Chapter 8 opens with the words the third year of king Belshazzar, this would be three years after chapter 7 of Daniel. Belshazzar began ruling Babylon as a vassal king in 550 B.C. (Before Christ).
The date of this vision would be 547 B.C.; remember the dates count down toward Our Lord's Birth, and count up after His Birth. You can find this date on the time line at the bottom of the handout (Head of Gold ) I gave you lower bottom right hand corner. Daniel is not in Babylon in his vision, but beside the Ulai Canal in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam. This is to be the place that the Mede part of the Medo-Persian kingdom was to rule from. Daniel had never been there, and the Medo-Persian kingdom had not yet come to power. If you look at the top of the handout I gave you, the Head of Gold, you will notice that Babylon reigns from 626 B.C to 539 B.C.
Chapter 5 of Daniel takes place in 539 B.C., the end of the Babylon Kingdom.
Going back to the vision, Daniel is there at the canal and now sees a ram with two horns standing beside the canal, and the horns are long, but one is longer than the other one. This is the same type of vision Daniel saw in chapter 7, with the bear standing on two of his four paws. One part of this kingdom will become more powerful than the other. This ram could charge wherever it wanted to the west, north and south. No one could oppose it. It became great.
Suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. This is the same Kingdom Daniel saw in chapter 7 as the Leopard with 4 Bird like wings. The goat came toward the two horned ram and charged at him in great rage, shattering his horns. This means that the goat was more powerful than the ram and destroyed it. The goat became very great and at the height of its power the great horn was broken off and four horns grew in its place. If you look at the Belly and Thighs of Bronze handout you will notice that the Kingdom of Greece doesn't start until 332 B.C. and reigns until 63 B.C. Daniel not only foresees the great horn - Alexander the Great, but when he dies, the kingdom will be divided between 4 of his generals. Ptolemy rules Egypt, Seleucus rules Syria and Persia, Antigonus rules Macedonia and Greece, and Attalids rules Pergamum.
The third kingdom also has a little horn that grows. This little horn grows out of an existing horn. This little horn started off small but grew in power to the south and to the east and to the Beautiful Land. Beautiful Land here means Israel. This little horn will set itself up as equal as the Prince of the host. This is to say that this horn will say that he is equal with Jesus or God. He will take away the daily sacrifice and the place of His sanctuary will be brought low. The holy ones are asking how long will this go on? It will take 2,300 evenings was the reply. If you divide 2,300 by 360 (which is the number of prophecy years) you will get 6.389 years. This is different from the normal time, times and half a time; we usually see. Remember this is the little horn of the third kingdom, not the little horn of the end times. We will study this anti-christ further in our up coming studies. We are just looking at the visions and trying to discover their meanings.
Daniel is talking to more than one heavenly being at this time. This is all he has told us about. We will have to wait until two weeks from last Sunday to get further information from Daniel.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
4th Meeting - Studied Daniel 7 & 8 Revelation 4 & 5.
In Chapter 7 of Daniel, we were introduced to animal like beast's coming up from the Mediteranean Sea.
The first beast was like a lion, it had eagles wings - Beast represents the Head of Gold of the statue mentioned in Chapter 2 of Daniel. The first beast is the kingdom of Babylon.
The second beast looked like a bear that was lifted up on two legs and had 3 ribs in its mouth. The bear was standing with one side of its paws on the ground; not sitting up or doing a hand stand. The three rib bones in its mouth symbolize the three continents, this kingdom would control. This second beast represents the arms and shoulders of silver of the kingdom of Medo-Persia.
The third beast looked like a leopard with 4 Bird wings and 4 heads. This beast represents the Waist of Bronze of the kingdom of Greece.
The fourth beast does not look anything like the others and this one has 10 horns on it. While looking at these horns one grows up from amongst them and roots up 3 of the 10, this horn is smaller and has two eyes and a mouth and boasts against God and man. This beast represents the Legs of Iron of the Roman Empire.
