Word & the Wild

This is Word and the Wild. It's the one year Bible adventure with friends. My name is Owen. I'm your host and your guide. Delighted to be together with you on this 12 month journey as a podcast plus community where we read the Bible for ourselves but not by ourselves. Guys, it is week 37. Really, it's amazing.

Hey, you are well on your way of your goal to read the Bible this year on your own, but not alone with us. It's a new season in the epic story that is the Bible this week. We've got a new exodus of sorts, a new start for God's people in the promised land. The stakes couldn't be higher. God's plans could not be clearer.

Plus. We have some amazing leadership lessons along the way. That's what's ahead for us. So hello and welcome in and a special welcome to our word in the wild plus community members. You guys, it's your support of this nonprofit endeavor that makes space for all of us here on this Bible reading adventure as part of the word and the wild plus tribe.

They are enjoying access to our private safe online space where no honest question is a dumb question along with a weekly live stream Q and a bonus content, articles, interactions once in a while, even meetups and even some live stream teaching gatherings with yours truly. So if any of that sounds interesting to you, you're going to want to make note of this.

Jesus is coming soon. And by that, I mean, we're going to be hitting the New Testament before we know it. It's just a few weeks away. So now is a great time to jump into the word and the wild plus tribe for yourself. And there's always so much more to talk about than we can get into here on the podcast.

For example, this week, I'd love to talk with you about Daniel, all his visions, statues, beasts, 70 weeks. It's just too much here for the podcast, but we will cover it inside the online community this week. So All that to say, check out the show notes for how to become a member for yourself or get all the details over at Word and the wild.com.

Well, now, with all that outta the way, let's get into this new season in the story. We've been in exile and we're on the return back. You know what they say? After all, it's out of the mouths of babes. Right? You know that saying, well, this week it's more like out of the mouths of kings. Let's jump into the story.

Well, guess what? This season in our story that we've been calling The Exile, well, it's had a very short run. It's already over. It's been just 70 years of captivity in Babylon. 70 short but eventful years. They haven't been easy for the Jews. But all things considered, it says a lot about God and who he is that the time they have been away from the promised land has been so short.

Let's look back at those 70 years real quick. First thing Jerusalem, as you will recall, was tragically conquered by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. I got Jeremiah they walked us through that in painful detail. Then we had our man Daniel. He's inside the palace in Babylon and giving us a window into the mind of Nebuchadnezzar and then a look into the near and distant future of world political powers.

Thanks to God, some visions and insights that he was given by him.

And then boom, there's that handwriting on the wall. Awesome story, crazy outcome. The Babylonian kingdom falls in the space of a night and the Medes and the Persians are now in charge. And then in the very first year that the Persian king now, Cyrus, rules Babylon, and he holds the fate of the Jewish people in his very powerful hands.

First thing he does that year, he pulls a move that surprises everyone, well, everyone that didn't have a copy of Isaiah handy, actually, because as God foretold in Isaiah, Cyrus releases the Jews, sends them back home to rebuild the temple in the ruins. Now, it's interesting to think about for a second why all that happens.

Now, the right answer, you know, if you're looking at the Bible story point of view, well, why it happens is because Well, God wanted it to happen, of course, but there's a, the, the geopolitical landscape. And it's interesting to look at that from a geopolitical landscape. Why does the exile end and the Jews go back?

Well, here's, here's what's happening. It's an incredibly unstable time in world affairs. You've got large, powerful kingdoms clashing for control. First, it was the Babylonians and the Persians. The persians came out on top. So now it's the persians Fighting with the greeks then our man. Daniel had a vision that describes this time It's the vision is of a ram and a goat just butting heads It's violent back and forth as powerful persian kings In the east they collide again and again with stubborn and scrappy greeks in the west and And as Persia pushes into the area known today as Turkey, the Greeks, who have cities and interests there in what's now Turkey, well, they dig in.

So get this, the Greeks withstand or try to hold back that Persian power from, from encroaching into across what's now modern Turkey into what's now modern And the, the, the country of Greece today, the Greeks form a federation of cities. That's known as the Delian league. Okay. Follow this. Now, member cities join the Delian league from all over the Mediterranean coast in an effort to, you know, push back against that Persian advance from the East.

