Against the Flow by John C Lennox

Author:John C Lennox
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Lion Hudson
Published: 2015-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

… yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors … and pray to you towards their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea … and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them. (1 Kings 8:47–50.)

Daniel did as King Solomon suggested and prayed towards Jerusalem – a city we have not heard named since the beginning of the book. Daniel lived in Babylon, and was faithful in the service of its rulers; but the secret of his integrity and faithfulness was that he did not live for Babylon. He lived for another city, in the spirit of Abraham and the patriarchs who were looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10). Daniel lived for all that Jerusalem stood for. He knew that the future lay there and not in Babylon. Even though Nebuchadnezzar had captured it, God was not finished with Jerusalem. His promises would be fulfilled. Indeed, as Daniel himself will later tell us in Chapter 9, it would be through the land of Jerusalem and not Babylon that God would one day bring King Messiah, the Saviour, into the world.

If we are city dwellers, we know what city we live in. But whether we are city dwellers or not, it would be good to pause and ask ourselves: what city do I live for?

With confidence, then, Daniel went to his open window, knelt down, and prayed towards Jerusalem. The secret of Daniel’s life and witness is that he always had a window open towards Jerusalem. He knew that there was a God in heaven who would hear him. There were, however, others who might hear him too. Anticipating what would happen, the conspirators had agreed to meet under Daniel’s window – which indicates that they had long known of the regularity of his prayers.

Having listened to Daniel’s prayers, petitions, and pleas to God, the men of power triumphantly made haste to report to King Darius. They carefully first reminded him of the injunction; and he agreed that it had been signed and was immutable. They then put in the knife: Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O King, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day (Daniel 6:13).

Once again, this was a misleading half-truth. The first part was false, and both they and Darius knew it. Daniel was loyal to Darius to the hilt – their research had shown that Daniel was meticulous in paying attention to the king. They then played the ethnicity card, probably insinuating that Daniel was possibly more loyal to his ethnic origins than to Darius.

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