Pastor and author Alistair Begg tells us that secularism pushes back again and again against what the Bible says about sexual ethics, about salvation, about education, about the role and reach of the state, and about matters of public welfare. Public opinion has turned against Christians in America. Christians are suddenly a minority group within an increasingly secularized nation. We are finding out how it feels to be outsiders, and we don’t like it.
He tells us that the message of the book of Daniel is incredibly relevant for us in our generation. The message of Daniel is this: don’t be discouraged. You have not reached home. This isn’t it. And Jesus shall reign.
Begg uses the familiar first seven chapters of the book of Daniel to teach American Christians what it looks like to live as a Christian in a society that does not like what Christians believe, what we say, and how we live. He writes that we will be able to navigate our present moment to the extent that we realize that the God of the exiles in the sixth century BC has not changed in the intervening two and a half millennia. God is powerful, and God is sovereign, and even in the face of circumstances that appear to be prevailing against his people, we may trust him entirely.
He asks how can we, as Christians, keep our courage and hope, in this culture? The answer is to look to the God whom Daniel knew and we will find out why, and how, to live as his people. Here is how you stand firm and live bravely when the wind is blowing hard against you. We will only live brave like Daniel did if we first know the God who Daniel did. We are in Babylon—and God is sovereign even here.
He writes that we are going to face challenges. We will be challenged to give into the beliefs of our secular culture. Those crises we will face will reveal what is inside us. He tells us not to assume that you will stand firm in those moments. Equally, don’t assume you will have to give in. Resolve now. Think through where to draw the lines you will not cross. The crises will come; the moments will arrive when we are called to go with the flow of our culture rather than obedience to our God in the workplace, or the sports club, or in how we raise our children, or what we say from our pulpits, and so on.
The purpose of the book of Daniel is to say again and again essentially the same thing: that God is in charge of the whole universe and you can trust him.
Among the topics covered in this short book are compromise, idols, evangelism, trials, and pride.
Below are 15 of my favorite quotes from the book:
• We will not necessarily all draw all our lines in the same places. The lines may be drawn in different places, but drawn they should be, and crossed they must not be.
• Here is the main and the plain thing: human history is under the control of God, and he has a purpose which will be achieved.
• This was the message of the dream for the exile and the king, and for us: God is God, God is in control, and God’s kingdom has no rivals.
• God sets up and God brings down kingdoms. These kingdoms will come and go, but God has established a kingdom that will never come to an end and will never be passed on to somebody else.
• Idolatry—in your life and more broadly in society—precedes immorality. If we would understand why immorality is tolerated or even promoted, we need to look behind the behavior to the worship—to the idol.
• Our hearts naturally worship idols that exalt our agenda, our goals, our significance, or our reputation.
• We are not called to be pragmatic but faithful: to say, God has said this, and so I will do it.
• Obedience to Jesus does not mean we skip the fires; indeed, often obedience will bring us into the fires. It is in the midst of the fire that God often shows himself the most clearly to us and reveals his strength to us.
• It is in trials that the Christian is formed, and in trials that we find the greatest blessings.
• The extent to which we truly believe in the God of Daniel will be demonstrated by the confidence of our evangelism in a pagan culture.
• Your job, and mine, is not to convert people. It is to communicate the gospel. God is big enough to do the rest, according to his sovereign plan to build his church.
• Pride is at the very heart of human rejection of God. We do not want to accept that there is someone other than us who is in charge of our lives and who gives us our breath and our every success.
• We are called to do far more than to be good workers and to serve our society well; but we are certainly not called to do less.
• God is on the throne and the future is securely in his hands.
• Don’t look back to the “glory days.” Live well in this day. If you’re a banker, be a banker to the glory of God. If you’re a teacher, teach to the glory of God. If you’re a scientist, research to the glory of God. If you’re a salesman, sell to the glory of God.