Just Do The Work At Hand – Zechariah 8

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Randy Buchman

Today’s passage goes along with chapter seven of yesterday as a continuous revelation from God through Zechariah. As negative as yesterday’s passage was, this one takes on an opposite tone. Yesterday spoke of the results of rebellion, today speaks of the blessings to come through God’s grace and restoration.

God’s message is that He was going to return to Jerusalem with His blessing upon that city. The near fulfillment of this passage related to the ongoing work of building the temple – the place that would be the centralized location of God’s presence among His people. The farther, and greater, fulfillment will be the time when Christ will once again return to earth to rule and reign for the millennial kingdom. This will be centralized out of Jerusalem and will be marked by peace as never before. The people of Israel will be re-gathered there, and peoples from around the world will come to enjoy this place of peculiar blessing.

The people of Zechariah’s time would experience upon the time of the temple’s completion a sort of peace and local prosperity none of them could have imagined in their recent memory and history of the captivity. And likewise, just as we today cannot see Jerusalem (which means the city of peace) as fulfilling its moniker; imagine how unique it will be just after the horrors of the tribulation. It is not now a city of peace, nor will it be in any short term, but in the end, it is the location of greatest peace and blessing

By application, the people of that time were told that their fasts would be turned into feasts, and that God was going to do a great work. It was not yet happening, but it was coming. What they should do is serve one another and complete the task at hand of building the temple.

Though we do not live in horrific times compared to some other ages of human history, neither do we live in a time of blessing such as God has promised will yet come. What are we to do? The same thing – work in kindness and service to one another by building the church of Jesus Christ until he comes or calls us home.

The Lord Promises to Bless Jerusalem

8:1 The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

²This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”

³This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”

⁴This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. ⁵The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

⁶This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the Lord Almighty.

⁷This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. ⁸I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

⁹This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Now hear these words, ‘Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.’ This is also what the prophets said who were present when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty. ¹⁰Before that time there were no wages for people or hire for animals. No one could go about their business safely because of their enemies, since I had turned everyone against their neighbor. ¹¹But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord Almighty.

¹²“The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. ¹³Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing.Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”

¹⁴This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty, ¹⁵“so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. ¹⁶These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; ¹⁷do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.

¹⁸The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

¹⁹This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”

²⁰This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, ²¹and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ ²²And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him.”

²³This is what the Lord Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’”

Tell Me Again Why We Do This – Zechariah 7

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Randy Buchman

I long ago saw a ministry cartoon that resonated with me. It was of a pastor coming into his home where his wife was watching him enter through the door. He was carrying his Bible and briefcase, but looked ragged and tired – with his tie undone and his shirttail hanging out a bit. And the caption said, “You know, it’s funny, but I used to like Easter.”

I have soured more than a little bit over the past 35 years of ministry about the big holidays of Christmas and Easter. For a while – especially when doing music with choirs and orchestras – it was really enjoyable and an energetic experience. But it sorta turned a corner one Christmas Eve when my three oldest boys were still very little. I had put a lot into the Christmas season at the New Jersey church where we lived at that time. I was so busy with it, that I remember getting home to the boys and seeing their excitement and beginning to finally enjoy the festive season with my family now that the work was done; but then the phone rang. It was an old lady from church who was calling to tell me that I had ruined her Christmas with the lousy Christmas Eve service – something was wrong with all the music – was probably too contemporary for her, and her night was ruined. And that is when I realized that the church celebrations of these holidays for too many people were not really about the meaning of it all, but about the way the celebration of the vague meaning was undertaken. It gave me the feeling of being something like a circus performer.

The topic of our passage today raises the question of genuine worship and spiritual experience and expression.

This chapter seven of Zechariah is dated now two years later than what we read yesterday. The temple is being reconstructed, because, here now the end of the 70-year-long captivity to the Babylonians has in recent times come to an end. The people have returned to Jerusalem and the Promised Land, and a new era is beginning. A sad time of remembering the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzer about 90 years earlier seemed to perhaps be something no longer necessary (especially since God never told them to do this). So, a delegation of people came to the priests to ask if they should continue with a fast of remembrance and morning about that sad occasion and time in their history.

7:1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord 3 by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

In response, Zechariah receives a message from the Lord. And it addresses the genuine nature of their hearts in both fasting and feasting. Were they really doing it for the Lord? Or for themselves?

4 Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”

8 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.

13 “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. 14 ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”

The people prior to the judgment from Babylon had not really listened to the Lord. They had fasts and feasts, but had failed to be mindful of God’s instructions to show justice and mercy and compassion upon downtrodden and helpless people around them. They were oppressive, and even toward each other they devised plots, presumably for personal gain. Prophets came and warned them about their behavior and their lack of genuine hearts for both the Lord and the people around them. And so God in anger did not honor their prayers, and He scattered them away from their land which became desolate.

The message for this current generation was to learn from this – to not be people who merely performed perfunctory religious duties, but to rather be people truly motivated by honoring God and serving one another. Those who are genuine in religious duty will be genuine as well to be cognizant of the needs of all others around them.

So why do you do church? Why do you come? Why do you seek to worship God? Are you truly amazed by His grace that saved you? Are you regularly aware of that and His blessing that … well … for one thing enables you to be aware of His grace that has reached to you, among all people? Are you mindful that such grace drives you to want to be gracious and serve others? Is the church service about you, or about God and His Word? Are you there, first, to express your love for Him or to see if you are going to get a happy blessing from it? And when you look around at the others there, are you thinking, “How can I help people here today? … How can I serve others?” Do you go home after Sundays critically evaluating what you got out it, or more often evaluating how much you were able to be a blessing to someone else?

