We are not in Leavenworth, but all of us are in a similar place. That last question – How do I follow the Lord in a place like this? – is a question on many minds. But how do I follow Him in a place like this?” “The question now is: what will I do with my life? You see, Chaplain, I want to follow the Lord. We talked about the process Billy went through and how he got from that moment to Leavenworth. “Would you believe it? I broke into the commander’s car.” Would you believe it?” He smiled, and I could tell that he was trying to add some evasive humor. I have no idea why, but all of a sudden I got this rush all through my body and I just took a rock and I broke the window and I got the wallet and ran. I would have never done that before, but this time I did. I passed a BMW and somehow my eyes were drawn to look inside. I spoke to him as his head was hanging low. Billy was a young enlisted man in the Navy but was now wearing the unmistakable dungaree uniform that told the world he was an inmate. He was a “fresh one.” I can remember that the only sound I could hear in that moment was an air conditioner churning out cold air on that hot Kansas day. I sat with Billy, a new inmate at Leavenworth Penitentiary, in the quiet chapel of the famous military prison. How Do I Follow God in a Place Like This? And if we are truly becoming the secular nation that many say we are, then Daniel is God’s guide for our lives as we stand up for Him in this generation. Think of Daniel as your divine guide to living for God in those times when it looks like God is nowhere to be found. This part of Daniel grips me as your pastor. How a disciple of Jesus can meet the demands of discipleship in the tough, hard places of life How a follower of Christ can trust Christ even when it seems He is not in control How a believer may follow the Lord in the most secular of conditions How a believer must live in times of apostasy
Along with Daniel’s friends, the reader comes face-to-face with the realities in his own life: And the late great Old Testament scholar, Gleason Archer, had it absolutely right when he summarized this book, “The principal theological emphasis in Daniel is the absolute sovereignty of Yahweh, the God of Israel.”1 And one cannot approach this book without coming into contact with the mystery and the glory and the certain reality of Almighty God ruling and reigning even through evil kings over all of mankind.īut the Book of Daniel is the place where prophecy and theology meet in a teenage boy named Daniel in captivity to a foreign king.
The subject of Daniel is not Daniel, nor is it Nebuchadnezzar the king. And like Revelation, it is more.ĭaniel is a great theological book. Yes, surely, this is, like the book of Revelation, an apocalyptic book describing what will happen. So the book, placed between the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets, is in a perfect place. But in Matthew 24:15 Jesus Christ says that Daniel is a prophet. Some wonder whether Daniel is just an allegory written by a later scribe seeking to encourage faith in the Jews. Daniel prophesies desolations, and Daniel prophesies deliverance. He paves the way for a fifth monarchy which will be out of this world and will never go away, clearly showing the birth and growth of the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. Daniel prophesies the kingdoms of the Medes, Persians, Alexander the Great and his successor, Rome. Daniel prophesies the coming of Christ down to the year. The six stories and four dreams that make up this apocalyptic book of the Old Testament are many things to us. The Book of Daniel is a divine travel guide for pilgrims who are passing through Babylon. They are guides to places I have never been, or when they are really good, they are insights into things I see all the time, but I get to see them in a new way. Whether it is John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charlie or just a second-hand book I picked up yesterday at an antique store, I love to read travel books.