Heaven Rules
The phrase “Heaven rules” originates in the book of Daniel chapter 4, and it was spoken by Daniel himself as he tried to explain to a pagan king named Nebuchadnezzar what God was up to when He forced this king to roam the fields and eat grass like a beast for seven years . . .
Years ago I wrote a commentary on the book of Daniel called The Handwriting on the Wall. When I signed that book for friends, I always inscribed the following verse next to my name: Daniel 1:21 (“Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus” [NKJV]).
Sometimes a reader would return and ask me why I selected such a strange verse. And this was my answer. Daniel never stopped . . . never looked back . . . he just continued! He lived to see Cyrus, the Persian leader, conquer Babylon (October of 539 BC), some sixty-six years after Daniel had been taken captive. By this point, Daniel was over eighty years old and had lived a godly life in the public eye for almost seventy of those years. He’d outlasted some of the most powerful kings the world had ever seen. Daniel was able to continue because he knew the God of heaven and he knew his God was in control.
For all of the miraculous works God performed through and for Daniel, it’s important to note that God never delivered Daniel from Babylon. Daniel lived his entire life as an exile in a foreign land—as a hostage in a culture that was hostile to his faith. The message of Daniel, then, is not that God will remove all forms of oppression in our lives. Instead, this account serves as a reminder that when you know Heaven rules, you can find success and remain faithful to Him despite the most trying of circumstances.
And even in the midst of great wickedness, you can be known as a person of great godliness. Daniel lived in a society that was utterly pagan and yet there is not a negative word about him in the entire Bible. When the leaders of Babylon tried to uncover some fault in his life, they found nothing worthy of mention except his faith in God (6:4–5). Daniel was living on earth, but he had set his affections on things above. God in heaven was ruling his life.
Through all the plots and intrigues that regularly lurked in royal courts, through all the jealousy that could only be expected toward a foreigner in high office, through all the envy, conspiracies, and persecutions, Daniel continued to serve his God without wavering. God in heaven was ruling his life on earth!
As Nancy Wolgemuth tells this story she goes out of her way to bring it home to us with illustrations from modern-day people who today are living through their own challenging experiences and affirming that “Heaven rules.”
“Heaven rules” means He is sovereign over everything that touches us. . . . He is ruler over every diagnosis and prognosis, over all incomes and outcomes, over the most daunting challenges as well as the most seemingly trivial details of our lives.
I hope you will do as I have done and read every word and then remind the people you know and love that “Heaven rules.”
Dr. David Jeremiah Senior Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church Founder and host, Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries.