daniel 9

it was the first year of the reign of darius the mede the son of ahasuerus who became king of the babylonians.

during the first year of his reign i daniel learned from reading the word of the Lord as revealed to jeremiah the prophet that jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.

so i turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and fasting .

i also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.

i prayed to the Lord my God and confessed O Lord you are a great and awesome God.

you always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands but we have sinned and done wrong.

we have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations.

we have refused to listen to your servants the prophets who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land.

Lord you are in the right but as you see our faces are covered with shame.

this is true of all of us including the people of judah and jerusalem and all israel scattered near and far wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you .

O Lord we and our kings princes and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you but the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving even though we have rebelled against HIm .

we have not obeyed the Lord our God for we have not followed the instructions He gave us through HIs servants the prophets.

all israel has disobeyed your instructions and turned away refusing to listen to your voice so now the solemn curses and judgments written in the law of moses the servant of God have been poured down on us because of our sin.

you have kept your word and done to us and our rulers exactly as you warned.

never has there been such a disaster as happened in jerusalem .

every curse written against us in the law of moses has come true yet we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognizing HIs truth .

therefore the Lord has brought upon us the disaster He prepared.

the Lord our God was right to do all these things for we did not obey HIm.

O Lord our God you brought lasting honor to your name by rescuing your people from egypt in a great display of power but we have sinned and are full of wickedness .

in view of all your faithful mercies Lord please turn your furious anger away from your city jerusalem your holy mountain .

all the neighboring nations mock jerusalem and your people because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors.

O our God hear your servants prayer.

listen as i plead.

for your own sake Lord smile again on your desolate sanctuary.

O my God lean down and listen to me .

open your eyes and see our despair.

see how your  city the city that bears your name lies in ruins.

we make this plea not because we deserve help but because of your mercy.

O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord listen and act.

for your own sake do not delay, O my God for your city and your people bear your name.

i went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people pleading with the Lord my God for jerusalem His holy mountain.

as i was praying gabriel whom i had seen in the early vision came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice.

he explained to me ” daniel i have  come here to give you insight and understanding.

the moment you began praying a command was given and now i am here to tell you what it was for you are very precious to God.

listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision.

a period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion to put an end to their sin to atone for their guilt to bring in everlasting righteousness to confirm the prophetic vision and to anoint the most holy place.

now listen and understand.

seven sets of seven plus sixty two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild jerusalem until a new ruler the anointed one comes.

jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses despite the perilous times.

after this period of sixty two sets of seven the anointed one will be killed appearing to have accomplished nothing and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the temple .

the end will come with a flood and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.

the ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven but after half this time he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings and as a climax to all his terrible deeds he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.

selah 🙂

you can imagine the shock of daniel when he heard the news that his beloved country was going to be emptied out of people and practically turned into a wasteland.

there are times in our lives when it is necessary to deprive ourselves of the comfort and strength given us by food and drink in order to draw closer to God.

often we have rebellious attitudes and think we can run our own lives without Gods help but thats when we get into trouble because we always need HIs help or else we are headed for certain disaster.

its interesting how daniel talks about himself in the third person referring to the prophecies that have taken place in the past, those that have come about because he and his male and female contemporaries allowed themselves to be used as vessels for God.

there is no accusation in daniels tone he is simply stating the bare faced facts that Gods people faced disciplinary actions cos they refused to listen to the warnings of the prophets who told them that unless they stopped worshipping demons they would lose their kingdoms and be carried off into exile.

it is because of their unwillingness to listen to good instruction or more precisely rehoboams stubborn reproachful attitude that caused them to be weakened by division in the first place.

we can learn a lesson from this to be careful not to let the enemy come in between us and our beloved fellow members of the family of God.

daniel is very conscious of the fact that there are consequences to our sinful actions .

our sins build a wall between us and God separating us from HIm.

they are like a current that pulls us away from HIs comforting arms.

daniel is using hyperbolic language when he talks about all israel sinning but it is possible that he too sinned in his heart. he may have eyed off one of the servant girls in the palace. at any rate even if he had the most pure and puritan soul he was doing something called identificational repentance. sometimes God calls us to stand in the gap for others and apologize on behalf of those who share our gender our musical preferences our culture our age group or our religious background and apologize for the way we have treated those who are different from us.

Gods mercy is not obtainable for us unless we beg HIm for forgiveness.

this seems simple enough logic yet for some people it seems to escape their brains capacity to comprehend it.

when daniel says God prepared disaster it doesnt mean it was part of HIs plan to cause disaster rather it was a plan He put in place a course of events that were intended to be set in motion if HIs people were disobedient to HIm purely for the purpose of using those trials and tribulations to draw them closer to HIs heart.

we do not see bad things happening in our lives as something we can easily accept.

we must learn to teach ourselves not to complain when we are obviously suffering the consequences of our sins. we must learn to humble our hearts and get right with God and take our punishment like a man or a fully grown woman. we must see the rightness of Gods punishment. we dont have to enjoy it but we have no right to protest as if we dont deserve it. we do deserve it. what we dont deserve is freedom from the consequences of sin beyond the grave.

we do not always see ourselves as full of wickedness but it is true that we are in a state of disrepair unless we are willing to be repaired by the miracle working power of Jesus to cleanse our souls and make us whole again.

Gods anger is not like our anger. His anger is always righteous anger. His anger is always justifiable. we must be aware of the target of HIs anger. it is not us per se but the devil who we have allowed to lure us into traps of evil and control us and destroy our futures if we are not careful to avoid his snares in future.

because Jesus has shed HIs blood for us on the cross we are under a new covenant and we no longer have to feel guilty and burdened down by the sins of our ancestors. there is no such thing as generational curses. every curse was broken when Jesus hung on that cross. all we need concern ourselves about is the sins we commit in the present moment and those sins we have committed in the past which are currently unaccounted for.

the people of israel were mocked by the world cos they were called by God to stand out from the world and be a people who worshipped one God who made all living things. in the same way God calls all of us who have been adopted into HIs family to be bold in sharing our faith and to be careful in our choices so they reflect HIs heart and nature instead of that of a condemned criminal who sees no need for repentance.

it is only with Christ that we are able to outwit the blight of our circumstances.

we are the desolate sanctuaries that Christ has smiled upon bestowing favour upon us with the shedding of HIs blood to forgive our sins and heal all our diseases.

our despair never goes unnoticed by God.

jerusalem means complete awe of God . the israelis call it Yireh Shalem. this means to be so deeply in touch with God that you are constantly amazed by Him. ( taken from chabad.org) 

what daniel means when he says that the people of God carry his name is precisely this- israel means God prevails so when they are speaking of their people the israelis can remind themselves that God is always able to prevail over terrible circumstances in their lives.

it must have been amazing for daniel to see the angel. he must have been filled with so much joy and delight. i would have jumped for joy if i was in his sandals. i would be dumbstruck by fear yet also perhaps be bubbling up to overflowing with an unexplainable love for God and a peaceful feeling and a feeling of gratitude that comes from knowing His presence is with me and He is always able to comfort me and i would feel like rejoicing cos i would know He had come through for me in my most desperate hour.