Tell me again why we do this … why we do church … why we worship … why we serve.

This One Weird Trick Makes You OK with God (Zechariah 1, Zechariah 3)

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Randy Buchman

Zechariah 1:1-6; 3:1-10

Most of our writings look back to the previous Sunday and pick up the themes of that day and expand upon them in written form. And that is what was done the past two days with Chris’ writings on the two chapters of Haggai. But today we need to move on into the larger books of Zechariah and Malachi, which will take us through our devotionals for the end of this week and all of next week – along with being the basis of this coming Sunday’s sermon.

Zechariah the prophet was a younger contemporary with Haggai, as both of them where post-exilic prophets – speaking to the nation of Israel and to those who had returned to Jerusalem after the end of the Babylonian Captivity (around 520 BC).

As we highlight a few portions of the relatively unknown book of Zechariah (though not all of it), you find yourself saying, “OK… so this is where that New Testament quote came from.” This very messianic book provides allusions or is quoted 41 times in the New Testament.

Over the years of my life, particularly as a pastor, I’ve come across more than a few folks who were banking that they were in good shape with God because of some connection they had with Him through someone else. Sometimes it was a spouse who was faithful. Often it was parents or a family with a heritage of faith. Others just seem to think that getting to church at least somewhat frequently will mean that God will prove to be a bit pacified and let them slide when their day of accounting comes along.

Israel was often like this. They simply believed that because God was THEIR God by His covenant with them that they were therefore OK. Who needs to live a holy and committed life of faithfulness when you are born with acceptance from Him as standard equipment through your heritage? But God reminds them that each generation and each person needs to renew the covenant and be faithful toward God.

In essence, God says to them, “Don’t be stupid like your foolish ancestors!” The exact date of this prophecy coincides with Haggai, where he called the people to get back to work on building the Temple after 16 years of putting off that task. So Zechariah joins in that exhortation of making the place where God would meet with His people as they came to that place to meet with Him.

A Call to Return to the Lord

1:1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo:

2 “The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. 3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty. 4 Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 5 Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors?

“Then they repented and said, ‘The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.’”

Beginning in 1:7 is the first of a series of eight visions that Zechariah received, along with an angelic interpretation. These visions have both near and far fulfillments – near fulfillment in that contemporary time of the building of Zerubbabel’s Temple, and far fulfillment in the coming of Christ and with the final days of time in the Messianic Kingdom.

We are going to look at just one of these eight visions – the fourth one – by going to chapter three today …

Clean Garments for the High Priest

3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”

Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”

5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.

6 The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.

8 “‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes[b] on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.

10 “‘In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

The Joshua character in this vision was the high priest at that time of the return to Jerusalem. Remember that the priest represents the people before God, whereas the prophet speaks from God to the people.

So the scene here has Joshua the high priest before the Lord, with Satan standing there ready to accuse him (the nation). Rather than being the accuser, Satan is told to stand down – that Joshua has been plucked from the fire, and that his filthy clothes would be replaced by a fine garment.

Even in the vision, all of this is said to be symbolic of the future – of a “servant” … a “branch” … a “stone” that is to come, which of course looks forward to Christ. Israel will be forgiven and restored.

This whole scene is our story. We are guilty of sinfully walking away from the Lord. Satan is our accuser, and we are guilty. But our condition of being covered with the filth of sin is taken from us graciously by our sovereign God who clothes us in the fine garment of righteousness. And in that standing we have open access with God and a promise of eternal peace. And this fellowship grants us the position and privilege of worship … it is truly One Weird Trick! And it ain’t spam!

What Good is a Temple? (Haggai 2)

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Christopher J Wiles

What good is a temple?

In yesterday’s post, we examined Haggai’s emphasis on the rebuilding of the Temple. The Temple—the focal point of all Jewish religion—had been destroyed during the period of Israel’s exile. Now that she was returning to her land, the Temple had to be rebuilt.

But again, why? What value could there be in a building of brick and mortar and stone? To understand this, we’ll have to look at the role of the Temple in the ancient world—and how this role is still alive today.

THE FIRST TEMPLE

Nearly every culture has some sort of “temple.” A temple is sort of a “cosmic crossroads”—where Heaven and earth are thought to intersect. Do you want to connect to God? Then you do so inside the temple.

In his detailed study of the Temple, G.K. Beale surveys all the literature from the ancient world—Jewish as well as pagan—and makes a fascinating discovery. Every ancient culture had their own version of a temple, and while shape and size varied, every ancient temple followed a similar three-tiered format. The outer courts were lavishly decorated with ornate artwork meant to evoke the flora and fauna of the created world. Going further, a darker, inner court—illuminated by lampstands—was meant to evoke the stars and the night sky. Finally, the innermost portion of the temple was where God was uniquely thought to dwell.

Though there was a bit more nuance, the Jewish Temple was no different. Eden was Israel’s original Temple: it was there that man connected with God in a garden and beneath an open sky. In Eden, man and God existed in perfect relationship. But man chose to be the master of his own destiny. And in doing so, he lost this perfect fellowship with God. God placed cherumbim (a type of angel) to block the way into Eden.

