True Faith Confesses the Lord (Dan. 3:13-18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2013 7:10 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  True Faith Confesses the Lord

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 3:13-18

            Message of the verses:  “13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 “Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?" 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17 “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18  "But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.’”

            Nebuchadnezzar had a great problem with anger and it again shows up here in this section.  It is hard to believe that a man who had conquered most of the known world but could not control his own temper.  “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city (Proverbs 16:32).”  On the other hand we see three young men who were very calm and got directly to the point that they would not worship the king’s idol or the king’s gods because they had great conviction and great faith in the one true God.  “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15).”

            In his sermon on this chapter of Daniel John MacArthur tells the story about a wealthy man who ran a company and one day this man told those who were working for him that it would be necessary for them to work on Sunday.  One of the men who was working for him came to him and told him that he could not work on Sunday because of his faith to which the man told him that he would have to dismiss him.  The man told his boss that he did not want to be dismissed, because his mom was sick and he was taking care of her.  He was dismissed and was then out looking for a job, but could not find one.  The owner of the company had a conversation with a man who was going to start a bank and was looking for someone he could trust to work for him.  The owner of this company told him about the young man that he had to dismiss to which the man wondered why he should hire a man who had been fired from his job.  The owner of the company told him that even though he had fired him that because he had stuck up for his convictions this would be a man he could trust with his money.  You can see this story is similar to the one we are looking at from Daniel three for these three men stuck to their convictions even though it could mean that they were going to die a painful death that very day.

            I believe that through all of the rage and anger that Nebuchadnezzar had that he truly had respect for these three men.  After all it was just a short time before this that he had called their God the God of gods.  He may have forgotten this because of his anger for he did ask what God could deliver them from the fiery furnace. He would find out very soon!

            The three men could have compromised, looking for a reason not to be true to their convictions and the God who instilled these convictions in their hearts, but they did not.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “true faith doesn’t look for loopholes; it simply obeys God and knows that He will do what is best.  Faith rests on commands and promises, not on arguments and explanations.” 

            Throughout history the Church has always grown through adversity, and we see in Mark  13:9 these words that Jesus spoke, “"But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.”  Jesus suffered and died for us and if the God of all the earth can suffer for us then we may someday have to suffer for the cause of Christ. 

            “16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.”  These three young men were saying to Nebuchadnezzar that they did not need to defend themselves or defend our God and the reason for this is that God would defend both us and Himself.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Our task is to obey God and trust Him, and He will do the rest.  ‘Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation’ (Isa. 12:2).”

            These three men were men of faith and they did not presume that God would step in a do a miracle, but they knew that if it was His will to do so that He was completely able to do it.  We cannot presume what God is going to do, especially in situations like this, but we can have faith that what He will do will be the best for us and will bring glory to Himself.  I want to conclude this section by quoting again Dr. Wiersbe because I believe he addresses a very important point:  “Hebrews 11 lists the names and deeds of great men and women of faith, including these three Jewish men (Heb. 11:34), but at verse 36, the writer says ‘And others’ and then lists people who seem to be failures in spite of their faith (vv. 36-40).  The Greek word means ‘others of a different kind,’ that is, others who had faith but didn’t see God do the miracles.  Not everybody who prays is healed, but God always gives strength to bear with pain and grace to face death without fear.  The three Hebrew men believed that God could deliver them, but they would trust Him even if He didn’t.  That is how faith is supposed to operate in our lives.  See Habakkuk 3:17-18.” “Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls 18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The writer to the Hebrews says “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1)”  He then goes on to speak of men and women who demonstrated this kind of faith in their lives.  This teaches me along with the passage we have looked at that I can always trust God for He is faithful.  I may not always understand what is going on, but I can still trust the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give me the wisdom to make the decisions that need to be made today and may they be done for His honor and glory.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Cor. 517-18

            17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Patience and comfort of the Scriptures.”

Today’s Bible Question:  “To whom was Jesus’ coming first announced, and by whom?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

5/9/2013 8:29 AM

           

PT-3 "True Faith Confronts the Challenge" (Dan. 3:1-12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/8/2013 7:56 AM

My Worship Time                                              Focus:  PT-3 True Faith Confronts the Challenge

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 3:1-12

            Message of the verses:  We will look at the last sub-point under this main point of “True faith confronts the challenge” in Today’s SD.

