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“What are we going to do now?” The unwelcome question when plans unhinge. When this happens, we are forced to think more than we want and make difficult decisions we would rather ignore.
It also forces us to discover new options and ideas previously unforeseen.
God mentioned his intention of resurrection when a mundane life that ended in death seemed to be the only option on the menu.
Half a millennium before Jesus, God’s people were on the precipice of nonexistence. Israel and Judah ignored God and chose to bless themselves rather than bless the world as God intended.
God frequently reminded them of their purpose, but they neglected knowledge because it wasn’t convenient or immediately gratifying. So God prospered another nation to overtake them, Babylon. The once independent people of God became foreigners in an alien country who worshiped statues that don’t breathe.
Though many turned from God at this time, some remained faithful. They asked, “How can we now receive God’s blessing?” and “How are we to bless the world?” They didn’t believe they had the resources needed to fulfill their purpose.
Jeremiah, a God-sent spokesman at the time of Judah’s exile to Babylon, sent a timely message that clarified God’s intention for his people. Those wondering what to do now were told what to do.
God said to make houses, plant gardens, and serve Babylon because if Babylon prospers so too will the exiled people of God in Babylon. A radical turn in God’s plan for his people…and for the world.
The nation once separated and self-sustaining was now intermingled among people who didn’t know or care about the God that created the world.
So the blessing of God’s people became dependent upon the blessing of those who were not God’s people. Some caught on quickly as they realized that they may not be “blessed” even if they followed God whole-heartedly. They would die without the blessing—without God fulfilling his promise.
Only decades after Jeremiah, Daniel received a new word from God.
Daniel grew up in Babylon, served as government official, prospered the Babylonian nation by his wisdom, and followed God whole-heartedly in the midst of people who didn’t know him. The young Jew extracted from his homeland did what God told them to do.
The pertinent question becomes, “But what happens to the faithful who do not inherit God’s blessing in this life?”
God told Daniel there will come a resurrection, that death does not have the final authority, and that God’s people will inherit the blessing when his power is revealed by raising them from the dead.
Daniel 12:2 says, “And many sleeping in the dust of the ground will rise: some to everlasting life and some to everlasting disgrace and contempt.”
When Daniel received this revelation, a new way of thinking developed as a vague object in a thick fog.
When Jesus resurrected, the fog was cleared and the way made known.
Thanks for Reading,
Aaron