
witnessed to King Nebuchadnezzar long ago), we might not now know of
the Lord Christ.
I
read a story of how a pastor, when Christmas fell on Sunday, asked
his congregation not to attend church that day but to “go out and
be Christ to people you meet.” Remarkable testimonies came of how
people shared Christ and many came to believe as a result of “going
into the highways and hedges” to tell others of the Christ who,
because He loved us all, came to earth to restore mankind’s
fellowship with God. “Go, tell it on the mountains…and
everywhere” that Jesus’ Kingdom is everlasting, and we can be a
part of it through faith and belief in Him.
-Ethelene Dyer Jones 12.06.2015.
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