            The Hearts of the Three Jewish Men (vs. 8-12):  “8 For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews. 9 They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: "O king, live forever! 10 “You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. 11 “But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. 12 “There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.’”

            If we could have had a view from above over the “celebration” that was going on in Babylon at this time, a view like the “Goodyear Blimp” gives us in our world today we would have seen three men standing tall while all of the others were bowing low in worship to a false god.  What was in the hearts of these three men that caused them to defy the orders of the king?  Perhaps they were thinking about what Isaiah the prophet had written, “1 But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! 2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.”  We can say for sure that these three men had great faith, faith in the One who could save them from these circumstances that they were in.  Dr. Wiersbe states the following as he describes faith:  “Faith means obeying God regardless of the feelings within us, the circumstances around us, or the consequences before us.”

We see that there were people in the crowd who were called “Chaldeans,” whom we have meant in chapter two.  These men were a part of the king’s servants who were to give wisdom to the king through their “magic.”  We know from the last chapter that they almost lost their lives until Daniel gave the message to the king that he wanted them to hear, but we also know that the king had made Daniel and his three friends rulers over the different providences of Babylon and this did not set well with them, and so they must have had an eye out for them and saw that they bow to the idol.  The brought them to Nebuchadnezzar and quickly told him about them not bowing to the idol.  When these men told Nebuchadnezzar about them they also brought up that the king had appointed them to the high positions that they now were in. 

            More from Dr. Wiersbe about true faith:  “True faith isn’t frightened by threats, impressed by crowds, or swayed by superstitious ceremonies.  True faith obeys the Lord and trusts Him to work out the consequences.”  We have to remember the first of the Ten Commandments which states “3  "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4  "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”  (Exodus 20:3-6)  If these three men would have bowed to this idol one time they would have destroyed their witness and broken their fellowship with their Lord.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that when Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness as seen in Matthew chapter four that he asked the Lord to worship him, and the tense of the Greek verb shows that Satan only wanted Jesus to bow down to him one time, of which Jesus did not do, but quoted Scripture to him to overcome the temptation.  We see that these three courageous men would not bow down even once.

            Spiritual meaning form my life today:  These three men have set the bar very high showing that they had a great faith in a great God.  They are a wonderful example to me and I desire to follow in their footsteps and not bow to any idols that Satan brings into my path, but trust the Lord to keep me from those temptations.  I posted an earlier SD on my other blog this morning from the 17^th of December of 2003 and in that SD I had a memory verse that I was committing to memory:  “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it (1 Cor. 10:13).”  This is a great verse to give me the strength to overcome temptations.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Quote this verse when I am being tempted by the evil one.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Cor. 5:17-18

            17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

  Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Moses was 120 years old when he died.”  (Deut. 34:7)

Today’s Bible Question “Through what might we have hope?”  Hint: the answer is in the 15^th chapter of Romans.

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

5/8/2013 8:58 AM

PT-2 "True Faith Confronts the Challenge" (Dan. 3:1-12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/7/2013 7:35 AM

My Worship Time                                              Focus:  True Faith Confronts the Challenge PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Daniel 3:1-12

            Message of the verses:  We continue today in the third chapter of the book of Daniel looking at the first twelve verses.

            The Hearts of the People:  (vs. 4-7):  “4  Then the herald loudly proclaimed: "To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language, 5  that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. 6  "But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire." 7  Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.”

            We spoke a lot of idols in yesterday’s SD, but today we want to speak about faith along with idols.  All the people who were gathered at this place had faith, for just as philosopher and psychologist William James states, “Faith is one of the forces by which men live.”  Human beings have to have something to believe in and faith is what is used to believe in the things that they believe in.  Dr. Wiersbe writs “The difference between the true believer and the unbeliever isn’t the presence of faith, because everybody lives by faith in something.  The difference is in the object of that faith.  The crowd believed the herald and the king, and therefore they obeyed.  The three Hebrew men believed the commandment of God, so they disobeyed.  The crowd had credulous faith, but the Jews had confident faith.  The Christian believer lives by faith in the living God and what He has revealed in His Word.”

