A Parable of Today’s Young People as Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel
While I was at prayer for all of our young people, Jesus gave me a "today" picture of the Bible account of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and Daniel.
• Daniel was a captive from ancient Israel and a committed follower of the God of all creation.
• King Nebuchadnezzar was a "mighty king of kings, powerful and glorious; he dreamed dreams, his spirit was troubled, and he could not sleep" (Daniel 2:1,37). He needed to know the truth.
• Daniel's friends were also captives in Babylon. They were young men who knew and worshiped the God of heaven (Daniel 2:18), they were from the elite of Israel.
Today the "king" is the young people of our city, many of whom are living out a dream at least as scary as Nebuchadnezzar's. He dreamed about a mighty and awesome statue, made of gold and silver and brass whose feet were of iron and clay. This represented his kingdom and power. The feet were smashed by a rock, the statue toppled, completely ruined.
Many youth today are troubled, uncertain, without clear direction, even though their lives seem to be wonderful. Youth are not “king” just because they are young and vigorous but also because they have greater power than any generation before them. They are educated, they have great disposable wealth, they direct it where-ever they will.
But, like the statue’s feet of iron and clay, our young have a divided kingdom which can be smashed by any crisis they encounter.
Much news has been very bad since they were born. Vast numbers of people throughout the world have been, and are being, over-run, addicted, robbed, ignored, bought and sold, left behind, killed.
The leaders they see, in government, business, crime, sport, law enforcement, entertainment (and sometimes the church) are generally selfish and dishonest. A primary goal in their lives is to seek wealth, influence, and celebrity.
Political correctness appears much more important than truth. Ours is a culture of fear. As a result many young people have no interest in the events of the world. They spend their money on clothes and entertainment.
Our youth are post-modern and millennial; the truth I may tell them is fine, but they see it as
my truth, a product of
my life and
my experience. As a father and grandfather I cannot get to these kids, my love for Jesus, my years of living and learning and experience is irrelevant to them. They do not understand how I think or reason, I believe I am typical of the older generations. These kids are like the feet of the mighty statue, at the same time strong, yet brittle.
King Nebuchadnezzar was troubled and wanted to know his dream. He was desperate to know its interpretation (Daniel 2:9).
Today, many of our youth know that their lives are out of balance, their intense anger and high-risk activities with drugs, promiscuity, cars, violence . . the suicides . . all tell us this. Until our young people know what the dream is: what life means, what is worth living, or even dying, for, the interpretation is worthless to them.
Daniel asked his friends Shadrach, Mesarch, and Abednego to
"plead for mercy from the God of heaven" (Daniel 2:17-18) to reveal the truth to Daniel who was then able to satisfy the king. This opened the way for Daniel to give the interpretation. King Nebuchadnezzar’s life was changed (Daniel 2:27-47), he said to Daniel,
"Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this to me". He immediately accepted the Lord as
his Lord!
Today’s intercessors and prayer warriors are "Daniel's friends". They are to plead with the God of heaven to reveal His "truth" to many, many, young Christians who will become today’s “Daniels”. These may then bring a clear saving gospel to the “king”, the young people of our city, our nation, our world. Our Daniels will show the truth to our young, show them what these truths mean, demonstrate and witness to the saving effect of Jesus on all lives (Romans 3:28), to forgiveness of past sins (Romans 4:5), to sharing the freedom to be free in Christ (Galatians 5:1), to the joy of living in daily relationship with Jesus (Psalm 23:4).
The biblical Daniel was young, committed, knowledgeable about the Lord and lived for Him; he was very able to express truth . . . Lord Jesus, raise up many of these!
I pray that our young will soon come into a knowledge that there is a truth beyond this present culture, a truth of love, of forgiveness and salvation (Ephesians 2:8), of hope, of fellowship, of life (John 10:10). Jesus is for
every person, for all humankind, for all the universe; He is not beyond reach, but near (Hebrews 7:25).
(The harvest in our city is hundreds of thousands. Is this “marketplace evangelism?”)
Amen.
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Amen.
