February 25, 2018 | Daniel 4 |
Have you ever considered what God has done for you? Do realize that He was already at work in your life even before you were born? In the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed the signs and wonders that the Most High God had done for him to all who dwelt on the earth. We can recognize how the Lord is already at work in our lives.
February 18, 2018 | Daniel 3 |
How can we continue to trust the Lord when we are going through times of trouble and trial? When it looks like the worst is going to happen, how do we continue to rely on the Lord for rescue? In the third chapter of Daniel, the Lord delivered the three Hebrew exiles from the fiery furnace and caused even the pagan king to exalt Him as the God who rescues. We can place our trust in the Lord who is able to rescue us in times of trouble.
February 11, 2018 | Daniel 2 |
Where is your hope? Hope is an expectation of a future fulfilled desire. Where do you put your hope when the world around you seems to be falling apart? Do you put it in a bank account? In a job? In your spouse or other loved one? Where do you put your hope? Daniel and his friends put their hope in the Lord.
In the book of Daniel chapter two, Daniel put his hope in the God of heaven, who revealed to Daniel that in the end He will replace all human kingdoms with His own everlasting kingdom. As Christians, our hope is in Christ alone whose coming kingdom will replace all earthly kingdoms and endure forever.
February 4, 2018 | Daniel 1 |
If you’ve ever been in a life situation where you’re asking “Why God? Where are you?” Then, you know what it means to live in Babylon. When the exiles living in Daniel’s time read his book, it must’ve been a great encouragement to them.
In the first chapter of Daniel, Daniel and his friends learned that they could depend on God’s faithfulness even when they were exiles in the foreign land of Babylon. We can depend on God’s faithfulness as we live in the world today.
December 2, 2017
“In the first year” of Darius’ reign, Daniel was moved to make a careful study of the “books” of Scripture. Surely the sudden shift of world domination by the Babylonians, to the now conquering Persians, made him wonder how it would affect the future of Israel. As he studied the book of Jeremiah, he began to understand that the Lord’s “seventy years” of “desolations” for Jerusalem were nearing an end (see Jer. 25:11-12). The seventy years of captivity was God’s discipline for not keeping the Sabbath Year (Lev. 25:4), allowing the land to rest from planting every seven years. Since they had not obeyed the Sabbath Year for 490 years (490/7 = 70), God rested the land Himself for seventy years (2 Chron. 36:20-21).
The understanding that Daniel derived from his careful Bible study drove him to his knees in prayers of confession and repentance on behalf of his people. He began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. He made supplication to the Lord that He might “turn” His “anger” and “fury” away from Jerusalem (Dan. 9:16). And the Lord answered Daniel’s prayers. For that same year, Cyrus the Great (Possibly another name for Darius. Or Darius served under Cyrus) would be moved by the Lord to make a decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem (2 Chron. 36:22-23).
We can learn much about discerning the will of God from Daniel. Bible study with much prayer is key for those that would hear direction from the Lord.
December 1, 2017
It is interesting to see the angel Gabriel mentioned in our Old Testament reading on this first day of December. For he will also be of great interest to us as we read the gospel accounts of Christ’s birth during this Christmas season. There are only two angels named in the Bible (excluding the fallen one, Lucifer). They are Michael, the archangel of God and Gabriel, who acts as God’s messenger. The name “Gabriel” means “Strong Man of God.” He described himself to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, like this: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news” (Luke 1:19). Gabriel is recorded as bearing God’s messages to Daniel (Dan. 8:16, 9:21), to Zechariah (Luke 1:19), to Mary (Luke 1:26), and although his name is not given, to Joseph (Matt. 1:20).
There was something about Gabriel’s presence that struck fear in each human encounter. Perhaps it was the lingering presence of God that still clung to his person as it once did to Moses after he came down from Mt. Sinai. His purpose was specific each time. Give the addressee the message and make sure they “understand” it.
December 4, 2016
God gave Daniel great insight into the future, yet his understanding was only partial. No matter how much he studied these future prophecies, much was left cloudy for him. So, the Lord gave Daniel three insights on how to respond to His end times prophecies:
1) “Go your way.” In other words, get busy doing what I’ve called you to do in the present.
2) “You shall rest.” Physical death would come for Daniel long before the end. Death for the believer is not the end, but merely rest from physical labor. Daniel would not see all that God had revealed. He would rest (“sabbath”).
3) “You shall stand at the end.” God told Daniel that he would rise again at the end of days. This speaks of the bodily resurrection of the saints.
This instruction is good for today’s reader of prophecy too. We may not know all that the future holds, but we can know the One who holds the future.
December 3, 2016
One of the most amazing prophesies concerning the future of human kingdoms was given to Daniel. Written around 530 BC, God revealed the rise and fall of kingdoms from the time of Daniel to the end times. The three kings predicted to “arise” in Persia was fulfilled by the reigns of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius. The 4th and final king of Persia, the one “richer than all” before him, was fulfilled by Xerxes. As Daniel’s prophecy predicted over 200 years before it happened, Xerxes “stirred up” the Greeks which led to Persia being conquered by the “mighty king” (Dan. 11:3), Alexander the Great. The rest of the chapter goes on to describe kingdoms that have come and gone in the following centuries all the way up to the present and beyond. The Lord pulled back the veil of time to show Daniel the kingdoms to come before Christ would establish His everlasting kingdom. The future is in the Lord’s hands.
December 1, 2016
After Daniel’s vision, an angel named “Gabriel” appeared to him, charged with explaining the vision. The Old Testament recorded many other angelic visitations, but Daniel is unique in that he is the only one to whom their names are revealed (“Gabriel” in 8:16; 9:21 and “Michael” in 10:13, 21; 12:1). Yet, even with Gabriel’s help, the vision is beyond his understanding. While the vision most likely contains “already/not yet” dual fulfillment material, the identification of the “Medes and Persians,” and of the kingdom of Greece points to the time leading up to the birth of Christ. The fact that Gabriel is the angel explaining this to Daniel and then later announcing it to Joseph and Mary in the gospels is not to be overlooked. Daniel saw a vision that has partially been fulfilled in Christ’s first coming. But there is still part that is yet unfulfilled, that must point to the time leading up to His return.
November 29, 2016
A new administration comes into power, jealous co-workers, and a governmental prohibition against prayer… Sounds like something from today’s headlines, doesn’t it? Well, actually this is what the Hebrew exile Daniel faced after Darius the Mede conquered Babylon. Even though Daniel had been an advisor to the Babylonians, Darius was so impressed with him that he made him one of his top three administrators and even planned to put him over all of his 120 “satraps” (Persian governors). Many of the Persian leaders became jealous of Daniel, so they schemed to get rid of him. They couldn’t find anything wrong with his work or character, so they focused on persecuting him for his faith. They persuaded Darius to pass a law against prayer and waited for Daniel to break it. They didn’t have to wait long. That very day, Daniel went “to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem,” and prayed. Daniel had broken Persian law, so Darius had no choice but to throw him in the lion’s den. Yet, God rescued Daniel, thus revealing His glory to Darius. In response, Darius executed Daniel’s detractors, elevated Daniel and made a “decree” instructing his whole kingdom to worship the “God of Daniel.” God used Daniel’s faithfulness to turn a prayer prohibition into a nationwide prayer meeting!