            We learned in an earlier SD from the book of Daniel that there were perhaps 75 young men that the king had brought to Babylon in 605 B. C., and among them were Daniel and his three friends, however we will only see three who disobey this order given by the king because it was against what the Word of God says about worshiping an idol, but what about the others.  We may see a clue from the book of Job:  “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life (Job. 2:4).”  Satan was speaking this to God and he is saying that men will do almost anything to stay alive even as the rest of the young Jews did as they bowed to this idol.  One may ask where was Daniel at this point?  John MacArthur states in his sermon on this chapter that it is possible that Daniel was out of town on business of the king.  However when we see the roll that Daniel has played up to now we see that he was the leader and now we see that these other three men had learned their lessons well and were able to put their faith in God as they stood up for God in this situation. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As a young boy I learned this story of these three young Hebrew men, but the Word of God has something to say to us every time we open its pages.  I see the jealousy of God in this section, for God is jealous for His Word, and these three young men were also jealous for the Word of God.  I see great faith that these men had in God to take a stand as they did and that is refreshing to me as many times this is not seen in our world today.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I pray that I too will be jealous for the things of God and have the faith and courage to make a stand for the cause of Jesus Christ.

Memory verses for the week:  2Cor. 5:17-18

            17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the things passed away; behold, new things have come.  18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

Answer to Yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Micah”

Today’s Bible Question:  “How old was Moses when he died?”

Answer in Tomorrow’s SD.

5/7/2013 8:33 AM

PT-1 "True Faith Confronts the Challenge" (Dan. 3:1-12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/6/2013 8:56 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  True Faith Confronts the Challenge PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 3:1-12

            Message of the verses:  We begin today the study of the third chapter of the book of Daniel, a chapter that is probably familiar to many people as it tells the story about three young Jewish men who would not bow down to an idol, but decided in their hearts that God was the only God they would worship even if it meant they had to die in order not to worship an idol.  The question that I must ask myself is what can I learn from this chapter to cause me to walk more closely with my Lord?  The first thing that I need to learn from this chapter is to stay away from idols, and some may say that we who live in the 21^st century America do not have any idols to which I must reply that we probably have more idols available to us than they had in the time when Daniel penned his book.  I know we don’t bow down to worship wood or gold images like they did in that time, but we still have idols that we worship, for an idol is anything that comes between a person and God and God hates idol worship more than any other sin.  How can I make that statement?  “1 Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3  "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4  "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5  "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6  but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Ex. 20:1-6).”  We see in verse five that God is a “jealous” God, and when we first look at this word we may get the wrong idea about it.  We know that it is impossible for God to sin and therefore His jealously has to be sinless, and of course it is.  I am reading a book that is entitled “The Joy of Knowing God,” and it is another book on the attributes of God.  The author has a chapter in the book about the attribute of God’s jealously and states that as people we are more than likely to be jealous in a sinful way, desiring something that we do not have, or wishing that we could be like another person and have what they have, but God’s jealously is for who He is.  We read in the book of Exodus where Moses has come down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments and sees the children of Israel in gross sin and it is because of Moses’ jealously for what the Lord is jealous about that he deals with the sinfulness of the children of Israel even killing many of those who would not repent of their sinfulness.  Moses was jealous for the Lord, and this is something that we as believers should be too.  God is jealous when people worship other gods, and because it is true that man has to worship something that if he is not worshiping the One True God he will invent other gods that fit what he wants to worship.  The god Baal was a god that was made up by man to suit his own purposes and one way to worship Baal was to have sexual relationships, to have intercourse and so they would have temple prostitutes in the temples of Baal in order to worship this god.  Thus we see that man makes a god in his image.

            We can see this progression of man making idols to worship and God giving them over to the worshiping of these idols in the first chapter of the book of Romans and verses 18-32.  Man makes the idols in their own image and worships them and because God is holy and hates sin He allows man to reap the consequences of their false worship of their man made gods.  The result is that in the end when people or nations follow this downward spiral that is seen in these verses that they or the nation will be destroyed because they have followed the worship of these manmade idols.

