May 1: CONSIDERING DANIEL’S BOOK
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. Daniel 1:1
Two kings. Jehoiakim, king over God’s professed people; and Nebuchadnezzar, king of the pagan world. There should be a contrast, but is there?
Two cities. Jerusalem and Babylon. Today these are spiritual symbols, collectively, for two distinct groups that are living at the end of time. The new, heavenly Jerusalem (this name means City of Peace), is the dwelling place of God, where the citizenship of Christ’s true followers exists (see Philippians 3:20). At the time of our opening verse today, Babylon was a grand city, the pride of the dominant Babylonian Empire. Today it symbolizes the world of confusion and mixed-up spiritual teachings that are “all over the map”, both literally and symbolically.
Because of the waywardness and worldliness of God’s professed people, we find them in today’s verse as vulnerable to attack by the powerful pagan armies of Babylon (the root word for this name means confusion). This opening event of Daniel’s book occurred in 605BC. Beforehand, the prophet Jeremiah had repeatedly pleaded with the people of God to return to Him. Jeremiah’s harsh prophetic warnings had been bathed in tears, yet he was treated with disdain by his own people. Unbelievably, Jehoiakim was appointed king of Judah by the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II, who had killed Jehoiakim’s father King Josiah. Even this appointment was a sad commentary on the state of affairs among God’s people. Why should Egypt’s leader (in the Bible, Egypt is symbolically equated with atheism) be deciding who Judah’s king will be? Jehoiakim, instead of following in the righteous footsteps of his father Josiah, was a wicked king from the start.
Scripture repeatedly establishes that God’s professed people, because they knowingly go against His will, are judged more harshly than those who are simply ignorant. As we will see, there were faithful Jews who were swept up in the attack of the Babylonians. The drama intensifies – and there are rich, valuable lessons in Daniel for every one of us today! Earth’s history is fraught with the tumult of fallen man. Yet, God’s eternal purpose remains perfectly intact, regardless of the chaos caused by the behaviors of fallen man. God’s will for the present – in every era – is indelibly marked with His eternal purpose: to save souls!
In answering the haunting question posed by Jesus’s disciples to Him near the end of His earthly ministry (see Matthew 24:3 and Mark 13:4), Jesus pointed them to the little book of Daniel (Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14). Even their limited understanding at the time was of great benefit to them. As pointed out in Revelation 10:2, this little book, formerly sealed (Daniel 12:4) is fully open to us in the last days. May we take it all in, and proclaim to others the hope for eternity that God offers.
Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth…and prophesy again…” Revelation 10:8,11
For further study: 2 Kings 23:28-37; 2 Chronicles 35:19-27; Jeremiah 22:18-21