Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 11-12.

At some point I may spend some time learning about the history of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties which ruled over the Middle East between Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire, but in the meantime I will look at what I gain from this passage without that.  We learn of a king who will do as he pleases.  We can be warned by the description of this king and his actions.  Some will allow themselves to be corrupted away from serving God by the flattery of the powerful.  Even some who were otherwise wise will be corrupted.  However, those who wisely remain faithful in the face of persecution will provide an example that will inspire many.  They will shine brightly in the darkness and lead others to righteousness.  Some will be impressed by the glory and grandeur of powerful people who oppose God, but those who faithfully serve God will change the world.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 9-10.

When Babylon fell, the passage tells us that Daniel understood Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning the devastation of Jerusalem lasting for seventy years was almost up.  This inspired Daniel to pray for the restoration of Jerusalem.  The first part of Daniel’s prayer acknowledged that the people of Israel deserved God’s judgement against them.  He continued by acknowledging that even now the people of Israel did not deserve to be restored.  Finally, Daniel asked God to restore the people of Israel to Jerusalem for His name’s sake and because of His mercy.  We can learn a lot about petitioning God from Daniel’s prayer, especially about things which we understand Scripture to say that God has promised to do.  First, we need to acknowledge our sinfulness.  Then we must acknowledge that we do not deserve God’s mercy.  Only then should we petition God to act on our behalf.  I took the title of today’s blog from Daniel’s prayer.  Our prayers should easily fit into that format: a plea for God to listen as we confess our sins, a plea that he forgive those sins, and finally a plea that He hear our requests and act on them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 7-8.

Today’s passage contains two visions about the future which Daniel experienced before the fall of Babylon.  Both visions are similar.  They both present the world powers as animal like beings.  They both end with a small horn which grows out of one of the other horns and which exhibits great arrogance.  The small horn in both visions sets itself up against God and His holy people.  Finally, both visions end with the small horn being overthrown by the power of God.  These visions may be alternative views about the final days of this earth, but I wonder if we might not take another lesson from them.  In both visions, governments rise to power, only to be overthrown by other human agencies.  Then in both visions, “someone” raises themselves up as a challenge to God and persecutes those who seek to continue to serve Him.  But, not only does this “someone” persecute those who serve God, but terrorizes the whole earth.  Finally, this “someone” is overthrown, but not by any human agency.  They are overthrown by the power of God.  I think we see in this that at times in history, individuals, or governments, will exercise great power over the earth such that many will suffer, but especially those who serve God.  People will desire to overthrow these oppressors, and may even attempt to do so.  However, these oppressors will deal with all such revolts brutally and remain in power.  Then, out of nowhere that the human perspective can understand, a Power will arise and bring them down.  In the interpretation of the first vision we are told that “one like a human being” (the translation says “son of man” rather than human, but the translation notes say that the best translation of the Hebrew would be human being and that they used “son of man” because of its use in the New Testament in reference to this passage) would rise up and be given power over the earth by the Ancient of Days.  The kingdom of the being “like a human being” would be everlasting.  So, when it seems like powers have arisen which cannot be opposed, but which stand in opposition to God, Christ has been given power to bring them down, and He will do so.  These visions tell us that no matter how bad things seem, God is in control and will come to the aid of His people.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 5-6.

The passage starts with the account about the writing on the wall which preceded the fall of Babylon.  This story is where we get the saying “I can see the writing on the wall.”  Of course, that saying has the problem in that by the time the writing was on the wall in this story it was too late for those to whom it was addressed.  When Daniel interpreted the writing for King Belshazzar, he reminded him that he, King Belshazzar, had known how King Nebuchadnezzar had been forced to acknowledge that he was not all powerful and that God is sovereign.  Yet King Belshazzar had nevertheless chosen to use vessels which had been dedicated to the worship of God to worship other gods.  Belshazzar honored numerous other gods, but did not honor the God who held his life in His hands.  Not only did Belshazzar not honor God, he held God up to ridicule.  Don’t wait until you see the writing on the wall to acknowledge God and His greatness, because then it will be too late.

Later in the passage we have the account of Daniel in the lions’ den.  I want to focus on how he ended up the lions’ den.  Some of his political enemies, after trying and failing to find any dirt on Daniel, convinced the king to issue an edict making it illegal to worship anyone but him, the king, for thirty days.  Daniel knew of this edict but nevertheless continued to pray three times a day.  I want to look at what Daniel did a little more closely.  He went home to his upstairs room to pray.  By doing so he did two things.  He isolated himself so that he would not be distracted from his worship of God while he prayed, but he also made it so that his prayer would not intrude on those who had chosen, for one reason or another, not to worship God.  However, in that upstairs room he opened the windows towards Jerusalem and prayed in front of them.  By doing this no one could claim that he was hiding what he was doing (that is not why he did it, but I am confident that he was aware of this aspect of it).  Daniel made no effort to hide that he was worshiping God, even when doing so could land him in trouble.  On the other hand, he did not force his beliefs on others.  I believe that there are times when we are called to be more confrontational than Daniel was here, but there are also times when we should just quietly worship God, allowing others to ignore us if they choose, but not hiding what we believe.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 3-4.