Because Eden was Israel’s original, perfect temple, the actual decorations of the Temple – from the carved gourds, palm trees, and flowers – were designed to replicate the contours of Eden (cf. 1 Kings 6:18; 7:14-35). But within the Temple was the place where God most specifically made His presence known. It was there that God’s glory took the form of a cloud (just as He had done as a guide to the Israelites) called the shekina glory (1 Kings 8:10-111). Only priests were allowed to enter this unique place within the Temple, and only to perform sacrifices. What barrier was chosen to separate this special area from the rest of the Temple? What final symbol could be chosen to symbolize the separation between man and God? A cherub – or rather the image of one, emblazoned on the heavy curtain that barred the way into God’s presence. Just as Eden had been sealed with the flaming sword of an angel, so too would this curtain remind Israel of their separation.

WHAT GOOD IS A TEMPLE?

Now I know what you’re thinking. All this sounds terribly archaic. Temple worship is the stuff of a primitive, pre-modern people. What good is a Temple? The rational worldview birthed from the enlightenment showed us that man’s problems could be solved not through divine intervention but through human empiricism. The individual flourished. In that kind of society, we don’t need a Temple. We don’t need sacrifice. What we need instead is a laboratory. What we need is a social welfare program.

But in the last century we have not seen the triumph of modernism – we have only watched its demise. Science, political theory and reason could not provide answers to the incredible suffering of the world around us – if anything there was an increase in human suffering in the last century. Human enterprise could not deliver the utopia it promised.

In a postmodern world, there are no real fixed points of reference – all truth claims are potentially attempts at seizing power. But in such a world, people are more open than ever before to spirituality, regardless of what form it might take. The collapse of modernism shattered “the hard surface of secularity” (to use Barth’s phrase), and gave us a glimpse – or at least a yearning – to seek out God. “How far is Heaven?” we find ourselves asking – a question that means more in today’s world than ever before.

THE TRUE TEMPLE

In Haggai’s day, the rebuilt Temple was compared to the one built by Solomon 500 years before.

In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ² “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, ³ ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? ⁴ Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, ⁵ according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. ⁶ For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. ⁷ And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. ⁸ The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. ⁹ The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.'” (Haggai 2:1-9)

God speaks of giving greater glory through this Temple—a glory that would surpass anything the elders could remember from before. This Temple would stand until the day of Jesus—a day when God would redraw the boundary between heaven and earth.

When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain of the Temple was torn in two. If the curtain symbolized the division between God and man, then Jesus’ death changed everything: now man could approach God freely. Jesus’ body becomes the true and better Temple. This is why Jesus tells His disciples: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you (John 14:2).” In John 2, Jesus’ “Father’s house” was His body – what Jesus is saying is that His death means that there is a new Temple. Jesus’ body continues on in the form of His followers, the Church (1 Corinthians 12; cf. Ephesians 2:21). Just as God’s shekina glory once filled the Temple, so God’s Spirit indwell the individual human heart (1 Corinthians 6:19). Jesus’ death does not eliminate the priesthood – it eliminates the laity. We are now a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9), meaning we can each freely enter into God’s presence knowing the Sacrifice has been made.

THE TEMPLE AND TODAY’S CHURCH

In a period of tension between Jew and Gentile, Paul reminds his readers of their new relationship to God and neighbor:

“… you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

The Church is the body of Christ, and the body of Christ is the true Temple. Do you see how this changes everything? We don’t go to church. We are the church. To believe in Jesus is to become part of a larger community of faith.

So…wait. If church isn’t a building, then why show up Sunday after Sunday? That’s a fair question. Church is far more than an hour-long service. Church is more than a collection of worship songs. Church is more than a sermon. But it’s not less. We don’t “go to church,” but the church gathers to celebrate the relationship that God has offered through Jesus—symbolized through such things as water baptism and the breaking of bread around the Lord’s Table. Do you understand how radical this is? Every major religion says: Go to this building, and God might bless you. The gospel says: God has already blessed you, so gather to say “thanks.” When we leave the doors of our church buildings week after week, the question that should hang in our minds is not: “Why did I bother going?” but “What would have happened to me if I hadn’t?” The gospel changes everything. The church gathers in gratitude for that change.

God’s House and the McMansion (Haggai 1)

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Christopher J Wiles

What good is a Temple? What is the value of church?

In today’s world, these questions are answered largely on the basis of individual preference. Spiritual community is only as valuable as its personal benefit. Yet this is really nothing new. The prophets faced similar challenges, even after the years of exile had ended.

END OF EXILE

In Haggai’s day, the exile was effectively over. Now was the time to rebuild the Temple. The story of reconstruction is told in the book of Ezra, but Haggai gives us a glimpse into the “story behind the story”—sort of like those old “pop-up videos” on VH1.

Haggai 1:1-15 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: ² “Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.” ³ Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ⁴ “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? ⁵ Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. ⁶ You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

⁷ “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. ⁸ Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. ⁹ You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹ And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.” (Haggai 1:1-11)

On October 12, 539 B.C., Babylon fell to the armies of Medo-Persian, ruled by King Cyrus. There’s some irony here: Cyrus, for political reasons, was willing to allow any god into the pantheon as a means of consolidating power. Not only did he send them home, he issued a government bailout to help with the rebuilding of the temple. The job was started by a man named Shesbazzar (Ezra 5:14), but he was quickly succeeded by Zerubbabel—the grandson of one of Israel’s former kings (1 Chronicles 3:17-19).

In 537 B.C., the project was underway. The first thing they rebuilt was the altar—directly over the ruins of the first (Ezra 3:3-4). Reconstruction of the Temple began on April 29, 536 B.C, 430 years to the day that Solomon had built the first temple long ago. When the foundations were laid, the people even sang the same “hymns” they had at the first temple.

