The
judgment of God is the substance of the book of
Daniel. With the name Daniel meaning, "God
is my judge," the book of Daniel conveys
how God discharges his judgment into the life of
Daniel. It is a judgment that not only reflects
upon Daniel but also upon the lives of those men
who interact with Daniel. Ultimately, the book
of Daniel discloses how God exercises his
judgment into the affairs of all men.
God’s judgment is in Chapter 1, when Daniel’s
wisdom and understanding was found to be ten
times better than all the magicians and
astrologers of the king of Babylon. It is seen
in Chapter 2 when the image of the kingdoms of
men is broken into pieces and consumed by the
kingdom of God. In Chapter 3, the judgment of
God brings Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
through the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar
experienced the judgment of God in learning the
great truth that "the most High ruleth in
the kingdom of men," as recorded in Chapter
4. In Chapter 5, the judgment of God is
manifested when Belshazzar went from a great
feast of a thousand of his lords to the losing
of his kingdom and his death in one night. The
judgment of God, as seen in Chapter 6, brought
Daniel through the lion’s den without harm. In
Chapters 7-11, the visions and dreams of Daniel
reveal how the judgment of God will bring His
kingdom into the affairs of men. Finally, Daniel
is told that the judgment of God will bring
about everlasting life or shameful abhorrence
upon all men.
The judgment of God is clearly seen in the
marvelous work of God in the life of
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. After being
taught through a very humbling experience the
great truth that "the most High ruleth in
the kingdom of men," Nebuchadnezzar highly
adored and honored "the King of heaven, all
whose works are truth, and his ways
judgment" (Daniel 4:37). With the root of
the word judgment meaning "to rule,"
Nebuchadnezzar had learned the ways of God’s
rule. He now knew that what was occurring each
moment of his life occurred because God was
working out His rule, His will, in his life.
As debasing and humiliating as his fall from the
recognized glory and honor of being king of
Babylon to not being able to comprehend anything
but the basic drives of an animal was,
Nebuchadnezzar could now proclaim, "How
great are his signs! And how mighty are his
wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and his dominion is from generation to
generation" (Daniel 4:3). Although when he
was treated as a common animal he experienced
deep humiliation, he now proclaimed his praise
for God who took him through the experience.
Often, when evil occurs or an innocent victim
suffers, questions arise about the will of
God--all things are of Him, through Him, and to
Him. Because most men have difficulty in seeing
beyond a current event to the real issues of the
"ways of life" (Acts 2:28), the
interpretation of life is often reduced to the
surface issues of health, wealth, and
prosperity. To them, God becomes the great
benefactor that owes man such blessings.
Most men desire God to produce the bloom of a
flower without the planting of the seed. They
want the glorious sunrise without the midnight.
They crave the vitality of life without the
reality of death. Failing to realize that it is
the planting of the seed that produces the
flower, the midnight that produces the sunrise,
and the reality of death that validates life,
they cannot believe that God is in total control
of all things that transpires in the created
world.
When bad things happen (as interpreted by the
self-centeredness of a world out of focus), it
is often stated that God allows those things to
take place. It is often expressed as His
permissive will but not His perfect will. If God
merely allows those things--gives permission for
them to occur--then, there has to be another
source of power that produces them. Since
nothing created has power within itself, if God
is not the ultimate reason for the occurrence of
every event, then there has to be an evil source
of power or man has within himself power over
the issues of life and death.
Although at this point it is difficult for us to
grasp, the book of Daniel is clear in its
proclamation that there is only one source of
power--God rules. His judgments, even though
they are unsearchable and past finding out,
produce every moment of life. The real events of
life are the decision of God. Man struggles to
comprehend that truth usually because he cannot
grasp what really is transpiring in those
moments.
For example, in the events of a football game
(the same can be said of a political structure,
the business world, or a religious system) is
God determining the outcome of the game. Or, is
the outcome of the game determined by the wit
and ability of one team matched against the wit
and ability of the other team. Usually, the
outcome of each play and the game itself is
controlled by the team that determines and
executes the best.
What has to be understood is that the football
game (as well as the political, business, and
religious world) is the product of man’s
reasoning. Man created the game, made the rules,
and determines what will be measured as success
and failure. God does not determine the outcome
of a world created by man’s mind simply
because it is not a real world. This is the
freedom of the will that man processes. In his
mind and only in his mind, he can create a world
of which he attempts to experience life.
It is not a real world in the sense that the
game does not deal with the real issues of life.
It is a fantasy world created by man in the
attempt to find reason and purpose for his life.
If he can determine and execute better than
someone else, he then has a sense of being OK
and glories in his accomplishments. He has
actually created a false illusion of life.
What God determines in the games people play (be
it political, business, or religious) is the
simple decree that if man moves into his mind
(attempts to experience life in a world created
by his mind) then in his mind he will live. His
life will be governed by the success and the
failure, the highs and the lows, and what he
perceives to be the good and the bad. His life
will be controlled by the actual circumstances
of the games he plays.
God is always working out His will in the world
beyond or behind that which is immediately
observable. Man struggles to understand when he
confuses the physical, observable circumstances
of life as being the direct will of God. The
individual plays of the game and the outcome of
the game, as determined by the rules of the
game, have nothing to do with the will of God.
