Category Archives: God’s Judgment

Daniel: A King’s Pride Is Broken!

Posted on by
Reply

-Here’s Nebuchadnezzar’s Story!

(NOTE: This Continues A Series Of Posts On Daniel’s Life)

Should you find yourself reading the Book of Daniel someday, you’ll note a significant change as you start the 4th chapter—it’s no longer Daniel’s story! This is King Nebuchadnezzar’s personal testimony of how he came to have saving faith in Yahweh—it’s become Nebuchadnezzar’s story! His words are directed at “…those of every people, nation, and language, who live in all the earth”; and, reads like what someone would say if they stepped up to the mic in a worship service & shared a testimony of faith! “I am pleased to tell you about the miracles and wonders the Most High God has done for me” (v.2).

-Your God Becomes My God!

Up until now—throughout the first 3 chapters—the King always referred to “YOUR God…” Daniel; and, to “YOUR God…” Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego! In this chapter, the King describes a personal relationship with God—he shares what “…the Most High God had done for ME.” In v.4 the King said he was “…at ease & flourishing in my palace”—some translations render it “…content & prosperous.” Rarely do the “content & prosperous” seek after God! In fact, Jesus said, “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven”; and, then He follows with one of the most misused statements in all of Scripture: “But, with God all things are possible!” Be careful! Don’t carelessly quote that verse outside of it’s context! What Jesus is saying is that it’s humanly IMPOSSIBLE for the rich to enter into heaven; but, “…with God ALL THINGS are POSSIBLE!” Even the salvation of a rich, powerful & pride-filled King, like Nebuchadnezzar, is possible with God; but, ONLY after he’s been broken & humbled!

-Until He Acknowledged The Most High God!

And, the rest of the chapter is Nebuchadnezzar’s incredible story—how God drove him away from people to live, as a wild animal, with the wild animals! For 7 years he ate grass & acted as a wild animal; until, he acknowledged “…that the Most High God is ruler over the kingdom of men, and He gives it to anyone He wants” (v.25).  The King learned that pride is way more dangerous than it appears! Pride blinds us to our sin; and, we become self-absorbed in our own little world of self-importance!

-Failure Can Be A Gift!

The British playwright, George Bernard Shaw, said, “There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart’s desire, and the other is to gain it…we tend to listen more when God speaks through sorrow, pain, loss, and personal failure. Success tends to make us complacent…” What he’s saying, in a sense, is that failure can be a gift from God! It was for Nebuchadnezzar! Getting himself knocked off his perch of pride became his salvation because it broke his sinful self-confidence! Thank God! He will cut us down to size in order to save us! Nebuchadnezzar had taken credit for his accomplishments when it was God who had blessed him with his abilities! Someone said: “Pride is like plagiarism because it attempts to take for ourselves Glory that belongs to God alone!” God will not share His glory with us! Repent of pride or face His judgment!

 

Daniel: Pride Comes Before The Fall

Posted on by
Reply

-Wearing Pride Like A Badge!

(NOTE: This Continues A Series Of Posts On Daniel’s Life)

As a young boy, I remember being taught by well-intended parents & teachers that I needed to take pride in my accomplishments! I needed to take pride in my grades & my education! I needed to take pride in my work ethic & everything I did! Wear pride like a badge! I learned that pride was important to  my “self-worth” & that it was even “healthy”! So, I “bought in” and became a pretty good bragger; and, I was proud of myself for that!

-Pride Makes “Me” The Standard!

And, since “I” was the standard by which I measured everyone else, it was easy for me to look down on you if you didn’t compare favorably to my ACT score; or, if school didn’t come as easy for you; or, if you weren’t as good as I was at sports or drama or music! But, that all began to change for me, as I began to understand the claims of the Gospel. As a young believer & follower of Jesus, the Scriptures began to come to life for me; and, I was forced to reconsider my pride on the basis of God’s Word!

-Pride: #1 On God’s “Hate List”

How could I justify my personal pride when I read in the Bible: “These 6 things the Lord hates, Yes, 7 are an abomination to Him…”; and, #1 on God’s “hate” list? “…a PROUD look…” (Prov 6:16-19) The Lord HATES PRIDE, it says! It’s an ABOMINATION to Him! How could I continue living with all this pride? Could all my teachers have been wrong? Additional Scriptures like Proverbs 8:13 & Proverbs 16:5 & Mark 7:21-23 confirmed that “PRIDE” was a SIN to be avoided at all costs! It’s like spiritual suicide! Jesus listed it right up there with sexual immorality, murder, adultery & wickedness!

