The great statue in Daniel and the world situation

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ไธญๆ–‡

โ€œ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข, ๐‘‚ ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’, ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข; ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก๐‘“๐‘ข๐‘™. / ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’, ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘, ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘š๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ, ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ง๐‘’, / ๐ผ๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›, ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ. / ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘™ ๐‘Ž ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘ , ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š. / ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ง๐‘’, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘๐‘’, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘˜๐‘’ ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘“๐‘“ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘š๐‘š๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘“๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ; ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š ๐‘Ž๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘. ๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘Ž ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘กโ„Ž.โ€ (๐ท๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘–๐‘’๐‘™ 2:31-35)

๐‘น๐’‚๐’‘๐’Š๐’… ๐‘พ๐’๐’“๐’๐’… ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’†๐’”
The Bible is mysterious in the way it is unlocked through manโ€™s experience in time. Today, we see clearly that the man-exalting civilization that began in Babylon is now matured to the end-time scenario in Revelation, including Babylon the Great and the merchants of the earth who buy and sell as part of her fornication in chapter 18. The Bible is indeed very precise in proclaiming the end of this age. We are not far away. In recent years, we have observed many things that challenge truth and the meaning of humanity, as well as a rapid shift in human values. The pace at which the world is changing is almost unfathomable; technology and artificial intelligence have made more progress in the last ten yearsโ€”and will make even more in the coming ten yearsโ€”than ever before. Technology is integrating the worldly influence deeply into human life, and is advancing so fast it is outpacing itself, with profound yet unknown impacts on us and the generations after us.

If you turn on the news, you will quickly see that the core and clarity of the truth has been compromised among humankind. The enemy is busy in his corrupting work, manipulating mankind toward evil, death, and destruction. Civilizations compete with one another for a bigger airport, a faster and broader infrastructure for high speed data, and a stronger alliance with other countries to construct highways from continent to continent under the seas. The ambitious projects of worldly nations are more terrifying than before, and the desire to control and to manipulate are already unstoppable. We might think we are exempt because we seem to reside in a stable, democratic, freedom-focused society that defends for human rights. But the outward government and ideology don’t change the ever-deepening corruption of man and the ever-increasing strength of Babylon. As humans in time, we are all part of the sequence of history revealed by the human statue in Daniel; regardless of which country we come from, we all partake of its beginning and its end.

In Daniel chapter 2, according to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, we see an image (or a statue) with a gold head, silver shoulders, brass abdomen, iron legs, and feet made of a mix of iron and clay. These elements represent the progression of human history, and the Bible uses these four major elements as symbols of the most powerful governments in human history and the ultimate fate of the world; each empire brings a more degraded value to justify manโ€™s independenceโ€”his deviation from his beginning in oneness with God. Amidst such corruption, who has the authority to declare the fate of all human history? Yet the Lord does reveal the vision to His people through Daniel, and declares an indestructible, eternal kingdom that stands separated from the world and the fate of fallen humanity. Although today we are more than 2,500 years from the first declaration of the prophecy, it has become ever clearer to His called ones in this confusing era; we can readily understand the ending of the statue from an uplifted, divine perspectiveโ€”not a fallen, human one.

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ฌ๐’๐’… ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘บ๐’•๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’†
Throughout history, human governments have always endeavored to replace God. As with the statue, human government presents a good appearance, like the gold headโ€”an imitator of the true authority. In the human body, the head is the administrator, controlling the rest of the body. The finger doesn’t need to think. Rather, the head thinks, and then the finger moves. Human history, like the human statue in Daniel, comes from a self-proclaimed glorious beginning: a declaration that it is the rightful headship in human history (see tower of Babel, Genesis 10). In the Bible, Babel, the fallen human government, outwardly looked like a decent, aspirational declaration for humankind yet was actually the seed of rebellion that has matured to the worldly situation today.

Human government came into being through a departure from the true divine government between man and God. By replacing mankindโ€™s intrinsic core value of existence with a system of logic of right and wrong, it eventually becomes a bankrupt system. Human government may have started with a seemingly glorious beginning, but the feet of the statue tell us that we end in the dirt, a mix of clay and iron, which signals the end of human history on earth. No gold, silver or brass appear here, but rather clay mixed with iron. The symbols here reveal a specific condition of humanity. The clay invades the iron, and the integrity of the iron is compromised by the clay. So how will the old world end? When you see clay invading iron, producing a divided and โ€œconfused mass,โ€ it will be the closing of time (2:41).

