DANIEL 11:2-35 | I JOHN 3:7-24 | PSALM 122:1-9 | PROVERBS 29:1
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Daniel lived some 600 years before the birth of Christ, and as a young boy of perhaps 13 or 14 was taken into captivity by the kings of modern-day Iraq and Iran.
He showed extraordinary resolve in conducting himself in an exemplary manner in all matters, earned the respect and favor of the kings, became a high-ranking official in the kingdom, and above all, never feared to stay true to himself. That meant never being ashamed of his beliefs, even if it meant certain death. Daniel was open to being an instrument for God’s greater plan, and in this, he was open to receiving dreams, visions, and prophecies. But most of all, he was a prayer-warrior.
But it is not by virtue of his circumspect living that Daniel makes a case for the redemption of his people, the Jews. It never works like that, you see. He appeals instead to the mercies of God. He also goes a step further and appeals to the “covenant of love” promised by God.
Daniel’s prayer from the passage from yesterday’s reading goes like this: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
Daniel is invoking the original nature of the covenant or promise that God had made with the children of Israel.
Before they thought it was too simplistic to simply love and be loved. Before they scorned him and built idols of worship. Before they began to become disgruntled and began to clamor for something more tangible. Which is when God said, “alright, I’ll give you a set of laws”, and made Moses the recipient of them via the Ten Commandments.
But of course, the people couldn’t keep the Law…
But God gave the people what they had wanted if only to prove that it wasn’t what they really wanted after all. The Law would never set them free. It couldn’t, because no one could keep either the letter of the law, nor even the spirit of the law.
And so, we’re back to square one!
Which brings us to the crux of the matter as far as the plight of the people of Israel was concerned — which was then theirs, and is ours today. It goes something like this:
I need to save myself. I want to do it by virtue of my goodness. I have asked that the perfect law be applied to me. And I have failed by its standards. I need deliverance. God, will you save me?
And so, coming back to this place and time in history, Daniel serves as a conduit to the plan of deliverance that God begins to roll out. Through visions and dreams that seem as bizarre as they seem far-fetched, God begins to reveal the plan of deliverance, which is to culminate in the coming of the Messiah.
But it is too early and far too complex for Daniel to comprehend the scope and nature of this grand design. And so, as he ponders the meanings of these visions and dreams, he begins to do what he does best: he begins to pray. And he appeals to the mercies of God, and to the “covenant of love” that God has made between his people and Himself.
Today, three thousand years later, that is exactly the same kind of covenant that God offers to make with each one of us through his Son Jesus Christ. No animal sacrifices necessary, no painstaking penances needed. And certainly no pilgrimages in order.
What about that is difficult to comprehend, gentle reader?
Turning next to our reading in the first book of John, we find John offering more exhortations to love one another. He says:
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
And if all this wasn’t clear enough, John decides to say it yet one more time:
23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Turning next to our reading of the Psalms, we find in this psalm, a prayer by David for Jerusalem. Not unlike Daniel’s prayer for the city of Jerusalem and her people, David also says:
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. 7 May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” 8 For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” 9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.
Finally, one verse from the book of Proverbs, in which Solomon, wise king of Israel, offers some food for thought:
1 Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word. Amen.
DANIEL 9:1-11:1 | I JOHN 2:18-3:6 | PSALM 121:1-8 | PROVERBS 28:27-28
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Daniel’s dreams continue. And oh, how amazingly detailed these dreams are!
They’re of course prophecies to unfold in the next six hundred years — prophecies of the times and tales of the people and those who rule them in the areas spreading across Judea and its neighbors — to the east, north, and south in the Middle East, in vast parts of North Africa, and the Greek and Roman Empires spreading out across the Mediterranean and into Central Asia.
It would surely take a scholar to examine each verse carefully to understand the meanings and interpretations of the things fulfilled, and for those yet to come, but since I am no scholar, I would defer to those that have already done the work of carefully documenting the fulfilling of these prophecies.
