Haggai - "The Pernicious Persuasive Power of Paneling"

It's estimated that in the annual cycling spectacle known as the Tour de France, riders will encounter as many as 3500 obstacles over the course of the three weeks of racing.  Today we see God's people encountering obstacles.

Hag 1.1-6 - What is happening here?  Let's set the stage...

In [Isaiah 44.24-45.7], the year is 700BC.  God someday is going to raise up a king named Cyrus and through him Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and work to rebuild the temple will also commence.  Almost 100 years after God foretells this, Babylon finally does come to power.  And the prophet Jeremiah writes these words:

Jeremiah 25:11-12 ‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.  Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.’

Jeremiah 29:10   “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.’”

So, you tell me, to what does it sound like Jeremiah is referring?  Is the 70 years for Israel?

Set the stage.  Babylon came to the fore when they conquered the Assyrians in 609.  Nebby K came and attacked Jerusalem first in 605, taking away some captives.  He returned and destroyed the temple in 587.  Do you know when Babylon fell to a king of Persia named Cyrus?  539.  Again, it is remarkable that an ancient empire so powerful and dominant would endure for only 70 years.

Then in Ezra (c. 458 BC), we see the edict to rebuild the temple [1.1-4], [3.1-3] - the altar erected for divine protection, [3.10-13] - the foundation laid.  Some 50000 people go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of God.  There is ample provision for the work.  They identify the rightful heirs to the priesthood of Levi and throne of David.  And they begin the work.  They lay the foundation.  It's heady stuff, this grand Jewish homecoming!  Shouting, and weeping, and trumpets.  And then something happens.  The comeback experiences a setback.  An obstacle.  Opposition.

[Ezra 4.1, 4]

God's people stop building.  The euphoria evaporates.  And why?  Intimidation.  Timidity in…

[the world is full of famous unfinished buildings - Google]

Opposition.  Obstacles.  Life is full of them.  God’s work is fraught with them.  Sometimes we get knocked back, knocked over, knocked down.  Life - and God’s work - is often about overcoming obstacles.  So much of life.  Things which try to stop us - or slow us down.  In this world you will have tribulation, Jesus said.  But take courage - I have overcome the world.

[Remember the story of Eric Liddell, when he got knocked down in a race - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4e5Xfmc8zQ]

People!  You stopped building…!  What happened?

Sometimes we get spooked.  We’re afraid.  Timidity rears its ugly head.  I can’t do that.  We shouldn’t do that.  We feel inadequate.  Sometimes we simply get distracted.  Sidetracked.  We get our honey-do list and our heavenly-do list all confuddled.  It’s not time to work on God’s house - I need to get some paneling up in my house.  Yeah, that's the ticket.  And maybe we simply get caught up in our paneling.  Man, check out my paneling.  I love me some paneling.  Paneling is good.  Paneling is right.  Paneling lulls me into thinking that life is good, and it’s all good.  No worries.  No hurries.  No need to go out of my way or get all worked up about the cascading needs all around.  The souls of my neighbors.  The unfinished task.  The Great Commission.

Because of these obstacles, because of the simple fact that vision leaks, we need to remember the why.  Revisit.  Refocus.  Retain.  Why had God raised up Cyrus, stirred him up to send the Jew back to Jerusalem?  What was the reason given for this long-awaited comeback?

Haggai 1:8 “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD. 

God, our God, the Creator, the God of heaven, the King of the universe, is worthy to be worshipped - by all the nations which He has made under heaven.  By every man, woman, and child on this planet.  Those who live their lives apart from Him [or in opposition to Him] not only are missing out on the deepest most satisfying joys of life, but they are also robbing Him of the worship He so truly deserves. 

Jacob, you are looking at all the reasons why you shouldn’t do this thing, and I’m telling you, you need to refocus.  You need to remember Who I am, and what is most important.  One thing is needful.  The glory of God.  You need to rebuild My house, which is to be a house of prayer for all peoples.  Not yet am I making My home in human hearts.  Zerubbabel, Joshua, you need to build this house.  You need to concern yourselves with My glory more than with that which concerns you.  And for Zerubbabel, and for each one of us, it starts in the heart.  My heart.

My heart.  God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.  White-hot worship.  Enjoying Him, His breathtaking goodness.  Above and before all else.  That’s the goal of missions - worship.  The goal of the Great Commission is worship, all the nations, people of every tribe and tongue, learning to not just believe in Jesus but worshiping Him.  Find their highest joy and satisfaction in Him.  That was the ultimate goal which God was pursuing in gathering a people to Himself and building a house where His Name would dwell.  All the nations would be blessed, would come to know and celebrate His breathtaking goodness.

But it’s Jonah’s shade bush all over again.  Even we as God’s people are prone to set our hearts on something other than Him and what He cares about.  We can sometimes care more about bushes and paneling than we do about the fame and honor of His name.

