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Do you fear death? Do you wonder about life after death? How do you face life, death and eternity? With confidence? Or do you avoid thinking about it?
The Lord wanted Daniel to think about it. But only so that he would know how to live in view of the end. Any wise person who takes a trip must think about the destination and how to get there. In the final chapter of Daniel, the Lord instructed Daniel how to live in view of the time of the end.
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Do you ever worry about the future? You watch one of the 24 hour news channels and all you see is war, terrorism, school shootings, natural disasters… “What’s this world come to?” you ask. Perhaps you don’t worry about yourself, but you worry about your kids’ future? But what if you could trust God with your future and your families’ future? What if God had already appointed times for the future, so that He not only knows what the future holds, but He has ordained it? And what if God would let you in on some of the details? In Daniel 11, the Lord revealed His future appointed times for His people, so that Daniel would understand what was to come. We can understand the times the Lord has appointed and respond accordingly.
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As exiles in this world, we often need strength and encouragement for the journey. Some of us are in mourning for the loss of a loved one or the loss of some other precious thing to us. Some are weak in body and need healing. Others are weak in spirit and need encouragement. Some are afraid and need someone to alleviate their fears. Some of us are lonely and have gone all week without the touch of another person.
But what if we could experience the touch of the Master’s hand? His touch to strengthen and to guide. His touch to heal and wipe away our tears. His touch to know that He is with us no matter what storms may lie ahead. We have a very basic human need for touch, especially for the touch of our Creator hands.
In chapter 10 of Daniel, the Lord responded to Daniel’s mournful prayer for understanding by touching him and strengthening him with a revelation of things from God’s heavenly perspective. We can be strengthened in our understanding of things from God’s heavenly perspective.
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Why do we need a “covenant-keeping” God? Because our world is full of broken covenants and broken promises. We sign contracts and promissory notes, but we over-extend ourselves and don’t pay what we owe. We make promises to our children, but something more important comes up and we don’t keep our promises. We promise to “love and to cherish til death us do part,” but our world is filled with broken marriages and fractured families. We even make promises to God to change, to do better, maybe even to join a church, but we are a covenant-breaking people. We want to change, but only a covenant-making, covenant-keeping God can save us from our brokenness.
In the book of Daniel chapter 9, Daniel called on the covenant-keeping God of Israel to forgive and restore His people and His city, Jerusalem, and God not only answered his prayer, but also revealed to Daniel details about the coming of the Messiah and His eternal kingdom. We can be encouraged because our covenant-keeping God still answers prayers for forgiveness and restoration through the promise of His Messiah, Jesus Christ, and His eternal kingdom.
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Do you remember when you were a kid and your parents took you on a trip, you always wondered, “How long before we get there?” I would drive my Dad crazy asking, “Dad, how much longer?” We’re still asking the Father, “How long?” How long must I endure suffering? How long will I hurt? How long before I am reunited with my loved ones? How long will I be lonely? How long must I pray for my marriage is healed? How long for a a prodigal child to faith? How long, Lord, before you make things right?
In the eighth chapter of Daniel, he recorded a second vision that contained greater prophetic detail about the next two world kingdoms and specifically about a ruler that would severely persecute his people for a short time before the Lord removed him and restored their worship to its rightful state. This vision was fulfilled within 385 years. Although Daniel’s vision has already been fulfilled, we can still let it give us confidence in God’s plans for our future, for it foreshadows an ultimate fulfillment of a time of tribulation that the Prince of Princes, our Lord Jesus, will return and bring to a close.
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The word “behold” is in the text three times. It means to “look upon with understanding, to see with the mind, to see with inward spiritual perception.” What do you see when you “behold the empty tomb?” In the gospel according to Matthew, he recorded the instructions that both the angel and Christ Himself gave to those who rightly beheld the empty tomb. When we rightly behold the empty tomb, we can live without fear, go and tell others about Jesus, and be ready to face Jesus.
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When Jesus made his entrance on that day, it was the first day of Passover Week. Great numbers of Jews had traveled from all over the Roman Empire to celebrate this annual Jewish festival. A great crowd greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem responding to him with chanting and waving of palm branches. They greeted him in a manner befitting a king, but before the week was out, the crowd would curse him as a criminal.
Did you know that your response to Jesus is the most important decision you’ll ever make? You can follow the crowd, or you can make a decision based on the witness of the Scriptures and of those who follow Jesus, or you can make decision based on what the crowd says. But be sure of this: There is a right way and a wrong way to respond to Jesus, and how you respond makes all the difference in the world, and in eternity.
In the gospel according to John, John wrote about how the people responded to Jesus as He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the first day of passion week. We can rightly respond to Jesus as we consider how He fulfilled what was written about Him.
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Today, we’re in chapter 7, which begins a huge shift in the book of Daniel, moving from the narrative history of the first six chapters to what students of the Bible call “apocalyptic” or prophetic writings. Moving from chapter 6 to chapter 7, is like turning the TV from the History Channel to the SYFY Network–– we’re going to have to adjust to understanding images and concepts that are out of this world! Because in this chapter, God pulls back the veil on the future activities of this world’s kingdoms and the activities in heaven that culminate in God’s everlasting kingdom.
Most of us know the Lord’s Prayer. It’s really the Lord’s model prayer for He was teaching His disciples to pray. Remember how it begins? “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9-10). Ever wonder why He taught His disciples to pray that God’s kingdom would come? It’s because we tend to pray, “my kingdom come” and “my will be done” prayers. We want to be king or queen. We want to be in control. How’s that going for you? How’s your kingdom doing?
In Daniel chapter seven, God gave Daniel a vision that revealed His plan to ultimately bring all the kingdoms of this world to an end and to establish His everlasting kingdom for His saints through the divine Son of Man, Jesus Christ. We can be encouraged by God’s plan to ultimately bring the kingdoms of this world to an end and to establish His everlasting kingdom for His saints through the divine Son of Man, Jesus Christ.
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Have you ever needed to be rescued? Maybe you need a rescue today. Some may be in bondage to an addiction. You need to be set free. Some have been given a life-threatening diagnosis. You need to be delivered, saved from danger or even death. Do you need to be rescued today? In the sixth chapter of Daniel, King Darius learned that God was able to rescue Daniel from death in the lion’s den. We can know that God is able to rescue us from the power of death.
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Babylon symbolically represents the world’s system – its government, economy and religion. Babylon represents this world. And just as Daniel and his friends were taken captive from their true home in Jerusalem and forced to live as exiles in Babylon, so as followers of Christ, our true home is heaven. Yet for now we live in this world. How should we live as citizens of heaven, so that we honor the Lord of heaven? In the book of Daniel chapter 5, the Babylonian kingdom was judged and brought to an end because its king nor its people honored the Most High God. We must recognize that God deserves all of our honor.