Good Morning! - Daniel 7:5 - The Bear with Three Ribs in His Mouth - 2009.11.20

And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh (Daniel 7:5).

The bear was a symbol of the kingdom of Medo-Persia. It's another way of picturing the arms of silver of Nebuchadnezzar's image. The three ribs in bear's mouth are the three kingdoms devoured by Medo-Persia: Babylon, Egypt and Lydia. This invasion included the rest of the territories ruled by Babylon.

McGee points out: "There are no wings on this bear, but it was told, "Arise, devour much flesh." The army of the Medo-Persians moved like a great, lumbering, and rumbling bear—they even took their families along with them. It was Xerxes who led about 300,000 men and three hundred ships against Greece at Thermopylae and was defeated. His fleet was destroyed by a storm because God did not intend the East to control the West at that particular time."

"Just as there is a deterioration of quality in the component metals in the image in chapter 2, so this same difference is indicated between the lion and the bear. The bear is without doubt slower and less regal than the lion, nevertheless the lion eventually was overpowered just as the head of gold surrendered to the breast and arms of silver." "The large lumbering bear is an apt description of a hugh, slow-moving but mighty force. The conquests of the MedoPersian Empire were frightfully destructive. (Strauss)

Students of this period in history tell us that the Medo-Persians hurled great masses of troops upon its enemies. Xerxes' expedition against Greece was undertaken with 2,500,000 fighting men. It is easy to be seen that the movement of such enormous bodies of men would 'devour much flesh,' not merely related to the lack of food but also death by exposure and disease as well as in battle. (Condensed from Larkin) The huge, slow moving bear was an tremendous force that could not be reckoned with. And yet it would be reckoned with in God's time.

We would do well to remember that history is His Story and that in spite of all the things about the world that we cannot understand, God is truly in charge. Someone has said that the wheels of God turn exceedingly slow but they also grind exceedingly fine. Our God is an awesome God! Have you bowed before Him and given your heart to Him to serve Him the rest of your life? God's son paid your sin debt when he died on the cross and rose from the grave to die no more. He is your only hope of getting out of the box that is going to be buried with your remains in it…sealed up under six feet of earth.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16-18)

Memory Verse for this week:

(Hebrews 3:12,13) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, indeparting from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:12,13).

Digging Deeper

Exhort one another daily. We think of exhorting or urging toward God as the preacher's job. A preacher who stands behind a piece of wood furniture we call a pulpit. But that is only part of God's plan. God clearly intends for His people to be faithful in watching out for one another and in this case: to exhort or urge one another against departing from the living God because of a heart of unbelief. There are several "one another" references in the Bible. This one in Hebrews 3:12,13 is a good illustration of God's assigning to us the duty of ministering to one another.

Good Morning! - Daniel 7:3-4 - The Lion With Wings Day Three - 2009.11.19

And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one fromanother. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld tillthe wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth,and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it (Daniel 7.3-4).

These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth (Daniel 7:17).

The four great beasts are four kings which shall arise out of the earth. These great beasts correspond to the Gold, Silver, Brass, and Iron of the great image God showed Nebuchadnezzar in chapter two. The metals of the image were progressively reduced in quality from gold to iron. The four animals also begin with the king of cats and progress to the lesser animals.

The first was like a lion with wings. This is symbolic of Babylon's ferocity. The wings indicate the speed with which Babylon could move her army. There is no doubt that Daniel knew about the artistic lions that were part of the designs in ceramic tile at the Ishtar Gate and perhaps in many other places of the massive walls and gates surrounding Babylon. This is how the Babylonians thought of themselves. They were the king of the beasts. They were fierce and cruel and fast in battle.

But Babylon was not to last forever. Its speed was probably related to the influence of Nebuchadnezzar. When he went insane for seven years and ate with the cattle in the fields, it had an impact on the lion. The lion came to realize that he was just a man. And then a man's heart was given to the lion. Many believe this corresponds to the physical and mental healing and the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar in chapter four where he wrote his testimony of the great change that had come over him.

We must keep in mind that God did not have Daniel to record these details as merely interesting parts of a theatre production. God gives each part of the vision as an important part of communication to the people of that time and to the millions around the world who were to follow. As great as Babylon was, and Medo-Persia and Greece and Rome, none of these places are where God has chosen to put His name.

At the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea is the land we today call Palestine. "It is the geographic center of the earth and the center of God's activities with Israel and the Gentile nations at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Strauss)

If the Bible speaks of the north, it is north of Jerusalem. If it speaks of the south, it is south of Jerusalem. It is the place where God instructed Abraham to go to sacrifice his only son and it is the place where God sacrificed His own Son for the sins of the world. You should be interested in that place because some of your belongings were left there: your sins!