[Classic line from The Untouchables: "what are you prepared to do?" (i.e. to bring down the gangster, Al Capone) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ALcqt6GMhM]

As His people, what are you and I prepared to do in order to increase worship of the most high God, Who alone is worthy of all our devotion - and that of everyone around us?  And then what are we prepared to do?   The point that Malone is making to Elliot Ness there in that pew is that lofty goals require you and I to go above and beyond the normal and expected.  If we are gonna take down Al Capone, or rather, if we are going to see God take down strongholds and break through unbelief and bind up the broken hearted, if we are to see His Name made famous to the ends of the earth, we have got to go beyond the normal and the expected.  We have got to reach into our bag and bring out our A++ game.  We have got to keep our eyes on the ball.  We have got to double down and do whatever it takes - and then some.  Particularly when we encounter the inevitable obstacles.  There is work to do!  Wherever worship of the one true God is lacking, there’s work to be done.  Wherever there’s brokenness, there’s work to be done.  And there is lots of work to be done.  What are you and I prepared to do?

Zerubbabel, Joshua, people - you need to stop gazing at your paneling, you need to stop caring more about what your opponents think, and get off your donkeys - saddle up your donkeys, in fact - and go get whatever you need in order to finish building My house.  Go around (or thru) whatever obstacles you’re facing.  Because My glory is at stake.

Colossians 1.28-29 

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

But why did they stop, really?  That which ultimately stops us - is our heart.  The Lord finds our desires too weak.  We are too easily distracted.  We are too easily disheartened.  We are too easily knocked back and off kilter and off course.  The work begins at the altar of my heart.

Consider your ways! [1.5]  Consider your ways! [7]  Set your heart [2.15, 18 - twice!).  Give careful thought and consideration to what you are doing.  Your plans.  The outcomes.  And your heart in the middle of it all. 

God’s people are surviving.  They have places to live.  Paneled houses.  But they’ve become seduced by their paneling.  They’re taking inordinate comfort in their paneling.  They’ve become complacent.

[And does anyone else find it interesting that paneling was “in”, even in the 6th century BC?  Things come back around don’t they?  Is paneling going to come back around?]  

But hey, they’re living in the Promised Land, right?  That’s a good thing, right?  But things aren’t right.  And there are signs everywhere.  There never seems to be enough.  Too much month at the end of the paycheck.  Very little fruit.  That alone should tell them something.  But the phrase we don’t want to miss - back in verse 6.  A purse with holes.  A purse with holes.  A broken cistern (Jer 2.13).  And Israel, maybe you are tempted to think it’s all about money.  And fruit.  Grapes and figs.  But that’s not it at all.  It’s not really that there’s not enough money - it’s the purse, or the wallet, of my heart - and that is an infinite abyss which no amount of money, no amount of food or stuff or success or anything on this earth will ever be able to fill.  A purse with holes - that is a metaphor for our heart, and the only thing which can fill it is the One Who made it.  Only the Lord can truly satisfy the longings and desires of my heart.  No amount of paneling will suffice.  "You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You." -St Augustine

It’s the cycle of glory.  We learn to enjoy the Lord - and that’s precisely what glorifies Him.

Haggai 1:12   Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for the LORD. 

Obedience is a symptom of a reverent heart.  Fear.  Awe.  Reverence.  He is not a safe lion!  He’s not some tottering old grandfather Who we can disregard and disrespect at a whim.  He is not just some flawed finite parent to Whom we give lip service and go thru the motions all the while we just dismiss what He says and what He wants.

I wonder if we know - or forget - Who we’re dealing with.  It’s not that our heart is not strong enough or that our pockets aren’t deep enough or that our days are not long enough - it’s that our God is not big enough.  And it’s not a size problem - it’s a vision problem.  To whom will you liken Me?, says the Lord.

[Isaiah 40.15-18, 21-26, 28-31]

Lift up your eyes!  Get your eyes off the obstacles, and that paneling, and fix your gaze on the glory, the incomparable greatness and goodness of almighty God.  Fix your eyes on Jesus.  

The good news is that it doesn’t depend on us.  God gives strength to the weary, to those who stumble, to the timid.  Maybe with all our asking for health and for paneling, we need to ask Him for fresh vision of how incomparably great and awesome He is.

Let’s not miss this point.  Look at the last part of Haggai chapter 1.  Who would you say is responsible for the response (cf Ezra 1.1)?  It’s a both-and.  God stirred up Cyrus.  He stirred up Zerubbabel and Joshua and the people.  AND they obeyed.  It’s a both-and.  God is at work in you, to work AND to will for His good pleasure.  He Who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

But we need to glimpse and gaze on God’s incomparable glory and double down, do whatever it takes to increase the knowledge and celebration of His goodness - in our hearts and lives, in our city, and to the ends of the earth.

You know, one of the best ways to help our vision is actually with our ears.  That’s right - if we want to get a bigger glimpse of Who God is, we need to slow down, and take the time to listen.  Be still, and know that I am God.

