Daniel 11: 2-9
This begins quite a long and detailed telling of all the future history of the world as it pertains to Israel from Daniel's time. It is most remarkable that we can point to historical records that reveal the accuracy of what Gabriel told Daniel hundreds of years ahead of the time they would happen.
(2) "And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia.
The three kings after Cyrus, who was on the throne at the time Gabriel was talking with Daniel, were: (first) Cambyses, Cyrus's elder son (529-523) who conquered Egypt; then (second) an imposter named Gaumata or Bardiya (523-522), who passed himself off as Cyrus's younger son, Smerdis, who had been murdered; and (third) Darius the Persian (522-485), the son of Hystaspes, who in 522 assassinated the imposter and gained the kingship for himself. This Darius was actually of royal blood, a cousin of Cyrus through his father, Hystaspes.
Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece.
This was Darius's son Xerxes (485-464), who is the one who invaded Greece.
(3) "And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.
This is, of course, Alexander the Great.
(4) "But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others besides them.
Because of his early death and having no heir, his kingdom was divided up among his four generals.
(5) "Then the king of the South will grow strong,
This is Ptolemy I (Soter), son of Lagus. During the 280 years between Ptolemy I and Cleopatra VII (who met her end around 30 B.C.) the domain of the Ptolemies was pretty well restricted to Egypt and Cyprus.
along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion;
This one of his princes was Seleucus Nicator. With Ptolemy's sponsorship, 310 became the official starting date for the Selucid Era.
his domain will be a great dominion indeed.
Since Seleucus secured control of Alexander's old domains all the way to the Indus on the east and to Syria and Phoenicia on the west, his authority far surpassed that of his sponsor, Ptolemy.
(6) "After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out a peaceful arrangement.
In 252 Ptolemy II (Philadelphus) made a treaty with Antiochus II (Theos) who agreed to marry Philadelphus's daughter, Berenice, but he was already married to Laodice!
But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.
Laodice was a powerful and influential woman who, from her place of banishment, arranged for Berenice and her infant son she'd borne to Theos to be assassinated, and not long after the king himself was poisoned to death (247 B.C.). So Berenice was given up and did not retain her ... power, nor did he remain with his power when they both died, and Laodice ruled as queen regent until her young son, Seleucus II (Callinicus), reached majority.
(7) "But one of the descendants of her line
This would be Ptolemy III (Euergetes), Berenice's brother, who took the throne upon his father's death (247).
will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display great strength.
He organized a great expeditionary force against Syria to avenge his sister's death, and the war raged from 246 to 241. Ptolemy captured and pillaged the Seleucid city of Antioch and invaded its eastern domains as far as Bactria.
(8) "Also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold he will take into captivity to Egypt,
Finally he returned to Egypt laden with spoil, the gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, recovering the long-lost idols and sacred treasures that Cambyses had taken as booty in 524. For this restoration of their national honor against the Persians they acclaimed him as Euergetes ("Benefactor").
and he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years.
This alludes to the peace treaty that Ptolemy III made with Seleucus II in 240.
(9) "Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land."
This refers to Seleucus II coming into northern Syria and Phoenicia, probably in the 230s, but there's no record that he entered into Egypt proper.
We will pause here and continue this prophesy next time.
God planned out everything that would happen, before He ever made anything at all. Before time began, God decided what He would do, how He would do it, and how it would finish.
Like a video game designer thinks up a game, the scenario it would be played on, the characters the players will deal with, and all the moves and plays that would be necessary to win and finish the game. This is a poor illustration, but I think that we can design these games using the creativity God placed in us when He made us in His image, after His likeness.
He is our Creator, and He has designed this Earth to be our environment to build our world upon. We have only one Earth, and we are responsible to take care of it as our home while we live here.
And He has given us everything we need, right here in and on this planet. He knows how He designed it all to work properly, for the Earth to yield its bounty and treasures to us as we work it according to the Manufacturer's Instructions. It's when we put aside the rule book and think that we can figure out a better idea that we get into trouble.
So God lets us experience the consequences of our decisions and choices, and when we come up short, it's because He wants us to turn to Him and His ways.
God has shown us His heart in His songbook, the Psalms. And He's shown us how to get along with one another in Proverbs. He's shown us the joys and rapture of marriage in the Song of Solomon. And He's laid out the requirements for correcting what's wrong and making it right in all the laws, rules, commandments, sacrifices, regulations, precepts, and other writings. He's shown us how others who have gone before us fared for good or ill as a result of their choices, to show us what we need to know to live.
Now it's up to us to learn what He's told us, and live accordingly.
O my Father, You are so good! And You are so good to us! We stumble and wander and lose the way to light and life, and many wonder why they are in such darkness. But Your light shines upon all who will call on You in humility and repentance. You are waiting with arms wide open for each of us to come to the end of ourselves and turn to You.
O Father, send out Your messengers, Your missionaries, Your children, to broadcast to the whole world how much You love each one of us. You have already done everything possible and impossible to cleanse away our filthiness to make us fit to be in Your presence. And You have called us to new birth into Your own divine family.
Father, you created Mankind to be Your children, and you are not willing for any of us to perish, but for all to come to repentance. That's why You sent Your own Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. And He is coming again, returning to this Earth to claim His throne and set up His Kingdom. And His rule will never end.
All the kings of the world can only reign for one lifetime, then their throne is passed on to the next. But King Jesus will not ever hand over His throne to any other, He will reign for ever, and His Kingdom will continue to grow forever, too.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Friday, May 8, 2020
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Invisible Spiritual Warfare
Daniel 10: 1-11: 1
(1) In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia
This year must have been about 535/534 B.C., as Cyrus was crowned king in Babylon after Darius the Mede, who reigned in Babylon until 538/537. So this would be the latest of all the visions recorded in the book of Daniel. So Daniel must be in his upper eighties by now, an old man.
a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision.
Daniel's vision was of great spiritual warfare that was actual and going on around us continually. He was able to understand this.
(2) In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks.
For three weeks he had been earnestly praying for his people Israel, probably having heard about the remnant of about forty-two thousand that had already gone back to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Joshua and reinstituted public worship at the site of the temple. He may have heard of the halting of construction on the temple, and was consumed with the desire to intercede for his people and obtain assurance from Yahweh that the nation would survive and carry out with honor and faithfulness its holy mission as God's witness to the world.
(3) I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.
He was so intent in his concern and prayer that for three weeks he mourned with a semi-fast and neglect of personal grooming.
(4) On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris,
It was early spring, on 24 Nisan (just ten days after Passover), and Daniel was evidently on some kind of official business that took him out of Babylon to the eastern part of Mesopotamia, to the bank of the Tigris River. So he must have been fasting during the Passover week.
(5) I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz.
(6) His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightening, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult.
This is the most detailed description in Scripture of the appearance of an angel. Other instances record details that are much like what Daniel describes here, and the way Christ appeared to John in Revelation 1: 14 is also similar. Spiritual beings who inhabit heavenly places are not limited to what humans can appear to be on this Earth in our flesh bodies. But when we are resurrected, when our mortal puts on immortality, and our corruptible is swallowed up in the incorruptible (I Corinthians 15: 54), then our spiritual bodies will also be freed from the limits we are now under, and we will glow as bright as the sun.
(7) Now, I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves.
Daniel was not by himself on the bank of the river, but all the men who were with him were scared away and they ran and hid from whatever this was. Only one who is spiritually alert will actually see a vision (see also Elisha in II Kings 6, and Saul in Acts 9:7).
(8) So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength.
So only Daniel saw this vision, and it wore him out. He was weakened and his complexion paled.
(9) But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.
And as soon as he heard this vision speaking, he passed out!
(10) Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
But when a hand touched him, he came to and he started to get up shakily.
(11) He said to me, "O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.
When the angel told him that he was considered precious, and that he had been sent to tell him something, he stood up in respect to hear it, still trembling.
(12) Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.
As soon as Daniel had decided to humble himself before the Lord on behalf of his people, God had sent the answer.
(13) "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days;
We are going to be let into the workings in the spiritual realm a little, with Gabriel's admissions to Daniel. God had sent him right away, but he was detained by the "prince" of the kingdom of Persia for the twenty-one days (three weeks) of Daniel's fasting and prayer.
So apparently there's some high-ranking spiritual "prince" controlling the kingdom of Persia, and he tried to keep Gabriel from coming to Daniel.
then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.
These "princes" over the nations must be very powerful, for Gabriel to need Michael's help to get to Daniel; he says he was stuck there with the Persian kings, without his help. Very serious stuff!
(14) "Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future."
Now that he's there, he will give Daniel some further revelation, for him to record it for us to read.
(15) When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless.
Daniel must have felt so inadequate for this personage to honor him this way, he looked down, as though shy, and couldn't say anything.
(16) And behold, one who resembled a human being was touching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, "O my lord, as a result of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength.
(17) "For how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me."
He couldn't say anything until another touch enabled his mouth to work again, and what he said shows his humility and subservience to this angel.
(18) Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.
