Sermon - May 16, 2010

From Here to Kingdom Come: The Power's On
Daniel 2:39-44, 2 Cor. 5:17-21, Luke 21:20-28 

   Ever have a disturbing dream?  The kind that makes you toss and turn and wake up with a start. Was it just the left over lasagna? Or Do you wonder what your dreams might mean?  King Nebuchadnezzar had such a dream. To test them, he demanded his wise men and magicians to tell him the dream as well as its interpretation. When they failed to do so, Daniel 2:12 says This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. But then Daniel comes forward.
   You looked, O king and there before you stood a large statue – an enormous dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, it's chest and arms of silver, it's belly and thighs of bronze, it's legs of iron, it's feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Dan. 2:31-33. Daniel described in exact detail the dream known only to the king and to God. And then he interprets the dream by saying King Nebuchadnezzar is represented by the golden head of the statue. God looked with favor upon the king giving him great glory, honor and authority. The kings and kingdoms to follow would diminish in glory.
   After you another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.  Finally there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron – for iron breaks and smashes everything- and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.”
   Every aspect of the dream came true.  The chest and arms of silver represented the Medo-Persian kingdom which ruled from 539 BC to 331 BC. That fell to Grecian Empire which ruled from 331 BC TO 146 BC.  That in turn fell under the iron clad fist of the Roman Empire that flourished from 146 BC to 476 AD. Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream which Daniel accurately interpreted the course of world history. So if our history books verify that this is true, what of the remaining part of the dream.
   Just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. Dan 2:43 This is perhaps the most startling aspect of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream.  What other country in the world, or in history, has attempted to accommodate and blend so great a diversity of peoples, faiths, and values as our nation? International corporations and global banking have so meshed the world community, that a financial sneeze in France affects the economy in India.  As the United States buckles under the weight of debt, everyone on the planet gets nervous.
    As a child, I learned the word “Lyceum” at the breakfast table while having a cup of tea with my grandmother. As we sat lingering over our second cup, she would reach back into the archive of her wonderfully preserved memories, select a gem or two, and delight to display them. “When I was a child,” she would begin, “It was so nice. As it would begin to get dark, the lamplighter would light the street lamps.  We didn't have electricity then. There were horse and buggies along the street. Sometimes on Saturday night my father would take me to the Lyceum to listen to special speakers.  Kerosene lanterns lit the foot of the stage. I remember one night especially.  A man talked about the great Roman Empire: how it rose up and how it fell.  He said it collapsed in the middle, from within itself: the government became corrupt, the family broke apart, moral values deteriorated.” Then she was silent for a moment, as if she was hearing  afresh, the words spoken  so long ago. Staring into her half empty tea cup, she uttered, “He said this country was going the way of the Roman Empire.” 
    The Roman Empire had a pretty good run. In fact, fragments of the pax romana remain in our government, our legislature, our democracy and law.  But no kingdom of man endures. There is only one kingdom that lasts forever.  Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar that he saw it in the dream:  While you were watching a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue at its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the entire statue, the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold tumbled down like chaff and was swept away by the wind. Then Daniel reveals the meaning: the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. Dan. 2:44
  The kingdoms of this world are ultimately subject to the supreme Kingdom of God. In some of His darkest prophesies, Jesus proclaims the defeat of all worldly kingdoms and enemies of God, by God's own mighty hand.  Look again at the Gospel:  When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.  21:20 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.  On the earth nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.  Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the word, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
    And just when you think the bottom is going to fall out of the earth, the heavens topple over, Jesus tells us in vs. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. For the believer, this is good news. The power's on! The devil is on the run. The Victor has come. If you are a citizen of the Kingdom of God, you have nothing to fear, and everything to gain, every reason to rejoice.  That day may come hundreds of years from now...or tomorrow.  So what are we to do???
    The Bible tells us it's not so much a matter of what we are to do as who we are. As contemporary Americans, immersed in a democracy it is hard for us to comprehend life in a kingdom. There are very great differences between a democracy and a kingdom, and especially, the Kingdom of God.  In a democracy we are accustomed to debate, interjecting our opinions, taking votes and making decisions by consensus or majority rule.  In a Kingdom, there is no debate. The King's word is law, not amended by an act of congress, or refuted by the court justice. What the King says is what it is. God's law, His Word, is what it is, recorded in the Constitution of the Kingdom, the Bible. All the court decisions on earth, cannot change the truth revealed in His Word. “Oh, that's a matter of interpretation.” You can call a lion, a cocker spaniel, but it remains a lion with power in its jaw and paws. Don't deny our King Jesus who loves us and died for us.
  The power's on, and the people of God need to know and be what we are in Jesus Christ: If you are a believer, you are a saint. Most often people think a saint is some unusually good person who suffers, and after death is declared a saint.  But the Bible says all believers are saints, and if a saint, an heir to the Kingdom of God. This is your inheritance. Being a saint, we have the power and authority of Heaven to do the work of the Kingdom of God. When confronted with problems or perplexity, we just have to ask and trust for what we need.  The power's on, God comes through.
     Secondly, you are of royal stature. You are a citizen of a kingdom of priests. From the beginning, when the children of Israel out of Egypt were delivered out of Egypt, it was God's intention that His faithful people would rule with Him: Ex. 19: 5-6 Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.
  Through the blood of Christ we were grafted into the family of God and share that vocation for the apostle Peter declares to every Christian: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9
      And finally, we have responsibilities toward our King Lord Jesus and His Kingdom. We are ambassadors, with one particular duty.  The Apostle Paul writes 2 Cor. 5:20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us: Be reconciled to God.  An ambassador of any government or kingdom is a unique political position.  Ambassadors are appointed by the King. Represent the king. Are committed to only the interests of the kingdom. Are under the protection of the Kingdom. Cannot be a citizen of another state or kingdom. Has full access of all the kingdom's wealth to complete assignments.  An ambassador never speaks from personal opinion, but always and only on behalf of the Kingdom and its interests. Ambassadors infuence the region for the Kingdom. An ambassador is continually at the beck and call, of the King to represent and carry out the Kingdom's protocols.
     And that, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is who we are and what we are about.  In good faith, we are appointed by Christ, to represent Christ, to be committed to Christ and his Kingdom, under the protection of Christ. Think about that when you are having coffee with friends tomorrow morning.  We cannot serve two masters, or the opposing kingdoms. And all the wealth of the glory of Christ is at our disposal to perform His will. Thank God for that when the month is larger than the paycheck. Our opinions are to be measured by the standard of the Word of God and the words we speak, we are to speak in honor and behalf of God. Remember that when you are tempted to argue. We are to be alert and ready to respond to the beck and call of our king, and to carry out with confidence the work He has prepared for us beforehand to do.
     In being so, we live from here to Kingdom come and participate in the answer to the prayer we pray every Sunday:  For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. 

     

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