Blog Post 9/21/24
Daniel and America's Mess
This morning I posted the next Daniel audio file. While doing the editing work on Daniel over these last few months, I have been struck with the significance of how the Truth revealed to us in this book is deeply relevant to what is going on in America right now. So, I decided that the Lord would have me to mention some of this Truth in a blog post, or maybe a few blog posts.
The overall message of the book of Daniel is that God is sovereignly ruling in the kingdoms of men,[1] and that He delights in ruling in a special sense in the lives of those that surrender their lives to Him through Christ.[2] To the degree that men withhold their hearts from God, He will still be ruling in their lives by overruling many things, whether they like it or not. To the degree that any man delights in surrendering his life to be fully ruled by God, He is free to personally rule in and through that man's life.
In order to rightly grasp what is going on in America [or anywhere else in this world], it is necessary to keep these two simple truths in view. God is ruling, and God is overruling among us all day every day. This is true both on the personal level and on the global level. What this means is very important to our understanding of people's personal lives as well as our understanding on local, national and global stages. Not a single one of us is living in some kind of a vacuum. But it is even more meaningful, perhaps, to settle once and for all in our hearts and minds[3] that God IS in COMPLETE CONTROL of every aspect of life as it is being lived out in this world right now, whether on the level of our personal lives or on every other level of human life: educationally, pharmaceutically, politically, nutritionally, propagandistically[4] [so-called news media], etc.
When Daniel was raised up by the ruling Lord to fulfill his ministry, Daniel's entire world had been turned upside down, to say the least. He and a few of his friends were uprooted and taken into Babylonian captivity. Once there, they were put through an extensive 'reeducation' process, had their names changed, and were eventually offered amazing perks if they were willing to fall into line with their new conditions. Most Christians are familiar with the first six chapters of Daniel's writing. But are we as familiar with the following reality that characterized the hearts and minds of these young men? They never once, it would seem, had the slightest doubt about the fact that God was on the throne and had either engineered or sovereignly permitted every single aspect of their upheaval and all that it meant for their lives!
Here in America we are once again being confronted with the possibility of a similar scenario. Just four years ago the presidency of the USA was coopted by a sinister cadre of self-serving power mongers and all of their allies: educationally, pharmaceutically, politically, nutritionally, propagandistically[5] [so-called news media], etc. Now, either God is complicit in their treachery, or He is sovereignly permitting it to rise fully to the surface so that it is openly seen for what it is. Which is it, Christian?
We are revisiting an old landmark over these next few weeks. What we are faced with now is the same as what we encountered in the presidential campaign between Clinton and Trump in 2016, and in the farce of an election between Biden and Trump in 2020. Either the Lord will permit the downfall of America, or He will not. The king's heart is in the Lord's hands. Or, as Daniel so emphatically told Belshazzar:
…till he [your father Nebuchadnezzar] knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.
Daniel 5:21
But what we as Christians MUST never forget is that the most high God is reigning in all of these things. Daniel and his friends had their entire lives dramatically changed because God was on the throne, NOT because the Babylonians rose to power. Whatever transpires over these next few weeks here in America, the only way that genuine believers will be enabled to embrace it[6] will be to hold steadfastly to the God Who:
…to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
Daniel 4:17
The fact of the matter regarding Daniel and his three friends is that, although their personal lives were entirely uprooted, their Babylonian journey was one of the most powerful missions trips the world has ever known! Consider the following:
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east[7] to Jerusalem,
Matthew 2:1
Was their turmoil under God's direct control, and was it "worth it?"
[1] His overall sovereignty.
[2] His personal sovereignty.
[3] As Christians.
[4] Yes, it is a real word.
[5] Yes, it is a real word.
[6] Whichever ways it goes.
[7] Look up a map of the wise men's journey and you will see that Babylon was nearly due east from Israel!
Comentários