TRAVEL AND KNOWLEDGE

Today’s Reading: Daniel 11-12

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

This is a panorama of the entrance to the Acropolis in Greece. This temple for the worship of the goddess Athena was in full use during the period described in Daniel 11, when Alexander the Great’s successors, especially Antiochus Ephiphanes IV, were creating havoc throughout the North, East and South of Israel. He desecrated the Temple with the sacrifice of a pig on the altar, which had been built by Ezra some 300 years earlier, and to which the Babylonian exiles returned.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verses: Daniel 12:3-4

Those who are wise shall shine

Like the brightness of the firmament,

And those who turn many to righteousness

Like the stars forever and ever.

But you, Daniel, shut up the words,

and seal the book until the time of the end;

many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.

Daniel 11 is a prophecy detailing the events which follow the end of the Persian (Iran) empire. Following the death of the Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great, the Empire of Greece is divided up between Alexander’s generals who war against each other for domination.

Daniel 12 leaps ahead centuries of human history to “the time of the end” (Daniel 12:4). How will we know that “the time of the end” is upon us? (1) “Many shall run to and fro” (here and there). It is a fact that more people have travelled more miles over the earth in the last 20 years than in 5,000 years of recorded human history. (2) “Knowledge shall increase.” We are using a computer to write and read this blog. Any of the search engines available to us can connect us at the speed of light to more information than all the libraries of the world combined. If anything, the statements about travel and access to information which Daniel wrote are an understatement. We are living now in “the time of the end!” These developments have never happened before now!

Our key verses should give us joy and confidence in God’s promises. The last sentence Daniel pens is a personal promise he received from the Lord regarding his own resurrection “at the end of days” (12:13).

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I pray that I will make wise decisions as Daniel and his friends did, as recorded at the beginning of Daniel’s book. Then, with Your blessing throughout my life, I too can end my days full of confidence and wisdom. May I shine for You! Grant that I will help “turn many to righteousness!” In the Name of Jesus I pray. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

With websites available worldwide like 100huntley.com, we are helping to fulfil the prophecy that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). What is “the glory of the Lord”? John answers this question: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). I put the words “knowledge of the glory of the Lord” into just one search engine…”Google.” Up on my screen, came the number of results…35,000,000 in 0.40 seconds. In just this search alone, the whole earth is covered with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord!!!

Back to Daniel and the ruler of the principality of Persia, who was able to hold off Gabriel until Michael arrived to defeat this “Prince of Persia.” Paul teaches us that we fight “against principalities” (Ephesians 6:12). The story is told of a prayer meeting in a home in Los Angeles. They were praying for the first ever major Billy Graham meetings in their city. They reported a loud persistent knock at the door. A woman answered the door to find a huge figure decked with jewels who said, “I am the prince of Los Angeles. You shall not defeat me.” The woman just up from her knees said with authority, “You are defeated by the blood, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” She shut the door in his face, told the prayer warriors inside, and they began to rejoice in the victory Jesus was about to give in Los Angeles. The proof is in the history of the worldwide impact of Billy’s evangelistic crusades, which began right there in L.A.

Yours for the foreknowledge of God revealed through His prophets, whose words are preserved for us in the Bible,

David

Here you can see a spectacular racing track in ancient Delphi Greece. The “Oracle at Delphi” was a person who claimed to speak for the many Greek gods. The Apostle Peter called the religions of that day, “cunningly devised fables” (2 Peter 1:16a).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.