Monday, January 29, 2024

Cyrus King of Persia (Daniel 8:3-4, 20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/9/2013 10:07 AM

My Worship Time                                                                               Focus: Cyrus King of Persia

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Daniel 8:3-4, 20

            Message of the verses:  3 Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. 4  I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.  20 “The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.”

            I have just had a very frustrating experience, one that I have had before, and that is having my Spiritual Diary almost completed and then erase it by mistake, so the only thing left to do is start over and see if I can remember the things that I wrote.

            We are looking at the second empire that Daniel has spoken of before, and that is the empire of the Medes and the Persians.  The Medes and Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC as we already saw in Daniel chapter five, but we must remember that the book of Daniel is not written in chronological order, and the clue that tells when each chapter was written is to look at the first verse in most cases which tells the name of the King who is reigning and the year of his reign.  Chapter eight begins by saying that in the third year of Belshazzar.  Not all of the chapters begin with the date, but we know that this chapter was written before the events in chapter five which tells of the last day of the Babylonian Empire.

            Verse four tells of how this empire would move as it conquers different nations and it is perfectly accurate.  It finally conquers Babylon in 539 and goes on to have the largest amount of territory of all the empires listed in Daniel with the exception of the Greek empire.  The Medes and Persians went all the way to India.  In writing about this empire Daniel says that the ram has two horns with the second horn the largest, and that second horn is Persia who eventually became the only ruler as the Medes fell off latter on.  Persia is modern day Iran.

            The prophet Isaiah spoke of the ruler of this empire in chapter 45:1-4, “1 Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 2 “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. 3  "I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden wealth of secret places, So that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. 4 “For the sake of Jacob My servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me.”

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section by stating:  “Why did God call Cyrus?  ‘For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen’ (Isa. 45:4).  No matter how brutally the Gentile nations may treat the people of Israel, God uses the nations to accomplish His ordained purposes.  His plans for Israel will be fulfilled no matter how much the Gentile nations may oppose His chosen people.”

            I want to quote from a speech that was given at the United Nations a couple of weeks ago by the leader of Israel, and in this speech we will see an amazing thing.

            (Washington, D.C.) -- “In our time the Biblical prophecies are being realized,” Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu declared before world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

“As the prophet Amos said, they shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them," Netanyahu said. "They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall till gardens and eat their fruit. And I will plant them upon their soil never to be uprooted again. Ladies and gentlemen, the people of Israel have come home never to be uprooted again.

            He later mentioned Cyrus, the same Cyrus that we are talking about in this section”  “Today our hope for the future is challenged by a nuclear-armed Iran that seeks our destruction. But I want you to know, that wasn’t always the case. Some 2,500 years ago the great Persian king Cyrus ended the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people. He issued a famous edict in which he proclaimed the right of the Jews to return to the land of Israel and rebuild the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. That’s a Persian decree. And thus began an historic friendship between the Jews and the Persians that lasted until modern times.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We see in this section that God is a God who is an all knowing and an all powerful God who will keep His word for He cannot change.  I am so very thankful for the privilege of worshiping this God, the One and only true God.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As God is moving in our nation and around the world to what I believe is setting up the end times as spoken of by the Lord Jesus Christ and His prophets I must continue to trust Him not matter what happens.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-7

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.  5 For this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance godliness, 7 and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “As an angel of God even as Christ” (Galatians 4:24).

Today’s Bible Question:  “From where did the wise men come?”

Answer in our next SD.

10/9/2013 10:52 AM

 

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