December 1: Daniel 8; Psalm 120; Proverbs 28:25-26; 1 John 2:1-17



Overview

            Daniel: Daniel had another vision in Belshazzar’s third year. He was in Susa by the Ulai canal. He saw a ram with two high horns one higher than the other. It charged west, north, and south. It defeated all other beasts and did what it wanted.
            Then a male goat with one conspicuous horn between its eyes came from the west without touching the ground and broke the horns of the ram and trampled it. It became very great, but the horn was broken and replace with four horns toward the four winds of heaven.
            A little horn grew out of one of the horns and was great to the south, east, the glorious land, and even to heaven. It became so great to even bring down angels. It became as great as the Prince of God’s people. He will take the regular burnt offering away from the Prince, take over the temple, transgress greatly, eliminate truth, kill God’s people, and he will prosper. Daniel heard holy ones talking and saying that the offering and temple will be trampled for 2,300 evenings and mornings before the temple is purified.
            Daniel wanted to understand this, and a voice told Gabriel to help him understand. When Gabriel came near, Daniel was frightened and fell face down. Gabriel told him that the vision was for the end time. Daniel passed out at Gabriel’s voice, but Gabriel touched him and made him stand.
            Gabriel told Daniel that the last part was for the final end of time. But the ram with two horns was the kings of Media and Persia. The goat is the king of Greece, the single horn is the first king. Four kingdoms arise when the first is broken. At the very end of time when sin is rampant, a super king will come with supernatural power. He will be a destroyer as he defeats mighty men and the saints. He will use deceit and cunning to prosper then suddenly become the destroyer. He will come against the Prince of princes and then be will be supernaturally stopped.
            Gabriel told Daniel the vision of the evenings and mornings is true and to seal up the vison for it is for the distant future.
            The vision made Daniel ill for several days then he went about his business while still horrified and not understanding the vision.
            Psalm: The Psalmist asks for help from the Lord in his distress. He is tired of people lying about him. He would like to shoot them with flaming arrows. He is getting tired of living out in the boonies with people who would rather fight than make peace.
            Proverbs: When a person is greedy there is discontent that causes problems. One who looks to the Lord for all things has an enriched life. If we think our reasoning capabilities will take care of us, we are fools. True wisdom will rescue us from this foolishness.
            1 John: John writes to us so that we will not sin but if we do, we know that Jesus is our lawyer before the Father. He is righteous and has paid for our sins and those of the whole world. If we obey his commandments, then we know that we know him. Anyone who doesn’t obey but says he know Jesus is a liar. God’s love is made perfect in anyone who keeps his word. We can be sure we are in Jesus if we walk in the way Jesus walked.
            John reiterates the commandment of the word that they have heard from the beginning. It is nothing new. But it is also new because the darkness is leaving and the light is shining. If someone hates his brother, he is in the darkness and doesn’t know where he is going because he is blinded. Whoever loves his brother is in the light and should not stumble.
            He is writing to children because their sins are forgiven and they know the Father
            He is writing to fathers because they know Jesus.
            He is writing to young men because they have overcome Satan, they are strong, and God’s word lives in them.
            We are not to love the world or stuff in the world. If we do, we won’t have the Father’s love in us. All the worldly stuff, all the things we desire to fulfill our sinful flesh and our pride doesn’t come from the Father. All that comes from the world. All that will pass away but when we do God’s will, we will continue forever.

What Stood Out

            Daniel: “Then I rose and went about the king's business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it” (Dan 8:27).
            Psalm: “Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace” (Ps 120:6).
            Proverbs: “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered” (Prov 28:26).
            1 John: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