isnt it incredible to think that the second the words crying for help left daniels lips the angels were already listening to him and God was already sending them to him in order to offer assistance. wow what a God we serve. i love it when He responds to us instantaneously. of course sometimes He will test our patience but quite often He is known to deliver results instantly.

just as daniel was considered precious to God in the same way dear reader He delights in you . you are precious in His sight and if you dont know HIm already He wants to ignite a fire of passion in your heart for HIm.

we know the jews still have to repent of their sins en masse and turn back to the messiah as do plenty of us who identify as gentile or non jew/ goyim. therefore we can surmise from this text that considering the conditions of massive jewish revival which must take place before the coming of the anointed one this is not  just talking of the first coming of Christ as happened when He came into a virgins womb but the second coming when He returns to claim HIs children and take us home to heaven.

the romans destroyed jerusalem and its temple in ad 70 , 70 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. an evil roman king cooked pork and set up an idol inside the the temple. this was considered to be a huge insult to the jews as it should be to all of us who hold to the teachings of the christian faith.

we know that the red heifer is no longer sacrificed in the temple whose ruins lie near the dome of the rock currently legally occupied by muslims against Gods will.

there is a view that this passage of the bible contains double speak. it doesnt just talk of a ruler in the past but of a future ruler who will come to make peace with jerusalem before declaring war on the jews and then meeting with his  comeuppance thanks to the hands of God.

we know that all vile minded individuals who defile or blaspheme or mock the name of God and HIs chosen people will come to an untimely demise.

this should be a lesson to us to always treat God and HIs people with love and respect.

we know there have been many wars which have taken place since this chapter in daniels book of prophecy was written.

many people have tried to destroy the children of israel but they will never succeed in wiping them out entirely for God has promised to always preserve a remnant for them just as a lady in a temple lights candles for her departed relatives. there will always be a candle burning for israel. God will never snuff HIs people out until the time comes when He makes the heavens and the earth brand new again.

pray for the peace of jerusalem.

pray for the peace of your own souls.

seek Gods face with fear and trembling.

if you are hoping for a miracle dont go seeking one from false gods or occultic sources.

only the good Lord above the one true Elohim can help you out.

stay in love with HIm and blaze bright like a mighty forest fire for HIs kingdom ❤

shalom

 

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daniel 8

during the third year of king belshazzars reign i daniel saw another vision following the one that had already appeared to me.

in this vision i was at the fortress of susa in the province of elam standing beside the ulai river.

as i looked up i saw a ram with two long horns standing beside the river.

one of the horns was longer than the other even though it had grown later than the other one.

the ram butted everything out of its way to the west to the north and to the south and noone could stand against him or help his victims.

he did as he pleased and became very great.

while i was watching suddenly a male goat appeared from the west crossing the land so swiftly that he didnt even touch the ground.

this goat which had one very large horn between its eyes headed toward the two horned ram that i had seen standing beside the river rushing at him in a rage.

the goat charged furiously at the ram and struck him breaking off both his horns.

now the ram was helpless and the goat knocked him down and trampled him.

noone could rescue the ram from the goat’s power.

the goat became very powerful but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off.

in the large horn’s place grew four prominent horns pointing in the four directions of the earth.

then from one of the prominent horns came a small horn whose power grew very great .

it extended toward the south and the east and toward the glorious land of israel.

its power reached to the heavens where it attacked the heavenly army throwing some of the heavenly beings and some of the stars to the ground and trampling them.

it even challenged the commander of heavens army by canceling the daily sacrifices offered to Him and by destroying HIs temple.

the army of heaven was restrained from responding to this rebellion so the daily sacrifice was halted and truth was overthrown.

the horn succeeded in everything it did .

then i heard two holy ones talking to each other.

one of them asked ” how long will the events of this vision last?

how long will the rebellion that causes desecration stop the daily sacrifices?

how long will the temple and heavens army be trampled on?”

the other replied ” it will take 2300 evenings and mornings then the temple will be made right again.”

as i daniel was trying to understand the meaning of this vision someone who looked like a man stood in front of me and i heard a human voice calling out from the ulai river ” gabriel tell this man the meaning of his vision”.

as gabriel approached the place where i was standing i became so terrified that i fell with my face to the ground.

” son of man” he said ” you must understand that the events you have seen in your vision relate to the time of the end”.

while he was speaking i fainted and lay there with my face to the ground but gabriel roused me with a touch and helped me to my feet.

then he said ” i am here to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath.

what you have seen pertains to the very end of time.

the two horned ram represents the king of media and persia .

the shaggy male goat represents the king of greece and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king of the greek empire.

the four prominent horns that replaced the one large horn show that the greek empire will break into four kingdoms  but none as great as the first .

at the end of their rule when their sin is at its height a fierce king a master of intrigue will rise to power.

he will become very strong but not by his own power.

he will  cause a shocking amount of destruction and succeed in everything he does.

he will destroy powerful leaders and devastate the holy people.

he will be a master of deception and will become arrogant he will destroy many without warning.

he will even take on the prince of princes in battle but he will be broken though not by human power.

this vision about the 2 300 evenings and mornings is true but none of these things will happen for a long time so keep this vision a secret.”

then i daniel was overcome and lay sick for several days.

afterward i got up and performed my duties for the king but i was greatly troubled by the vision and could not understand it.

selah 🙂

you feel sorry for the way the goat is  treating the ram until you realize one is probably as likely to cause harm as the other cos they both represent empires.

it doesnt make sense that an earthly ruler would have the ability to partially decimate the armies of heaven .

perhaps the horn that engaged in this activity represents a spiritual being working in conjunction with a physical one.

we know this is always the case because everything that goes on in the physical realm affects what happens in the spiritual realm.

both realities overlap and intersect.

they are separate from one another yet never completely disconnected.

stars are representative of seraphim not the twinkling reflections of dead celestial bodies we see lighting up the sky at night.

we know that part of the prophecy mentioned in this chapter remains unfulfilled because the red heifers are yet to be sacrificed in the temple at jerusalem.

the place where the sacrifices are to be made is actually located a little bit away from the dome of the rock.

you  can understand daniel’s terrified reaction to seeing an angel.

most of us would be too petrified to speak.

the four kingdoms that the horns which grew out of the one large horn represent are macedonia, asia minor ( or modern day turkey) ( including thrace which is located east of macedonia and greece and extends towards what we understand in modern times as embodying the asian landscape) , syria and egypt.

the generals who split the authority of alexander the great and went their own way who went on to rule these areas in their own separate empires are antigonus, lysimachus , seleucus and ptolemy ( an ancestor of cleopatra).

antigonus was in charge of macedonia, lysimachus was in  charge of turkey seleucus was in charge of syria and ptolemy took the reins of egypt.

the fierce king who is a master of intrigue seems to me to be talking about the antichrist.

what makes me think this prophecy hasnt occurred yet is gabriel’s mention of this ruler as taking on the son of God Jesus Christ or the prince of peace in battle.

