SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/2/2014 9:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Prophecies
About Persia
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel
11:1-2
Message of the
verses: I am not exactly sure how
long ago this story took place, but probably at least twenty years ago. I was going to a church that I had joined
four years after I became a believer in Jesus Christ, and I was sitting in a
Sunday school class studying the book of Daniel. I enjoyed the man’s teaching who was teaching
us about Daniel as he was very precise in his teaching, probably because that
was his profession. At any rate when we
got to the tenth chapter of Daniel he made the statement that the first section
of Daniel eleven he got his material to teach us from the library. Now this was before the days of the internet
so the old fashion way of doing things was to research things in the library. But how could things about the book of Daniel
be in a public library? Well they were
in there because Daniel’s book prophesied about future history that would and
did take place, however there is a portion of this eleventh chapter of Daniel
that has not taken place, but just as the first parts of his prophecies took place,
so the last part will also take place.
It is the book of Daniel and the eleventh chapter of the
book of Daniel that the critics of the Bible have said could not have been
written before they took place. I have
no problem that the God I worship can cause a person, through the power of His
Spirit to write down things before they happen.
It was by the Word of God that the heavens and the earth and all we see
were created, so how big a problem is it for God to write about things that
haven’t yet taken place, take place? Not
a problem at all! I think that when we
studied the ninth chapter of Daniel that I mentioned a book written by Sir
Robert Anderson called “The Coming Prince.” We he wrote another book entitled
“Daniel in the Critics Den” that tells of the accuracy of the book of Daniel in
spite of all the critics.
Dr. Wiersbe writes at the conclusion of his introduction
for chapter eleven, which he has entitled “A Remarkable Prophecy—Part 1”
“First, we will consider the verses that were prophecy in Daniel’s day but have
been fulfilled and are now ancient history.
As we do, we will try to glean some practical spiritual lessons to help
us in our Christian walk today.” Dr. Wiersbe
has broken up the eleventh chapter of Daniel into two different chapters in his
commentary on Daniel. His commentary on
Daniel is entitled “Be Resolute.”
Prophecies about Persia (Daniel 11:1-2): “1 "In the first year of Darius the
Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him. 2 “And now I
will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia.
Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes
strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of
Greece.”
In order for us to better understand this first verse Dr.
Wiersbe writes: “It’s likely that verse
1 should be at the end of the previous chapter since it deals with the holy
angels’ conflict with Satan’s angels.
The rulers of Persia had no idea that Satan was seeking to control their
minds and lead them into making decisions that would hurt the people of
God. The Persian rulers were much more
considerate of the Jews than were the Babylonian rulers, and Satan didn’t want
this to happen. He hates the Jews and is
the father of anti-Semitism wherever it is found (Rev. 12). However, Michael and Gabriel won that battle
and Darius and Cyrus showed that compassion for the Jewish exiles. In fact, it was Cyrus who issued the
important edict that permitted the Jews to return to their land and rebuild
their temple (Ezra 1:1-4).
As we look at the second verse we see that the angel
tells Daniel that there will be three more kings that will arise in Persia and
that the last one will be extremely rich and will invade Greece. The names of the four kings of Persia were
Cambyses (539-522), Pseudo Smerdis (522-521), Darius I Hystapes (521-486), and
Xerxes (496-465), the Ahasuerus of the Book of Daniel. I got this material from Dr. Wiersbe’s book
and I do not know if there is a typo for Hystapes’ rule as it seems to go into
the rule of Xerxes. After doing a little
research on this I find that there is a typo and that Xerxes should begin in
the year 486.
Xerxes is the richest of the kings as Daniel wrote and he
did attack the Greek’s and was defeated and then he came home to find comfort
in his harem, and this is where Ester is involved in the story which can be
seen in the book of Ester. Dr. Wiersbe
writes “Xerxes was assassinated in August 465.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I look, read,
and study the book of Daniel I can see many truths in it, truths that I can and
should put into practice in my life. I
can see that Daniel is a man of prayer and a man who obeys the teachings of the
Lord, two things I should put into practice in my life. Daniel trusted the Lord more than any other
thing in his life even though at times, from the perspective of a human logic
and thinking it could have cost him his life.
Now if the things that Daniel wrote about in this eleventh chapter of
Daniel have already come true, and they have then I can trust the Lord to work
out things in my life, and I should be able to remember these things so that my
faith will grow, and my walk with the Lord will also grow and become stronger.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord and also remember Proverbs
3:5-6.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Josiah” (2 Kings 22:3-5).
Today’s Bible Question “Who
divided the Bible into chapters?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/2/2014 11:23 AM
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