Tonight again, we come to the book of Daniel. And I am anxious to finish our introduction tonight so that we can look forward to getting into the book. “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.”

Man faces the inevitable course of sin throughout his history and that is the constant cycle of decaying societies. We are all aware of it, it’s been going on since the Fall. The cycle of corruption buried nation after nation while new ones rise from the rubble and become the rubble for the next cycle. Historians like Arnold Toynbee and Ibn Khaldun, Italian Vico have given to us plenty of information on the cycles of history, the rise and the fall of nation after nation after nation after nation.

It’s an inevitability in human society. And I really believe in many ways we are seeing in our own nation the decay and the corruption that leads to destruction. You would have to say, in looking at the history of America, that we’ve reached the peak and we’re on the way down to the inevitable rubble that happens to every society that follows the decadent cycle. About three weeks ago in the September 10 edition of Time magazine, there was an editorial on decadence in America written by Lance Morrow. I want to draw some thoughts from that editorial because it speaks so pointedly to the issue.

Listen to what he says as he begins to write. “It was partly the spectacle of western decadence that aroused the Ayatollah Khomeini to orgies of Koranic prescription. Alcohol, music, dancing, mixed bathing all have been curtailed by the Iranian revolution. If Iran has driven out its monarch and given itself over to a purification that demands even the interment of its beer bottles, then by what logic, what punishment and what purification would be sufficient for America? The Ayatollah residing in some American consciences would surely have to plow under not just the beer bottles but an uncomfortably large part of U.S. society itself.”

Americans face what Morrow calls “a physical violence and spiritual heedlessness that makes them wonder if the entire society is on a steep and terminal incline downward.” Now, he defines decadence from the Latin decadere, to fall down or away, hence to decay. He sees this decadence as having something to do with death. In fact, he calls it a terminal decadence. He suggests that decadence is a collection of symptoms that might suggest a society exhausted and collapsing like a star as it degenerates toward the white dwarf stage.

Now, to be decadent is not just to be corrupt in Morrow’s definition and the definition of history. To be decadent is to be terminally corrupt. And if America is decadent, then there is a terminal element in this decadence. In other words, it zeroes in on death. Our country has some terrible symptoms of decadence. There’s no question about it. Our music, our entertainment, our pleasure madness, our incredible materialism, our self-indulgence, our wild economics all speak of a decadent society.

In the article, Morrow suggest that there are some signs that we might see as indications of our decadence. For example, the Aspen, Colorado fan club that grew up two summers ago to celebrate murderer Ted Bundy with, among other things, T-shirts that read, “Ted Bundy is a one-night stand.” Or the work of photographer, Helmut Newton who likes to sell high-fashion clothes with lurid pictures of women posed as killers and victims or trussed up in sadomasochistic paraphernalia. One of his shots shows a woman’s head being forced into a toilet bowl.

He talks further about other things, such as the Viennese artist Rudolf Schwarzkogler, who decided to make a modernistic artistic statement by amputating inch-by-inch his own reproductive capacity while a photographer recorded the process and made it as a work of art. The list would have to mention Keith Richards, a member of the Rolling Stones, who by one account in order to pass a blood test to enter the United States for a concert had a physician drain his entire supply of heroin-tainted blood and replace it with transfusions from more sedate citizens.

Some of the sadomasochistic and homosexual bars in New York and San Francisco would indicate to us an amazing amount of decadence. In a less specialized realm, disco and punk songs like “Bad Girls” and “I want to be sedated” have a decadent ring. In fact, the entire phenomenon of disco, says Morrow, has a certain loathsome glisten to it. Some might list Tiffany’s $2,950.00 gold ingot wrist watch or a pair of $1,000.00 kidskin and gold shoes or a $1,900.00 dog collar, which you could buy at Harrods in London, or Zsa Gabor’s $150,000.00 Rolls Royce with its leather, velvet leopard interior. And so it goes.

Society, says Morrow, fattens its children on junk food and then permits them to be enlisted in pornographic films. The nation is sub-divided into a dozen drug cultures, the alcohol culture, the cocaine culture, the heroin culture, the Valium culture, the amphetamine culture and combinations thereof. Legal abortions and the pervasive custom of contraception suggest a society so chary of its future that it has lost its will to perpetuate itself. And so says British Christian author Malcolm Muggeridge, “What will make historians laugh at us is how we express our decadence in terms of freedom and humanism. Western society,” he says, “suffers from a largely unconscious collective death wish.”

Now, in all of this, what he is saying is that we are decadent and our decadence has built into it a death wish. It’s a terminal disease. Nations normally don’t recover from this. In fact, the cycles of history are starkly repetitive. And I was fascinated in reading Morrow’s article to note that while he was discussing the cycles of corrupting nations he only had one nation as an illustration of breaking the cycle, only one nation that really rose from its own ashes. And strangely enough, he said it was the nation of Israel, Israel.

God’s people, Israel, came to decadence, to destruction and to death. And yet, because of the covenant of their God, they rose from their own ashes to live again even in this very day. How did Israel break the cycle? How did Israel overcome the corruption? How did they get the way they were even becoming so decadent when all the while they had the trust of the Scriptures, the Word of God? What is the story of Israel? How did it collapse? And how was it restored? Well, frankly, that story is part and parcel of the life of Daniel. Daniel became God’s instrument in the time of Israel’s destruction. And Daniel became, in a very real sense, one of the tools of Israel’s rise again.

As we look at the book of Daniel then tonight, I want us to see it in terms of the decadence of a dying people, most particularly the southern kingdom of Judah. Judah had been destroyed by Daniel’s time, not so much by outward enemies, although they finally did the mop-up operation, but mostly because of internal corruption. Judah became affluent and materialistic. Judah worshiped false gods. Judah had a religion that was external and not internal. Judah had a nation of liars who knew not nor told the truth. Judah felt everybody around them owed them something. Judah began to trust in illicit alliances and increased technology.

There was a general apostasy among their political and religious leaders. They pulled the mask over their eyes and said there was peace when there wasn’t any peace, tried to kid themselves into thinking everything was fine when it really wasn’t. And God swept in in a terrible judgment and the nation was taken captive by the Babylonians. And that was the time for Daniel, God’s man for a crisis.

Now as you look at the first two verses we’re going to look at five points. We’ve covered two, we’ll cover three more tonight: the places, the period, the person, the punishment and the purpose. These five interlap – intertwine and overlap and so we’ll kind of interchange our thoughts as we go. And I want you to note the tragic decadence in the nation of Judah that led to their captivity and how Daniel fit into that picture. And you’ll see it as you go.

Now, notice in verse 1 that there are two places mentioned as we saw last time. There’s the king of Judah and the king of Babylon. Judah and Babylon really provide the scenario as we begin the book of Daniel. We discussed each. Judah was God’s place and Babylon was the devil’s place. We would think they had very little in common. Judah was the place where Jerusalem was, the city of God. Babylon was the place of the city of Babylon, the Tower of Babel where all false religion really began. And so you have true religion pitted against false religion, God against Satan. What do these two things have in common? Well God raises up Babylon to be the chastening agency for His people in Israel.

We saw also the period last time. Look at verse 1, “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim.” And we discussed that in some great detail so we won’t go into that again. “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah.” Now, this particular year was the year 605, the first group of people from Judah were taken to captivity in Babylon. And among that first group was a man named Daniel. So it was in this very year, the third year of Jehoiakim. He had one year called the accession year in Babylonian terms, and three years. He’d actually been on the throne for four years. And at 605 he takes the first group of captives from Judah to Babylon.

Now we mentioned that Jehoiakim was an evil king. Jehoiakim led Israel down a path of disaster. During his reign then, the first group were taken captive and the punishment of Judah really began. Now you remember this, in backing up. Once, the kingdom was united under Saul, under David, and under Solomon. But Solomon lost control of everything at the end of his life and as a result, after Solomon, the kingdom split. Ten tribes went to the north and two to the south. And you had the Northern Kingdom known as Israel with its capital city of Samaria and you had the Southern Kingdom known as Judah with its capital city Jerusalem. And they were not only split, they were warlike toward each other.

Israel seemed to decay faster. In fact, in all the history of the Northern Kingdom there was never so much as one good king, so their slide was fast. And by the year 722, Samaria was crushed by the Assyrians and the Northern Kingdom was swept into captivity and the Southern Kingdom alone remained. And the first blow came in 605 and the second blow came in 597, and by 586 B.C. the third and final crushing blow described in 2 Kings 25 took place. Jerusalem was destroyed. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Jews were swept away into captivity and the country was turned into a province of Babylonia.

Now, before the final fall in 586, nineteen years before in 605 Daniel was taken captive. And in that first captivity in the reign of Jehoiakim, apparently the Babylonians wanted to pick the cream of the crop, some young men that they could use in their government training program. They wanted to pick the very best men to develop them, to train them for usefulness in their country. And so by the time the majority of people arrive in the captivity of 586, Daniel’s already been there nineteen years.

He’s already been well trained and he’s already risen to a place of prominence among the Babylonians so the Jews have their man in the palace and he becomes a key man in what God wants to do with Israel, the people of Judah, in their captivity and in the future. And so, last time we covered that, the places and the period and that was just a review.

Let’s look thirdly at the punishment, the punishment. The captivity, of course, is a punishment. God is a God of great grace, but ultimately, His grace runs its course and when men take a very firm stand in their – in their position against God, He acts in judgment and chastening and punishment. And so that’s what we see here. Judah had forsaken God’s law. In fact, it had gone so far that God realized there wouldn’t be any turning back. They were resolutely determined to disobey God. They turned their back on God.

And so Isaiah 24:1 says, “Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste and turns it upside down and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof and it shall be as with the people so with the priests; as with the servants so with his master; as with the maid so with her mistress; as with the buyer so with the seller; as with the lender so with the borrower; as with the taker of interest so with the giver of interest to him.” In other words, God’s going to come in judgment and nobody’s social strata is going to be able to affect that. In other words, nobody is going to escape.

“The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”

What you have there is a mini-apocalypse. You have a taste of the tribulation in the Babylonian captivity. And God says to the prophet Isaiah that He’s going to come and He’s going to make that place an empty place, a languishing place because they have disobeyed God’s law, they have broken the covenant and the commandments. They had, of course, ignored the Sabbath. They ignored the Sabbath day and they ignored the Sabbath year. And it always interests me that the Babylonian captivity was seventy-years long. And one of the reasons I believe it was a seventy was because that’s the number of the Sabbath and I think God was in judgment recovering the Sabbaths that they never gave Him.

They had engaged in gross idolatry. Even though they had been repeatedly warned of its consequences, they had turned their backs on God and they worshiped idols. It says in Jeremiah 7:24, “They hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and the imagination of their evil heart. They went backward and not forward.” They retreated to idolatry. “They hearkened not unto Me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck and did worse than their fathers.”

And what would be the result? “At the same time, saith the Lord,” – in Jeremiah 8 – “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves and shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and the host of heaven, whom they have loved, whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: but shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for refuse upon the face of the earth. And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places to which I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.”

They have gone into all kinds of pagan idolatry and God says I’m going to put them away in a severe judgment. Now listen. God says there’s going to be judgment on Judah. He waited over a hundred years after He judged Israel in the north. But Judah had progressed a little more slowly in the cycle of terminal decadence. But they were there by 586 and that was the end. But may I hasten to add this, less you misunderstand God and His nature. Before judgment ever falls God always warns. God always warns. That’s always the way it is. There will never be – mark this – there will never be in this world a divine judgment that is unexpected or unannounced. God always warns.