He is the God Who speaks!  He has spoken.  God is speaking.  Always speaking.  Some 25 times in these short 32 verses, we see that He is speaking.  Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of heaven’s armies.  He spoke the universe into being.  He spoke our own souls into existence.  He has spoken thru the prophets and the apostles and thru His Son.  He is the great I AM, He is, He is there, and He is not silent!

Thus says the Lord.  Declares the Lord.  The Word of the Lord.  Over and over, God is speaking.  And He still speaks!  His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, dwelling in our hearts.  His Word, His inspired, inerrant Word, the Word of Christ, dwelling… well, dwelling on a shelf or a table somewhere.  There it is - God is speaking, waiting to speak to you, and to me, every day, throughout the day.  There it is.  Just sitting there.  Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, Paul says!  Are we listening?  Are we taking the time to listen?  Speak, Lord - your servant is listening!  What is Your bidding, my Master?  Remember Martha?  While Martha was all hot and bothered and distracted by her preparations, what was Mary doing?  What does it say she was doing?  Seated at the feet of Jesus - listening to His Word.  May we each find a similar grace to do that, every day… And get our eyes off our paneling, and onto the One Who alone is deserving of all our devotion…

Outline of Haggai

1. Word I - The Priority of God’s house [1.1-15]
1. The leaders rebuked [1]
2. A desolate house [2-3]
3. Consider your ways [5-11]
4. The response [12-15]
2. Word II - From glory to glory [2.1-9]
1. Take courage [1-5]
2. A house of glory [6-9]
3. Word III - From smiting to blessing [2.10-19]
1. The law of uncleanness [10-14]
2. A promise of blessing [15-19]
4. Word IV - Chosen by the Lord [2.20-23]

Obadiah - "The Deliverers (?)"

Think of some famous Brothers:  Wright brothers, Brothers Grimm… How about Jacob and Esau?

Well, for the descendants of Jacob, it has finally happened.  All of Israel is fully and finally exiled.  Assyria took away the northern tribes, and now the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin are gone too.  Nebuchadnezzar has destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, and left the city in ruins.  And even as we begin to look forward to the come back, to a promised future return from exile, something happened.  Something somewhat unexpected.  Jacob’s brother, Esau, Israel’s only brother - he did something.  Esau did a bad thing.

[1]

Two players here at the outset:

Obadiah —> it means “servant/worshipper of Yah” in Hebrew.  

Edom is the people who were the descendants of Esau… (cf Gen 25.30, Gen 36.8)

When sibling rivalry becomes perpetual hostility… Yes, brothers can be difficult.  Pains in the you know where.  The derriere.  I think Jacob was probably a royal pain.  He was a trickster, a deceiver, a usurper.  And Esau was the first born.  The eldest.  All the rights of the firstborn should have gone to him and his family.  But instead, they went to Jacob.  We know that God chose Jacob, but on the human level, Jacob finagled them away.  All more fuel on the fire of an already-simmering sibling rivalry.

This sibling rivalry was one for the ages.  It actually began in the womb [Gen 25.22-23], continued throughout their adolescence and on into early adulthood [Gen 27.41].  At one point they seem to have made peace with each other [Gen 33.4,9], or at least to peacefully co-exist.  Over the centuries, they grow apart.  They become neighbors - but also bitter rivals.  King David actually forces Edom to become servants to the descendants of Jacob [2Sam 8.14] - just as God said he would.  The older will serve the younger, God said.  Then 100 yrs after David Edom begins to revolt and fight back against younger brother [2Ki 8.20,22].  Family hostility.  Centuries of it.

This can happen to brothers, can’t it?  Brothers - or sisters.  We can get sideways with one another.  We can get so sideways that we are seemingly beyond the ability to care anymore.  Past the point of no return.  Past the point of being able to love.  To forgive.  To help.  To be kind.  Distance.  Separation.  Alienation.  I’d like to suggest that for us today, it is never too late.  There is no family tie which is so severed as to be beyond repair.  Not for the Lord.

“He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted”, Jesus said [Is 61.1].  To bring peace.  To heal that which is broken, wounded.  The word here is wrapping a bandage around a wound so that it can heal.  This is our Savior - He wraps up and heals hearts - AND hurts.  He brings hope to the hopeless.  There is never a heart which is so hard that He can’t soften it.  There is never a relationship so far gone that He can’t heal it.  Granted it may take some time and effort and prayer and forgiveness and humility - but that's His specialty.  He can do this.

Sadly, in this case, in Obadiah, we see where God has basically put out a contract on Edom.  Brother Esau.  The Lord is literally putting a hit out on the descendants of Esau - telling the nations to attack.  Edom is fair game.  What happened?  What is the straw that broke the camel’s back?  We need to skip down to verse 10.

Violence - to your brother.  Here’s one point which God is trying to hammer home.  We’ve seen it before - family is forever.  1000 years hence, and God still calls them brothers.  At this point we might actually consider them to be distant relatives - way distant.  But they are brothers.  In God’s house, in His heart, family means something.  Family is supposed to mean something.  God calls them brothers.

