With all that is happening in Ukraine this week it is difficult for me to focus on the assignment this morning. I would much rather go into a rant about Putin and the lunatics in this country who are supporting his invasion of a sovereign country in the vain hopes of recapturing a lost dream of domination and empire. That is what I would like to do but that is not what we are going to do.

This morning as our final lesson in Daniel we are going to look at Chapter 9 and the prayer of Daniel. But before we do that we should take time to look back at what we have studied over the last several weeks.

We began with an overview and established that one thing will be clear throughout the book.  There is a definite theology of history. It is not simply a series of stories about a Jewish hero or a tale about ancient kings. The book is about the ways of God in this world that are sometimes plain to those who follow him and a mystery to others; sometimes plain to pagans as well and, finally, sometimes a mystery to everyone. There is no pinning God down to a particular way of acting in this world. Sometimes he is hidden and at other times he chooses to be revealed. Sometimes unbelievers are his instruments and other times they are vessels of destruction. Sometimes the world is open to his people and holds them in high esteem and then just as easily they are hunted down as prey. Sometimes his people hold places of influence and power in kingdoms of the world and at other times they are thrown into the furnace or a pit with lions. There is no easy formula by which we can predict what will happen to those who follow him.

We ended that first lesson with “Let’s not be caught up in fear and anxiety about the mystery but rest in the fact that all of this is in God’s hands and we are players with a purpose in all of it. Our study of Daniel should not be about discovering the hidden meaning of all the symbols and signs of his visions so we can somehow predict the future or point to people and circumstances as signs of the end. It is not God’s Ouija board. Instead, it should be about our understanding of how best to be courageous, faithful and humble, tactful and wise,in the times and circumstances given to us.”

Next, we looked at three stories in Daniel: Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the fiery furnace and the den of lions.  All of them illustrate the unique qualities of Jewish humor in the Bible.  It is never just telling jokes. It is full of irony. It reduces authoritarians to the little men they are and the winners in the end are the Jews.

Do you remember the Mel Brooks quote?

“Feeling different, feeling alienated, feeling persecuted, feeling that the only way to deal with the world is to laugh – because if you don’t laugh you’re going to cry and never stop crying – that’s probably what’s responsible for the Jews having developed such a great sense of humor. The people who had the greatest reason to weep, learned more than anyone else how to laugh. Comedy is protest. Comedy is a very powerful component of life. It has the most to say about the human condition because if you laugh you can get by. You can struggle when things are bad if you have a sense of humor. Laughter is a protest scream against death, against the long goodbye. It’s a defense against unhappiness and depression.”

But there was something new in the accusations of the astrologers. If tyrants want to appeal to the worst instincts of people they always play this card. There was a Jewish conspiracy against the king. This was in the 6th century BC but that tool of impotent men has survived to this day. This poison is still in our system and while we think of this as ancient history because it is in Scripture it is replayed over and again in actual history today.

But we know the ending don’t we? Who ends up being cut to pieces and their houses being turned into piles of rubble? Who ends up being promoted? Whose God ends up being praised? Who are the fools in the end?

It is humor that sees God as ultimately triumphing even through the mouths of pagans. It is humor for us as Christians that sees and accepts the hardships and trials but recognizes that no man or system is ultimately more powerful or just than God and that even those who despise the Jews and conspire against them will one day bow their knee to a Jew named Jesus.

Then we looked at the power of the faith of three men to move the heart of the king. What happens when Daniel’s three friends emerge from the fiery furnace unharmed? What has impressed the king?

These men trusted in their God and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own. It is not the same as Daniel’s ability to interpret the dream and God’s ability to reveal mysteries. It is far more than that this time. It is their willingness to risk their lives for this god.  We all love understanding mysteries. We love finding people who can explain complex topics to us in ways that we can understand. We admire that quality and want to have people like that around us. We read their newspaper columns, blogs and books. We listen to their sermons and take notes. Like the king, when we cannot explain things that bother and disturb us, we want to have people like the astrologers around to make sense of them and to assure us there is order and certainty.

But that is far different from being with people who are willing to risk their lives and not just their reputations and careers.  The impression those people of great faith make on us is one of both inspiration and conviction. There is something in us that rises up and makes us want to have faith that is willing to go into the furnace.

There is a change in the king and he realizes this God who can preserve the lives of his worshippers is more powerful than his god- the god of order and certainty. Yes, he falls back into pride and is afflicted with a form of insanity for seven years that only illustrates again how God can reduce an arrogant man to one who lives not like a king but like an animal.

Then two weeks ago we looked at the Feast of Belshazzar, the young and ignorant successor to Nebuchadnezzar.