            This was the introduction to this chapter which is about idol worship which is one of the main themes of the chapter, but it is also about three brave young men who refuse to compromise, not unlike what we saw in the first chapter of Daniel when these three young men along with Daniel took a stand for the Word of God and for the God of the Word and did not compromise their faith to which God honored and allowed them to be victorious in their stand.

            Who is behind what happened in this chapter of Daniel?  We know that it is the devil who is behind this and the devil who is behind idol worship, for his desire has always been to be worshiped.  There is always going to be a conflict between those who worship the true God and those who worship false gods or idols, and that conflict is played out in this chapter of Daniel along with being played out around the world each and every day.  The good news is that God will defeat the devil and those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ will be on the winning side, for the victory has already been secured at the cross, and one day all who have put their trust in Jesus Christ will be with Him forever in heaven.

            Let us just begin our study of Daniel three by looking at the first three verses of the chapter.  The Heart of the King (vs. 1-3):  “1 ¶  Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3  Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”

            Recently, in the past several years I have looked at the book of Daniel in different settings, of which one was in a Sunday school class, and one of the things that I wondered about was the relationship between the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had in chapter two and the idol that he made in chapter three.  I do believe that they are connected and I also believe that Nebuchadnezzar was a man with a very large head; I mean he was very proud of what he has accomplished in life.  We will see how this plays out in the next chapter.

            Nebuchadnezzar’s reason for building this statue was not only because of his pride but as Dr. Wiersbe explains “He wanted to make sure that his people were loyal to him and that there would be no rebellions.”  If the people had a religion that all must be a part of then they would be faithful to Nebuchadnezzar who has become the object of their worship.

            As far as a ninety foot statue it would have to be hollow having gold overlaying it, for there was not enough gold in the entire kingdom to have a solid statue 90 feet high and 6 feet wide. 

            The names of the officials are listed in both verse two and in verse three who were to come and who came, and to some it did not seem to be necessary to list them two times in fact in the Greek translation of the OT it is only mentioned one time.  John MacArthur thinks that the reason that they are mentioned both times shows the fact than none of them had the courage not to attend this celebration that is none of them objected except three Jewish men.

            I wish to make one more comment about the music that was played at this religious celebration and that comes from a quote that Dr. Wiersbe includes in his commentary and is from the English poet William Congreave who wrote “Music has charms to smooth a savage breast,” and then Dr. Wiersbe goes on to say “but music also has power to release the savage in the breast.  Music can be used as a wonderful tool and treasure from the Lord or as a destructive weapon from Satan.” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In John MacArthur’s message on these first three verses of Daniel three he spent the majority of it talking about idols and listed idols that we worship now in our country.  I stated that we probably have more idols to worship than were available in Daniel’s time and so it is very important that I ask the Lord to search my heart to make sure that there are no idols in my life, and then listen to the Spirit of God as he reveals any to me so that I can repent of them.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Pray more effectively for God to send His Holy Spirit upon our land to produce a much needed revival.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Cor. 5:17-18

            17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old.”

Today’s Bible Question:  “Which Old Testament prophet predicted that Christ would be born in Bethlehem?” 

Answer in Tomorrow’s SD.

5/6/2013 10:14 AM

             

God Distinguishes His Servants (Daniel 2:46-49)

This is written on December 8^th of this year (2019):  “Join us Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening, December 13th, 14th and 15th to launch the Christmas Season! The Musicale draws nearly 3,000 people each year and is a spectacular celebration of Christmas with music, drama and over 50,000 lights. This year’s production is sure to put you and your family in the Christmas spirit.”

“A live-stream viewing of the production will be broadcast Saturday, December 14th.”  The live-stream on December 14, 2019 will begin at 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.  If you are able please do not miss this as it will bless your heart.  https://firstbaptistelyria.org/

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/9/2013 10:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  God Distinguishes His Servants

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 2:46-49

            Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we will look at the last section of Daniel chapter two and then we will move to the book of Ecclesiastes for the remainder of the month of April.

            “46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. 47 The king answered Daniel and said, "Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery." 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 And Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s court.”

