Month: August 2019

Daniel 11:2-12:13

What possible comfort could there be in knowing when bad things are going to happen?

We see history unfolding as the truth of the vision of the future is explained to Daniel. After the exiles to Babylon return to Jerusalem the problems will continue.

The faithless Jews amongst the Israelites will give up on the Holy covenant and will side with Antiochus. The faithful will stand firm and take action.

This is a pattern of things to come. An enraged man of lawlessness who will oppress those who seek to worship the true and living God is yet to come, but he will be destroyed by the Lord Jesus Christ and all those who have their names written in the book of life will be raised to everlasting life.

Our comfort is in knowing that God is in control.

Daniel 10:1-11:1

After his previous vision, Daniel is seen mourning and fasting and praying. Then he receives a final vision. It occurred during the month when Israel was to celebrate the Passover. But Daniel was greatly distressed and troubled; not celebrating.

When we read of encounters with God in the Bible, they are terrifying events. Daniel and his men experienced such an encounter. The men who were with Daniel fled trembling and hid themselves. Daniel’s strength left him and his body went into a deep sleep until he was strengthened by the hand of God’s messenger who revealed the truth of God’s word to him and of God’s love towards Daniel.

“O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.”

Leviticus 25:1-18, Daniel 9:15-27

This is a complex passage from the book of Daniel and many have tried to use it in an attempt to predict the sequence of events related to the end of this world as we know it, and to predict the timing of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Can this passage of scripture honestly be used to tell us the future of Western civilisation, or do we need to look at this text more closely through the eyes of Daniel the Israelite?

One of the reasons Israel was exiled from the promised land was because of the exploitation of the land by the children of Israel. They failed to follow the commands of YHWH and to give the land the rest as stipulated by him.

It is explained to Daniel that the exile is not completed, simply with a return to Jerusalem and rebuilding everything from scratch. Many things still need to occur to bring about everlasting righteousness.

Listen to the following talk by Ray Patchett as he gives us a clear and helpful explanation.

Jeremiah 29:1-14, Daniel 9:1-19

We can learn much on how to pray by reading in the scriptures, the prayers of the Lord’s faithful servants .

Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the exiles living in Babylon, exhorting them to build and plant and marry and multiply and seek after the welfare of their enemies, the captors of Israel and destroyers of Jerusalem and to pray on behalf of Babylon where they were to dwell for seventy years.

Daniel, meditating on the writings of Jeremiah towards the end of the exile, realised that the prophesied seventy year exile in Babylon was nearing its completion and he prayed to the Lord, humbling himself and confessing the sins of Israel, and asking that the Lord God would remember His covenant promises and keep His commitment to restore Israel’s fortunes and return the exiles to Jerusalem for the sake and honour of his own name.

How should we pray in accordance with the will of the Lord in the times in which we live?

We must consider the name of God’s Son first and foremost; that honour and glory would be given to the Lord Jesus Christ and that his name would be restored and greatly esteemed in our culture and that His Kingdom would come, and that the earth would be filled with His glory.