A Stone Cut Out Without Hands
The story is found in Daniel 2. Like Anna’s story, it is a true story.
One day in the year 603 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon woke up all sweaty and troubled. For he had had a dream, a dream that left him with little peace. He was sure this was no ordinary dream and there must be a message in it for him. However, no one in his kingdom could interpret it, including all the wise men –stargazers, magicians and soothsayers –under his payroll. The king was mad at it and was about to execute them all when a young Jewish eunuch came forth and saved the day. His name was Daniel. According to Daniel, God told him both the dream and its interpretation. Daniel said:
You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Dan 2:31-35, NKJV)
Nebuchadnezzar must have been very impressed when he heard this, for this was indeed what he had dreamed of. But if this impressed him, he would be stunned once he heard the interpretation from Daniel.
You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. (Dan 2:37-44, NKJV)
The stone cut out without hands –this is the Kingdom of God. And whatever kingdom of this world is no match against it. Why “cut out without hands”? Because it’s God’s work, not man’s work. The image as a whole actually represents the kingdom of darkness, whatever that’s opposed to God’s kingdom of light.
We can infer some truths about His Kingdom from this passage. Firstly, it is superior and more powerful than all others, it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms. Secondly, it’s desirous of knocking down all opposition; the kingdom shall not be left to other people. Thirdly, the reality of God’s Kingdom will replace the reality of the kingdom of darkness it knocks down until no trace of darkness is left. The glory of His kingdom will ever increase while whatever of darkness, may it be sin, sickness, poverty, perversion, strife and other evil, will diminish until it is no more. The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found.
Such is the import of the Kingdom of God. So, make sure you release the stone cut out without hands into your situation and see all negative circumstances crumbling down. They will be gone, as if carried away by the wind
Photo Credit: Evgeni Dinev on FreeDigitalPhotos.net
No comments:
Post a Comment