The early church shone in this - outsiders exclaimed, behold how they love one another!  And the explanation given was, their Leader has convinced them that they are brothers.  But what did Edom do?  He actually did nothing.  When Nebuchadnezzar showed up to finally destroy Jerusalem, on the day of his brother’s distress, Esau did nothing.  This is actually a phrase which gets repeated 10 times in this section.  The day of his distress.  The day of his distress.  Your brother’s day, the day of his misfortune, destruction.  God said it was coming, didn’t He?  Judah had it coming, didn’t he?  But look at verse 11.

Edom, you stood aloof [11] while foreigners [i.e. those SO NOT family] plundered your brother.  Literally, you stood opposite.  Instead of coming to the rescue, you did the opposite.  You in fact, did nothing.  You just stood there, and watched.  You were a spectator.  But family is not a spectator sport.  Love is not a spectator sport.  Love doesn’t simply pass by on the other side, much less just stand there looking.  Definitely not when it's family.  Love engages.  Love crosses the street.  Love reaches out and does whatever it can to bridge the separation and meet the need.  It might be the first to say I’m sorry.  Or I forgive you.  Or to pick up the phone and simply ask, how are you?  How can I pray for you?  If/when you and I don’t engage, don’t do something, we fall short.  Because love is a verb.  It’s also not natural.  It doesn’t feel natural sometimes.  Because it is a supernatural act, and therefore it requires supernatural enabling.  We turn to the Lord and depend on His Spirit to love through us - our neighbors, our enemies, our brothers.  A new command I give you… Love one another. 

It ought to be true in any family.  But it ought also be true in the family of God.  Among God’s people.  And yes, it usually does take two to tango.  Sometimes there is a whole lot of water which has passed under that bridge.  You can only do what you can do.  But for sure, you and I need to do all that we can do.  All we can do to reach out, to break down the separation.  And yes, it might require some patience and perseverance.  And prayer.  It might take some apologizing.  I’m sorry.  Please forgive me.  And some healing.  And some time.  Relationships always take time - especially the difficult ones.  But our God is in the miracle business!  Nothing is too difficult for Him!  This is not too difficult for Him!

But Edom, you did worse than nothing - you sought to gain from it.  You took advantage of the situation.  When he was down, you actually took some of your brother’s stuff, right alongside the rest of the looters.  Look at verses 12 and 13 - you gloated even.  You enjoyed seeing your brother get his comeuppance.  But wait - there’s more!  You even took captive some of the refugees, folks who were fleeing for their lives… [14]  You trafficked your brothers!

Yes, Judah probably had it coming.  Jacob definitely had some of it coming.  But by your actions, Edom, you are now complicit with the Babylonians, these ones who did violence to God’s chosen people.  And at the end of the day, these are still your brothers.  Are you even able to see that?  Instead of helping them, you hurt them - while they were down.  You just stood there and watched.  You didn’t step in - other than to help yourself to some of the spoils, and take some of them captive for yourself.  So, Edom - you’re fired.  Actually, a fire IS coming, and it is going to consume you.

[16] They will become as if they had never existed.  This was certainly to be the fate of Edom.  Today all that is left is ruins.  There is nothing else left of this nation - just fodder for archaeologists.  [18] The house of Esau will be as stubble, fire will consume them, and there will be no survivor.

[pic of mount seir] - this is all that’s left.  Ruins.

You wanna leave a legacy which is more than just ruins?  Learn how to love.  Hundreds of students getting ready to enroll in LeTourneau here in another month, learning (at least in theory) how to get a job.  But I say, with all our learning, we need to learn how to love.  One another.  Our brother.  Our neighbor.

The day of [Judah’s] disaster/distress/misfortune - 10x in this short book.  And there is certainly a day of destruction for Edom [in v 8].  But God here mentions another day.   There is another day, one which we’ve seen mentioned before.  The Day of the Lord [15].  The Day of the Lord draws near for all nations.  Judgment.  Just desserts - as you have done it will be done to you.  God’s righteous anger revealed against all unrighteousness.  The cup of His wrath finally poured out on all the nations of the earth.  Just as Judah got a taste, a sip of it there in Jerusalem, all the peoples of the earth will be made to drink of the same cup.

What we do see quite plainly here in these last verses of Obadiah is that God says Israel is going to make a comeback.  Jacob is going to possess their possessions.  They will repossess, they will take back possession of Mount Zion.  Jerusalem.  They will take back the Promised Land.  Their inheritance.  All these lands which God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their descendants.  All the territory He gave to His people after He brought them out of Egypt - they are going to repossess it.  It’s the ultimate repo!  Only the bank isn’t coming to take something away - this Bank is giving back!

There is one other thing we need to look at.  Verse 21.  The Deliverers [21]

yasha in the Hebrew means to make wide or to make sufficient.  It is contrasted with the word sarar, which means to be restricted, to cause distress.  The root idea then of this salvation or deliverance is that of freeing up restrictions, widening the path, so to speak, so that it is free from restrictions.  Eliminating the bottleneck.  Relieving the distress.  Which is precisely what brother Esau did NOT do for brother Jacob.

