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GOOD MORNING SIBLINGS!
Today, we finish up the book of Daniel with chapters 10-12
Read these Bible readings on BibleGateway.com by clicking here.
Rabbit Trails
My FAVORITE verse from this season in my life is in our reading today!
“Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard… ~Daniel 10:12
This is part of my testimony of what the Father has done in my life, how He breathed new life into my dry bones and brought water into the desert in my spiritual life. Ricky and I realized some years back that we were relying on others to read the Bible for us rather than study it directly for ourselves and we set out to correct this grievous error on our part.
From the very beginning, in the beginning, YHWH met us in our reading and guided us through His word. Light bulbs went off daily as He revealed His character, wisdom, and will to us through these precious pages. We are told that when we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him and that, like all of His word, has proven true!
- Deuteronomy 4:29
- Proverbs 8:17
- Jeremiah 29:13
- Matthew 7:7
- Luke 11:9
- Acts 17:24-28
Chapters 10-12 in Daniel read as one continuous story so it is easiest if you just ignore the chapter numbers. As Daniel has his vision, it is important to note that he is not asleep. He is fully conscious when this takes place.
Who is it that appears before Daniel? A lot of people teach and believe that it is either YHWH or Messiah but there is a good bit of evidence against this.
- First of all, the messenger has Daniel stand back up rather than kneel or lay prostrate before Him. Messengers of YHWH do not allow themselves to be worshipped. However, were it the Father or some visage of Him, we would most certainly kneel or lay prostrate before the presence and YHWH would not correct this behavior.
- Secondly, the messenger says “I have been sent.” YHWH would not send Himself.
- Third, the messenger says he was held up because of a battle and that another being, Michael, came to help him. YHWH would not need help, nor would Messiah.
- And Fourth (although I’m sure there is more evidence in this passage), when we see Daniel addressing the messenger as “lord” it is not the all caps “LORD” which so many translators have put into the text after choosing to remove YHWH’s personal name, nor is it a capitalized “Lord” that one would use when addressing Messiah, but an all lowercase “lord”, used as a general show of reverence.
Daniel 10:14 tells us that this vision is for Daniel’s people, which is Israel. We, as Believers saved by Grace and seeking to follow and serve YHWH are grafted into that.
Insight to glean: We see in these passages today that there are spiritual battles being fought that we know nothing of, while we fight our own battles in the realm we reside in.
We see more references to the “abomination that makes desolate” or the “abomination of desolation”. There is a very significant historical account of an incident referred to as this very thing in the book of Macabees. This is considered part of the Biblical canon for some churches but has been removed from most protestant Bibles. This is not to say that branches who have this in their Bibles are better than or that protestants are less than. Goodness knows, when we hold any one of us or any of today’s churches up to the straight line of the Bible, we clearly fall short, albeit in assorted ways.
We see several mentions of “Michael, your prince”. This could be the angel YHWH originally assigned to Israel in Exodus 23:20-26. From further reading in Daniel 12:1 we see that this is possible.
-I want to point out again that a true angel of YHWH will not allow themselves to be worshipped nor are we to pray to them. They are servants and messengers of the one true God and all worship should be directed to YHWH – as is His due. Angel worship is not of YHWH and “angels” that allow it, are not angels.
Daniel 12:4 is a verse many point to in order to say that the end times are nearer when it says that knowledge will increase.
How has knowledge increased? Check out the chart below. It was only about 100 years ago that nearly 90% of the world population was illiterate.
Even if someone had access to a Bible they would have been unable to read it and therefore relied upon priests and pastors to read it for them and tell them what the Word said. Obviously, this worked out okay in some cases and no so much in others.
Fast forward just a little over hundred years into the future and not only is the world over 90% literate, but we now have UNPRECEDENTED Access to the Bible.
We can read it in multiple translations, we can see the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek (depending on the book), we can literally hold it in the palm of our hand and search the entirety of the text with a touch of our finger.
At no time in history has mankind has such access to the Word as we do now.
To whom much is given. Much is required. Luke 12:48
So what are we doing with this access?
If you’re reading this, you are answering the call of the Holy Spirit. A great awakening is happening. His people are returning to His word and, as a result, to Him!
And with that, we have completed another book. Rak Chazak!
Click here to get the Daniel Focus SheetClick here to view the answer key
Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21
We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!
May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!