(19) He said, "O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!" Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, "May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me."
A third touch communicated physical strength to Daniel, and also the encouragement helped him to focus on what the angel had to say to him.
(20) Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.
Then Gabriel tells us more about the unseen war taking place around us. He must return to the war with the prince of Persia, and even the prince of Greece will take part against him.
(21) "However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of Truth. (Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.
(1) "In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.)"
This next chapter will show us what Gabriel was telling Daniel, but first he gives us more information about the war in the unseen realm. He says that all the other "princes" over all the other nations are fighting against him, and the only one who will help him is Michael, who he calls, "your prince." So Michael is the prince over Israel.
And back in Darius' first year, when the king took such a liking to Daniel, we find here that it could have been because Gabriel was strengthening Michael against the "prince" of Persia.
This unseen conflict explains so much of what is going on today in the world, with the nations of the world and what they're doing (and why they're hiding stuff and lying!). And why so many in the world today are so deceived, listening to leaders who are leading to destruction.
As I study God's written word and look at what's going on in the world today, I think that I see the possibility of the first four seals and the first three trumpets of the book of Revelation may have already come to pass.
I know for sure that the second coming of Jesus Christ will be very soon. I hope all my readers are ready to face our King and Judge, and are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
O my Father, I pray for our Presidents, our Prime Ministers, all the leaders of our nations. I pray that Your warrior angels, Gabriel and Michael, and whatever other ones You know, to be given the power and strength to overshadow the evil spiritual authorities who are leading this world into hell.
Please give us the time, the opportunity, and the resources to broadcast Your Gospel to every living person, so that each one will be able to understand how much You love us all, and be drawn to the birth into Your family, or have no excuse for rejecting Your gracious and generous gift.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
(1) In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia
This year must have been about 535/534 B.C., as Cyrus was crowned king in Babylon after Darius the Mede, who reigned in Babylon until 538/537. So this would be the latest of all the visions recorded in the book of Daniel. So Daniel must be in his upper eighties by now, an old man.
a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision.
Daniel's vision was of great spiritual warfare that was actual and going on around us continually. He was able to understand this.
(2) In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks.
For three weeks he had been earnestly praying for his people Israel, probably having heard about the remnant of about forty-two thousand that had already gone back to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Joshua and reinstituted public worship at the site of the temple. He may have heard of the halting of construction on the temple, and was consumed with the desire to intercede for his people and obtain assurance from Yahweh that the nation would survive and carry out with honor and faithfulness its holy mission as God's witness to the world.
(3) I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.
He was so intent in his concern and prayer that for three weeks he mourned with a semi-fast and neglect of personal grooming.
(4) On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris,
It was early spring, on 24 Nisan (just ten days after Passover), and Daniel was evidently on some kind of official business that took him out of Babylon to the eastern part of Mesopotamia, to the bank of the Tigris River. So he must have been fasting during the Passover week.
(5) I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz.
(6) His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightening, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult.
This is the most detailed description in Scripture of the appearance of an angel. Other instances record details that are much like what Daniel describes here, and the way Christ appeared to John in Revelation 1: 14 is also similar. Spiritual beings who inhabit heavenly places are not limited to what humans can appear to be on this Earth in our flesh bodies. But when we are resurrected, when our mortal puts on immortality, and our corruptible is swallowed up in the incorruptible (I Corinthians 15: 54), then our spiritual bodies will also be freed from the limits we are now under, and we will glow as bright as the sun.
(7) Now, I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves.
Daniel was not by himself on the bank of the river, but all the men who were with him were scared away and they ran and hid from whatever this was. Only one who is spiritually alert will actually see a vision (see also Elisha in II Kings 6, and Saul in Acts 9:7).
(8) So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength.
So only Daniel saw this vision, and it wore him out. He was weakened and his complexion paled.
(9) But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.
And as soon as he heard this vision speaking, he passed out!
(10) Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
But when a hand touched him, he came to and he started to get up shakily.
(11) He said to me, "O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.
When the angel told him that he was considered precious, and that he had been sent to tell him something, he stood up in respect to hear it, still trembling.
(12) Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.
As soon as Daniel had decided to humble himself before the Lord on behalf of his people, God had sent the answer.
(13) "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days;
We are going to be let into the workings in the spiritual realm a little, with Gabriel's admissions to Daniel. God had sent him right away, but he was detained by the "prince" of the kingdom of Persia for the twenty-one days (three weeks) of Daniel's fasting and prayer.
So apparently there's some high-ranking spiritual "prince" controlling the kingdom of Persia, and he tried to keep Gabriel from coming to Daniel.
then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.
These "princes" over the nations must be very powerful, for Gabriel to need Michael's help to get to Daniel; he says he was stuck there with the Persian kings, without his help. Very serious stuff!
(14) "Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future."
Now that he's there, he will give Daniel some further revelation, for him to record it for us to read.
(15) When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless.
Daniel must have felt so inadequate for this personage to honor him this way, he looked down, as though shy, and couldn't say anything.
(16) And behold, one who resembled a human being was touching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, "O my lord, as a result of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength.
(17) "For how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me."
He couldn't say anything until another touch enabled his mouth to work again, and what he said shows his humility and subservience to this angel.
(18) Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.
(19) He said, "O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!" Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, "May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me."
A third touch communicated physical strength to Daniel, and also the encouragement helped him to focus on what the angel had to say to him.
(20) Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.
Then Gabriel tells us more about the unseen war taking place around us. He must return to the war with the prince of Persia, and even the prince of Greece will take part against him.
(21) "However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of Truth. (Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.
(1) "In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.)"
This next chapter will show us what Gabriel was telling Daniel, but first he gives us more information about the war in the unseen realm. He says that all the other "princes" over all the other nations are fighting against him, and the only one who will help him is Michael, who he calls, "your prince." So Michael is the prince over Israel.
And back in Darius' first year, when the king took such a liking to Daniel, we find here that it could have been because Gabriel was strengthening Michael against the "prince" of Persia.
This unseen conflict explains so much of what is going on today in the world, with the nations of the world and what they're doing (and why they're hiding stuff and lying!). And why so many in the world today are so deceived, listening to leaders who are leading to destruction.
As I study God's written word and look at what's going on in the world today, I think that I see the possibility of the first four seals and the first three trumpets of the book of Revelation may have already come to pass.
I know for sure that the second coming of Jesus Christ will be very soon. I hope all my readers are ready to face our King and Judge, and are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
O my Father, I pray for our Presidents, our Prime Ministers, all the leaders of our nations. I pray that Your warrior angels, Gabriel and Michael, and whatever other ones You know, to be given the power and strength to overshadow the evil spiritual authorities who are leading this world into hell.
Please give us the time, the opportunity, and the resources to broadcast Your Gospel to every living person, so that each one will be able to understand how much You love us all, and be drawn to the birth into Your family, or have no excuse for rejecting Your gracious and generous gift.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Seventy Weeks
Daniel 9: 24-27
This is the third revelation God is giving to Daniel, and Gabriel has told him that he has come to give him insight and understanding because he is highly esteemed.
This is the information we all need to understand.
(24) "Seventy weeks have been decreed
This is a specific time sequence, these "seventy sevens" means seventy heptads of years, or 490 years.
for your people and your holy city,
This is specifically for the Jews and Jerusalem, it does not include the rest of the world, for these six things to be accomplished.
to finish the transgression,
Man's transgression or rebellion against God will not be "finished" until an entirely new order is established on Earth, composed of citizens who have no more compulsion to rebel.
to make an end of sin,
This refers to "missing the mark" in our choices and decisions; it is us not being perfect. This would be a bringing in of a whole new society and culture, unlike what is in the world today, or ever was.
These could only refer to the establishment of Christ's Kingdom after His Second Coming.
to make atonement for iniquity,
This was accomplished by Jesus as the Lamb of God, fulfilling the sacrifices on the Cross to redeem us and establish His Lordship over us to judge.
to bring in everlasting righteousness,
This indicates an order of society in which righteousness, justice, and conformity to the standards of Scripture will prevail on Earth, rather than the temporary periods of upright government that have occasionally occurred in history up to now.
to seal up vision and prophesy,
This means to finish everything that has been revealed. To accomplish everything that has been promised, and every vision and prophesy that has been given to us in all of Scripture.
The Bible is the whole story of Mankind, from before the beginning until after the Age of Man is finished. So this seventy weeks is a specific time for all these past present and future things to be accomplished, from Israel's point of view.
and to anoint the most holy place.
This is most likely in the Millennial Temple where King Jesus will sit upon the Mercy Seat as the throne of David, that the Lord gave to David to sit upon (I Chronicles 29: 23). So our Lord God, King Jesus, will take back His throne to rule this Earth.
(Note: God had been the King over Israel since He rescued them from Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land. He was with them in the cloud of the Shekinah Glory upon the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle.
The book of Judges records the roller coaster time when the people went up and down following their King, being blessed by Him, then forgetting Him and losing the blessings, then turning back around again to obey Him, over and over again. Then they decided they wanted to be like the other nations, and have a human king instead of the Lord (I Samuel 8: 4-8). So the Lord gave His throne to David, and it's been called David's throne ever since.)