But construction quickly stalled out. Israel faced two specific problems:

The elders remembered the “good old days.” This second temple could never match the traditions of the past. Ezra records that their weeping was so loud the builders couldn’t focus on their work (Ezra 3:12-13). Ed Stetzer, a prominent analyst of the church, says that we face problems when people “value past traditions over present mission.” A focus on preferences would be a barrier to the community’s future.
The Samaritans had basically become a cult that acknowledged God but also blended Israel’s traditions with the gods of neighboring nations (the very sin that God had punished with the exile to begin with). The Samaritans wanted to join in the rebuilding. The Jews refused. The Samaritans started harassing God’s people, resulting in a 16 year hiatus in the building project.

During this 16-year period, the people had begun to use the government bailout not for the Temple, but for their personal gain. “Paneled houses,” Haggai laments. The people had exchanged the glory of God’s temple for the comfort of the McMansion.

CONSUMERS AND DISCIPLES

Are today’s values really that different? It’s hard to argue that we’re anything other than a tragic generation of consumers, whose religious devotion runs as deep as the latest craze. In 2010, Andrew Cherlin wrote a book called Marriage-go-round, in which he examined the state of marriage in today’s United States. He observed two broad trends:

(1) Marriage is still highly valued in western cultures, resulting in pressure to tie the knot.

(2) Marriage is looked upon as a means of personal fulfillment, resulting in record numbers of divorces.

If Cherlin is correct—and he certainly is persuasive—then the same could be said for the bride of Christ, the church. We want a religious experience that best fulfills our needs, that offers the immediate thrill of happiness.

To put it a bit more harshly, we don’t want the bride of Christ; we want the one-night-stand.

You see, whenever this topic comes up, people are eager to share two things:

(1) Commitment to a local church is a large priority.

(2) There may be times to change churches.

Do you see the resemblance between these points and Cherlin’s points about marriage? I keep hearing the question: When is it time to find another church? You know that’s a first-world problem, right? I can remember when our friends Tsiry and Barbara were here, visiting from France, they remarked that in their culture, if you went to church, you went to the church—in a secular country, they didn’t have the spiritual buffet of churches to choose from like we do.

The tragedy is that today’s religious marketplace caters to the same kinds of consumerist preferences that Haggai railed against. In their book The Churching of America, sociologists Rodney Stark and Roger Finke observe the way this mentality has shaped the religious landscape. “Where religious affiliation is a matter of choice, religious organizations must compete for members…Religious economies are like commercial economies in that they consist of a market made up of a set of current and potential customers and a set of firms seeking to serve that market.”

Cater to preferences, and you cultivate a generation of consumers. Devote oneself to the gospel, and you cultivate a generation of disciples.

COMMITMENT

Change came later in the form of King Darius. Darius had ascended the throne in 522 B.C. By 520 B.C. he was ready to devote attention to the farther portions of his empire, including Judah and the antagonism between the Jews and Samaritans. The Jews appealed to Cyrus’ earlier decree. Darius searched the archives, finding a copy in the former capital of Ecbatana. Darius therefore allowed the work to continue, as well as provided funding. His decree also silenced the Samaritan opposition as well as threatened them should they continue to oppose the rebuilding.

¹² Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. ¹³ Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD’s message, “I am with you, declares the LORD.” ¹⁴ And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, ¹⁵ on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

I’m not saying there are never good reasons to leave your church. In fact, I would say the opposite. There will always be good reasons to walk away. But there is one true reason to stay committed. In tomorrow’s post, we’ll examine this reason more deeply, as we consider the Temple’s true value in a world like our own.

Victory at the End – Daniel 11:36—12:13

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Randy Buchman

These past three days have been the most difficult passages upon which to write devotional thoughts of all that we have done in all our sermon series with associated writings. These Scriptures are very complex and would take chapters to explain the varied nuances of the verses, the historical backgrounds, the relevant passages from other prophetic books, and the variant views held by different biblical scholars. We don’t have time and space for that, but I hate to just come off with a flippant “trust me on this one” approach either. But thanks for hanging in there!

Reflecting both on yesterday’s writing about prophetic revelations that have now been fulfilled in the past, to beginning today with verses that speak of events yet to be fulfilled, let me illustrate it this way …

When I am at Antietam Battlefield and am lecturing to guests about that bloodiest of Civil War battles, as a part of the orientation and introduction I will point to the southern horizon where a line of mountains are visible. It all looks like one set of mountains in the same range. However, in one eyeshot, you are able to distinguish Maryland Heights in Maryland, Loudon Heights in Virginia, and the hills that descend into the valley where is the town of Harpers Ferry, WV. There, the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers join. We who study such things know that because we have been there, and then when backing away from it some dozen miles to the north in Sharpsburg, we are able to know what we are looking at. But for the first-time visitor, it all looks like the same ridgeline.

That is how the future looked to Daniel … all these events simply ran together. But the revelations from the angel about his vision brought some clarity to it. Having lived through the post-Greek Empire era of world history, we clearly see how those prophesies were fulfilled (11:5-36). But other prophecies in Daniel’s vision are yet future, and we are not as able to so clearly identify every last detail.

These final verses of chapter 11 are speaking of the coming Antichrist. Though some believe it is a continuation of material about Antiochus Epiphanes, it cannot be, for he did not have historical events that correspond to this communication.

