Tag: Never Be Destroyed

Fitting in is a big deal for young punks. Not fitting in is an even bigger deal. That’s why peer pressure exists. You know that you’ve done dumb things because your mates were doing dumb things. Part of fitting in is working out who you are and where you belong. Daniel 1 shows Dan and his mates working out who they are and what it will mean for them to fit in or not fit in, in a foreign land.

Daniel 1:1-2 sets the scene for the rest of the book. We’re introduced to 2 kings and 2 cities. Jehoiakim and Nebuchadnezzar are the kings; Jerusalem and Babylon are the cities. These two cities are probably the most important cities in the whole of the Bible. They are in the opening and closing books of the Bible and everywhere in between.

Babylon is the city that represents human self-rule. In Genesis 11 Babylon tried to create a city that didn’t need God. There are Babylons all over our world today. But we know from Revelation 18 that the ultimate destiny of Babylon is destruction.

Jerusalem is the opposite of Babylon. It’s the city built by God. It is the Holy City. The future is certain and it’s good: the New Jerusalem will be inhabited by God and his people for all eternity (Revelation 21).

In part 1 we saw that Jerusalem had been taken over by Babylon. And now the King of Babylon has begun recruiting good looking young men to be part of a 3-year Babylon School Bootcamp (vv3-4). Dan and his 3 good looking mates were chosen to join the school and be part of the king’s posse.

Continue reading “Never Be Destroyed Part 2 – Know Your Identity (Daniel 1)”

Here are the opening two verses of Daniel chapter 1: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 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.” (Dan 1:1-2 NIV)

It sounds terrible! God’s holy city, Jerusalem, has been taken over by the Babylonians. They’ve taken all the bling from the temple of God and carried it off to the temple of Babylon’s gods. Where is God? Is he still in control? Does he still rule? Or has he lost his power?

One of the main themes throughout the book of Daniel is that, despite appearances, God is still in control. Human kingdoms come and go throughout the book, but “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.” (Dan 2:44).

We’ll meet Daniel and his friends as they seek to live as God’s people in a foreign, sometimes hostile, land. They have some wild adventures with lions, fiery furnaces and some crazily vivid visions & dreams.

The world of Daniel is not unlike our world. As we see the hostility (and even the impressiveness) of the world around us, our belief in God can easily be challenged. My hope is that this blog series on Daniel 1-7 will help teach us to live wisely, while we wait for the return of our King Jesus and his kingdom that will never be destroyed.