Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Monday, November 17, Daniel 7, part 2

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:16 KJV)

You can pretty much encapsulate all the thinking of the world with these three desires. The devil was successful with the first Adam. But with the second Adam, Jesus, he failed miserably.

With Nebuchadnezzar he was at first successful. And we know from chapter 4 that this king's biggest desire was the pride of life. God made him like a beast until he was "made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given" to him. The final words we hear from him was:

"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble." (4:37)

It is interesting that this first "Heavenly" vision was given "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon" (1). From what we read, this man seems no more than a fool, giving in both to the "lust of the flesh" and the "lust of the eyes", and was removed for the next "Beast".

"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 was told, 'Arise, devour much flesh.'" (5)

This is the "silver" King portrayed in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which is the Medo/Persian empire. It was "raised on one side because the Medes were eventually engulfed by the larger, more powerful Persians.

There is speculation as to the three ribs, but most are pretty sure that it refers to previous kingdoms now conquered by this great beast, maybe Egypt, Assyria and Babylon. What we do know is that its foremost leader Cyrus was chosen by God a century or so before he was even born to send the Jews back to Jerusalem!

We find Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Zechariah, and Haggai involved in this period. Esther is unique in that it is a story about the Jews remaining in Persia. We see in that book the near annihilation of the Jews within the Kingdom led by Haman the "Agagite" (a story within itself), and because of it the Jews celebrate the "Feast of Purim".

I wonder whether this was a wake-up call for those who refused to go back to Israel. For some reason, Israel is always eventually marked and hated within the countries to which they dispersed, and this seems to be no exception. It reminds me of World War II, which, interestingly enough, initiated the return to the Jews to their homeland. And now, after two millennia, they are a nation again.

There is an interesting passage in Luke 21, where Jesus prophesies about the Jews: "They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." (24)

Times of the Gentiles. If you're not a Jew, it's you. And God, in this Age of Grace has brought the gift of salvation to the whole world, while the Jews have been partially blinded so that only a remnant came to faith in Christ. But that will change, and they will as a nation, mourn, repent, look at the One they had pierced and turn to Christ: "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn." (Zechariah 12:10)

And He indeed is the Firstborn. The Firstborn in title, for He inherits all the promises of His Father. The Firstborn from the dead, for as the God/Man he was put to death, but because He was without sin, Death had no power and He rose, reconciling us to Himself and delivering those who believe from the wrath to come. A wrath we will see somewhat in this book and a lot in Revelation.

Incredibly, the Jews are back in their land! And all the nations surrounding them want to see their destruction. We see a foaming hatred again baring its ugly teeth in the world, even here in our "universities" where we pay for our children to be brainwashed against the Almighty God and His people. Long ago they mocked God and took Him out of the curriculum, places originally created for the purpose of raising ministers of God, now filled with devilish doctrines and Christ-rejecting leadership.

Enough for today. The leaves of the fig tree are ripening, and we "wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." (1 Thessalonians 1:10)

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

*ESV used unless noted*

Memory Helps:

Again, here is chapter 7:

Chapter 7: "First HEAVEN-LY Vision:
The Four Beasts,
The Ancient of Days: King of HEAVEN, and
The Son of Man comes from HEAVEN"

Still on the same verse: "And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another."

My picture for 7 is Heaven. My "memory character" for verses 3 is always my "Ma", because M=3 in our phonetic alphabet, vowels fillers. So, Daniel and Ma are standing on a cloud of heaven and behold these "four great beasts" that "came up out of the sea". You can see a great tsunami begin as they rise out, taken from verse 2: "the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea", as they came "up out of the sea" in 3 (rhyme intended).

I picture both Daniel and Ma kind of holding each other, trembling at the scary sight! This is an easy link for us to remember the contents and numbers for Daniel 7:3. Of course, you can add the obvious "different from one another" pretty easily since you will know the chapter well.