The
American
Wisdom Series
Presents
Daniel
chapter 1
God
is not a respecter of persons
(Acts 10:34-35)
when it
comes to race, color, nationality,
or economic or social status, etc.
DAN-I-EL
means "God is Judge", or
"God is my Judge",
and
both are absolutely right
on because whether you are for Him or against Him,
either
individually or nationally,
ALL
peoples, nations, and languages
will come before Him to give account
and be
judged of their deeds and
receive their just and fair reward.
The
good news is however that if
you are one of His children who love and serve Him
and do
according to His will,
then
your reward shall be filled
with His blessings and inheritance,
even
the entering into eternal
life.
On
the other hand (the left), if
you are His enemy
or one
who has forsaken His Word
to follow after traditions of men
and end
up worshipping the false
messiah when he comes claiming to be the true King of kings and Lord of
lords,
you
shall drink from the cup of
your Father's wrath
and
receive your just recompense
according to the measure of your iniquity.
Either
way, know this one thing
with certitude!
God
is not a respecter of persons
(Acts 10:34-35) when it comes to race, color, nationality, or economic
or social status, etc.,
and His
judgment is completely
fair and just because
all His ways are just and true.
In
fact, that is part of the Song
of Moses, the great 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy,
that
God's elect are singing in
the ears of the people at this very moment
as they
declare His righteousness
(Ps. 22:31),
and
shall continue to sing in the
people's ears even unto the end of this earth age!
You
will find that recorded in the
15th chapter of the sister book
to Daniel called the Book
of Revelation,
which
means the book of the unveiling
or uncovering.
Notice
also that both His "Lordship"
and "Kingship" are part of that great Song of Moses sung by His
servants.
Rev.
15:3
And they sing
the
song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of
the Lamb, saying,
Great
and marvellous are thy works, Lord
God Almighty;
just
and true are thy ways, thou King
of saints.
How
exciting it is to be living
in these last days!
Let's
lay a little ground work
for this book titled "God is Judge", DAN-I-EL.
Jesus
Christ came at His first advent
to ride upon a lowly ass,
to pay
the price for our sins,
and to
bring salvation to whosoever
will turn to Him in repentance and believe in Him.
However,
when He returns at the
second advent following the reign of antichrist,
the
king of Babylon of these last
days of whom Nebuchadezzar was a type,
He will
be riding on a white horse
with the armies which were in heaven following Him also riding upon
white
horses,
clothed
in fine linen, white and
clean (which is the righteousness of the saints).
He
will be coming to smite the nations
and to
establish the ruling kingdom
of God upon this earth and to rule with a rod of iron (discipline to
His
Word)
and to
tread the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Editors
Note: As we will point out during this study of Daniel
many prophesied
signs leading up to His return have already occurred!
You had better
join us in watching for the end.
It is nearer
then you think!
In
other words, He is coming as
King of kings and Lords of lords and as it is written...
every
knee shall bow to His
name, which is His authority (Rom. 14:11, Philip.
2:10).
Rev.
19:14-16
And the armies
which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine
linen,
white and clean.
[15] And out
of His mouth goeth a sharp sword,
that with it He should
smite
the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of
iron: and
He treadeth the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of
Almighty God.
[16] And he hath
on His vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD
OF LORDS.
When
we get to the 7th chapter
of Daniel we shall also read about His kingdom coming
and
being established upon the
earth.
What exactly is a kingdom anyway?
It
is a king and His domain, i.e.
that which He has dominion over.
Jesus
Christ is coming with His
saints to establish dominion over all the earth!
Daniel
7:13-14
I saw in the
night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man
came
with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they
brought
him near before him.
[14] And there
was given him dominion, and
glory, and a kingdom, that
all
people, nations, and languages, should serve him: His
dominion
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His
kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed.
The
point of this in our preface
is to establish the fact that Jesus Christ is returning to the Valley
of
Jeshoshaphat (Yahveh Judges)
and
shall gather and judge all
the nations round about.
We
read about this in the Book of
JO-EL (Yah is God)!
Joel
3:11-14
Assemble yourselves,
and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves
together round about:
thither cause thy mighty ones to
come down, O LORD.
The
mighty one are the saints
of the most high.
[12] Let
the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley
of Jehoshaphat:
for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
God
is judge and the nations
had better awaken and decide whose side they are on,
the
right or the left, and get
their acts together now or they will be separated
and
hard-pressed under His wine,
His Word, for a thousand years.