(25) "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
So this seventy sevens, divided up into three periods of time, will start with an official decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
The first seven would be 49 years, then the sixty-two sevens would be another 434 years, totaling 483 years.
The first 49 years will be for the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem, and it will be built even when other people are trying to prevent it.
Then after the whole 483 years, Messiah the Prince will appear. This so far is all history, so we can calculate it according to how it has already worked out.
(26) "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing,
This specifies that after the sixty-nine heptads, when the Messiah appears, He will be cut off. This accords perfectly with Jesus' three-year ministry before His crucifixion.
If the terminus a quo for the decree be reckoned as 457 B.C. when Ezra returned to Jerusalem, then the first seven sevens would have run from 457 to 408, within which time the rebuilding of the walls, streets, and moats was completed.
Then from 408 we would count off the next sixty-two sevens and come out to A.D. 27 (subtracting the 408 from the 434, and accounting for the year gained in not counting the year zero between B.C and A.D.). If Christ was crucified on 14 Abib A.D. 30, as is generally believed, this would come out to the exact fulfillment of the terms laid out here.
And He will have nothing--or--no one. All His disciples fled from him when He was arrested, and He never did have anything in the area of possessions in this world. So this also was fulfilled.
So both the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem, and the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ were both fulfilled exactly as this prophesy predicted!
and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
This prince who is to come could be the end-time beast of Revelation 13 who rules in the power of the Dragon (v. 2); who has followers in every time, including the Roman army under Titus who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70. This was forty years after Calvary, or forty-three years after the end of the sixty-ninth "week".
And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
The end will come like a flood, overflowing everything; and until then, there will be continual wars, and specific desolations have been decreed. God's plan will work out just as He planned it.
In Jesus' own words in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24: 7-22), He stated that hardships, suffering, and wars would continue right up to the end of this present age, culminating in a time of unparalleled tribulation.
This entire intervening period is referred to before the seventieth "week." So it is reasonable to infer that a period of war and desolation is to intervene between the sixty-ninth week (Christ's first coming) and the seventieth week (of His second coming).
God has not been dealing directly with His people Israel during this time He is building His bride for His Son. So the timing God gives Daniel here would be the times He is working directly with His people Israel as a nation. He is taking some Jewish people out of the nation into His church during this time, but His direct dealing with the nation will resume during the last week.
(27) "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week,
This "he" has as an antecedent the Prince whose people destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple (in the preceding verse). Since this cannot be the same person in both places and times, it must refer to the power behind the prince, or beast, or the ten toes of Chapter 2, or the ten-horned beast of chapter 7; so it would be the one holding the dictatorship over the whole world during this final week of time allotted to Mankind.
This says he will sign a treaty that will be up for renegotiation in seven years. Who are the many that he is making this covenant with? In the Qumran Rule of the Congregation, this word often occurs in reference to the community of "true believers," and is translated "the congregation." So this could be referring to the Israelites who recognize and worship "The Great I Am" with sacrifices in the rebuilt temple.
Or it could be referring to the specific nations who populate the Middle-East area of the world. He would be a great peace-maker, bring harmony to this most consistently troubled area of the world.
but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering;
After three-and-a-half years into this seven, this world dictator will break his own treaty, and come down hard on these Jews.
and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate,
This antichrist will swoop down like a vulture on his beleaguered victims to oppress and plunder them.
even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."
This oppression and plundering will continue until this antichrist himself will be destroyed.
Daniel was told that these seventy weeks only pertained to the Jews and their city, Jerusalem. So Daniel went back to writing in Hebrew, for his people.
These seventy weeks do not constitute all the time God will give the world on this Earth, only the time He would be working directly with the nation Israel. So when we see that all three segments of this time-line may not be immediately consecutive with one another, we shouldn't worry about it. God has divided up this time into three distinct segments, so they don't have to flow directly into one another. When God turns His attention to someone else for a while, that's His prerogative. He is God, we are not.
We see that the first sixty-nine weeks of years are history. We are still waiting for the last seven years.
During this interval, while we are living now, we are still waiting for that last week to come, when God will again work with Israel as a nation. The man who will show himself to be the antichrist will do so by acting in hubris as a world ruler, in brokering a peace treaty in the Middle East, something no one else has been able to do. He will be hailed as a great peace-maker, and admired all over the world.
Then in the middle of the terms of the treaty, this braggart will demand worship from the world, not just admiration. He's so full of himself, he places himself above every god that is worshiped, from every religion, and commands that everyone worship him. And being the world ruler, he decrees that no one will be able to do any commerce at all unless they do it his way, to get his "mark" indicating worship of himself, which will be the only way people will have access to finances they can buy or sell with.
So this antichrist will tie up all commerce in the world, connecting every transaction to himself. He will be the source of everything everyone will need, instead of God. And those who don't want to worship him will need to go "underground" to be able to barter for what they need (as in Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' "Left Behind" series of books).
O my Father, You are so kind to us to tell us what to expect. We know that everything You do is for Your purposes. And You left us here after You saved us, so that we would be Your hands and feet doing Your work in Your power to grow Your Kingdom. Father, help each of Your children to grow to maturity, and use us to grow the numerical size of Your Kingdom, also.
O Father, prepare us to be ready to face all of the desolations You have prepared for the world. Protect us and give us Your strength to bear whatever hardships they may bring on us. Show us how to help one another through the horrors and sorrows that are coming, to love one another as You have loved us, unconditionally, putting their need at a higher priority than our own.
Let the love we demonstrate to one another show the world how much You love them, too, and draw them to Yourself, to also be born into Your family, Your Kingdom. And may no rebel have any excuse for refusing Your gracious and generous offer.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Source, our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
This is the third revelation God is giving to Daniel, and Gabriel has told him that he has come to give him insight and understanding because he is highly esteemed.
This is the information we all need to understand.
(24) "Seventy weeks have been decreed
This is a specific time sequence, these "seventy sevens" means seventy heptads of years, or 490 years.
for your people and your holy city,
This is specifically for the Jews and Jerusalem, it does not include the rest of the world, for these six things to be accomplished.
to finish the transgression,
Man's transgression or rebellion against God will not be "finished" until an entirely new order is established on Earth, composed of citizens who have no more compulsion to rebel.
to make an end of sin,
This refers to "missing the mark" in our choices and decisions; it is us not being perfect. This would be a bringing in of a whole new society and culture, unlike what is in the world today, or ever was.
These could only refer to the establishment of Christ's Kingdom after His Second Coming.
to make atonement for iniquity,
This was accomplished by Jesus as the Lamb of God, fulfilling the sacrifices on the Cross to redeem us and establish His Lordship over us to judge.
to bring in everlasting righteousness,
This indicates an order of society in which righteousness, justice, and conformity to the standards of Scripture will prevail on Earth, rather than the temporary periods of upright government that have occasionally occurred in history up to now.
to seal up vision and prophesy,
This means to finish everything that has been revealed. To accomplish everything that has been promised, and every vision and prophesy that has been given to us in all of Scripture.
The Bible is the whole story of Mankind, from before the beginning until after the Age of Man is finished. So this seventy weeks is a specific time for all these past present and future things to be accomplished, from Israel's point of view.
and to anoint the most holy place.
This is most likely in the Millennial Temple where King Jesus will sit upon the Mercy Seat as the throne of David, that the Lord gave to David to sit upon (I Chronicles 29: 23). So our Lord God, King Jesus, will take back His throne to rule this Earth.
(Note: God had been the King over Israel since He rescued them from Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land. He was with them in the cloud of the Shekinah Glory upon the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle.
The book of Judges records the roller coaster time when the people went up and down following their King, being blessed by Him, then forgetting Him and losing the blessings, then turning back around again to obey Him, over and over again. Then they decided they wanted to be like the other nations, and have a human king instead of the Lord (I Samuel 8: 4-8). So the Lord gave His throne to David, and it's been called David's throne ever since.)
(25) "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
So this seventy sevens, divided up into three periods of time, will start with an official decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
The first seven would be 49 years, then the sixty-two sevens would be another 434 years, totaling 483 years.
The first 49 years will be for the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem, and it will be built even when other people are trying to prevent it.
Then after the whole 483 years, Messiah the Prince will appear. This so far is all history, so we can calculate it according to how it has already worked out.
(26) "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing,
This specifies that after the sixty-nine heptads, when the Messiah appears, He will be cut off. This accords perfectly with Jesus' three-year ministry before His crucifixion.
If the terminus a quo for the decree be reckoned as 457 B.C. when Ezra returned to Jerusalem, then the first seven sevens would have run from 457 to 408, within which time the rebuilding of the walls, streets, and moats was completed.
Then from 408 we would count off the next sixty-two sevens and come out to A.D. 27 (subtracting the 408 from the 434, and accounting for the year gained in not counting the year zero between B.C and A.D.). If Christ was crucified on 14 Abib A.D. 30, as is generally believed, this would come out to the exact fulfillment of the terms laid out here.