The King Who Exalts Himself

³⁶“The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. ³⁷He will show no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. ³⁸Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his ancestors he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. ³⁹He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price.

⁴⁰“At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. ⁴¹He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. ⁴²He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. ⁴³He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Cushites in submission.⁴⁴But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. ⁴⁵He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.

Again, what I am telling you here is a compilation of best beliefs based upon putting these verses you just read together with other portions of Daniel, Ezekiel, and the book of Revelation. The Antichrist makes a peace treaty with Israel, and that marks the beginning of the seven-year Tribulation period. The first 3.5 years are peaceful, but it all falls apart into end-time battles in the second half (called time, times, and half a time). A coalition of kings from the north and south threaten Israel, and the European-based Antichrist moves to protect the nation. When those kings are miraculously defeated, he takes credit and sets himself up to be worshipped by all. In the end he will be attacked again by an army of 200 million from the east (China?) and others from the north … upon which Christ returns and defeats the combined forces of these remaining world powers. Then begins the period of time known as the Millennium – a 1,000-year rule and reign of Christ upon the earth as the Messiah, fulfilling God’s covenant promises to Israel. And that is what chapter 12 describes briefly, given Daniel a sense of peace …

The End Times

12:1 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. ²Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. ³Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. ⁴But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”

⁵Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. ⁶One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?”

⁷The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”

⁸I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?”

⁹He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. ¹⁰Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.

¹¹“From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. ¹²Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.

¹³“As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”

Exactly how these varied numbers work out and how all these revelations precisely go together is not completely certain, but we are able to get the broad outline. And from that we know for sure that God and truth prevails in the end. There have often been difficult times in the history of the world, and the worst of times is yet to come.

Here in this season of March Madness with the NCAA basketball tournament, I’ll close with a basketball illustration. Every good basketball game has times where each side goes on a “run” where they score a number of unanswered points. Usually there is a timeout called, and often the other team figures out what is going wrong and makes changes, whereupon they may reverse their fortunes by going on a “run” of their own.

That is how human history has been. Certain times are great times of prosperity, as in the industrial age or the post WW2 expansion of American power. But there have been terrible times like the Civil War era or the Great Depression.

When I played basketball, I sure would have enjoyed the games a lot more if I knew in the opening minutes of the second half when the other team was running us off the floor, that it was only a temporary setback, that in the end, we were certain to ultimately prevail, no matter what! I could have relaxed a bit, enjoyed the sport more, winked at the cheerleaders, and even looked around to see who was sitting in the stands!

But, in Christ, we have the great blessing of knowing that in the end our team wins. We not only may have times of difficulty, in fact, we will have them. But … not to worry. Christ is our Captain and he will bring us through to victory with Him in the end.

Sorting the History of the Past and the Future – Daniel 11:1-35

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Randy Buchman

Evaluate the following paragraph as to when it was written and who might have penned it…

“A powerful, arrogant, and convincing little man will arise out of northern Europe. He will enthrall many with his oratory and pull together a downtrodden nation. They will grow strong and make war against all nations around them, conquering lands and crushing all who stand in their path. The evil man will rail against the historical Chosen People, and six million of them will be annihilated. Another evil dictator to the south will join with him, and a similar ethnic power of evil from the distant east will arise. All the world will be drawn into war. After four years, an alliance of nations from the western world and around the globe will push back and defeat the evil man of Europe. And the power of the people of the east will be broken by two explosions such as mankind has never before witnessed in human warfare.”

Though it is written as something that is predictive of the future, you would conclude that the details given about the history of World War II could only have been written by someone after 1945 who knew accomplished history.

That is an illustration of Daniel 11:1-35. Conservative scholars believe it was written by Daniel in the year 536 BC, as he records the interpretation of his vision about the future. But liberal scholars, who are unwilling to admit the divine inspirational element of Scripture and biblical prophecy, conclude that the detail is such that it must surely have been actually written several centuries later – after the events were known to all.

Again, like the entire book of Daniel, this is complicated stuff; and time and space do not permit an analysis of every verse. Beyond that, our goal is to write of the practical application that arises from these ancient texts.

11:1 And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.

This first verse actually goes with the material of chapter 10 and completes the thought presented there.

The Kings of the South and the North

²“Now then, I tell you the truth: Three more kings will arise in Persia, and then a fourth, who will be far richer than all the others. When he has gained power by his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.

This second verse of the chapter details the next four kings to follow the time in which Daniel was living in the Medo-Persian Empire. These kings – identifiable in world history – would consummate in a fourth ruler (Xerxes – ruling from 485-465 BC – King Ahasuerus in the book of Esther) who fought wars against the rising power and kingdom of Greece.

Eventually Greece would become the next world empire under the conquering power of Alexander the Great. He would have an empire unlike any other up to that time, though he would die at the age of 32. His empire was divided about his four generals as predicted previously in Daniel’s visions.

³Then a mighty king will arise, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases. ⁴After he has arisen, his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others.

These four generals (and their areas of rule) were Lysimacus (Asia Minor), Cassander (Macedonia and Greece), Ptolemy (Egypt), and Seleucus (Syria and Mesopotamia).

Daniel’s interest is in the area of Palestine and the Holy Land, which you can see is wedged between the areas of these last two generals and their dynasties. Verses 5 to 20 tell the story of the back and forth battles between them. Israel is sort of like our area of Maryland and West Virginia during the Civil War – a crossroads over which the two sides contended for the next 150 years after Alexander died.

