Demolition

Daniel 2:34-35 – As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it 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, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (ESV)

There is demolition going on just a few streets away from my view of the Cotswold countryside where I work. Workers are pulling down an office block. It is being ripped apart by a huge machine with an enormous set of pincers, which has a long arm that is eight stories high.

They have broken some windows to tip out the innards from several upper stories to the ground below. The building now shows the evidence where the pincers have been at work nibbling away — like a piranha for concrete.

I find these products of past human endeavours to be a reminder of the words from Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a statue of mixed composition and its destruction had weighed heavily on his mind. Daniel, by divine revelation, foretold a time of destruction of the kingdoms of this world and their power by the founding of an eternal kingdom that filled the world.

I believe that it was only after the crucifixion of Christ that any human being came to understand fully the contextual implications of what had been foretold centuries before by this divine revelation.

Before Christ, it would have been seen in the context of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, and God living with His chosen people. Today, the revelation has become evident to God's people — those who accept Jesus' lordship.

Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection destroyed the control of the opposition — the devil — and his hold on this world's systems of power. Jesus is the Rock that has grown to fill the whole world today, if sometimes unrecognised. Although absolute, the message and the victory have yet to progress through to their timeline's completion! We await the terminus. Cheek-by-jowl, we live in this age but also in the one to come. Although our present dwellings are temporary, God's kingdom dwellings are eternal.

Prayer: Lord, we rejoice that You are the Rock that has crushed the power of this age. We respectfully ask You to stay close to us today, to enable us to perceive more of You in our lives and in our living. Shine Your light onto our paths and guard our footsteps today. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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