            I have mentioned before, perhaps more than once, that this story of Daniel has many similarities with the story of Joseph, for they both end up serving in the kings court, helping to rule over the nations that they were living in.  As we go back and look from the book of Genesis we see that in the twelfth chapter that God had called Abram who later was given the name Abraham.  God called him to begin a nation by having a family who would become a nation.  When there were around seventy people in this family God would send them to Egypt, but God first of all sent Joseph to Egypt, (not the way he would have chosen to go there), in order to take care of his family.  Now we see that the Babylonians were about to capture Judah, but first God would send Daniel and his friends along with some other Jews to Babylon in 605 BC.  It just so happens that Nebuchadnezzar’s father was about to die in 605 BC and so Nebuchadnezzar left Judah to tend to his father and would not return until 597 BC, and then again in 586 BC where he would completely destroy the city of Jerusalem and the temple that was there.  However we see that God now has four of His men in Babylon to help prepare for the arrival of the rest of the captive Jews.  God will always have some of His people in places where they can do His bidding when it is needed to be done to bring honor and Glory to Himself, and Daniel and his three friend are doing this exact thing in the court of Babylon.

            Nebuchadnezzar was awe struck at what Daniel’s God had done through Daniel, and of course he would do what he had promised to do for the one who told him what his dream meant, and Daniel would make a request of the king to lift up his three friends to places of honor and leadership.  The act of Daniel and his friends praying to the Lord and then receiving the answer to their prayers would save the rest of the magicians and others, but the king would begin to see that the God of heaven whom Daniel served was truly the God of gods.  This would be the first step of several for Nebuchadnezzar to finally come to know the God of heaven.  Lord willing we will see how this works out in June when we look at the fourth chapter of Daniel.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I truly can see the wisdom of God along with the attributes of being all knowing, and all powerful in this section of the book of Daniel.  I praise the Lord for being all knowing, all powerful and all wise.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to be with me in all of the decisions that I have to make.

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 32:7-10

            7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.  Selah.  8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.  9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which has no understanding, whose trapping include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they would not come near you.  10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround you.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Genesis”

Today’s Bible Question:  “How long did it rain during the flood?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

4/9/2013 11:26 AM

PT-2 God Displays His Wisdom and Power (Daniel 2:31-45)

This is written on December 8^th of this year (2019):  “Join us Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening, December 13th, 14th and 15th to launch the Christmas Season! The Musicale draws nearly 3,000 people each year and is a spectacular celebration of Christmas with music, drama and over 50,000 lights. This year’s production is sure to put you and your family in the Christmas spirit.”

“A live-stream viewing of the production will be broadcast Saturday, December 14th.”  The live-stream on December 14, 2019 will begin at 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.  If you are able please do not miss this as it will bless your heart.  https://firstbaptistelyria.org/

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/8/2013 10:22 AM

My Worship Time                                              Focus:  God displays His wisdom & power PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Daniel 2:31-45

            Message of the verses:  31 "You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. 32  "The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 “You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. 35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

            As we look at the description of the dream that Daniel told to Nebuchadnezzar I am sure that the king was probably owe struck in what came out of Daniel’s mouth, and that he also knew that Daniel would be able to tell him what this dream meant.  We will spend more time on the interpretation of the dream than the dream itself.

            The Interpretation:  (Daniel 2:36-45):  36 “This was the dream; now we (Speaking of Daniel & his friends) will tell its interpretation before the king. 37 “You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. 39  "After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 40 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41 "In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 42 “As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43  "And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. 44  "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 45  "Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.’”

            The dream that Nebuchadnezzar had represented four Gentile nations:

1)      The head of gold—Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire.  This lasted from 636BC until 539 BC.  Let us look at Jeremiah 51:7 “Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD, Intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine; Therefore the nations are going mad.” 

2)      Now we will look at the breast and the arms of silver which represent the Medo-Persian Empire and it lasted from 539 BC until 330 BC.  We will look more closely at it when we get to Daniel chapter five.

3)      The belly and thighs of bronze represent the Grecian kingdom which lasted from 330 BC until 63 BC.  Alexander the Great was the one who established this empire and Daniel will have more to say about him and the empire later on in his book.

