SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/10/2014 12:09 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Kingdom
PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Daniel 12:2-3
Message of the
verses: I want to finish looking at
the last chapter of the book of Daniel even though my plan was to only look at
one chapter a month. When we get to the
month of February I want to look at a review of the book of Daniel as the last
chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Daniel is a review of Daniel. As far as the month of March I am still
undecided as to what book to begin for my one chapter a month study. It is between the books of Zachariah and
Colossians.
The Kingdom (Daniel 12:2-3): “2 "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3 “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
As we begin to look at this passage which is about the
kingdom age we must look at what the kingdom age is all about. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ I
believe all of what the Bible teaches, and one of the things that it teaches is
that there will be a kingdom age in which the Lord Jesus Christ will rule and
reign over it. There are some who do not
believe that this will happen and they are called “amillennialists or not
millennialists.” God promised a kingdom for His Son in the 2nd Psalm
30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found
favor with God. 31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 "He will be great and will be called the
Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father
David; 33 and He will reign over the
house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.’” (Luke 1:30-33) In the book of Revelations chapter 20:1-7 we
read “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the
abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the
serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3
and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he
would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these
things he must be released for a short time. 4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat
on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had
been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of
God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not
received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life
and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not
come to life until the
thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed
and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the
second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and
will reign with Him for a thousand years. 7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will
be released from his prison.”
Resurrection (Daniel 12:2): “2 "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”
Let us look at a brief history of verses found in both
the OT and NT about the resurrection, remembering that there are not too many
verses in the OT that speak of the resurrection, but there are a few and Daniel
12:2 is one of them. When Abraham was
going to offer his son Isaac on the altar he truly believed in the resurrection
as we see in Genesis 22 and then also in Hebrews 11:19. Then in the book of Job
chapter 10:25-27 we see that Job believed in the resurrection. Psalms 17:15; 49:15; and 71:20 speak of the
resurrection. Isaiah 25:7 and Hosea
13:14 also speak of the resurrection. In
the NT we even have a whole chapter devoted to the resurrection, which is 1
Cor. chapter 15. Jesus spoke much of His resurrection and when He was about to
raise Lazarus from the dead He said “I Am the resurrection and the life and one
of the sisters even knew that there was going to be a resurrection from the
dead.
We have to remember that resurrection means that
believers will have a new body, a body like the resurrected body of our
Lord. Paul writes about this in 1 Cor.
15.
When will those who are true members of the Church
received their resurrected bodies? 1
Thes 4:13-18 tell us, “13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren,
about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have
no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him
those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the
word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the
Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself
will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with
the trumpet of God, and
the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall
always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these
words.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “When Jesus returns to earth at the
end of the Tribulation, He will bring His people with Him to share in the
victory and the glory. At that time, the
Old Testament saints and the Tribulation martyrs will be raised to enter into
the kingdom. However, those who died
without faith in Christ will not be raised until after the Kingdom Age, and
they will be judged (Rev. 20:4-6, 11-15).
As Daniel states it, some will awake to enjoy the glorious life with
God, and some will awake (a thousand years later) to enter into shame and
everlasting judgment. Hell is called
‘the second death’ (Rev. 20:14). If you
have been born only once, you can die twice; but if you have been born
twice—born again through faith in Christ—you can die only once.”
1/10/2014 12:46 PM
1/10/2014 5:18 PM
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The hope of all
believers is to be resurrected with a new body and live with the Lord, and
serve Him throughout eternity.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord as Proverbs 3:5-6 tells me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Judah.”
Today’s Bible
Question: “What was Naaman’s
occupation?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/10/2014 5:22 PM
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