In the book of Jonah, chapter 3 in verse 5, “So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry – cloth. and cry mightily to God: yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

“And who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” God said I’m going to punish Nineveh. Before I do I’m going to send a prophet. Now He had a hard time getting the prophet to go there. He took a short trip on a long fish but eventually he got turned around in the right direction. And when he finally got to Nineveh and he preached the warning, the whole city repented.

God always gives time for repentance. To His own people in Chronicles He says, “If My people which are called by My name shall humble themselves and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I’ll hear them and I’ll heal them.” God has always been eager to respond. Ezekiel says two times that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked ones. But Israel in the north would never repent and Judah in the south would never repent even though the warnings were abundant.

Now, let me just give you an idea. If you were living in Judah at that time in a decadent, descending, corrupting society moving fast toward death, these are the warnings you would have seen. Number one, the disaster of the Northern Kingdom. The people in the south were able to see what happened in the north. They could see it. It should have stood as a tremendous warning to them. They had engaged, for example, in – in the north in gross idolatry under Jeroboam I. They had – get this -- actually erected the worship of golden calves, a reversion back to the time of the wilderness wandering.

They had set up golden calves at two ends of the north at Bethel and Dan. And Bethel means “the house of God.” And so at the either ends of the Northern Kingdom they set up the worship of golden calves and it became a national disgrace. And they wouldn’t listen to their prophets. They had two wonderful prophets in the north, one by the name of Amos and one by the name of Hosea, and they wouldn’t listen. And so, God stopped speaking and God raised up the merciless Assyrians and in Isaiah 10:5 God says the Assyrians are the “rod of My anger and the staff of My indignation.” In other words, He used the Assyrians as His weapon to punish Israel.

How did it happen? Well there they were living in the Northern Kingdom. At that time in history around 750 B.C., the Assyrians ruled that part of the world and Babylonia was just a little state in Assyria. And the Assyrians were a ruthless, merciless, wild bunch of people, killers. And they ruled, and their capital city was Nineveh. They had a ruler by the name of Tiglath-Pileser. You can spell his name P-U-L. That’s another rendering, Pul.

He moved in – according to 2 Kings 15, he moved in, and this was the first wave of Assyrian intervention. He moved in to Israel and put them under heavy taxation. It was really intimidation. He said, “You pay me taxes or I’ll declare war on you.” Discretion being the better part of valor they decided to pay the taxes. But that put them under Assyrian domination.

Following Pul, or Tiglath-Pileser, came another name you might remember, Shalmaneser IV. Sounds like a lizard but it’s not. Shalmaneser IV. Now, he moved in more directly, not just taxation but he attacked the capital of Israel which was the city of Samaria. And he began the attack, and the attack was finalized by the man who followed him and his name was Sargon II, S-A-R-G-O-N, a very famous name in Middle Eastern history. Sargon II who lived from 722 to 705 literally crushed Samaria out of existence and he carried the whole mass of people away. This is the ten tribes.

People have wondered, they said, “Well, does that mean” – and you always hear the phrase, the ten lost tribes – “Does that mean that we’ll never be able to find the people of those tribes again?” Well, we'll – we never know where they went. There is no historical information as to where those ten tribes went. They were amalgamated, they were intermarried, they were lost forever in mixture with the people of that part of the world.

But as God would have it, during the time after the split and before the fall of Samaria, during that period of time many of the ten-tribe people in the north moved to the south, so that the two tribes in the south became sprinkled with people of the ten tribes in the north. So that Judah really became, in a sense, representative of all twelve tribes so that in the history of Israel all twelve tribes have still been preserved. And that’s very important because in the tribulation, in Revelation 7 it says, “In the end time, God is going to take 12,000 from every tribe of Israel to be His witness in the world.”

The ten lost tribes were lost insofar as the historical identification of those people, but enough of them filtered to the south so that God could preserve every tribal line for the future. But the rest of the captives never returned. They were lost. Israel had sinned away its day of grace. Israel had brought itself to a place of terrible judgment. In fact, Hosea said it well, he said, “Ephraim,” and that was his term for the Northern Kingdom. “Ephraim is joined to his idols,” – and then these terrible words – “let him alone.” Let him go, too far gone.

You know what happened? After the Assyrians took over the Northern Kingdom they got to feeling their oats and they got to looking at the Southern Kingdom. Now, the Southern Kingdom had a lot to offer. That was a wonderful land. Remember, that was the promised land, rich and fertile and beautiful, productive. And so Sargon kind of got the idea they ought to just go down and take the south while they were at it.

Well Sargon died in the battle moving toward Judah. But he was replaced by his son and his son is a very famous name in Middle Eastern history. His name is Sennacherib, Sennacherib. Sennacherib took the invasion into Judah. Now get this. This is around 700 or so. This is a hundred years before they actually go into captivity and already God is warning them by giving them a firsthand look at what it’s like to be taken over by some great power. They stood there and watched the Northern Kingdom go into oblivion. And now Sennacherib literally invaded Judah and put a vice grip on Judah.

There was really only one thing that saved Judah from Sennacherib, you know what it was? In the line of bad kings a good one popped up. His name was Hezekiah, Hezekiah. And you know at the time of Hezekiah there was also a good prophet. His name was Isaiah. The good life of Hezekiah, the tears and the prayers of Hezekiah and the life of Isaiah crying out to God in behalf of Judah touched the heart of God and in grace He spared that nation. And you – you have to – you have to remember the story. The Assyrians were moving to destroy Judah. And they prayed and God answered, and God sent – get this – one angel. You remember that? One angel, and he slaughtered 185 thousand Assyrians in one shot. Wow! Those angels are something, 185 thousand Assyrians and Judah was spared. God was gracious.

But do you know something? Archaeologists tell us that even during that time, though Judah was spared, under Sennacherib at least 200 thousand people from Judah were taken into Assyrian captivity. So they got a good taste of what judgment was coming, not only from what they saw in the north but what they actually experienced themselves. They had seen tens of thousands of people driven from their homes, deported into foreign lands. And Werner Keller says in his book, The Bible As History, “The fertile crescent was plowed up, its people tossed about hither and thither. Instead of a varied range of races and religious – religions existing side by side, the result was a jumble. All investigation into what became of the ten tribes who had their home there has so far come to nothing,” end quote.

You say, “Boy, I’ll bet Judah learned their lesson.” No. Hezekiah had a son and Hezekiah’s son had a name Manasseh and Manasseh was a vile, wretched, idolatrous, grasping, self-centered, evil king who plunged Judah right back into the pit of idolatrous sin. So you know what happened? God says, “Let me warn you again.” Sennacherib was followed by another ruler of the Assyrians named Esarhaddon. And Esarhaddon moved in and he forced Manasseh to pay him taxes under threat of war.

Esarhaddon was followed by another man and we mentioned his name last week, Ashurbanipal. He took Manasseh captive, wrapped him in chains and took him away. And all the while God was saying, “This is what it’s going to be, people, if you don’t repent of your sin.” Well you know something? When Manasseh was dragged away in chains in the midst of his sorrow and captivity and the land without a king, Manasseh got his heart right with God. He got down on his knees and he turned to God and he repented. And he reached out to God and God picked him up and restored him and he had the Assyrians bring him back and stick him on his throne. And God again was gracious. Just maybe Manasseh learned finally, and maybe the nation will come around.

You know something? They never did. Following Manasseh, again the decline into final oblivion. There was a second category of warning. Not only the fall of the north and the powerful presence of the Assyrians, but the preaching of the prophets. All through this time of decadence, God had His preachers. You know, in a very real sense, I feel that way in America about many men of God who are standing up in this evil day and saying, “We cannot continue to live like this and avoid the judgment of God. We can’t any longer with a clear conscience sing about America as a nation of godly people.” Just can’t do that. We must speak against this generation, not on its behalf but against it like the prophets.

They had some great prophets in those years. There was Isaiah, then there was Micah, then there was Nahum, and later on there was Zephaniah. And after him, there was Jeremiah and then there was Habakkuk and all of these great prophets of God poured out their hearts and cried out with a message of infinite judgment coming in a way that the people never dreamed. And they had had some pretty good illustrations, but they were so captive to their sin that they never really heard the message.

Isaiah said in chapter 6, “Lord, here am I, send me. Send me to tell this people, send me to preach this people – to preach to this people.” And he did, spent his life doing it. He said to the Lord, “How long do You want me to preach?” He said, “You just keep preaching till the cities be wasted without inhabitants, till the houses are without man and the land be utterly desolate and the Lord remove men far away and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.” Just keep preaching till the whole thing crumbles. And the prophets were faithful but the people never really listened. They never really heard the message. They were so wrapped up in their sin, so smug in their self-confidence.

I’m thinking of a verse, I think it’s Isaiah 39, “Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord of hosts, behold the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day,’” – listen to what Isaiah said 100 years before it happened – “‘shall be carried to Babylon, nothing shall be left,’ saith the Lord, ‘and of thy sons that shall issue from thee whom thou shalt beget shall they take away and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” You mean our best young men, the men of noble birth will be eunuchs, emasculated for the purposes of the ruler of Babylon?

That prophecy came to pass in the life of Daniel himself who became that eunuch in the court of Babylon because the people never heard the prophets. They never learned from history and they never listened to prophecy. There was a third way, I think, God warned them and that was in the revival under Josiah. Josiah reigned for 31 years, having given his heart to God at the age of 15 or 16. He had a father named Amon and a grandfather Manasseh. The vile Manasseh was followed by Amon who was just as bad.

But here Amon had this young son Josiah who at 15 or 16 gave his heart to God and it was almost as if God said, “You wouldn’t see from history what was going to happen, and you wouldn’t listen to the prophets preaching a negative message and so I’ll give you one other alternative. I’ll bring a revival, see if that will change your hearts.” And so along came Josiah and he had a prophet on each side of him, Zephaniah and Nahum. And they preached and Josiah prayed and he cleaned up the nation. And he brought about a great revival.

First of all he said, “Let’s repair Solomon’s temple.” The temple wasn’t even of concern to anybody anymore. They had moved completely into idolatry. They were worshiping in the high places, Baal and the like. Josiah said, “Let’s redo the – the – the temple of Solomon.” And as they rebuilt it they discovered the law of God lost in the temple. It’s kind of like liberalism today, where the truth of God is lost in the church. And when they found the writing of the Word of God in the temple as they repaired it, they took it out and they read it and it led to a great revival, a great revival.

And in Josiah’s time they were having this great revival. And you know what happened? What happened was Ashurbanipal, who was ruling the Assyrian Empire that was holding this club over the kingdom of Judah, Ashurbanipal died. And then Nabopolassar who was his vice-regent down in Babylon swept up and conquered all of Assyria and slaughtered all the Assyrians and oh, it looked so good. “Boy, just think, we’re having a revival. And our greatest enemy, Assyria, is having to fight a civil war against the area of Babylonia and this man is going to conquer the Assyrians. Boy, we’re in great shape. The Assyrians are getting their deal and we’re having a revival.” And it all looked so good.

You know what happened? Josiah died and the revival, like so many revivals, was attached to his personality, and when he died, the revival ended. It ended. It had no effect on the nation. Following Josiah were four kings, all evil: Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, evil, evil, evil, evil. The revival had no effect. Listen. They never learned from history, and they never listened to prophecy, and they never even responded in the graciousness of God when He brought a revival. People, that’s how terminal decadence is. It’s irreversible when it reaches its full fury.