God has chosen to put His name in Jerusalem forever (2Kings 21:7). And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there (1Kings 11:36). (See also 1Kings 9:3; 2Chronicles 33:7).

Memory Verse for this week:

(Hebrews 3:12,13) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:12,13).

Digging Deeper

"Evil heart of unbelief." In our culture a state of unbelief may be a virtue rather than an evil. When one embraces by faith the idea that there are no absolutes, of necessity there remains one absolute: "There are no absolutes." It follows then that one may decide to reduce the number of absolutes to one absolute but the last one cannot be eliminated. As one short-sighted skeptic said: "There are no absolutes! Of this I am absolutely certain!" Hmmmmmm.

God says that unbelief comes out of an evil heart. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9) Unbelief is an act or a state of rebellion. It is a ramming of the soul into a rock wall and renders the soul damaged and reduced in its capacity. Unbelief is not ignorance but rather it is an aggressive attack upon knowledge. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us (Luke 19:14). Therein lies the problem….I will not. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! (Luke 13:34)

Good Morning! - Daniel 7:3-4 & Daniel 7:17 - Daniel Had His Act Together - 2009.11.18

Good Morning!

 

And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from

 

another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till

 

the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth,

 

and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given

 

to it (Daniel 7.3-4).

 

These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth (Daniel 7:17).

 

In verse one of this chapter, Daniel is old, perhaps ninety, and has been moved to the outer edge of Belshazzar's kingship. The king counts him as a useless relic of the past. Daniel has no pressing duties so he has time to pray as he did every day for much of his life …his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did formerly (Daniel 6:10b).  And he has time to write and sort things out.

 

God always knew where Daniel would be three times a day—on his knees, so He met with him. Do you think you can sincerely bow to meet with God and He won't show up? You don't have to have an earth shattering request to make of God for the meeting to be important to Him. Do you wonder if God knows about you and your circumstances? We do not have to call in a loud voice to bring God down from a great distance. Daniel's daily meeting with God reminds me of David's observation: He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1).

 

His was not an occasional encounter with God. It was a way of life with Daniel and somewhat with David. When David slacked off in his meetings with God and met with his neighbor's wife he really got in bad trouble. That's a good thing to remember. We are told The Secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant (Psalm 25:14). Daniel had told Nebuchadnezzar many years earlier … there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days (Daniel 2:28).

 

We need to understand that Daniel had his act together. He was not an on again off again fair-weather servant of God. He had been castrated when he was seventeen, and had taken a lot of guff off of some of the most arrogant human beings on the face of the earth almost every day of his life. But his bond with His God was so strong that come the south wind or the north wind, he was steady. This man knew God as well as he knew the back of his own hand. He was not self-sufficient. His sufficiency was of God (2Corinthians 3:5).

 

Now then, God is going to tell His old servant a few things that are going to be written down and translated into untold numbers of languages and last for many centuries and bless the hearts of millions and millions of God's people.  God has already told King Nebuchadnezzar the whole of human history in advance. Now He is going to tell His old faithful servant the same thing but with animals. "Daniel, let me show you this lion. Did you ever see a lion with wings?"

 

But I must return to the first paragraph. In verse one of this chapter, Daniel is old, perhaps ninety, There is something buried there that we cannot skip over. In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters (Daniel 7:1).  Told the sum of the matters.

 

Daniel did not write all the details that he saw. He wrote a summary of all that he saw.  Strauss quotes Leupold who "suggests this to mean the essential content of the dream.  The essential features were culled out of the great variety of details that a long dream presented so as not to present a bewildering array of detail to the reader." We must obey everything God shows us but we often cannot tell everything God shows us.

 

Paul was caught up by the Lord and saw things not lawful to be uttered (2Corinthians 12:4). When Mary was visited by the angel, she could not run to the well and tell all the women in her village that she pregnant by the Holy Ghost. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19). God may show you things you cannot run out into the street and tell everyone.

 

OK, I reckon we're ready now to plunge into the story of the winged lion. We'll need more space than we have left, so we'll look at this tomorrow.

 

Memory Verse for this week:

 

(Hebrews 3:12,13)  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in

 

departing from the living God.  But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest

 

any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:12,13).

 

 

Digging Deeper

 

"Exhort one another daily…" This is one of the "one another" phrases of the Bible. God calls pastors and other church leaders for special function in the church but He also ordains the use of the rank and file people in the church to minister to each other. Here the activity is to exhort or urge or encourage one another and to do it daily, constantly. The pastor often cannot reach personally everyone in the congregation so it is up to each one who is touching or close to another person to exercise influence on that person. The urging is not to be bossy or cantankerous but gentle, loving encouragement.