One section of Daniel’s prayer that is worthy of record and rumination:
17 “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
Note the humility that Daniel reflects here: “not because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.”
May it be that we emulate just such a frame of mind when we approach God with our petitions.
And what does Daniel gain from such a humble stance? God himself appears to him in his vision, to say to him:
“Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.
Continuing our reading in I John, we find John making a clear point about the importance of recognizing both Father and Son. Jesus Christ is God incarnate, and if this fact is denied, the truth is not spoken. John puts it like this:
21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
This passage in I John is yet another exhortation to continue in love with one another. John cannot say it enough times, and in enough ways. It bears repeating, and rightfully so.
“Love one another, as I have loved you”was the greatest commandment that Jesus left with his disciples, and John being one of them, most likely took it to heart more than any one else.
It would likewise do us well to be reminded of this great command because we are all a work in progress. Our transformation in the image of Christ does not happen overnight — it happens over an entire lifetime. It is in this recognition that we must endeavor to live each day.
This calls to mind the popular catch-phrase from the nineties “What Would Jesus Do?” If we can answer this with a clear conscience to the best of our abilities and under the given circumstances, I do believe it would serve as not-too-bad of a moral compass. And for all those times that we are unable to be guided by that compass due to our own shortcomings and failings, I also believe that we will find comfort in the knowledge that despite our sorry states of body and mind, the love of the Father and his Son Jesus Christ is so strong and great a love, that we will not be turned away when we seek forgiveness with a contrite heart.
This is the indescribable and unexplainable type of divine love that we are told by John to emulate as best that we can.
John explains it like this: 1See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
Turning next to our reading from the book of Psalms, we find ourselves in an oft-quoted and much-beloved one that I shall reproduce in its entirety since I have had it committed to memory as a child, thanks to my mother. The King James Version (KJV) in which I learned it, goes like this:
1I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
3He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Finally, two verses from the book of Proverbs in which Solomon, wise king of Israel, states certain truths:
27 Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.
28 When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding; but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive.
May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word. Amen.
DANIEL 8:1-27 | 1 JOHN 2:1-17 | PSALM 120:1-7 | PROVERBS 28:25-26
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Daniel’s fearsome dreams continue — with symbolism so rich that he has an interpreter come to him within the dream to explain the meaning of the dreams to him.
Daniel records it like this: 17 As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.”
There are apparently some clear references and associations to be made in terms of prophecies fulfilled, and others that remain open to interpretation.
The one phrase that stood out for me in this passage refers to one of the little horns that grew so large and strong that it made Truth to be thrown to the ground! Yes, this does happen at times. But only for a season. Because Truth cannot remain fallen and trampled upon by men’s feet, and forgotten or replaced by anything else.
It will stand up, sometimes later rather than sooner, and it will make itself known.
Daniel’s dreams and visions left him physically exhausted. But Daniel didn’t have the benefit of hindsight like we do now. There is much scholarly work on the interpretation of this and other Biblical prophecies, and one may delve into in as little or as lot as one wishes. For now, I found this one source that offers some insight into this chapter of Daniel 8. You will find it here.
The reading in I John continues the theme of the manifestation of Truth in our daily lives, and presents a simple litmus test to check for whether or not we might be able to claim that the Truth resides within us. Loving our fellowmen is it.
John says: 3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
And then John says this: 7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
And yet again, John wishes to make the contrast between light and darkness, and says this:
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
What this means to me is that regardless of the circumstances that might exist even with the most difficult of relationships, we must not and cannot give in to succumbing to allowing hatred to find a permanent place in our hearts. Because doing so would mean that the Truth is not within us, and we would therefore be lying if were to claim otherwise.
And besides this, hatred is not as satisfying as forgiveness, anyway. Wouldn’t you agree?
Turning now to our reading from the Psalms, we find David crying out in his most inimitable style:
1 I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me. 2 Save me, LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
Finally, a couple of verses from the book of Proverbs that stand the test of time:
25 The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the LORD will prosper.
26 Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.
May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word. Amen.