Although we may feel we are sheltered in the Midwest area, the global shifts are also impacting humanity on a basic, family level. Humanity is becoming twisted. If human beings live without their core value, they become machines on autopilot. Without realizing it, we become a vacant society of the living dead. Every day from 9am to 5pm, we are sucked dry by the world. How tragic human life can be in even the most advanced countries on the earth! For a familyโ€™s happiness to be measured by the size of the house or the number of cars in the garage, the underlying human value must be bankrupt to the core.

If we have eyes to see, we can recognize the hollowness of the worldly situation that the ending of the image in Daniel reveals. If we understand the Bible, we will be blessed to search for the real substance of our human existence. We will urgently seek after a spiritual value rather than an earthen one. This is our experience. ๐–๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐š ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐š๐ง ๐›๐ž๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ฌ ๐›๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฅ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐š๐ง ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž. ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ž, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ฌโ€”๐ฐ๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐š ๐๐ž๐ž๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐›๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ž. ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‚๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ซ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐›๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐งโ€™๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ.

According to the Bible, God created us to be mingled with divinity. God created man with a very specific view to be an eternal building as His expression, Bride, and Body. Humanity is simply the very expression of life, which is the divine life. Therefore, there can be no humanity without divinity. Godโ€™s view from the very beginning for a marital relationship with man has never changed. Thatโ€™s why He created us in this wayโ€”to seek after divinity, to be rejoined to the source. Man was never meant to be alone. He can never stand without the true substance of God. That is why the statue is ultimately destroyed; human beings are not meant to manufacture their own authority and purpose, and thus human government can never stand alone. Its fate is specific to Godโ€™s principles and His plan.

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ช๐’“๐’–๐’”๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐‘บ๐’•๐’๐’๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘ต๐’†๐’˜ ๐‘ช๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’
Remember the ending: human history does have an ultimate fate. Pay attention to all the elements of the statue: when clay is introduced into this statue, a stone will appear to crush the entire statue from the feet up. When this stone crushes the statue, the materials of the statue โ€œbecame like chaff from the summer threshing floors,โ€ meaning there is no substantial element anymore (2:35). In the end, none of these substantial elements of the statue can stand; they will become like nothingโ€”like chaff blown away by the wind.

Today, everyone is looking to substantiate their lives through external means. You might think you live by the iPhone or the internet, considering those to be substantial to your human life. Others might look to a house, a marriage, a car, or money. But one day, all these elements will be destroyed. It doesn’t matter whether you believe in gold, brass, silver, iron, or clay. When that mountain from the stone โ€œcut out without handsโ€ appears (2:34), everything physicalโ€”everything related to the city of Babylonโ€”will no longer have any value. In the end of human history, man-made authorities and infrastructures will crumble because they lack true meaning and substance. In the end, what you thought was substantial is but the shell of the real thing, and it will disappear like chaff.

๐๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ ๐ž ๐ฆ๐š๐ซ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ž๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐š๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐š๐ง ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž. In verse 44, Daniel interprets to the king that there will be an indestructible kingdom of God that will last forever and โ€œwill crush and put an end to all these kingdoms.โ€ The Bible says this crushing stone will become a great mountain (2:35). This great mountain replaces all previous elements and fills the whole earth. If you read the Bible, there’s only one true mountain in God’s eyes. We may interpret this mountain as the corporate Christ; we also understand it as the arrival of the new creation. What a visionary Daniel was to have been given this victorious declaration! When everyone was troubled, fearful, and unclear, such a brother received a glorious wisdom to interpret Godโ€™s intention and plan. For those of us who live and hope in new creation, what a victory and what a vision!