 

 

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Good Morning! - Daniel 7:3-4 - The Lion with Wings - 2009.11.16

And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it (Daniel 7.3-4).

These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth (Daniel 7:17). (We'll come back to this tomorrow. My apologies.)

Before we continue with the lion story, I need to go back to a statement I made yesterday about the four winds of the heaven blowing against each other in "the great sea." I realized after I had mailed yesterday's article that there is some controversy over the identity of the "the great sea." I can see how some might think it is more than the Mediterranean Sea and I think it would be good to review that issue now rather than later.

Was The Great Sea the Mediterranean Sea or the oceans of the world? Some commentators suggest it referred to the ocean water of the entire world because the sea was a figure of speech for the people of the earth. However, the great players in military battles related to this striving of the winds are most likely the kings and armies around the Mediterranean Sea. The four winds are mentioned as a parallel to the four kinds of metal in Nebuchadnezzar's multi-metallic image and the four beasts we are about to examine. The four great world powers begin with Babylon and end with the Roman Empire. We are now in the end days of feet of iron mixed with clay and the stone is about to come and smash the feet and grind it to powder.

The fifth kingdom is the kingdom set up by the God of Heaven, coming after the stone, (Jesus Christ) smashes the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's great image. There are other great nations such as ancient Assyria, the United States, Russia, China, and India. But none of these are players in world power as identified by the Bible. Russia and her allies will come down against Israel (Ezekiel 38) and 5/6 of her army will be destroyed by an earthquake. But Russia is not a world player. It has been suggested that China may be the 200-milllion-man army mentioned in Revelation 9:6 but it is not clear that these are human soldiers. Even if Revelation 9:6 is China, it is short-lived and not part of God's view of world powers.

The phrase, "The Great Sea" occurs 13 times in the Bible and all of them by their context indicate that the Mediterranean is the Great Sea. Daniel 7:2 is the last reference mentioning the Great Sea. I find nothing in the Bible indicating that the 13^th reference to the Great Sea is different from the prior 12 uses of the term. The sea is used in other Bible passages to represent various people and nations of the earth. It will help, I think, to remember that all four of the great world kingdoms, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Graeco-Macedonia, and Rome—all four were in the vicinity of The Great Sea, i.e. the Mediterranean Sea.

It is also helpful to remember that when Babylon ruled the world under Nebuchadnezzar, he did not have occupational soldiers in every part of the world. He ruled the world in the sense that he occupied the essential part of the world required to dominate the rest of the world. The later three world powers occupied the world in the same sense.

Please keep in mind that world powers not only occupied territory by military force but also exercised control of the economies of the conquered regions. They were not interested in destroying the people they conquered. They wanted those countries to prosper and generate wealth.This meant that they presided over the major bodies of water and the major rivers where ships carried goods and generated taxes to support the government. Water was the lifeline of international trade. Camel caravans contributed to this effort but were not to be compared with goods moved by water. The water of the Great Sea and the rivers that flowed into it were the arteries of international power. The great world powers came to power by displacing existing powers and that pretty well ties them all to the waterways around the Mediterranean Sea.

"In this image of four winds blowing against each other we have a picture of the people from all directions of the earth coming against each other in the area of the Mediterranean Sea." There is a time line involved in this that I did not mention yesterday. The parts of Daniel's beast could all be seen at one time by Nebuchadnezzar but all the parts did not exist at the same time. The time line began with the gold head and went down to feet of iron and clay which were smitten by the great stone.

In a similar way, the striving of the four winds blowing against each other in the "Great Sea" propably had a time line covering several centuries. But in the end there will be a final gathering of the nations of the world existing at that time that will surround Jerusalem and God will wipe them out. The "Stone" that smashed Nebuchadnezzar's great image will deal a pulverizing blow upon the gathered nations of the world.

The striving of the winds is a timeless reference to the continual competing and warring between the nations around the Great Sea. In its immediate context of Daniel 7:1-2 the beasts coming up out of the sea or the Great Sea are kings of that area of the world. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth (Daniel 7:17).

These four great beasts are seen one after the other. They did not all exist at the same time. There is a time line here as will be obvious as we study the four beasts. God showed Nebuchadnezzar the spectacular aspects of the great image because that is what he could understand. But in showing the beasts, God is showing Daniel the nature of the four parts of the image.

The lion was a primary image of Babylon as seen in our picture for today, and was taken from the restored Istar Gate of the city of ancient Babylon.

Memory Verse for this week:

(Hebrews 3:12,13) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12,13).