Insight

            Daniel: God’s sovereignty is still the subject of this chapter of Daniel. Two years after receiving an overview of the future, Daniel is told some details about the future. These details are significant because names of countries and a description of their rulers is provided. At this time, the Babylonian king, Belshazzar is still in power. The dream tells that the Medes and Persians will come from the east and rule over the known world. That is specific and did happen as predicted. Then the king of Greece will come and defeat Medes and Persians. That is what Alexander the Great did. When he died at a young age, his four generals took over and divided the kingdom between them. Then we run into a very strange part of history. From one of the four generals came Antiochus Epiphanies. He is a partial fulfillment of the prophecy of the last little horn. He fought to the south and almost took over Egypt. He ruled and persecuted Judah and Samaria and outlawed the Jewish religion and stopped the sacrifices for a while.
            Some theologians claim that he was the complete fulfilment of Daniel’s vision. However, there are points of the vision that tells that there must still be a future fulfilment. It says that this one grew great to the host of heaven and cause some of them to all to the ground (Dan 8:10). This is a description of Satan that is also found in (Rev 12:4). He will take his stand against the Prince of princes (Dan 8:25) and his defeat will not come from a human source (Dan 8:25). This clearly describes the end times with the antichrist. While Antiochus Epiphanies persecuted Jews, he didn’t come against God directly and his defeat was at human hands.
            Even with the explanation, Daniel was dismayed at his vision. It bothered this holy man so much that he was ill for days. When we see things happening in our world that makes it appear that the final fulfilment of this vision is about to happen, we can take a clue from Daniel. We need to get up and get about our normal duties, taking care of our families, our business, and mostly, serving the Lord in our daily lives.
            Psalm: This Psalm is not listed as David’s, but it fits his experience. David was surrounded by people who were malcontents when he first fled from Saul. He kept them in check, but he even had to make his living by raiding other nations. It was distressful for him when he would rather have had peace.
            We sometimes feel the same way, living in the world but wanting to see it under the rule of our Lord. We are in a battle as Ephesians 6:11-12 states. But we must remember that this battle is not against people but the powers in the heavenly realms. One day it will be over, but until then, we need to be strong and steadfast putting on the armor to do the battle (Eph 6:13-18). Even so, we know we can call on the Lord when it seems overwhelming.
            Proverbs: Sometimes, we think we are smart enough to actually trust our reasoning capabilities. The big problem with that is that the fall has caused us to have unreliable reasoning. Take evolution for an example. Brilliant scientists have reasoned that the human eye evolved from simple eyes. Even Darwin thought that was absurd.[1]After making that statement he then reasoned how it could have happened.[2]In an article about the human eye, Jerry Bergman point out that even the most primitive eye known is at the sixth and final stage of evolutionary development according to Darwin’s evolutionary hierarchy for an eye.[3]
            If our thinking can take us so far off base in matters of science, think about how far off it can take us in moral issues. Without having the Holy Spirit renew our minds, we are hopelessly lost. There is no way we can think godly without being saved. That’s what walking in true wisdom is because the wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit is true.
            1 John: There are several significant theological truths in today’s reading.
·         The word helps us keep from sinning.
·         Jesus pleads or case of innocence before the Father
·         Jesus paid the penalty for our sins (that’s why we are innocent).
·         Jesus paid for everyone’s sins though not everyone is saved.
·         Three indications that a person isn’t saved are:
o   disobedience to Jesus’ commands
o   hating your brother.
o   loving the world.
·         The world is going away.
·         Whoever does the Father’s will lives forever.
            Some people love to argue about some of these. I will refer back to Proverbs 28:26. Sometimes we simply are fools for trying to apply our reasoning to some theology. The one that bothers some people is that Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world. They argue that if Jesus’ death is effective for everyone’s sins, then why do people still go to hell? Everyone should be saved. Yet, John provides three reasons that verify some people are not saved. Don’t worry about it. God knows what he said through John and it is true. We can still offer the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ to anyone in the world and know that if they turn to Jesus for salvation, they will be saved. If we try to out-think God, we’ll only get messed up.

Application

             I don’t want to get overly concerned about the world and where it is going. I know the end plan of God and I know that Satan is defeated. I know that we can have salvation though Jesus Christ right now and I can warn people who say they are Christians when they don’t act like it. I need to be careful about overthinking things in all these areas.


[1]Darwin, C., The Origin of Species, John Murray, London, p. 186, 1859. 
[2]Darwin, C., The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, John Murray, London, 1872.
[3]Jerry Bergman, "Did eyes evolve by Darwinian mechanisms?" Creation Ministries International | creation.com, , accessed December 01, 2017, https://creation.com/did-eyes-evolve-by-darwinian-mechanisms.

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