Daniel 4:37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase
The book of Daniel is largely about kings and kingdoms. It is about more than one king and more than one kingdom, and it is a contrast between the kingdoms of people, the history of humankind, and the kingdom of God, which is eternal. I think about the royals in England. The pageantry and sheer tradition of the monarchy is a fascination for me and other people. Think about Prince Charles. Prince Charles has literally been preparing his entire life for a future that will be very short indeed. If Prince Charles is crowned king, it can’t be for very long. The fact is that Queen Elizabeth may outlive all of us! Your future is fairly short as well.
Daniel’s parents did not prepare him to be a prince, but he was. Parents, merely preparing your kids for the future is short-sighted. That maybe sound strange. Should we prepare our children for the future? Yes! But, there are a lot of people who prepare their kids for tomorrow, five years from now, and have a twenty-year plan, but are short-sighted. They are not preparing them for eternity. If I am prepared for eternity, I will be prepared for the future. If I prepare only for the future, but I’m not prepared for eternity, what difference does it make in the grand scheme of things?
So, merely preparing your children for the future is short-sighted, truly. Why do I say that? First, there is a difference between time and eternity. There is a difference between merely the future and eternity. In fact, it is interesting how much of the book of Daniel is prophetic. It is about what will happen in the future. It was future to Daniel, yet much of it is ancient history to us. One of the reasons so many doubt that Daniel actually penned the book of Daniel is because so many of the prophecies are obviously, in light of history, dead on. So, if you don’t believe the Bible is a supernatural book, you cannot accept that. It was future to Daniel, it is past to us, and it is known to God. There is a difference between time and eternity.
In Daniel 4:3, Nebuchadnezzar is speaking about God’s kingdom and says that “his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.” Daniel outlived and outlasted more than one kingdom because his eyes were on a kingdom that is eternal, God’s kingdom. Again, in verse 34 Nebuchadnezzar says that God “liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.” So, prepare for the future, but there is a difference between time and eternity.
Secondly, there is a difference between having eyes on earth only and having eyes on Heaven. In verse 30, Nebuchadnezzar speaks of all that he was going to do. He basically says, “I have built the house of the kingdom by the might of my power for the honor of my majesty.” He uses a lot of personal, possessive pronouns there. It’s “my,” “my,” “my.” Well, where is Babylon now? Most people couldn’t find it. Most people could not identify the modern country in which the ancient empire lies in ruins and rubble under the dust. In contrast to this, Nebuchadnezzar later says, “I lifted up mine eyes unto heaven.” There is a difference between being fixated merely on the earth and having a focus on Heaven as well.
Finally, there is a difference between Nebuchadnezzar the king and Nebuchadnezzar the servant. In Jeremiah 37 God says, “Nebuchadnezzar my servant.” He says this more than once. Was Nebuchadnezzar a wonderful man? No. Was he completely sovereign? No. Nebuchadnezzar was merely a servant of the King, of God. Someone may say, “Wil, a man has got to life. I’ve got to prepare my kids for the future.” Yes, you should, but you should prepare them for more. Someone says, “A man has got to live!” No, a man has to die and after this the judgment. The way to prepare to live is to be prepared to die, to be prepared for eternity. Eternity begins when the future ends, and merely preparing your children for the future is short-sighted because there is so much more.