Category: Daniel

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Day 259 — Daniel 10 – 12

Daniel’s conversation with Gabriel reveals that much goes on in realms we wouldn’t even know exist, except for such revelations from the One Who knows. No details are revealed about this realm, but the details Gabriel shared about the events are evidence enough that it truly exists. Obviously there is so much that we don’t know; we are foolish to think that if our senses or technology can’t detect something then it doesn’t exist. I believe that God gives us the information He wants us to have about things we wouldn’t know about except through His revelation. Although our curiosity might demand more information, I suspect that He gives us little information about this/these other realm(s) for our own protection. Seeking more knowledge than what God has given or speculating about what we don’t know is unwise.

The vision that Gabriel was explaining to Daniel in these chapters was an enlargement upon the one described in chapter eight, again starting with the Persian Empire of Daniel’s day and filling in more details. Somewhere in those details the time period of those events’ fulfillment switches from our past to our future. I’m not sure where that is, the descriptions are so obscure. People who study what Scripture reveals of the end times may think that they have them figured out, but I’m skeptical of our ability to understand them if Daniel couldn’t. He was told to go his way rather than seek more understanding, because “the words are closed up and sealed until the time” the events actually take place.

I believe the take-away we should get from this is this: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” Since what is at stake here is whether we will rise or be delivered to everlasting life or to “shame and everlasting contempt,” hopefully we have chosen the way of wisdom and being such an example of righteousness that we lead others to righteousness. Of course, we know Messiah as Daniel didn’t, and He has revealed much more to us than Daniel knew about that. I firmly believe that seeking from the Scriptures regularly and systematically what God wants us to know, as we are doing daily this year, is one choice we make toward that end. What other choices might you need to make in light of the reality that the end will come?

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Day 258 — Daniel 7 – 9

End time prophecy is not of particular interest to me because I don’t believe we can imagine what God has in store, any more than the Old Testament students of prophecy could imagine what Messiah would be like from the prophecies revealed about Him. I am happy to appreciate the general message of prophecy and not get side-tracked by the details that I’m not going to comprehend anyway. It’s not copping out on prophecy, because the general message is so profound, so rewarding, so sustaining – really everything I need to know. That message is this: in the end GOD WINS! That means that good wins. Justice. Peace. Right. Righteousness. Our family is dealing with the death of a beloved pet right now, and the truth that God wins is unspeakably precious, a true comfort. Do you need to relish that hope right now? The enemy wants you to gloss over it and miss its impact, so don’t give him any satisfaction by missing this opportunity to find real encouragement and hope and to grow in your devotion to God by deeply appreciating this truth. Roll around in its luxury: God wins. Defeat whatever work the enemy wants to try to use to defeat you: God wins.

The part of the prophecies that were fulfilled in ancient history, though, now those interest me. I know that most of my readers don’t appreciate this history enough to recall it, so I will review it here so that we can marvel at how accurate the prophecies were. Daniel saw his vision during the reign of Darius the Mede, who ruled Babylon for Cyrus the Persian while Cyrus was abroad doing one of the big things that Greats did to earn the name Great: he was conquering his empire. The Medes and Persians, two people groups who had waxed and waned at various times in history, had united to team up against the Babylonians and now team-ruled their empire, which would come to be known as the Persian Empire. So that’s the starting point of the vision. Then the Greeks would wrest the empire from the hands of the Persians. At the time of Daniel’s vision, that was a joke, because the Greeks were nothing on the world scene, and Greece would have been seen as a backwater. Whatever good might have been budding there was unknown and unimportant to this much more happening part of the world. The Greeks weren’t even as threatening as a gnat hovering in the vicinity. But history records the staggeringly swift rise of Alexander the Great who did indeed conquer Persia in an amazingly short period of time. When Alexander died suddenly in his prime, his empire was divided into four kingdoms: Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Asia. Then the vision turns to the future, to our future. Another great example of how time flows like an air current in Biblical prophecy. The future is where it loses me. But I’m still clinging to the message: as bad as things will get, GOD WINS!

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Day 257 — Daniel 4 – 6

More easy and enjoyable stories in today’s reading.

I find it interesting that Daniel reported a world-shaking event in two obscure verses at the end of chapter 5, as if it weren’t important. That event was the end of the Babylonian empire as the capital city was invaded in a swift assault overnight, and the conquering Medes and Persians assumed control of the empire. History records that it literally happened that quickly, due to two Babylonians’ treasonous revelation to the Persians of a way past the city’s famously impenetrable defenses. Ancient historians describe it this way: “Cyrus diverted the Euphrates into a new channel, and guided by two deserters, marched by the dry bed into the city while the Babylonians were carousing at a feast of their gods,” the very event Daniel described in chapter 5.

We have already read in other prophets’ writings that this would be an earth-shattering event, like Joel’s description of the Day of the Lord; its occurrence was unbelievable to a large part of the world. And yet it was a simple matter for God. Why do you think He gave Nebuchadnezzar twelve months to acknowledge His sovereignty, but imposed judgment on Belshazzar immediately?

Critics had long pointed out that there was no Babylonian king named Belshazzar in recorded history, leading to the conclusion that the Bible thus is unreliable, until archaeologists uncovered evidence of his existence in 1853. That is a lesson to us not to allow man’s wisdom to undermine our faith in the truth of Scripture – all of Scripture. Man’s wisdom is limited and incomplete, as shown by the claim proven false when the dirt of years was removed to reveal facts that mankind had long forgotten.

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Day 256 — Daniel 1 – 3

These are much-loved chapters and don’t require much explanation from me, so I don’t want to waste your time with unnecessary words from me. I do want to point out the historical context of the book. Recall from the reading for Jeremiah 23 – 25 on day 224 (August 12) that Judah was carried into exile by the Babylonians in three waves. Daniel and his friends were deported in the first wave, indicating that they were from the most important families of the nation, the nobles. They would have been impressive young men, but understand that their choices in the events described here were what made them the outstanding characters that they were. It wasn’t the outstanding characters that enabled them to make the choices they did; rather, those characters were made by the choices. This is important because it teaches us that we can’t excuse ourselves from making the tough choices with the claim that we’re not Daniels. We can be like Daniels only if we’ll make the tough choices and do the hard things.

The statue in Daniel 2 depicts major empires in the world’s history. As Daniel explained, Babylon was the gold head. As the successor to the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Empire is the kingdom represented by the silver chest and arms. The bronze belly and thighs represent the Greek empire established by Alexander the Great. The fourth kingdom of iron represents the Roman Empire. These are clear to us because they are history to us. The feet of clay mixed with iron is debatable, but I believe that it is a kingdom yet to come. Since there is no clear reference for such a kingdom in history, I believe we haven’t seen that empire yet. The kingdom that will never be destroyed is of course the Church. Why do you suppose God wanted us to know about this vision?