we know that everyone who fights against God inevitably loses as was the case with jacob when he was begging for a blessing and ended up getting a damaged body for his troubles.

the irony was God had already made a promise to him he just needed to stand firm on the word that was already given him.

his dad blessed him just before he died but he was blessed directly by God when he returned to bethel .

it is telling that this blessing occurred after a time of mourning when jacob’s mum rebecca buried her old nurse deborah.

it is easy to feel sorry for daniel seeing as he was afflicted with illness.

he faced a lot of difficulties in his life but God enabled him to overcome them all.

daniel 7

earlier during the 1st year of king Belshazzar’s reign in Babylon daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay on his bed.

he wrote down the dream and this is what he saw .

in the vision that night I daniel saw a great storm churning the surface of a great sea with strong winds blowing from every direction then four beasts came up from the water each different from the others.

the first beast was like a lion with eagle’s wings.

as I watched its wings were pulled off and it was left standing with its 2 hind feet on the ground like a human being and it was given a human mind.

then I saw a second beast and it looked like a bear .

it was rearing up on one side and it had 3 ribs in its mouth between its teeth and I heard a voice saying to it ” get up devour the flesh of many people”.

then the 3rd of these strange beasts appeared and it looked like a leopard .

it had 4 birds wings on its back and it had 4 heads.

great authority was given to this beast.

then in my vision at night I saw a 4th beast terrifying dreadful and very strong.

it devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet.

it was different from any of the other beasts and it had 10 horns.

as I was looking at the horns suddenly another small horn appeared among them .

3 of the 1st horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it.

this little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.

I watched as thrones were put in place and the ancient one sat down to judge.

His clothing was as white as snow His hair like purest wool.

He sat on a fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire and a river of fire was pouring out flowing from His presence.

millions of angels ministered to HIm many millions stood to attend Him.

then the court began its session and the books were opened.

I continued to watch because I heard the little horn’s boastful speech .

I kept watching until the 4th beast was killed and its body was destroyed by fire .

the other 3 beasts had authority taken from them but they were allowed to live a while longer.

as my vision continued that night I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven .

He approached the ancient one and was led into His presence.

He was given authority honor and sovereignty over all the nations of the world so that people of every race and nation and language would obey Him.

His rule is eternal it will never end.

His kingdom will never be destroyed.

I daniel was troubled by all I had seen and my visions terrified me so I approached one of those standing beside the throne and asked him what it meant.

He explained it to me like this : these 4 huge beasts represent 4 kingdoms that will rise from the earth but in the end the holy people of the most high will be given the kingdom and they will rule forever and ever.

then I wanted to know the true meaning of the 4th beast the one so different from the others and so terrifying .

it had devoured and crushed its victims with iron teeth and bronze claws trampling their remains beneath its feet.

I also asked about the 10 horns on the 4th beast’s head and the little horn that came up afterwards and destroyed three of the other horns.

this horn had seemed greater than the others and it had human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.

as I watched the horn was waging war against God’s holy people and was defeating them until the ancient one the most high came and judged in favour of His holy people .

then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the kingdom.

then he said to me this 4th beast is the 4th world power that will rule the earth.

it will be different from all the others.

it will devour the whole world trampling and crushing everything in its path.

its 10 horns are 10 kings who will rule that empire .

then another king will arise different from the other 10 who will subdue three of them

He will defy the most high and oppress the holy people of the most high.

He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws and they will be placed under his control for a tie times and half a time.

but then the court will pass judgment and all his power will be taken away and completely destroyed .

then the sovereignty power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of God , His kingdom will last forever and all rulers will serve and obey HIm .

that was the end of the vision.

I daniel was terrified of my thoughts and my face was pale with fear but I kept these things to myself.

selah 😉

hightimetoawake.com interprets the lion with eagles wings as the u s teaming up with the uk.

this website is run and contains the thoughts of craig c white

Gill’s Notes on the Bible
And, behold, another beast, a second, like to a bear,…. Another monarchy, and which succeeded the former, and rose up upon the ruins of it, the Medo-Persian monarchy; and so the Syriac version prefixes to this verse, by way of explanation,
“the kingdom of the Medes’
like to a bear, less generous and strong than the lion; more rough and uncivil, but equally cruel and voracious; which describes the Medes and Persians as a fierce and cruel people, and less polished, and more uncivilized, than the Chaldeans; and answers to the silver breasts and arms in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream; see Isaiah 13:17,
and it raised up itself on one side; either of the lion, the first beast it destroyed; or rather on one side of itself, on the side of Persia; from whence Cyrus came, who was the principal instrument of raising this empire to the pitch it was brought unto. Some render it, “and it raised up one government”; one empire out of many nations and kingdoms it subdued:
and it had three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it; that is, three ribs covered with flesh, which, it was devouring; the bear being very voracious, and a great flesh eater: these, according to some, signify three kings that followed Darius the Mede; Cyrus, Ahasuerus, and Darius; so Jarchi and Jacchiades; and, according to Jerom, three kingdoms, the Babylonian, Median, and Persian: but neither of these kings nor kingdoms can be said to be in its mouth, and between its teeth, as ground and devoured by it, unless the Babylonian; wherefore it is better interpreted by others, as Theodoret, the three parts of the world it conquered, westward, northward, and southward, Daniel 8:4, though it is best of all, with Sir Isaac Newton and Bishop Chandler, to understand by them Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt; which countries were ground and oppressed by the Medes and Persians, as the ribs of any creature are ground in the mouth of a bear:
and they said thus unto it, arise, devour much flesh; which Jerom refers to Haman’s orders to destroy the Jews in the times of Ahasuerus; but it is much better applied by others to Cyaxares or Darius sending for Cyrus to take upon him the command of his army; and to the Hyrcanians, Gobryas, and others, inviting him to avenge them on the Babylonians, promising to join and assist him, as Xenophon relates: or rather this is to be interpreted of the divine will, and of the conduct of Providence by means of angels stirring up the spirit of Cyrus, and of the Medes and Persians, to attack and subdue many nations, and particularly the Babylonians, and fill themselves with their wealth and substance; hence they are styled the Lord’s sanctified, whom he ordered and called to such service; see Isaiah 13:3.- sourced from studylight.org

according to amazingdiscoveries.org the leopard with bird wings is alexander the great or Greece.

according to focusonjerusalem.com the fourth beast is rome or Italy.

I love the descriptions in this passage of the power and majesty of God.

we see God being acknowledged as judge of the universe and HIs authority being affirmed by the angels submitting themselves to HIs supreme authority.

when daniel saw God the son being led to God the father was he being shown a vision of what was then the future and now is the past of that moment when Jesus ascended into heaven and appeared before the throne of HIs father self.

we were designed to worship God in spirit and truth but not all of us are living according to our original purpose.

perhaps the rulers of this world might be more careful to trust and obey Christ if they took a second to acknowledge where the responsibility to govern they had been given through election or military might ultimately derived its source from.

it is encouraging to think that if we belong to Jesus this world will one day belong to us.

as Jesus said in the sermon on the mount the meek or self controlled shall inherit the earth.

in my experience it is impossible to control yourself unless you have the love of Jesus burning in your heart.

