When reading the Bible, we can get so focused on the verse-by-verse details of a story or teaching, that we can sometimes forget to step back and consider the bigger picture of what is happening. The specific in-the-moment details are critically important, of course. But looking at the broader narrative can also be instructive for us.

For example, Daniel received a vision of four beasts arising out of the sea. This troubled him so he asked someone about their meaning. Here is what he was told: “These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever” (Daniel 7:17-18).

It is most likely that these four kings and kingdoms were the ones that ruled in Daniel’s own day and beyond—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.

However, as the vision stated, they would eventually fall. “But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.” In other words, God and his people would ultimately triumph, even though they were currently living through incredible difficulty. But they would have to wait. The fourth kingdom, Rome, was still ruling approximately 500 years later at the time of Christ! 

This is why it can be helpful to take a step back and consider the bigger picture of what is happening. It teaches us this very critical message: Delay does not mean defeat. 

That would have been a very welcome message for Daniel and his contemporaries. Just because God hadn’t acted yet, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t. Victory would come—but only after a longer time horizon. 

The same is true for us today. We get impatient. Since we can’t always see God working, we assume he’s asleep at the wheel. But just because we can’t always see God working, that doesn’t mean he isn’t. 

This is true not only for the world at large, but for how God is working in our nation, communities, families, and souls.

Soldier, keep your head up. Delay does not mean defeat.

Notes:

-“Answering Skeptics #2 – Hypocrites Disprove the Credibility of Christianity.” New podcast episode and blog. Click here, or find it on ‘The Pulse Podcast at Matthew Ruttan’ (Apple Podcasts or Spotify, etc.)

-“The World is Going Into Labour (Daniel 7)” Click here. Sermon.

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.