We don’t ever really know the future. We can’t. But people still try. King Nebuchadnezzar had a strange and disturbing dream that he couldn’t figure out and neither could his own wise men. But Daniel recognized the dream and was able to understand what it meant. It foretold the future. The gold head is Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, and the lesser metals for the arms and legs are the lesser kingdoms that will come after him.  His is the golden age, and eventually the statue devolves into feet of iron and clay, which will not support the metal statue or the legacy of the kingdoms of the past.  But when the statue is brought down, it will be replaced by a mountain of the kingdom of god, the only kingdom better than Nebuchadnezzar’s.

In the Gospel people want to know what’s going to happen. But we still don’t really know exactly what the future holds. Jesus says there will be signs before the end times. Lots of people will say they come in Jesus name and have the answers, but they don’t really. Things are really bad in lots of places now, and I am concerned. I always think war and natural disasters are bad news. But Jesus says we should not be terrified. Wars and insurrections are still bad, but they will not immediately be the end. There will still be more wars and natural disasters first before the “awesome sights and mighty signs” that will come from the sky.

We want to know what will happen. We want to know when, but we just don’t know. We will have to get through the bad times and hope for some good times. Nebuchadnezzar’s prophecy went way beyond his own lifetime. The prophecy Jesus gave to his people went way beyond their own life times. We can make guesses, and think about what these things mean and how they relate to the prophecy, but we really just don’t know when and where. So we have to do the best we can where we are now.