The Belshazzar Problems

Walvoord writes that “the controversy over Belshazzar....has become one of the most complicated problems in the entire book. Walvoord quotes Bible critics James A. Montgomery as saying the story of Belshazzar is “unhistorical” and also H. H. Rowley arguing that calling Belshazzar a king “must still be pronounced a grave historical error.”[1]

The problem with the critics is that Belshazzar is not mentioned by the ancient writers such as Herodotus ( 484 – c. 425 BC). Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who became known as “The Father of History.” When the “Father of History” does not mention Belshazzar, the critics as usual jump to the conclusion that Daniel has historical errors.

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Individual Soul Liberty

Thomas Helwys and John Smyth fled England and travelled to Amsterdam in 1609 for religious freedom from the oppression of the Church of England and King James I. They started the first Baptist church that year. In 1610, the two separated when Smyth join the Mennonites. In 1612, Helwys wrote the first declaration of religious freedom in English called the A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity. In 1613, Helwys moved back to London and started the first Baptist church on English soil. Helwys was arrested for his beliefs of individual soul liberty and died in prison in 1616 at the age of 40.

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Our Sovereign God is also Our God of Wisdom (Daniel Two)

God is not only Sovereign but He is Wise. Many human dictators have been sovereign and powerful but not wise. Adolf Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, and present day president of China, Xi Jinping.

The Guardian in London reports, "China has released new morality guidelines for its citizens on everything from how parents should teach their children, to sorting their garbage, and the appropriate etiquette for raising the national flag." This is called a totalitarian regime, where the government or in this case Xi Jinping totally controls your life, even how you raise a flag in your front yard, and even more importantly what you believe.

The Chinese governments uses modern, hyper-modern surveillance, including facial recognition technologies, to enforce these rules and crush churches and underground believers. Citizens of China are now told that it is morally right to honor Xi Jinping, to believe in him, and to have faith in him, and it is morally wrong not to. These citizens are not allowed to believe in God.

 Sovereignty and Godly Wisdom do not always go together in humans but they do perfectly come together in our great God. Here is how Daniel developed the theme of the sovereignty of God:

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The Aramaic of Daniel

         Both the critical scholars and the conservative scholars have the same evidence on the authorship of Daniel, yet come to opposite conclusion. The obvious difference is their attitude toward Scripture. One has a high view of inspiration and inerrancy and the other has a low view. It is like the difference between Lee Strobel and Bart Ehrman. Lee Strobel began as an atheists who examined Scripture and became a Christian. Bart Ehrman began as a professing Christian who examined Scripture and became an atheist. They both had the same evidence but it was their attitude that was the determining factor. God’s Word is trustworthy and supernatural which the book of Daniel proves.

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Two Kinds of Narrative Preaching

1. Biblical narrative preaching that is based on the narratives of Scripture (See Factual Data Sheet for Narratives)

2. Non-biblical narrative preaching that is based on stories or narratives told by the preacher 

            Ralph L. Lewis and Gregg Lewis, in their book Inductive Preaching: Helping People Listen give two examples of inductive or what I am calling non-biblical narrative preaching. We will examine only the first example based on the petition in what the preacher identified as the Lord’s Prayer “Deliver us?” (page 168-182). This prayer is better described as the Model Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer in is John 17.

            The sermon has roughly 30 stories from contemporary experiences, history, and nature. There are twelve passing references to Biblical examples. At one point, the preacher asked 19 questions back to back and in another section, 22 questions were asked back to back. What is glaringly absent from the sermon is any interpretation. No context is provided for the Model Prayer and no explanation of the Model Prayer nor of the petition “Deliver us.”

            The main divisions of the inductive sermon are questions:  

I. Anybody need deliverance?

II. Anybody being delivered in our day?

III. Anybody been delivered in the past?

IV. Anybody want to be delivered now? 

            The last main division is supposed to be the main point to which the sermon has inductively led. The last main division is supposed to be the solution. In the last main division, no solution is offered. Two passages are referred to and read (Psalm 34:4-19 and Romans 7:34) but no explanation is given.

            The Biblical Narrative sermon is based on the story or narrative told by God in His Word. The Factual Data Sheet for Narratives emphasizes the context of the narrative and also shows how to interpret the content of the Biblical narrative. Biblical narratives are inductive in nature. At the beginning of the plot there is a crisis and at the end there is a Biblical solution. Biblical narrative are thoroughly biblical in content and in solutions.

