The Throne Room That Turned to Dust

In 1899, German archaeologist Robert Koldewey began excavating the ruins of ancient Babylon in modern-day Iraq. After eighteen years of painstaking work, he uncovered the massive throne room of Nebuchadnezzar II — a hall stretching 170 feet long, its walls once glazed in brilliant blue brick and adorned with lions and dragons. This was the seat of the most powerful ruler on earth, the man who commanded nations to bow before his golden image.

Koldewey found no throne. He found crumbling mud-brick walls, fragments of tile, and silence. The empire that had terrorized the ancient world was reduced to a dig site catalogued in a German museum.

Daniel walked those very halls. He served in that court and interpreted that king's dreams. Yet when God pulled back the curtain of eternity for him, Daniel saw a throne that made Nebuchadnezzar's look like a child's chair. The Ancient of Days took His seat — His throne ablaze with flames, His garment white as snow, ten thousand times ten thousand standing before Him. And then, approaching on the clouds, One like a Son of Man received dominion and glory and a kingdom that would never be destroyed.

Every earthly throne eventually becomes an archaeological curiosity. Koldewey's shovels proved it. But the kingdom Daniel saw that night needs no excavation. It is not buried. It is coming. And unlike Babylon's shattered blue tiles, it will never end.