๐‘ฎ๐’๐’…โ€™๐’” ๐‘ฏ๐’Š๐’…๐’…๐’†๐’ ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’”๐’…๐’๐’Ž
๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘  ๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘š๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ; / ๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘. / ๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’ / ๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”. ๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘ ; / ๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘  ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ , / ๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก ๐‘‘๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐ป๐‘–๐‘š. ๐‘‡๐‘œ ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข, ๐‘‚ ๐บ๐‘œ๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ , ๐ผ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘˜๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’, / ๐น๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก; / ๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘› ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข, / ๐น๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”โ€™๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ข๐‘ . (Daniel 2:21-23)

Just like many people today, at the beginning of chapter two, the King of Babylon was deeply troubled by the vision of the statue in his dream, and he had no one who could explain its meaning to him. What did the signs mean? Although the kingโ€™s magicians, conjurers, sorcerers, and wise men may be able to imitate interpretation and do fake tricks, none could divine the truth or understand this wisdom hidden behind the dream.

When Daniel provided an interpretation, he was talking to the highest earthen authority who owned and ruled over everything. This king was on the top of the world, but when he reached the peak of his empire, he was still confused about what humankind is and where it is going. He had the mysterious dream of the image, and tried to use all his power to understand something that was so deep and hidden. Such a powerful man was brought to such trouble and frustration that he ordered the wise men to be โ€œcut into piecesโ€ unless they told him the meaning of his dreams (2:5). From his reaction, we can see a vulnerable person who was surrounded by โ€œfalse and corrupt wordsโ€ (2:9). All those around him conspired together to tell lies. Yet in such a frightening and confusing time, the Lord unveiled the mystery of human history to His remnant. As one โ€œamong the captives of Judah,โ€ Daniel was considered a nobody (2:25). He was the lowest of the rank at that time, but the Lord gave him the understanding and a proper utterance. In that moment, the Lord not only revealed the dream, but also unlocked the entirety of human history to Daniel.

Worldly people look to leaders and politicians to solve problems or to give a decisive word on the truth. But thatโ€™s not where we find the answer to the meaning of our life and the fate of humankind. Daniel shows us that the Lordโ€™s wisdom is above all human understanding and earthen, fallen authorities. ๐“๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž, ๐ข๐ง ๐‡๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง. He is the one that deposes kings and causes kings to ascend. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.

๐‘ถ๐’–๐’“ ๐‘ฐ๐’…๐’†๐’๐’•๐’Š๐’•๐’š ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘น๐’†๐’”๐’‘๐’๐’๐’”๐’Š๐’ƒ๐’Š๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’š
Today, we are those ones to whom His eternal plan and His move on the earth have been revealed. Even though the world is rapidly changing, we don’t have to be shaken. When we return to the Bible, we see that all of this has already been predicted. The kings of todayโ€™s world are lost, leading blindly. What is happening in the world is confusing for the people around us. They have no way to interpret it. There is no standard or truthโ€”everything is mixed. No one knows the true direction of mankind, only relying on good ideologies or political promises. Humankind is living in the era revealed by the end of the statue. If we still believe in the earthly elements and substances to uphold our lives, itโ€™s time to be awakened.

Today in the church in Toledo, we may not be as wise or as eloquent as Daniel, but we are not ignorant of what the Bible shows us. We may not be a powerful world leader or influential businessman, but unlike them, we are not afraid of the things that are happening before our eyes. We recognize the unstoppable trend we are witnessing day by day. We recognize that humanity was created with the scope of the entire universe. ๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐›๐ž ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐š ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž.

We may be small in number, but our church life has the Bible and the true heavenly nature to substantiate us. We are serving God by upholding our lives in a heavenly way. Our demeanor should be in new creation; it should be divine. We are Godโ€™s family and we have Godโ€™s value, so our demeanor should reflect that. We still live a human life, but we should not be confused, lost, or crushed, looking only to the physical things. We should come to this core understanding of our human living and be the most tangible people on the earth. We are Godโ€™s race in new creation.

For our churching in this area of the country, can we carry out the meaning of our lives in the scope of the global perspective? Reading these elements of the vision of the statue should be a great warning to us to say, โ€œLord, save me today. Save me from all the gossiping, fashion, trade, commerce, and work. Lord, if these fallen elements are not powerful enough to awaken me, then, what will? I don’t want to be awakened by a major crisis when itโ€™s too late.โ€ We should say to the Lord, โ€œI can be awakened today.โ€ Now is the time. If we have true understanding of the signs of the times as revealed to us from the Lord Himself through the Bible in these days, we should return to the true source of all administration, our precious Lord, to prepare for His coming.

(๐ด๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘› 10/04/19 ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ 10/11/2019, ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘Ÿ.)

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