An excellent resource for how to interpret and preach Biblical narratives is Steven D. Mathewson’s The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative. Mathewson provides five Biblical narrative sermons at the end of his book. One of the five is by Donald Sunukjian, the author of one of our textbooks.

           

Important Dates in reference to Daniel

God promised to bless obedience and judges disobedience in Dt. 28:1-24; 63-67; 30:1-5 (1450 B.C.).

The rest of the OT shows that God kept His promise

931 B.C. Division of the Kingdom because of Solomon’s disobedience

722 B.C. Assyrian defeat of the Northern Kingdom because of disobedience

605 B.C. First deportation. Babylonian defeat of the Southern Kingdom because of disobedience (Daniel taken captive). Jehoiakim “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord” ( 2 Chron. 36:5). Nebuchadnezzar’s foreign policy was deportation. This demonstrates the sovereignty of God which is the theme of Daniel as noted in 2 Chronciles 36:21.

597 B. C. Second deportation. (Ezekiel taken captive). Jehoiachin (Jehoiakim’s son) “did that which was evil” (2 Chron. 36:9)

586 B. C. Third deportation. Zedekiah (Jehoiakim’s brother) “did that which was evil” (2 Chron. 36:12)

562 B. C. Death of Nebuchadnezzar

539 B. C. Death of Belshazzar

538 B.C. Zerubbabel returns and rebuilds the temple (Ezra 1-6). Under Cyrus king of Persia whose foreign policy was repatriation. This also demonstrates the sovereignty of God as noted in 2 Chronciles 36:22-23.

535-520 B.C. Worked ceased on the temple (Ezra 4:24) as a result of the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 5:1 and Haggai 1:1-4)

515 B.C. Temple finished (Ezra 6:15)

458 B.C. Ezra returns and reforms the people (Ezra 7-10)

445 B.C. Nehemiah comes and leads the people rebuilds the walls around God’s city (Nehemiah 1-6)

 

Daniel and the Sovereignty of God (Daniel 1:3-21)

 Review:

1. Our God is Sovereign over the universe (Daniel 4:34-35, 37)

2. Our God is Sovereign over the rulers (Daniel 1:1-2)

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).

3. Our Sovereign God Reveals the Future (chapters 8-12)

1. Our Sovereign God Blesses Godly Character (Daniel 1) 

A. Godly Character Has A Biblical World View (1:1-2)

B. Godly Character Is Dedicated to God (1:3-4)

    1) Daniel was dedicated physically (he had no “blemish” and “good ones in appearance”)

2) Daniel was dedicated mentally (“skillful in all wisdom....”)

    3) Daniel was dedicated personally (“had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace”)

    4) Daniel was dedicated spiritually (sufficiently to overcome the brain washing attempts: “whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans” or of the religious) in 2:2. The magicians ((Heb. hartummim) were evidently scholars who could divine the future by using various means, Leupold, p. 75). The astrologers (The conjurers or enchanters (assapim) could evidently communicate with the dead, Leupold, p. 76). The sorcerers (The sorcerers (mekassepim) practiced sorcery and cast spells according to Thomas Constable). The Chaldeans (The astrologers (kasdim) here refer to the priestly caste that studied the heavens to determine the future in 2:2 according to Thomas Constable).

C. Godly Character Determines NOT to Yield to Sin (1:5-21)

    1) Pressure to sin was subtle  (1:5-7). In changing their names from God honoring names to names that honor the Babylonian gods. The reason only these four are mentioned is because most likely the rest caved into temptation and were no longer useful to God. Their godly parents gave them godly names and a godly upbringing which helped these young believers to stay true to God.

    2) Pressure to sin was strong (1:8-10). The pressure was to eat food not kosher and food that had been offered to idols (1:8; Exodus 34:15). Daniel’s work ethic put him in good stead with his superiors (1:8-10) like Joseph in Gen  39:1-4 and Nehemiah in 2:1-8.

     3) Pressure to sin was avoided with an alternative plan (1:11-14). Daniel did not rebel but offered an alternative plan. Nehemiah also provided an alternative plan. Again, this alternative plan is accepted because these young men were exemplary workers.

     4) Pressure to sin was avoided by the blessings of God (1:15-21). God sovereignly blessed their desire and diet (1:15-16). God sovereignly blessed their work hard (1:17-21). Daniel and his three friends stayed true to God through their secular training as Moses in Acts 6:22. Daniel and three Hebrew children complete their training at the top of the class (1:17-20) and stand before Nebuchadnezzar for their final exams. God’s sovereignty is displayed in blessing Daniel and his friends to far surpass the unsaved Babylonian students who were in the same classes. God sovereignly blessed Daniel for 70 years (1:21). Daniel was loyal to his leaders. He never left them. They left him.

