Exile in Babylon

Previous: Prophesies of the Messiah.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE POST AS A PODCAST!

This is Day 28 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

As the prophet Isaiah had predicted, Babylon conquered Jerusalem and many of the people of Israel were carried away to Babylon to serve the king. Among them were four young men, Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These four found favor with King Nebuchadnezzar because they were very smart and very holy and God was always blessing them. And the king placed them among his wisemen.

One day King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that he wanted interpreted, but would not tell his wisemen the dream. He wanted them to prove they knew what they were saying by telling him his dream and then interpreting it, instead of just making up an interpretation. He told them if they could tell him his dream and interpret it he would shower them with gifts, but if they could not they would be killed. The wisemen were obviously terrified. One of the men told Daniel about their dilemma.

Daniel told his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and asked them to pray to God in His mercy to reveal the mystery to them so that they would not be killed along with the other wisemen. God did reveal the dream to Daniel and Daniel told it to King Nebuchadnezzar and interpreted it. Nebuchadnezzar praised Daniel's God and from then on Daniel and his friends were raised to high positions.

The other wisemen were jealous of these Jews taking such high positions and they told the king that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, had refused to bow down and worship the golden statue that the king had made of himself and ordered everyone to worship. When the king heard of this he said that if they did not worship his statue he would have them thrown into a fiery furnace to burn alive. But the three young men were not afraid. They told the king that God would save them, but even if He did not, they still would not bow down and worship a golden idol.

Enraged that they would not worship his statue, the king had the three men thrown into a fiery furnace. When the king looked in to see the three men being burned alive he instead saw four men and none were burning.

"How many men did we throw in to the furnace?" the king asked. "Three men," he was told. "But I see four and none of them are burning!" So he had the furnace opened and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of it unharmed. And King Nebuchadnezzar praised God for His power in saving them.

Who was the fourth man the king saw in the furnace? Some believe it was an angel. Others, including myself, believe it was the Christ, protecting his servants from the fire.

Later Darius the Mede took over the kingdom. He was impressed by how well Daniel performed since God blessed him, and Darius sought to set Daniel over the entire kingdom. This made the other wisemen very jealous and they plotted a way to rid themselves of Daniel. So they convinced King Darius to make a law that no one could pray to any god except King Darius himself for 30 days, or he would be thrown into the lion's den.

Of course Daniel prayed daily to the Lord God, and he was turned in by the jealous wisemen. The king was heartbroken that he would have to throw Daniel into the lion's den because he really loved Daniel, but he had made the law and had to enforce it. But he said to Daniel, "May your God deliver you." And God did deliver Daniel. God sent His angel to protect Daniel and the lions never hurt him.

The king then had Daniel brought out of the lion's den and those men that had accused him thrown in, instead. And the lions killed them immediately. Then the king made a law that all men will trembled and fear the God of Daniel.

God made Daniel a great prophet and showed him many visions including of the end days and of the rule of the Messiah:

"I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came one like a son of man on the clouds of heaven and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory over every kingdom so that all nations and peoples would serve him. And his kingdom would last forever and never be destroyed." (Daniel 7:13-14).

Next: The Exiles Return.

R.C. VanLandingham is a Catholic homeschool dad just trying to make it through this life and into the next! He has written a Christian children's fantasy series about a boy named Peter Puckett!