One of those cities get this, it's a city named Dor. which we know from the Bible all the way back in the time of Joshua. Dor ends up becoming a Greek naval outpost located less than 50 miles from Jerusalem, right there on the edge of Persian territory. So in response to all of this, the Persians come up with a plan of their own.

They send previously conquered peoples back to their homelands with support to rebuild their homes and cities. And so these semi autonomous countries, people, groups that are now returning to their homelands provide a buffer between the, the, the Persians and the Greeks. This was the Persian idea and it worked for a while.

Well, the Jewish people, back to the story, the Bible's trying to tell the Jewish people are one such group. They are sent back by Cyrus to their homeland and the idea is that they're going to be a buffer state between the, the, the, the Persians and the, the, the, the Greeks. And there's no doubt the Persians liked the idea of these feisty, determined Jewish people rebuilding their beloved temple and homeland right there on the border between them and And, and, and Greece.

So it's not with entirely pure motives that Cyrus, king of Persia, decrees that the Jewish people are no longer captives in Babylon. And later when the Persian King Darius, who comes along later Darius sends help and supplies to rebuild the city of Jerusalem itself, it's also not an accident, not a coincidence, but, but here's the thing.

Regardless of their motives, these powerful Persian rulers become simply tools in God's hands to fulfill God's predictions, God's promises to God's people. And so the exiles return and the temple is in fact rebuilt.

And this is one of the major themes that the story of the Bible wants to tell. This idea that while there's all this geopolitical scheming going on, God's plan continues to move forward.

Now, it's interesting to think about this return of the Jews from Babylon in terms of the exodus. It's, it's kind of a new exodus in a way. You remember the first Exodus course you do this was back in Genesis. It was a while ago, but it's memorable. Remember Jacob's sons and their families. They went down to Egypt because of a famine.

They went down there as a scraggly band of starving shepherds. Then they become slaves. Then emerge from Egypt as a mighty nation headed toward the promised land on a mission from God with a fresh relationship with God. Remember all that? Well, this time where we are now in the story, remember, we started out with less than 5, 000 Jewish captives were brought to Babylon.

We learned last time we read last week and now they are leaving about 70 years later, about 50, 000 people strong. And once again, just like the first Exodus, their destination is the promised land. And just like the first time they entered the promised land, they are afraid, worried, nervous about their hostile neighbors.

And just like the first time they entered the promised land, they begin by establishing worship of God. They build an altar right there, and it signifies that the heart of their mission is God. and the measure of their success will as always be their relationship with God. Will they survive? Will they succeed?

Well, only time will tell. Just like the first exodus. Well, let's take this one step further. Not only do we have a new exodus, all right, in our, in our story of the exiles returning to Jerusalem, not only do we have a new exodus, This new Exodus also has a new Joseph. All right. Our man, Daniel, who has had a front row seat to so much of the key events, so many of the key events in the, in the political movement surrounding the exile and the return of God's people to their homeland.

He reminds us of Joseph in many ways. And Joseph, for example, was taken to Egypt against his will. Remember that? Well, Daniel was taken as a captive to Babylon Joseph's integrity led him to be noticed by Pharaoh Daniel's personal commitment to his God led him to be noticed by King Nebuchadnezzar.

And then later by King Darius, Joseph's God given insight into dreams led him to become a high ranking official in Pharaoh's kingdom. Same true for Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom and Darius's kingdom. And then God gave Joseph insight into the future of God's people. And as we've seen, God gives Daniel insight into the future too.

And I have no doubt at all that, that for David, or for Daniel, rather, no doubt at all that, that Daniel would 100 percent affirm Joseph's conclusion after all the hardship and betrayal and drama that Joseph went through. Remember that conclusion where Joseph says, what people meant for harm, God intended for good.

And I have no doubt Daniel would affirm that truth as well. The cruelty of Nebuchadnezzar, the capriciousness of Belshazzar, the ruthlessness of Darius and Cyrus, all of it, not good. all intended to impose fear and to impose their own will. All of it inside God's ultimate good plan and all of it together implements God's will through the course of history.

Here's what's crazy, alright? Don't take my word for it. Don't take my word for it, seriously. Thanks to Daniel's willingness to hang tough. In the hostile environment in which God put him, some of the Bible's clearest and most beautiful affirmations of the creator, God's power, authority, and sovereignty come delivered to us through Daniel's book on the lips of these powerful pagan kings.