[13]
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for
the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
[14] Multitudes,
multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of
the LORD is
near in the valley of decision.
The
"Day of the Lord" is the
Millennium and at that time,
at the
time of His return at the
sound of the 7th Trump,
as it
is written in Matthew 25:32,
"He shall gather all the nations before Him
and
separate the sheep from the
goats."
And
you "see", His saints shall
rule and judge with Him for those 1000 years.
This
too we shall cover later in
our study of Daniel.
Daniel
7:22
Until the Ancient
of days came, and judgment was given to the saints
of the most High;
and the time came that the saints possessed the
kingdom.
And
so it is that this book
of Daniel concerns those saints who take possession of the kingdom
and who
live and reign with Christ
for those thousand years (Rev. 20:4).
To
that end, we will find in the
opening verses that not only were Daniel and his companions,
Shadrach,
Meschach, and Abednedo,
of the royal seedline of Judah,
which
is the kingship line,
but they all held government positions,
further
documenting to those with
eyes to see and ears to hear concerning their destinies.
We
will also find that they are
all brought before and/or delivered up to the king of Babylon,
but
they do not bow a knee to his
image... even in the face of almost certain death,
which
brings us to the next point
of preface.
The
events that transpire in the
Book of Daniel take place during the reign and captivity of the king of
Babylon
(there
were three sieges).
You
"see", we do not find in Daniel
the chapter by chapter, line by line teaching
that we
find in the great Book
of EZEK-I-EL, whose name means "God is my strength".
Ezekiel
is the handbook of the watchmen,
the
shepherding to the House of
Israel after the manner of "Thus saith the Lord"
and "It
is written".
For
after the sound of the 6th Trump,
the
warning that Satan, the false messiah, comes first will no longer go forth.
Why?
Because
he will already be here!
Therefore
the delivering up and
the warning
and the
witness to the nations
of the world that the true King of kings is coming
(announcing
the 7th Trump)
shall
be accomplished exactly as
Christ said it would in Mat. 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.
It
will be at that time that the
Holy Spirit will speak through His elect
who
give His witness and His testimony.
In
fact, those who are delivered
up are instructed not to even premeditate
nor
give anxious thought as to
what they will say!
Mark
13:9-10
But take heed
to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up
to councils;
and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye
shall be brought
before rulers and kings for my sake, for a
testimony against
them.
[10] And
the gospel must first be published among all nations.
The
word "published" means
to proclaim as in "to herald"!
Matthew
specifically refers to that
which must be heralded as the gospel of the
kingdom,
which
is the good news (but not
to many nations)
that the
King and His dominion is coming and that the walls of this unholy,
ungodly
One World System is going
to come tumbling down.
Matthew
24:14 "And this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a
witness unto all nations;
and then shall the end come."
Some
of God's elect will be privileged
to be delivered up
and
give that testimony unto all
nations.
How
exciting it is to be living
in these last days!
Also,
those of you who are familiar
with your Father's Word
know
that there are only two churches
out of the seven in Rev. 2 & 3 that Jesus Christ finds no fault
with.
They
are the two churches of Philadelphia
and Smyrna
who
both have the same doctrine
and teach concerning the kenites (Rev. 2:9 & 3:9)
but
their works are somewhat different.
Do
not misunderstand, for there
is there is only one body,
but
there are different works and
destinies,
i.e.
jobs to do, by the different
members of that body.
We
will discuss this further later
on in our study.
Finally,
our preface to the Book
of Daniel
would
not be complete without emphasizing
that Jesus Christ
Himself referred to the
words of the prophet Daniel
as the
book for the reader to understand
concerning the abomination of desolation,
who is
antichrist, the king of
Babylon of the last days,
i.e.
Satan posing as Jesus who
comes at the sound of the 6th Trump
and
stands in the holy place bringing
in his storm of deception and flood of lies upon the earth.
Matthew
24:15
When ye therefore
shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of
by Daniel the
prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth,
let him understand:)
With
that as sufficient background
let us begin this apocalypse of the Old Testament
noting
that the first
part of the book (vs 1.1 - 6.28) is
historic,
the
major portion of which (vs
2.4 - 7.28) is written in Aramaic or Chaldean,
and the
latter half (vs 7.1 - 12.13)
is prophetic, the majority (vs
8.1 - 12.13) of which is written
in pure Hebrew.