God, help us, because that’s what I see in America. We haven’t learned from history. We don’t listen to the prophets and daresay the revival going on today doesn’t seem to be having much impact on our country. Amazingly, amazingly – I want you to hear this – Assyria was destroyed by Babylonia. Babylonia then grew to take over that whole part of the world. Habakkuk says that bitter and hasty nation rose up to take the place of Assyria.

Why? Habakkuk 1:12. You want to know why there was a neo-Babylonian Empire? Here it is, God said, “I have ordained them for judgment and established them for correction.” Now listen. God allowed the Babylonian Empire to defeat Assyria. You want to hear something fascinating? The Babylonian Empire came into existence just at the time of Israel’s captivity and just when Israel – Israel was released to go back to the land, it went out of existence.

Did you know that the whole neo-Babylonian Empire only last about a hundred years? Which is exactly the amount of time from the first captivity of Judah till the final return back to their land. God simply raised up the whole Babylonian Empire as an instrument of judgment just as He has raised up the Assyrian Empire as an instrument of judgment against the Northern Kingdom. That nation came and went in a hundred years. And during those hundred years it reached the apex, it became literally the monarch of the world. It was a rod in God’s hand. I don’t think Nebuchadnezzar had any idea about that. But that’s the truth because God controls history. So, the people were taken into captivity.

You say, “They must have sinned terribly for God to bring such a horrible judgment.” Look at Psalm 78 for a minute. I don’t have time to read the whole Psalm. I think it’s the best account of captivity that you could possibly read because it approaches it from the emotions of the people involved. In Psalm 78 – and the Psalms, by the way, were written at all different periods of Israel’s history, all different periods of Judah’s history, as well as the life of David. They were written at all different times to express the emotion of the people and the history of what was going on from a very personal view, not so much the narrative/academic view as that very personal involvement.

And here we find the reason God took the Northern Kingdom captive. And, really, they’re the same reasons God took the south captive. Verse 10, “They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law. They forgot His works and His wonders He had shown them. Marvelous things did He in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

“He divided the sea and caused them to pass through; He made the waters to stand as an heap. In the daytime He led them with a cloud and at night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. And they sinned yet more against Him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.”

In other words, it didn’t matter what He did they were so bent on their sin. Verse 22, “They believed not in God and trusted not in His salvation. And though He had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven and rained down manna upon them to eat and given them out of the grain of heaven, man did eat angels’ food” – that’s manna – “He sent them food to the full, He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens and by His power He brought in the south wind. He rained flesh also upon them like dust and feathered fowls like the sand of the sea.” In other words, they got birds every day to eat. And on and on, the whole chapter just telling all that God has done.

Verse 41, “Yea they turned back and tested God and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not His hand nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy. How He had wrought His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the field of Zoan.” And so it goes. So it goes. They continued to reject. “God,” – when He heard this, verse 59 – “was angry and greatly abhorred Israel.”

Verse 61, “He delivered His strength into captivity and His glory” – What is His glory? His people – “into the enemy’s hand. He gave His people over also to the sword and was angry with His inheritance. And the fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given in marriage. Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation. Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep and like a mighty man who shouted by reason of wine and He smote His enemies in the hinder parts; He put them to a perpetual reproach.” And there you get into the fact that even though they had gone into captivity, God woke up and brought them back. Great Psalm, a great Psalm.

Listen. Nebuchadnezzar came in 586. He actually arrived in 588, two years before the captivity. And he started his siege. By this time, the people are so sick of hearing Jeremiah, they threw him in a slimy, filthy cistern pit to die. That’s his thanks for preaching the truth. And he’s languishing in a foul slimy cistern left to die. Finally, they decide to release him and in 588 Nebuchadnezzar came. And Werner Keller writes this, “The Chaldean divisions of infantry, fast calvary and charioteers smashed all resistance and conquered city after city sweeping across Judah. Except for the capital of Jerusalem and the frontier fortresses of Lachish and Azekah in the south, the whole land was finally subdued. Azekah fell and then they went for Lachish.”

And Werner Keller says this, “In 701 B.C. the stormed troops of the king of Assyria had rushed the walls of Lachish with tanks.” This is Sennacherib in the past. One hundred and forty years before, he had rushed with tanks. And tanks were – were sort of war machines like chariots with big wheels and had battering rams. They didn’t shoot anything, they just drove pillar – or pylons right into the walls. But Nebuchadnezzar had a better idea in 588. “Investigation of the stratum,” says Keller, “that marked the Babylonian work of destruction produced to Starkey’s astonishment,” – and Starkey is an archaeologist – “ashes.”

In other words, as they studied the archeology around there they discussed the fact that – that when they got to the level of Jerusalem when it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar they found ashes everywhere. “Ashes,” says Keller, “in incredible quantities. Many of the – of the layers of ashes are yards thick. And still, it says after 2500 years higher than the remains of the walls are the piles of ashes.” We know from archeology that Nebuchadnezzar’s engineers were specialists in the art of incendiarism. In other words, they were great at setting fires. They were masters at starting great conflagrations and burning whole cities to the ground.

Whatever wood they could lay hands on they dragged to the spot. They stripped all the area around Lachish of all of its timber. They piled high the firewood as high as a house outside the walls. They just piled firewood all the way around the city. They hacked down all the olive orchards. And they know that because the ashes they have found have masses of charred olive pits. Day and night, sheets of flames just continued to leap sky-high and a ring of fire around the city continually, continually, continually.

They piled on more and more wood, more and more wood until what happened was the wall became white hot, the stones of the wall were blistering hot and they literally burst, and the wall of protection around Lachish crumbled. And all that was left for Nebuchadnezzar was Jerusalem. And they took the whole Babylonian war machine and they directed it at the city of Jerusalem. They couldn’t use incendiary technique there because the – the forests that used to ring Jerusalem were now denuded by past conquerors. And so they just laid siege. Second Kings 25 says the city was besieged under the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

A couple of verses later in 2 Kings 25, it says, “And the city was broken up and all the men of war fled by night.” You know you’re in trouble when the army goes out the back door, and that’s what happened. They took Zedekiah, the last king, and they did what was customary to do in those days to those who committed treason. They took a hot sword and they burned out both his eyes. But before they did that, they lined up all of Zedekiah’s children and they slaughtered them and instantly after that burned out his eyes so the last image he would ever remember would be the slaughter of his children. That was their way of punishing treason.

By the way, I had – in looking Werner Keller’s book, The Bible As History, this week, they had a picture of a relief found on a wall in archeological diggings of that very thing going on. A king kneeling on the ground and a sword being pushed into his eyes. They also showed people with rings in their lips because the prophets had said that they would take them into captivity by hooks. And one of the ways they humiliated and dragged prisoners away was by putting rings in their lips and tying them to ropes and pulling them along by their lips.

The land then became a Babylonian province. They put a puppet ruler in there by the name of Gedaliah who didn’t last very long because some pro-Judah renegades who had hidden out in the hills came down and slaughtered him. A group of Jews trying to escape from all of the hassles ran to Egypt and they dragged Jeremiah with them and dear old – bless his heart – Jeremiah died alone in Egypt. And the curtain of history came down on an empty, barren devastated land and now, all of the people of Israel were scattered the four winds.

Werner Keller says, “Six hundred and fifty years after the children of Israel had under Joshua set foot on the promised land there was not one of their descendants still in it.” Six hundred and fifty years later they were all gone. The prophetic threats and warnings had been fulfilled, the judgment of God which had been proclaimed had come on them. Jeremiah said, “Behold, saith the Lord, I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant,” Jeremiah 34:22. And the story of the children of Israel is at an end and the story of the Jews begins.

Now our scene shifts to Babylon because there’s nothing left to look at in Judah. What’s it like in Babylon? Imagine you were dragged off and you’re there. What was their attitude? Turn to Psalm 137 and let’s hear a Psalm that expresses their emotion. Psalm 137, this is the – the cry of their hearts in Babylon. Psalm 137, listen. And you have to imagine this in Hebrew because it’s in poem form, poetic form and no doubt was chanted in a very mournful dirge-like manner. “By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, yea we wept when we remembered Zion.”

Zion was their favorite name for their land. “We hung our harps on the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” They hung their harps on the willows. There was no song to sing.

And then they cried out, “O if I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”

You want to hear their attitude? “O God, may we never forget our home and, God, may You bring judgment on the people who have done this to us.” That’s what was coming right out of their hearts. They were brokenhearted. You want to know something? They never got the message from history, and they never got the message from prophecy, and they never got the message from revival but, boy, did they get the message in captivity.

“God, if we ever forget Jerusalem.” What do you mean by that? Not just the geography, not just the aesthetics, but all that the worship of Jehovah means in the city of our God. If we ever forget where we belong may my – may my right hand forget its cunning. And so the Word of the Lord had come to pass which said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”

You know, you may think that you can live the way you want to live and God will just kinda pass it by. And maybe you’ve seen what’s happened in history and how other people have gone. And you’ve looked at the cycle of decadence and maybe you’re doing some of the same –same things that others have done, but you don’t think it will come your way. You don’t think maybe that living the kind of life you live is going to bring the things it’s brought to others and maybe you’ll break the path of cycles in history.

And maybe you’ve heard the prophets and you’ve listened to the preachers of the gospel and you’ve decided that maybe that’s not for you. Maybe you’ve even seen revival, you’ve seen people’s lives changed and you’ve seen – seen people fall in love with Christ and their whole destiny, time and eternity is immediately transformed and you just kind of shove all that aside. Well, inevitably, inexorably and finally will judgment come. That’s the way it is.

A weekly newspaper in the Middle West once printed the letter of an atheist who in order to disprove the beliefs of his Christian neighbors had devoted a certain portion of his land to corn. And he decided to do every bit of work on that section on Sunday just to show you could violate the Lord’s day and you could still grow good corn. And now, he wrote in this article in the paper, “I find that in September I have more bushels of corn per acre on that part of my land worked exclusively on Sunday than my neighbors have on their land which they didn’t work on Sunday. Doesn’t that prove there’s no God?” The editor had an interesting answer. He said, “No, it doesn’t prove there’s no God, it simply proves that God doesn’t always settle His accounts in September.”

Will you look with me for a moment at Daniel chapter 1 again? And just a note, verse 2, “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.” Because Nebuchadnezzar could never have done it if God hadn’t raised that nation up as the rod of His anger. And when Nebuchadnezzar went in the first captivity in 605, this one in which Daniel speaks, “he took with him part of the vessels of the house of God and he took them to the land of Shinar” – which is the ancient name of Babylonia – “to the house of his god,” – who was, I’m sure, the god known as Marduk.

It’s very hard when you study pagan idolatry to keep gods clear because they often interchange their names, their personalities, their sexes and everything and there’s so many different names. But Marduk seems to be the major god of this time of Babylonian history and the one to which Nebuchadnezzar would worship.

And so he takes the vessels of the house of God. That would be the lovely things that Solomon had put there for all of the articles of worship and the – and all of these beautiful treasures he took to the house of his god. Why? Because it was a tremendous thing when you conquered a nation to go in and loot the house of their God. And if you came back alive, your people were convinced that your god had overpowered their god. And so it was a great sign of security and confidence. And so a conqueror would want to bring back the artifacts of worship from another country to show the impotence of that god to defend his people and even to keep them from stealing from his own treasure house. And so they went into captivity.

