So, I've been leading my congregation through a study of Daniel, particularly the visions and revelations that God gave him concerning the future history of the Jewish people and the world. For me, Daniel is the book that makes me believe that the prophecies of the Bible can be trusted, and that the ones which haven't been fulfilled yet will certainly be fulfilled before the end of days.
Did you know that Daniel prophesied that there would be four empires that would try to rule the world as it was then known--namely, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome?
Did you know that Daniel prophesied the succession of Persian kings and their defeat by the Greeks at Thermopylae at least 60 years before it happened?
Did you know that Daniel prophesied the rise and conquests of Alexander the Great, and also prophesied his death without an heir...nearly 200 years before Alexander was born?
Did you know that Daniel prophesied the division of Alexander's kingdom into four regional kingdoms, the most important of which would be the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt?
Did you know that Daniel prophesied, in minute detail, the wars of the kings of Syria and Egypt that would continue for 200 years after the death of Alexander until Rome began to exert its power?
Did you know that before there was ever a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem, Daniel prophesied that the Romans would destroy it?
Did you know that Daniel prophesied TO THE DAY when Jesus would enter Jerusalem as King only to be rejected by the ones who should have known He was coming?
One of the things the Bible tells us is that in the last days, many prophets and teachers would arise in the world, claiming to be of God, but their messages would actually lead people astray. I live with a church culture that believes in prophecy, in the prophetic word, in the ability of God to speak through one individual to address the heart of another. I believe God can and does reveal matters of the heart, matters of history, and matters of destiny. An anointed prophet of God can speak to what has happened, what is happening now, and what will happen in the future.
But being a prophet wasn't always about seeing the future. Everybody these days seems to want to be a Daniel, but I don't find many self-proclaimed prophets trying to be a Jeremiah or a Malachi. We live in a culture, even in the church, that wants to be gratified and satisfied with predictions of health, wealth, blessing, and prosperity, in which everything is put right and nothing will ever be wrong. People are anxious to hear a prophet speak good things over their lives about all the good things that God wants to do and that God is going to do. But very seldom do you hear a prophet get on TV or behind a church pulpit and pronounce gloom and doom and judgment and disaster because of the sins of our nation or the sins of a people. Seldom do you hear the call for repentance, the challenge to change the way you've been living. No one wants to here that. Certainly not many are willing to pay for it. Give us the good news, the multitudes demand, but keep the bad news to yourself. We're just fine the way we are; just tell us what God is going to do for us next!
I've got a feeling Jeremiah wasn't well liked by hardly anybody. Daniel just kept getting promotions and accolades, and God kept giving him glorious visions of a triumphant future for the Kingdom of Christ who hadn't even come yet! But Jeremiah's message was one of sudden defeat and certain destruction for the people who wouldn't repent--from the king in his palace to the slave in the field. If they didn't repent, God was going to bring judgment. Forty years he preached his sad-mad message: Repent or die! And what thanks did he get? He got slapped around, imprisoned, locked in stocks and bonds. He was falsely accused of being a trouble maker and a divider. He was forced into house arrest and thrown down a dried up well with nothing to eat. When everything he had prophesied came true, nobody stood around applauding him. Under threats to his life, he was exiled to Egypt where he supposedly died.
Daniel was popular with kings. Jeremiah was popular with nobody. Of course, maybe the reason Daniel was so loved and accepted is because his ministry was never to his own people. He was always preaching to foreign kings and their kingdoms. Jeremiah's message was proclaimed to his own, his neighbors and kinsmen and folks of like precious faith. In the end, both prophets were proven true in what they had said, but Daniel got rich and Jeremiah got bupkis.
Everybody wants to be a Daniel, having visions, seeing the future. They forget that Daniel also prayed three times a day and never had a bad word written against him But nobody wants to be a Jeremiah.
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