THE BIBLE SPEAKS
by
IS THERE
A DIFFERENCE?
Background Scripture:
Daniel 1.
Devotional
Psalms 141:1-4.
There are ballooning
controversies in several European nations with growing populations of Islamic
peoples. Some object vigorously to Moslems who insist on wearing distinctive
Islamic clothing in schools and places of business, especially the mandating of
veils for Islamic women. This could also easily become a conflict in our own
country.
I understand, if not
necessarily agree with, those wanting to preserve a visible religious identity. I also
understand those who are offended by it in a nation where, with a few
exceptions---Hasidic Jews, Amish and Mennonites---people of different religious
persuasions are generally unidentifiable by their appearances. Walk down any
street in the
RECOGNIZING CHRISTIANS
An obituary in our
newspaper lauded a woman who had spent many years in the outreach ministry of
her church. When I mentioned this to her neighbor, he remarked: “I never knew
that. she was involved in any church.” In a sense this is a tragic commentary
on a society in which neighbors have no idea who shares with them a faith in
Jesus Christ.
There were two
critical times in
It was during this
cataclysmic period that Daniel was written. For fear of Antiochus, the writer
set the book four centuries earlier in the period of the Babylonian captivity,
when Nebuchadnezzar was the all-powerful ruler. He says “Nebuchadnezzar,” but
he expects the reader to think “Antiochus.” When speaking of the threat to
Jewish identity under Babylonian rule, he is challenging his readers to remain
faithful Jews in the days of the Geek tyrant.
A GOOD DEAL?
When the Babylonians
conquered a people, it was customary to enlist in their service the brightest
and best of their foes. They were well treated and in return they were given
new names and expected to become Babylonians in culture, language and worship
the god Marduk. It seemed a great deal, but Daniel knew it would alienate
himself from the God of Israel.
Therefore, he
refused to eat the rich food that the king had ordered. So this is all about
food? No, the food is simply symbolic of the covenant relationship between God
and his people. To eat food forbidden by Jewish law would stand as outright
disloyalty to
Our purpose in
studying Daniel 1, however, is not to view thins ancient conflict for its own
sake, but for our own times as well. Are we mostly defined by our American
culture or our Christian faith? What distinguishes us from the rest of our
society? And, who, besides the members of your church, recognize that you are a
follower of Jesus Christ?
THE BIBLE SPEAKS
by
PROMISE
OF
‘ANOTHER’
Background Scripture:
Daniel 3
Devotional
Psalms 121.
The
Book of Daniel is composed of six stories and four dream-visions. Daniel 3 is
the first of the six stories. Although they are set in the time of the 6th
century B.C. Babylonian captivity, the author is really writing about his own
time, the 2nd century B.C. during the brutal reign of Antiochus
Epiphanes, the Hellenist (Greek) king. Perhaps our times, too!
In this round-about-way, the writer is
challenging his readers to resist the seductive Hellenist culture that is
undermining the Jewish religion---those who are seduced by the superficial
attractions of Greek culture, and also those intimidated by the ruthlessness of
Hellenist power. The world of Daniel is a model for our own world today.
Nebuchadnezzar is powerful man and his faith is in the threat
of physical force: “You are commanded , O peoples, nations, and languages that… you are to
fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up, and
whoever does not…shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace”! (Daniel 3:3).
A DIFFERENT
WAY
Almost two hundred years after the rule of the
Hellenists, Jesus came offering and urging a strikingly different way to live
in the world. He proclaimed the
Yet, while billions of people around the
world have made Christianity the world’s most numerous faith, how many
Christians have ever believed that the teachings of Christ are practical for
life in this world? We spend our energy, not in living them, but arguing about
them. In reality, many of us embrace, not the way of Jesus, but the way of the
world that still pretty much follows the eye-for-an-eye principle. Often it is
fear of physical force, not respect for love that determines how and why we
live. It is our culture that instructs us, not the gospel.
What Daniel admires in these martyrs is their
attitude in the face of horrible deaths. Their God is able to deliver them, but
if he does not, they will not change their faith to save their lives, just as
many of us will not change our culture to save our souls. “But if not, be it known to
you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship toe golden image which
you have set up” (3:18). They will accept martyrdom rather than sink to
apostasy.
‘ANOTHER’
WITH US
Let us be careful not to forget that life is
full of consequences, even in spite of and because of faith. And we must not
let this story beguile us into thinking that our loyalty to God will keep
adversity and suffering away. In this case and by some reason of providence
known only to God, the three men were saved from a terrible death. But there
have been innumerable saints who have paid terrible consequences for their
faith.
When I am confronted by danger or some
threatening situation, I always pray for God’s help. Sometimes I am spared that
danger, while other times the answer to my prayer is the assurance that I will
not be alone in my trial. My security is not in the certainty of escape, but in
God’s presence to bring my through it with faith intact.
When Nebuchadnezzar looked at the fiery
furnace his power had created, he was shocked: “But I see four men loose, walking
in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the
fourth is like a son of the gods.” The price of faith is an unswerving
loyalty to God and coming with it is the assurance that in whatever
circumstance we find ourselves, there is another
to stand with us.
THE BIBLE SPEAKS
by
FAITH-BASED
VULNERABILITY
Background Scripture:
Daniel 6.
Devotional
Psalms 119:57-64.