And He will have nothing--or--no one. All His disciples fled from him when He was arrested, and He never did have anything in the area of possessions in this world. So this also was fulfilled.
So both the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem, and the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ were both fulfilled exactly as this prophesy predicted!
and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
This prince who is to come could be the end-time beast of Revelation 13 who rules in the power of the Dragon (v. 2); who has followers in every time, including the Roman army under Titus who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70. This was forty years after Calvary, or forty-three years after the end of the sixty-ninth "week".
And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
The end will come like a flood, overflowing everything; and until then, there will be continual wars, and specific desolations have been decreed. God's plan will work out just as He planned it.
In Jesus' own words in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24: 7-22), He stated that hardships, suffering, and wars would continue right up to the end of this present age, culminating in a time of unparalleled tribulation.
This entire intervening period is referred to before the seventieth "week." So it is reasonable to infer that a period of war and desolation is to intervene between the sixty-ninth week (Christ's first coming) and the seventieth week (of His second coming).
God has not been dealing directly with His people Israel during this time He is building His bride for His Son. So the timing God gives Daniel here would be the times He is working directly with His people Israel as a nation. He is taking some Jewish people out of the nation into His church during this time, but His direct dealing with the nation will resume during the last week.
(27) "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week,
This "he" has as an antecedent the Prince whose people destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple (in the preceding verse). Since this cannot be the same person in both places and times, it must refer to the power behind the prince, or beast, or the ten toes of Chapter 2, or the ten-horned beast of chapter 7; so it would be the one holding the dictatorship over the whole world during this final week of time allotted to Mankind.
This says he will sign a treaty that will be up for renegotiation in seven years. Who are the many that he is making this covenant with? In the Qumran Rule of the Congregation, this word often occurs in reference to the community of "true believers," and is translated "the congregation." So this could be referring to the Israelites who recognize and worship "The Great I Am" with sacrifices in the rebuilt temple.
Or it could be referring to the specific nations who populate the Middle-East area of the world. He would be a great peace-maker, bring harmony to this most consistently troubled area of the world.
but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering;
After three-and-a-half years into this seven, this world dictator will break his own treaty, and come down hard on these Jews.
and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate,
This antichrist will swoop down like a vulture on his beleaguered victims to oppress and plunder them.
even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."
This oppression and plundering will continue until this antichrist himself will be destroyed.
Daniel was told that these seventy weeks only pertained to the Jews and their city, Jerusalem. So Daniel went back to writing in Hebrew, for his people.
These seventy weeks do not constitute all the time God will give the world on this Earth, only the time He would be working directly with the nation Israel. So when we see that all three segments of this time-line may not be immediately consecutive with one another, we shouldn't worry about it. God has divided up this time into three distinct segments, so they don't have to flow directly into one another. When God turns His attention to someone else for a while, that's His prerogative. He is God, we are not.
We see that the first sixty-nine weeks of years are history. We are still waiting for the last seven years.
During this interval, while we are living now, we are still waiting for that last week to come, when God will again work with Israel as a nation. The man who will show himself to be the antichrist will do so by acting in hubris as a world ruler, in brokering a peace treaty in the Middle East, something no one else has been able to do. He will be hailed as a great peace-maker, and admired all over the world.
Then in the middle of the terms of the treaty, this braggart will demand worship from the world, not just admiration. He's so full of himself, he places himself above every god that is worshiped, from every religion, and commands that everyone worship him. And being the world ruler, he decrees that no one will be able to do any commerce at all unless they do it his way, to get his "mark" indicating worship of himself, which will be the only way people will have access to finances they can buy or sell with.
So this antichrist will tie up all commerce in the world, connecting every transaction to himself. He will be the source of everything everyone will need, instead of God. And those who don't want to worship him will need to go "underground" to be able to barter for what they need (as in Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' "Left Behind" series of books).
O my Father, You are so kind to us to tell us what to expect. We know that everything You do is for Your purposes. And You left us here after You saved us, so that we would be Your hands and feet doing Your work in Your power to grow Your Kingdom. Father, help each of Your children to grow to maturity, and use us to grow the numerical size of Your Kingdom, also.
O Father, prepare us to be ready to face all of the desolations You have prepared for the world. Protect us and give us Your strength to bear whatever hardships they may bring on us. Show us how to help one another through the horrors and sorrows that are coming, to love one another as You have loved us, unconditionally, putting their need at a higher priority than our own.
Let the love we demonstrate to one another show the world how much You love them, too, and draw them to Yourself, to also be born into Your family, Your Kingdom. And may no rebel have any excuse for refusing Your gracious and generous offer.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Source, our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Monday, May 4, 2020
Gabriel Comes To Daniel Again
Daniel 9: 20-23
(20) Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,
You can see the whole content of Daniel's prayer that he was praying in the earlier verses of this chapter.
(21) while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.
Daniel was interrupted as he prayed, the angel came without waiting for him to finish. Daniel was wearing himself out in his prayer, and it was the late afternoon.
(22) He gave me instruction and talked with me
Gabriel didn't just "instruct" him, but they actually had a conversation.
and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.
Gabriel wants to not only give him information, but to help him understand what it is all about. So they probably had more give-and-take conversation than is summarized here. It looks like they're becoming friends!
(23) "At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision."
He tells him that as soon as he started to pray, Gabriel got the assignment to go back to him again, to let him know what God is planning. And he encouraged him in telling him how well he is liked! He has friends in High Places!
This is all so amazing! Why would Daniel be so "highly esteemed"? Because he humbled himself before the Lord? Because he remained faithful to the Lord in the midst of interacting with the pagan society that surrounded him, for many decades? Yes, I think so.
I think that God "highly esteems" every person who humbles himself before the Lord in repentance and faith in Christ's taking their death for them on the Cross. That is His desire for every one of us humans. He created Mankind to be His own children, so He is "patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (II Peter 3: 9).
But He will still fulfill what He said He would do, in returning to this Earth to judge the wicked and reward the righteous. "But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief" (II Peter 3: 10), "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the Day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober" (I Thessalonians 5: 4-6).
We are to wake up, be serious and solemn, carefully studying what God has told us to prepare us; so that we will not be surprised at the horrendous goings on around us, as God pours out His wrath on the ungodly, that it will not touch us. All that can touch us is the people who are deceived by the liar, who will persecute the godly.
God esteems each of us so highly that He causes us to be born into His own family (higher than the angels) to sit on thrones to rule in Christ's authority as He rules in the Father's authority. This is the most amazing thing ever!
We are the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, to be united with Him forever! Just as He and the Father are one (John 17: 11). He gave us marriage as a picture of the intimate relationship He wants to have with each of us.
Now Gabriel will give Daniel another vision, the most complicated, detailed and mysterious one yet.
O my Father, please help us also to have understanding of what You showed Daniel, as Gabriel gave to him. Father, we are so close to the fulfillment of this prophesy, we can calculate what has already passed; but we need Your guidance to see what to expect in coming days. It is coming so soon, please let us see it even as we are in the midst of it, so we will know that You will be with us to protect us and strengthen us through it all.
My Father, help us to trust You more through everything You said would be coming before the very end. Show us how we can all work to promote Your Kingdom and Your program. Teach each of us what You have equipped us to accomplish for the benefit of our sisters and brothers and neighbors, and to grow Your Kingdom both in maturity and numerically.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
(20) Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,
You can see the whole content of Daniel's prayer that he was praying in the earlier verses of this chapter.
(21) while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.
Daniel was interrupted as he prayed, the angel came without waiting for him to finish. Daniel was wearing himself out in his prayer, and it was the late afternoon.
(22) He gave me instruction and talked with me
Gabriel didn't just "instruct" him, but they actually had a conversation.
and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.
Gabriel wants to not only give him information, but to help him understand what it is all about. So they probably had more give-and-take conversation than is summarized here. It looks like they're becoming friends!
(23) "At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision."
He tells him that as soon as he started to pray, Gabriel got the assignment to go back to him again, to let him know what God is planning. And he encouraged him in telling him how well he is liked! He has friends in High Places!
This is all so amazing! Why would Daniel be so "highly esteemed"? Because he humbled himself before the Lord? Because he remained faithful to the Lord in the midst of interacting with the pagan society that surrounded him, for many decades? Yes, I think so.
I think that God "highly esteems" every person who humbles himself before the Lord in repentance and faith in Christ's taking their death for them on the Cross. That is His desire for every one of us humans. He created Mankind to be His own children, so He is "patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (II Peter 3: 9).
But He will still fulfill what He said He would do, in returning to this Earth to judge the wicked and reward the righteous. "But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief" (II Peter 3: 10), "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the Day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober" (I Thessalonians 5: 4-6).
We are to wake up, be serious and solemn, carefully studying what God has told us to prepare us; so that we will not be surprised at the horrendous goings on around us, as God pours out His wrath on the ungodly, that it will not touch us. All that can touch us is the people who are deceived by the liar, who will persecute the godly.