But listen. As Lance Morrow said in his article in Time magazine, “There’s only one nation in history that ever rose from their own ashes and that’s this nation and they’ll be back.” And one of the reasons they’ll be back among others is because of a man named Daniel, God’s man for a very special time. And that brings me to the fourth point, and I’m going to touch it very briefly ‘cause we’ll see it in the book: the places, the period, the punishment and the person.

Notice you don’t even see his name in the first two verses, not at all. His name doesn’t appear until verse 6. “Among these were the children of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.” And those three guys got their names changed to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Babylonian names. But you meet Daniel. God always has His man, doesn’t He? Daniel was born in 625 B.C. about. He was born, by the way, at the very year of the birth of a Neo-Babylonian Empire. He was a child of royalty, of kingly nobility. He was a man of tremendous capability and talent and character.

Apparently, the revival under Josiah really touched his life. And though the revival under Josiah didn’t do a lot for the country, it did a lot for him, a lot for him. He was committed to loving and obeying God and that dear man right on through the whole captivity, right on through the fullness of the seventy years – and by the way, he even went past the captivity a few years into the reign of the Mede king Darius. So he was way up there in years. Through that whole time he never defected, he never compromised, he never took a step out of the will of God. He stood for truth and honorable character in accord with the standards of his God. He becomes for us a tremendous example.

Eight years later, when the second little group went into captivity in 597, they had a pretty nice young fellow with them. His name was Ezekiel, and Ezekiel was a priest, a young priest. He also had superior gifts. And no doubt, people like Daniel and Ezekiel were chosen because they stood out in their society and the Babylonians were smart enough to go after them.

And the reason I bring Ezekiel up is this. You know it’s easy to look backwards and say, “Oh, So-and-so was so great, I remember the greats of the past. Where are the great men? They’re all dead, you know.” And we don’t like to assign anybody greatness in our day, right? We like all the great people to be dead, in the past. But when Ezekiel wrote the book of Ezekiel, three times he mentioned Daniel. And when he mentioned Daniel, he mentioned the fact that if there were three righteous men, Noah – no. Yes, Noah, Daniel and Job.

Now I want you to know something. When somebody puts a contemporary in that category, he must be something to write about. And so it was with Daniel. By the way, when Ezekiel wrote, Daniel would have been about 50 years old. And Ezekiel says he’s one of the godliest men that ever lived and Ezekiel says in chapter 28, he’s one of the wisest men that ever graced the earth. Oh, he was some man. And the character of his life is literally overwhelming.

The Bible tells us he was a man of tremendous courage, tremendous courage. He was a man of fearless spiritual commitment. He was a man who could never be bought with money and never be corrupted with power. He was a man who prayed constantly. He was a man who was loved by God and everybody who knew him. He was a man of confidence. He was a man of hope. And, believe me, he was a man for a crisis if ever there was a man. God, help us to have some Daniels in our day.

In Daniel 6 verse 4, “Then the presidents and the princes in Babylon sought to find occasion against Daniel.” They wanted to find something against him. “But they could find no occasion nor fault, for as much as he was faithful neither was there any error or fault found in him. And they said, ‘We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.’” The only thing bad about this guy is he never violates the law of his God. What a man.

They had scrutinized his life for years and years and years and years and never found anything. Now that’s man the way God wants man to be, a man for a crisis. Born to rule, he became a servant of a pagan king. He was made a eunuch in the court of Babylon, a dry tree with no hope for posterity, yet he was God’s man in a pagan world. He set an example of virtue and godliness that maybe doesn’t have an equal.

So we see the places, the period, the punishment and the person, and, lastly, and very quickly, the purpose. Why did God take Israel to captivity? Why did God raise up Babylon? Just going to give you some quick ones, so listen. Number one, to manifest His sovereignty. If the book of Daniel teaches you anything, it will teach you who is running human history. I mean, you’re going to get that loud and clear. God raises up the Assyrians and puts them down. God raises up the Babylonians and puts them down. God raises up Nebuchadnezzar and puts him down. God raises up Cyrus and has him do what He wants. God literally controls human history.

God called Nebuchadnezzar “My servant.” What a statement. And that’s the same word, ebed, in the Hebrew that’s used of David in the Psalms. And in Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 52, it is used of the Messiah. He is as much the servant of God as anyone. Why? Because he does God’s bidding even though it be unwilling and he thinks himself independent. In Jeremiah 27, God says Nebuchadnezzar was placed in power by Me. And the one great lesson you’re going to see in Daniel is that God runs human history. And you’re going to see it not only then, but you’re going to see the plan for history until the very end of history as Daniel lays out the future.

There’s a second great lesson here and that is there are terrible results to rejecting God. You’re going to see that, too. Whether a nation or an individual, when God warns and warns and warns and offers gracious forgiveness and men reject, there is a terrible judgment. Rudyard Kipling even saw that when he wrote, “Far called our navies melt away on dune and headland sinks the fire, lo, all our pomp of yesterday is one with Nineveh and Tyre. Judge of the nations, spare us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget.” How easy for men to forget that God has judged in the past and will judge again.

Thirdly, the captivity was not only to teach the sovereignty of God and the results of rejecting Him, but to purge His people. You know, there were five good things that came out of the captivity. I’m just excited to give you these and then I’m going to quit.

First, you know Israel was never again idolatrous? Do you know that since the time they came back from captivity Israel has never been idolatrous? It is absolutely unthinkable, heinous, horrifying to imagine a Jew in our society, even today, who worshiped an idol. They wouldn’t do it. Why in the day of Jesus when Pilate came into town with flags with pictures of Caesar on them, they threatened to take his life. Idolatry was once and for all rooted out of Israel in the captivity.

Secondly, the synagogues were born. When they didn’t have a temple, communities of believers grew up, the faithful, the saints. And they became the model for the church that meets in communities of believers today. Thirdly, it was in the captivity that the Old Testament Scripture was brought together and canonized by men like Ezra. So, you see, in the captivity idolatry was ended, community of believers was established, the canon of Scripture was formed. Fourthly, a remnant returned to reestablish the country and out of that remnant came the seed Messiah.

And finally, because they were dispersed everywhere, they carried the message of God to heathen lands. Daniel preached in Babylon. And one day, a child was born in Bethlehem. And some Magi came from the east, from Babylon. They came to find that baby. You know why? I believe because they knew that was the King of kings because it had been so said by a great man in their history by the name of Daniel.

What did the captivity do then? It purged the people by taking out of them idolatry, by giving birth to the synagogue, by forming the canon of Scripture, by creating a faithful, godly remnant to come back, through whom the seed of the Messiah would come and by carrying the knowledge of God to heathen lands. And so we see in this marvelous book so many great lessons, so many great truths. It’s my prayer that Daniel will speak to you, to me in a way that will change our lives. Let’s bow together in prayer.

Father, we know You need people to stand in this corrupt day and set a righteous standard. We know You need people to speak to a condemned world, a chastened world. We know we stand on the edge of stark tragedy. Father, we know it’s hard to confront an evil age to preserve a godly seed, so help us to see Daniel as an example for us. As we go through this book, change us, Lord, help us to be more like Daniel was that we might be Your man in the midst of a crisis time. Your woman, Your young person, just the one You need for the hour and the place where You’ve put us. For the privilege of serving You, we thank You even as Daniel did. In Christ’s name. Amen.

今晚，我们再次来到但以理书。我急于在今晚完成我们的介绍，这样我们就可以期待进入这本书。“犹大王约雅敬在位第三年，巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒来到耶路撒冷，围困了耶路撒冷。- 耶和华将犹大王约雅敬和神殿的一部分器皿都交在手里，带到示拿地，到他神的殿里。他把器皿带到他神的宝库里。

人类在其历史上面临着不可避免的罪恶过程，那就是社会腐朽的不断循环。我们都知道这一点，它从秋天开始就一直在发生。腐败的循环埋葬了一个又一个国家，而新的国家从废墟中崛起，成为下一个周期的废墟。像阿诺德·汤因比 （Arnold Toynbee） 和伊本·赫勒敦 （Ibn Khaldun） 这样的历史学家，意大利人维科 （Vico） 为我们提供了大量关于历史周期的信息，一个又一个国家和一个国家的兴衰。

这是人类社会的必然。我真的相信，我们在自己的国家看到的许多方面都导致了毁灭的腐朽和腐败。你不得不说，回顾美国的历史，我们已经达到了顶峰，我们正在走向每个遵循颓废周期的社会都会发生的不可避免的瓦砾。大约三周前，在9月10日的《时代》杂志上，兰斯·莫罗（Lance Morrow）写了一篇关于美国颓废的社论。我想从那篇社论中得出一些想法，因为它非常直截了当地说明了这个问题。

听他开始写作时说什么。“在一定程度上，正是西方颓废的奇观激起了阿亚图拉霍梅尼对《古兰经》处方的狂欢。酒精、音乐、跳舞、混浴都因伊朗革命而受到限制。如果伊朗驱逐了它的君主，让自己接受了一种甚至需要埋葬它的啤酒瓶的净化，那么按照什么逻辑，什么样的惩罚和什么样的净化对美国来说就足够了呢？居住在一些美国人良心中的阿亚图拉肯定不仅要犁在啤酒瓶下，还要在美国社会本身的很大一部分下犁地。

美国人面临着莫罗所说的“身体暴力和精神上的轻率，这让他们怀疑整个社会是否正处于陡峭和末端的下降趋势中”。现在，他从拉丁语 decadere 中定义了 decaden，即跌倒或离开，因此意味着衰败。他认为这种颓废与死亡有关。事实上，他称之为最终的颓废。他认为颓废是一系列症状的集合，可能表明一个社会在退化到白矮星阶段时筋疲力尽，像星星一样坍塌。

现在，颓废不仅仅是在莫罗的定义和历史的定义中腐败。颓废就是极度腐败。如果美国是颓废的，那么这种颓废中就有终端因素。换句话说，它把注意力集中在死亡上。我们国家有一些可怕的颓废症状。这是毫无疑问的。我们的音乐、我们的娱乐、我们的疯狂享乐、我们令人难以置信的物质主义、我们的自我放纵、我们狂野的经济，都说明了一个颓废的社会。

在文章中，莫罗指出，我们可能会看到一些迹象是我们颓废的迹象。例如，科罗拉多州阿斯彭的粉丝俱乐部在两个夏天前成立，以纪念杀人犯泰德·邦迪 （Ted Bundy），其中 T 恤上写着“泰德·邦迪是”。或者摄影师赫尔穆特·牛顿 （Helmut Newton） 的作品，他喜欢出售高级时装，上面有女性冒充杀手和受害者或被施虐受虐用具束缚的耸人听闻的照片。他的一个镜头显示一个女人的头被强行塞进马桶里。

他进一步谈到了其他事情，例如维也纳艺术家鲁道夫·施瓦茨科勒 （Rudolf Schwarzkogler），他决定通过一寸一寸地截肢自己的生殖能力来做出现代主义的艺术声明，而摄影师则记录了这个过程并将其制作成艺术品。名单上不得不提到滚石乐队（Rolling Stones）的成员基思·理查兹（Keith Richards），据称，为了通过血液检查进入美国参加音乐会，他让医生吸干了他所有受海洛因污染的血液，用更稳重的公民的输血取而代之。

