Under siege, government takeover, economic collapse, gender issues, defiled food supply, slave labor, immigration, competing visions, and uncertain futures. How do we live in and through this?! These are not new problems. The book of Daniel gives us the hope and future where we are all invited to discover The God of Daniel.
Tell about a time when you thought to yourself or someone said to you, “What have you done?”
Lord we thank you that you are The God of Daniel. You have a plan that you have been carrying out since the beginning of time. We like the people in Daniel’s day are living in captivity waiting for you to restore us to the promised land. Help us to learn from you and each other. May we represent you regardless of what is handed over to us, be determined and remain where you have us, dream about your kingdom, know when to say we will not, dream about you, and ask what have we done. You are King of kings and Lord of lords, The God of Daniel. Amen
Remember where we are in the story. God has raised up the nation of Babylon to discipline his children for their idolatry and punish the nations (especially Assyria) for their treatment of His children. God has been warning for generations through many prophets that all this would happen if people would not listen and repent. Now, He has told his people they should surrender the land and themselves to Babylon. After Nebuchadnezzar’s 1st siege of Jerusalem, Daniel with many other young men of the royal family of David have surrendered and been exiled to Babylon. They are now slaves, have been made eunuchs, and have to figure out how they will follow their God Yahweh for the rest of their lives in Babylon waiting for His return.
At fxchurch we talk about the differences between… Promised Land theology- IDEA: We currently live in the promised land that we are trying to keep or a promised land that we are trying to create on earth through our works. Wilderness Theology- IDEA: We are just wandering around living until we die and the next generation takes over so there isn’t much we can do but complain and wait. Captivity Theology- IDEA: We are captives, strangers, and aliens in a foreign land. We are waiting on and telling others about our coming King, His kingdom that He is building, and how to get ready for the promised land He will bring on a new earth with new bodies. (Philippians 3:18-20, John 17:14-18, 1 Peter 2:9-13, Romans 7:21-24)
To avoid the reality of living for The God of Daniel in captivity, much of our christian culture today tends to live and make decisions by PRAGMATIC (whatever works) THERAPEUTIC (whatever feels right) MORAL (whatever is not short term bad for us) DEISM (whatever keeps God off my back and/or keeps Him blessing me). We need learn to be faithful to The God of Daniel.
When we get to chapter 5 of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar has been dead for decades and Babylon has gone through 5 rulers. They are a nation in collapse as Nabonidus has rejected his responsibility to pursue his hobbies. He has installed his son Belshazzar (possibly the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar) as regent. The kingdom is in full collapse and the great unbeatable city of Babylon will come to an end under Belshazzar.