God esteems each of us so highly that He causes us to be born into His own family (higher than the angels) to sit on thrones to rule in Christ's authority as He rules in the Father's authority. This is the most amazing thing ever!
We are the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, to be united with Him forever! Just as He and the Father are one (John 17: 11). He gave us marriage as a picture of the intimate relationship He wants to have with each of us.
Now Gabriel will give Daniel another vision, the most complicated, detailed and mysterious one yet.
O my Father, please help us also to have understanding of what You showed Daniel, as Gabriel gave to him. Father, we are so close to the fulfillment of this prophesy, we can calculate what has already passed; but we need Your guidance to see what to expect in coming days. It is coming so soon, please let us see it even as we are in the midst of it, so we will know that You will be with us to protect us and strengthen us through it all.
My Father, help us to trust You more through everything You said would be coming before the very end. Show us how we can all work to promote Your Kingdom and Your program. Teach each of us what You have equipped us to accomplish for the benefit of our sisters and brothers and neighbors, and to grow Your Kingdom both in maturity and numerically.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Daniel's Prayer
Daniel 9: 1-19
There is much for us to learn from the prayer of this godly man.
(1) In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus [Xerxes], of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans--
Here we see again that Darius was made king; not that he had won the kingship, but that it had been granted to him by another.
(2) in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
Daniel has never waned in his personal time of study in God's word. Now he is realizing that God had told Jeremiah a specific number of years for this captivity to last. He recognized that the "I AM" God Almighty had spoken to Jeremiah, and trusted his words.
He was gripped when he read, "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place [Jerusalem]" (Jeremiah 29: 10)! Why, it was almost 70 years since he himself had been deported to this foreign land! It was almost time for God to do what He said!
(3) So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
This prompted Daniel to earnestly seek his Lord (his Boss), seriously and intently.
(4) I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, "Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
He says that he approached the "I AM" God, and addressed Him humbly as his Lord, acknowledging that He is faithful and true, and lovingly keeps His promises to those who love Him back and obey Him.
(5) "we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.
Then he confesses the sins of the people, including himself in the number, of those who have disobeyed and gone astray and refused to take Him seriously.
(6) "Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your Name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.
And even when God sent His prophets to try to bring them back to their senses, they didn't even take them seriously, either.
(7) "Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day--to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.
He is ashamed of his whole nation, all of them have ignored their righteous and holy Lord, everywhere they have gone, both near and far.
(8) "Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and fathers, because we have sinned against You.
They all need to hang their heads in shame, as he is hanging his head for all of them before this kind, benevolent Lord, the Boss who they all have disobeyed.
(9) "To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;
Our Lord shows compassion on all of His people, to forgive and atone for all their rebellion and stiff-necked arrogance against Him.
(10) "nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.
They have ignored the "I AM" God Almighty to their own peril, discounting the benefits of following His rules and guidelines to align their lives with the way He designed the world to work. Even when He sent His prophets to remind them!
(11) "Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.
When Moses gave them God's Law and told them how good it would be for them to obey it, he also let them know the consequences of not following it, of going against it. And the accuracy of what Moses said has been borne out, because they have experienced all the effects of the curse.
(12) "Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole Heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.
God has proved His word to be true in allowing His people to experience the consequences of their choices and decisions. Never before in human history has such destruction come upon any other kingdom than has come upon God's own nation in their disobedience.
(13) "As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth.
Even though we're going through exactly what You said would happen, we still insanely refuse to give any weight to our Creator who designed it all!
(14) "Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
Our "I AM" God Almighty is doing exactly what He said He would do, to allow all the calamity that naturally ensues when people go against how things are to work! He is faithful, and His Love for us is fierce!
(15) "And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day--we have sinned, we have been wicked.
(16) "O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.
Daniel entreats His Lord to do what He has done before when He showed the world His power and authority by bringing His people out of Egypt; to do it again to bring His people out of all the nations to which He sent them out, to bring them back to His own city and the land that bears His Name, to remove the reproach on His own reputation! Not because we deserve anything, because we don't!
(17) "So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.
(18) "O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.
(19) "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."
Now Daniel pours out his heart to his God, his Creator, his Lord, his King. He begs God to defend His own reputation! Not because of anything he, Daniel, has done, or because of anything that God's people have done, because we all have sinned! But just because other nations see His people and His land and have slandered Him! Daniel's heart is breaking for the Name of his God to be upheld and respected and honored!
Daniel sees that God is ready to turn a corner for His people, and pours out his heart to be ready for it. And we can see God's Plan of the Ages coming to a head in our own world today. God is getting ready to turn a big corner very soon, and He wants us also to be ready for everything He said would be happening to us and all around us as the End Time marches on!
We also need to pour out our own hearts to our most gracious and generous and compassionate Lord God! We also can implore Him to use us as His hands and feet as the body of Christ to do His work in our own little worlds; to find His unborn children who are still seeking for purpose, to share His most wonderful answer of Salvation and Redemption, to bring them to the birth into His own family with us.
O my Father, please help us! Break our hearts for what breaks Your heart! We have all sinned against Your righteous ways, and we have all suffered the consequences of our own and others' sins! We have ignored Your ways, and decided to follow other paths, that lead only to destruction!
My Father, have mercy! My Father, forgive! My Father, magnify Your own Name that You have placed on us! We are Your children, Your family. Teach us how to live our daily lives by Your ways, to think Your thoughts not ours, and to do Your works, not our own projects.
Strengthen us, O Father, to boldly accomplish what You have uniquely gifted each of us to do. Father, You made us all different, so that everything would get done! Help us to cooperate with one another, to do what we can for one another that we cannot do for ourselves. Show us how to meet one another's needs, to give them first priority over our own needs, trusting that You will send someone else to help us.
Father, You have put us all in the same body as different body parts to work together. Help us not to allow the rough edges to irritate us, but to rub us smooth, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Manifest Yourself in us, dear Father! Let the love and care we have for one another show the world how much You love them, and sent Your own Son for them.
Let Your light shine in us out to all the world, Father! That every living person will see and hear and understand Your gracious and generous gift!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
There is much for us to learn from the prayer of this godly man.
(1) In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus [Xerxes], of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans--
Here we see again that Darius was made king; not that he had won the kingship, but that it had been granted to him by another.
(2) in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
Daniel has never waned in his personal time of study in God's word. Now he is realizing that God had told Jeremiah a specific number of years for this captivity to last. He recognized that the "I AM" God Almighty had spoken to Jeremiah, and trusted his words.
He was gripped when he read, "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place [Jerusalem]" (Jeremiah 29: 10)! Why, it was almost 70 years since he himself had been deported to this foreign land! It was almost time for God to do what He said!
(3) So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
This prompted Daniel to earnestly seek his Lord (his Boss), seriously and intently.
(4) I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, "Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
He says that he approached the "I AM" God, and addressed Him humbly as his Lord, acknowledging that He is faithful and true, and lovingly keeps His promises to those who love Him back and obey Him.
(5) "we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.
Then he confesses the sins of the people, including himself in the number, of those who have disobeyed and gone astray and refused to take Him seriously.
(6) "Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your Name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.
And even when God sent His prophets to try to bring them back to their senses, they didn't even take them seriously, either.
(7) "Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day--to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.
He is ashamed of his whole nation, all of them have ignored their righteous and holy Lord, everywhere they have gone, both near and far.
(8) "Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and fathers, because we have sinned against You.
They all need to hang their heads in shame, as he is hanging his head for all of them before this kind, benevolent Lord, the Boss who they all have disobeyed.
(9) "To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;
Our Lord shows compassion on all of His people, to forgive and atone for all their rebellion and stiff-necked arrogance against Him.
(10) "nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.
They have ignored the "I AM" God Almighty to their own peril, discounting the benefits of following His rules and guidelines to align their lives with the way He designed the world to work. Even when He sent His prophets to remind them!
(11) "Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.
When Moses gave them God's Law and told them how good it would be for them to obey it, he also let them know the consequences of not following it, of going against it. And the accuracy of what Moses said has been borne out, because they have experienced all the effects of the curse.
(12) "Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole Heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.
God has proved His word to be true in allowing His people to experience the consequences of their choices and decisions. Never before in human history has such destruction come upon any other kingdom than has come upon God's own nation in their disobedience.
(13) "As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth.
Even though we're going through exactly what You said would happen, we still insanely refuse to give any weight to our Creator who designed it all!
(14) "Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
Our "I AM" God Almighty is doing exactly what He said He would do, to allow all the calamity that naturally ensues when people go against how things are to work! He is faithful, and His Love for us is fierce!
(15) "And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day--we have sinned, we have been wicked.
(16) "O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.
Daniel entreats His Lord to do what He has done before when He showed the world His power and authority by bringing His people out of Egypt; to do it again to bring His people out of all the nations to which He sent them out, to bring them back to His own city and the land that bears His Name, to remove the reproach on His own reputation! Not because we deserve anything, because we don't!
(17) "So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.
(18) "O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.
(19) "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."