The details of these verses are amazing when compared to known history. There is not time for us to go into it …

⁵“The king of the South will become strong, but one of his commanders will become even stronger than he and will rule his own kingdom with great power. ⁶After some years, they will become allies. The daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last. In those days she will be betrayed, together with her royal escort and her father and the one who supported her.

⁷“One from her family line will arise to take her place. He will attack the forces of the king of the North and enter his fortress; he will fight against them and be victorious. ⁸He will also seize their gods, their metal images and their valuable articles of silver and gold and carry them off to Egypt. For some years he will leave the king of the North alone. ⁹Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South but will retreat to his own country. ¹⁰His sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and carry the battle as far as his fortress.

¹¹“Then the king of the South will march out in a rage and fight against the king of the North, who will raise a large army, but it will be defeated. ¹²When the army is carried off, the king of the South will be filled with pride and will slaughter many thousands, yet he will not remain triumphant. ¹³For the king of the North will muster another army, larger than the first; and after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped.

¹⁴“In those times many will rise against the king of the South. Those who are violent among your own people will rebel in fulfillment of the vision, but without success. ¹⁵Then the king of the North will come and build up siege ramps and will capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will be powerless to resist; even their best troops will not have the strength to stand. ¹⁶The invader will do as he pleases; no one will be able to stand against him. He will establish himself in the Beautiful Land and will have the power to destroy it. ¹⁷He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an alliance with the king of the South. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans^[c] will not succeed or help him. ¹⁸Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back on him. ¹⁹After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more.

²⁰“His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle.

After this 150-year period of battles between the Ptolemies and the Selucids, one of the latter would arise to great power – named Antiochus Epiphanes. He is given much emphasis, not only because of his effects upon Israel at that time, but also because he foreshadows the Antichrist at the end of time – the little horn of chapter 7. The “abomination of desolation” spoken of occurred in 167 BC, when Antiochus built an altar to Zeus on the altar of offering outside the Temple in Jerusalem, and then had a pig offered upon it. His evil deeds, as well as his personal destruction, foreshadow the same thing and destiny for destruction of the Antichrist to come…

²¹“He will be succeeded by a contemptible person who has not been given the honor of royalty. He will invade the kingdom when its people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue. ²²Then an overwhelming army will be swept away before him; both it and a prince of the covenant will be destroyed. ²³After coming to an agreement with him, he will act deceitfully, and with only a few people he will rise to power. ²⁴When the richest provinces feel secure, he will invade them and will achieve what neither his fathers nor his forefathers did. He will distribute plunder, loot and wealth among his followers. He will plot the overthrow of fortresses—but only for a time.

²⁵“With a large army he will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South. The king of the South will wage war with a large and very powerful army, but he will not be able to stand because of the plots devised against him. ²⁶Those who eat from the king’s provisions will try to destroy him; his army will be swept away, and many will fall in battle. ²⁷The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time. ²⁸The king of the North will return to his own country with great wealth, but his heart will be set against the holy covenant. He will take action against it and then return to his own country.

²⁹“At the appointed time he will invade the South again, but this time the outcome will be different from what it was before. ³⁰Ships of the western coastlands will oppose him, and he will lose heart. Then he will turn back and vent his fury against the holy covenant. He will return and show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant.

³¹“His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. ³²With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

³³“Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. ³⁴When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. ³⁵Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.

Though there are more verses in this chapter 11, I am going to cut it off here and add the remaining verses with chapter 12 tomorrow. Up to this point, everything written about is history from our perspective. But from 11:36 and forward, it is all prophetic and in the future, even for us.

Point to take away – Is it not good to be able to know the God of the past and the God of the future, and to know Him today?!? This chapter illustrates the sovereign hand of God over all the times and affairs of mankind. We see His work in the past and we have His promises for the future. Past, future … it is all the present to Him, as He is beyond and outside of time. Passages like this today make us stand in awe of our majestic God. Yet at the same time, this God over the universe and every detail of creation and history knows us and loves us individually. He has called us to Himself and made us His own possession. Such thoughts and truths give new perspectives to every situation and circumstance of our lives. We can have confidence, even in uncharted days and places. Wow!

Tough Times Don’t Last … Or Do They? – Daniel 10

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Randy Buchman

One of those sayings that get tossed about as a truism of life is that “tough times don’t last, but tough people do.” Well, some times are undoubtedly worse than others, but there are really no times that are not tough – not in this world. “In this world you will have tribulation,” Christ said. And be as tough as you want, but, the writer to the Hebrews gives the ultimate truth – that it is appointed to man once to die.

The prophet Daniel was born in difficult times. In his youth, Judah and Jerusalem had been taken captive by the Babylonians. He had been carried off to a far away land, where, in spite of living in a perverse culture, God had blessed Daniel in many ways. And now, as an elderly man about 70 years later, he desires to know what will become of his people.

This chapter, along with the next two that we will also look at this week, is the account of one vision of Daniel and its meaning. The time is the third year of Cyrus = 536 BC, and the 70-year captivity was now over. Exiles from Israel had gone recently to begin to rebuild the temple. Surely there would be good times now.

But Daniel has a terribly upsetting vision of war, and for three weeks he is stricken due to an inability to understand the meaning. Finally, an angel appears – certainly the angel Gabriel, who had come to him before (8:16).

Every so often in Scripture, the curtain is opened just a bit and the spiritual world behind it is visible. Gabriel says that he was delayed in coming due to conflict with what he calls the prince of Persia. This is referencing a demonic angel in Satan’s structure who sought to prevent this revelation from getting to Daniel, and the angel Michael came to his assistance.