God has promised to make us great if we remain loyal and obedient to HIm.

if we want to experience this greatness we have to be prepared to endure suffering so that His name may be glorified through our lives so that they will be used to advance His kingdom by leading to a vast outbreak of soul harvest.

 

daniel 6

darius the mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province.

the king also chose daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests.

daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers.

because of Daniel’s great ability the king made plans to place him over the entire empire then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way daniel was handling government affairs but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn.

he was faithful always responsible and completely trustworthy so they concluded ” our only chance of finding grounds for accusing daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion”.

so the administrators and high officers went to the king and said ” long live king darius.

we are all in agreement we administrators officials high officers advisers and governors that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced.

give orders that for the next 30 days any person who prays to anyone divine or human except to you your majesty will be thrown into the den of lions and now your majesty issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed an official law of the medes and Persians that cannot be revoked” so king darius signed the law.

but when daniel learned that the law had been signed he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room with its windows open towards Jerusalem.

he prayed 3 times a day just as he had always done giving thanks to his God then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help so they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law.

” did you not sign a law that for the next 30 days any person who prays to anyone divine or human except to you your majesty will be thrown into the den of lions? ”

”yes ” the king replied” that decision stands it is an official law of the medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.”

then they told the king ” that man daniel one of the captives from Judah is ignoring you and your law.

he still prays to his God 3 times a day.”

hearing this the king was deeply troubled and he tried to think of a way to save daniel.

he spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get daniel out of this predicament.

in the evening the men went together to the king and said ” your majesty you know that according to the law of the medes and the Persians no law that the king signs can be changed.”

so at last the king gave orders for daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions.

the king said to him ” may your God whom you serve so faithfully rescue you”.

a stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den.

the king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles so that no one could rescue daniel then the king returned to his place and spent the night fasting .

he refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night.

very early the next morning the king got up and hurried out to the lion’s den.

when he got there he called out in anguish ” daniel servant of the living God was your God whom you serve so faithfully able to deliver you from the lions?”

daniel answered ” long live the king .

my God sent His angels to shut the lions mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in His sight and I have not wronged you your majesty.”

the king was overjoyed and ordered that daniel be lifted from the den .

not a scratch was found on him for he had trusted in his God.

then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused daniel.

he had them thrown into the lion’s den along with their wives and children.

the lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den.

then king darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world ‘ peace and prosperity to you.

I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of daniel for He is the living God and He will endure forever .

His kingdom will never be destroyed and His rule will never end.

He rescues and saves His people .

He performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth .

He has rescued daniel from the power of the lions” so daniel prospered during the reign of darius and the reign of cyrus the Persian.

selah

we don’t know what protecting the king’s interests looked like but I can only assume that in taking care of the welfare of  the king daniel and co were making sure that the king’s subjects didn’t treat him with disrespect and that they obeyed the laws of the land including paying their taxes.

its possible that if daniel was asked to make sure the king’s subjects worshipped idols that he would have neglected his duties but I think darius respected his faith so he wouldn’t have put him in that position where he would have been forced to contradict his beliefs.

we can learn from the example of Daniel’s life to be faithful responsible and trustworthy.

our loyalty and devotion is demonstrated both in how we prove ourselves to be diligent guardians of each others secrets and how we are willing to defend our friends when their reputations are under threat of being destroyed.

this doesn’t mean you have to get into battle scenarios every time someone insults your friend but you definitely shouldn’t be someone who contradicts them in front of others and you should always be there to show support for them when they need someone to agree with them and back them up in affirming their good character.

Jesus said if we are faithful in the small things then He will reward us with the big things.

if we prove to others that we can handle light weight responsibilities it is possible that they might trust us with a duty that is considered to be more heavy.

there are some people in the world who believe in other religions including the religions of atheism and evolution who are quite happy for us to believe what we believe and don’t mind at all if we share our beliefs with them, then there are others who are happy for us to believe what we believe so long as we don’t try to convince them to change their beliefs and then again there is a third militant group who are determined to wipe out anyone who claims to represent any religion ( despite the fact that atheism and evolutionism are both religions) . this is their stance in principle but more specifically their general stated aim is to completely abolish Christianity cos the lie is no threat to anyone only the truth.

we know that king darius was friends with daniel.

he loved and admired him so much that he was determined to make him second in authority only to him.

we do not know how much pressure was being exerted on darius to make a snap decision regarding the legalisation of idol worship and the exclusive nature of it only including his own person.

he would have grown up worshipping demons posing as gods so he may not have been comfortable with the idea of having other people worship him.

we do not know how many hours it took darius to make the decision to sign into law the edict that he would be worshipped as a deity.

I am sure if he had thought it through he would have made the mental connection that his friend daniel could not possibly bow down and worship him as he would be committing an act of blasphemy and disregarding the beliefs he had been raised to cherish.

we know that he had the choice to say no to his advisors.

he was more powerful than them and they could only operate with his authority.

when we are faced with similar choices when we are placed in positions of power we should always be careful to exercise our duties with regard to the profession of faith we have made in Christ even if we have to make difficult unpopular decisions.

we should care less about offending people and trampling on their rights than we do about preserving the faith of our subjects or those in authority over us and making sure that they are governed with godliness as our steps are directed by our master and commander Jesus.

I love the fearlessness of daniel.

now he could have prayed in secret and still maintained an appearance of obedience to the king.

he could have joined in with the idol worshippers who put their souls in bondage to demons and saved his bacon but not only did he choose to pray he chose to do it in a part of his house that was visible to those walking past his window.

this is how we should be.

we should make no secret of our love for Jesus. we should be bold and courageous in expressing it.

I am sure you know daniel prayed facing Jerusalem cos that is where the temple of God could be found.

we should love Jesus so much that we can’t possibly live with ourselves if we do anything to disrespect our relationship with HIm.

just as a bride is eager to please her groom we should strive to cultivate holiness within ourselves.

it is interesting that the jealous administrators and officials chose to remind darius of the law he had made.

of course he knew the laws he had made he wasn’t stupid.

he didn’t need them to jog his memory.

they were intentionally bringing the law he had made to his mind for the purpose of bringing down daniel and setting in motion his destruction.

the medes and Persians had a major flaw in the way they set up their laws so they couldn’t be changed.

they could have just done what America did with the prohibition laws and just ignored it and chose not to enforce it.

darius was the king he wasn’t bound by the law he was above the law.

he was the only one in the land who was above the law.

only those who make the law have the permission to break it.

or is the law maker bound by the law not to break it?

we know that God gave us the ten commandments which are the foundation of the laws of the western world.

God is not bound by the laws of physics and He wouldn’t disobey HIs own law.

He tells us not to be jealous but He is called a jealous God.

its ok for HIm to be jealous cos He knows that in loving any other being apart from HIm we are risking our souls burning in hell.