There are different kinds of sarar/distress.  It can be economic stress.  Enemies [Moses at the well with the daughters of Reuel].  Catastrophes - plague, famine, sickness.  How about the distress, the daily stress of just living.  So many things which weigh us down.  In contrast, deliverers widen people’s lives.  Look at this guy…

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkU-SSKf758] - dancing traffic cop

Because even these pictures are distressing, aren’t they?  [pictures of gridlock] 

Did I ever tell you my most embarrassing moment?  It had to do with another kind of restriction, some intestinal "gridlock" and a corresponding gridlock in the septic system of a friend's home... But I digress... :)

Deliverers.  In all these cases, the one who widens, who delivers from these restrictions is known as the “savior”.  Moses saved Reuel’s daughters.  But mostly this term has huge theological undertones - over and over again, what the Old Testament communicates is that God is our Deliverer, our Savior [Ps 68.19].  Yes, salvation may come through a human agent, but it is only because God empowers the agent.

There is a long history of God saving His people:

• From Egypt [Ex 14.30 —> Deut 33.29]
• From the Canaanites [Deut 20.4]
• Through judges [Jud 2.16] or through a king [1Sam 9.16]
• Note the importance of godly leaders [Jud 21.25]
• From enemies [1Sam 17.47]
• For the sake of His Name [Ps 106.8]
• By His power [Ps 44.5-8, Prov 21.31]
• Not constrained by numbers [1Sam 14.6]

But here's the bigger point: God delivers His people - so that they will become Deliverers!  This is His plan, His plan for us.

This is precisely what Edom did not do.  He did not do anything to lessen the distress of his brother.  To widen things for him.  He didn’t even lift a finger.  He was an anti-deliverer, an anti-Savior.  Technically, we could call him here, a type of anti-Christ.

My guess is that the Lord has some ways for us, for you to "lift a finger" this week.  No, not give the finger.  Deliver someone from distress.  Could be physical.  Emotional.  Spiritual.

Last point - The kingdom will be the Lord’s - the paradox of the kingdom

• There is a fundamental truth of the kingdom that he or she who would gain the kingdom must be willing to break all other ties - including those of family.  It is truly the treasure in the field for which we are willing to sell everything.  The pearl of great price [Mt 13.44-46].  So yes, there are instances where earthly familial ties will be severed as part of the price to acquire the field, to enter the kingdom.  Sometimes following Christ will set one against one’s own flesh and blood.  Is He worth it?  Compared to the King of the kingdom, nothing has value…
• But this kingdom - God’s plan, His original design and ultimate destiny is not for people to live in this place of stress, of restriction, of slavery to sin and brokenness, broken relationships, to labor under these unbearable burdens.  No, our God, our Deliverer, is the One Who declares, come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden.  Yoke yourselves to Me, follow Me, learn from Me, and you will find rest for your souls.  Peace.  Shalom.  Hope.  Living hope.  There is hope.  For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light, says the Lord God our Savior [Mt 11:28-30].  And He commissions us, we His people, as His agents of deliverance.  To be deliverers!  Not like Edom, standing aloof.  Instead, we're helping to shoulder and lighten peoples burdens.  Yes, be we traffic cops or septic service technicians or you name it.  But also in pointing people to the One Who alone can ultimately lift and carry their unbearable burdens and restrictions.  Who can carry away their sin, Who did so on the Cross.  He bore our burdens away, carried away our sins, paid the penalty and broke the power of sin.  Truly delivered.  Thank You, Lord...!

Outline of Obadiah

1. God’s Word against Edom [1-20]
1. The Punishment [2-9]
1. Brought low [2-4]
2. Plundered [5-6]
3. Deceived and dismayed [7-9]
2. The Crime [10-14]
3. Final Judgment [15-20]
1. Nations judged [15-16]
2. Israel restored, Esau destroyed  [17-20]
2. Last word [21]

Daniel - "Of Kings and Pawns..."

In Hebrew Scriptures, the book of Daniel is considered part of the Writings, not the Prophets…  It is also one of the most unique - and significant - books in the entire Bible.  The first half is in fact very similar to books like Ruth and Ezra and Nehemiah - glimpses of historical events which have greater life lessons.  But scattered throughout, and in the entire second half, we have amazing prophecies, visions, predictions of things which would happen in the future.  Many of these have been fulfilled - some are still awaiting their fulfillment.

But I think the biggest takeaway from the book of Daniel is an expansive view of the most high God which completely levels the playing field.

Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have declared that, “In this life, we are all kings or pawns, emperors or fools.”  And this is our starting point in Daniel.  Big bad Nebuchadnezzar - aka Nebby K - has finally shown up to capture Judah.  It is the hand of punishment which God has been talking about, warning His people about for decades.