Angels are messengers – that is what the word means. They are organized in various ranks in God’s service. Evil angels, known also as demons, are likewise organized by Satan as his workers in the kingdom of darkness. It is a continuously ongoing war in the spiritual realm between these forces. Paul wrote of this reality in Ephesians 6:12 … “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Israel was still going to experience difficult times, and we’ll talk about that tomorrow especially. But in the end, Messiah’s kingdom reigns, and we too anticipate such a day. But until then, there will be tough times, and the only tough people are those who both know the Lord and understand the big picture of God’s work as revealed in Scripture. And that is why we study the Scriptures and write these devotionals – that we may know the Lord and know his workings throughout all of time, culminating in eternity.

10:1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.

²At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.

⁴On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, ⁵I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. ⁶His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.

⁷I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. ⁸So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. ⁹Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.

¹⁰A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. ¹¹He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.

¹²Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. ¹³But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. ¹⁴Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”

¹⁵While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless.¹⁶Then one who looked like a mantouched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. ¹⁷How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”

¹⁸Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. ¹⁹“Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace! Be strong now; be strong.”

When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.”

²⁰So he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; ²¹but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince.

World History in One Dream – Daniel 7

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Randy Buchman

Skipping over the familiar story of Daniel in the Lions’ Den in chapter six, we move into chapter seven. The shift is like going off the shallow waters of the continental shelf and into a deep ocean trench! But it is as interesting as it is deep.

This is complicated, but let me try to sort it out quickly. Believe me when I tell you that there is a tremendously huge amount of supporting material for what I’m going to say in comparing this chapter with Daniel 2, Ezekiel 38 and 39, much of the book of Revelation, and a number of other passages as well. To put all of that in here would be to write a book – of which many have been written on this subject.

The first six chapters of Daniel are about experiences of his life in the Babylonian and Persian empires. The last six chapters will be the record of various dreams and visions, including this dream of chapter seven that troubled Daniel – as it would anyone who had such a nightmare of beastly animals … but, putting it ALL together, here we go …

This dream came to Daniel about three-fourths of the way through his years of service – in about 555 BC. It is a vision of what would happen after Daniel’s life – depicting “the time of the Gentiles” – from the conquest of Judah until the coming of Messiah’s Kingdom, which we know as the Millennium or 1,000-year rule of Christ upon the earth after his second coming.

Four great beasts come up out of the sea – these beasts representing world empires.

Beast 1 – Lion with eagles wings – represented the Babylonian Empire through which Daniel was living, and particularly the great King Nebuchadnezzar.

Beast 2 – Bear, with one side higher than the other – represented the Medo-Persian Empire, where the Persians were stronger than the Medians – and they conquered three kingdoms – the Lydians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians.

Beast 3 – Leopard with four heads and four wings – represented the Greek Empire and the swift conquering of the world by Alexander the Great, whose empire fell apart and went to his four leading generals. We’ll talk more about this before this week is over.

Beast 4 – A horrifically powerful mongrel beast with 10 horns – represented the Roman Empire. And here is where it gets really hairy!

Let me ask you this – who conquered the Romans? The answer – nobody really… they more or less fell apart. So, putting it all together (all those other passages I mentioned above), in the last times, the Roman Empire will be revived in the European/Mediterranean world. The one horn that rises up boastfully is the Antichrist, the Beast, who unites a coalition of nations around him. He guarantees safety to Israel in a treaty of protection – thus marking the beginning of a seven-year period known as The Tribulation. Halfway through this time, Israel is attacked by kings from the north and south. The antichrist (called also the king of the west) moves to protect Israel, while the attackers are miraculously destroyed by God. Taking credit for this, he breaks his treaty and what follows is a terrible time of 3.5 years of great tribulation.

At the end of this, Jesus returns and wages a war of judgment upon the Beast and all the other peoples of the earth who rebel together against God. This ends the campaign of battle over this final half of the seven years – a campaign (not just a single battle) called Armageddon. Thus follows the 1,000-year kingdom rule of Christ upon the earth, in fulfillment of Scriptures throughout the whole Bible.

Ya got all that? Let me make one big statement of application, and a couple of extra thoughts at no extra charge.

The main idea is this: God is in control of the big picture and is the sovereign over the nations and over all of time. This gives us peace in the midst of living through uncharted times … because … well, honestly, though we don’t know all the details, God has the master charts already drawn up. Daniel, Ezekiel, and later John on Patmos – they got to see some of it and write it down for us to have. Why would God include this in the Holy Scriptures? To give us peace – the knowledge of where it is all headed, and that by being connected to him, we are ultimately in safe keeping.

Extra free stuff …

#1 – As a child growing up in a Bible prophecy-enriched home and church during the era of the Cold War, it was always preached that the country of Germany had to be unified as one land – not divided into East and West Germany. This seemed ludicrous to imagine such in the days of the Iron Curtain. My grandparents talked about this and looked to see this happen, though they died in the 1960s. I lived to see it with the fall of the Soviet Bloc. However …

#2 – A confusing part of the collapse of Russia as a front-burner world power is that this does not comport well with Ezekiel… especially with the loss of Ukraine. For the events of which I’ve briefly spoken about just above to transpire, at a minimum, Russia needs to be a formidable power, and Ukraine as an ally would seem to also best fit the narrative. So what is happening on the world scene right now? Hmm?

