Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Every book in the Bible has a role to play in the Holy Spirit’s wise purpose in assembling the canon. The main function of some books of the Bible is easier to discern than that of others. The gospel of John exists “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). I believe that this is the purpose of all four Gospels. Romans exists to explain the gospel message, which is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). Job exists to teach us to suffer well. Ecclesiastes shows us the vanity of life if there is no resurrection from the dead. In the same way, the book of Daniel exists to show God’s sovereignty over wicked human governments for His own glory and for the eternal blessedness of His people. This is a timely message for modern Christians who look at the political leaders in our world with great skepticism and concern.
All the chapters in Daniel tend toward this one great theme, but Daniel 11 holds a unique place in that great prophetic book. It details a series of wars conducted by two Greek dynasties following the conquests of Alexander the Great: the Seleucids and the Ptolemies. Though Alexander is one of the most famous military conquerors in history, the smaller Greek dynasties that followed his untimely death are quite obscure. Very few people living today care much about the Seleucids and Ptolemies. But here God demonstrates His sovereignty by giving us all an example of His exhaustive foreknowledge. When I was preaching through this great chapter, I counted 135 specific prophecies in the first thirty-five verses. The details are so rich and specific that skeptics have claimed that the book must have been written after the events that it speaks of occurred. But the God of the Bible knows and often declares the future to His people before it happens to give them confidence in His sovereign rule.
Here’s my favorite verse: “As for the two kings, their hearts shall be intent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed” (v. 27). This sums up the norm for wicked rulers in every generation—sitting at a table to hammer out a diplomatic solution to benefit their selfish interests, lying to each other in the process, but God’s sovereign purposes are still established despite their wickedness.
This is a very comforting message. As God declares in Daniel 4:25, “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” As we look at the corruption of politics and the wickedness of those who rule selfishly and with deceit, we know from Daniel 11 that God has seen it all before, and nothing they do can derail His glorious plan.