 

 

 

            

Daniel and the Sovereignty of God (Daniel 1:1-2)

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 Babylonians. They would have been introduced into the Babylonians mythologies of creation, the flood, the origin of mankind and plurality of gods.

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Daniel and The Soverenity of God (Introduction)

The movie “God’s Not Dead” is a realistic portrayal of college students who are not permitted to voice their belief in God on secular campuses. In the movie the atheistic philosophy teacher demanded on the first day of class that each of the 80 student write three words on a sheet of paper: God is Dead. One student, Josh Wheaton, who was a Christian refused and was ridiculed by his teacher for the rest of the semester.

The persecution on university campus 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.

The theme of Daniel is God’s sovereignty even in the worst of times of persecution and even in times of chastening which was the case of Israel. God’s sovereignty encouraged the returning captives to Israel, later Jews in the Maccabean persecutions, and finally, all future suffering believers (Hebrews 11:33).

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Old Testament Lexical Study of The Old Testament Word for Atonement kipper

C. H. Dodd contended that kipper or kopher in the OT and hilaskesthai in the LXX and in the NT meant expiation and the forgiveness of sins. Leon Morris argued that these words meant propitiation or an appeasing of God’s wrath. The overwhelming evidence is the meaning of propitiation of God’s wrath.

N. T. Wright has taken up the mantle of C. H. Dodd in his 2016 The Day The Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus Crucifixion. Throughout his book, Wright disparages the penal subsitutionary death of Christ and the doctrine of propitiation. For example, referring to kapporeth, Wright argues that “older interpretation suggested ‘covering.’ But recent research has challenged this, connecting the Hebrew word with the root kipper, meaning ‘cleanse’ or ‘purge.’…..”there is less, because this context, in and of itself, says nothing about punishment” (p. 328-329). Wright is correct when he writes that “the Hebrew word kapporeth was rendered in the Greek translations of Scripture as hilsasterion.” But then again following the argument of C. H. Dodd, Wright writes “So when Paul writes in Romans 3:25 God put Jesus forth as a hilasterion, he does not mean that God was punishing Jesus for the sins of Israel or the world” (pps. 328 and 330). Just a few other comments from Wright about Romans 3:21-26: “the ‘propitiation’ readings of 3:24-26 are straining” (p. 330). “Paul is not here saying, then, that God has punished former sins, whether of Israel or the Gentiles, certainly not that he has punished them in Jesus. There is no mention here of such a punishment then exhausting the divine wrath” (p. 331).

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New Testament Lexical Study of the New Testament Word for Atonement

In our OT lexical study we examined kipper and kopher and demonstrated that the meaning of these words is the propitiation of God’s wrath. The Greek word group of hilaskomai,  which is the most used Greek word in the LXX and the NT for the kipper word group, also contains the meaning of appeasing God’s wrath rather than expiating of sin.

            Four primary sources were consulted: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, BDAG (Third Edition), New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Abridged Edition), and Leon Morris’ The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross.

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Biblical Weddings and Marriages

The Times (London) has reported that many American couples are adjusting wedding vows to new concepts of marriage. "Til death do us part" is giving way to "for as long as our marriage shall serve the common good."

Hollywood has played its part as well. Actress Julia Roberts' wedding to Daniel Moder featured the vow to "love, support, but not obey." And consider this: Others merely promise good manners: Will Smith, the actor, recently revealed that when he married Jada Pinkett in 1997 "our vows did not promise to forsake all others. The vow that we made was that 'you will never hear that I did something after the fact'. One spouse will ask the other, 'Look I need to have sex with somebody -- please approve it'." From The Briefing on August 5, 2005.

Liam Stack at the New York Times published on Nov. 7 the results of a Pew Research study.

The Pew Research Center, published online Wednesday, show high public support for unmarried couples who live together, with majorities of every age group saying they find it acceptable to live with an unmarried partner. At the same time, the share of American adults who live with an unmarried partner has more than doubled since 1993, to 7 percent from 3 percent. The share of American adults who are married was 53 percent.

According to the survey, unmarried couples report significantly less satisfaction in their relationships than do married couples, who report higher levels of trust in their partners’ honesty, fidelity and spending habits. It said that 58 percent of married adults said their relationship was “going very well,” compared with 41 percent of unmarried people who live with a partner.

