Exile: Daniel 1:1-2
God is willing to use something like exile to remind us of who He is and how He wants us to live. God is not Santa Claus. He is something so much more. Rather than being the fulfiller-of-wishes, God is the hope-of-creation. He brings life out of death.
God is the creator. He made this place and owns it. It is impossible to find even the tiniest speck of dust that is not His. There is nothing that goes on about which He is unaware. He is in control and has a plan.
Here’s the short version of God’s plan. Step one: create the world. Step two: develop relationship with the world, especially humanity. Step three: watch humanity fall from grace. Step four: work throughout history to bring about Jesus to redeem creation. Step five: work with humanity to spread the story of redemption to all willing to hear.
The book of Daniel occurs in the middle of step four. God revealed faith through Abraham, revealed the Law through Moses, revealed His kingdom through David. After David, the Hebrew people fell away from God. Doing things God’s way wasn’t as important as it used to be. After all, the Hebrew people were God’s chosen people. They became convinced their status of chosen meant they were invincible. They believed they deserved God’s attention. Instead of living up to God’s Word, they twisted God’s message to fit the life they wanted to live. God sent prophet after prophet – see Isaiah and Amos as examples – to warn the Hebrew people and to try and get them to return to faithfulness. They did not repent.
As a last resort, God sends Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was king of the Babylonians. After a visit to Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar’s envoys saw material possessions that Nebuchadnezzar decided he wanted for himself. Nebuchadnezzar sent his army to Jerusalem, conquered the city, and started the process of making the Hebrew people vassals of the Babylonian Empire. That process involved deporting them from their homeland, moving them to an unfamiliar region of the Babylonian Empire, and letting Jerusalem be resettled by foreigners.
It might seem cruel for God to allow His own people to go into exile. Why would God allow such calamity to fall upon them? The answer is simple. God plays the long game.
The Hebrew people were living a life that was taking them away from God. They were worldly, focused on selfish behavior. They were in no position to demonstrate God to the world. In exile, God reminds them who He is. In exile, God reminds them of what good life looks like. In exile, God forges His people anew. They will come out of captivity ready to follow Him again. Only then would the stage be set for His Son to come and save the world. He’s not Santa Claus; He’s better. God is willing to use something like exile to remind us of who He is and how He wants us to live.