Belshazzar is giving a grand feast in spite of the fact that the Persians have been literally outside the gates digging trenches and diverting a river, It’s clearly not a small feast for a few confidants but 1,000 nobles, wives, and concubines have been invited – or likely commanded to attend. This is an act of rare stupidity or perhaps it is an effort to bolster the morale of a city surrounded by enemy forces. “There is nothing to fear but fear itself” banners might have been placed around the room and motivational speakers had been hired to come in and assure the crowd that everything was going just as planned and the best was yet to come.

But there is this inconvenient truth he is about to discover.  The spiritual foundations of the city had been corrupted long ago and while the Persians are excavating the foundations of the city the rulers are carousing with the King while ignoring the noises of the inevitable.

We can all do that when we wish to block out a truth that is inconvenient or uncomfortable. We just make our own noise that keeps us from hearing the crumbling of the foundations from beneath us. Is it possible that out of a thousand people there were not a few who looked at each and said, “I think he’s lost his mind. This is a mad man. What are we doing here?” No, not one.

Instead of surrounding himself with the 200 sons of Issachar – “men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” he surrounded himself with those who would tell him what he wanted to hear and who longed to be recognized and rewarded by him. How many of the 1,000 nobles at the banquet could be described as those who understood the times? Not a single one. While the army of Persia was tunneling under the city they were having a banquet.

Belshazzar had no respect for anyone or anything and he had lost his own sensations. That is literally what it means to be dumb or stupid. It means having no sensations. He had gone so far in negligence of wisdom and common decency that the return of human dignity, repentance and regeneration had become almost impossible. As it turns out, he never gets the chance.

He is weighed in the scales and found wanting.

And then last week we looked at Daniel’s dream of the four beasts. Kingdoms come and go, don’t they? Three beasts are reduced ultimately to rubble and then there is the spirit of the fourth beast – the worst of them.  It is what we called the spirit of Rome. The spirit of Empire. The spirit of unbridled ambition and domination. The spirit of the fourth kingdom is to some degree in every kingdom. Every kingdom to an extent desires the beastly power to trample the laws, devour its foes and hold itself up as something to be worshiped in the place of God or, even worse, to present itself as being aligned with God.

When we began our study Daniel was a young man full of promise – even in the worst of times and circumstances. He and his friends made monkeys of their captors and in time became influential and powerful men in the land to which they were exiled. They were revered by a tyrant, ignored by a fool on the day of his destruction and were, like Joseph in Egypt, probably responsible for the survival of Israel. It is rare that God considers someone highly esteemed but that is what the angel Michael says to Daniel. “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.”

That’s quite a statement as God is no respecter of persons. There is something in the character of Daniel that causes God to hold him in esteem and I think that is revealed in his prayer. It is not the prayer of the aging Solomon in Ecclesiastes. It is the prayer of a man who has lived in the tension of his calling between serving a series of pagan rulers and yet remaining a faithful Jew.

Daniel has lived in Babylon for 67 years of the 70 year exile. The end of their time in Babylon is near and he knows that. He knows many will return but this has become his place and he will stay. He has outlived and survived kings and princes. He has had decades to consider their captivity and suffering and now might be his opportunity to say something positive about what has happened and what is to come. “Thank you, O Lord, that we have survived and things are looking up once again for us.” Or he could have been grateful for how Israel had made the best of a bad situation. He could have even praised God for the times he made fools of those who were persecuting him and his friends. But he doesn’t. Instead, on the cusp of their release to go home he pleads with God in fasting, and in sackcloth and in ashes. There is no hint of pride or satisfaction that kingdoms have come and gone while they have survived and outlasted them. There is only confession and I believe this has been his daily confession for all of his years in Babylon:

Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

We all have heard the apologies of those who have abused or harassed others and been caught. “I am so sorry that anything I might have said or done innocently would have been construed to mean something I did not intend and that anyone has been made to feel badly as a result of what was never said or done to cause harm. I am truly sorry for their pain that might have come from their misunderstanding.”

This is not Daniel’s mild apology. No, this is Daniel being the priest of the people and fully aware of their sin. If there is anything they need to carry with them out of exile it is this. If only they had.

“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.

“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

“Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

Those are the last words of one who has become one of the most powerful men in Babylon. He is one who has accumulated influence, prestige, and commands the respect of generations of rulers. But he never loses his bearings or his conviction that it is our sin against God that will ultimately defeat us and only through genuine and regular confession that we will survive. It is not because we are righteous but out of God’s great mercy.

Today, I am praying in spite of all the odds against it that God will destroy the of a crazed and deluded Vladimir Putin and deliver the people of Ukraine and their Jewish leader. I am praying that Putin, like the fool Belshazzar before him, will be thrown on the dust heap of history and nothing will remain but rubble. I pray that he and all his supporters will be weighed in the scales and found wanting.