Broken statues

The court shall be seated, and they shall take away his dominions, to consume and destroy it forever. – DANIEL 7:26

In Moscow stands the New Tretyakov Gallery, a museum that displays art and artifacts from the days of the former Soviet Union. Scattered along the banks of the Moscow River near the museum are statues of once-powerful leaders that have been smashed and disfigured. Images of Stalin and Lenin have their noses knocked off and their heads separated from their bodies.

These gloomy scenes bring to mind the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar in DANIEL 2. He saw a statue with a glorious head of gold, a chest and arms of silver, a torso of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay (vv. 31-33). It portrayed the succession of four great ruling nations of the world. From history we know they were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Then a stone "cut out of the mountain without hands" (v. 45) rolled down and smashed the statue to smithereens. This pictured God’s judgment of those four kingdoms and His supremacy over all the earth.

One day God will judge the nations of the world, and their monuments will lie in ruins. No matter how powerful the nation, all will crumble beneath the outpouring of God’s holy wrath. We can be confident that Jesus Christ, the King of kings, will rule the world in righteousness, justice, and peace. What a glorious prospect! – DAVE C. EGNER

Now evil prospers, falsehood reigns,

And darkness dims the light;

But soon the day will come when Christ

Returns to set things right. – SPER

READ: DANIEL 2:36-45

Nations rise and fall, but Christ’s kingdom stands forever.