The God who is able to deliver and to destroy.
The God who is able to destroy the reign of kings.
“King Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.
So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. Suddenly, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lamp stand in the royal palace.
The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking. The king summoned the enchanters, astrologers and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of Babylon, ‘Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed round his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.’
Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled. The queen, hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall, ‘May the king live forever!’ she said. ‘Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. He did this because Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.’
So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, ‘Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed round your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.’
Then Daniel answered the king, ‘You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means. Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. But then his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.
But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven, You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand, But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This is the inscription that was written: “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN” Here is what these words mean: Mene (numbered) God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel (weighed) You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres (divided) Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.’
Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed round his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom of Babylon, at the age of sixty-two.”
When God allowed his people to be taken into captivity and to become a people under the rule of the kings of Babylon, it was to punish them for their unfaithfulness and show them the difference between serving God and how he can protect and provide for you and being under the leadership and dominion of the kings of this world. God used this circumstance of his people being in captivity to the greatest nation, at the time, on earth, to spread the glory of his Name so that all nations of the world would know that he is not the God of Israel only but the God of the entire earth and his kingdom rules over all kingdoms and all kings.
At the time of Israel’s captivity to Babylon, the king of Babylon asked that some of the nobility and royal people from Judah be included in service to the king of Babylon. Daniel was one of these people and although he was taken to a foreign land under the service of a foreign king with a people with their own traditions and own gods, Daniel was determined to stay faithful to God despite being a captive of Babylon (Daniel 1:8) and God honored him in the eyes of the kings of Babylon and used him to teach the kings of Babylon about the God that he served.
The God who is able to deliver his people from their enemies.
Before his death, King Belshazzar of Babylon appointed Daniel as the third highest ruler in the kingdom with Babylonian governors and chief officials throughout Babylon accountable to him (Daniel 5:29, Daniel 6:2). But these governors were jealous of him as an exile from Judah and foreigner in their land with so much favor from their king. Daniel was trustworthy, not corrupt and not negligent (Daniel 6:4), there was nothing about him that the governors could share with the king to remove him from his position. So, the governors plotted against Daniel (Daniel 6:6-7). They went to Darius, the king of Babylon and convinced him to make a decree and to put it in writing. At that time all decrees that were put in writing could not be repealed (Daniel 6:8) and they requested that the decree require that “for the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being, except the King of Babylon, be thrown into the lion’s den” (Daniel 6:7).
The king agreed because he was a great king and his kingdom was the greatest kingdom on earth and he believes that as king he was above all kings and all kingdoms. Daniel did not believe this about him and when he heard the decree that was made he continued to pray to God faithfully, giving thanks to God and asked him for help (Daniel 6:10-11). The other high-ranking rulers and governors found him praying and immediately informed the king. They said, “Daniel who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day” (Daniel 6:13).
The king of Babylon favored Daniel and he did not want to punish him according to the law that he decreed, he was determined to rescue Daniel (Daniel 6:14), but as a written law even he was powerless to undo what he had done. The king stressed all day about it and made every effort until sunset to save him (Daniel 6:14) finally because he was being pressed by his chief officials he gave the order to have Daniel thrown to the lions (Daniel 6:16). When he gave the order, he spoke to Daniel and said, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you” (Daniel 6:16).
So, Daniel was thrown to the lions and the chief officials covered the entrance to the den with a stone; and to ensure that no one would rescue him they had the stone sealed with the king’s own signet ring and all the rings of his nobles so that Daniel’s situation would not be reversed by anyone (Daniel 6:17) and they left.
But God allowed Daniel to be thrown to the lions by the king of the greatest kingdom on earth for a crime that no one could rescue him from, sealed by the authority of all the nobles and the king of Babylon so that God’s word would be fulfilled in Isaiah that says, “surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear to dull to hear” (Isaiah 59:1).
God heard Daniels prayers of thanks and request for help and early in the morning “at the first light of dawn, the king of Babylon, got up and hurried to the lion’s den. When he came near to the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually been able to rescue you from the lions?” (Daniel 6:19) and to his astonishment Daniel replied from inside the lion’s den, “my God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight” (Daniel 6:22).
At this miracle the king of Babylon ordered that Daniel be removed from his situation and the rulers who had plotted against him and their families to be thrown to the lions in his stead with no one to rescue them (Daniel 6:23-24). Then he wrote this testimony and sent it to all the nations and put it in writing in every language on earth and it read:
“I, the king of Babylon, issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he endures forever, his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth, he has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions” (Daniel 6:26-27).
The God who is able to deliver kings from their ignorance of his sovereignty.
