SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/8/2013 9:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God gave
Nebuchadnezzar Victory
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel 1:1-2
Message of the verses: “1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.”
There are a couple of things from the beginning that I
want to make clear, and I suppose that there will be many more things in the
future that I will want to make clear too, but for now I want to make clear
that Daniel was an historical character who wrote this book we are about to
study. Sir Robert Anderson wrote a book
many years ago in which he entitled it “Daniel in the Critics Den,” and the
purpose of that book was to defend the book of Daniel and the prophecies that
are found in it. He wrote another,
perhaps more popular book entitled “The Coming Prince,” and that book was about
the ninth chapter of Daniel and verses 24-27 which is probably the greatest
prophecy ever written. My point in all
of this is that there have been many people who try to water down what is found
in the book of Daniel, and even state that it was impossible for anyone to
write something like what is found in the book of Daniel before the events have
actually happened. Well I believe that
God through His Holy Spirit enabled Daniel to write this book and God gave
Daniel the visions and prophecies that are in this book and that God will one
day bring all of them to pass that have not already been brought to pass.
I want to site some verses from the Bible that confirm
that Daniel wrote the book that bears his name.
Ezekiel 14:14, 20 and 28:3, “14 even though these three men, Noah,
Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only
deliver themselves," declares the Lord GOD.” “20 even though Noah, Daniel
and Job were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they
could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only
themselves by their righteousness.’” 28:3 Behold, you are wiser than Daniel;
There is no secret that is a match for you.”
Matthew 24:15"Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION
which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let
the reader understand).” Mark 13:14 “"But
when you see ‘the abomination of desolation’ standing where it ought not—(let
the reader take note of this)—then those who are in Judaea must take to the
hills!”
The second point I wish to make can be summed up in an
endnote from Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on Daniel in which he entitles his
book, “Be Resolute.” “The Babylonians
considered the first year of their king’s reign ‘the year of accession’ and the
next full year his first year, while the Jews began to reckon from the time the
king began to reign. That’s why Jeremiah
25:1 calls this important year ‘the fourth year of Jehoiakim,’ for Jeremiah
used Jewish reckoning.”
I now want to quote a number of verses from the 28th
chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, which is called by many the “Palestinian
Covenant.” The book of Deuteronomy was
the last book that Moses wrote and the title means “The Renewing of the Law,”
and the purpose was to go over the Law that was given to the children, who are
now all grown up, of those who came out of Egypt and died in the
wilderness. In the 28th
chapter God uses Moses to write an unconditional covenant with the children of
Israel. I say unconditional because it
was unlike the covenant that God made with Abraham or David in that God would
unconditionally fulfill those covenants, and in this covenant it would be up to
the people to perform in order to have the blessings of the covenant given to
them. If they disobeyed the covenant
then the curses of the covenant would be upon them. Part of the curses of this covenant were that
if Israel continued to disobey the Lord then He would take them from their land
that He had given to them and send them into captivity. Moses foretells that Israel would disobey the
covenant and would have to be taken out of the land, but he goes on to say that
after they return that they would disobey again and God would take them out of
the land and spread them all over the world.
He also states that the second time that they would be taken out of the
land that they would offer themselves as slaves and there would be no
buyers. This happened in 70 AD when
Titus and his Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and afterwards the
Jews would offer themselves as slaves, but because there were so many slaves
that were offered they could not even become slaves for other people. "The LORD will bring you and your king,
whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have
known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone (Deut.
28:36).” ‘49 "The LORD will bring a
nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops
down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, 50 a nation of fierce
countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young
(Deut. 28:49-50).” “64 “Moreover, the
LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other
end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which
you or your fathers have not known. 65 “Among those nations you shall find no
rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there
the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.
66 “So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night
and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. 67 “In the morning you shall
say, ’Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ’Would that it
were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the
sight of your eyes which you will see. 68 "The LORD will bring you back to
Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, ’You will never see it
again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male
and female slaves, but there will be no buyer,’ (Deut. 28:64-68).”
Now back to Daniel 1:1 “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.” This was not only a fulfillment of the prophecies of Deuteronomy 28, but also many other prophecies and warnings that God gave to the children of Israel all the way up to the time when Nebuchadnezzar came in 605 BC. God had warned His people on many occasions, but they killed the prophets that God sent to them stating that God would never destroy His temple, but that is exactly what happened. Now let us again look at verse two, “The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.” We see in this verse that it was the Lord who gave Judah and their king into the hands of the Babylonians and sent them into captivity along with the vessels that were in the temple of God. Nebuchadnezzar would take these treasures into the temple of his god, who was probably Marduk. People of that time believed that if they won a victory against another people that it was because their god was more powerful than the gods of the people they defeated. However we can see that it was God who caused all this to happen. One of the reasons why God caused this to happen was that fact that Israel broke their covenant with the Lord and part of that covenant was to allow the land to rest one year out of seven but Israel did not keep one of these “sabbatical years.” “20 Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept Sabbath until seventy years were complete (2 Chronicles 36:20-21).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can see through
this study that God keeps His Word, and also God Reigns. Daniel 5:21 states “… till he knew that the
most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointed over it
whomsoever he will.” God is in control
and what we can learn about that is summed up in the words of A. W. Tozer, “What comes into our minds when
we think about God is the most important thing about us.” (The
Knowledge of the Holy pg. 1)
My Steps of Faith for Today: Commit myself to the Lord to do what He
desires me to do.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 32:1-5
1 How blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is
the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no deceit! 3 When I kept silent about my
sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon
me; my vitality was drained away like the fever heat of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my transgression to You, and
my iniquity I did not hide; I said “I will confess my transgressions to the
LORD”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
Turning Points Wisdom for
Today: “We ought not to be weary of
doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the
work, but the love with which it is performed.”
(Brother Lawrence) Beloved, let
us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God
and knows God.” ( 1 John 4:7)
3/8/2013 11:04 AM
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