Bible Reading Challenge Blog

From the beginning of the beginning people have been trying to discern when the end of time will be, because we all assume that there has to be an end of time.  The Bible speaks of the end of time, and sometimes even adds some tidbits to spice up the curiosity factor by giving us details which has allowed some people to point to events that are happening in the world and track down the timeline to the end of time.  That is not what it is meant to be.  

We should all be satisfied hearing the words that Daniel heard as the last verse to this book of the Bible as the man in the Scripture said to him: “But you, go your way, and rest; you shall rise for your reward at the end of the days.”  We should all go away knowing that we have with certainty the reward that is reserved for us at the end of days.  

It is interesting that this is the only clear reference in the entire Old Testament to a resurrection, a final judgment, and an afterlife.  There is a direct link to this Scripture and what we read in Revelation.  Well, we did it, we finished Daniel.  Obadiah is next, just a short little single chapter, and then we finish this challenge with Micah.

Daniel goes through a whole list of kings that ruled over the Israelites but they don’t perfectly match up with our historical accounts, but that isn’t the point.  Each of these wars and campaigns refer very directly to a person in history who did this.  The daughter is Berenice who was married to the grandson of Seleucus whose name was Antiochus II Theos of Syria.  See why I said it doesn’t really matter.  The point behind all of this is that Daniel was privy to it and explains it in a way that reflects that he is following the Lord even in the midst of these tumultuous times.  Notice also, that Daniel supported one of the political factions.  In vs.1 we read Daniel say about Darius the Mede:  “I stood up to support and strengthen him.”  

Did you know that Cleopatra is mentioned in this Scripture?  She is, look at vs.17 where we read about a time of peace that was sought and a woman who was given in marriage.  Well, that would be Cleopatra.  Daniel then addresses the real disaster that takes place in all of this and that would be the downfall of the temple in Jerusalem.  If you look starting at vs.29 through vs.39 you can see described during this time, about BC 168, the invaders set up an altar to Zeus in the temple.  That destroyed the confidence of the people and some say that the people of Israel never recovered from that.

This chapter ends with desolation for those who conquered and desecrated the temple.  It doesn’t always end that way.

Daniel receives another vision and this time instead of Gabriel being present there is this guy named Michael, who is described in Revelation as well.  In Revelation 12:7 we see that Michael takes on the role of the leader of the angels fighting against the dragon, who would be the devil and all of his minions.  Here in Daniel, Michael plays the role of one of the chief princes who had come to help the Lord in the proverbial final battle and to help Daniel for what is going to happen in the future days.  At the end of this chapter we read about the Lord who is left by himself to battle against these nations except for Michael who is also there to help out.

Did you notice the tenderness with which the Lord approached Daniel?  Look at vs.19- “Do not fear, greatly beloved, you are safe.  Be strong and courageous.”  That is a pep talk if I ever heard one.  That sounds incredibly endearing and would give any of us a kick in our step and purpose in our lives.  Over and over again Daniel is told to not fear.  Here are the times that Daniel is told not to fear just in this chapter alone: vs.12, 19, …okay, only twice but they are two really comforting times!

No longer does Daniel have a vision but rather he is convicted and comes before the Lord asking for forgiveness both for him and for his people.  If you look at vs.9 you see an open apology to the Lord and yet at the same time beseeching his mercy.  I love vs.19 which tells us: “O Lord hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, listen and act and do not delay.”  This series of commands is given not out of anger but out of real desperation.  God listen to me.  God I’m so sorry for what I have done.  God do something.  What a sequence of desperate statements that have been in and out of our vocabularies depending on what is happening in our life.

We then get the image that God not only listens but send the angel Gabriel back down in a hurry so that Daniel can know that God is listening and provides Daniel with a thorough explanation of the answer to his prayer.  If you look at vs.21 you see that Gabriel came: “in swift flight.”  Hurry up Gabriel, get down there before he gives up.  The deliverance from the Lord comes in the form of a “strong covenant”.  We all need a strong covenant with the Lord to assure us of our salvation.  The good news is that we have that covenant in Jesus.  Praise the Lord!

We have Daniel once again seeing a vision and once again this vision is explained to him by someone else rather than him.  Also, once again, it is a vision that will affect the known world and not a personal vision that might give him some insight into what his future might look like.  It is more for what the future of the world might look like.  Starting at vs.19 we have someone, actually not just someone but someone who is called Gabriel, who explains the vision to Daniel.

So, let’s talk a little about Gabriel.  He also finds himself in the New Testament as the one who gives the message to Mary about her being with child.  He also appears to Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist.  He also announces himself and says he is Gabriel in vs.19 of Luke 1, quite a declaration.  He came to speak to Zechariah and to bring good news, but then ends up punishing Zechariah because he didn’t really believe the news that he had brought.  

We find Daniel speaking in the first person and he says in vs. 27 that as  result of this vision which he saw,  which had the conquering of lands by the previous beasts that we had mentioned in the previous chapter all with the same significance, it made him sick.  He was dismayed by the visions but he still didn’t understand them completely.  An angel had just explained it to him but they were so terrifying that it might be easier to say that he just didn’t understand and hopefully things would play out a little differently.  

What just happened?  It seems like we went from these wonderful Sunday School stories into the macabre of Revelation.  Here we find Daniel who is the one who has the dreams now and is in need of someone to interpret them for him.  When we read these very extreme accounts with beasts and devouring and destruction we could tune out because we just assign it to the apocalyptic and think that it has nothing to do with us.  

