"During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of Heaven and said: 'Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever, wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and desposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.'" Daniel 2:19-25
I just wanted to know your thoughts on this passage.
The prophecy in Daniel 2 is amazing and I am glad you posted it. I had no idea until I did the research but it really proves that this book is special. Daniel is interpreting a dream that God gave to king Nebuchandnezzar. This is his interpretation that he thanks God for in the verse you gave: "But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the earth. and the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, in as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes that kingdom shall break in pieces and crush all the others." Daniel 39-40 And then Daniel goes on to say: "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."Daniel 2:44
Okay now lets take a look at the history books. Daniel says that there will be four kingdoms put into place by God and brought down by God before the coming of an eternal kingdom.
1. The first kingdom to arise after King nebuchadnezzars was the Medes and Persian Empire.
2. Then God disposed of them and arose the Grecian Monarchy"which shall bare rule over all the earth" This was the one Alexander led, and he did have control over the world because he actually cried when there were no more kingdoms to conquer.
3. Soon after comes the only kingdom that can be acurately described here. The kingdom of Rome is the kingdom which is strong as iron.
Now Daniel says that an everlasting kingdom will be set up during this time. But wait, didn't God come down in the form of Jesus of Nazareth and preach the kingdom of heaven which is everlasting? And didn't this take place during Roman rule? Whats even more interesting is that this propechy was written sometime around 600B.C., thats 600 years before Jesus even showed up on the seen.
Were going over Matthew 18:23-35 on the importance of forgiveness with the students at church tonight and I found another good commentary. http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/23751/eVerseID/23763
Wow! I know of Christians who struggle with the issue of forgiveness. Thankfully, I have never been wronged to a point where I have had to struggle with it. Something that may be of some use to you, is a story told by Hank Hanagraaff in his book Christianity in Crisis the 21st Century. It helps us to understand what God has done for us. I will see if I can find it on the internet and post it in My Thoughts Blog or e-mail it to you.
Cool J.P. I found it and pasted it to my thoughts blog check it out and tell me what you think. Maybe you could read it to your students some time. http://firstthingsfirstministies2.blogspot.com
"During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of Heaven and said:
ReplyDelete'Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever, wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and desposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.
I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:
you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.'" Daniel 2:19-25
I just wanted to know your thoughts on this passage.
The prophecy in Daniel 2 is amazing and I am glad you posted it. I had no idea until I did the research but it really proves that this book is special.
ReplyDeleteDaniel is interpreting a dream that God gave to king Nebuchandnezzar. This is his interpretation that he thanks God for in the verse you gave:
"But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the earth. and the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, in as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes that kingdom shall break in pieces and crush all the others." Daniel 39-40
And then Daniel goes on to say:
"And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."Daniel 2:44
Okay now lets take a look at the history books.
Daniel says that there will be four kingdoms put into place by God and brought down by God before the coming of an eternal kingdom.
1. The first kingdom to arise after King nebuchadnezzars was the Medes and Persian Empire.
2. Then God disposed of them and arose the Grecian Monarchy"which shall bare rule over all the earth" This was the one Alexander led, and he did have control over the world because he actually cried when there were no more kingdoms to conquer.
3. Soon after comes the only kingdom that can be acurately described here. The kingdom of Rome is the kingdom which is strong as iron.
Now Daniel says that an everlasting kingdom will be set up during this time. But wait, didn't God come down in the form of Jesus of Nazareth and preach the kingdom of heaven which is everlasting? And didn't this take place during Roman rule? Whats even more interesting is that this propechy was written sometime around 600B.C., thats 600 years before Jesus even showed up on the seen.
Were going over Matthew 18:23-35 on the importance of forgiveness with the students at church tonight and I found another good commentary. http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/23751/eVerseID/23763
ReplyDeleteWow! I know of Christians who struggle with the issue of forgiveness. Thankfully, I have never been wronged to a point where I have had to struggle with it. Something that may be of some use to you, is a story told by Hank Hanagraaff in his book Christianity in Crisis the 21st Century. It helps us to understand what God has done for us. I will see if I can find it on the internet and post it in My Thoughts Blog or e-mail it to you.
ReplyDeleteCool J.P. I found it and pasted it to my thoughts blog check it out and tell me what you think. Maybe you could read it to your students some time.
ReplyDeletehttp://firstthingsfirstministies2.blogspot.com
Wow Justin, that is a great and heartbreaking way to illustrate what God did for us through the sacrifice of Christ.
ReplyDelete