As we look at today’s readings, we are once again presented with kingdoms that come and go, as opposed to the kingdom that lasts forever—God’s kingdom. And we’re given this through the first reading and the interactions between the prophet Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar, who had called upon his services, sparing him from the severe labour of the Jews that were exiled and imprisoned in Babylon.
And so Daniel interprets two dreams for Nebuchadnezzar in the second and in the fourth chapter of his book—the first deals with the statue, the second with the great tree. Then Daniel has several visions that don’t belong to Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, but to his own. Daniel dreams of the four beasts in chapter seven; in chapter eight, the ram and the goat; in chapter nine, the 70 Weeks Prophecy; in chapters 10 to 12, the angelic revelation about future kingdoms. And then there was one occasion where he saw handwriting on the wall—it was in a dream—and Daniel interprets the writing. And that’s about it for the mystical visions that were given to Daniel.
Of course, he had the one with the three young men who were thrown into the furnace, and everyone—not just Daniel—saw a fourth figure, as if of the Son of Man, with them in the burning furnace. The King of kings.
And so, in the first reading, we hear from Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream regarding the statue. First of all, he tells him what he had dreamt: “In your vision, O king, you saw a statue, very large and exceedingly bright, terrifying in appearance as it stood before you. The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron, its feet partly iron and partly tile. While you looked at the statue, a stone which was hewn from a mountain without a hand being put to it, struck its iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces. The iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold—all of it crumbled at once, fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer, and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”
And then he goes on to interpret the dream for Nebuchadnezzar: “You, O king, are the king of kings. To you the God of heaven has given dominion and strength, power and glory. Men, wild beasts, the birds of the air—wherever they may dwell—He has handed over to you, making you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold. Another kingdom shall take your place, inferior to yours. Then a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. There shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; it shall break in pieces and subdue all these others, just as iron breaks in pieces and crushes everything else. The feet and toes you saw, partly of potter’s tile and partly of iron, mean that it shall be a divided kingdom. But you have some of the hardness of iron, as you saw the iron mixed with clay tile, and the toes partly iron and partly tile—the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. The iron mixed with clay tile means that they shall seal their alliances by intermarriage, but they shall not stay united any more than iron mixes with clay. In the lifetime of those kings, the God of heaven will
set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people. Rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever. This is the meaning of the stone you saw hewn from the mountain without a hand being put to it, which broke in pieces the tile, iron, bronze, silver, and gold. The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future. This is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure.”
So, my brothers and sisters, you see that all these kingdoms of the world— they appeared to Nebuchadnezzar as a terrible sight, terrifying in appearance as it stood before you, because these kingdoms can overwhelm us in our humanity. They can deceive us.
And my brothers and sisters, this is my message to you today: do not put your trust in any kingdoms of this world, because they are bound to crumble and fall. We want to make our various kingdoms great and beautiful and strong and mighty and glorious, but a lot of times we do that in isolation from the God of gods, who alone gives us the kingdom that lasts forever. And I tell you not to place your trust, your hopes, your joys in the kingdoms of this world, because you already belong to another kingdom and to the King of kings, who once said: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else will be given unto you.”
My brothers and sisters, in the gospel we’re told that while some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said: “All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another that will not be thrown down… See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them.” And you need to be aware of that, because otherwise you will keep placing your trust in mere mortal men.
Spend time with the King of kings. You don’t need a special appointment—He’s always there for you. And may you truly be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, even now on earth, in your life of virtue, faith, and charity. And may your hope be in the Lord our God, who alone has given us that grace to be citizens of the eternal kingdom, which shall have no end. Amen.
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