by Tim Dieppe, Evangelicals Now (Image: Wikimedia Creative Commons)
I was very struck by the title of Douglas Murray’s recent article in The Spectator, “France is a warning – our civilisation is not immortal.”
Murray is right, of course; civilisations are not immortal. They come and they go. They rise and then they fall. The fall of a civilisation can be sudden or slow. Or even “gradually and then suddenly”, to misuse a famous quote [1].
The book of Daniel and falling kingdoms
I’ve been doing some serious study of the book of Daniel in the last several years, culminating in the publication of a commentary published by Wipf and Stock (2026). The title is Daniel: Lessons for Living in a Post-Christian Culture. I think most of us would agree that our culture is now post-Christian. Marriage has been redefined, abortion decriminalised, church attendance is low, and Christianity is routinely mocked in our schools, colleges and media outlets. What is more, several Christians have lost their jobs for expressing their Christian faith, and others have been arrested, and sometimes imprisoned.
This is all well-known, widely recognised and justifiably lamented. But do we really believe that Western civilisation could collapse? That Great Britain could effectively cease to exist in any meaningful historical sense?
Well, one key lesson from the book of Daniel is indeed that civilisations are not immortal. Daniel had to tell the most powerful king the world had ever seen: “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours.” (Daniel 2v39). In fact, that several other kingdoms would rise and fall after Babylon. Did Nebuchadnezzar believe it? Did anyone besides Daniel believe it? The Babylonian Empire was so mighty and powerful at the time. Who could imagine it would ever end?
Nebuchadnezzar, perhaps haunted by his dream of a statue made of gold, silver, bronze and iron, proceeded to build a massive statue made entirely of gold. This statue was gold all the way down. He forced his people to worship this statue. Perhaps he was trying to rid himself of the idea of gold being followed by silver, bronze and iron? It seems he didn’t want to recognise that one day his empire would end.
Yet, Daniel, who was taken captive by the Babylonian Empire, lived to see its end. He outlived the empire which took him captive! Sixty-five years after telling Nebuchadnezzar that another kingdom would arise, he told the then king of Babylon: “God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end” (Daniel 5v26). That very night, the night of Sunday 11 October 539 BC, Babylon ceased to exist as an empire and Darius the Mede took control.
Will we live to see our civilisation’s demise?
Murray is right. We have no reason to ascribe immortality to Western civilisation. We have every reason not to. I wonder whether some reading this piece will live to see its demise?