Now Daniel pours out his heart to his God, his Creator, his Lord, his King. He begs God to defend His own reputation! Not because of anything he, Daniel, has done, or because of anything that God's people have done, because we all have sinned! But just because other nations see His people and His land and have slandered Him! Daniel's heart is breaking for the Name of his God to be upheld and respected and honored!
Daniel sees that God is ready to turn a corner for His people, and pours out his heart to be ready for it. And we can see God's Plan of the Ages coming to a head in our own world today. God is getting ready to turn a big corner very soon, and He wants us also to be ready for everything He said would be happening to us and all around us as the End Time marches on!
We also need to pour out our own hearts to our most gracious and generous and compassionate Lord God! We also can implore Him to use us as His hands and feet as the body of Christ to do His work in our own little worlds; to find His unborn children who are still seeking for purpose, to share His most wonderful answer of Salvation and Redemption, to bring them to the birth into His own family with us.
O my Father, please help us! Break our hearts for what breaks Your heart! We have all sinned against Your righteous ways, and we have all suffered the consequences of our own and others' sins! We have ignored Your ways, and decided to follow other paths, that lead only to destruction!
My Father, have mercy! My Father, forgive! My Father, magnify Your own Name that You have placed on us! We are Your children, Your family. Teach us how to live our daily lives by Your ways, to think Your thoughts not ours, and to do Your works, not our own projects.
Strengthen us, O Father, to boldly accomplish what You have uniquely gifted each of us to do. Father, You made us all different, so that everything would get done! Help us to cooperate with one another, to do what we can for one another that we cannot do for ourselves. Show us how to meet one another's needs, to give them first priority over our own needs, trusting that You will send someone else to help us.
Father, You have put us all in the same body as different body parts to work together. Help us not to allow the rough edges to irritate us, but to rub us smooth, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Manifest Yourself in us, dear Father! Let the love and care we have for one another show the world how much You love them, and sent Your own Son for them.
Let Your light shine in us out to all the world, Father! That every living person will see and hear and understand Your gracious and generous gift!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Daniel's Second Vision
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Daniel 8: 1-27
(1) In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously.
This is a second significant dream that Daniel had, two years after the first visionary dream. It is very similar in its message, with some important differences.
Daniel has been writing the last few chapters (2-7) in Aramaic, and now he goes back to using Hebrew again for the rest of the book.
This is because he wanted those chapters to be understood by all of the residents of the whole Babylonian Empire, because the subject matter pertained to the entire citizenry, and Aramaic was the lingua franca of the people in that day.
Now Daniel goes back to Hebrew to give the Jewish people God's message for them, specifically.
(2) I looked in the vision, and while I was looking I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal.
Daniel dreamed that he was in Susa, where he no doubt had previously visited sometime in all his years of serving the kings in the Empire, so he recognized where he was in his dream.
(3) Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the Canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last.
This ram corresponds to the bear in his other revelation.
(4) I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.
Westward toward Lydia, Ionia, Thrace, and Macedonia; northward toward the Caspians of the Caucasus range, and the Scythians east of the Caspian Sea, and the Oxux Valley all the way up to the Aral Sea; and southward toward the Babylonian Empire, and later to Egypt, too.
(5) While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole Earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.
This male goat corresponds to the leopard in the previous vision. He was traveling so rapidly that his feet barely touched the ground. He came from the west, from Macedonia and Greece, as Alexander the Great did.
(6) He came up to the ram that had the two horns which I had seen standing in front of the Canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath.
(7) I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power.
Alexander's victories at Granicus (in 334), Issus (in 333), and the final contest at Arbela (in 331) is fittingly portrayed by this crushing attack on the ram, which he is unable to resist.
Alexander's conquest of the entire Near and Middle East within three years stands unique in military history and is appropriately portrayed by the lightening speed of this one-horned goat.
(8) Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly.
This may refer to Alexander's thrust beyond the borders of the empire he had conquered, even into Afghanistan and the Indus Valley (in 327); or it may suggest the growth in arrogance that led him to presume the pretensions to divinity, as the Egyptian priesthood had solemnly announced that he had descended from Zeus-Ammon.
But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of Heaven.
This predicts that he would be cut off at the height of his power; Alexander died of a sudden fever (unless he was poisoned!) at the young age of 33.
And the division of his empire was unquestionably fourfold, with Cassander holding Macedonia and Greece, Lysimachus holding Thrace and the western half of Asia Minor as far as Cappadocia and Phrygia, Ptolemy consolidating Palestine, Cilicia and Cyprus with his Egyptian-Libyan domains, and Seleucus controlling the rest of Asia all the way to the Indus Valley.
(9) Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land.
Now we have another small horn, this one on the Greek identity, rather than the future Roman. This is specific to Israel.
It looks to the career of Antiochus IV Epiphanes: as he usurped the Seleucid throne and succeeded in invading Egypt (170-169 BC); his expeditions against rebellious elements in Parthia and Armenia "to the east;" and his brutal suppression of Jewish worship at Jerusalem in his determination to impose religious and cultural uniformity on all his domains. This came to a head when he erected an idol of Zeus in the Temple and sacrificed swine to it, desecrating the altar.
This became known to the Jews as "the abomination of desolation," which served as a type of the future abomination that will be set up in the Jerusalem sanctuary to be built in the Last Days (see Jesus' prediction in Matthew 24: 15).
(10) It grew up to the host of Heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the Earth, and it trampled them down.
Since a mere human man cannot pull the stars or holy angels down to the Earth, the same words are also used for the host of God's people He rescued from Egypt as the Lord of hosts, and Daniel says in 12: 3 that the Lord's people will "shine like the stars of heaven" when we have also been Glorified.
So this must refer to when Antiochus overpowered the Jews and "walked all over them."
(11) It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.
(12) And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.
This all happened when he desecrated the Lord's altar.
(13) Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, "How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?"
(14) He said to me, "For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored."
The number 2,300 may not refer to 24-hour days, but the number of evening and morning sacrifices that would not be allowed, until they could be properly restored. This is what happened, as the abolition of the sacrifices (the tamid) took place in 167. Then the sanctuary was reconsecrated on 25 Chislev 164, which all Jews everywhere still celebrate as Hanukkah.
(15) When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one who looked like a man.
This is no animal, he looks human.
(16) And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, "Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision."
No more animals, these are Heavenly angels; and we meet Gabriel here, who is the messenger God sent to announce to Mary that she was to be the mother of the Lord. Here, someone else commands Gabriel to speak to Daniel.
(17) So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and fell on my face;
This is a common reaction to the approach of one of God's holy angels. These angels must really be amazing creatures!
but he said to me, "Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end."
Gabriel assures Daniel that these things aren't scheduled to happen until the time of the end.
(18) Now while he was talking with me I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and made me stand upright.
Amazing how powerful a simple touch can be. I don't know if some kind of power was communicated to wake him and stand him up on his feet, but I wouldn't doubt it. I also know how a simple touch of another person can encourage and calm and reassure in a time of stress.
(19) He said, "Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur and the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.
Gabriel is telling Daniel the human future history that God has planned out for this Earth and Mankind upon it, from his days forward.
(20) "The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.
The vision didn't include what was already past for Daniel as he was compiling his writings at the end of his life, only what was present for him and future. So it starts with Media and Persia, which he has experienced by this time.
(21) "The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
He's telling him that Alexander will be the solitary king of this domain, not a compound character, like Media and Persia.
(22) "The broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.
Alexander's authority did not pass down to his generals who divided up his kingdom into four distinct areas, each had to establish his own authority in each of their domains.
(23) "In the latter period of their rule,
"When the transgressors have run their course,
God always gives enough time for sinners to repent.
"A king will arise,
"Insolent and skilled in intrigue.
In other words, crafty, and skilled in double-dealing.
(24) His power will be mighty, but not by his own power,
"And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree
"And prosper and perform his will;
"He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.
(25) "And through his shrewdness
"He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence;
"And he will magnify himself in his heart,
"And he will destroy many while they are at ease.
"He will even oppose the Prince of princes,
"But he will be broken without human agency.
All this accurately describes Antiochus IV Epiphanes, in his character and in his modus operandi.
And he died of a sudden malady. Ancient sources have somewhat diverse accounts of his fatal illness; what is agreed is that he met his end by a nonhuman agency.
(26)"The vision of the evenings and mornings
"Which has been told is true;
This vision is about the evenings and mornings, specifically, the evening and morning sacrifices.
"But keep the vision secret,
"For it pertains to many days in the future."
Daniel is told to not share this prophesy with his cohorts, for it will not come to pass for a long time.
(27) Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days.
This dream was so emotionally draining for Daniel in his old age, that he literally got sick from it, and had to take to his bed for several days.
Then I got up again and carried on the king's business;
He was still in the employ of King Belshazzar, even if this king didn't pay any attention to him, and hadn't even met him yet (see 5: 16).
but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.
This dream overwhelmed him emotionally, and since he was the one who had the gift of interpreting dreams, there wasn't anyone else he could ask for help with it anyway, even if he hadn't been warned to keep it secret.
