I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Today I read the end of the book of Daniel. In it Daniel recounts the last parts of his final vision. He tells us of a king who will claim to be greater than every god that mankind has ever worshiped, blaspheming even against the God of gods. This king will honor those who submit to him, giving them gifts of great wealth and appointing them to positions of power. He will conquer many and accumulate great wealth. At the height of his power he will hear news that will alarm him and he will set out with his armies, but when the time established for him by God has run its course he will come to his end and no one will come to his aid. While I believe that this prophecy applies to a particular historical ruler (probably Antiochus Epiphanes), I believe that it also tells us the fate of anyone who comes to believe that he is answerable to no one. As time goes on they will do ever more evil, until the day that God has determined for their end. When that day comes they will discover that they have no friends and none will mourn their demise.
John tells us not to believe everyone who claims to speak by the Holy Spirit. If someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge that Jesus came in a real body, or any of the other truths about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the antichrist. After this short side topic on how to recognize false prophets John returns to his primary theme of the importance of loving one another. Anyone who loves is a child of God, but anyone who does not love does not know God. God showed us what real love was by sending His Son to die so that we might have eternal life. Since God loved us that much, we should love one another. No one has seen God, but if we love one another then God lives in us and people can see God through us. God is love. Therefore if God lives in us our love will grow and become more perfect. As God’s love becomes perfected in us we will have less and less fear because perfect love expels fear. If we are afraid it shows that we have not yet fully experienced God’s perfect love. We love (God, our fellow believers, those in the world around us) because God first loved us. If someone claims to love God, but does not show love for a fellow Christian, they are a liar. If we do not love those who we can see, how can we claim to love God, who we cannot see? After all God has commanded that those who love Him must also love their fellow believers. Love is not optional and it is not just an emotion. Love changes the way we behave. If we have love for our fellow believers, we will take action to show that love.
Let us turn our eyes to God, watching Him at all times for His approval. While the proud may scoff and the arrogant have contempt for us, we will seek the approval of God. We will seek to do that which gives Him pleasure. We look to God for His mercy.
When those who hold power are godly, people rejoice. But when those in power are wicked, people suffer. A just ruler brings stability to his nation, one who demands bribes will bring about its destruction.