Da 2:35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing-floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
Daniel 2 describes the progress of the All conquering Kingdom of God. The rock did not come as an appendage to one of the existing kingdoms, but completely overcame and replaced them.
Not only does this again demonstrate that all earthly authority will return to God, but it is also true when the Kingdom comes at a personal level. We cannot just accept the Kingdom of God as an appendage to our old way of life. To truly accept Christ we must first reject all the ways we once walked in. That is why you cannot separate repentance and faith. God is not willing to share us. To gain his kingdom we must be prepared to embrace the cross, as death to self and a resurrection to God. We become new creations, just as the destruction of the statue and it replacement with God's rock represents.
Jesus also stresses this in his parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 13. Both the parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price tell that the one who gained them first had to "sell all he had". We cannot exist in two Kingdoms. To enter the Kingdom of God means to forever forsake the Kingdom of "Me".
1 comment:
Amazing. It helps us understand why we can't we 'luke warm' in our salvation. It wouldn't work. We really do need to be that rock..a display of God's majesty. Welcome back Chris to your website! But 'Well done faithful servant' to all the other things you are involved in!
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