For the past few months, my college men’s Bible study has pored over the Book of Daniel. I chose to study Daniel because there are so many parallels between the circumstances of God’s people living in Babylon and where the Christian church now finds itself. Modern writers have often used his prophecy to interpret current events as real-life biblical fulfillment, but its real value shows us how to live faithfully in a time where we face persecution of any level.
Daniel shows what it looks like to recognize God’s sovereign hand ruling over the kingdom of men (5:21b) -– which is the book’s central theme –- along with what faithful living looks like under rulers that do not live in submission to the Law of God. Many Christians have been caught off guard by the events of the past 365 days: an unexpected, life-altering pandemic; a highly divisive presidential election; riots across the country; the malicious censorship particularly of conservatives; the COVID-19 restrictions that have prevented churches – and even neighbors! – from fellowshipping together. This well-described “unprecedented” age is anything but comfortable, predictable, or safe.
The Book of Daniel was preserved for people just like us, who, like Daniel's friends, lived in times when rulers stripped away their freedom to worship the Lord exclusively and the failure to worship these propped-up idols was punishable by death (3:4). We can see glimpses of our previous president (whom, incidentally, I supported in the election) in Nebuchadnezzar, who was tremendously powerful and successful at building his kingdom, despite the fact that he at times acted irrationally (2:6). Years later, Daniel found himself under the authority of a king who did not permit prayer to Israel's God for a short time (6:6). Exploring Daniel's spiritual stability throughout this era, made possible only by God’s own faithfulness, is critical for Christians at times such as these.
The starting point for Daniel is a strong view of God's control of human governments. The central theme of Daniel is found in 4:17, and repeated a number of times throughout the book: “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.” In fact, the book begins with a practical, consequential example of this principle: “The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his [Nebuchadnezzer’s] hand” (1:2). In other words, God’s people, who were ruled by a wicked king, were delivered by God himself to an even more wicked king! How difficult it must have been for Daniel to appreciate the fact that his own god delivered the Israelites into Babylon. Yet the Lord told Daniel's predecessor, Habakkuk, that He would do this very thing:
"Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own" (Hab. 1:5-6).
From the outset of this narrative, we see God’s hand moving behind the scenes of a cosmic chess game where He alone controls the board. There is no checkmate. As Nebuchadnezzar once proclaims, "None can stay his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?'” No plan of His is thwarted, especially by men whose days He has numbered. God appointed and removed the rulers of any and every kingdom on this earth, before and after Daniel’s time. And He appoints and removes our own rulers in the twenty-first century A.D.
In the second chapter, the Lord gives Nebuchadnezzar a fascinating dream about the kingdoms of man. Nebuchadnezzar apparently has a recurring, terrifying dream about a statue composed of various types of metals (more on this in a later blog). God reveals, through Daniel's interpretation, the outworking of the coming kingdoms of earth. Once God reveals the meaning to Daniel, Daniel then responds with a beautiful psalm-like prayer that includes the statement, "he removes kings and sets up kings." This refrain is theologically central to Daniel's approximately 75-year ministry.
When Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's first dream for the king, he begins his response with a recognition attributing God's appointment of Nebuchadnezzar over the kingdom:
“You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom,
the power, and the might, and the glory, and into whose hand he has given,
wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of
the heavens, making you rule over them all” (Da 2:37–38).
Daniel assertively acknowledges that Israel's God is the one from whom Nebuchadnezzar gains his empire. There is little doubt, after reading these opening words, that God appointed Nebuchadnezzar to this great task.
Daniel goes on to explain to Nebuchadnezzar that each part of the statue represented a kingdom that God appointed to take dominion over the known world. From the head down to the feet, God would raise each kingdom, then bring it down. And the dream concludes with a "stone cut from a mountain" that crushes the entire statue, which we understand now as Christ. Thus Daniel bookends his interpretation of this dream with a prophecy of THE Kingdom, one that cannot be shaken:
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that
shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people (2:44).
It would take Nebuchadnezzar a long time to appreciate the fact that Israel’s God appointed him to whatever glory he possessed, over that massive kingdom that boasted the fall of Jerusalem. Not even the Assyrians could manage that feat!
What's striking about Daniel's story is how much he emphasizes the reality of God's sovereign rule. Time and time again, whether it is with Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, or Darius, God's sovereign rule is at the forefront of Daniel's prophetic words and in his visions. In the rather macabre incident in chapter 5 from which we get the phrase "the writing on the wall,' Belshazzar summons Daniel to explain the words that appeared during his fateful banquet:
"O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and
greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave
him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him."
The italics emphasize that Nebuchadnezzar's kingship, greatness, glory, and majesty were all gifts from God. The only reason that "all peoples, nations, and languages" feared Nebuchadnezzar was of the Lord's gifting. Because Belshazzar fails to acknowledge the hard lesson that Nebuchadnezzar learned from living as an animal (4:28-34), he would lose his kingdom later that same evening.
From Nebuchadnezzar to Caesar to Herod and even Nero, God himself placed them on their thrones, yet not every ruler recognizes their divine appointment. Every king and queen in England, and every one of the Oval Office’s occupants was placed by a sovereign God. The great rulers Nebuchadnezzar and Darius both understand that God's dominion will have no end (4:34, 6:26).
Pastorally speaking, it is impossible to overemphasize how much God’s rule should bring the believer peace, both in times of prosperity and in times of distress. Fill in the blank with the authority figure's name, and rest confidently that God appointed that ruler over us. It was not an accident. Furthermore, that monarch or president may be a vessel of judgment, as the wicked Israelite Jehoiakim was, or as an act of blessing, as the Persian king Cyrus was. But whomever God appoints, it is purposeful and intentional. Even the bad ones.
Trusting in God's sovereignty over earthly rulers is the only cure for anxiety during wicked eras. Otherwise, one cannot be emotionally and spiritually secure while leaders come and go. The confidence that must anchor our souls during this time is not based on temporal realities, but in that same "everlasting dominion" that Daniel records these powerful, Gentile kings declaring.
Whatever happens these next months, we can have confidence that the Sovereign God has not abandoned His promises, His activity, or His character. "The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will and sets over it the lowliest of men" (4:17). Thanks be to God!
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