4)      The legs of iron and feet of iron and clay represent the Roman Empire which went from 63 BC until 475 AD.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Iron represents strength but clay represents weakness.  Rome was strong in law, but the empire included so many weakness.”  “The people will be a mixture and will not remain united (Daniel 2:43 NIV).”

5)      The destruction of the image represents the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Stone, and at that time He will judge His enemies and He will establish His universal kingdom.

We can see from this explanation that God is in control of history, and I believe that it is because of His grace that He gives this information to Daniel so that we have it today to understand what will take place in the future.  By doing this Daniel becomes one of the most attacked books in all of the Bible.

How is it that God knows the future?  He knows it because He has planned it.  Some people have problems with this as they try to put God in a box or make Him small because they do not like the way their lives are turning out, and so they blame it on God.  In the newest (to me) book that I am reading about getting to know God better by studying His attributes the author says the following, “Pray that God will show me something about Himself as I read His Word and that I will be determined to accept what He teaches me about Himself.” 

One of the OT prophets was having a problem with the sin that was going on in Judah and so he was complaining to God about it and God told him that He was going to use the Babylonians to defeat Judah to which the prophet was again upset with God for how He was going to take care of the sin in Judah.  The prophet was Habakkuk and near the end of his book he writes “16 I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. 17 Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord GOD is my strength; And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments (Hab. 3:16-19.”

The next thing we can learn from this dream is that as we look at this statue we will see that it is top heavy, and the material at the top is much more valuable than at the bottom.  Because it is top heavy we realize that it has a chance to fall over at any time and this may represent how nations have come into being and then fallen.  Thoreau said America “had improved means to unimproved ends,” and this statement can be said about any developing nation.  During this time in the history of the world we have great means to very rapidly sending messages and images to most any part of the world, but the problem in most cases is what we have to say.  The good news of the gospel is the best thing to spread around the world for that will provide the means of knowing how to get right with God and have the power to save people from their sins and give eternal life to those who accept the free gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The third thing we see from this dream is that it will be very difficult to hold things together at the end of the age, for we see at the end of the age the kingdom will be made of iron and clay which does not hold together very well.  Iron is strong but clay is not and clay even robs the iron of its ability to hold things together for wherever the clay touches the iron it makes it weaker. 

Dr. Wiersbe writes “Man at his best is clay, for God made him out of the dust of the earth.  Though man and woman are both made in the image of God, sin has robbed us of the dominion He gave us (Gen. 1:26).  We are both creators and destroyers, and we seem bent on destroying one another and the world God has graciously given us.  The heart of every problem is the problem of the human heart—rebellion against God.”

The fourth truth we see from the statue is what is the best is and that is the Jesus Christ will return to establish His kingdom.  We see in this prophecy that the stone was made without hands and that has to mean that it was not created, which means it is speaking of God.

Dr. Wiersbe writes “It appears that the Roman Empire will in some ways continue until the end of the age and culminate in the rule of ten kings (Dan. 2:44; 7:24-27; Rev. 17:3, 12-18).  The world will be delivered from evil, not by a process, but by a crisis, the promised return of Jesus Christ.  Whatever remains of the four Gentile kingdoms, passed from one kingdom to the next, will be destroyed and turned into chaff.  Then Christ will establish His kingdom which will fill all the earth.”

As believers in Jesus Christ we have a lot to look forward to, but we also have a great job to accomplish through the power of the Holy Spirit in spreading the Gospel to all nations around the world.

Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section with these words “In giving the dream and enabling Daniel to know the dream and explain it, God displayed His wisdom and power.  God has the wisdom to plan the ages and the power to execute His plan.  King Nebuchadnezzar ruled from 605 BC to 562 BC, but Jesus Christ will reign forever and ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the things that I have been trying to do is to see God in the passages that I read and study.  Today I see God’s power, wisdom, love, and grace and praise Him for these attributes.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord with my future.