When Israel rejected God as their king, they rejected the God who is ruler over heaven and earth with the power to destroy and to deliver. Because Israel was unfaithful and rejected God as their king, God allowed their kingdom to be taken captive by another king, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon so that they would understand the difference between being a people under God’s authority and the authority of kings.
Because God is gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and the ruler of heaven and earth, God made the king of Babylon acknowledge the sovereignty of God that is recorded in Daniel 4 about the power of the God of Israel to deliver.
King Nebuchadnezzar sent a decree to all the people in his kingdom that was translated into every language and it read:
“It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; and his dominion endures from generation to generation (Daniel 4:2-3). In the decree, King Nebuchadnezzar shares that God gave him a dream that worried him so much that he called all of his wise men, including Daniel to him to interpret the dream and share its meaning. Daniel interprets that in the dream God shows to the king is an analogy of his kingdom.
God said to King Nebuchadnezzar that the kingdom of Babylon is so great it is like an enormous tree that is so large and strong that it touches the sky and is visible to the ends of the earth. Everything about this tree is beautiful, its leaves are beautiful and its fruit abundant and various, providing food for all; from this tree every creature is fed (Daniel 4:10-12).
As large and expansive as God was showing the king of Babylon that his kingdom was and as prosperous as it is, able to house various people, provide them with food and was well known throughout the earth, God, was about to demonstrate to him that he is greater. In the dream that God gave King Nebuchadnezzar, God speaks a word to have the tree cut down so that it is only a stump (Daniel 4:14-16).
Daniel interprets the dream to mean that King Nebuchadnezzar as king of Babylon had become great and strong, “You are that tree, your greatness reaches the sky and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth. But the Lord God Most High has issued a decree against you” that will remove you from your throne until you acknowledge that there is one greater than even you, the Most High, who is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and he gives them to anyone he wishes (Daniel 4:22-27). Daniel then urges the king of Babylon to renounce his sins by doing what is right, acknowledge that Heaven rules and “God may intervene to bless you” (Daniel 4:27).
King Nebuchadnezzar listens to Daniel’s words yet went about his way. One year later as he was “walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, ‘is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty? Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from Heaven and spoke to King Nebuchadnezzar saying “This is what is decreed for you King Nebuchadnezzar, your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and live like an animal eating grass until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes” (Daniel 4:29-32). Just as God spoke to the king it happened, King Nebuchadnezzar lost his sanity and was driven to live like an animal. However, after the time that God spoke for this punishment, the king’s sanity was restored.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar writes this testimony to all the people in his kingdom, that at the moment that his sanity was restored, “I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever, his dominion is an eternal dominion, his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of Heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or correct him and say to him what have you done?” (Daniel 4:34-35).
“Now I King Nebuchadnezzar, (king of Babylon) praise and exalt and glorify the King of Heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just, and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble” (Daniel 4:37). After God restored the king’s sanity, he also restored the honor and splendor of the Babylonian king.
The God who is able to deliver his people from idolatry.
“But now listen, Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says—he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. Some will say, “I belong to the Lord”; others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, “The Lord’s,” and will take the name Israel.
“This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come—yes, let them foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.
All who make idols are nothing and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol which can profit nothing? People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings. Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and shame. The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cuts down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. It is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, ‘Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.’ From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, ‘Save me! You are my god!’
They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so that they cannot see, and their minds closed so that they cannot understand. No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, ‘Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable things from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?’ Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?’
‘Remember these things, Jacob, for you Israel, are my servant. I have made you, you are my servant; Israel I will not forget you. I have swept away your offences like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.’
Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.”
The God who is able to deliver his people from the bondage of kings and kingdoms.
Who does Israel reject when they reject God as their king? The God who gave the land under their feet and the thrones on which their kings sat. Israel as a people become slaves of Egypt. They fled to Egypt for safety and God provided for them during a harsh famine when the kingdom of Israel was only Jacob and his twelve sons and their families, not a nation (Exodus 1:1-4). “The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, Joseph was already in Egypt” (Exodus 1:5).
But the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; and they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land of Egypt was filled with them (Exodus 1:6-7). Then the king who treated them well on account of the favor Joseph had in his eyes, dies and Joseph dies and all of the patriarchs of that generation die (Exodus 1:6,8) and a new king places a slave master over the Israelites and oppresses them and treats them harshly.