I handed out fact sheets on the next two parts of the Statue mentioned in Chapter 2 of Daniel. When you look at the different parts of the statue along with their facts sheets please look at the time line on the bottom of these sheets. These became kingdoms after the time of Daniel's vision. If you look at Daniel's prophecy of what these kingdoms would look like and what actually was; it is quite scary that Daniel was so accurate. This is why scholars do not want to believe Daniel was written this early; they are trying to hold to a date closer to the time of the Maccabees.
If this was not enough for Daniel to think about he is given a look into the Heavenlies, where he sees thrones with a great throne in the middle and someone is sitting on that throne. Daniel calls this person the Ancient of Days. He has multitudes attending Him, and He is opening the books. While this was going on Daniel continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. While this was happening, one like the son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.
This is kind of confusing because the little horn of the fourth beast is mentioned before the little horn of the third beast.
The first beast was like a lion, it had eagles wings - Beast represents the Head of Gold of the statue mentioned in Chapter 2 of Daniel. The first beast is the kingdom of Babylon.
The second beast looked like a bear that was lifted up on two legs and had 3 ribs in its mouth. The bear was standing with one side of its paws on the ground; not sitting up or doing a hand stand. The three rib bones in its mouth symbolize the three continents, this kingdom would control. This second beast represents the arms and shoulders of silver of the kingdom of Medo-Persia.
The third beast looked like a leopard with 4 Bird wings and 4 heads. This beast represents the Waist of Bronze of the kingdom of Greece.
The fourth beast does not look anything like the others and this one has 10 horns on it. While looking at these horns one grows up from amongst them and roots up 3 of the 10, this horn is smaller and has two eyes and a mouth and boasts against God and man. This beast represents the Legs of Iron of the Roman Empire.
I handed out fact sheets on the next two parts of the Statue mentioned in Chapter 2 of Daniel. When you look at the different parts of the statue along with their facts sheets please look at the time line on the bottom of these sheets. These became kingdoms after the time of Daniel's vision. If you look at Daniel's prophecy of what these kingdoms would look like and what actually was; it is quite scary that Daniel was so accurate. This is why scholars do not want to believe Daniel was written this early; they are trying to hold to a date closer to the time of the Maccabees.
If this was not enough for Daniel to think about he is given a look into the Heavenlies, where he sees thrones with a great throne in the middle and someone is sitting on that throne. Daniel calls this person the Ancient of Days. He has multitudes attending Him, and He is opening the books. While this was going on Daniel continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. While this was happening, one like the son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.
This is kind of confusing because the little horn of the fourth beast is mentioned before the little horn of the third beast.
Monday, June 22, 2009
What was covered in third meeting - Sunday Night.
We were able to cover Daniel Chapters 5 & 6 as planned. We will be looking at Daniel Chapters 7 & 8 along with Revelation chapters 4 and 5. I believe this is where this study will start to slow down due to the difficulty of the material and the amount of material to be studied. This is one of the reasons I decided to try a blog to try to help you understand things we don't have time to discuss in class.
King Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar's grandson forgot about the God that had laid his grandfather low. He was having a drunken party and remembered the golden service items his grandfather had taken from the temple in Jerusalem before he completely destroyed it. While they were toasting their gods made of stone and wood, a hand started writing on the wall. When Belshazzar saw this he was greatly afraid, he sent for his wise men to tell him what it meant. They could not, then a queen came into their presence and reminded Belshazzar that their was someone else who could help him. This man had helped his granfather in the past. They sent for Daniel, he told the king that this very night, his kingdom would be taken from him.
God has the power to put in power to rule who He will, and He can change it at anytime. All of the people in authority all over the world hold those positions by the will of God. We need to remember that God is watching and very much a part of our world. It may not look like He is around but He is.