纽约和旧金山的一些虐恋和同性恋酒吧会向我们表明惊人的颓废程度。在一个不太专业的领域，像《Bad Girls》和《I Want to be sedated》这样的迪斯科和朋克歌曲有一种颓废的感觉。事实上，Morrow 说，整个迪斯科现象都有某种令人厌恶的光芒。有些人可能会列出蒂芙尼 2,950.00 美元的金锭手表或一双 1,000.00 美元的小牛皮和金鞋或 1,900.00 美元的狗项圈，您可以在伦敦的哈罗德百货公司买到，或者 Zsa Gabor 的 150,000.00 美元劳斯莱斯，带有皮革天鹅绒豹内饰。事情就这样发生了。

莫罗说，社会让孩子吃垃圾食品养肥，然后允许他们被征召参加色情电影。该国又细分为十几种毒品文化，酒精文化、可卡因文化、海洛因文化、安定文化、安非他明文化及其组合。合法堕胎和普遍的避孕习俗表明，一个社会对未来如此敏感，以至于它已经失去了延续自己的意愿。英国基督教作家马尔科姆·马格里奇 （Malcolm Muggeridge） 说：“让历史学家嘲笑我们的是我们如何用自由和人文主义来表达我们的颓废。西方社会，“他说，”在很大程度上遭受着一种无意识的集体死亡愿望。

现在，在这一切中，他所说的是，我们是颓废的，我们的颓废已经将死亡的愿望融入其中。这是一种绝症。国家通常不会从中恢复过来。事实上，历史的循环是赤裸裸的重复。我很着迷地阅读莫罗的文章，注意到当他讨论腐败国家的循环时，他只有一个国家作为打破循环的例子，只有一个国家真正从自己的灰烬中崛起。奇怪的是，他说那是以色列的国家，以色列。

神的子民以色列，走向衰败、毁灭和死亡。然而，由于他们 上帝的盟约，他们从自己的灰烬中复活，甚至在今天还活着。以色列是如何打破这个循环的？以色列人是如何克服腐败的呢？他们是怎么变得如此颓废的，而他们却一直信赖圣经，神的话语呢？以色列的故事是什么？它是怎么倒塌的？它是如何修复的？嗯，坦率地说，这个故事是 Daniel 生活的重要组成部分。但以理在以色列毁灭的时候成为上帝的工具。而但以理，在非常真实的意义上，成为以色列再次崛起的工具之一。

当我们今晚看但以理书时，我希望我们从垂死的人民的衰败的角度来看待它，尤其是南方的犹大国。犹大在但以理的时代已经被摧毁了，与其说是被外在的敌人摧毁，不如说是他们最终进行了扫荡行动，但主要是因为内部的腐败。犹大变得富裕和物质主义。犹大崇拜假神。犹大的宗教是外在的，而不是内在的。犹大有一个说谎的国度，他们不知道也不说真话。Judah 觉得他们周围的每个人都欠他们一些东西。Judah 开始相信非法联盟和不断增长的技术。

他们的政治和宗教领袖普遍存在叛教。他们拉下面具蒙住眼睛，说没有和平就有，试图自欺欺人地认为一切都很好，但实际上并非如此。上帝在可怕的审判中席卷而来，这个国家被巴比伦人俘虏了。那时，但以理，上帝的人，面临危机的时候。

现在，当你看前两节经文时，我们要看五点。我们已经介绍了两个，今晚我们将再介绍三个：地点、时期、人物、惩罚和目的。这五个重叠 – 交织和重叠，因此我们会在进行过程中交换我们的思想。我希望你注意到犹大国的悲剧性颓废导致他们被掳，以及但以理如何融入那幅图景。你会在前进的过程中看到它。

现在，请注意在第1节中提到了我们上次看到的两个地方。有犹大王和巴比伦王。犹大和巴比伦确实提供了我们开始但以理书的情景。我们逐一讨论了。犹大是上帝的地方，巴比伦是魔鬼的地方。我们会认为他们几乎没有共同点。犹大是耶路撒冷所在的地方，是上帝的城。巴比伦是巴比伦城的地方，巴别塔是所有伪宗教真正开始的地方。因此，你有真正的宗教与伪宗教的对立，上帝与撒旦的对立。这两件事有什么共同点呢？上帝兴起巴比伦，使巴比伦成为他在以色列的子民的管教机构。

我们还看到了上次的时期。请看第1节，“约雅敬作王第三年。我们对此进行了非常详细的讨论，因此我们不会再次讨论。“犹大王约雅敬在位第三年。”现在，这个特殊的年份是 605 年，第一批来自犹大的人被带到巴比伦被俘虏。在第一批人中，有一个名叫但以理的人。就这样，就在这一年，约雅敬的第三年。他有一年在巴比伦的术语中称为登基年，还有三年。他实际上已经在位四年了。605 年，他带着第一批俘虏从犹大到巴比伦。

现在我们提到约雅敬是一个邪恶的国王。约雅敬带领以色列民走上了一条灾难的道路。在他统治期间，第一批人被掳，对犹大的惩罚真正开始了。现在你记住了这一点，在备份中。曾经，这个王国在扫罗、大卫和所罗门的统治下联合起来。但所罗门在他生命的最后阶段失去了对一切的控制，结果，在所罗门之后，王国分裂了。十个支派向北，两个支派向南。你有北国，被称为以色列，其首都是撒马利亚，你有南国，被称为犹大，其首都是耶路撒冷。他们不仅分裂，而且彼此好战。

以色列似乎衰败得更快。事实上，在北国的整个历史上，从来没有一个好国王，所以他们的滑坡很快。到了 722 年，撒玛利亚被亚述人击溃，北国被卷入俘虏，只剩下南国留下来。第一次打击发生在公元前605年，第二次打击发生在公元前597年，到了主前586年，列王纪下25章所描述的第三次也是最后一次毁灭性的打击发生了。耶路撒冷被毁了。数以万计、数十万的犹太人被卷走掳掠，该国变成了巴比伦的一个省。

现在，在 586 年最后一次堕落之前，也就是 19 年前的 605 年，但以理被俘虏了。在约雅敬统治时期的第一次被掳中，显然巴比伦人想从中挑选出精华，一些年轻人，他们可以在政府的培训计划中使用。他们想挑选最优秀的人来培养他们，训练他们在自己的国家有用。因此，当大多数人被囚禁 586 年时，丹尼尔已经在那里生活了 19 年。

他已经受过良好的训练，在巴比伦人中已经上升到一个显赫的地位，所以犹太人在宫殿里有他们的人，他成为上帝要对以色列人、犹大人、在他们被掳和未来做什么的关键人物。所以，上次我们介绍了这些地方和时期，那只是一个评论。

让我们第三次来看惩罚，惩罚。当然，囚禁是一种惩罚。上帝是一位大恩典的上帝，但最终，他的恩典会顺其自然，当人们在他们的立场上采取非常坚定的立场时——在他们反对上帝的立场上，他会以审判、管教和惩罚来行动。这就是我们在这里看到的。犹大离弃了 神的律法。其实，事情已经发展得如此之远，以致 神晓得不会有任何回头路。他们坚决违背上帝。他们背弃了上帝。

所以以赛亚书 24：1 说：“看哪，耶和华使大地空虚，荒凉，颠倒过来，使其中的居民分散，百姓要怎样，祭司也要怎样;仆人怎样，他的主人也是如此;就像女仆一样;对买方也是如此;贷款人也是如此;对利益的接受者也是如此。换句话说，上帝要来审判，没有人能影响这一点。换句话说，没有人会逃脱。

「那地必全然掏空，全然被掳掠，因为耶和华说了这话。大地悲哀而逝，世界萎靡不振，渐渐消逝，地上傲慢的人们也消逝。大地在居民的统治下被玷污了;因为他们违背了律法，改变了条例，违背了永远的约。所以咒诅吞噬了大地，住在其中的人荒凉了，所以地上的居民都被烧了，剩下的人少了。

你在那里拥有的是一场迷你世界末日。你尝过巴比伦被掳的苦难。上帝对先知以赛亚说，他要来，他要使那地方变成空旷的地方，一个萎靡不振的地方，因为他们违背了上帝的律法，违背了圣约和诫命。当然，他们忽略了安息日。他们忽视了安息日，他们忽视了安息年。我一直感兴趣的是，巴比伦的囚禁长达七十年。我相信这是七十周年的原因之一是因为那是安息日的数字，我认为上帝正在审判他们从未赐给他的安息日。

他们从事了严重的偶像崇拜。即使他们一再被警告其后果，他们还是背弃了上帝，崇拜偶像。耶利米书 7：24 说：“他们不听，也不侧耳而听，只行他们邪恶之心的谋略和想象。他们是倒退的，而不是前进的。他们退回到偶像崇拜中。「他们不听从我，也不侧耳而听，反而硬着颈项，行的事比他们列祖更坏。

结果会是什么呢？耶利米书8章说：「他们要把犹大诸王的骸骨、他首领的骸骨、祭司的骸骨、先知的骸骨和耶路撒冷居民的骸骨，从坟墓里出来，摊在日前。 月亮和天上的万象，就是他们所爱的、事奉的、所行的、所寻找的、所敬拜的，只是不能被聚集，也不能被埋葬。他们必成为地球上的垃圾。万军之主说，这个邪恶家族的所有残余者将选择死亡而不是生命，他们留在我驱赶他们到的所有地方。

他们已经进入了各种异教的偶像崇拜中，神说我要在严厉的审判中除掉他们。现在听着。上帝说犹大将要受到审判。他在审判北方的以色列之后等待了一百多年。但犹大在绝望的颓废循环中进展得稍微慢一些。但他们在 586 年就在那里，这就是结束。但是，请允许我赶紧补充一点，以免你误解上帝和他的本性。在审判降临之前，上帝总是警告。上帝总是警告。事情总是这样。这个世界上永远不会有出乎意料或未宣布的神圣审判。上帝总是警告。

在约拿书第 3 章第 5 节中，“尼尼微人就信了神，宣布禁食，从他们中最大的到最小的都披上麻衣。因为消息传到尼尼微王那里，他就从宝座上起来，脱下袍子，用麻布遮盖自己，坐在灰烬中。- 他奉王和他臣贵胄的谕旨，在尼尼微传道，说，人、牲畜、牛群、羊群，都不可尝什么滋味，不可吃，也不要喝水，人和牲畜都要披上麻布，喊叫——布。并向上帝大声呼喊：是的，让他们让每个人都偏离他的恶道和他们手中的。

“谁能说 神会不会回转悔改，转离他的烈怒，使我们不至于灭亡呢？”神看见他们的行为，就转离了恶道。神为他所说的他要待他们的恶悔改;他没有这样做。神说我要惩罚尼尼微。在我这样做之前，我要派一位先知。现在他很难让先知去那里。他骑着一条长鱼走了一小段路，但最终他转向了正确的方向。当他到了尼尼微，传了警告的时候，全城都悔改了。

神总是给悔改的时间。在历代志中，他对自己的子民说：“如果我的子民被称为我的名，若自卑，寻求我的面，转离他们的恶行，我必听他们，医治他们。上帝总是热切地回应。以西结两次说，神不喜欢恶人的死亡。但是北方的以色列永远不会悔改，南方的犹大永远不会悔改，即使警告很多。