HIs jealousy is more like zealousness or passionate zeal for us to be connected to HIs heart.

darius could have rescued daniel any time yet he chose to kowtow to the advice of his subjects rather than to listen to his conscience and display fidelity towards his good friend daniel.

he could have sent daniel down into the den with a sword so at least he would have had something to defend himself against the fierce lions.

the officials were really harassing darius.

they wouldn’t respect his wishes and give him as much time as he needed to think about it.

he was the king he should have just told them to get off his back and go play the zither.

darius recognised Daniel’s faithfulness to God.

I believe this demonstration of affection for Jehovah touched his pagan heart.

He recognized the divine authority of God but at this point had not decided to cross over the lake of doubt into decisionville.

at this point He did not know that God could rescue daniel but he knew that if Daniel’s God was a God there was at least a very large possibility that He was capable of delivering him from certain death.

heres the crux though- even if God had not delivered daniel He would still be and is still God.

we must not let our faith or willingness to follow God be dictated to by circumstances.

even at the final moment of sealing the rock over the den darius was faced with the choice of liberating daniel or leaving him to suffer.

although insomnia and lack of hunger or desire for food is not evidence of a guilty conscience it certainly was in darius’s case.

it seems kind of thick headed that darius pulled an ed sheeran and started thinking out loud the next morning asking darius if God had liberated him from the lions.

obviously a dead man would not be able to respond.

perhaps on some subconscious level while asking daniel if he was alive darius knew that God had delivered him or perhaps he was driven crazy by tiredness and grief .

we all tend to act a little psycho before our first coffee of the day. 🙂

it wasn’t strictly true what daniel said that he was totally sinless which is what being innocent in Gods sight means cos all of us are capable of sinning we are all wrestling with a little or big something that is bothering us and attempting to keep us from having a relationship with Jesus but it is true that God looked at Daniel’s life and He saw that daniel was wrestling with HIs faith that He was daily attempting to put to death the desires of the flesh and nurturing the desires of the HOly Spirit.

the angels who shut the lions mouths wouldn’t have been afraid cos they knew the power of God was flowing through them and He was protecting them from harm just as they were keeping daniels toes from getting chomped by hungry feline teeth.

it is also not true that daniel didn’t wrong his majesty the king cos he clearly defied orders but in a sense that daniel did not disobey God he had not done anything to cause his earthly master to stumble spiritually.

perhaps by affirming his innocence daniel was desiring to prick the conscience of his king.

perhaps there was no intent behind it and he was just categorically stating the facts that praying to his ( the one true) God never should have been an issue that came between friends.

perhaps just as incredible as the fact daniel didn’t die is the miracle that happened when God prevented the lions from even laying a single claw on him.

this means the angels would have had to instantly create a bubble like forcefield around daniel so the lions couldn’t touch him.

I think it was unnecessary and cruel of darius to condemn the wives and children of the jealous officials to death as well as their evil minded husbands.

it wasn’t their fault they married idiots or had duds for dads.

this example from history shows us how our actions affect our spouses or partners and children or those we are placed in guardianship over by the law of the land or by circumstances beyond our control .

some think they can have prosperity without peace but in truth unless we have peace and Jehovah Shalom living in our hearts there will always be a war raging on within us that shall never cease .

despite darius’s best intentions you cannot force someone to believe in the one true God.

they have to come willingly or they won’t truly come at all.

they may give mental ascent to believing in Jesus while secretly continuing in their rebellious ways.

popularizing faith and commanding that it becomes the state or empirical religion has the effect of people associating religion with just following the crowd and just going to church or the temple cos they are afraid they will be killed if they don’t which is a very real fact for those who live in the muslim world and in some hindu and Buddhist areas.

true faith is found in the personal commitments we make to follow Christ not in just towing the line and doing what is popular.

it is true what darius said that Elohim is living and will never die.

it is impossible to kill HIm despite what the foolish Nietzsche said tellingly using the character of a man who had lost his mind.

God is always king of the universe regardless of how much permission He gives satan to temporarily run riot.

believe you me the devils chickens are coming home to roost.

although darius was undeniably talking about the jews when he talked about God saving HIs people we are the people of God if we repent of our sins and accept Jesus in our hearts so that promise also applies to us.

its true that since the beginning of the world until its completion God never has and never will cease working miracles.

Daniel’s enemies thought the lions would get the better of him but they could never get the better of the God in him who roars like a lion over our troublesome circumstances .

God placed daniel in a position of authority during the reigns of nebuchadnezzar, darius, cyrus and Belshazzar.

we can learn from the example of his life to always be obedient to God even when we are afraid it might cost us our life or cause us to lose our social standing or position of power.

daniel knew that it was not his skills that had gained his position of authority but only the favour of God.

such a situation is also perpetually our own.

daniel 5

this and all other future posts will be written with the musical background inspiration of integrityradio.net unless otherwise indicated ❤

selah

many years later king Belshazzar gave a great feast for 1000 of his nobles and he drank wine with them.

while Belshazzar was drinking the wine he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem.

he wanted to drink from them with his nobles his wives and his concubines so they brought these gold cups taken from the temple the house of God in Jerusalem and the king and his nobles his wives and his concubines drank from them.

while they drank from them they praised their idols made of gold silver bronze iron wood and stone .

suddenly they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the kings palace from the lampstand.

the king himself saw the hand as it wrote and his face turned pale with fright .

his knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.

the king shouted for the enchanters astrologers and fortune tellers to be brought before him.

he said to these wise men of Babylon ” whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor and will have a gold chain placed around his neck .

he will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom”.

but when all the kings wise men had come in none of them could read the writing or tell him what it meant, so the king grew even more alarmed and his face turned pale .

his nobles too were shaken but when the queen mother heard what was happening she hurried to the banquet hall .

she said to Belshazzar ” long live the king don’t be so pale and frightened .

there is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods.

during nebuchadnezzar’s reign this man was found to have insight understanding and wisdom like that of the gods.

your predecessor the king your predecessor king nebuchadnezzar made him chief over all the magicians enchanters astrologers and fortune tellers of Babylon.

this man daniel who the king named belshazzar has exceptional ability and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding.

he can interpret dreams explain riddles and solve difficult problems.

call for daniel and he will tell you what the writing means.”

so daniel was brought in before the king.

the king asked him ” are you daniel one of the exiles brought from Judah by my predecessor king nebuchadnezzar ?

I have heard that you have the spirit of the gods within you and that you are filled with insight understanding and wisdom .

my wise men and enchanters have tried to read the words on the wall and  tell me their meaning but they cannot do it.

I am told that you can give interpretations and solve difficult problems.

if you  can read these words and tell me their meaning you will be clothed in purple robes of royal honour and you will have a gold chain placed around your neck.

you will become the 3rd highest ruler in the kingdom.”

daniel answered the king” keep your gifts or give them to someone else but I will tell you what the writing means.

your majesty the most high God gave sovereignty majesty glory and honor to your predecessor nebuchadnezzar.

he made him so great that people of all races and nations and languages trembled before him in fear.

he killed those he wanted to kill and spared those he wanted to spare.

he honoured those he wanted to honor and disgraced those he wanted to disgrace but when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory .

he was driven from human society.

he was given the mind of a wild animal and he lived among the wild donkeys.

he ate grass like a cow and he was drenched with the dew of heaven until he learned that the most high God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.