Daniel 1:1-2    

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.

Think about how the people of Judah were feeling.  Abandoned.  Disillusioned.  Questioning God - like Habakkuk did for a bit.  Why, God?  Why have You let this happen?  Feeling 2nd class - or worse.  Losers.  At one point, they were on top of the world - but oh how the mighty have fallen.

Supremacy.  Supremacy.  The state or condition of being superior.  Loftier.  To all others.  In authority.  Power.  Status.  Elevated.  Exalted.  We look at the world around us and the people around us and we compare ourselves, sometimes favorably, sometimes unfavorably.  We almost can’t help ourselves.  One-upsmanship and one-downsmanship - it’s part of the human condition.

And as much as anything, what we see here from Nebby K is about supremacy.  Power.  A power play.  He is exalting himself - as well as his god.  The God of the Hebrews being subjugated to Nebby K's god, the god of Babylon (which we know is just another pagan idol).  Even and especially in the pagan world, spirits are at the back of everything - spirit worship, appeasing the spirits.  But for sure, Nebby K is striving after total supremacy - and he rightly assumes there is a spiritual component to that.

And we find that the world is full of those who develop the illusion of loftiness.  Perceived superiority [or lack thereof] in relation to various things around them.  We wax arrogant.  Or we languish and shrink back in intimidation.

But what we really get in Daniel is a leveled playing field.  We see the world as it really is - because we get a clearer picture of Who God really is.  We puny humans get so caught up thinking there are all kinds of degrees of elevation -  rank, status, of class, of giftedness.  But we are waaay too close to the situation - things look so much bigger from up close.  It’s all about perspective.  In 3D mapping this is called vertical exaggeration.

[3D imaging - vertical exaggeration]  -   [profile of tour de france mountain stage]

In our vertical exaggeration we create mountains out of molehills.  Delusions of grandeur.  We look at the world and we look at those around us and we crank up our own personal game of thrones.  One upping and one downing ourselves relative to those around us.  And what we see in the book of Daniel is the leveling of the playing field, the entire field flattened like a pancake.  Flatter than that even.  Cuz pancakes can actually be quite fluffy.  They can puff up.  Zoom in close enough and even a pancake doesn’t seem so flat…

[kansas flatter than a pancake] - [top 10 flattest states - Florida. Illinois, North Dakota, Louisiana, Minnesota, Delaware, Kansas, Texas, Nevada and Indiana]

So we need to be thinking flatter than a pancake.  A crepe.  Or a tortilla.  Flat.  A world which is so flat as to make any and all seeming mountains and valleys of no account.  We need to zoom out, and see things as they really are…

[profile of earth][on a line where the circumference of the earth is laid out and condensed down to 10 inches, everest is a dot .002 inches high…] ALSO *******[water on earth]

We think these hills and valleys are so steep, so huge in comparison to one another, to us.  But in this we are far too myopic.  We are too close to the situation.  And so what we need to develop is this hyperopia, this ability to see objects at a distance.  We need to zoom out - and get perspective.  Daniel is about perspective, perspective on kings and pawns - and on the lofty God Who is elevated and exalted high above it all.  The supremacy of our sovereign omnipotent God.  And as we come to recognize this, it completely levels the playing field.

So here comes Nebuchadnezzar.  Big bad Nebby K.  He took down Assyria.  And here he comes to take down Judah.  And what is the first thing we’re told?  The Lord GAVE Judah into his hand [1.2]

John 19.11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above…”  Isaiah 14:27 “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

Next we see these four Jewish boys.  Probably in their late teens.  They were big fish back home.  But now they are far from home.  Captives.  Slaves.  Pawns.  And they’ve been selected to become servants of the most powerful and ruthless king in the world.  Yet there is this humble confidence and determination about them.  And what do we see?  [1.9] - God gives Daniel favor in the sight of the commander.   [1.17] - And God gives the boys knowledge.  God repeatedly is at work, doing His thing, working out His good plan in the world and in the lives of His people.  Their perspective, their zoomed-out view of the supremacy of God makes all the difference.  And we see that Daniel sees (and shows us) the supremacy of God.  

The supremacy of God.  The one true God.  The great and awesome God.  The Ancient of Days, Ruler over the realm of mankind.  Everlasting.  Almighty.  Righteous.  The God Who speaks, and has spoken.  He is holy, pure, and worthy of all honor and respect and devotion.  Full of compassion, and ready to forgive.  He alone is supreme, and all earthly status and power and regimes are in His hands.  Fleeting at best.  They are determined and bestowed on humans by the Ancient of Days, the sovereign God of the universe.

Even the names reinforce this truth for us: Daniel - “God my Judge”; Hananiah - “God has favored”; Mishael - “who is what God is” [who can compare to God]; Azariah - “who God helps”.  Most likely they were born right around the time of the revival under Josiah, and they managed to grow up in what was more of a devout atmosphere.

