Daniel 7:14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
If I were to ask you who won the Super Bowl last year, you may or may not remember. If I were to ask you who was in the Super Bowl in 1980, very few of us would remember. If I asked you who will be in the Super Bowl next year, you don’t know. The only thing more obscure than the past is the distant future.
That is why a book like Daniel can be confusing. As to the past, kingdoms like Babylon are flat. They don’t seem real. They are black and white, ancient history. We lack the feelings that Daniel might have had. We forget the immensity, size, and power of a kingdom like Babylon. We forget the fear this empire would have produced. So, much is said that is lost on us. The only thing more obscure than the past of Babylon is the future that God outlines in the prophecies He gave Daniel.
Daniel 7:13 says, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.” That is, they brought the Son of man, God the Son, near to the Ancient of days, God the Father. Verse 14 continues, “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed.”
In these verses we are reminded of the eternality of the kingdom yet to come, God’s kingdom. Regardless of who has served, who has ruled, like Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, what is happening today, and what we fear may happen in the future, sooner or later God will win. If you will take a moment today and look up some verses, you will find that this is a theme throughout the book of Daniel. In Daniel 2:44, Daniel 4:3 and 34, Daniel 6:26, and Daniel 7 you will find over and again the eternal, everlasting kingdom of God.
One day everything that worries you, the things that are right in front of your nose, the things that seem most real to you in this moment, will be shown to be things that are not the most important. They are the things we are most conscious of, but not necessarily the most real. The things that God is prophesying through Daniel are more real than the things around you right now.
God is the most high God. He is the Ancient of Days. His kingdom will be forever. That is why He is called the Ancient of days. It is not just saying that God looks like some Father Time with some long white beard. No, God is not. He is timeless. He is eternal. Eternal is not another designation of time. It is something totally different. It is as different from time as the most high God is from Nebuchadnezzar. It is infinite.
What I am saying is that when it comes to the news in Washington, next year’s Super Bowl, or your next car payment, things that are right in front of your nose, they are not the things that are most real. Today, you can take comfort and solace in remembering that sooner or later God will win. He made this world and rules it yet.