The
story of Daniel in the lions’ den is one of many Bible “success” stories: Noah’s ark outlasts the flood, Isaac is spared
the sacrificial knife, little David defeats gigantic Goliath, and so forth. In
fact, I can think of only one story in the Bible in which a person of faith and
God’s favor experiences failure instead of success: Jesus on the cross of
Of
course, Jesus on the cross was a failure---at least in the eyes of
society---but Jesus resurrected from death and the tomb is a success story of
the highest kind. The story of Jesus was initial or short-term failure vs.
ultimate or long-term success. Christian discipleship does not keep us from the
former, but it does guarantee us the latter. Unfortunately, it is all so easy
to think and act only in terms of immediate success---of Daniel uneaten by the
lions and freed alive and whole from the pit, of Jesus being saved at the last
moment from crucifixion.
ULTIMATE RESULTS
The problem for us
is that, when we put short-term success ahead of long-term vindication, we are
liable to be upset and even resentful against God when we experience initial
failure: “What’s the point of keeping the faith if God isn’t going to save my
marriage?” “Why should I pray for the sick if there’s no assurance they all
will be healed ““I asked for a sign, but I didn’t get one.” ”I asked for peace,
but instead we went to war again?” “Why should I try to follow Jesus if the way
leads to a cross?”
Personally,
I never hesitate to offer intercessory prayer for people “dangerously” even
“hopelessly” ill, injured or in trouble. Despite grim prognoses, some of these
people will be healed and helped, while it would seem that others have not. For
those who recover, I celebrate. And of those who do not, I try to understand
that God has answered my prayers, although not in the way I had intended. I
have even learned that we need to pray, not only to help people recover, but
also to help people die. I pray, not so much to tell God what to do, let alone
how to do it, but that I join Him in wanting the best possible result within
the confines of his will.
The
great success in the events of Daniel 6 was not his release unharmed from the
lion’s den, but his refusal to turn his back on the Lord.: “When Daniel knew that the document had been
signed, he went to his house where her had windows in his upper chamber toward
Jerusalem; and he got down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave
thanks before his God, as he had done previously” (6:10). Presumably,
Daniel prayed to escape from this grave crisis, but the writer tells us that he
also “gave thanks.” He is facing a terrible ordeal that will surely cost his
life much pain and suffering, but he still gives thanks. This is a success
considerably greater than being saved from the lion’s den.
FALSE SUCCESS
Daniel 6 begins with
a success story that is not about true success. “It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty
satraps…and over them three presidents. Of whom Daniel was one…Then this Daniel
became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an
excellent spirit was in him; and the king planned to set him over the whole
kingdom.” Of course, this was
short-term success and was to be followed soon by crisis: “Then the presidents and the satraps sought
to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom…We
shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it
in connection with the law of his God.”” (6:4).
His
loyalty to God was Daniel’s Achilles Heel because he was predictable. They
didn’t have to guess what he would do when confronted with their charges, for they
knew he would not be swayed. Yes, that was his vulnerability, as it should be
ours, but it is only superficially vulnerable. It was really his greatest asset
and success.
Is it yours?
THE BIBLE SPEAKS
by
FOR
GOD’S SAKE
Background Scripture:
Daniel 9
Devotional
Psalms 130.
When I
was a child, the God presented in my church experience was an angry, vengeful
God. Perhaps this was because the God of whom I thought and to whom I talked
was really so different from the God presented in lessons and sermons on
Sundays. As I came to read more and more of the New Testament and the Jesus who
came to reveal God to us, I wondered why the picture of God was so one-sided,
so founded upon a God of judgment instead of the God of love and mercy revealed
in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Sometime
during the past decades, however, has been a change in that perception of God.
The most persistent concept today is a God of love and mercy, so that now in
most mainline churches it appears that the God of judgment has been largely
forgotten. Is it possible that we have swung from one extreme to another? Must
we choose between these two perceptions, or do we need to incorporate both
images into our understanding of God?
In
Daniel 9 we see Daniel praying, “O
Lord, the great and terrible God, who keepest covenant and steadfast love with
those who love him and keep his commandments” (9:4). In one sentence of prayer, Daniel
acknowledges that God is both “great and terrible” and
“steadfast love.” Both these elements are evident in
the God of Jesus, who began his ministry, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (MT. 4:17). The
way out of sin and selfishness is repentance, the result of which is the love
and salvation of God.
REPENTANCE IS
UNPATRIOTIC1
The
people of
People, then and
now, don’t like prophets because they always focus on what is wrong with our
societies. We do not like to be told there is something wrong, nor do we want to
be told to repent. Repentance is unpatriotic! (but sometimes, so is God!).
Daniel
has been reading the prophecies of Jeremiah and, perceiving that Jeremiah’s
prophecies are just as authoritative for the Jews of his day as in the day they
were written, he responds with an anguished prayer: “…we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled,
turning aside from thy commandments and ordinances; we have not listened to thy
servants the , who spoke in our name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers,
and to all the people of the land” (Daniel 9:5,6).
REPENTANCE
REQUIRED
Today, more than 20 centuries since they were
written, we can read those words with detached indifference, because we cannot
see that we or our nation need to repent. Of course not: that’s what the people
in Jeremiah’s day thought, and the people in Daniel’s day------------and the people in our day? Surely, our
God of love and grace doesn’t want that kind of prayer from us! Surely, he
does!
I believe we live in the greatest country
in the world. But it is not the
As Christians we have a responsibility under
God to join in working to fulfill the greatest experiment in government that
the world has known. And that will require repentance from time to time to a
God who demands of us justice, righteousness and compassion and offers us mercy
and salvation. .