Heaven Rules

Imagine a group of neighborhood kids who love to put on plays. The children especially enjoy royal scenes, playing kings and queens who rule over a kingdom.

With all this theatrical energy in the neighborhood, imagine that some creative mom and dad decide to take things up a notch. They create kingly costumes, construct an outdoor set with a cardboard castle, and even provide props like crowns and royal scepters. The children are thrilled.

Until, of course, the kids must decide who gets to play the part of ruler. Instead of behaving like kings and queens, the children fight like cats and dogs! Before long, the parents step in with a solution –the little royal wanna-be’s will take turns.

This works for a while. But eventually, a little boy named Casey figures out that having the role of ruler means making the rules. When it’s time to let someone else have a turn, King Casey declares with an inordinate level of confidence: “I don’t have to take turns because I’m the king. And the new rule in my Kingdom is that I’m always the king!” He then proceeds to run around the set with his sword turned up almost as high as his nose.

As you can imagine, the parents step in again. It’s time for Casey to learn who’s really in charge—that at the end of the day, none of these little kings and queens have ultimate power. It finally occurs to Casey: the costume he wears, the weapons he wields, and even the set provided for him with a castle and a crown—none of it would even exist without the parents who created and oversee it. There is a greater authority reigning over the entire neighborhood theatrical scene behind the curtain—and it isn’t Casey or his comrades.

In Daniel 4, something similar is happening.

King Nebuchadnezzar was an arrogant king who displayed too much pride in himself and in his vast empire. He had a troubling dream. Daniel interpreted it for him, warning that God would humble the king until he acknowledged that there was a higher power behind the curtain who ruled over him—a power that was the true source of authority and rulership over all the earth’s little kings.

A year later, while boasting about his power, Nebuchadnezzar loses his sanity and his kingdom, living like an animal for seven years. Daniel makes the ultimatum clear: “your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven rules” (Daniel 4:26).

When the king finally lifted his eyes to heaven and honored God, his sanity and kingdom were restored, and he praised God as the true ruler over all.

This whole ordeal had a reason behind it:

Friend, the same truths are at play in our world right now. It is true that the nations rage. That rulers seem blinded by arrogance and power. That human governments act as if they not only have ultimate authority—but that their turn will never end.

But the truth is that Heaven rules. Heaven is in charge behind the scenes. The Most High constructed the whole set—with all its costumes and crowns—to begin with.

Let this wash over you: God is not looking down on the rulers of this world, wringing His hands in jealousy or anxiety, wondering when He’ll get His turn. He is reigning over them right now from Heaven, and He has full control over how each scene plays out, over who gets their turn and for how long, and over every daily detail transpiring in each kingdom or nation.

It's not just Daniel who encourages us to believe this. Jesus asserts that while His Kingdom is not of this world, it is certainly over this world. “You would have no authority over me at all,” He said to Pontius Pilate, “if it hadn’t been given you from above” (John 19:11).

Even when facing the Roman ruler of Judea just before his Roman crucifixion, Jesus acknowledges that Rome isn’t in charge. Heaven rules.

There is not one ruler, one nation, one square inch in this world that Heaven does not have ultimate reign over. There is not one decision or issue over which Heaven does not get a say. Heaven rules, even now. Over the small details of your day to the fate of entire nations.

My friend, you do not have to wait for Heaven to come down someday to reign over the world. It already does. You’re just waiting for that rulership to be seen by every person and every eye. You’re just waiting for the day when every knee bows to it. You’re just waiting for evil’s presence to be chased out of it for good.

Yes, we wait for the Kingdom to come in full. Yes, we wait for Heaven’s reign to be made collectively and globally obvious to the public eye. But we know the truth as we wait: Heaven rules. Heaven’s Kingdom and its King stand above all right now—ruling and reigning both now and forevermore.