Good Times
Scripture Reading: Psalm 146; Daniel 7-8; Revelation 4
But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever...The Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.
Daniel 7:18, 22
Country artist Merle Haggard once asked in a song, “Is the best of the free life behind us now? Are the good times really over for good?” For Haggard the question arose out of despairing about how long a Ford and Chevy would last a man. To be fair, it wasn’t just poor quality manufacturing bothering him, but his sense that was a symptom of a larger societal decline.
I think many of us have this same feeling in spades today. We see moral degeneracy all around us, we know that there is a purposeful and unrelenting attack on traditional values, we feel the weight of the struggle of the younger generations who have found the American Dream financially unattainable. And we wonder, “Are the good times really over for good?
During Daniel’s relatively brief life he saw the rise and fall of great kingdoms. His own nation, Judah collapsed and died under a Babylonian assault. He saw the rise and fall of the head of gold (Nebuchadnezzar). In his visions he saw that it was leading to kingdoms that would be large, but akin to feet of clay. He must have wondered, “Are the good times really over for good.”
It was to this sentiment the Lord spoke and said the saints would possess an everlasting kingdom.
What we have to keep in mind in this world is that the false, the evil, the wicked may rise and seize men’s loyalty for a time, it is impossible for it to last. Though unrighteousness may sit on the throne for a moment, thought it may reign by sheer force, it can never get a permanent grip on power.
The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of Christ. While human governments are fleeting and temporary, the kingdom of God will last forever and forever.
This will be a kingdom of truth, righteousness, goodness, honor, and love. Everything which defiles and demeans will be cast out. It will take an unshakable hold on the souls of man. Christ will have a good, virtuous, wise, free, and peaceable kingdom. And it will be possessed by the saints.
No, the good times aren’t really over for good.
