Year 3, Day 339: Daniel 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Authority/Power

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.
• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

We know that our true authority can only come from God.  The King of Creation – God Himself – looks for people to represent Him to the world.  He’s not looking for people to give an hour of their life each week and come to give money to support the local religious institution.  Rather, God is looking for people to represent Him to a world that desperately needs Him!  To those people who look to Him and covenant with Him, He gives authority to be His representative.

Once we understand our authority to be His representative, then it is up to us to go forth in His power.  He wants us to go forth into the world and put His power on display.  He wants us to change people’s lives through His power.  He wants us to challenge people out of their sin.  He wants us to be His mouthpiece as He calls the world back to Him.

We see this loud and clear through Daniel in this chapter.  God places a horrible prophecy before the Babylonian king Belshazzar.  Who in their right mind goes before the king and tells the king that he has sinned, he hasn’t repented, and his kingdom will be torn from him?  Talk about your stereotypical “don’t kill the messenger” mission!  But this is exactly what Daniel does.  He does it because he has an understanding of his role under the King.

God is in charge.  Out of God’s kingship, God gave Daniel authority over Belshazzar to proclaim His message.  Out of that authority, Daniel embraced the power to do what God wanted him to do.  I cannot imagine how terrifying it must have been for Daniel to declare that message.  But I give him credit for understanding his role in God’s kingdom.

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