![]() ![]() In our way of thinking, he gets the most glory when everyone sees how powerful he is. We think God should always “show up,” defeating his enemy and rescuing his people. The wisdom behind such apparent displays of weakness is not intuitive to us. Israel’s God has such control of the world that he does not rush about in desperation, marshal emergency forces, or play “Whack-a-mole” with antichrists: he does everything at exactly the right time, even though his people (and his name) may suffer in the meantime. 7:12): history may appear to be running amok, but all is not as it seems. The narrative hints at his restraint in its repetition of an “appointed time” ( 8:19 11:27, 29, 35 cf. Suffer to death and he suffers great loss with them. ![]() God’s power is also restrained throughout the apocalyptic visions, where his faithful people But the narrative indicates that Babylonian Marduk had not defeated Israel’s God rather, God had given his city, temple, and people into the foreign god’s hand. But for the subtle hints of the narrative, it would be easy to misinterpret the circumstances in this way. In the opening verses of the book, we encounter a situation that any ancient Near Eastern observer would have interpreted as the weaker God of Israel losing to the stronger god of Babylon. Yet neither his power nor his wisdom is necessarily obvious. While God often shares his wisdom and power, he can also choose to withhold or withdraw them. The great (and not so great) rulers of the world discover they are no match for him, and, in fact, they depend on him for their lives and lordship. As each king flexes his royal muscles before the Most High God, he responds with a display of his infinite power and wisdom. The book is dominated instead by appellations for God “that make explicit that he is not merely a peculiarly Jewish god but the God in/of heaven, King/Lord of heaven, God of gods, Lord of Lords, great God, living God, Most High, august, awesome, and fiery.” But at the same time, he is not remote and distant: “he is also our God, my God, your God, the God of the covenant, the fathers’ God, one who is compassionate and forgiving.”Ī second way the book points to God’s sovereign eternal rule is through the shenanigans of foreign kings and God’s responses to them. The personal, covenant name for Israel’s God, “Yahweh,” appears in only one chapter ( ch. At least two aspects of the book highlight this truth: terms and titles used to describe God, and his interactions with foreign kings. The portrayal of God in Daniel is that he is the sovereign, eternal king - the king of all kings. The book reveals why God is the king of all kings, and it offers perspective on how citizens of his kingdom should live while they await the full realization of God’s rule on earth. This message grows out of the book’s primary theme: the kingdom of God - its king, its citizens, and its realization on earth. The book of Daniel is often read for its contribution to our understanding of end-times events, but sometimes Christians have been so obsessed with this that we have missed its main message: God is in control, no matter how things look, and his kingdom will one day fill the earth. Widder examines the real purpose and theology of the book of Daniel. ![]() In today's excerpt from the most recent edition in The Story of God Bible Commentary series, author Wendy L. "The book of Daniel is often read for its contribution to our understanding of end-times events, but sometimes Christians have been so obsessed with this that we have missed its main message."
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