In
other words, the historic
part is written in the language of the Gentiles because
it deals with "the times
of the Gentiles" and their supremacy in relation to Israel.
The
prophetic part deals with
"the time of the end"
and
the events leading up to
the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel.
If
you wait on and trust your heavenly
Father,
He can
make things happen.
Daniel 1:1 In
the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim*
king of Judah came
Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
Please
keep in mind what Paul
tells us in 1 Cor. 10:11 that the things that happened of old happened
as "ensamples
and
that they are written for
our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."
To
that end, this one Nebuchadnezzar
was raised up by our Father,
"chosen"
to be His servant (Jer.
27:6), and given to us as a type of the king of Babylon of the last
days.
You
"see", God can and will use
whomsoever He so chooses
to
carry out His wondrous works
both in a positive and negative sense.
We
as students of God's Word should
also know that the names of people and locations, etc.,
are all
significant and their meanings
give us a deeper understanding of that which is written.
(Of
course one has to take the time
to dig out those meanings if he or she wants to be enriched further.)
For
example, the name "Nebuchadnezzar"
means "May Nebo protect the crown".
Nebo
was a deity who presided over
learning and letters
and so
it was that Nebuchadnezzar
built libraries and schools
and was
really into knowledge and
education. However,
the
fact is that no matter how
much knowledge and learning man absorbs from the world,
if
it is apart from
the wisdom and knowledge of our Father's Word,
he can
never preserve himself nor
even achieve serenity and peace of mind, much less attain salvation.
*
For proper chronology concerning
the times, see appendix 50 in the back of the Companion Bible.
[2]
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king
of Judah into his hand,
with part of the vessels of the
house of God: which he carried
into
the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he
brought the
vessels into the treasure house of his god.
Notice
who is charge here.
The Lord "gave" Jehoiakim into his hand which shows
that the king
of Babylon can do only that which our Father allows. When the king of
Babylon
(Satan) in the Book of Revelation comes to besiege the world, he also
will
only be permitted to do that which is written, one of which is that he
cannot touch one hair of those who have the seal of God in their
foreheads.
By
the way, do you know where the
land of Shinar is located? "Shinar" means "country between two rivers"
which in this case are the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the land of
Babylon,
which today is where Iran and Iraq are located. How
interesting indeed as we watch the current events of today.
[3]
And the king spake unto Ashpenaz
the master of his eunuchs,
that he should bring certain of the children of
Israel, and
of the king's seed, and of
the princes;
Ashpenaz
can mean either "horse
like" or “I will make prominent the sprinkled”.
Either
way, he was instructed by
the king of Babylon to bring "certain"
of the children of
Israel,
and of
the king's seed, and of
the princes or nobles.
In
other words, he was told to cull
out certain ones from those in captivity.
Notice
carefully the qualifications
he was looking for.
[4]
Children in whom was no blemish,
but well favoured,
and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning
in knowledge,
and understanding science, and
such as had ability
in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom
they might teach
the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
You
"see", Nebuchadnezzar wanted
only the "richest",
the
"cream of the crop", of the
"royal" and "noble" captives of Judah.
Yes,
historically he wanted to learn
all he could from them, including
their language so that
he could communicate with them, but you
see, the king of Babylon
of these last days will also be interested in those well favoured,unblemished
servants of God who
are rich in wisdom and knowledge
and understanding.
Did
you know there are those blessed
servants who fit that category in these last days? They
are those spiritually rich
servants of the church of Smyrna.
Let's
check it out.
Rev.
2:8-9
And unto the
angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and
the
last, which was dead, and is alive;
[9] I know thy
works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art
rich)
and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not,
but are the synagogue of Satan.
Understand
from 1 Cor. 10:13
that God will not give unto His servants
"to be
tempted above that they
(ye) are able;
but
will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that they (ye) may be able to
bear it."
In
other words, God is not going
to choose those who are not spiritually and mentally fit,
those
who are not rich in the oil
of His spirit, His Word,
to be
delivered up to stand before
the king of Babylon in his palace and give witness, lest they fall!
Now
notice what the king of Babylon
appoints for the children of God.
Daniel
1:5
And the king
appointed
them a daily provision of the king's meat,
and of the wine
which he drank: so nourishing
them three years, that
at
the end thereof they might stand before the king.
Historically
these three years
would have been from 497, 496 & 495 BC
where
he appointed a steady daily
diet of unclean meat along with his wine!