A difference in Daniel’s visions and dreams is that they have nothing to do with Daniel personally and his future fate.  It has everything to do with kingdoms and world events.  Let’s go through each of the visions and beasts and images that we have and try to interpret them.  I do not see them as predictive but rather as descriptive.  They are accounts of the events that were happening around 164 BC right around when Daniel was written.  The four beasts symbolized  the four kingdoms of that time: Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece.  The lion was Babylon, bear is Medes, leopard is Persia, and the fourth terrifying beast was Greece which wielded the most power at that time.  Greece was terrifying because they had elephants in their military and so the stamping could refer to that.  The horns represent the empires that the Greeks had under their control.

It is tempting to try to fit these interpretations into future events but that simply cannot be done.  We have to see the author of this Scripture providing and interpretation for that day.  What  then is the take for us?  We see that throughout history people of faith have found themselves in situations where life events, and specifically political events for Daniel here, leave them bewildered and not sure about where their God is in the midst of all of this.  Daniel’s vision doesn’t answer the question of where is God in the midst of this, but does, according to vs.28, leave him terrified.  A little terror can go a long way in putting us back into the fold of the Lord.

In the words of Yogi Berra, “It seems like deja vu all over again.”  Do you remember when Daniel’s friends were thrown into the fire and yet they escaped unscathed.  Remember when I thought that Daniel was part of that crowd?   Well he wasn’t, then we have  this chapter of Daniel who is thrown into the lion’s den and guess who isn’t with him?  His friends.  Again, I always thought that Daniel was with his friends when he was thrown into the lion’s den.  

Here we have a very clear case of civil disobedience where Daniel, according to vs. 10, knew that the decree had been issued to only worship Darius, nevertheless he went into his house with the windows open to worship the God of Israel three times a day.  Do you notice that they mentioned the detail that the windows that were opened were facing Jerusalem.   That seems much more like a Muslim custom to pray three times a day in a certain direction, namely the direction of Jerusalem.  But here we see that it was a custom of Daniel, and one he refused to end even if it meant sure death.

I love the portrayal of the king who is incredibly sympathetic.  We read in vs.14-15 that the king did everything he could to free Daniel, and when he realized he would not be able to, he fasted after he threw Daniel in the lion’s den for  Daniel’s sake.  That is incredibly powerful.  To have a non-believer take the side of the believer in a way that had everything to do with their faith is not often seen.

Then you have the detail of the accusers and their families, including their children and their wives being torn limb from limb by the lions.  I guess it matters who you decide to marry.  That didn’t work out too well.

Ask and you shall receive, but be careful for what you ask.  Once again a king is in need of Daniel’s interpretive gifts because of a troubling vision that he had.  The queen reminds the king about Daniel, and how Daniel had helped his father.  This king was the son of the one who had gone crazy but then came around to worshiping the Lord.  Remember  the guy who ate grass?  Daniel reminds him of this past and tells the current king that he is actually worse than his father and the dream that he had predicted his death.

The king celebrates Daniel’s interpretation and then dies the next day just as Daniel had predicted.  Not sure why the whole celebration took place, because after all Daniel had told the king that he was doomed.  But it does remind me about the need that we each have to remember our past and to be sure that we do not repeat it.  There is a tendency for us to want to block out our past especially if it is painful and not one that we want to remember.  But we have to remember the lessons that we learn when they are painful so that we do not repeat them and so that we do not continue in the sins of our fathers and our mothers.  This king forgot that lesson.  Hopefully we can remember it.

We go on a journey with King Nebuchadnezzar where he explains what happened to him during the whole dream sequence where Daniel came to his aid and really bailed out the wise men of Babylon.  He has his own perspective on how it went, the dream is different.  Instead of a man of bronze and gold and steel you have a tree which is cut down.  

But Daniel’s interpretation of this dream is very different from what we had before.  He calls the tree the king and that he will be cut down one day.  He will be driven away from society and eat grass and basically become a beast in the field.  I’m thinking if I were the king who was known to be a bit ruthless and my wise man gave me this interpretation, I would probably be looking for another wise man.  But Daniel finishes by telling the king to repent and atone for his sins and to show mercy to the oppressed.

It doesn’t happen often where the ruler of a land is confronted with their sin, feels convicted, and atones of their sin for persecuting the oppressed.  It doesn’t happen in this case either.  The king finds himself without a kingdom, he dwelt with the animals of the field, he was eating grass, and his body was washed from the dew.  But then in vs.34 we read that he snapped out of it.  

When he snaps out of it he begins his new phase by praising the Most High.  In vs.36 we read that his reason returned to him and he was restored to his kingdom and then in the inimitable Job fashion more greatness was added to him.   As a result of this blessing and seeing the work of Daniel the king of Babylon turns to worship the King of Israel, that would be Almighty God.

This is a situation where I always thought that Daniel was with his friends when they were thrown into the fire.  As I read this chapter I notice that Daniel was not one of the ones who was thrown into the fire.  On Friday during chapel I did the story of Daniel and the lion’s den, not of the fire, and I’m pretty sure Daniel was part of the lion story, but we are not there yet.

So, back to this chapter.  These men of Israel refused to worship the king as god.  In fact, they told him that he might as well throw them into the furnace as was according to his decree if he wanted them to stop.  They were not going to stop worshiping the God of Israel because of a decree of he king.  So, he threw them in there and was so excited about it that he ended up killing some of his guards because the fire was so hot.

I love how he calls them the servants of the most high and then says “Blessed be the God” of the men that he threw in the furnace.  This was a life changing experience which prompted a counter decree that prohibited any blasphemy against the God of Israel.  This is quite a turn around from where we were before this.  They were also promoted in the provinces of Babylon where they served.  What a great day all around for these three men who were faithful to the God of Israel.