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Lowell Brueckner

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The Greek Period

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The Book of the Prophet Daniel

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end.”
Daniel 12:4

Chapter 8:1-27                                         The Greek Period

1.  In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 
2.  And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. 
3.  I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. 
4.  I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. 
5.  As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 
6.  He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. 
7.  I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. 
8.  Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. 
9.  Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. 
10.  It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. 
11.  It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. 
12.  And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. 
13.  Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, "For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?" 
14.  And he said to me, "For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state." 

Four Beasts

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The Book of the Prophet Daniel

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end.”
Daniel 12:4

Chapter 7:1-28                                         Four Beasts

1.  In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. 
2.  Daniel declared, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 
3.  And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. 
4.  The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. 
5.  And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, 'Arise, devour much flesh.' 
6.  After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. 
7.  After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 
8.  I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. 

Daniel takes us back fourteen years to a dream that he had at the beginning of Belshazzar´s reign. Up to this point, he has related the historical testimony of himself and his three companions in Babylon. They were the instruments of the all-powerful God of Judah, and before the eyes of world rulers, they demonstrated His greatness and gave Him glory.

He was seen in supernatural support of their faithfulness, in not contaminating themselves with the delicacies and wine of Babylon, and in the supernatural revelation and interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. He was clearly manifested in the miraculous deliverance from the fiery furnace, revealed Himself in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream and in the interpretation of the astounding handwriting on the wall of Belshazzar’s palace. Finally, His power was seen in locking the jaws of fierce lions.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

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The Book of the Prophet Daniel

“… some stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire!” Hebrews 11:33, 34

Chapter 6:1-28                                    Daniel in the Lions’ Den

1.   It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; 
2.  and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 
3.  Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 
4.  Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. 
5. Then these men said, "We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God." 
6. Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, "O King Darius, live forever! 
7. All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 
8. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked." 
9. Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.

Comments from Martin Luther

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Some of Luther's comments on the book of Galatians:

1. "Don't you know that God is no respector of persons?" cries Paul. The dignity or authority of men means nothing to God. The fact is that God often rejects just such who stand in the odor of sanctity and in the aura of importance. In doing so God seems unjust and harsh. But men need deterring examples. For it is a vice with us to esteem personality more highly than the Word of God. God wants us to exalt His Word and not men.
2. If Paul would not give in to the false apostles, much less ought we to give in to our opponents. I know a Christian should be humble, but against the Pope I am going to be proud and say to him: "You, Pope, I will not have you for my boss, for I am sure that my doctrine is divine." Such pride against the Pope is imperative, for if we are not stout and proud we shall never succeed in defending the article of the righteousness of faith.
3. When it comes to establishing false worship and idolatry, no cost is spared. True religion is ever in need of money, while false religions are backed by wealth.
4. For defending the truth in our day, we are called proud and obstinate hypocrites. We are not ashamed of these titles. The cause we are called to defend, is not Peter's cause, or the cause of our parents, or that of the government, or that of the world, but the cause of God. In defense of that cause we must be firm and unyielding.

The Last Straw

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The Book of the Prophet Daniel

“… some stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire!” Hebrews 11:33, 34

Chapter 5:1-31                                                  The Last Straw

1.  King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. 
2.  Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 
3.  Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 
4.  They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. 
5.  Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 
6.  Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 
7.  The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom." 
8.  Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. 
9.  Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed. 
10.  The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, "O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. 
11.  There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, 
12.  because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation." 

Of all the accounts of history that are available, none are as authentic as those of God’s historians. That is as it should be, because for that purpose God has raised them up in the most strategic places. There are quite a number of secular individuals, who have written of Babylonian history and its kings. However, they wrote from a distance, in time and place, whereas Daniel’s had, we might say, “a ring-side seat”, writing from the palace of the emperors in the city of Babylon. No one saw these occurrences with more clarity and detail than he had. Yet the world, in its rebellion, tend to give secular writers more credence and criticize Daniel.

When it comes to the life of Jesus Christ, no historical records of ancient history are more accurately confirmed than the four Gospels, written by eye witnesses or those very closely associated with them. We conclude that the Bible is the greatest historical authority available. Constantly, as time unfolds, more evidence is discovered, proving its authenticity. We, who are believers, know it to be inerrant and only to be criticized by men out of rebellious unbelief. That, in itself, goes to prove the biblical assessment that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 Jn.5:19).