It shall stand forever
Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 12:6
Read Daniel 2:27—28,44—49
What the king saw was a list of metals and compounds, figures of kingdoms succeeding each other, some more brittle than others, all crushed by a stone that reared up as a mountain that filled the earth. So he was to go to bed with the news that his kingdom was not ultimate, not final, not eternal. That was good news because he had it from the God of gods and the Lord of kings and the revealer of mysteries. And I am to go to bed with the same comfort, in fact a greater one, because I know the one who spoke about the kingdom of God and its nature, its supreme value above all things I could ever value myself. And I can know its nearness.[1] I can receive it in poverty of spirit[2] as a child,[3] and expectantly pray for it, too.[4] This unseen kingdom is the perspective that enables me to see everything else in a new light.[5]
Dear Father, you are the Holy One of Israel. As the outcome of your dealings with humans and our history and our whole lived environment you promise that there will arise a kingdom, and it will be you yourself, unmistakably, who is all in all.[6] This day has given me the possibility to put all my energy into what I can buy, build, view, dream of, want, and treat as though it is largely my own. I could build my own kingdom here. But it would fail. It would sour. It would betray me. What a joy to pray tonight for the kingdom that will have no end, that will make sense of all my own unfulfilled and endless longings, and will not be taken from me because it is always yours and I, too, am yours.
[1] Mark 1:15
[2] Matthew 5:3
[3] Mark 10:13—16
[4] Matthew 6:10
[5] Matthew 6:33
[6] 1 Corinthians 15:28