Our church has recently started the book of Daniel for our Sunday messages. Recently, as is custom, one of the Elders was reading the passage before the Pastor’s message. The passage was Daniel 2:1- 23. One verse jumped out for me that I do not recall before, and I am a big “fan” of the book of Daniel.

First, some context. Nebuchadnezzar is the most powerful ruler of the most powerful nation (Babylon) at the time. He has just had a dream that worries him. He does what is expected and calls his advisers to make sense of the dream. However, Nebuchadnezzar does the unexpected. He not only asks the advisers to interpret the dream he challenges them to tell him what the dream itself was. It is believed Nebuchadnezzar had suspicions about the adviser’s motives and thinks they have been a little shady in the past. After all who can argue their interpretation if they are the wisest men around. Therefore, to prove their ability he says they must also provide the details of the dream itself. He then adds the reward for success and the punishment for failure. If they cannot recite the dream and interpret it, they will all die. This includes the Hebrew captives Daniel and his partners. At this point Daniel is not present even though he is numbered among the wise men.

This is a daunting task. Tell me what I dreamt about or die. This is definitely a disconcerting request. Now the comment that caught my attention. In verse 11 the advisers present their objection saying “The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” (emphasis mine)

That is a sad commentary for magicians, enchanters and sorcerers. It is a sad commentary for anyone. Only the gods could do what you ask and they do not really have dealings with us. How different is that than the Christian God. The God of Exodus who calls to Moses, who leads by a pillar and a cloud. The God who in Isaiah 7 is called Emmanuel, God with us. The God of Psalm 23 who shepherds His sheep. The God of Ezekiel whose eyes scan earth looking for those He can support.

Here is the difference it creates. The advisers of Nebuchadnezzar had no confidence in their gods.

Then there is Daniel. Daniel learns of the king’s decree and says let me have some time. He then humbles himself, gathers his friends and prays. He prays to a God who he knows sees, listens and is intimately involved in the affairs of His chosen people. Why else bother unless you are confident in your God’s accessibility and ability. Daniel has complete confidence in God so he goes to God first. God hears Daniel, answers Daniel, tells Daniel the content and meaning of the dream and Daniel is spared as well as the other advisers. Daniel is now promoted in the king’s cabinet.

Let’s be clear. Daniel is NOT the hero of the story. He is NOT the hero of the book bearing his name. There is no need to dare to be a Daniel. Daniel was faithful in what God had called him to and we are called to the same. You are different from Daniel but what you can have in common with Daniel is his God. The hero of the story is God. The God who calls His people. The God who sees His people. The God who hears His people. The God who answers their prayers. You get the picture. He is a God intimately involved with his people.

I am going to look more at the book of Daniel again next time but the theme is the same. God is the hero of the book of Daniel (as well as the whole Bible.) This is not about your story it is His story.

Daniel is commendable for His faith. His faith, His trust, is in a God who rules over the affairs of man and a God who is faithful. A God who can be trusted to deliver His people or if He chooses not to deliver, still preserves them. In Daniel 3 you’ll see that is the faith of the Hebrew men.

The true God does dwell with His people. Granted, Daniel lived and wrote centuries before the incarnation itself but the idea is there. The God of the Bible dwells WITH His people.

Here is what is amazing, Jesus was not sent to dwell on earth with people as a punishment. This is not mythology where the gods banish someone to earth as punishment. Our God is a God who willingly chooses to dwell among His people, the people who rebelled against Him repeatedly. The God who would one day take on human flesh and all that goes with it (hungry, tired, tempted) faced betrayal and torture and eventually death in a human body.

Philippians 2:6-11 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (ESV)

I love how The ESV Gospel Transformation Bible says this in Jonah 1. “Jesus was in heaven, ruling the universe by the word of his power. Adored by angels, he was in the best place, doing the best work, and enjoying the best life. Then the Father said, “Go to another place, where you will be utterly rejected. You will live a life that will lead to torture, crucifixion, and death. You will become an atoning sacrifice for people I love, who are facing an eternal judgment.” Jesus said “Yes.”

Why? Because God made a covenant with His people. God will stop at nothing to insure that the covenant He made will be fulfilled. Even if it means to dwell among His people, serve His people die for them and one day return for us.

A God who knows that man’s only hope for forgiveness is a perfect sacrifice. A God who knows our best is not good enough so another must live a life of perfect obedience. Therefore, He comes to dwell. To live among us. To die for us with His perfect life.

Here is a God who sets up kingdoms and brings them down, who sets up kings and humbles them. A God who calls His people and disciplines them for unfaithfulness. But in the cross He bears the ultimate punishment for our rebellion. A God who is building His own kingdom and calling out a people to inhabit that kingdom.

This is the God we can have complete confidence in. A God who dwells with His people in order to preserve His covenant people through any and every circumstance, every trial and blessing. A God who dwells with us to lead us out of exile into our new home.

Remember God is not watching us from a distance. God is dwelling among us.

Instead of the world’s wisdom as seen in the king’s advisers that says god does not live or dwell among us, trust the God who took on human flesh, dwelt among us and is leading us home.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 ESV)