Woe,
would you eat of Satan's unclean
birds or drink his wine of fornication?
Not
if you wish to remain spiritually
healthy, you won't!
We
are to eat our daily bread from
the table of the Lord and drink solely from His fountain of living
water.
[6]
Now among these were of the children of Judah,
Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah:
Again,
these children of God were of
the house of Judah. In Hebrew, as our Father sees them, we have:
Daniel = God is Judge
Misha-el
= Who is as God?
Azari-ah
= God has helped!
Hanani-ah
= God is gracious
Certainly
these are fitting
and proper names when you consider what happens to these three lads.
[7]
Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel
the name of Belteshazzar; and to
Hananiah, of Shadrach;
and to Mishael, of Meshach; and
to Azariah, of Abed-nego.
In
Chaldean, as the spiritually blind
servants of the king of Babylon see them, we have all references to
pagan
gods:
Belteshazzar -protect thou
(O Bel)
Shadrach
- command of Aku, the
moon god
Meshach
- who is Aku?
Abednego
- servant of Nego
Now
gather strength and encouragement
from the example of Daniel.
[8]
But Daniel purposed in his heart
that he would not
defile himself with the portion of the king's meat,
nor with the
wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the
eunuchs
that he might not defile himself.
Daniel
"purposed in his
heart" which
means he made up his mind
that he
would not defile himself
with the unclean meat
and
intoxicating wine of the king
of Babylon.
How
about you?
Our
people right now are being fed
a steady diet of Satan's garbage
from
all four of the hidden dynasties
and
they have become spiritually
sickly and undernourished to the point of spiritual death as a result.
[9]
Now God had brought Daniel into
favour and tender love with
the prince of the eunuchs.
God
is in control and He can
even change the minds of those who come in contact with His servants.
Remember
He harden the heart (mind)
of Pharaoh before the exodus,
meaning
He caused him to become
stubborn.
Here
He softens the heart of the
prince of the eunuchs to find favor with Daniel.
The
point is, if you wait on and
trust your heavenly Father,
He can
make things happen.
You
"see", God takes care of His
own and furthermore,
since
He has all power in both
heaven and earth,
He is
quite capable of doing so!
[10]
And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I
fear my
lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your
drink:
for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which
are
of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head
to the king.
Those
who serve the king of
Babylon
and
walk after the flesh are fearful
for their lives and will follow his commands
even if
they know they are profane.
Keep
this in mind when you later
see the spiritually rich servants of God, i.e.
Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abedneggo,
delivered
up and forced under penalty
of death to do as the king commands
and bow
down to the image he has
set up.
Do
you think they will bow a knee?
They
will not!
[11]
Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
Melzar
is a title meaning the
steward or the butler, as in the wine server.
Notice
the wisdom used by Daniel
in dealing with this one Melzar.
[12] Prove
thy servants, I beseech thee, ten
days; and let them
give us pulse to eat, and water
to drink.
Pulse
means food that is sown,
like vegetables or grain,
and is
symbolic to us in these
last days of the pure nourishing food
that
comes only from our Father's
table, just as the water is symbolic of that living water of life.
Here
is what Daniel tells the minister
of the prince of the eunuchs,
because
Daniel knows what the result
shall be of fasting on the pure truth of Father's Word
as
compared to eating unclean meat
from the table of the king of Babylon
and
drinking his spiritually intoxicating
wine.
[13]
Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the
countenance
of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou
seest, deal with thy servants.
And
so it is today that those
Christians who abstain from eating the meat of the king of Babylon
and
from drinking his wine,
but
instead fast
on the pure food and drink only of the living water of life,
do
outshine their brothers and
sisters who have become deathly ill (spiritually speaking)
from a
daily diet of the king's
portion.
Nevertheless,
Daniel found favor
with Melzar,
thanks
be to his Father's intervention,
who agreed to the 10 day period of testing.
[14]
So he consented to them in this matter, and proved
them ten days.
"Proved"
means "tested", "assayed",
as in "tried",
and
these 10 days of proving, repeated
here several times,
should
remind you once again of
the church of Smyrna in Revelation chapter two
which
we shall pick up on in our
next study!
We
will also find out how these
steadfast young servants of God faired after their 10 day trial was
fulfilled.