We saw the fall of the first kingdom of the statue, the head of gold followed by the second kingdom of the statue the Medo-Persian kingdom, the shoulders and arms of silver. We met Darius the Mede who liberated Babylon and Daniel. Darius set Daniel up as one of his highest officials, just as Nebuchadnezzar had done. Darius's men were jealous of Daniel and tried to do away with him by setting up a decree that for 30 days no one was supposed to worship any other god than Darius. They had Darius put it in writing knowing that the laws of the Mede's and Persians could not be undone if written down. They believed their kings to be gods and as such do not make mistakes. The punishment was to be thrown into the lion's den. You notice that the word lion is plural, there were more than one lion in this den and they were not fed regularly. Darius did not try to change the law, he knew he had been tricked and had no way to fix it. Daniel had prior knowledge of this law and could have chosen not to pray for 30 days. Daniel did not change his habits in order to save his life. Just like his three friends some 30 years before had chosen to make a stand, so Daniel would choose to make the same stand. Daniel's enemies thought they had him they told the king that Daniel had broken his decree and needed to be sent to the lion's den. Darius reluctantly had Daniel thrown into the lion's den. Darius spent one very long and restless night. Darius went to the lion's den early and yelled to Daniel asking if his God had saved him. When Daniel said to the king "May you live forever" Darius got his answer. Darius had all of the officials and their families thrown into the lion's den, they were attacked and their bones broken before they could hit the ground in the den by the lions. So much for saying the lions did not eat Daniel because they were not hungry.
We as believers will be asked to make a stand for Jesus at some point in our walk with God; when this happens, will we be like Daniel and his three friends, or will we take the safer road and not make a stand. Only you can answer this question.
King Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar's grandson forgot about the God that had laid his grandfather low. He was having a drunken party and remembered the golden service items his grandfather had taken from the temple in Jerusalem before he completely destroyed it. While they were toasting their gods made of stone and wood, a hand started writing on the wall. When Belshazzar saw this he was greatly afraid, he sent for his wise men to tell him what it meant. They could not, then a queen came into their presence and reminded Belshazzar that their was someone else who could help him. This man had helped his granfather in the past. They sent for Daniel, he told the king that this very night, his kingdom would be taken from him.
God has the power to put in power to rule who He will, and He can change it at anytime. All of the people in authority all over the world hold those positions by the will of God. We need to remember that God is watching and very much a part of our world. It may not look like He is around but He is.
We saw the fall of the first kingdom of the statue, the head of gold followed by the second kingdom of the statue the Medo-Persian kingdom, the shoulders and arms of silver. We met Darius the Mede who liberated Babylon and Daniel. Darius set Daniel up as one of his highest officials, just as Nebuchadnezzar had done. Darius's men were jealous of Daniel and tried to do away with him by setting up a decree that for 30 days no one was supposed to worship any other god than Darius. They had Darius put it in writing knowing that the laws of the Mede's and Persians could not be undone if written down. They believed their kings to be gods and as such do not make mistakes. The punishment was to be thrown into the lion's den. You notice that the word lion is plural, there were more than one lion in this den and they were not fed regularly. Darius did not try to change the law, he knew he had been tricked and had no way to fix it. Daniel had prior knowledge of this law and could have chosen not to pray for 30 days. Daniel did not change his habits in order to save his life. Just like his three friends some 30 years before had chosen to make a stand, so Daniel would choose to make the same stand. Daniel's enemies thought they had him they told the king that Daniel had broken his decree and needed to be sent to the lion's den. Darius reluctantly had Daniel thrown into the lion's den. Darius spent one very long and restless night. Darius went to the lion's den early and yelled to Daniel asking if his God had saved him. When Daniel said to the king "May you live forever" Darius got his answer. Darius had all of the officials and their families thrown into the lion's den, they were attacked and their bones broken before they could hit the ground in the den by the lions. So much for saying the lions did not eat Daniel because they were not hungry.
We as believers will be asked to make a stand for Jesus at some point in our walk with God; when this happens, will we be like Daniel and his three friends, or will we take the safer road and not make a stand. Only you can answer this question.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Second Meeting Recap
We had our second meeting last night, and we covered chapters 3 & 4 of Daniel. We went over the names Daniel and his three friends had when they went to Babylon and what the names meant when they were changed in Babylon.