For example, listen to Nebuchadnezzar's statement. In the moment when his sanity returned to him after a, get this seven year period where God drove him from society, sent him to eat grass all so he would learn to acknowledge the real true power in the world. Listen to these words from Nebuchadnezzar.

Listen to what he says. He says, I Nebuchadnezzar looked up to heaven. My sanity returned and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the One who lives forever. His rule is everlasting. His kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to Him. He does as He pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth.

No one can stop Him or say to Him, what do you mean by doing these things? Nebuchadnezzar goes on to say, when my sanity returns, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. And then he concludes now, I Nebuchadnezzar praise and glorify and honor the king of heaven. All his acts are just and true. And he is able to humble the proud that comes from Daniel chapter four verses 34 through 37.

I don't know about you. I mean, that sounds like to me, like a testimony that belongs in an old school revival service. No, that's an open letter to the entire earth from the desk of a powerful now humbled King of the Babylonian empire. That's wild. Hey, how about one more? Okay. Now, as I, as we mentioned above during Daniel's lifetime, Babylon falls.

But God's plans live on the Persian king of Babylon ends up throwing Daniel to the lions because he prays to Yahweh, his God, the creator, God, that got that king's name is Darius, Darius. The king watches. God rescued Daniel from certain death at the mouth of those lions. And so then Darius. So he writes a letter and listen to this letter, listen to what it says.

It says, man, that it says King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world. Peace and prosperity to you. The letter starts. I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. Amen. For he is the living God and he will endure forever.

His kingdom will never be destroyed and his rule will never end. He rescues and saves his people. He performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions. That's from Daniel chapter 6 verses 25, 26, 27. Oh yeah. No, no, no, no, no. That's not church, my friend.

That's not a Phil Wickham song. That's another open letter to the world from the throne room of an incredibly powerful King. A letter that says, I'm not the most powerful King. My influence will fade. God's rule will never change. And so as we watch the Jewish people they return to the promised land to build the temple and Jerusalem with, with not only the permission, but the support and endorsement of these proud and powerful Kings.

There's a lesson here. First of all, there's a lesson about God. God's work continues on. God's work rolls on. His plan is unstoppable. There's also a lesson here for us. It's a, it's a leadership lesson. All right. And here it is. God works through humble leaders. And if the leaders aren't humble, he will provide opportunities for them to discover reasons for humility.

A leader may be powerful. A leader may appear successful, but for a leader to be effective, they must be humble and not a fake humble. I'm talking about a real humble, the kind of humility that has learned like Nebuchadnezzar, that heaven rules what God says goes, what God wants happens. And humility that acknowledges my choice as a leader.

The purpose of this video is to decide if I'm going to allow God to work through me to accomplish his plans or work in spite of me to accomplish his plans. Here's the truth. God is moving today right now. He's moving at boardroom tables all around the world everywhere. He's moving right now in the lives of the people he has placed in my care as a leader and your care too.

And so here's the question I got to ask myself, all right? I either have to hop on the train or I'm going to stand on the tracks. Nebuchadnezzar's advice, Darius's advice, get on board. Make God's desires your desires. Make God's plans your plans. Not. The other way around in the story of the Bible tells Here's the thing God has ultimate authority He's the Creator God What he wants happens what he says goes Now, what does God do with that authority?

Now we're about to find out in some fresh ways When Jesus arrives on the scene soon my friend very very soon Well, I hope you enjoy the journey this week, my friend. Hey, this train, our train is rolling on too. And I'd love to hear from you and how it's going so far. So hit me up on Facebook. If you're not already part of the word of the wild Facebook group, just search for it and join or look for us.

We are on Insta look for the wild dot us, or just search for word of the wild. Be sure you subscribe to this podcast. If you haven't already. Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, you know, all the places you find podcasts, you'll find us. Word in the Wild is a one year Bible adventure with friends. I'm loving it, and I hope you are too.

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And with that, my friend, we are out. I'm Owen, your host and your guide. Until next time, my friend, I'll be looking for you out there on the trail in the Word and the Wild. Have yourself a great week.