” you are his successor O belshazzar and you knew ALL THIS yet you have not humbled yourself for you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from the temple brought before you.

you and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver bronze iron gold wood and stone gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all but you have not honoured the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny so God has sent this hand to write this message.

this is the message that was written mene mene tekel and parsin.

this is what these words mean: mene means numbered God has numbered the days of your life and has brought it to an end.

tekel means weighed you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.

parsin means divided your kingdom has been divided and given to the medes and Persians.”

then at belshazzar’s command daniel was dressed in purple robes a gold chain was hung around his neck and he was proclaimed the 3rd highest ruler in the kingdom.

that very night Belshazzar the Babylonian king was killed and darius the mede took over the kingdom at the age of 62.

selah 🙂 ❤

we  could be gracious and presume that Belshazzar was an ignorant pagan and didn’t know what an insult it would be to the jews and the one true God to drink from the sacred cups meant only for the usage of sacrifices of worship to Elohim but it is most likely that it wasn’t a shortage of cups that drove him to grab the ones that belonged to the jews but a deliberate malfeasance and evil desire to take what was meant for the glory of God and in the act of drinking to use the grapes that had fermented for his pleasure for the nefarious purpose of praising a demonic false god that gave him nothing but bondage and eternal torture in return for his fealty.

everyone had a choice as to whether or not to drink from the cups but there is no record that one single soul bar the enslaved jews refused to sup.

they probably did not see the irony that the false gods they praised were made from the same materials they drank out of.

we can only assume the human hand they saw was normal sized although it could have been divine and just took on the appearance of human flesh cos the hands of the Lord are too glorious for us to behold with our human eyes and to vast to be squeezed inside our tiny little world.

we can only assume if the kings legs gave way that he was standing up in his moment of revelry or else the shock of what he saw caused him to somehow slip off his throne.

unlike nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar didn’t use the threat of execution to get results from his foolish so called wise men but he did resort to the same tactic used by his predecessor of bribery to get the job done.

one wonders how these wise men even still had a job after they had failed nebuchadnezzar.

you would think the word would have been put out about their incompetence by now .

I guess they must have cut to pieces anyone who gave them bad publicity.

trust a woman to get results.

never send a man to do a womans job.

his good old mum came through and found someone who knew what they were talking about or at any rate had an intimate relationship with an omniscient God.

she was wrong to suggest that there is more than one god but she was speaking out of her pagan understanding of divinity so you cant blame her for her ignorance.

in truth daniel was in charge of all the astrologers so he should have been the one they consulted for advice first but here in this scenario we see good old fashioned prejudice rearing its ugly head. daniel doesn’t know anything hes just an ignorant jew Belshazzar probably thought until the wisdom of his mother proved otherwise.

it is key that his mother was smart enough to recognise the presence of a wisdom in daniel that had to come from a source or a being beyond himself.

we would be wise to take the advice on board of this woman and never trust ourselves for guidance in major or minor life decisions but instead we should turn to God who is always capable of leading us down the right path.

it is funny that the king asked daniel to identify himself.

that’s kind of a stupid question.

if he didn’t know who he was he wouldn’t have brought him before him to help solve the riddle of the mysterious script on le bricks.

it is funny that the Babylonian advisers couldn’t read the script that the hand sent from God wrote on the wall.

obviously this tells us it wasn’t written in cuneiform or Babylonian script where a picture represented a word such as the chinese or mandarin and Cantonese languages are today.

I love that daniel didn’t give a monkeys about the accumulation of material possessions.

although I admire his noble self sacrificing attitude I can honestly say I would be the first to declare gimme gimme gimme if someone offered me a gold chain beautiful robes and the 3rd best job position in the land.

from this we may infer that the people who God tends to use most commonly for the advancement of HIs kingdom in greatest measure are those who are prepared to put HIm above everyone and everyone else above themselves.

apart from killing our enemies cos it tends to be illegal throughout most of the civilized world most of us would eagerly follow in the footsteps of nebuchadnezzar.

although we may not consciously intend to humiliate those who cause us pain we may on a subconscious level set in motion events and share things with others that cause the downfall of those who intend to do us in or who behave towards us in a less than godly attitude.

we can learn from nebuchadnezzar’s life not to be prideful and think we are gods lest it leads to us being publicly humiliated and being forced to live like a pig or a donkey’s cousin.

it is important for us to remember that all the rulers of the world derive their authority from God.

He is in charge of election results cos He can cause us to favour one candidate over another and He can cause kings queens and presidents to find favour with their people or to be  treated like the scum between their toes cos they assume arrogantly they  can do no wrong or just are so incompetent at attempting to do right that they are better off just bowing out and caving in to the pressure from those who follow them to leave office or their throne rather than prolong the agony of having everything gradually stripped away from them by force instead of their own volition.

Belshazzar should have known better than to dishonour the God who was responsible for giving him his power and authority in the first place.

how quickly we often let lofty positions get to our heads causing them to swell to the size of a gigantic pumpkin or James’s proverbial peach.

it is important to remember that God is both our creator and an interventionist God who is able to affect change in our lives and direct our every step.

in HIm we live and move and have our being.

even though Belshazzar did not grow up knowing the one true God you would think he would have been smart enough to recognize that it was not his own might or the demons he worshipped that allowed nebuchadnezzars kingdom to fall into his hands but the favour of God alone ( Christ in preincarnate form).

like Belshazzar all of our days are numbered by God.

we must use them wisely and never waste any opportunity He gives us to offer HIm praise in the way we live our lives, how we choose to think and how we act towards others .

the way God determines who gets into heaven is not determined the same way the Egyptians and some misguided medieval Europeans used to surmise divinity grants permission for entry into a better place.

it doesn’t matter what we do as much as what we believe and whether we have repented of our sins that determines whether we get into heaven or burn in hell.

in the case of whether Belshazzar was permitted to retain his kingship however his behaviour was a determining factor that set in motion the path of his destiny.

it is possible that if he had repented he would have subverted Gods plan like honest abe did when negotiating with God the total destruction of Babylon down to ten good men but we will never know what might have been so its useless to play such fruitless speculative mindgames.

how often are we parsin in our loyalty?

how much of us belongs to Jesus and how much of us belongs to the kingdom of satan?

how much are we children of Christ and how much are we children of the devil?

a house divided shall not stand.

if we do not want the devil to conquer us and destroy our futures and torture us forever in the fires of hell we must be completely uncompromising and not allow any worms of lust pride fear and doubt to enter into the apple of our soul and corrupt it from the inside out.

although daniel didn’t want to be rewarded or lauded with plaudits and positions of power he still accepted them.

it is possible that in this situation refusal would have meant instant death.

we may wonder how long it took in the interim between Belshazzar receiving the dawn of revelation upon the discovery of the meaning of the writing on the wall and the advent of his downfall when his kingdom and his life were simultaneously stripped from his hands.

we will never know whether he was killed by darius and his henchmen or if one of his servants struck a blow to him to avoid the humiliation of being slaughtered by the enemy.

it may be encouraging to all those aging retirees out there that darius took over a kingdom in his sixties.

whats your excuse – ha ha jokes 🙂

live long and prosper

may you forever walk out the plans of God guided by HIs lovely perfect omnipotent hands ❤

daniel 4

king nebuchadnezzar sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world : ” peace and prosperity to you. I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders the most high God has performed for me. how great are HIs signs? how powerful HIs wonders? His kingdom will last forever, His rule through all generations.