Daniel - Means God is my judge. Daniel's name was changed to Belteshazzar - May Bel protect the king.
Hananiah - Means Yahweh has been gracious. Was changed to Shadrack - great scribe.
Mishael - Who is what God is? Was changed to Meshach - I have become weak.
Azariah - Yahweh is helped. Was changed to Abednego - Servant of the shining one.
There names were changed in an attempt to get them to forget their God and become fully under the control of the people of Babylon.
Twenty years had passed between the time of chapter 1 & 2 and 3 & 4. Nebuchadnezzar had time to forget about his four young Hebrew men. Nebuchadnezzar set up a statue and commanded all of the people to worship it when the music played. The king was made aware that three men did not fall down and worship the statue when the music played. The king had them brought before him and he commanded that they fall down and worship the statue, when they refused the king ordered them to be thrown into the firey furnace. The three were thrown into the furnace and the king saw not three but four walking in the fire. The king orded the three to come out and when they did, they had no mark of fire or odor on them.
Chapter 4 contains another dream that Daniel was asked to interpret for the king. Daniel was reluctant at first but told the king what his dream meant. The king did not listen to the warning and so the dream came true.
We will be looking at chapters 5 & 6 next week.
Daniel - Means God is my judge. Daniel's name was changed to Belteshazzar - May Bel protect the king.
Hananiah - Means Yahweh has been gracious. Was changed to Shadrack - great scribe.
Mishael - Who is what God is? Was changed to Meshach - I have become weak.
Azariah - Yahweh is helped. Was changed to Abednego - Servant of the shining one.
There names were changed in an attempt to get them to forget their God and become fully under the control of the people of Babylon.
Twenty years had passed between the time of chapter 1 & 2 and 3 & 4. Nebuchadnezzar had time to forget about his four young Hebrew men. Nebuchadnezzar set up a statue and commanded all of the people to worship it when the music played. The king was made aware that three men did not fall down and worship the statue when the music played. The king had them brought before him and he commanded that they fall down and worship the statue, when they refused the king ordered them to be thrown into the firey furnace. The three were thrown into the furnace and the king saw not three but four walking in the fire. The king orded the three to come out and when they did, they had no mark of fire or odor on them.
Chapter 4 contains another dream that Daniel was asked to interpret for the king. Daniel was reluctant at first but told the king what his dream meant. The king did not listen to the warning and so the dream came true.
We will be looking at chapters 5 & 6 next week.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
First Meeting Recap
We had our first Bible Study last Sunday Night and were able to finish the first two chapters of Daniel. This week we will try to complete the third and fourth chapters of Daniel.
Christianity is tied to history, we used to use the terms B.C. for Before the time of Christ, and A.D. for the year of our Lord. Satan is trying to change these as follows: B.C. is now B.C.E for Before Common Era. A.D. is changed to C.E. for Common Era. Just by changing the letters they have been successful in getting God out of our history. The fact I am teaching a prophecy course and my students wonder why I am teaching them history; worries me. In my class I will teach them that history is really HIS - STORY. God is a part of history and is still a part of our history.
Going back to what was studied. Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue in five different materials; head of gold, shoulders and arms of silver, waist of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay, and the rock that was part of that dream. We will be assigning names to the different parts of this dream as we get further into this study.
Christianity is tied to history, we used to use the terms B.C. for Before the time of Christ, and A.D. for the year of our Lord. Satan is trying to change these as follows: B.C. is now B.C.E for Before Common Era. A.D. is changed to C.E. for Common Era. Just by changing the letters they have been successful in getting God out of our history. The fact I am teaching a prophecy course and my students wonder why I am teaching them history; worries me. In my class I will teach them that history is really HIS - STORY. God is a part of history and is still a part of our history.
Going back to what was studied. Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue in five different materials; head of gold, shoulders and arms of silver, waist of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay, and the rock that was part of that dream. We will be assigning names to the different parts of this dream as we get further into this study.
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