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 32:7-10:

            7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.  Selah.  8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.  9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which has no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near you.  10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround you.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Able” (Genesis 4:8)

Today’s Bible Question:  “Which book sets forth the Patriarchal era from Abraham to Joseph, a family history of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

4/8/2013 12:17 PM         

PT-1 "God Displays His Wisdom and Power" (Dan. 2:24-45)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/7/2013 9:49 PM

My Worship Time                                              Focus:  PT-1 God displays His Wisdom & Power

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 2:24-45

            Message of the verses:  I believe because of the lateness of the hour we will not get too far into this section, but we will begin to look at it and then hope to finish it tomorrow.

            Introduction:  “24 Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and spoke to him as follows: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me into the king’s presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king." 25 Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel into the king’s presence and spoke to him as follows: "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!" 26 The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?" 27 Daniel answered before the king and said, "As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. 28 “However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed. 29  "As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place. 30  "But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.”

            As we continue to study the book of Daniel we will see the humility of this man, and how he will give glory to the Lord, who deserves all the glory.

            One other thing we have been looking at in chapter too is that Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams were troubling to him, something that Daniel knew for he received this from the Lord, but also saw it firsthand. Nebuchadnezzar seems to be worried what will happen to his kingdom, as I suppose many rulers of nations are. 

            We first see the man Arioch in this section being told by Daniel that he has been given the interpretation of the king’s dream and wants him to take him to see the king right away.  What we read that Arioch tells the king is not exactly all true for he states that “he” has found a man from the exiles of Judah who can interpret the king’s dream.  Dr. Wiersbe writes the following about this statement, “Daniel wasn’t the kind of person who worried about who got the credit so long as God got the glory.”  I would hope that there are many believers today that feel the same way as Daniel did, for Daniel knew that he only had to please the Lord.

            Next we see that in reply to the king’s question that Daniel immediately gave all the glory to the Lord, for after all He was the One who gave Daniel the dream and the meaning of the dream.  I have mentioned before that Daniel reminds us of Joseph, for Joseph gave glory to God too when he interpreted the king’s dream too.  What we will see when we begin to look at the kings dream and the interpretation of it is that it will reveal the future sequence of the Gentile kingdoms and how Gentile history would climax with the appearance of an eternal kingdom.

            Dr. Wiersbe goes into the meaning of the term “latter days,” or last days and I wish to make his commentary known so we can better understand this phrase that is found in different places in the Scriptures beginning with Genesis.  “The phrase ‘latter days’ (‘last times’) is found frequently in Scripture, beginning with Genesis 49:1 (“And Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days.”)  and ending with 2 Peter 3:3.  Our Lord ushered in the ‘last days’ with His death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven (Heb. 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20), so we are living now in that period of time when God is ‘wrapping things up’ God has plans for the ‘latter days’ of Israel (Gen. 49:1; Deut. 31:29; Dan. 2:28-29).  The ‘last days’ for the church include perilous times (2 Tim. 3:1), the apostasy of many, and the rise of scoffers and deniers of the truth (2 Peter 3:1ff); and this period will end when Christ takes His church to heaven (1 Thes. 4:13-18).”  I hope this brief description of the “last days” will help clear up some of the things that have been given to the Church in various times and ways.

            Dr. Wiersbe go on to say “The image Nebuchadnezzar beheld in his dreams depicted what Jesus called ‘the times of the Gentiles’ (Luke 21:24), a period of time that began in 605 BC when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army.  This period will end when Christ returns to establish His kingdom (Luke (21:25-28).  During the ‘times of the Gentiles,’ there will be four successive kingdoms, climaxed by a fifth kingdom that will destroy the other four and fill the earth.  The fifth kingdom is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” 

            We must not confuse the “times of the Gentiles with what Paul writes about in Romans 11:25, the “fullness of the Gentiles.”  The “fullness of the Gentiles” is when God has gathered into His church all who shall be saved during the present age we live in that day, which began on the Day of Pentecost and will end with the rapture of the Church.  Acts 15:14 says, “"Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.”  In the Church we have a combination of both Jews and Gentiles, but mostly Gentiles.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In this section today I have seen God’s sovereignty, along with His power and His plans which will take place.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to work out His will for my life, as I too am part of the Church.

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 32:7-10

            7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; Your surround me with songs of deliverance.  Selah.  8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.  9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near you.  10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround you.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Judah” (2 Kings 18:14)

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who did Cain kill”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

4/7/2013 10:54 PM