What we see in this first half of Daniel is God giving and reinforcing perspective to both kings and pawns.  (And to us!)  From myopia to hyperopia.  Zooming out.  Daniel and his friends could have been intimidated by this powerful king.  They could have felt like they were simply pawns.  But their view of the supremacy of God changed everything.

Daniel 11.32b “…the people who know their God will display strength and take action.”

In chapter 2, the king has a dream, but can’t remember it, and when none of his magi can recount or explain it to him, he wants to kill all the wise men of Babylon - including our four friends.  But we see that God has a hyperopic lesson, a series of zoom-out moments for Nebby K - and Daniel, with his eyes fixed on the God of heaven, is not at all intimidated by the situation.  [2.14-18]

Sometimes we might be tempted to feel like we are a pawn.  Just a small cog in some huge impersonal machine.  It’s interesting that Daniel gets elevated and relegated over and over - but the one constant, that which keeps everything in perspective for him, is this view of the supremacy of God.

Psalm 95:4  He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. 

Job 12:10   For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of every human being.

Acts 17:26  ...and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

Acts 17:28  ...for in Him we live and move and have our being.

So what is Daniel’s response?  Prayer.  Daniel sees (and shows us) the efficacy of prayer.  Repeatedly, his first response is to turn to the God of heaven, to request compassion from Him.  Dependence.  All things are from Him and through Him.  Apart from Him there is nothing we can do.  Prayer is what cultivates our connection to the God of heaven.  Of course it is inaugurated by faith/trust in the work of Christ on the cross, His blood poured out for us, but prayer is how we express and reinforce our ongoing trust in Him.  

[LION’S DEN]   Then look over in chapter 10.  Verses 10-13.  Do you know how long Daniel had been praying (and fasting)?  Three weeks.  Apparently it took three weeks of praying in order for the angel to break through the spiritual opposition.  Sometimes we need victory in some area of struggle.  Or love for a neighbor - or an enemy.  Sometimes we need healing.  Or reconciliation.  Sometimes all we need is to be able to understand a situation.

Prayer is not supplemental - it is fundamental.  Our little prayer meetings on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening - those are not supplemental.  They are not add-ons, fill-ins, as if we didn’t have enough to do.  We’re not just trying to fill up our calendar.  Prayer is the most important work of the ministry.  If God is going to do something, it is usually in response to the prayers of His people.  You want God to show up, and do His thing?  Better start praying.  One person has said, never have so many left so much to so few.  You look at the early church, leading up to Pentecost - what were they doing in that upper room?

Acts 1.14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer…

If we as a church want to see God do something, we better start praying…

So, back to ch 2, and Nebby K’s zoom-out lesson.  Look at what God shows Nebuchadnezzar:

Daniel 2.47 The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

God reinforces this lesson in chapter 3, the incident with the fiery furnace.

Daniel 3:28-29   Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.  Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.”

But we also see something else.  In [1.8], it says that Daniel made up his mind.  A decided resolution.  He made up his mind.  Here’s the thing we need to realize.  Everyone was doing it.  Everyone was doing it, eating the king’s food, offered to idols.  Here again in chapter three, where the command is to bow down to this idol.  Everyone was doing it.  Even some of their own people, I imagine.  No problem.  It won’t hurt you.  Everybody’s doing it.  But Daniel sees and shows us the primacy of doing what is right.  It is always right to do the right thing.  Daniel and the boys repeatedly decide that their relationship with God, the supreme God of heaven, was more important than their standing in the world.  And don’t you love their faith?  They knew with the eyes of faith that keeping God in first place would pay off in the end.  So they do what is right in God’s eyes, what He wants - it doesn’t matter what everybody else is doing, what everyone else is thinking, and it doesn’t even matter who is looking.

Daniel chose not to defile himself.  Defiling wasn’t about the food.  It wasn’t about his body.  It was about his soul.  What we do and what we put in our body is more about what’s in our heart, the condition of our heart.  The boys choose to NOT bow down to the idol.  Daniel chooses to keep on praying to God in chapter 6, even though the new law says if he does so he will be thrown into the lion’s den.  They do what is right.  It is always right to do what is right.  And this includes respecting and obeying the king, the person in authority.  Daniel respects and obeys the king, right up until doing so would require him to do something which God doesn’t want.  These guys trust in God and leaves the results up to Him.  Our God can deliver us from the furnace, they say, but even if He doesn’t, we’re still not gonna bow.  And God uses this to help Nebby K, the most powerful king in the world, learn about Him.  

Look at the very next verse.  Look who appears to be writing in 4.1…!

Unfortunately the worldly power Nebby K has been given still has a corrupting influence on his perspective: “…[until you recognize that] The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes…” [4.25]

So, guess what it will take for Nebby K to get there?  He has to be stripped of everything.  Literally.  Sometimes God has to strip away the fluff, the junk, all the layers of myopic misinformation, all this veneer of self-perceived loftiness so that we can see ourselves - and Him - in true and proper proportion.

