Promises Fulfilled

Isaiah 39:3-7 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?” “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.” 4 The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.” 5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: 6 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 7 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
 
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. 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.
 
WE begin a study of Daniel with words from Isaiah to point out the Bible’s 66 books form one unified understanding of God. Hezekiah was one of Judah’s kings who lived more closely to God than many. But as most of us, he errored at times. Once, as the Scripture says, he showed the entire storehouse of Judah’s wealth to representatives from Babylon. Perhaps the king was prideful to exclaim, “Look what we have accomplished.” Maybe he was comparing Judah’s wealth with Babylon’s – one of the richest nations of that era. Th Lord God used Hezekiah’s prideful display to be a sign of future judgment.
     God’s words to Hezekiah become reality. Several accounts, including passages in Jeremiah, 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles and here in Daniel 1:1-2 record Babylon’s crushing defeat of Judah and Jerusalem during Jehoiakim’s reign. Jehoiakim was evil. Among other things, he persecuted and nearly killed Jeremiah. Eventually, as Daniel and others were taken into exile, Jehoiakim was brutally killed and his body thrown over Jerusalem’s wall to satisfy the city’s enemies.  
     Some say, “I don’t like to know of the Bible’s history.” But what we must realize is that it is essential to look back into time to know the full power God displays over the world. We love the historical event of Jesus prophesied to come and then coming. But we often reject the accounts of judgment prophecies and their fulfillment. There is no need for a Savior if there is no judgment.
     Daniel is essentially an account of God’s judgment on Israel. Think of Daniel’s famous stories: the four men in the fire and Daniel in the lions’ den. These stories stir us to faith, but they occur as the LORD God judges the Jews through Babylon’s persecution. God causes the exile into Babylon because his people have rejected him. It is a sobering reminder of our destiny if we reject God’s salvation.
     We rejoice, too, that we will see in Daniel how the Lord protects his faithful followers. He will empower Daniel with specific gifts to glorify God’s name among the pagans. He will protect and elevate Daniel and his close friends to become leaders among even the Jews who reject God. Yes, Daniel is a story of God’s mercy to forgive our sins and point ahead to his ultimate victory of the church today.
     Yes, be alert. God keeps his judgment promises. Rejoice! Thank God he keeps his salvation promises.