Daniel’s Dream of Four Beasts

7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.

²Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. ³Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.

⁴“The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it.

⁵“And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’

⁶“After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.

⁷“After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.

⁸“While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.

⁹“As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. ¹⁰A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.

¹¹“Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. ¹²(The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)

¹³“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,^[a] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

The Interpretation of the Dream

¹⁵“I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. ¹⁶I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all this.

“So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: ¹⁷‘The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth. ¹⁸But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, forever and ever.’

¹⁹“Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. ²⁰I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell—the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. ²¹As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, ²²until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.

²³“He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. ²⁴The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. ²⁵He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.

²⁶“‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. ²⁷Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’

²⁸“This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.”

The Original Writing on the Wall – Daniel 5

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Randy Buchman

I wonder what percentage of people in our secularized society actually know that the commonly-used idiom of “the writing is on the wall” actually finds its origin in a biblical story? Indeed, for the vast multitudes of people who do not know Christ, the “writing is on the wall” about their imminently dangerous condition.

Let’s go through the story and comment in application at the end.

The accounts we looked at last week in chapters one and three of Daniel were related to the great Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Remember that it was in about 606-605 BC that he first conquered Judah, returning to put down additional rebellions in 597 BC and 586 BC. Daniel and his friends were likely deported near the beginning of these conquests. So the stories of the first four chapters were while Daniel was a younger man. But here in chapter five it is now in September of 539 BC, where it might be estimated that Daniel is about 81-years-old.

5:1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.²While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. ³So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. ⁴As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

It sounds like a happy time, doesn’t it? A great state banquet in the East Room of the Palace! Actually, it is a drunken affair at 11:59:59 on the calendar of the Babylonian Empire. The Medo-Persians under Darius the Mede had defeated the Babylonian armies in the field and were set up outside the city walls. Though Babylon was thought to be an impregnable city, the situation is rather grim for the home team. King Belshazzar and his administration are essentially drinking their problems away.

During this drunken feast, the king orders to have the sacred vessels from the temple in Jerusalem brought in. These would have been brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar almost 70 years earlier and stashed away in the treasury. (When it says that Nebuchadnezzar was his father, the word would be better translated as ancestor or predecessor … he was likely a grandson through his mother … it’s a long, messy story!) And the goblets are used to mock the God of Israel and drink rather to the idols and gods of this pagan empire (the king’s father was a huge moon worshiper).

⁵Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. ⁶His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

Again, I love the old King James description for that last phrase – that “the king’s knees smote one against the other” – drinking will help do that to you. But in any event, it would be pretty creepy to see an unattached hand writing a message on the wall. It surely put quite a damper on the party! The music stopped; goblets hit the floor. People got sober in a big hurry.

⁷The king summoned the enchanters, astrologers and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

Now that’s generous! Third in the kingdom! What a reward at this time! This would be like being a back-up football player who sat on the bench for the whole game, and then while losing 49-0 with five seconds remaining in the game being told you are now the new starting quarterback!

⁸Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. ⁹So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.

We have heard this story before in the book of Daniel where the wise guys weren’t so wise! And so the queen – actually the queen mother, who would be the daughter of Nebuchnezzar – comes to the banquet with the memory of a person who had the skills to decipher such a mystery.

¹⁰The queen,hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. “May the king live forever!” she said. “Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! ¹¹There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father <predecessor>, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. ¹²He did this because Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”

¹³So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? ¹⁴I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. ¹⁵The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. ¹⁶Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

The last thing Daniel needed was a gold chain and purple robe – he had God’s work to do, and it was not going to be easy to deliver the bad news of the interpretation.

¹⁷Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

¹⁸“Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. ¹⁹Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. ²⁰But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. ²¹He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.

There was a time in Nebuchadnezzar’s life where he went out of his mind – literally so… it’s a common thing that happens over there (that was a lame Saddam Hussein / Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joke if you missed it). You can read the story in chapter four, where Nebuchadnezzar, in the end, acknowledges Jehovah the most powerful God. This, however, was not a humble attitude that would be coming from Belshazzar. From Daniel … “So, King B., do you want to hear the good news first or the bad news?… but wait … oh, sorry, there is no good news.”

²²“But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. ²³Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. ²⁴Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

²⁵“This is the inscription that was written:

mene, mene, tekel, parsin

²⁶“Here is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

²⁷Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

²⁸Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

²⁹Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

³⁰That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians,was slain, ³¹and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

Remember the part about the city being impregnable? Well, an engineer for the Medes and Persians that night figured out a way of diverting much of the flow of the Euphrates River, lowering the water level, and allowing their army to enter the city, bust up the party, kill the king, and establish a new empire. And Daniel would serve in government briefly for a few years in this new Medo-Persian Empire. This would be even more amazing than, say, Rand Paul being elected President of the USA and retaining Eric Holder as Attorney General.

So what do we take away from this story? Of course there is the macro truth that God is sovereign over all the nations and their times of authority. We see also the righteous judgment of God. Remember our recent studies from the prophet Habakkuk? He had the word from God that this would indeed happen, and that is what today’s chapter is about – a picture of the last hours of the Babylonians.

God’s truth always prevails in the end. Our role – the role of people of all times – is to be aligned with that truth and living in alignment with God’s grace through trust and obedience. Because, for all those who choose otherwise, well, the writing is on the wall and judgment is certain, no matter how much they deny it and party away. As the Apostle Paul told some smart guys on the hill of the Areopagus in Athens, “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Seriously

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