They are the product of the mind of man. What
God has to do with the game is simply you
attempt to live in it and you die in your mind
to the life of God. Seeking to gain your life in
it, you lose your life. You lose your life
simply because God rules the real world and you
are dwelling in a world of fantasy.
The good news is that God continually brings to
an end the physical, observable circumstances of
life. So much so that it eventually (sooner for
some than others) brings to an end the hope and
aspiration that the circumstances (the games
people play) can produce the good life. Out of
the death of the old then comes the opportunity
to experience the beginning of the new.
The crux of the
life and times of Daniel centers on the initial
dream of the king of Babylon. In the
interpretation of the great image seen in the
dream, Daniel reveals the crucial moment for the
history of man. It is to this moment, the final
chapter of the essence of life, the entire book
of Daniel speaks.
The magnificence image in the dream, a head of
gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and
thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part of
iron and part of clay, is destroyed. The image
crashes to the ground and the broken pieces
become the useless rubble of corruption. Crafted
in glory but now vanished in shame, the great
image is no more.
A single stone brought the image to its end. The
stone, which human hands could not mode, was
both the slayer and the creator. It closed out
the old world order and at the same time brought
into being a new domain. It would be a realm
which would know no end. Every generation in
every century could now experience that which
was meant to be. Concerning this moment of new
beginning, Jesus simply said, "The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand . .
." (Mk. 1:15).
History has recorded not only the beginning of
the new but also the exact event which brought
the old world to its end. The Jewish historian
Josephus in his Wars of the Jews,
published 78 A.D., (complemented by the journal
of the commander of the Roman army who
led the final siege of Jerusalem--The Siege
of Jerusalem by Titus) accurately described
the events of the prophecies given by Daniel and
by Jesus for the final destruction of the Jewish
Temple, the city of Jerusalem, and the nation of
Israel.
This event was prophesied by Daniel to be seven
years in length (Dan. 9:27). The war between the
Jews and the Romans also lasted for seven years,
A.D. 66-73. The prophecy and the historical
event again agree with the seven years being
divided into two periods of time each being
three and one-half years. The recorded history
of the seven years war between the Jews and the
Roman actually fills in the details of the
prophecies of Daniel concerning the end of the
age.
Perhaps, a brief look at the prophecy of Daniel
and its fulfillment will be beneficial to our
understanding of the final chapter of the
essence of life. The time frame for the prophecy
is given to Daniel by the heavenly messenger:
24. Seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people and
upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins,
and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and
to bring in everlasting righteousness, and
to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to
anoint the most Holy. 25. Know therefore and
understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build
Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall
be seven weeks, and threescore and two
weeks: the street shall be built again, and
the wall, even in troublous times. 26. And
after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah
be cut off, but not for himself: and the
people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the
end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto
the end of the war desolations are
determined. 27. And he shall confirm the
covenant with many for one week: and in the
midst of the week he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for
the overspreading of abominations he shall
make it desolate, even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be
poured upon the desolate. (Dan. 9:24-27)
Upon a careful
reading of the prophecy, it can be seen that the
seventy weeks are not meant to be interpreted as
being seventy consecutive weeks. There will be
seventy weeks "determined" upon Israel
that will "finish the transgression"
(ending of the old) and "to make an end of
sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity" (beginning of the new). God will
bring about the establishment of His kingdom
into this world with seventy weeks of judgment
on Israel.
The weeks that are consecutive in this prophecy
is given in the statements, "Know therefore
and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem
unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven
weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street
shall be built again, and the wall, even in
troublous times." The exact time is given
when the Messiah would come (sixty-nine weeks
after the commandment was given to restore and
to rebuild Jerusalem), but it is divided into
two periods of time (seven weeks and threescore
and two weeks). Most consider the seven weeks as
the time it took for Jerusalem to be rebuilt in
the troublesome times immediately after the Jews’
captivity in Babylon. The date of the coming of
the Messiah is given by including both the seven
weeks and the threescore and two weeks.
In addition, the prophecy stated it would be
after this threescore and two weeks period of
time that the Messiah would be "cut
off." The exact time frame when the cutting
off of the Messiah would occur is not given
other than being after "the threescore and
two weeks." In addition, the time frame of
"the people of the prince that shall come
shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and
the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto
the end of the war desolations are
determined" is also not given. Although the
prophecy of Daniel does not give a reference by
which either the cutting off of Jesus or the
destruction of the city can be determined, Jesus
stated, in his prophecy concerning the same
events, that the same generation would witnessed
both events (Matt. 24:34).
Although there is no time frame when the
destruction of desolation would occur exactly,
the duration of the destruction is given as one
week. Also, within this one week, there would be
a successive flow of events. At the beginning of
the week there would be a confirmation of the
covenant. Then, in the midst of the week, the
sacrifices of the temple would be stopped. By
the end of the week, the consummation of
desolation would be completed.
God had determined that the temple of Israel,
the city of Israel, and the nation of Israel
would be destroyed. What God had determined in
the prophecies of Daniel had been fulfilled. God
rules in the kingdom of men. It is the judgments
of God that controls the world.
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