-Pride Can Damn Your Soul

The 4th chapter—in the book of Daniel—indicates that it was pride that nearly damned the soul of King Nebuchadnezzar! Pride had deceived him! It blinded him to his true condition before God! But, God would not leave Nebuchadnezzar where he was at! Yahweh was about to get in the King’s “grill.” Things were going to get very personal! The King was about to experience God’s response to His pride; and, it would ultimately lead to his eternal salvation!

-A Personal Encounter With God

In the first 3 chapters of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar had only seen God from afar!  Each chapter found Daniel and/or his 3 friends dealing with a personal “crisis of faith.” Each time they trust God’s Sovereign plan—in the face of adversity & possible death—and, each time God shows up and delivers them!  But, for the King, none of those events were “personal.” He had not personally encountered Daniel’s God up to this point! There’s an individual application here:  We cannot live vicariously through someone else’s faith! The King thought well about Daniel’s God because he had seen what Yahweh had done for Daniel! Yahweh had made a favorable impression on him; but, the King didn’t “know” Him personally…..YET! That was all about to change! King Nebuchadnezzar…let me introduce you to KING YAHWEH!

 

 

Daniel: Responding To A Crisis Of Faith

Posted on by
Reply

-Threatened By Impossible Demands!

(NOTE: This Continues A Series Of Posts On Daniel’s Life)

Powerful individuals often demand the seemingly impossible from their subjects! So, it wasn’t really surprising that Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar would dream a dream and insist that his counselors tell him WHAT he dreamed, in addition to an accurate INTERPRETATION! His threat—to kill them if they didn’t come through—was very real. As the story unfolds—in Daniel ch.2—we’re invited into Daniel’s life, to see his response to a crisis of faith! His life was threatened, by the king’s impossible demands, as well! Would his actions match up with what he said he believed? Or, would he fall completely apart like the rest of the king’s advisory team? Daniel shows us how to respond to an impossible situation—that’s the big idea! That’s the bottom line here in our story.

-Respond With Tact & Discretion

First, the text, of Scripture, says that he responds with tact and discretion (v.14).  Tact is “a keen sense of what to say or do without being offensive; the skill of dealing with difficult or delicate situations.” And, this is about as delicate as it gets! Arioch, the king’s captain, is at your front door & he’s there to haul you away to be executed! What would you do? Run, panic, demand your rights? Chuck Swindoll has noted that “some Christians think the only sensible response to unjust secular authority is brash rebellion.” But, Daniel shows us another way! His confidence in God’s Sovereign control, of the situation, allowed him to act with tact; and, with discretion. Discretion is “that quality of being wise & careful in the way someone acts or speaks.”  He acts, with discretion, by asking clarifying questions! And, he was rewarded with an audience before the king (v.16).

-Honor The Authority

He honored the king’s authority & asked for time to satisfy the king’s demands. Many, in the Western church, would do well to follow Daniel’s example; and, honor the governing authority. He stood before a more wicked ungodly leader than any American president we’ve ever disagreed with; and, Daniel doesn’t use slanderous campaign tactics! He doesn’t rail on him for being unfair! He shows tact & discretion; and, that gains him an audience and respect from the king!

-God’s End Game

We must never forget that God is in the details! He removed Israel from the land; and, He raised up wicked King Nebuchadnezzar to judge them! But, that wasn’t God’s end game! He planned to humble that wicked king and bring him to faith; and, God would use his budding relationship with Daniel to accomplish that. But, only because Daniel honored the king & used wisdom, tact & discretion; and, the king took notice—“he found him ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom” (1:21).  May God help us to follow Daniel’s example when facing a crisis of faith! Give us Holy Spirit “filters” for our mouths! Give us wisdom, tact & discretion NOT to say everything that enters our mind! Amen!

 

 

Daniel: No Prosperity Gospel Here!

Posted on by
Reply

-The “False” Prosperity Gospel!

(NOTE: This Continues A Series Of Posts On Daniel’s Life)

Because the Western Church has been influenced by the prosperity “false” gospel, it seems almost SHOCKING to read that “…the Lord HANDED OVER Jehoiakim, king of Judah…” to Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 1:2). How could God orchestrate the removal of “…some of the Israelites from the royal family & from nobility…”; like, Daniel & his 3 friends (v.4)? These guys were royalty! They were used to the good life! But, God turned their lives upside down; and, you won’t understand Daniel’s story if you don’t get that!

-It Would Be Like ISIS

This would be like ISIS “laying siege” to our own country; and, then uprooting you from your family & homeland; and, carrying you off to some middle eastern country you don’t know! You’re forced to learn a new culture; and, a new language! That was Daniel; but, he still trusted that it was God’s will to be uprooted from his homeland & dragged off to Babylon.