This revelation about Antiochus IV Epiphanes shows that this "monster" is only a foreshadowing of the "antichrist" who will appear on the world scene to force satanic attitudes and rituals on the populace as leader of the one-world government that every despot has desired to rule. This man will succeed in the power of the dragon (Revelation 13: 1-18), but only for a very short time.
O my Father, thank You for telling us what to expect. We see the world around us, we see what our national leaders are doing, and how the press misrepresents what is real. It looks like the truth has been cast to the ground, and is being trampled upon.
But, Father, Your Truth is what sets us free! We live, not to be enslaved by a tyrant, but to know true liberty in Christ. Even if we are to sit in a prison, we will still be free in You.
O Father, strengthen Your children, send us out to broadcast Your Truth and Your love and compassion to every nation. Let every living person hear and understand how You have loved all of us, and have used all the choices and decisions of all Your created beings to bring about what You have planned before time.
My Father, please let us be Your hands and feet to bring every inquiring mind to the knowledge of how You have done everything possible, and even impossible, to redeem us all, if we only will turn to You. Give understanding to every person, to bring Your children to the birth into Your family, and leave the rebels no excuse for refusing Your gracious, generous offer.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Daniel 8: 1-27
(1) In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously.
This is a second significant dream that Daniel had, two years after the first visionary dream. It is very similar in its message, with some important differences.
Daniel has been writing the last few chapters (2-7) in Aramaic, and now he goes back to using Hebrew again for the rest of the book.
This is because he wanted those chapters to be understood by all of the residents of the whole Babylonian Empire, because the subject matter pertained to the entire citizenry, and Aramaic was the lingua franca of the people in that day.
Now Daniel goes back to Hebrew to give the Jewish people God's message for them, specifically.
(2) I looked in the vision, and while I was looking I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal.
Daniel dreamed that he was in Susa, where he no doubt had previously visited sometime in all his years of serving the kings in the Empire, so he recognized where he was in his dream.
(3) Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the Canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last.
This ram corresponds to the bear in his other revelation.
(4) I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.
Westward toward Lydia, Ionia, Thrace, and Macedonia; northward toward the Caspians of the Caucasus range, and the Scythians east of the Caspian Sea, and the Oxux Valley all the way up to the Aral Sea; and southward toward the Babylonian Empire, and later to Egypt, too.
(5) While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole Earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.
This male goat corresponds to the leopard in the previous vision. He was traveling so rapidly that his feet barely touched the ground. He came from the west, from Macedonia and Greece, as Alexander the Great did.
(6) He came up to the ram that had the two horns which I had seen standing in front of the Canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath.
(7) I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power.
Alexander's victories at Granicus (in 334), Issus (in 333), and the final contest at Arbela (in 331) is fittingly portrayed by this crushing attack on the ram, which he is unable to resist.
Alexander's conquest of the entire Near and Middle East within three years stands unique in military history and is appropriately portrayed by the lightening speed of this one-horned goat.
(8) Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly.
This may refer to Alexander's thrust beyond the borders of the empire he had conquered, even into Afghanistan and the Indus Valley (in 327); or it may suggest the growth in arrogance that led him to presume the pretensions to divinity, as the Egyptian priesthood had solemnly announced that he had descended from Zeus-Ammon.
But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of Heaven.
This predicts that he would be cut off at the height of his power; Alexander died of a sudden fever (unless he was poisoned!) at the young age of 33.
And the division of his empire was unquestionably fourfold, with Cassander holding Macedonia and Greece, Lysimachus holding Thrace and the western half of Asia Minor as far as Cappadocia and Phrygia, Ptolemy consolidating Palestine, Cilicia and Cyprus with his Egyptian-Libyan domains, and Seleucus controlling the rest of Asia all the way to the Indus Valley.
(9) Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land.
Now we have another small horn, this one on the Greek identity, rather than the future Roman. This is specific to Israel.
It looks to the career of Antiochus IV Epiphanes: as he usurped the Seleucid throne and succeeded in invading Egypt (170-169 BC); his expeditions against rebellious elements in Parthia and Armenia "to the east;" and his brutal suppression of Jewish worship at Jerusalem in his determination to impose religious and cultural uniformity on all his domains. This came to a head when he erected an idol of Zeus in the Temple and sacrificed swine to it, desecrating the altar.
This became known to the Jews as "the abomination of desolation," which served as a type of the future abomination that will be set up in the Jerusalem sanctuary to be built in the Last Days (see Jesus' prediction in Matthew 24: 15).
(10) It grew up to the host of Heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the Earth, and it trampled them down.
Since a mere human man cannot pull the stars or holy angels down to the Earth, the same words are also used for the host of God's people He rescued from Egypt as the Lord of hosts, and Daniel says in 12: 3 that the Lord's people will "shine like the stars of heaven" when we have also been Glorified.
So this must refer to when Antiochus overpowered the Jews and "walked all over them."
(11) It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.
(12) And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.
This all happened when he desecrated the Lord's altar.
(13) Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, "How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?"
(14) He said to me, "For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored."
The number 2,300 may not refer to 24-hour days, but the number of evening and morning sacrifices that would not be allowed, until they could be properly restored. This is what happened, as the abolition of the sacrifices (the tamid) took place in 167. Then the sanctuary was reconsecrated on 25 Chislev 164, which all Jews everywhere still celebrate as Hanukkah.
(15) When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one who looked like a man.
This is no animal, he looks human.
(16) And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, "Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision."
No more animals, these are Heavenly angels; and we meet Gabriel here, who is the messenger God sent to announce to Mary that she was to be the mother of the Lord. Here, someone else commands Gabriel to speak to Daniel.
(17) So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and fell on my face;
This is a common reaction to the approach of one of God's holy angels. These angels must really be amazing creatures!
but he said to me, "Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end."
Gabriel assures Daniel that these things aren't scheduled to happen until the time of the end.
(18) Now while he was talking with me I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and made me stand upright.
Amazing how powerful a simple touch can be. I don't know if some kind of power was communicated to wake him and stand him up on his feet, but I wouldn't doubt it. I also know how a simple touch of another person can encourage and calm and reassure in a time of stress.
(19) He said, "Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur and the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.
Gabriel is telling Daniel the human future history that God has planned out for this Earth and Mankind upon it, from his days forward.
(20) "The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.
The vision didn't include what was already past for Daniel as he was compiling his writings at the end of his life, only what was present for him and future. So it starts with Media and Persia, which he has experienced by this time.
(21) "The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
He's telling him that Alexander will be the solitary king of this domain, not a compound character, like Media and Persia.
(22) "The broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.
Alexander's authority did not pass down to his generals who divided up his kingdom into four distinct areas, each had to establish his own authority in each of their domains.
(23) "In the latter period of their rule,
"When the transgressors have run their course,
God always gives enough time for sinners to repent.
"A king will arise,
"Insolent and skilled in intrigue.
In other words, crafty, and skilled in double-dealing.
(24) His power will be mighty, but not by his own power,
"And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree
"And prosper and perform his will;
"He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.
(25) "And through his shrewdness
"He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence;
"And he will magnify himself in his heart,
"And he will destroy many while they are at ease.
"He will even oppose the Prince of princes,
"But he will be broken without human agency.
All this accurately describes Antiochus IV Epiphanes, in his character and in his modus operandi.
And he died of a sudden malady. Ancient sources have somewhat diverse accounts of his fatal illness; what is agreed is that he met his end by a nonhuman agency.
(26)"The vision of the evenings and mornings
"Which has been told is true;
This vision is about the evenings and mornings, specifically, the evening and morning sacrifices.
"But keep the vision secret,
"For it pertains to many days in the future."
Daniel is told to not share this prophesy with his cohorts, for it will not come to pass for a long time.
(27) Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days.
This dream was so emotionally draining for Daniel in his old age, that he literally got sick from it, and had to take to his bed for several days.
Then I got up again and carried on the king's business;
He was still in the employ of King Belshazzar, even if this king didn't pay any attention to him, and hadn't even met him yet (see 5: 16).
but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.
This dream overwhelmed him emotionally, and since he was the one who had the gift of interpreting dreams, there wasn't anyone else he could ask for help with it anyway, even if he hadn't been warned to keep it secret.
This revelation about Antiochus IV Epiphanes shows that this "monster" is only a foreshadowing of the "antichrist" who will appear on the world scene to force satanic attitudes and rituals on the populace as leader of the one-world government that every despot has desired to rule. This man will succeed in the power of the dragon (Revelation 13: 1-18), but only for a very short time.
O my Father, thank You for telling us what to expect. We see the world around us, we see what our national leaders are doing, and how the press misrepresents what is real. It looks like the truth has been cast to the ground, and is being trampled upon.
But, Father, Your Truth is what sets us free! We live, not to be enslaved by a tyrant, but to know true liberty in Christ. Even if we are to sit in a prison, we will still be free in You.
