GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 30 ~ ~ Daniel 2:20-23 ~ ~ “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, ….”
Daniel is the last of the Prophets in our study of the Major Prophets, in the book by Dr. Michael Youssef, entitled “How to Read the Bible”
“DANIEL, POWERFUL STORIES, A REMARKABLE TIMETABLE”
The book of Daniel recounts the life and visions of the prophet Daniel, who lived in exile in Babylon. The book combines history and prophecy, including the coming Messiah and the End Time. The theme is that, just as God miraculously rescued Daniel from a den of lions, He also would rescue Israel.
The book has two parts. Part 1 (Chapters 1-6) contains six narratives:
1. Daniel and his friends maintain their purity and principles in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar (chapter 1)
2. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of four kingdoms (chapter 2)
3. The fiery furnace (chapter 3)
4. Nebuchadnezzar’s ordeal of insanity (chapter 4)
5. The handwriting on the wall and the fall of Babylon (chapter 5)
6. Daniel in the lions’ den (chapter 6)
Part 2 contains four prophetic visions which include messianic prophecies that shed additional light on the messianic prophecies in Isaiah and elsewhere.
In Daniel 7, we find a prophecy that the Messiah (who Daniel calls the “Ancient of Days”) will have an everlasting Kingdom. In his vision, Daniel saw that the Messiah was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His Kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14).
And in Daniel chapter 9, the prophet relates a vision that predicts the exact time of the arrival of Jesus the Messiah, His death, and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Herod by Rome in AD 70.
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven “sevens,” and sixty-two “sevens.” It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two “sevens,” the anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.” Daniel 9:25-26.
Since the nineteenth century, Bible scholars have calculated the meaning of the “seven ‘sevens,” and sixty-two ‘sevens’” and realized that it worked out to a precise prediction of the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when He was heralded as Israel’s king.
In his book, “The coming Prince,” Sir Robert Anderson determined that Daniel predicted a period f 483 years from the decree of the Persian king Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem until the Lord’s arrival in Jerusalem on a donkey. The other astonishing prediction in these verses are that “the Anointed One will be put to death” and the “people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary,” all of which have been fulfilled.
The book of Daniel also sets an excellent example for young Christians because it tells the story of young people taking a courageous, uncompromised stand for god in a godless and hostile world.
God has not changed. He still rescues His people from the “lions’ den” of our godless culture today.
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POEM BY HELEN STEINER RICE
HE LOVE YOU – AND ALWAYS WILL
Someone cares and always will. The world forgets but God loves you still.
You cannot go beyond His Love, no matter what you’re guilty of –
For God forgives until the end. He is your faithful, loyal friend.
And though you try to hide your face, there is no shelter any place,
That can escape His watchful eye, for on the earth and in the sky
He’s ever present and always there to take you in His tender care.
And bind the wounds and mend the breaks when all the world around forsakes.
Someone cares and loves you still and God is the Someone who always will.
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Ephesians 3:17-21
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Romans 8:38-39
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jeremiah 31:3
The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.