现在，让我给你一个想法。如果你当时生活在犹大，在一个腐朽、堕落、腐败、迅速走向死亡的社会中，这些就是你会看到的警告。第一，北境之灾。南方的人们能够看到北方发生的事情。他们能看到。这本应是对他们的巨大警告。例如，他们在北方参与了耶罗波安一世统治下的严重偶像崇拜。他们曾经——明白了——实际上竖立了对金牛犊的崇拜，回到了荒野流浪的时代。

他们在北边的伯特利和但安了金牛犊。伯特利的意思是 “上帝的家”。因此，在北方王国的两端，他们建立了对金牛犊的崇拜，这成为国家的耻辱。他们不听先知的话。他们在北方有两位奇妙的先知，一位名叫阿摩司，一位名叫何西阿，他们不肯听。因此，上帝停止说话，上帝兴起了无情的亚述人，在以赛亚书 10：5 中，上帝说亚述人是“我愤怒的杖，我愤怒的杖”。换句话说，他使用亚述人作为他的武器来惩罚以色列人。

这是怎么发生的？他们住在北方王国。在历史上的那个时候，大约在公元前 750 年左右，亚述人统治着世界的那一部分，巴比伦尼亚只是亚述的一个小国家。亚述人是一群无情、无情、野蛮的人，杀手。他们统治了，他们的首都是尼尼微。他们有一位名叫提革拉毗列色的统治者。你可以把他的名字拼写成 P-U-L。这是另一个渲染，Pul。

他搬进来——根据列王纪下15章，他搬进来，这是亚述干预的第一波。他搬到以色列，对他们征收重税。这真的是恐吓。他说，“你付税给我，否则我就向你宣战。谨慎是勇气的更好部分，他们决定纳税。但这使他们处于亚述的统治之下。

在普尔或提革拉毗列色之后，出现了另一个你可能记得的名字，撒缦以色四世。听起来像蜥蜴，但不是。撒缦以色 IV.现在，他更直接地介入，不仅仅是税收，他还攻击了以色列的首都，即撒玛利亚城。然后他开始了进攻，进攻由跟随他的人完成，他的名字是萨尔贡二世，S-A-R-G-O-N，中东历史上一个非常有名的名字。生活在 722 年至 705 年的萨尔贡二世实际上将撒马利亚摧毁了，他带走了所有的人。这就是十个部落。

人们想知道，他们说，“嗯，这是什么意思”——你总是会听到这句话，十个失落的部落——“这是否意味着我们将永远无法再次找到那些部落的人？好吧，我们会的——我们永远不知道他们去了哪里。没有关于这十个部落去向的历史资料。他们被融合，他们通婚，他们永远地与世界那个地区的人们混合在一起。

但正如 上帝所希望的，在分裂之后和撒玛利亚陷落之前的时期，在那段时间里，北方的十个支派中有许多搬到南方去，以致南方的两个支派就散布着北方十个支派的人。因此，在某种意义上，犹大确实成为所有十二个支派的代表，因此在以色列的历史中，所有十二个支派仍然被保存下来。这非常重要，因为在大患难中，启示录7章说，“在末了的时候， 上帝要从以色列各支派中挑选一万二千人，在世上作见证。

就这些人的历史身份而言，这十个失落的支派已经消失了，但足够多的支派向南过滤，以便上帝可以为未来保留每一个支派。但其余的俘虏再也没有回来。他们迷路了。以色列人犯了罪，错过了它的恩典日。以色列民已经把自己带到一个可怕的审判地步。事实上，何西阿说得好，他说，「以法莲」，那是他对北国的称呼。“以法莲与他的偶像联合了”，然后是这些可怕的话语，“由他吧。让他走吧，走得太远了。

你知道发生了什么吗？亚述人接管北方王国后，他们感受到了他们的燕麦，他们开始关注南方王国。现在，南方王国有很多东西可以提供。那是一片美妙的土地。请记住，那是应许之地，富饶、肥沃、美丽、多产。所以 Sargon 有点想到，他们应该趁他们这样做的时候，就去拿南边。

嗯，撒珥贡在向犹大进军的战斗中死去。但他被他的儿子取代了，他的儿子在中东历史上是一个非常有名的名字。他的名字是西拿基立，西拿基立。西拿基立将入侵带到了犹大。现在得到这个。这大约是 700 人左右。这是他们真正被囚禁的一百年前，上帝已经通过让他们亲眼看看被某个大国接管是什么感觉来警告他们。他们站在那里，看着北境王国被遗忘。现在西拿基立确实入侵了犹大，对犹大施加了恶习。

真的只有一件事把犹大从西拿基立手中拯救出来，你知道那是什么吗？在坏国王的行列中，出现了一个好国王。他的名字叫希西家，希西家。你知道在希西家的时代，也有一位好先知。他的名字叫以赛亚。希西家的美好生活，希西家的眼泪和祈祷，以及以赛亚为犹大向上帝呼求的一生，都触动了上帝的心，在恩典中饶恕了那个国家。而你 – 你必须 – 你必须记住这个故事。亚述人正在行动要摧毁犹大。他们祈祷，神回应，神差遣了 – 得到这个 – 一位天使。你还记得吗？一个天使，他一枪屠杀了 185,000 名亚述人。哇！那些天使很了不起，185,000 亚述人和犹大幸免于难。上帝是仁慈的。

但你知道什么吗？考古学家告诉我们，即使在那段时期，犹大虽然得以幸免，但在西拿基立的统治下，至少有20万犹大人被亚述掳去。因此，他们很好地尝到了将要来的审判的滋味，不仅从他们在北方看到的，而且从他们自己实际经历的。他们看到数以万计的人被赶出家门，被驱逐到异国他乡。维尔纳·凯勒（Werner Keller）在他的著作《作为历史的圣经》（The Bible As History）中说：“肥沃的新月被犁开了，那里的人们被翻来覆去。不同的种族和宗教宗教并存，结果却是一团糟。到目前为止，所有对在那里安家的十个部落的调查都一无所获。

你说，“孩子，我敢打赌犹大吸取了教训。不。希西家有一个儿子，希西家的儿子名叫玛拿西，玛拿西是一个卑鄙、可怜、拜偶像、贪图、自我中心、邪恶的国王，他使犹大直接陷入拜偶像罪的深渊中。所以你知道发生了什么吗？神说，“让我再警告你一次。西拿基立之后是另一位名叫以撒哈顿的亚述统治者。以撒哈顿搬进来，以战争的威胁强迫玛拿西向他纳税。

Esarhaddon 之后是另一个人，我们上周提到了他的名字，Ashurbanipal。他把玛拿西掳去，用锁链把他缠起来，带走了。与此同时，上帝一直在说，“人们，如果你们不悔改自己的罪，事情就会变成这样。嗯，你知道什么吗？当玛拿西在悲伤和被掳中被锁链拖走，在这片没有国王的地方时，玛拿西在神面前心里是正确的。他跪下来，转向上帝，他悔改了。他向上帝伸出援手，上帝把他抱起来，把他恢复过来，他让亚述人把他带回来，把他放在自己的宝座上。上帝又一次仁慈了。也许玛拿西终于学到了，也许这个国家会好起来。

你知道什么吗？他们从来没有这样做过。在玛拿西之后，再次陷入最终的遗忘。还有第二类警告。不仅是北方的沦陷和亚述人的强大存在，还有先知的传道。在这颓废的时期，神有祂的传道人。你知道，在非常真实的意义上，我在美国对许多 神人有同样的感觉，他们在这个邪恶的日子里站起来说，“我们不能继续这样生活，逃避 神的审判。我们不能再问心无愧地歌颂美国是一个敬虔的人民的国家。就是做不到。我们必须反对这世代，不是代表他们，而是像先知一样反对他们。

在那些年里，他们有一些伟大的先知。有以赛亚，然后是弥迦，然后是那鸿，后来是西番雅。在他之后，有耶利米，然后是哈巴谷，所有这些 上帝的伟大先知都倾诉他们的心声，以人们做梦也想不到的方式，以无限的审判信息呼喊。他们有一些很好的例证，但他们是如此被自己的罪所俘虏，以至于他们从未真正听到过这个信息。

以赛亚在第 6 章中说：“主啊，我在这里，请差遣我。差遣我去告诉这群人，差遣我去宣讲这群人 ── 去向这群人宣道。他做到了，用他的一生来做这件事。他对主说：“你希望我传道多久？他说，“你只要继续传道，直到城市荒废而无人，直到房屋无人，地完全荒凉，耶和华将人远远地赶走，在那地中有一个大的遗弃者。只要继续讲道，直到整个事情崩溃。先知们是忠心的，但人们从来没有真正听进去。他们从未真正听到过这个信息。他们如此沉浸在自己的罪恶中，如此自鸣得意。

我想到一节经文，我想是以赛亚书39章，“以赛亚对希西家说：'你要听万军之耶和华的话，看哪，你家里的一切和你祖先所积蓄到今日的日子将到。'”——请听以赛亚在事情发生前100年所说的话——“'必被带到巴比伦去， '耶和华说，'你所生的儿子们，必从你那里生出来，他们必夺去，成为巴比伦王宫殿里的太监。你是说我们最优秀的年轻人，那些出身贵族的人会成为太监，为了巴比伦的统治者而被阉割吗？

这个预言在但以理本人的生活中应验了，他成为巴比伦宫廷中的太监，因为人们从未听过先知的话。他们从来没有从历史中学习，也从来没有听过预言。我想还有第三条路，神警告他们，那就是在约西亚治下的复兴中。约西亚在位 31 年，在 15 或 16 岁时将心献给上帝。他的父亲名叫亚们，祖父是玛拿西。卑鄙的玛拿西之后是同样坏的亚们。

但在这里，亚们有一个年轻的儿子约西亚，他在15或16岁时把心献给了神，这几乎就像神说：“你不会从历史中看到将要发生的事情，你也不会听先知传讲负面的信息，所以我给你另一个选择。我会带来复兴，看看这是否会改变你们的心。于是约西亚来了，他两边各有一位先知，西番雅和那鸿。他们传道，约西亚祷告，他清理了这个国家。他带来了一场伟大的复兴。

首先他说，“我们来修复所罗门的圣殿。这座寺庙甚至不再是任何人关心的话题。他们已经完全走向偶像崇拜。他们在邱坛敬拜巴力等。约西亚说，“让我们重做所罗门的圣殿吧。当他们重建它时，他们发现上帝的律法消失在圣殿中。这有点像今天的自由主义，上帝的真理在教会中丢失了。当他们在修复圣殿时发现神的话语时，就把它拿出来读一读，这导致了一场伟大的复兴，一场伟大的复兴。

在约西亚的时代，他们正在经历这场伟大的复兴。你知道发生了什么吗？亚述巴尼拔统治着亚述帝国，在犹大王国掌管着这个俱乐部，亚述巴尼拔死了。然后，他在巴比伦的副摄政王拿波波拉撒横扫并征服了整个亚述，屠杀了所有的亚述人，哦，看起来太好了。“男孩，想想看，我们正在经历一场复兴。我们最大的敌人亚述，必须与巴比伦地区打一场内战，而这个人要征服亚述人。天哪，我们的状态很好。亚述人正在得到他们的交易，我们正在复兴。一切看起来都太好了。