-The Typical Sunday School Answer

Most bible scholars believe that Daniel & his friends would have been teenagers. There is no mention of their parents! It would have been “customary” for Nebuchadnezzar to have them killed in the siege against Jerusalem; probably, before their very eyes as a “fear” & “control” tactic! Just another layer of hurt & heartache they would have felt! Daniel’s story is the exception—I’m afraid that most children’s church & S.S. curriculum teach, from Daniel, that God will deliver you from the lions & the fiery furnace if you’re just obedient; and, you have faith! Right? But, as far as we know, Daniel was the only one the lions didn’t munch for lunch; and, his 3 friends were the only ones to escape the furnace! They were the exceptions!

-Daniel Wasn’t A Rock Star

Daniel’s story does NOT teach us that if we live obedient lives God will never let anything bad happen to us! We have to BATTLE the dominant “Christian Culture” on that one; because, the prosperity gospel has trickled down into our doctrine more than we know; and, it’s altered the way we teach bible stories like Daniel! Be encouraged! Daniel wasn’t a ROCK STAR; and, you don’t need to be either! Fall in love with Jesus; and, run hard after Him! Be faithful! Be available! Be teachable!

-The Real Story

The real story is about Daniel’s unwavering faithfulness to God in a GODLESS CULTURE. In the midst of incredible spiritual darkness, the nation of Israel is compromised by apostasy & idolatry; and, evicted, by God, from the land of promise; and, exiled to an ungodly place! God sought for young men He could use; and, He found Daniel & his 3 friends to be faithful to that calling. In our age—at THIS TIME—God is looking for a faithful remnant of believers who will be like Daniel in this present age of darkness! If you’ve been trying to write your own story, give it back to God—ALL of it! And, let Him take it from here! Let God write His plan into your life; and, enjoy the eternal rewards of His “…well done good & faithful servant…”

Daniel’s Story Is About Exile

Posted on by
Reply

-And, God Wrote Daniel’s Story!

(NOTE: This Continues A Series Of Posts On Daniel’s Life)

The Book of Daniel begins with these haunting words:  “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.  The Lord handed Jehoiakim king of Judah over to him, along with some of the vessels from the house of God” Daniel 1:1-2.  And, v.6 states that Daniel, among others, was exiled from his home, in Israel, to the land of Babylon. This would be God’s story about Daniel; and, hopefully, you find comfort in knowing that God is also writing your story! Just like Daniel’s story, there is purpose to the story of your life! There is NOTHING random about it! God is in the details!

-And, God Is Writing Our Story!

Just like any great writer takes you through all kinds of twists & unexpected turns until the end, when he ties up all the loose ends & it all makes sense, God does the same thing as He writes our stories. We can have faith, like Daniel, that God is writing all the twists & the turns, the heartaches & the disappointments, into the stories of our lives & at the end He’ll bring closure to it all & make sense of it! We may not know how He’s going to make it work; but, trust Him, He will.

-God’s Word Sustained Daniel

It was the truth of God’s Word that sustained Daniel because his story was birthed in pain, suffering and separation. Daniel’s story is about EXILE—that’s where chapter 1 begins.  Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, was not a very nice man. History records him as one of the most brutal, powerful and ambitious kings the world has ever known! He was arrogant and egotistical! Babylon has such an ungodly reputation, in the Bible, that it seems to be used as a metaphor—in the Book of Revelation—for the evil world system that anti-Christ will control, in the last days, before Jesus returns. This is who God writes into Daniel’s story.  They “laid siege” to Jerusalem—that’s a military term describing an operation employed, by an army, to capture a fortified place by surrounding it; by, cutting off all communications & supplies; and, by deploying weapons against it! Why would God allow this?

-God Choreographed All Of It

Why would God actually write this into Israel’s & Daniel’s story? The siege, against Jerusalem, was the result of God’s judgment for disobedience. When God gave Israel the land of Canaan, as an inheritance, He warned them that they were being used by God to drive out the wickedness in the land; and, that He would also drive them out of the land if they behaved like the nations they dispossessed! And, despite multiple warnings, they disobeyed & worshiped idols! They dishonored God’s Sabbath! Though there were times of revival & a brief return to God, the gradualism of sin & wickedness overtook every level of the nation from kings to priests to citizens. They preferred darkness over light; so, God judged them. He didn’t just ALLOW it, “…the LORD HANDED Jehoiakim, King of Judah, over to him…” God WROTE it into the story!