Usually when I write on this passage I focus on the faith and bravery of our three young heroes when they are about to be thrown into the fiery furnace.  However today I was struck by Nebuchadnezzar’s decree and the way in which their noncompliance was reported to him.  It reminded me of parts of our culture today which require adherence to values which are contrary to those taught in the Bible.  While no one in the United States faces a fiery furnace for failing to bow down to these idols and beliefs, they may face expulsion from certain professions and other penalties for daring to remain faithful to God.  Our three heroes stood up when everyone else bowed down.  They knew the penalties they faced for publicly defying the king, but did so anyway, putting their faith in God.  They stood up and God rescued them from the fiery furnace.  Do we have faith that if we stand up today that God will rescue us from our “fiery furnace”?  More importantly, do we have the faith to say, “Even if He does not, we will not serve your gods?”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 11-12.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

When I was young, Christians spent a lot of time trying to interpret the apocalyptic prophecies such as those in this passage in an attempt to determine when Christ would return.  Sometime in the 1990s the Church in the United States got away from doing that.  While I think that is a good thing, as I believe Jesus made it clear that we will not know the date of return until it happens, we have also, for the most part, stopped trying to understand those passages.  That being said, I find it hard to know what to write about today’s passage.  However, the parts where the messenger talks about the end has some messages which we should take to heart.  He tells us that some of the wise will stumble, but they will be purified and made spotless by what they experience.  There will be a time of great distress, but those whose names are found written in the book will be delivered and those among them who have died will be raised to eternal life.  Then comes the part I want to focus on.  The messenger said that those who impart wisdom (the translation notes offer this as an alternative translation to what is translated as “who are wise”) and those who lead others to righteousness will shine brightly among those who are raised to eternal life.  While part of me wants to say that we should strive to impart wisdom and to lead others to righteousness, I have observed that most of the time the people who strive the hardest to do that have neither wisdom nor righteousness.  So, instead let us strive to live with wisdom and move towards righteousness.  Additionally, imparting wisdom and leading to righteousness are so closely related that they are almost the same thing.  We lead others to righteousness, to Christ, by imparting wisdom to them.  But, if we think we can impart wisdom because we are somehow better than those to whom we are imparting it, we lack wisdom and have not been led to righteousness.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 9-10.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

When Daniel realized that the time which Jeremiah had prophesied for Jerusalem to be desolate was coming to an end he began praying to God.  Daniel starts his prayer by praising God and by acknowledging that the punishment which God had meted out was deserved.  Only after confessing the sins of his people does Daniel beg forgiveness and restoration.  Then he makes a point which we must understand and internalize: Daniel does not ask God to restore them because of their righteousness.  He asks God to restore them because of God’s mercy.  In the same way, we need to recognize that we do not deserve the blessings we receive from God.  When we request things from God in prayer, we do not deserve to receive those things because of our righteousness, not even the things which we request for others.  No, our only basis for expecting God to answer our prayers is His goodness and mercy.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 7-8.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

Today’s passage contains Daniel’s vision of four beasts and his vision of the ram and the goat.  Traditionally, the four beasts are understood to be the same empires as those in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream which Daniel interpreted at the beginning of this book.  According to that interpretation, the beast like a lion is Babylon, the beast like a bear is Persia, the beast like a leopard with four heads is the Greek empire(s) established by Alexander, and the fourth beast would be the Roman empire (there is some debate about the fourth empire).  I am not convinced of this interpretation because when the fourth beast is slain and destroyed the other three are allowed to live for some time after that. It reads to me as if all four beasts existed at the same time.  I am not sure that the traditional interpretation is not correct, it just seems to me that it misses something.  I cannot, however, come up with a better interpretation.  What I do see in this vision is that someone who was “like a human being” (see translation notes) came before the throne of the Ancient of Days and was given authority and power over all of the earth in place of the four beasts.  I read the wording of the vision to suggest that the four beasts had incomplete authority over the earth, but that the One who was to come would have, does have, complete authority.  The various governments which arise over different parts of the world have authority for a time, but that authority is limited in scope.  While Jesus has authority for eternity and His authority is not limited in scope.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 5-6.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

There are many things we can learn from the story about the writing on the wall.  First, by the time you see the writing on the wall, let alone read it, it is too late.  Which brings me to the message.  In some ways that message is for all of us, at least the first part.  God has numbered our days, and while He may not yet have done so, He will bring them to an end.  And God is weighing us on His scales, if we rely on ourselves we will be found wanting.  When God weighs us on His scales only if we put our trust in Jesus will we not be found wanting.  Only by putting our faith in Him and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us will God’s scales balance in our favor. But do not wait until you can read the writing on the wall, because then it will be too late.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.