你知道发生了什么吗？约西亚死了，复兴，就像许多复兴一样，与他的个性有关，当他死后，复兴就结束了。它结束了。它对国家没有影响。在约西亚之后有四位王，都是邪恶的：约哈斯、约雅敬、约雅斤和西底家，邪恶的，邪恶的，邪恶的，邪恶的。复兴没有效果。听。他们从来没有从历史中学习，他们从来没有听过预言，当神带来复兴时，他们甚至从来没有以神的恩典来回应。人，这就是最终的颓废。当它达到完全的愤怒时，它是不可逆转的。

上帝啊，请帮助我们，因为这就是我在美国看到的。我们没有从历史中吸取教训。我们不听先知的话，敢说今天正在进行的复兴似乎对我们的国家没有太大的影响。令人惊讶，令人惊讶 – 我希望你听到 – 亚述被巴比伦摧毁了。巴比伦尼亚随后占领了整个世界。哈巴谷说，那个苦毒而仓促的国家起来取代了亚述。

为什么？哈巴谷书 1：12。你想知道为什么会出现一个新巴比伦帝国吗？在这里，上帝说，“我已经设立他们受审判，设立他们供他们纠正。现在听着。上帝允许巴比伦帝国打败亚述。你想听一些引人入胜的东西吗？巴比伦帝国在以色列被俘虏的时候出现，就在以色列——以色列被释放回到这片土地时，它就不存在了。

你知道吗，整个新巴比伦帝国只持续了大约一百年？这正是从犹大第一次被掳到最后返回他们的土地的时间。上帝只是兴起了整个巴比伦帝国作为审判的工具，就像他兴起了亚述帝国作为审判北方王国的工具一样。那个国家在一百年里来来去去。在那一百年里，它达到了顶峰，它实际上成为了世界的君主。那是神手中的一根棍子。我认为尼布甲尼撒对此没有任何想法。但这是事实，因为上帝控制着历史。因此，人们被囚禁了。

你说，“他们一定犯了可怕的罪，神才会带来如此可怕的审判。请看诗篇 78 篇。我没有时间读完整篇诗篇。我认为这是你能读到的关于囚禁的最好的描述，因为它从当事人的情感出发。在诗篇 78 篇中——顺便说一句，诗篇是在以色列历史的所有不同时期、犹大历史的所有不同时期以及大卫的生平写成的。它们是在不同时期写成的，目的是从非常个人的角度表达人们的情感和正在发生的事情的历史，与其说是叙事/学术观点，不如说是非常个人的参与。

在这里，我们找到 上帝掳去北国的原因。而且，真的，他们也是 上帝俘虏南方的原因。第10节，“他们不遵守神的约，不肯遵行他的律法。他们忘记了祂的作为和祂向他们显明的奇事。他在埃及地，琐安田地，在他们的祖先眼中行了奇妙的事。

“他把海分开，使他们过;他使水像堆一样站立。白天他用云彩引导他们，晚上用火光引导他们。他在旷野劈开岩石，给他们喝，就像从深处出来一样。他又从磐石中引出溪流，使水像江河一样流淌。他们又得罪了他，在旷野惹怒了至高者。他们就照自己的愿望求食，在心里试探神。

换句话说，无论他做什么，他们都如此执着于自己的罪恶。第 22 节，“他们不信神，也不信他的救恩。虽然他从天上命令云彩，打开天门，降下吗哪给他们吃，从天上的粮食中赐给他们，人却吃了天使的食物“——这就是吗哪——”他给他们充足的食物，他使东风吹天上，他用他的能力带来了南风。他又把肉雨像尘土一样降在他们身上，把有羽毛的飞鸟像海沙降在他们身上。换句话说，他们每天都有鸟吃。如此周而复始，整章书都在讲述神所做的一切。

第41节，“是的，他们回头试探神，限制以色列的圣者。他们不记得他的手，也不记得他救他们脱离仇敌的那一天。他如何在埃及行他的神迹，如何在琐安的田野上行他的奇事。事情就这样发生了。事情就这样发生了。他们继续拒绝。“神”——当他听到这话时，第59节——“就发怒，大大憎恶以色列人。

第 61 节，“他将自己的力量和他的荣耀交出来” – 他的荣耀是什么？他的人民 – “落入敌人的手中。他也把他的人民交给了刀剑，对他的产业发怒。火烧毁了他们的年轻人;他们的姑娘没有结婚。他们的祭司倒在刀下;他们的寡妇也没有哀恸。然后，主像一个从睡梦中醒来的人，就像一个因酒而大喊大叫的勇士，他击打了他的敌人的后方;他让他们永远受到责备。在那里，你会看到一个事实，即使他们被囚禁了，上帝还是醒来了，把他们带回来了。伟大的诗篇，伟大的诗篇。

听。尼布甲尼撒于 586 年到来。他实际上是在 588 年到达的，比被囚禁早了两年。他开始了他的围攻。到这时候，人们已经厌倦了听耶利米的话，他们把他扔进一个黏糊糊的、肮脏的蓄水池里等死。这就是他传讲真理的感谢。他正在一个肮脏、黏糊糊的蓄水池中煎熬，等待死亡。最后，他们决定释放他，588 年，尼布甲尼撒来了。维尔纳·凯勒（Werner Keller）写道：“迦勒底的步兵、快速的髑髅地和车夫师粉碎了所有的抵抗，征服了一座又一座横扫犹大的城市。除了首都耶路撒冷和南方的拉吉和亚西加边境堡垒外，全地最后都被征服了。亚西加倒下，他们就去找拉吉。

维尔纳·凯勒（Werner Keller）说：“在主前701年，亚述王的猛攻军队用坦克冲向拉吉的城墙。这就是过去的西拿基立。140 年前，他曾带着坦克冲刺。坦克是——有点像战争机器，就像战车，有大轮子，有攻城槌。他们没有射击任何东西，只是将柱子或塔架直接撞到墙上。但是尼布甲尼撒在 588 年有一个更好的主意。“对地层的调查，”凯勒说，“这标志着巴比伦的破坏工作，这让斯塔基感到惊讶，”——斯塔基是一名考古学家——“灰烬”。

换句话说，当他们研究那里的考古学时，他们讨论了这样一个事实——当他们到达耶路撒冷被尼布甲尼撒占领时，他们发现到处都是灰烬。“灰烬，”凯勒说，“数量惊人。许多灰烬层都有几码厚。尽管如此，它说，在比城墙的遗迹高 2500 年后，是成堆的灰烬。我们从考古学中知道，尼布甲尼撒的工程师是燃烧艺术的专家。换句话说，他们很擅长放火。他们是发动大火并将整个城市夷为平地的高手。

他们能用手抓到的木头就拖到现场。他们剥夺了拉吉周围所有地区的木材。他们把柴火堆得很高，有墙外的房子那么高。他们只是在城市周围堆放柴火。他们砍倒了所有的橄榄园。他们知道这一点，因为他们发现的灰烬中有大量烧焦的橄榄核。日夜不停，一片片的火焰继续跃高，不断、不断、不断地围绕着城市。

他们堆积的木头越来越多，越来越多，直到墙变得白热，墙的石头炽热，它们真的爆裂了，拉吉周围的保护墙倒塌了。留给尼布甲尼撒的只有耶路撒冷。他们拿走了整个巴比伦的战争机器，对准耶路撒冷城。他们不能在那里使用燃烧技术，因为曾经环绕耶路撒冷的森林现在已经被过去的征服者剥夺了。所以他们就围攻了。列王纪下25章说，这座城市在西底家王第十一年被围困。

在列王纪下25章的后面的几节经文中，它说：“城就拆毁了，所有的战士都趁夜逃跑了。当军队走后门时，你知道你遇到了麻烦，这就是发生的事情。他们抓住了最后一位国王西底家，他们按照当时的习俗对待那些叛国的人。他们拿了一把热剑，烧掉了他的两只眼睛。但在他们这样做之前，他们把西底家的所有孩子都排成一排，他们屠杀了他们，然后立即烧毁了他的眼睛，所以他记得的最后一个画面将是他的孩子被屠杀。这就是他们惩罚叛国罪的方式。

顺便说一句，我本周在看沃纳·凯勒（Werner Keller）的书《作为历史的圣经》（The Bible As History）时，有一张在考古挖掘中发现的墙上的浮雕的照片，就是那件事情的发生。一个国王跪在地上，一把剑了他的眼睛。他们还展示了嘴里戴着戒指的人，因为先知说过，他们会用钩子把他们掳去。他们羞辱和拖走囚犯的方法之一是将戒指戴在他们的嘴唇上，将他们绑在绳子上，然后用嘴唇拉他们走。

这片土地随后成为巴比伦的一个省。他们在那里安插了一个名叫基大利的傀儡统治者，这个统治者并没有持续很长时间，因为一些躲在山上的亲犹大叛徒下来屠杀了他。一群犹太人试图逃离所有的麻烦，跑到埃及，他们拖着耶利米，亲爱的老人——保佑他的心——耶利米孤独地死在了埃及。历史的帷幕落在一片空旷、贫瘠、满目疮痍的土地上，现在，以色列全民都被四风吹散了。

维尔纳·凯勒（Werner Keller）说：“以色列人在约书亚的带领下踏上应许之地六百五十年后，他们的后代中没有一个还在其中。650 年后，他们都消失了。先知的威胁和警告已经应验，神所宣告的审判已经临到他们身上。耶利米说：“看哪，耶和华说，我要使犹大的城邑荒凉无人居住，”耶利米书 34：22。以色列人的故事结束了，犹太人的故事开始了。

现在我们的场景转移到巴比伦，因为犹大没有什么可看的了。巴比伦 （Babylon） 是什么样子的？想象一下你被拖走了，你就在那儿。他们的态度是什么？翻到诗篇 137 篇，让我们听听一首表达他们情感的诗篇。诗篇 137 篇，这是 – 他们在巴比伦的心中呼喊。诗篇 137 篇，听。你必须用希伯来语来想象这一点，因为它是以诗歌的形式，诗歌的形式，毫无疑问，它是以一种非常悲哀的挽歌般的方式吟唱的。“我们在巴比伦的河边坐下，是的，当我们想起锡安时，我们哭泣。”

锡安是他们最喜欢的土地名称。“我们把琴挂在中间的柳树上。因为在那儿掳走我们的人要我们唱歌;那些浪费我们的人要我们欢笑，说，请给我们唱一首锡安的歌。我们在异乡怎能唱主的歌呢？」他们把竖琴挂在柳树上。没有歌可唱。

他们喊道：“耶路撒冷啊，我若忘记了你，就让我的右手忘记她的诡计吧。如果我不记得你，就让我的舌头紧贴我的上颚，如果我不愿意把耶路撒冷置于我最大的喜乐之上。耶和华啊，要记念耶路撒冷日子以东的子民，他们曾说过，要铠杀它，直到它的根基。巴比伦的女子啊，必被毁灭;他若照你侍奉我们的方式赏赐你，就必有福了。那把你的孩子捶打在石头上的人，是有福的。

你想听听他们的态度吗？“上帝啊，愿我们永远不会忘记我们的家，上帝，愿你对那些对我们做这件事的人施以审判。”这就是他们发自内心的。他们伤心欲绝。你想知道什么吗？他们从未从历史中得到信息，他们从未从预言中得到信息，他们从未从复兴中得到信息，但是，天哪，他们在囚禁中得到了信息。

“上帝啊，如果我们忘记耶路撒冷就好了。”这是什么意思？不仅仅是地理，不仅仅是美学，还有对耶和华的崇拜在我们上帝的城市中意味着一切。如果我们忘记了我们属于哪里，愿我的——愿我的右手忘记它的狡猾。因此，主的话语应验了，他说：“我的灵不会常与人争战。

