The Fourfold Image
Labels:
Daniel
The Book of the
Prophet Daniel
“… some stopped the
mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire!”
Hebrews 11:33, 34
Chapter 2:24-49 The Fourfold Image
24. Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch,
whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said
thus to him: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before
the king, and I will show the king the interpretation."
25. Then Arioch brought in Daniel before
the king in haste and said thus to him: "I have found among the exiles
from Judah a man who will make known to the king the
interpretation."
26. The king declared to Daniel, whose
name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream that I
have seen and its interpretation?"
27. Daniel answered the king and said,
"No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king
the mystery that the king has asked,
28. but there is a God in heaven who
reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in
the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are
these:
29. To you, O king, as you lay in bed
came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made
known to you what is to be.
30. But as for me, this mystery has been
revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living,
but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that
you may know the thoughts of your mind.
Who,
but God himself, could single out exceptional prayer warriors, among all the
great men of the Old Testament, who particularly had power before His throne in
prayer? Through Ezekiel, He mentioned only three… Noah, Job and Daniel
(Ezek.14:14,20). We have already learned of some of the amazing spiritual
qualities of this young man, Daniel. In the last lesson, we read of his
prudence and discretion.
The God Who Dwells with Flesh
Labels:
Daniel
The Book of the
Prophet Daniel
“… some stopped the
mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire!” Hebrews
11:33, 34
Chapter 2:1-23 The God Who Dwells with Flesh
1. In the second year of the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his
sleep left him.
2. Then the king commanded that the magicians,
the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king
his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.
3. And the king said to them, "I had a
dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream."
4. Then the Chaldeans said to the king in
Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will
show the interpretation."
5. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans,
"The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and
its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be
laid in ruins.
6. But if you show the dream and its
interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor.
Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation."
7. They answered a second time and said,
"Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its
interpretation."
8. The king answered and said, "I know with
certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from
me is firm—
9.
if you do not make the dream
known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying
and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream,
and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation."
10. The Chaldeans answered the king and
said, "There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no
great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or
Chaldean.
11. The thing that the king asks is
difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling
is not with flesh."
12. Because of this the king was angry
and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be
destroyed.
Ten Times Better
Labels:
Daniel
The Book of the
Prophet Daniel
“… some stopped the
mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire!” Hebrews 11:33, 34
Chapter
1:8-21 Ten Times Better
8. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile
himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he
asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
9. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in
the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,
10. and the chief of the eunuchs said to
Daniel, "I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink;
for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are
of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king."
11. Then Daniel said to the steward whom
the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah,
12. "Test your servants for ten
days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13. Then let our appearance and the
appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal
with your servants according to what you see."
14. So he listened to them in this
matter, and tested them for ten days.
15. At the end of ten days it was seen
that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who
ate the king's food.
16. So the steward took away their food
and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
God
always has someone prepared to aid the ones, who belong to Him, from the cradle
to the grave and actually long before they are born. That person may not be a
believer, but he will in that area for which God calls him, faithfully carry
out His purposes. During a famine, the Lord trained crows to feed Elijah and
then chose a poor widow to house and maintain him until the famine was over.
The Persian emperor Cyrus, a pagan, encouraged the Israelites to return to
their land, rebuild their temple and helped to finance the entire project. God
called him His servant.
Four Young Hebrews in Babylon
Labels:
Daniel
The Book of the Prophet Daniel
“… some stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire!” Hebrews
11:33, 34
Chapter
1:1-7 Four Young Hebrews in Babylon
1. En
el año tercero del reinado de Joacim, rey de Judá, vino Nabucodonosor, rey de
Babilonia, a Jerusalén y la sitió.
2.
Y el Señor entregó en sus manos a Joacim, rey de Judá, y algunos de los
utensilios de la casa de Dios; los llevó a la tierra de Sinar, a la casa de su
dios, colocando los utensilios en la casa del tesoro de su dios.
3.
Entonces el rey mandó a Aspenaz, jefe de sus oficiales, que trajera de los
hijos de Israel a algunos de la familia real y de los nobles,
4.
jóvenes en quienes no hubiera defecto alguno, de buen parecer, inteligentes en
toda rama del saber, dotados de entendimiento y habilidad para discernir
y que tuvieran la capacidad para servir en el palacio del rey; y le mandó
que les enseñara la escritura y la lengua de los caldeos.
5.
El rey les asignó una ración diaria de los manjares del rey y del vino que él
bebía, y mandó que los educaran por tres años, al cabo de los cuales
entrarían al servicio del rey.
6.
Entre éstos estaban Daniel, Ananías, Misael y Azarías, de los hijos de
Judá.
7.
Y el jefe de los oficiales les puso nuevos nombres: a Daniel le puso Beltsasar;
a Ananías, Sadrac; a Misael, Mesac; y a Azarías, Abed-nego.
As we begin reading the first chapter of the book of Daniel, we
immediately learn two things: 1) The Bible harmonizes with the actual events of
human history. It accurately finds its place there and confirms all the rulers,
nations, and movements, which we know to be historically true and gives the
dates, in which they played their part. Babylon had an important role in the
Bible and its history began in the book of Genesis. In our study, we enter the
time, when this empire had reached its glory. In verse one, we read of one of
the conquests of Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II, son of Nabopolassar, who destroyed
the Assyrian empire and turned Babylon into the world power that it was in the
time of Daniel.
2) Israel is always involved in some way with these predominant
forces. Almighty God, who spoke the universe into existence, chose to be the
divine King over a relatively small nation. However, these people have never
been, and are not now, insignificant on the world scene. This is due, in part, to
the fact that they always interacted with the highest powers on earth.
Introduction to Daniel
Labels:
Daniel
For the next few months, or however long it takes, I will focus on the book of Daniel. Again, this will be an expository study, verse by verse. I hope you will join me, because, as you know, there are some exciting, meaningful stories in the first six chapters.
Then, we will come to some of the most amazing prophecies in the entire Bible, concerning the endtimes. There is also a prophecy in chapter two, a very important one for understanding the entire history of world empires. The greatest key to an outline of prophetic times and unlocking its mysteries is given in chapter nine. For sure, you will not want to miss the study of that chapter.
I would never attempt a study of the book of Revelation, without first tackling Daniel. I mention in the introduction that it is impossible to comprehend the book of Revelation, without a previous knowledge of this book. Perhaps in the future, we can plunge into John's Revelation, but let's get some help first from this noble prophet with his amazing eye for events that will take us to the Second Coming of Christ.
In the beginning, I wanted to turn aside a little, in order to mention some real hindrances to the development of spirituality in the individual Christian life, as well as being problems, relative to the church these days. There are just a few paragraphs concerning this, so please bear with me. I feel there must be a change of attitude and mentality, in order to hold the right Christian perspective in the very dangerous times, spiritually speaking, in which we live.
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