Jesus said, "the book of Daniel
was where one could go read and gain understanding"
Jesus Christ told us in Matthew
24 and Mark 13 when He sat upon the Mount of Olives and gave His disciples
the seven seals concerning the knowledge and the events that would transpire
during the final generation of the fig tree, that the book of Daniel was
where one could go read and gain understanding concerning
the abomination of desolation, that abominable desolator (antichrist)
who would come stand in the holy place claiming to be God.
You will recall in our last study
that Daniel, who was of the royal seed line, the kingship line of Judah,
had purposed in his heart that he would in no way defile
himself with the king of Babylon's unclean meat and wine that he had appointed
for all the children of the captivity.
So with a little help from God (Daniel's
companion Azari-ah (Abednego) means "God has helped"... remember?) he convinced
Melzar, the butler and server of the king's wine, to allow them to eat
"things sown" (pulse), i.e. pure vegetables and grain, and drink water
for ten days and then he could look upon them and determine whose countenance
appeared fairer, theirs or all the children of the captivity which did
eat of the king's meat.
Let's see how they made out.
Daniel
1:15
And at the end
of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter
in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the
king's meat.
There is a proverbial saying
which applies both physically and spiritually, i.e. to your flesh body
as
well as your spiritual body, that says "You
are what you eat!"
To that end, consider these two
paragraphs from the introduction of "How to Enjoy the Bible" by E.W. Bullinger,
one of the greatest Bible scholars of the modern era:
"A low condition of
bodily health is produced by inattention to the laws of nature as to suitable
diet. As this leads to the "drug habit", or to the immoderate use of stimulants
in the natural sphere, so it is in the spiritual sphere. A low condition
of spiritual health is produced by improper feeding or the neglect of necessary
food, which is the Word of God; and the end is a resort to all the many
modern fashions and novel methods and widely advertised nostrums in the
Religious world in the attempt to remedy the inevitable results.
The Root of all the evils which
abound in the spiritual sphere at the present day lies in the fact that
the Word and the words of God are not fed upon, digested, and assimilated,
as they ought to be."
Do you partake of a steady
diet of junk food, like the Burger King's meat? Do you feast on fast
food like McDonald's "happy meals"?
I find it fascinating that the quick
and easy fly-away "happy message" (I speak of the rapture) which is fed
to our people by preachers and ministers who should be feeding the pure
bread of life and causing them to drink from the living water or life,
share the same name as the world's foremost junk food restaurant.
And speaking of bread...you can
compare the "processing" of the earthly "bread" our people eat to the "processing"
of the spiritual "bread" they eat daily, which should be the unadulterated
"bread of life", the pure natural Word of God, but unfortunately it is
not in most cases.
You see, oh-so-smart-and-worldly-wise
man takes the whole grain wheat and removes the substantive outer coat
and literally strips it of all nutrition while he bleaches it with a toxic
poison to make it "white" as snow and a "loaf to be desired".
Students of Ezek. 13 would say the
bread is "whitewashed".
Then man beats "air" (like his own
hot air) into the dough spiced with "leaven" to make the loaf nice and
"fluffy" when it is baked and to make its texture more "palatable" to the
ignorant consumer.
One should ask, "How DARE they call
that wicked stuff bread?"
Yes, the "traffickers" of bread
have made it
look real good and made it taste real
good, a loaf to be desired, so people "flock" to
eat that "junk" and then they wonder why they are unhealthy and why Preparation
H is such a big seller?
Go figure.
We could go on and on with junk
food analogies but let us make just one more observation.
Look out across the purple mountains
majesty and across the fruited plains of this "bread basket" of the world
and observe our "eating habits" today and "take heed" to the "junk foods"
that so many of our people are eager and willing to consume.
We can learn a great deal about
our "spirituality" from a close observation of "food" in this final
generation of the "Baby Boomers", who would better be called the
"Big Babies", spiritually speaking that is (Heb. 5:11-14).
For instance, we find "fast food"
restaurants serving the Burger King's meat, instant gratification fries,
and "Happy Meals" scattered all over our land and at every exit and entrance
to our "highways and byways", analogous to the paths we follow.
These "glistening" facilities serve
so few nutritious items (if any) that their so-called food is commonly
referred to as "junk food", amazingly even by those who eat it!
One should be forewarned that if
this "stuff" is consumed as a steady diet it will make you sickly
indeed!
By the way, the original "fast food"
restaurants were set out under "golden rainbow-like arches".
