THE ANCIENT OF DAYS

Today’s Reading: Daniel 7-8

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Today’s reading mentions “a ram” and a “male goat.” Here’s one of God’s creatures from Haiti. Reynold has been there several times to initiate Crosssroads missions projects, particularly after the great natural disasters. The painted horns indicate to all the villagers that this goat is owned by a particular person.

Key Verses: Daniel 7:13-14

I was watching in the night visions,

And behold, One like the Son of Man,

Coming with the clouds of heaven!

He came to the Ancient of Days,

And they brought Him near before Him.

Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,

That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

Which shall not pass away,

And His kingdom the one

Which shall not be destroyed.

Daniel 7 picks up Daniel’s life where chapter 4 leaves us. Nebuchadnezzar is dead and this time it is Daniel who has a dream, which he interprets as a further amplification of the four kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: (1) Babylon (2) Persia (3) Greece (4) Rome. Daniel’s greatest concern is “the fourth beast” (7:19 & 7:23). Daniel saw 10 horns on its head and then a little horn that comes to dominate the others. Scholars who have written on prophecy are almost unanimous in identifying this horn that rises with the Antichrist.

In Daniel 8 the ram and the male goat meet in fierce battle, and the male goat is the victor (Rome defeats Greece about 300 years after Daniel writes this prophecy). The experience was so powerful that this strong man, Daniel, fainted and had to take several days off work.

Jesus took Daniel’s prophecy so seriously that when He stood before the Jewish High Priest and Ruling Council, He quoted Daniel 7:13. Read Matthew 26:62-68! It was obvious to all the rulers that condemned Jesus for blasphemy that Jesus claimed to be the One Daniel called, “The Ancient of Days!” (Daniel 7:9 and 7:13). Daniel prophesied in these chapters of the coming of the One whose “dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away!” This could not possibly be anyone other that the Eternal Almighty God showing Himself in human flesh as the Son of Man and Son of God!!!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, Ancient of Days, Most High, Ruler over the Everlasting Kingdom, I bow before You as one whom You created from the dust of the earth. I’m humbled and, like Daniel, astonished at the greatness of Your Person. I can ask for only one thing in my prayer, “Have Dominion over my life!” I make You my Lord in my surrender to Your dominion. I worship You Father, Son and Holy Spirit! I do this in the Name of Jesus, the One whom we will see “coming in the clouds of Heaven!” Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I’m aware from the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus of the unspeakable evil of the Greeks, particularly under Antiochus Epiphanes IV, who desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem with what the prophets call “The Abomination of Desolation” (sacrificing a pig on the altar in the Holy of Holies – 175 years before Christ). We are much more aware of the Roman brutalities because of the record of the Gospels. But these horrors will be surpassed by the coming one whom the Scriptures call “the man of sin” or “the Beast” who sets up an image of himself in the Holy of Holies of a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, gives it the power to speak (perhaps a hologram image), and anyone who does not worship the image is put to death (Revelation 13:1-9).

Yours to help us understand the one-third of the Bible which is broadly called “Prophecy,”

David