It’s exactly how C.S. Lewis portrays it for Eustace Clarence Scrubb in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Eustace falls asleep on the dragon’s treasure with myopic greedy thoughts in his heart, and he wakes up all bloated.  He is a fat lizardy dragon.  And ultimately he must turn to Aslan, the Christ-figure, to tear away all the excess layers of self.  Self-importance, selfishness - me-first, me-better.  Sometimes the zoom-out can be painful.  All that shrinking of self.  Humbling.  But we’re not talking about going sub-atomic.  Shrinking so small in our minds so as to become invisible.  Insignificant.  So, smaller IS better yes - but the relative size doesn't matter.  It’s not about us - it’s all about the Source of our power…

Daniel 11.32b “…the people who know their God will display strength and take action.”

In chapter 5, Belshazzar also needed to learn the supremacy of God - somehow the lessons which the Lord gave to Nebby K didn’t get passed down to and embraced by his grandson.  And truth be told, power and privilege CAN make it harder to get the proper perspective on the true supremacy of God and our need to defer to and depend on Him.  Here we have the famous "handwriting on the wall" incident.  Something is coming.  In this case, the Medes and the Persians were coming, coming to depose Belshazzar and conquer Babylon.  But so Daniel sees and shows us the future.

Prophecies concerning kingdoms and rulers and Israel and Messiah and the end times.  Some of which have yet to be finally fulfilled but many of which have been completely fulfilled, to the letter.  Things which no mere mortal could have divined.  Like chapter 8, for example - one of the most amazing non-Messianic prophecies in the whole Bible.  In the 3rd year of Belshazzar, God gives Daniel a vision, telling Daniel that out of nowhere a king of Greece will arise who will conquer the Medes and the Persians, and then at the height of his power he would be replaced by four lesser rulers.  Greece at that time was just a bunch of disjointed city states, and the Medes and Persians were still being ruled by Babylon.  But we know now that Alexander the Great became the first king of Greece and went on to swiftly conquer not only the Persians but most of the then-known world in only 10 years.  But he died at age 33 and four of his generals divided up control of his empire.  God told Daniel precisely what would happen more than 200 years before it did!  Skeptics will say, lucky guess, or, the author is not Daniel and that he is postdating what he is calling a vision.  In other words, the author is lying.

As a young wise-in-my-own-eyes-yet-ignorant skeptic, I had never read the Bible hardly at all, had never considered its claims.  And when I came face-to-face with these audacious claims, the engineer in me was looking for proof.  I found myself strongly persuaded by the fact of fulfilled prophecy in the Bible.  Once you establish the reliability and authenticity of the Scripture - which for me was a huge question at the outset but which I was also able to determine - then you cannot escape the truth that the Ultimate Author of this Book exists outside of and above time.  Not only does He see the future (along with the present and the past), but He holds every moment and every epoch in His hands.  He guides the paths of His people and in Him we live and breathe and have our being.  This God Who sees all and knows all and gives us glimpses of what is to come has supremacy over all - all things, all times, all kings and pawns.  We can either humbly hitch our wagon to His, or we can shake our fist at Him in a futile attempt to captain our ship and run from the truth.

Probably some of us here this morning have questions - or even doubts.  I can totally relate.  I would love to talk with you sometime.  And I would highly recommend a book by a guy named Josh McDowell.  As a young man he actually set out to disprove Christianity.  And in the process what he discovered convinced him that it is in fact true.  This is the book he wrote of the evidence he compiled in support of the claim of Christianity (Evidence That Demands A Verdict).

One more point: Daniel sees (and shows us) “The Son of Man”.  We glimpse Him protecting His servants in the fiery furnace [3.24ff].  We see Him in a vision (ch 7) receiving from the Ancient of Days dominion, glory and a kingdom which will never pass away and never be destroyed.  We see Him in another vision (ch 9) as Messiah, making atonement for iniquity and bringing in everlasting righteousness.  Hundreds of years before He shows up, God tells His people to expect a Messiah.  A coming King, One Who would flip the playing field by coming first not as a lofty ruler but as a humble servant - as a sacrifice for our sins.  Making a way for us to be right with God... Messiah.  Do you know Him?

[Outline of Daniel]

1. Kings [ch 1-6]
1. Intro - Nebuchadnezzar captures Jerusalem [1.1-2]
2. Neb’s servants: Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego [1.3-21]
3. Neb’s dream [2.1-49]
4. Neb’s image [3.1-30]
5. Neb’s lesson [4.1-37]
6. Belshazzar’s feast [5.1-30]
7. Darius, Daniel, and the lion’s den [6.1-28]
2. Visions [ch 7-12]
1. Four beasts [7.1-28]
2. A Ram and a Goat [8.1-27]
3. Seventy weeks [9.1-27]
1. Daniel’s prayer [1-19]
2. Gabriel’s answer [20-27]
4. The Great Vision [10.1-12.13]
1. Vision revealed [10.1-21]
2. Vision explained [11.1-12.4]
3. Vision clarified [12.5-13]