你知道，你可能认为你可以按照你想要的方式生活，而上帝只是会忽略它。也许你已经看到了历史上发生的事情，以及其他人是如何消失的。你已经看到了颓废的循环，也许你正在做一些同样的事情——别人做过的事情，但你认为它不会按照你的方式发生。你不会认为，过着你所过的那种生活会给别人带来的东西，也许你会打破历史的循环之路。

也许你听过先知，你听过福音的传道人，你决定也许那不适合你。也许你甚至见过复兴，你见过人们的生活发生了变化，你见过 – 看到人们爱上了基督，他们的整个命运、时间和永恒立即被改变了，你只是把这一切推到一边。好吧，审判将不可避免地、无情地、最终到来。事情就是这样。

中西部的一家周报曾经刊登过一位无神论者的信，他为了反驳他的基督教邻居的信仰，将他的一部分土地用于种植玉米。他决定在星期天做那部分的每一点工作，只是为了表明你可以违反主日，你仍然可以种出好的玉米。现在，他在报纸的这篇文章中写道，“我发现，9 月份，我每英亩只在周日耕作的那部分土地上的玉米比我的邻居在周日不耕作的土地上多。这难道不是证明没有上帝吗？编辑有一个有趣的答案。他说，“不，这并不能证明没有上帝，它只是证明上帝并不总是在九月份算账。

你愿意和我一起再看一会儿但以理书第一章吗？只有一个注释，第2节，“耶和华将犹大王约雅敬交在尼布甲尼撒手中。因为如果上帝没有兴起那个国家作为他愤怒的杖，尼布甲尼撒就永远不会这样做。当尼布甲尼撒在605年第一次被掳时，也就是但以理所说的那一次，“他带了神殿的一部分器皿，带到示拿地”——这是巴比伦尼亚的古名——“到他神的殿”——我敢肯定，他就是被称为马尔杜克的神。

当你研究异教的偶像崇拜时，要保持神明的清醒是非常困难的，因为他们经常互换他们的名字、他们的个性、他们的性别和一切，而且有这么多不同的名字。但马尔杜克似乎是巴比伦历史上这一时期的主要神，也是尼布甲尼撒所崇拜的神。

因此，他拿走了神殿的器皿。那将是所罗门为敬拜物品和他带到他神的殿中的所有美丽宝藏而放在那里的可爱东西。为什么？因为当你征服了一个国家，进去洗劫他们神的房子时，这是一件了不起的事情。如果你活着回来，你的人民就会确信你的神已经战胜了他们的神。因此，这是安全和自信的一个很好的标志。因此，征服者会想从另一个国家带回崇拜的文物，以表明那个神无能为力，无法保护他的人民，甚至阻止他们从自己的宝库中偷窃。“于是他们被囚禁了。

但请听。正如兰斯·莫罗 （Lance Morrow） 在《时代》杂志上的文章中所说，“历史上只有一个国家从自己的灰烬中崛起，那就是这个国家，他们会回来的。他们要回来的原因之一，就是因为有个名叫但以理的人，在一个非常特别的时期，他是 上帝的人。这就引出了第四点，我将非常简短地触及它，因为我们将在书中看到它：地点、时期、惩罚和人。

请注意，你甚至在前两节经文中都没有看到他的名字，根本没有。他的名字直到第6节才出现。“犹大人中有但以理、哈拿尼雅、米沙利、亚撒利雅。”这三个人的名字被改成了巴比伦人的名字沙得拉、米煞和亚伯尼歌。但你遇到了丹尼尔。上帝总是有他的人，不是吗？丹尼尔出生于公元前 625 年左右。顺便说一句，他出生的时候正值新巴比伦帝国诞生的那一年。他是皇室的孩子，是国王贵族的孩子。他是一个能力、才华和品格都非常出色的人。

显然，约西亚在祂的领导下的复兴确实触动了他的生命。虽然约西亚领导下的复兴对国家没有多大帮助，但对他来说却有很大帮助，对他来说也有很多。他致力于爱和顺服上帝和那亲爱的人，贯穿整个被掳，直到七十年的圆满——顺便说一句，他甚至在米底亚王大流士统治的几年里越过了被掳。所以他在几年内就在那里了。在那段时间里，他从未叛逃，从未妥协，从未偏离神的旨意。他按照他的上帝的标准，捍卫真理和可敬的品格。他成为我们一个巨大的榜样。

八年后，当第二个小团体在 597 年被囚禁时，他们身边有一个相当漂亮的年轻人。他名叫以西结，以西结是一位祭司，一位年轻的祭司。他也有超凡的天赋。毫无疑问，像但以理和以西结这样的人被选中，是因为他们在社会中脱颖而出，而巴比伦人足够聪明，可以追随他们。

我提到以西结的原因是这个。你知道，回顾过去很容易说，“哦，某某太棒了，我记得过去的伟人。伟人在哪里？他们都死了，你知道的。我们不喜欢在我们这个时代给任何人带来伟大，对吧？我们希望所有伟大的人都死在过去。但是当以西结写以西结书时，他三次提到但以理书。当他提到但以理时，他提到了这样一个事实，如果有三个义人，挪亚——不是。是的，挪亚、但以理和约伯。

现在我想让你知道一些事情。当有人把一个同时代的人归入这一类时，他一定是值得写的东西。丹尼尔也是如此。顺便说一句，当以西结写作时，但以理大约50岁。以西结说他是有史以来最敬虔的人之一，以西结在第28章说，他是有史以来最聪明的人之一。哦，他是个男人。他的生活特点简直是压倒性的。

圣经告诉我们，他是一个具有巨大勇气的人。他是一个无所畏惧的精神承诺的人。他是一个永远不能用金钱收买的人，也永远不会被权力腐蚀的人。他是一个不断祈祷的人。他是一个被上帝和每个认识他的人所爱的人。他是一个自信的人。他是一个充满希望的人。而且，相信我，如果有男人的话，他是一个应对危机的人。神啊，请帮助我们在我们的日子里有一些但以理。

在但以理书第6章第4节，“巴比伦的首领和首领都想找机会攻击但以理。他们想找到对他不利的东西。“但他们找不到任何机会或过错，因为尽管他很忠实，也没有在他身上发现任何错误或过错。他们说：'除非在他神的律法上找控告他，否则我们决不找任何机会控告这个但以理。这家伙唯一坏的地方是他从不违反他的上帝的律法。多么棒的男人。

他们仔细研究了他的生活，年复一年，年复一年，却什么也没找到。这就是上帝希望人成为的样子，一个面临危机的人。他生来就是为了统治而生的，后来成为了一位异教国王的仆人。他在巴比伦的宫廷里被立为太监，是一棵没有后代希望的枯树，然而他在异教世界中却是上帝的人。他树立了美德和敬虔的榜样，也许无与伦比。

因此，我们看到了地点、时期、惩罚和人，最后，也很快地看到了目的。上帝为什么掳去掳以色列人？上帝为什么兴起巴比伦？我只想给你一些简短的，所以听着。第一，彰显他的主权。如果但以理书教会了你什么，它就会告诉你谁在掌控人类历史。我的意思是，你会大声而清晰。上帝兴起亚述人，又打倒他们。上帝兴起巴比伦人，又把他们打倒。上帝兴起尼布甲尼撒，把他放倒。上帝兴起居鲁士，让他做他想做的事。上帝确实控制着人类历史。

上帝称尼布甲尼撒为 “我的仆人”。多么好的声明。在希伯来文中，这个词 ebed 与诗篇中对大卫的称呼是一样的。在以赛亚书 42 章和以赛亚书 52 章中，它被用来指弥赛亚。他和任何人一样是上帝的仆人。为什么？因为他遵行上帝的命令，即使不情愿，他认为自己是独立的。在耶利米书 27 章中，神说尼布甲尼撒是我赋予权力的。你要在但以理书身上看到的一个伟大的教训是，上帝掌管人类历史。你不仅会在那时看到它，而且你会看到历史的计划，直到但以理布置未来时，直到历史的最后。

这里有第二个重要的教训，那就是拒绝上帝会带来可怕的结果。你也会看到这一点。无论是一个国家还是个人，当上帝警告、警告、警告、恩典的宽恕和人们拒绝时，都会有可怕的审判。拉迪亚德·吉卜林 （Rudyard Kipling） 甚至看到了这一点，他写道：“远方，我们的海军在沙丘上融化，岬角沉没了大火，瞧，我们昨天的所有盛况都与尼尼微和推罗融为一体。列国的审判者啊，请饶恕我们，免得我们忘记，免得我们忘记。人们多么容易忘记上帝在过去已经审判过，并将再次审判。

第三，被掳不仅是为了教导神的主权和拒绝他的后果，而且是为了净化他的子民。你知道，囚禁产生了五件好事。我只是很高兴给你这些，然后我就要放弃了。

首先，你知道以色列再也没有拜偶像了吗？你知道自从他们从被掳中回来以来，以色列从来没有拜过偶像吗？即使在今天，在我们的社会中，想象一个犹太人崇拜偶像，这绝对是不可想象的、令人发指的、可怕的。他们不会这样做。为什么在耶稣的时代，当彼拉多举着印有凯撒画像的旗帜进城时，他们威胁要取他的命。偶像崇拜在以色列的掳中一劳永逸地被连根拔起。

其次，犹太教堂诞生了。当他们没有寺庙时，信徒社区就长大了，信徒们是圣徒。他们成为今天信徒群体中聚会的教会的典范。第三，正是在被掳中，像以斯拉这样的人把旧约《圣经》汇集在一起，并被封为圣徒。所以，你要明白，在被掳中，偶像崇拜被终结了，信徒群体被建立起来，《圣经》的正典就形成了。第四，余民回来重建国家，从这余民中产生了弥赛亚的后裔。

最后，因为他们分散到各处，他们把 上帝的信息带到异教徒的地方。但以理在巴比伦传道。有一天，一个孩子在伯利恒出生。有些博士从东方来，从巴比伦来。他们来找那个孩子。知道为什么吗？我相信，因为他们知道那是万王之王，因为在他们历史上，有一位名叫但以理的伟人是这样说的。

那么，被囚禁是做什么的呢？它洁净了百姓，从他们身上除掉了偶像崇拜，催生了会堂，形成了圣经的正典，创造了一批忠心、敬虔的余民回来，弥赛亚的后裔要通过他们而来，把上帝的知识带到异教徒的土地上。因此，我们在这本了不起的书中看到如此多伟大的教训，如此多的伟大真理。我祈祷丹尼尔能以一种能改变我们生活的方式对你、对我说话。让我们一起鞠躬祈祷。

天父啊，我们知道祢需要人们站在这个腐败的日子里，树立公义的标准。我们知道你需要人们向一个被定罪的世界、一个受惩罚的世界说话。我们知道我们正站在严酷悲剧的边缘。天父啊，我们知道要面对一个邪恶的时代是很难保存敬虔的后裔的，所以请帮助我们把但以理看作我们的榜样。主啊，当我们阅读这本书时，请改变我们，帮助我们变得更像但以理，使我们在危机时期成为祢的人。你的女人，你的年轻人，正是你在这个小时所需要的人，也是你把我们放在那个地方。对于能为您服务的特权，我们感谢您，就像丹尼尔所做的那样。奉基督的名。阿门。