I nebuchadnezzar was living in my palace in comfort and prosperity but one night I had a dream that frightened me. I saw visions that terrified me as I lay in my bed so I issued an order calling in all the wise men of Babylon so they could tell me what my dream meant . when all the magicians enchanters fortune tellers and astrologers came in I told them the dream but they could not tell me what it meant. at last daniel came in before me and I told him the dream ( he was named belteshazzar after my god and the spirit of the holy gods is in him..)

I said to him ” belteshazzar chief of the magicians I know the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too great for you to solve . now tell me what my dream means.

while I was lying in bed this is what I dreamed. I saw a large tree in the middle of the earth . the tree grew very tall and strong reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. it had fresh green leaves and it was loaded with fruit for all to eat. wild animals lived in its shade and birds nested in its branches . all the world was fed from this tree.

then as I lay there dreaming I saw a messenger a holy one coming down from heaven. the messenger shouted ” cut down the tree and lop off its branches shake off its leaves and scatter its fruit , chase the wild animals from its shade and the birds from its branches but leave the stump and the roots in the ground , bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass . now let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and let him live with the wild animals among the plants of the field . for 7 periods of time let him have the mind of a wild animal instead of a human for this has been decreed by the messengers it is commanded by the holy ones so that everyone may know that the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world

He gives them to anyone He chooses even to the lowliest of people .

belteshazzar that was the dream that I king nebuchadnezzar had now tell me what it means for none of the wise men from my kingdom can do so but you can tell me because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”

upon hearing this daniel also known as belteshazzar was overcome for a time frightened by the meaning of the dream, then the king said to him ” belteshazzar don’t be alarmed by the dream and what it means”

belteshazzar replied ” I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies my lord and not to you. the tree you saw was growing very tall and strong reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see . it had fresh green leaves and was loaded with fruit for all to eat. wild animals lived in its shade and birds nested in its branches . that tree your majesty is you , for you have grown strong and great your greatness reaches up to heaven and your rule to the ends of the earth, then you saw a messenger a holy one coming down from heaven and saying ‘ cut down the tree and destroy it but leave the stump and the roots in the ground bound with a band of iron and bronze and and surrounded by tender grass. let him be drenched with the dew of heaven. let him live with the animals of the field for seven periods of time.’

this is what the dream means your majesty and what the most high has declared will happen to my lord the king. you will be driven from human society and you will live in the fields with the wild animals. you will eat grass like a cow and you will be drenched with the dew of heaven. seven periods of time will pass while you live this way until you learn that the most high rules over the kingdoms of this world and gives them to  anyone He chooses, but the stump and roots of the tree were left in the ground . this means that you will receive your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules.

king nebuchadnezzar please accept my advice. stop sinning and do what is right. break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor perhaps then you will continue to prosper.”

but all these things did happen to king nebuchadnezzar . 12 months later he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal. palace in Babylon . as he looked out across the city he said ” look at this great city of Babylon . by my own mighty power I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendour.”

while these words were still in his mouth a voice called down from heaven ” oh king nebuchadnezzar this message is for you . you are no longer ruler of this kingdom. you will be driven from human society. you will live in the fields with the wild animals and you will eat grass like a cow. 7 periods of time will pass while you live this way until you learn that the most high rules over the kingdoms of this w0rld and gives them to anyone He chooses.’

that same hour the judgment was fulfilled and nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society . he ate grass like a cow and he was drenched with the dew of heaven. he lived this way until his hair was as long as eagle feathers and his nails were like birds claws.

after this time had passed I nebuchadnezzar looked up to heaven . my sanity returned and I praised and worshipped the most high and honoured the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting and HIs kingdom is eternal . all the people of the earth are nothing compared to HIm. He does as He pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. no one cAN STOP hiM OR say to HIm ‘ what do you mean by doing these things?’

when my sanity returned to me so did my honor and glory and kingdom . my advisers and nobles sought me out and I was restored as head of my kingdom with even greater honor than before.

now I nebuchadnezzar praise and glorify and honour the king of heaven . all His acts are just and true and He is able to humble the proud.

selah 🙂

this chapter begins with the heartening news that nebuchadnezzar has had a turnaround and decided to worship the one true God.

it’s true that God will never be deposed from HIs throne.

at this point nebuchadnezzar had not yet worked out his feelings regarding Elohim.

he was still holding onto the worship of baal and he still believed in multiple gods even though he recognized the power of the one true God he saw evident in Daniel’s life.

I am not sure if we are meant to assume that king nebuchadnezzar woke from his dream and was interrupted by an angel from heaven or that he saw an angel wake him up from one dream while he was still trapped inside another dream.

daniel might have been terrified that if king nebuchadnezzar heard that his dream meant bad news for his future he might become furious with him and prematurely end his life.

God showed grace to king nebuchadnezzar.

what amazing love bestowed on one who killed His chosen people.

it would have been an extremely humbling experience to be in king nebuchadnezzars shoes and eat food off the ground like an animal sleeping on the ground and being forced to fight in order to grab every tiny morsel thrown in his direction. you would think king nebuchadnezzar would have been smart and heeded the warnings fom his own dreams but he gradually forgot about the fact that all the success he gained was only brought about because Elohim permitted it to be so.

according to jewishencyclopedia.com evil merodach was looking after his father king nebuchadnezzars throne during his 7 years of absence . hE MAY have been the one who coerced his dad into leaving but i have no solid evidence to back up this theory so a theory is all it will ever be. Gods existence is eternal. all our greatness pales into insignificance compared to toe myriad of activities God is constantly involved with making sure its never possible for us to claim the excuse that we never had an opportunity to avail ourselves to the master’s hands. it is not wrong for us to question why God operates the way He does merely to deny HIs existence or to give up communicating with HIm cos choosing to do so puts us straight into the danger zone and increases our vulnerability to temptation.