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Baptism of the Holy Spirit

When you hear the words, "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" what comes to your mind? For some there are scenes of highly emotional church services accompanied with tongues. For others, a confusing mix of ideas from different studies and sermons muddies the thinking. That is understandable because there are many conflicting views. In part one, I am going to review eight views of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I am taking some of my information from Dr. Windsor's notes on Pneumatology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. In part two, I will discuss the Traditional view of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

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The Problem of Evil and Suffering

Chris Sheeter and I were students at BJU and friends in 1981. Chris was tall, handsome, musical, with a great personality. He also was a good preacher. Chris was studying to pastor. We attended the same church, Southside Baptist Church and worked as waiters at the same Seafood restaurant, Old Mill Stream Inn. I graduated one semester before he did and started pastoring in N.C. and I drove back to Greenville, S.C. just to fellowship with Chris. During his last semester, he was a lifeguard at a local hotel. At the end of a shift, he dove in the pool just to swim across and go home. As he was swimming across the bottom, his friends notice he stopped about half way. Chris drowned.

Chris studied seven years, spent nearly $100,000 to prepare to pastor and never got to pastor one day. I remember asking myself, not out loud, why did God lead him to go through the rigors of four years of undergraduate work and the even tougher studies of three years of seminary and then allow this tragedy to happen?

William Safire, in a New York Times editorial, wrote after the 2004 India tsunami in which over 200,000 people were killed from 14 countries, “Where was God? Why does a good and all powerful deity permit such evil and grief to fall on innocent people? What did these people do to deserve such suffering.”

David Hume, the eighteenth century philosopher, connected the problem of evil and the existence of God: “Is He willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is impotent. Is He able but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”

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Three Imputations

L.S. Chafer in his 1948 Systematic Theology said that “thirty-three stupendous works of God” took place the moment we trusted Christ as Savior  (Volume 3, page 234-265). Justification and imputation are two of these supernatural works. Justification is a legal courtroom word where the judge declares the person either guilty or innocence whereas imputation is a business word.

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Total Depravity 

Have you seen the car tag, “I’m spending my children’s inheritance.” Comforting thought. Right? There is one inheritance most children wish had been spent by their parents. The inheritance of a sinful nature.

Charles Ryrie calls this sinful state “inherited sin” because it came from our parents. Reformed or Covenant brothers believe this sinful state like “imputed sin” came directly from Adam. Wayne Grudem is an example: “Our inherited corruption, our tendency to sin, which we receive from Adam” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994, page 497). Wayne Grudem calls this sinful state “inherited corruption” because Adam pasted his sin nature to his children.

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Christian Reconstruction

Is our mission as a church social justice or social reform? According to Jim Wallis editor of Sojourners the church’s mission is social justice. The three objectives of    

Sojourners are stated on his website: racial and social justice, life and peace, and environmental stewardship. See the Al Mohler and Jim Wallis debate: Is Essential Part of the Mission of the Church? Where Al Mohler disagrees with Wallis.

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Origins of Life (Part One)

Psalm 33:6 and 9 make a very clear statement about the origin of life for those of us who believe the Bible to be the Word of God: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”

When I was pastoring Swan Creek Baptist Church, I borrowed one my teenager’s biology book just to see what they were being taught in our local public school. Her biology textbook clearly pitted evolution against God’s Word:

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Personal Angelic Body Guards? Part 2

We are examining some Scriptures used to defend the belief in personal guardian angels.

1. Psalm 91:11 is thought to teach each believer has one assigned guardian angel (See Part 1).

2. Some use Mt. 18:10 to teach that each child has only one guardian angel assigned at birth.

This was the view of Thomas Aquinas in his The Summa Theologica. Question 113 addresses the guardianship of the good angels and Article 5 asks whether an angel is appointed to guard a man from his birth?

“As long as the child is in the mother’s womb it is not entirely separate, but by reason of a certain intimate tie, is still part of her: just as the fruit while hanging on the tree is part of the tree. And therefore it can be said with some degree of probability, that the angel who guards the mother guards the child while in the womb. But at its birth, when it becomes separate from the mother, an angel guardian is appointed.”

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Personal Angelic Body Guards? Part 1

DO you believe you have a personal guardian angel? Many people think they do. For that matter, a certain woman in western Canada is said to have a special gift involving angels. If you give her your full name along with $200, she claims that she will put you in touch with your guardian angel. First, she meditates by focusing on the flame of a candle. Next, she has a vision in which your angel gives her a message to pass on to you. As a bonus, the woman provides a sketch of what your angel looks like. This example from this Jehovah Witness’s website is just one among many on the internet revealing the new angel craze or the Third Wave.

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