Since then, other fast food denominations
have come along and strived to be the burger king by preparing or grilling
the same junk food in diverse manners or by adding a few sesame seeds to
the big white fluffy buns encompassing the king's idolatrous meat.
Take a lesson from Daniel and his
friends when they were offered the king's meat (analogous to Satan's false
doctrine... you know... like fruit from the bad tree).
Stick to "pulse", the pure "bread
of life" and your countenance will be much fairer!
McDonald's
Corporate - McDonald's History Part 1
It should also come as no surprise
to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear that the pioneers of the "fast
food" restaurant and the pioneer of the "fast
salvation" doctrine, I speak of the "Happy
Message" any-moment Rapture Theory, have the same last name, M(a)cDonald!
Though it may offend some, the truth
of the matter is that the any-moment Rapture Theory is nothing more than
a spiritual fast food "Happy Meal"!
You keep eating that stuff long
enough and you will be spiritually sick indeed!
I guarantee you that "junk food"
from MacDonald's fly-through window is not served at the table of the Lord,
i.e. it is not to be found ANYWHERE in the Word of God!
Christ foretold us all things (Mark
13:23), even in the exact order in which they shall occur!
Have you not read His Word?
Where and what do you eat, spiritually
speaking?
If you are not daily eating the
true bread of life, which is every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God, then you are going to be sickly indeed, my friend.
Sadly, most churches serve junk
food and happy meals instead of the Word of God chapter by chapter and
line by line.
Have you not read:
Deut.
8:3
... that He
might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD
doth man live.
You "see", the fact is the
lack of teaching the Word of God has caused a great famine in our land.
Did not Jesus tell the Disciples
that one of the signs to look for just prior to His second coming was "..there
shall be famine.." (see Mk 13:8)?
Well, we are right now in the midst
of that famine which is clearly defined by the prophet Amos.
Amos
8:11-12
Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not
a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words
of the LORD:
[12]
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north
even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word
of the LORD, and shall not find it.
That's right!
The famine of the end times
is not for food but for hearing the Word of God.
Can you go to most churches in America
and hear the true Word of God taught line by line and chapter by chapter? No!
There are some, but they are few
and far between.
Mostly you'll hear a few token verses
read aloud in a religious monotone.... especially those verses that seemingly
fit the traditions of men.
Meanwhile, our people are undernourished
and starving to death (spiritually).
To make matters worse, we as a nation
are not only Biblically illiterate but we have the help of anti-God, anti-Christian,
anti-American groups with great lobbying powers that seek to eradicate
all mention of God and the Bible and even prayer from our schools and government
halls, etc.
Amos 8:11-12, Mark 13:8.... prophecy
come to pass.
It is written!
Be faithful and trust God and there
is nothing (and no one) to fear.
Now we'll return to Daniel and discuss
the 10 days of testing that has been mentioned several times.
Remember we talked about the church
of Smyrna being spiritually rich Christians in these last days?
First we'll go to Rev. 2:10 and
read about the ten days of testing they shall have.
Rev.
2:10
Fear none
of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold,
the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried;
and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Again, be faithful and trust
God and there is nothing (and no one) to fear.
Certainly do not fear what man can
do to the flesh even as the Lord said in Matthew 10:28 "And fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
You be faithful to your Father and
His Word until the day you die, or more fittingly, even in the face of
death, as in when you are delivered up to "death", the king of Babylon
who is a type of Satan and whose name death"
(Heb. 2:14)!
If you have a problem understanding
that, just hang in there because we will soon see an ensample of this delivering
up to death in this book of Daniel.
However, there is another 10 days
we need to mention which has to do with the sons and daughters of this
final generation.
It was that 10 day period between
the Lord's ascension and the Day of Pentecost, which means to "count fifty".
What happened when the day of Pentecost
was fully come after those 10 days?
The Holy Spirit descended and manifested
itself in tongues "like as of fire", not as
a dove this time, and
spoke through the servants of God.
And you know what else?
He (the Holy Spirit) spoke concerning
the wonderful works of God in these last days... and Peter
stood up and documented it for us from the
Book of Jo-el
(Yah is God).
Acts
2:12-13
And they were
all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
Some had no clue Biblically
of what was happening (What meaneth this?) while others came up with the
wrong answer (These men are full of new wine.)
Wisdom comes from understanding
the Word of God.
[13]
Others
mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
No, these men were not full
of new wine because as Peter will tell us it is only 9:00 in the morning.
