Chaos
In our church Bible reading plan last week, some of us were reading the end of Daniel. The first half is familiar to many of us – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the furnace, Daniel in the lion’s den – but the second half gets a little… crazy.
At one point Daniel writes, ‘I lay exhausted for several days… I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding’ (8.27). It’s all about beasts, horns, kings of the north and south, battles and political upheaval, and the (in)famous ‘time, times and half a time’. His visions describe chaos and mayhem – no wonder Daniel was appalled.’
Some try to work out which nations and kings and periods of history Daniel’s visions are about. But to me that misses the point.
Throughout Daniel God is often called the ‘Most High God’. Even the mighty king of Babylon – ruler of nations and one who claimed the title king of kings’ – says (4.2-3):
It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
‘How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an eternal kingdom;
his dominion endures from generation to generation.’
Here is the main point and purpose of Daniel. Empires and their rulers come and go, but God’s kingdom endures forever. Chaos and mayhem abound, but they will not prevail. We may not understand why God permits this or that to happen (or not happen); like Daniel we may be ‘appalled’ by what we see.
But the truth is: the Most High God reigns. Evil cannot and will not win, because it has already lost. On the cross, the sky went dark as the forces of evil gathered and focused all their power and malice on Jesus in his moment of greatest weakness. As Jesus said, ‘It is finished,’ they thought they had won – they thought they had ‘killed the author of life… but God raised him from the dead’ (Acts 3.15).
Sometimes it feels as though the chaos, the mayhem, the evil, the darkness of this world are going to swallow us up. In this season of remembrance it is worth pausing to reflect on how close we came to exactly that.
Far more often though, chaos and darkness are closer to home. You may be struggling in darkness this week; and if you aren’t some of your friends and family definitely will be.
It is my prayer that the truth of Daniel’s message will shine God’s light and warmth into your heart today: this might be for now but it is not forever, because the Most High God reigns and in Jesus he has won the victory.
Perhaps you can offer to pray for someone this week who is struggling this: that they would know the light, life and love of God even in the middle of their struggle?
God bless,
Revd Ben Green – Vicar