2. Daniel
Purpose of Daniel – historically a comfort and source of instruction for God’s people living in cultures that marginalize their faith or are even hostile to it.

3. Our Culture’s View of Christianity
Daniel
Purpose of Daniel – historically a comfort and source of instruction for God’s people living in cultures that marginalize their faith or are even hostile to it.
Our Culture’s View of Christianity
“Christianity is the New Second Hand Smoke”
- Matthew Archbold

4. “The Bible was not written to us but it was written for us.”

5. Creation, Fall, Patriarchs Exodus, Law, Prophets
Context of Daniel
Creation, Fall, Patriarchs
Exodus, Law, Prophets

6. Context of Daniel
Creation, Fall, Patriarchs
Exodus, Law, Prophets
Assyrian Conquest 740 B.C.

7. Context of Daniel
Creation, Fall, Patriarchs
Exodus, Law, Prophets
Assyrian Conquest 740 B.C.
Babylonian Conquest 605 B.C.

8. Daniel 1:1-2
1 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 gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, 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 placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.

9. Acts 17:26-27
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

10. Why would God “give” them over?

11. Why would God “give” them over?
Called to be His people – Exodus 6:6-8
Called to bless the nations – Genesis 12:1-4
Called to be Holy – Leviticus 20:7
The rejected their calling and their God.

12. Jeremiah 2:11-13
11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

13. Jeremiah 18:5-8
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.

14. Jeremiah 18:9-11
9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ 1

15. Jeremiah 18:12
12 “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

16. Declaration of Independence – 1776
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

17. Declaration of Independence – 1776
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Justice Kennedy – 1992
“At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life…”

18. Proverbs 14:12
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

19. Acts 17:26-27
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,