However, we also know that they
were not full of new wine because they would not have drunk of wine of
the king of Babylon, else you "see"... they would have been spiritually
weak and thus denied the Holy Spirit the opportunity to speak through them.
In that case, they would have instead
spoken babble (confusion, incoherence).
Got the picture?
Acts
2:14-18
But Peter, standing
up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of
Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you,
and hearken to my words:
Peter is going to "make known
unto you", if you will hear his words, exactly what this
is!
[15]
For
these
are not drunken, as
ye suppose, seeing it is but
the third hour of the day.
The
word "suppose" means to "assume" which is what many people do concerning
what happened on this Pentecoste Day.
Interestingly
enough, the Greek the word (hupolambano) used here means to "take
from below"... just so you know where "assumption" concerning the Word
of God comes from.
[16]
But
this
is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
"This is that" means this is
an ensample, a type, a forerunner, of that which was spoken by the prophet
Joel... concerning the LAST DAYS!
[17]
And
it shall come to pass in the last days, saith
God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your
young men shall
see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Keep in mind that God would
pour out His spirit and give His servants and handmaidens understanding
concerning visions and dreams as we return to Daniel.
[18]
And
on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days
of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
To prophesy means to "teach",
as in to teach the visions of the prophets which they would understand,
which exactly what Peter is doing!
Don't you just love it?
Daniel
1:16
Thus Melzar
took
away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink;
and gave them pulse.
Just remember that it was our
heavenly Father who made this all possible.
[17]
As for these four children, God gave them knowledge
and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding
in all visions and dreams.
Remember we just read about
the young men "seeing" visions, which means "understanding" visions, in
Acts 2, which is quoted from Joel 2?
Daniel is a type of those sons and
daughters of these last days... remember this book concerns the last days...
upon whom God would pour out and give understanding in all visions
and dreams.
Well, how is it that God gave Daniel
understanding in all visions and dreams?
Read the first part of the verse
and you will understand.
God poured out His Spirit upon Daniel
as he fasted on His pure Word and drank from His living water of life.
God did not open up his brain and
pour knowledge into his head while he sat around and did nothing!
I'm sure he used the gifts and abilities
our Father gave him to study hard "to show himself approved" (2 Tim 2:15).
Daniel
1:18
Now at the end
of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince
of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
This would have been after
the three years.
They had been steadily consuming
the pulse and water and keeping themselves undefiled from the king's meat
and his wine.
[19]
And the king communed with them; and among them all was found
none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood
they before the king.
So there we have God is Judge,
God is Gracious, Who is like God, and God has Helped standing before the
king of Babylon.
What a scene!
This is just an awesome sight to
see God's elect stand before the king.
I mean, they stood out from the
crowd as the king put them to the test... that is concerning their wisdom
and understanding!
[20]
And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the
king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than
all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.
Ten is the number of Law and
responsibility as well as "testimony".
Think about it!
These spiritually rich servants
of God had answers to the tough questions and far outshined
the members of the religious community who looked like a bunch of intellectual
buffoons!
[21]
And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.
Daniel continued (in office)
even unto the first year of Cyrus: which would be for the 69 years of the
Babylonian captivity from 495-426 BC, even past the first year of King
Cyrus who issued the Act of Emancipation ending the captivity.
In our next study, ol' king Nebuchadnezzar
is going to have a bad nightmare!
He will be so shaken by it that
he will not be able to sleep at night.
So he is going to turn to the religious
community for the answers that will bring him comfort and peace of mind!
Will they have those answers and
will he find rest?
We will soon find out!
Live
Link to- The Book of
Daniel Table of Contents
It is important
that YOU
Read it all!
Jesus
said, "the book of Daniel
was where one could go read and gain understanding"
Jesus
Christ told us in Matthew
24 and Mark
13 when He sat upon the Mount of Olives and gave His
disciples
the seven seals concerning the knowledge and the events that would
transpire
during the final generation of the fig tree, that the book of Daniel
was
where one could go read and gain understanding
concerning
the abomination of desolation, that abominable desolator (antichrist)
who would come stand in the holy place claiming to be God
The book of
Daniel is the Apocalypse of the Old Testament
and
a sister book to the Apocalypse of the New Testament,
the
book of Revelation.
To study the
Bible is the noblest of all pursuits;
to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the
guidance of the Holy
Spirit, you accomplish both.
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