Message for Monday

Thou O king sawest, and behold, a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. Daniel 2:31

I have seen some very impressive statues, and probably so have you. Statues can be amazing in how they present a person or an event, portraying passions and character. But I can’t say that I have ever seen a statue that I could describe as terrible, certainly not terrible enough to wake me out of sleep and cause me to worry. But just such a statue was in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Although he couldn’t remember what it was, it bothered him so much that he made a national issue out of discovering the meaning of the dream. As Daniel describes the image, it doesn’t sound so terrible. But its dimensions and appearance were obviously far beyond what words can describe. Daniel calls it terrible, and the king agreed. It shows us how terrible the Gentile world powers appear compared to the righteous rule of Christ.

The various components of the image describe world empires, as God unfolded to Nebuchadnezzar the future. From our vantage point, we can see how history has indeed followed the pattern of the image, and continues to follow it. You or I might have looked at that image and labelled it impressive or magnificent, but God calls it terrible, because it describes dominions that had no time for God or His purposes. Even today, in the age of the feet of iron mingled with clay, there is no time for God by those in the seats of power. For all their great power and accomplishments, the dominions of the world are a great disappointment to God, terrible in their appearance and terrible in their rejection of God. For the Christian, this image should serve to remind us that all of this world’s powers are opposed to God and should be seen by us as terrible.

All the glories represented by the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream are gone, as the empires have crumbled into history. Today’s empires are embattled, fractured pieces of the globe with little of glory about them. Just the clay and iron toes of division and strife. And yet, two great empires remain to appear on earth’s panorama, the one world government of the antichrist, and the righteous reign of Christ’s millenium.  The first we will never see; the last we will see and share for a thousand years. But of the terrible mess left behind by the empires of Nebuchadnezzar’s image, we have no lot or part, so let us avoid getting caught up in its affairs.

Our glorious future has nothing to do with this world, so let us focus on our Lord’s affairs, prepare for the glorious and forget the terrible. -Jim MacIntosh