God is always just and right even when we think His way of running the universe isnt fair.

we must remind ourselves that if we were to get what we deserve we would all be burning in hell right now so its just as well God chooses to be kind to us and help us to walk in HIs footsteps . God resists the proud but He listens to the humble . if we want God to bless our lives we have to tune into His frequency. reading His word and listening out for HIs guiding voice enables us to overcome all the obstacles the world places across our path trying to block us from accessing heaven.

paoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

daniel 3

king nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide and set it up on the plain of dura in the province of Babylon.

then he sent messengers to the high officers , officials, governors, advisers , treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up so all these officials came and stood before the statue king nebuchadnezzar had set up then a herald shouted out ” people of all races and nations and languages listen to the king’s command. when you hear the sound of the horn flute zither lyre harp pipes and other musical instruments bow to the ground to worship king nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. anyone who refuses to obey will be immediately thrown into a blazing furnace” so at the sound of the musical instruments all the people whatever their race or nation or language bowed to the ground and worshipped the gold statue that king nebuchadnezzar had set up, but some of the astrologers went to the king and informed on the jews . they said to king nebuchadnezzar ” long live the king. you issued a royal decree requiring all the people to bow down and worship the gold statue when they heard the sound of the horn flute zither lyre harp pipes and other musical instruments. that decree also states that those who refuse to obey must be thrown into a blazing furnace but there are some jews shadrach Meshach and Abednego whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon. they pay no attention to you your majesty . they refuse to serve your gods and do not worship the gold statue you have set up.”

then king nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered that shadrach Meshach and Abednego be brought before him. when they were brought in nebuchadnezzar said to them ” is it true shadrach Meshach and Abednego that you refuse to serve my gods or worship the gold statue I have set up? I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments but if you refuse you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace and then what God will be able to rescue you from my power?”

shadrach Meshach and Abednego replied ” O nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you . if we are thrown into the blazing furnace God whom we serve is able to save us . He will rescue us from your power O Majesty but even if He doesn’t we want to make it clear to you your majesty that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

nebuchadnezzar was so furious with shadrach Meshach and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. he commanded that the furnace be heated 7 times hotter than usual then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind up shadach Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the burning furnace. so they tied them up and threw them into the furnace fully dressed in their pants turbans robes and other garments and because the king in his anger had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the 3 men in, so shadrach Meshach and Abednego securely tied fell into the roaring flames but suddenly nebuchadnezzar jumped up with amazement and exclaimed to his advisers ” didn’t we tie up 3 men and throw them into the furnace?”

”yes your majesty we certainly did” they replied

” look” nebuchadnezzar shouted ” I see 4 men unbound walking around in the fire unharmed and the 4th looks like a god then nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted ” shadrach Meshach and Abednego servants of the most high God come out come here”.

so shadrach Meshach and Abednego stepped out of the fire then the high officers officials governors and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. not a hair on their heads was singed and their clothing was not scorched. they didn’t even smell of smoke, then nebuchadnezzar said” praise to the God of shadrach Meshach and Abednego . He sent HIs angel to rescue HIs servants who trusted in HIm . they defied the king’s command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. therefore I make this decree if any people whatever their race or nation or language speak a word against the God of shadrach Meshach and Abednego they will be torn limb from limb and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. there is no other god who can rescue like this.

then the king promoted shadrach Meshach and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon.

selah 😉

anyone else think nebuchadnezzar had an ego the  size of a giant?

he was certainly making sure his eyesore of a statue wouldn’t be missed by anybody.

in those days you sent messengers to people by painstakingly getting a scribe to chisel your message on a tablet then they carried it by elephants camels or horses to wherever your missives destination happened to be.

none of the officials wanted to be mistaken for a traitor cos they know nebuchadnezzars reputation preceded him for being in possession of a furious temper.

nebuchadnezzars empire stretched all across Europe and asia.

imagine if someone intended to worship the idol but they got the pins and needles so they got thrown in the fire cos of their stubborn legs.

its incredible how many people just worshipped the statue without even thinking what they were doing.

essentially they were engaging in demon worship cos that’s exactly what we are doing when we exalt ourselves to the position of a god.

its terrible that the very same astrologers whose asses were saved by the quick thinking and divinely guided discernment of daniel repaid the kindness of him and his friends with cruelty by attempting to get them killed.

they didn’t actually care if daniel and his friends worshipped the idols or not they were just jealous of their exalted positions of authority in the empire and wanted to nab them for themselves.

notice how they cloud the issue by bringing in a side issue irrelevant to the case- nebuchadnezzar didn’t have a problem with diversity of religions normally just in this instance he wanted all his people to worship him as god.

the worship of other religions wasn’t the reason they were standing trial it was their refusal to participate in the worship of king nebuchadnezzar that they were unashamedly guilty of.

of course in his hot temper king nebuchadnezzars judgment was clouded and he was all too hasty to speak of the jews behaviour in an accusatory manner as if he hadn’t previously permitted their freedom of religion to flourish in exile as well it should.

king nebuchadnezzar should have known from experience that daniel and co wouldn’t obey his orders cos they had previously refused to eat food sacrificed to idols.

perhaps he was a heavy drinker so he forgot crucial details like who was known for worshipping his false gods and who worshipped the one true Elohim.

its funny that he thought he was more powerful than God when clearly it was God who had shown him the truth about himself and his future on that previous occasion when God gave daniel both the precise events of his dream and its interpretation.

we can learn from shadrach Meshach and Abednego not to waste our time with fruitless arguing with those who refuse to listen to the truth.

if they are hungry for the truth God will cause them to ask questions and seek a deeper intimacy with HIm.

I love the confidence shadrach Meshach and Abednego had in Gods ability to rescue them. I also love their passionate unwavering faith. they had their priorities in order. they knew it didn’t matter if someone takes your life so long as your life is in the right place with God.

it was a really stupid move on the part of king nebuchadnezzar to accidentally incinerate the strongest men in his army in his haste to demolish all traces of the Israelites who dared to stand up to his bullying ways.

the fourth man in the fire was a preincarnate version of Jesus standing with HIs creations shadrach Meshach and Abednego and comforting them with His holy presence in which there is fullness of joy.

it is funny that king nebuchadnezzar had never seen God yet the instant he laid eyes upon HIs son he knew exactly what he was looking at and he could only stare flabbergasted in wonder as we all would had we been privileged enough to spend a second in his sandals.

it is funny how he went from calling himself a god to acknowledging Elohim as the God above all Gods.

its incredible that not one bit of them got burned and they had not one lingering trace of smoke which as anyone who has ever camped out in the bush and toasted marshmallows knows it is virtually impossible to make any kind of contact with a fire without you smelling even a tiny little bit like what you have been hanging around for hours on end.

nebuchadnezzar seems to be in two minds about whether he was looking at an angel or the author of life.

this is probably the only time in king nebuchadnezzars life when he was singing the praises of someone who refused to obey his instructions 🙂

maybe the atheists agnostics and those  who believe in false religions in our world would think twice about attacking Christians with their words and fists and weapons of warfare if they knew their houses were going to be torn down and their bodies were going to be torn to shreds.

in truth unless they quit it with their wicked ways and ask forgiveness for their sins they will endure far worse torture than they could ever possibly imagine in the fires of hell where the pain never ceases.

its true that Adonai is the only one who can rescue us but not that there are any other gods.

all other gods are just demons playing a game of lets fool the earthling.

its funny how the astrologers intended to punish the jews and they ended up inadvertently triggering a situation that brought about even greater blessings for Gods chosen people. 🙂 ❤

I love the way God is able to take situations where people intend to harm us and damage our reputation and turn them around so instead of suffering we get to flourish instead and bring glory to HIm cos every blessing coming our way just makes HIm look better and it just makes more souls fall head over heels in love with HIm.