One day Moses is herding sheep on Mount Sinai and he sees the impossible, a bush on fire but not burning or being consumes by the flames (Exodus 3:2-3) and as he approaches it God speaks to him and reveals to him that he is a deliverer a God who will not allow flames of oppression to destroy his people and consume them, he says to Moses, “I am the God of your forefathers, the I AM” (Exodus 3:6, 14-15). The God of the universe of the past, present and future, the God who before anything was “I AM”. And he tells Moses that he has come down from his throne to rescue his people from bondage, he has heard their crying and is concerned about their suffering, and he is preparing to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a good land (Exodus 3:7-8).
God tells Moses to go with the assurance that the “I AM” is sending him and will be with him (Exodus 3:10-12). The God who is able to speak and things come into being, this is who would be sending him. God tells Moses that Pharoah will not release the Israelites but that he is greater than Pharaoh and will use, Pharaoh’s stubbornness against him. God tells Moses that God’s own might will compel the king of Egypt “with all of the wonders that I will perform” (Exodus 3:19-20) so that Pharaoh will know that the God of Israel is greater than the king of the Egyptians.
God also promises Moses that when God leads his people out of Egypt, they will not leave empty-handed, they will walk out before the eyes of their captors and the Egyptians will give them possessions, gold and silver and beg them to leave (Exodus 3:22).
The kings of Israel and the people that they ruled over that they led into various activities to trust in whatever their leadership thought was best, who were unfaithful and reject God as their king, had forgotten that God had broken their chains and set them free from the king of Egypt and gave them the land that they had and took that land away from the people who lived there before, the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.
This is the God who Israel rejected as their king, the God who was able to turn their captivity into a plundering of their captors who was able to turn the hand of the king of a great kingdom and force him to send God’s people away. This king was using the Israelites as labor to build his kingdom, God took all of Pharaoh’s Israelite labor force from him, and they left with the gold and silver of Egypt as parting gifts from their God, the “I AM” who spoke to Moses and his word became a reality.
The God who was able to deliver from impossible situations, from the hand of the strongest kingdom and put the words in the mouth of the strongest king that decreed that the people of Israel were no longer under his authority.
Israel’s kings, when they rejected God as their king, rejected the God who can deliver; the God who speaks and it happens; the God who rescues from oppression; the God who takes from the hands of the wicked and places their treasures on the backs and into the hands of the people he provides for. They rejected the God who is stronger than kings and stronger than strong nations who is able to do impossible things just by saying the words.
The God who has the power to destroy his enemies.
When Israel rejected God as their king, they rejected the God who when he speaks, his word happens (John1:1-18). God spoke a word through Ezekiel against Tyre, people who were against his people and the prophesy that God spoke though Ezekiel happened.
Ezekiel prophesied that God would send Babylon, and the King of Babylon to so crush Tyre that they would never again be able to recover from the attack, “I will bring you to a horrible end, and you (Tyre) will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found declares the sovereign Lord” (Ezekiel 26:4). “You will never be rebuilt, for I, the Lord, have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord” (Ezekiel 26:14).
God promises to do this because Tyre dared to stand against the people whose protector is God. Ezekiel 1:2 says, “Because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, that the gate to the nations is broken and its doors have swung open to me, now that she lies in ruins I will prosper”.
The God who is able to deliver became the enemy of and was against the people who would take advantage of his people and promises to so dramatically ruin them that “every nation on the coast will tremble at the sound of your fall” (Ezekiel 26:15). God was promising to dramatically devastate that city, that nations would hear about their demise and fear the Lord. God was promising to do this even when he had allowed Israel to also be taken captive by Babylon, but he was not against his people and would not destroy them, he was promising to return all of their inheritance and wealth to them if they would repent, but for Tyre who attempted to take advantage of the weakened state of Israel’s cities and to take them as plunder for themselves God spoke a destruction for them for attempting to remove from God’s hand what he promised for his children.
Jesus is the word of God, the power of God to deliver.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, ‘This is the one I spoke about when I said, “He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
Prayer: Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to our relief. Do not bring your servants into judgement, for no one living is righteous before you. The enemy pursues us, he crushes us to the ground; he makes us to dwell in the darkness like those long dead. So our spirit grows faint within us; our hearts within us are dismayed. We remember the days of long ago; we meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. We spread out our hands to you; we thirst for you like a parched land. Answer us quickly, Lord; our spirit fails. Do not hide your face from us or we will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring us word of your unfailing love, for we have put our trust in you. Show us the way that we should go, for to you we entrust our lives. Rescue us from our enemies, Lord, for we hide ourselves in you. Teach us to do your will, for you are our God; may your good Spirit lead us on level ground. For your name’s sake, Lord, preserve our lives; in your righteousness, bring us out of trouble. In your unfailing love, silence our enemies; destroy all of our foes, for we are your servants. (Psalms 143)
My Seed Faith 