Josh McDowell wrote Daniel in the Critics' Den to answer the attacks on the book of Daniel. Critics attack the book of Daniel because it supernaturally predicts the future. These critics deny that God is sovereign and supernatural. Their world-view is secular or unbiblical.
Every person has a world-view or a philosophy of life or how one interprets the events of his/her life. World-view is the glasses through which you view your world. Your world-view is either Biblical or secular. Supernatural or natural.
Daniel and the three Hebrew children are going to be introduced to the world-view of Babylon to transform these Jews into pagan Babylonians. They would have been introduced into the Babylonians mythologies of creation, the flood, the origin of mankind and plurality of gods.
Augustine in his The City of God gives his theology of history or his world view. He compares Babylon to the City of the World which loves self and earthly Jerusalem to the City of God which loves God.
Their original Hebrew names had been given to them at birth to reflect the glory of God. Now, their new names are intended to remind them, every time they hear their name called, that their God is as good as dead. Daniel means “God is my judge”; Belteshazzar is a name that begins with the name of Babylon’s chief deity – Bel. The latter part of the name means protected by. Daniel is now named in honor of the power of Bel and his name that glorified the power of Elohim is forever gone.
On May 5th, 2018, The Wall Street Journal wrote: "An 18-foot-tall statue of Marx in his hometown of Trier was unveiled last Saturday on Marx's 200th birthday.” The statue of Karl Marx was erected by Communist China. Marxism is a modern example of Babylon. Marxism is a secular world-view that is antagonistic to the Christian world-view.
Marxism secular world-view vs Theism supernatural world-view
1. Where did I come from?
Marxism says from nothing by means of atheistic evolution. Marxists are materialists. Nothing exists outside the material universe. There is no God.
Theism believes we are God’s creation as taught in Genesis one and two.
2. Who am I?
Marxism believes we are victims of evil capitalism.
Theism teaches that because of the fall of Adam we are sinners by birth and sinners by choice. “All have sinned.” We are not victims. We are sinners.
3. Is there any hope?
Marxism promotes class warfare. Revolution against the wealthy is the only hope.
Theism preaches that our only hope is redemption. Christ is our only hope and He is our hope to deliver us from the penalty of our sins.
4. Where am I headed?
Marxism holds out the perfect utopia of communism. The revolution can set up a perfect, classless society with the equal distribution of wealth. Karl Marx famously wrote the motto of communism: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!
Theism. The goal of Christianity is found in Daniel: the Second Coming of Christ will set up the true utopia called the millennial reign of Christ for 1000 years and then eternity.
Marxist governments forbid the preaching of the last things in church sermons.[1]
Review:
1. Our God is Sovereign over the universe (Daniel 4:37)
2. Our God is Sovereign over the rulers (Daniel 2:21)
3. Our God is Sovereign over our lives (Daniel 1)
Preview:
1. Our Sovereign God Blesses Godly Character (chapter 1)
2. Our Sovereign God Controls the Nations (chapters 2-7). Daniel supernaturally predicts the future of Gentile nations in Daniel 2-7 (Babylon, Medes/Persians, Greece, and Roman empire. In that order). This time is called by Jesus “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24).
3. Our Sovereign God Reveals the Future (chapters 8-12). This is prophecy in regard to Israel. For example the Antichrist is predicted in 8.
1. Our Sovereign God Blesses Godly Character (Daniel 1)
A. Godly Character Has A Biblical World View (1:1-2)
1) The secular world-view (Seen in the critics of Daniel who deny that Daniel in the sixth century wrote the supernatural prophecies recorded in Daniel)
a) The first was Porphyry (232-305) in the third century after Christ wrote in Against the Christians that Daniel did not write his supernatural prophecy in the sixth century (early date view) before Christ but Daniel was a forgery in the second-century B.C. (late date view) and a history written after the predicted events and therefore not supernatural.
Jerome (347–420 A. D.)writes: “Porphyry wrote his twelfth book against the prophet Daniel, denying that it was composed by the person to whom it is ascribed in its title, but rather by some individual living in Judea at the time of Antiochus who was surnamed Epiphanes.”[2] The forger wrote in the second century before Christ. The book of Daniel was a history not supernatural prophecy.
Jesus believed that Daniel did write his prophecy in Matthew 24:15: “Daniel the prophet.” Daniel is not listed among the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible because he was not the normal preaching prophet like Isaiah.
b) James Montgomery wrote 1926, “There is then no reference to our Daniel as an historic person in the Hebrew OT....”[3] Ezekiel in 14:14, 20; 28:3 refers to his contemporary Daniel living in the sixth century. So who is “Daniel” according to Montgomery? Montgomery believed the “Daniel that Ezekiel referred was a ‘traditional saint’ who lived 1400 B.C.[4] Who was this Daniel who allegedly lived years before the Daniel of the sixth century? In 1930, archeologists discovered that this Daniel “was a Baal worshiper who prayed to Baal and partook of food in the house of Baal. He is pictured as worshiping his ancestral gods and offering oblations to idols.....It is hard to imagine that Ezekiel, writing by inspiration, would hold up such a character as an example of a godly man.”[5] Walvoored explained: “The contention of critics that Ezekiel is referring to a mythological character mentioned in the Ras Shamra Text (dated 1500-1200 B. C.) is, as Young states, ‘extremely questionable.”[6]
2) The Biblical world-view
Daniel’s world-view is Biblical. Daniel mentions three kings in 1:1-2.
a) Jehoiakim, the wicked king of Judah who disobeyed Israel’s God.
b) Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan king of Babylon who thought his gods had defeated Daniel’s God.
c) The Lord who sovereignly “gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand.” Daniel notes that he is in this circumstance of a totally secular world-view because his God has put him there to be a light and witness. Can you say that about your life and circumstances?
A Christian teen went to a university and found himself in a freshmen class with a professor who despised Christians. He attacked Christians verbally and then asked if there were any in his class of about 100 students. This young man raised his hand. The professor asked him to stand. “I’ve read the Bible and it does not make any sense to me.” “The Bible is God’s letter to Christians and that’s what you get for reading other people’s mail.” There is the clash of world-views in modern Babylon.
The persecution on university campuses is so widespread, that The Alliance Defending Freedom ministry actually comes to the legal defense of Christian students. The Alliance Defending Freedom has won nine Supreme Court cases in the seven years.
These students are like Daniel in wicked Babylon and Joseph in wicked Egypt. They are salt and light in a dark and corrupt society.
[1] Baldwin, J. G. (1978). Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 23, pp. 16–17). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[2] Jerome. Commentary on Daniel. Trans. Gleason L. Archer, Jr. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1958) 15.
[3] Montgomery, James. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 1926) 3.
[4] Ibid., 2.
[5] Walvoord, John. Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation (Chicago: Moody Press,1971) 19.
[6]Ibid., 36.