Digging Deeper

"Exhort one another daily…" This is one of the "one another" phrases of the Bible. God calls pastors and other church leaders for special function in the church but He also ordains the use of the rank and file people in the church to minister to each other. Here the activity is to exhort or urge or encourage one another and to do it daily, constantly. The pastor often cannot reach personally everyone in the congregation so it is up to each one who is touching or close to another person to exercise influence on that person. The urging is not to be bossy or cantankerous but gentle, loving encouragement.

Good Morning! - Daniel 7:1-2 - Striving of the Four Winds - 2009.11.16

 

Good Morning!

 

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream

 

and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and

 

told the sum of the matters. Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my

 

vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove

 

upon the great sea (Daniel 7:1-2). (Our picture today is not part of this dream but serves as an introduction to this section of Daniel.)

 

 

Chapter Seven Begins a Complete Change in the Book of Daniel.

We have been exploring historical settings in the first six chapters of Daniel. Now we enter the section of the Book taken up with dreams and visions of the Prophet Daniel. Critics try to discount the historical section by saying that the things relating to Babylon and the Medo-Persian Empire had already happened. But noted scholars of the Book of Daniel and the history of Babylon disagree. If Daniel can be labeled as well-intentioned but plagiarized material then its value as a blueprint of our yet-to-be series of events can be disregarded. Man in his fallen nature just will not have it that there is a powerful and just God with whom they must deal and give account to one day soon.

 

The huge statue Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about was of four metals, NOT five metals. There was gold, silver, brass and iron and iron mixed with clay, depicting the then future of the world. It began with the gold head of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar and ended with the last stage of the revived Roman Empire.  A stone carved out of a mountain came and struck the image on its iron and clay feet and pulverized it into powder. The stone then filled the whole earth.  Of course that stone is God's kingdom that will at last be established in the whole earth.

 

Let me say again that the huge image was made up of four metals and not five or six. There will only be four great world empires and then there will be the promised empire of God with His promised Christ sitting upon the throne of David in Jerusalem for one thousand years. The world is in one big royal, unholy mess right now but it will not always be that way. God is in charge and in His own time and in His own way, He is going to subdue all the kingdoms of the earth and impose His kingdom upon all the earth.

 

Jesus taught his disciples and all Christians that would follow through the centuries to pray:  …Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth (Luke 11:2).

 

God is not a pop-up God. He is not flighty and silly in His management of world affairs. He dares to say centuries ahead of time what He is going to do and then he carries it out. God told David through the prophet Nathan about His future plans.

 

 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever (1Chronicles 17:11-12).

 

Part of the Christmas story is the appearance of the angel to Mary. It is the stone carved out of the mountain in Daniel. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end (Luke 1:31-33).

 

In our text for today the four winds are the introduction to other sets of four, all of which are  a commentary on the unfolding path of the great stone that will fill the whole earth. The final great world political struggle will take place around the Mediterranean Sea. I'm sorry but the United States is not going to remain the leading world power as we approach the end of this age. The power is going to shift to the European nations which make up the old Roman Empire.

 

The Roman Empire was never actually subdued. It just rotted and fell in on itself like the United States is doing now. But the pieces of the Roman Empire have remained in place to be revived and reconstituted into the leading world power. We read of the European currency, the EURO which is going to replace the U.S. Dollar. Go to Google and type in United States of Europe and you can read a long time.

 

Chapter seven takes us back to the time of Belshazzar. Daniel was in his bed when he dreamed about four winds of the heavens or the earth's atmosphere. The winds were striving upon the great sea which we understand to be the Mediterranean sea. Normally the wind blows in only one direction at a time. There will be a wind out of the north or the south or the east or the west. If warm air collides with cold air there will be a storm, sometimes wreaking great damage. In this image of four winds blowing against each other we have a picture of the people from all directions of the earth coming against each other in the area of the Mediterranean sea.

 

These are exciting and troubling times in which to be alive on earth. But this is the time to seek the Lord and to walk with Him. The two legs of walking with God are the Word of God and prayer. The journey is accomplished by obeying everything He shows you from the heart. It is well said in the old loved Southern Gospel song: This World is not my home; I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue."

 

Memory Verse for this week:

 

(Hebrews 3:12,13)  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in

 

departing from the living God.  But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest

 

any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:12,13).

 

 

Digging Deeper

 

"While it is called Today."  This is a bit strange for our day. There is general agreement that it refers broadly to "while life here shall last."  While we can look outside and say: "It is today." Or while we can awaken to another sunrise and be able to say :"I am still in this life where we are accustomed to saying: It is another day, or today."

 

 

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