O Father, strengthen Your children, send us out to broadcast Your Truth and Your love and compassion to every nation. Let every living person hear and understand how You have loved all of us, and have used all the choices and decisions of all Your created beings to bring about what You have planned before time.
My Father, please let us be Your hands and feet to bring every inquiring mind to the knowledge of how You have done everything possible, and even impossible, to redeem us all, if we only will turn to You. Give understanding to every person, to bring Your children to the birth into Your family, and leave the rebels no excuse for refusing Your gracious, generous offer.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Friday, May 1, 2020
Daniel's Answer
Daniel 7: 15-28
Daniel has dreamed a vision, and it was a very involved and complicated revelation that he wrote down as soon as he woke up from it.
(15) "As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.
While he was still in the dream, he was extremely upset by what he was shown.
(16) "I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:
So he turned to one of those who were standing by and asked for an explanation of what it was all supposed to be about. And he got the answer.
(17)'These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the Earth.
(18) 'But the saints of the Highest One will receive the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom forever, for all ages to come.'
The angel summarized the whole dream very succinctly. He didn't waste any words.
(19) "Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet,
(20) "and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates.
Daniel asked specifically about that strange and frightening fourth beast, and the details concerning its horns that acted so strangely.
(21) "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them
He just couldn't understand how some human person would be allowed to war against and overpower God's own saints! This was extremely distressing.
(22) "until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the Kingdom.
And then the divine judgments and reapportionment of the power ...
(23)"Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the Earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole Earth and tread it down and crush it.
The angel answers his question, this fourth kingdom will be unlike any other, its government will be run differently from how governing has always been done before, it will be new. But its influence will extend into the whole world and undue and destroy the ancient traditions of all the nations.
(24) 'As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise, and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.
Out of this worldly cultural influence will come a confederation of ten powers. After the confederation of these ten, some inconsequential upstart comes on the scene, and maneuvers to obtain so much political power that he takes over three of these kings, and the rest of them are forced to go along with him.
(25) 'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
This sounds like the "antichrist," the "man of sin," the "beast," "that Wicked [one]," who is described in I John 2: 18, 22; II Thessalonians 2: 1-12; and Revelation 13: 1-18.
We learn here that he will speak out against the Most High, which is "anti-Christ," against our Lord Jesus Christ. He will wear down the people of God, the people who want to do right; he will whittle them down little by little with constant wearing, like wearing out a pair of shoes, over time.
And he will try to change the way we measure time itself, and our very concept of the purpose of law.
(26) 'But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.
When he faces judgment, all his power will be stripped from him, and done away with permanently.
(27) 'Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole Heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His Kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.'
After that, then all the glory, all the riches, all the majesty and power of every king who ever reigned will be presented to the people who will live under the rule of the Resurrected saints of the Highest One, who is our Lord Jesus Christ, Messiah, Redeemer, sovereign King. And this eternal Kingdom will never end.
This is showing that we, as God's saints, will be sitting with King Jesus on His throne just as He sits with the Father on His throne! We are His children, His own family. So we have a lot to look forward to.
(28) "At this point the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself."
This is the whole dream. He woke up at this point. He was still so upset and unsettled that he was physically affected. He may have even been ill for some days in his terror. He knew it was real, that's what made it so scary and frightening, because he knew it would really happen.
And we also can know that it will really happen. It may be starting to happen even now, today.
With the governments doing what they are doing and the environmental pollution and human disregard that has decimated the crops and forests and water supply; and now this plague, this pestilence that has become a pandemic over the whole world; it looks, to me, at least, like what the first four Seals and the first three Trumpets reveal in Revelation 6: 1-6; and 8: 7-11.
But we don't have to be afraid. Jesus said to not fear, because He is with us. Even when we see people falling all around us, God's wrath will not touch us, because the wrath we deserve was put on Jesus on the Cross.
Just as the Psalmist said, "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked" (Psalm 91: 7-8 KJV).
God has given us the whole story of Mankind, from before the beginning to after the end, in the 66 books of Scripture. It's all one story. And the Star of the Show is Jesus, the Lord God Almighty.
He created mankind to be His own children, to be the body of Christ to do His work in all the Universes He wants to build in all of future eternity. So He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance, and admit they are the criminals who deserve execution, and let Jesus take their death on the Cross as the Lamb of God (II Peter: 3: 9).
O my Father, You are so good! And You are so good to us! You want to lavish Your bountiful blessings on us, even more than we can hold! Your Love is unconditional, because You love what You made, especially us, as the pinnacle of Your Creation! Your own children!
O Father, please send us out, to broadcast Your Word to every nation of the world, that all who are seeking You will hear of Your Love and be able to turn to You through Your Son. Draw all of Your embryonic children to the birth into Your family, Father, and use our hands and feet to do your work. Fill Your great House with Your uncountable family, to surround Your great Banquet Table, having sweet fellowship with You and one another for all eternity!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Daniel has dreamed a vision, and it was a very involved and complicated revelation that he wrote down as soon as he woke up from it.
(15) "As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.
While he was still in the dream, he was extremely upset by what he was shown.
(16) "I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:
So he turned to one of those who were standing by and asked for an explanation of what it was all supposed to be about. And he got the answer.
(17)'These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the Earth.
(18) 'But the saints of the Highest One will receive the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom forever, for all ages to come.'
The angel summarized the whole dream very succinctly. He didn't waste any words.
(19) "Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet,
(20) "and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates.
Daniel asked specifically about that strange and frightening fourth beast, and the details concerning its horns that acted so strangely.
(21) "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them
He just couldn't understand how some human person would be allowed to war against and overpower God's own saints! This was extremely distressing.
(22) "until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the Kingdom.
And then the divine judgments and reapportionment of the power ...
(23)"Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the Earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole Earth and tread it down and crush it.
The angel answers his question, this fourth kingdom will be unlike any other, its government will be run differently from how governing has always been done before, it will be new. But its influence will extend into the whole world and undue and destroy the ancient traditions of all the nations.
(24) 'As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise, and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.
Out of this worldly cultural influence will come a confederation of ten powers. After the confederation of these ten, some inconsequential upstart comes on the scene, and maneuvers to obtain so much political power that he takes over three of these kings, and the rest of them are forced to go along with him.
(25) 'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
This sounds like the "antichrist," the "man of sin," the "beast," "that Wicked [one]," who is described in I John 2: 18, 22; II Thessalonians 2: 1-12; and Revelation 13: 1-18.
We learn here that he will speak out against the Most High, which is "anti-Christ," against our Lord Jesus Christ. He will wear down the people of God, the people who want to do right; he will whittle them down little by little with constant wearing, like wearing out a pair of shoes, over time.
And he will try to change the way we measure time itself, and our very concept of the purpose of law.
(26) 'But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.
When he faces judgment, all his power will be stripped from him, and done away with permanently.
(27) 'Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole Heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His Kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.'
After that, then all the glory, all the riches, all the majesty and power of every king who ever reigned will be presented to the people who will live under the rule of the Resurrected saints of the Highest One, who is our Lord Jesus Christ, Messiah, Redeemer, sovereign King. And this eternal Kingdom will never end.
This is showing that we, as God's saints, will be sitting with King Jesus on His throne just as He sits with the Father on His throne! We are His children, His own family. So we have a lot to look forward to.
(28) "At this point the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself."
This is the whole dream. He woke up at this point. He was still so upset and unsettled that he was physically affected. He may have even been ill for some days in his terror. He knew it was real, that's what made it so scary and frightening, because he knew it would really happen.
And we also can know that it will really happen. It may be starting to happen even now, today.
With the governments doing what they are doing and the environmental pollution and human disregard that has decimated the crops and forests and water supply; and now this plague, this pestilence that has become a pandemic over the whole world; it looks, to me, at least, like what the first four Seals and the first three Trumpets reveal in Revelation 6: 1-6; and 8: 7-11.
But we don't have to be afraid. Jesus said to not fear, because He is with us. Even when we see people falling all around us, God's wrath will not touch us, because the wrath we deserve was put on Jesus on the Cross.
Just as the Psalmist said, "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked" (Psalm 91: 7-8 KJV).
God has given us the whole story of Mankind, from before the beginning to after the end, in the 66 books of Scripture. It's all one story. And the Star of the Show is Jesus, the Lord God Almighty.
He created mankind to be His own children, to be the body of Christ to do His work in all the Universes He wants to build in all of future eternity. So He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance, and admit they are the criminals who deserve execution, and let Jesus take their death on the Cross as the Lamb of God (II Peter: 3: 9).
O my Father, You are so good! And You are so good to us! You want to lavish Your bountiful blessings on us, even more than we can hold! Your Love is unconditional, because You love what You made, especially us, as the pinnacle of Your Creation! Your own children!
O Father, please send us out, to broadcast Your Word to every nation of the world, that all who are seeking You will hear of Your Love and be able to turn to You through Your Son. Draw all of Your embryonic children to the birth into Your family, Father, and use our hands and feet to do your work. Fill Your great House with Your uncountable family, to surround Your great Banquet Table, having sweet fellowship with You and one another for all eternity!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
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