As we continue our Lessons from Babylon, recurring themes from the book of Daniel, let’s look at what seems to be the overarching theme of the entire book. Every chapter of Daniel is written to convey one message over all others: as Temper Longman put it (How to Read Daniel), “In spite of present difficulties, God is in control, and he will have the final victory.”
Daniel opens with a statement of the sad state of Judah and Jerusalem.
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. (1:1-2)
Jerusalem has been conquered. The temple has been robbed. And it all happened because “the Lord delivered” it all into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands. The opening message of Daniel is that the world wasn’t out of control; it was firmly in God’s control even when it looked bad for God’s people.
The book continues that theme all throughout. God is sovereign over Daniel and his friends’ bodies, making them plump on a diet of vegetables. He sends dreams that only he can interpret. When wicked kings try to punish God’s faithful, the Lord steps in. When human rulers exalt themselves over the Most High, they are brought down. When God is ready to remove a wicked nation’s rule, he does so, letting them know in advance in hilariously creepy fashion. The prophecies of the later chapters continue with this message: History will unfold according to God’s plan. However it may look to us at the time, God is in control.
This shouldn’t be news to us. Much of the scriptures are devoted to teaching that God is sovereign over the universe and the affairs of men. But we forget that. A lot. We start to wonder if God is really in control when things don’t go the way we think they ought. Especially when it seems like God’s reputation is suffering. Even this should not make us wonder.
Sometimes God displays what Dale Ralph Davis calls a humble sovereignty. The Lord didn’t just hand over Jehoiakim and Jerusalem; he allowed the Babylonians to carry off treasures from the temple. To those cultures, this made it look like Babylon’s gods were more powerful than YHWH. God allowed his name to be besmirched to achieve his purposes. He did this then, and he appears to be doing it now. If it looks like God is not in control, it’s only because we don’t know the details of his plans.
The repeated emphasis of the book of Daniel is that God is sovereign.
The corollary to this truth is that I am small. God is in control; I am not. There is freedom in acknowledging I can’t control much of anything. I am only responsible for that which I can control, which includes my response to the things I cannot. My responsibility is to obey and to trust him.
When everything is rosy in my life, God is sovereign; when life is giving me a beat-down, God is sovereign. Whether things are going well for my kids or they’re struggling, whether they’re walking with Jesus or going their own way, God is in control. Whether the economy is booming or sputtering, the Most High is in charge. When the “right guy” wins the election, when the “wrong guy” wins the election, when the “right guy” turns out to be worse than the “wrong guy” would have been, God is still unfolding his plan. When I lose my job, when my child is sick, when God’s people are being persecuted, when the world seems to have lost its ever-loving mind, the Maker of the universe is still on his throne, and he will see that everything goes according to his plan.
Empires come and go. God reigns forevermore.
Whether peace like a river attendeth our way or sorrows like sea billows roll, we can say “It is well with my soul” because our God is in control.
Image: Flight of the Prisoners by Jacques Joseph Tissot
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