The Eternal Kingdom

We live in a world that often feels unstable and chaotic. Many of us can feel anxious over escalating wars overseas and the ever-increasing cost of living at home.

As God’s people it can be disorienting to live in a world that is ever-changing and where the future feels less than certain. However, the Scriptures remind us that this is not a new experience for us. God’s people have always had to learn what it means to live securely in God’s promises while navigating life in a tumultuous world.

Last Sunday, we began our new sermon series in the Old Testament book of Daniel. For the next 6 weeks we will be studying Daniel 1-7, and God’s people in the world of Daniel had to remember the same lessons we are learning with the current state of our world. While living in the pagan kingdom of Babylon, the Jewish people were to learn how to remain true to their identities as citizens of God’s Kingdom.

The book of Daniel was originally written with two primary audiences in mind: 1) to the Jewish exiles living in Babylon, and 2) the Jewish generation that returned to Jerusalem during the reign of king Cyrus. But, as generations of God’s people have experienced, this remarkable book has a vital message for believers of every time and every place. Through Daniel God shows us that even when we suffer from the tyranny and corruption of the kingdoms of this world, we can persevere in faith and devotion to God. Our Lord Jesus is the Sovereign God whose power is unrivalled and whose Kingdom will last forever.

The very way that Daniel has structured the text of chapters 1-7 helps us see the permanence of God’s Kingdom compared to the frailty of the kingdoms of this world. These chapters contain a concentric or ‘chiastic’ pattern (A B C - C’ B’ A’), which puts the focus on what comes at the centre of the chiasm. See a summary below:

God’s discipline of both Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar at the centre of this section ultimately shows us who it is that truly rules the world. As we will learn from Daniel 2 this coming Sunday, the central message of the whole book is that there is a God in heaven who reigns over the only Stable and Eternal Kingdom:

Daniel 2:44 - “And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the Kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.”

Brothers and sisters, as we see the ever-changing and turbulent affairs of the nations around us, as we experience uncertainties in our own city, and as we even experience changes in the life of our church, let’s continue to lift our eyes to see and to trust our Sovereign King Jesus whose Kingdom stands forever.

Jaison Jacob
Associate Minister