I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever Daniel 7:16-18
Daniel’s discipline and devotion has reserved him from defilement in chapter 1, saved him from death in chapter 2, brought him to distinction in chapter 4, rewarded him with his due in chapter 5, brought about his deliverance in chapter 6, and now rewards his devotion with divine insight here in chapter 7… Literally, the rest of time is revealed to Daniel In dreams and visions.
“DANIEL DISCERNMENTS” are a result of personal study, fasting, prayer, meditation, fellowship, confession, and serving… as a result of such devotion, God rewards one with stewardship over divine information and insight that can only be experienced and embraced by FAITH and PURITY.
Any dedicated Christian will tell you that the more purified and closer your walk is with God, the less you can be fooled by men and the more you know them. Hebrews 4:12 declares, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” But there is still a greater benefit and bonus in your nearness to God. Great Christian discipline leads to great insight not only about the affairs of men but the future and the end of the world. As Paul puts it in 1Co 2:9-10 …Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. BUT God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
It is our nearness to God that gives us an increased measure of His Spirit. The fact of the matter is the more I can think like daddy thinks, the more I can see what daddy sees. When you suffer with all diligence to scale the mountain of godliness when you get up high you can see all the way to the end of the world. I’m not talking about merely pharisaical study of the bible; I’m talking about sitting at the feet of Jesus like Mary. I’m talking about laying your head on his breast like John. To know and see this kind of stuff, you’ve got to really know Him. Jesus said, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” (John 15:15)
Daniel Discernments requires maturity because such wisdom and insight brings about tremendous sorrow for the people of God. It bears the reward of Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” It is an insight that cannot be shared with the masses or by the masses, for they cannot receive it.
In today’s grand confusion of eschatology, the answer is not in the speculation over the unchangeable complexity of details but in the simplicity of the big idea that our unconquerable, conquering King is coming to crush all of the enemies of the cross.
It seems here that the issue is not the details or what “will happen,” for such cannot be change, altered, nor thwarted in any way. It is but information, and for the devout saint, requires no adjustment in his normal devotion routine. Devotion brought about Daniel’s revelation and continued devotion will bring about ultimate salvation. The beauty and bounty of the revelatory reward granted to Daniel is a great surety in knowing, “We have a champion that is stronger than loin-like Babylon, and that will consume more than bear-like Persia, and will move swifter than leopard-like Greece, and will be fiercer than ferocious Rome – a fifth and final kingdom, the last emperor, Jesus Christ.
Showing posts with label The Handwriting on the Wall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Handwriting on the Wall. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Daniel Discipline V
In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote... And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this. (Daniel 5:5 & 22)
It is ironic that Daniel and his friends maintained the lessons of their parents while here Belshazzar has failed to learn the illustrative lesson of God dealing with his father Nebuchadnezzar. How often it is that great lessons of one generation are many times left and lost in the next. How painful it is for parents to watch their children choose to do what they know will not and cannot turn out good. I heard one elderly lady remark about children, “When they are young, they are on your lap, but when they are grown, they are on your heart.”
The prevailing wisdom common to young people today is not unlike that of Belshazzar, “I’m young and have time…” “I have to experience the world for myself like my parents did, then I’ll see for myself…” “I should be out having fun right now, that’s for old people.”
On the other hand, what virtue, to simply pay attention, learn the hard lessons, do the hard work, and stand on the shoulders of those who have been through the trials and errors. There are some trips you don’t have to make. God has put a road-sign there, a warning, an example of its consequences. And if you choose to take a trip down that road, you just might not come back, and most certainly you won’t come back the same. They say “Experience is a good teacher.” Yet one must ask, “At what cost???” if mere inconvenience is the only price, then one might freely consider it as a alternate route to the same end; however, so-called experience often results in great loss, pain, deep wounds, scares, and even death. The fact is sometime experience does not give a second chance. The classroom of experience is often painfully unforgiving. Asked any single mother who is raising a child along, because she sold her body for an “I love you” instead of a wedding. Listen to the testimony of a young addict who felt that since his friends were doing drugs, he would try it just this once. Take the story from the graveyard of a fellow who thought a gang was security. Sin will always make you go further then you meant to go, make you stay longer then you meant to stay, and make you pay more then you meant to pay.
The frequently committed error is a failure to count observation as experience. Belshazzar chose to ignore his father’s experience with God. He saw his father come the know God and the change God made in him. And that counts too! God never wastes what he gives us. Whether taste, or touch, or smell, or sound, or sight, your every experience is jammed packed with meaning and significance to be examined in the light of God. Act 17 says, “God has determined your time before you were here, and the distance you would travel; That you should seek the Lord, if haply you might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from anyone: For in Him we live, and move, and have our being…” Your very existence is both proof and call to worship God. Rest assured, delay in pursuing and serving God is never profitable.
Belshazzar’s opportunity was greater than that of His father and so was his condemnation greater. He has more from the beginning, his father’s story. Instead he has to hear more, see more, smell more, feel more, taste more and then his end came into view. The handwriting was on the wall. There was no turning back.
If you have more, God requires that you do better. We presume upon God by assuming experiences are parallel. We are all dealt our hands from the same deck of life, but look closely, everybody’s cards are different. God judges each of us by what He has perfectly dealt to us. Nebuchadnezzar’s idolatry ended in his salvation while Belshazzar’s idolatry ended in his damnation. The person who says to himself or herself, I will go as far as I can until I see clearly, BE WARNED!!! By the time you can see the reality of your end apart from faith, it’s too late. -- The handwriting is on the wall!
It is ironic that Daniel and his friends maintained the lessons of their parents while here Belshazzar has failed to learn the illustrative lesson of God dealing with his father Nebuchadnezzar. How often it is that great lessons of one generation are many times left and lost in the next. How painful it is for parents to watch their children choose to do what they know will not and cannot turn out good. I heard one elderly lady remark about children, “When they are young, they are on your lap, but when they are grown, they are on your heart.”
The prevailing wisdom common to young people today is not unlike that of Belshazzar, “I’m young and have time…” “I have to experience the world for myself like my parents did, then I’ll see for myself…” “I should be out having fun right now, that’s for old people.”
On the other hand, what virtue, to simply pay attention, learn the hard lessons, do the hard work, and stand on the shoulders of those who have been through the trials and errors. There are some trips you don’t have to make. God has put a road-sign there, a warning, an example of its consequences. And if you choose to take a trip down that road, you just might not come back, and most certainly you won’t come back the same. They say “Experience is a good teacher.” Yet one must ask, “At what cost???” if mere inconvenience is the only price, then one might freely consider it as a alternate route to the same end; however, so-called experience often results in great loss, pain, deep wounds, scares, and even death. The fact is sometime experience does not give a second chance. The classroom of experience is often painfully unforgiving. Asked any single mother who is raising a child along, because she sold her body for an “I love you” instead of a wedding. Listen to the testimony of a young addict who felt that since his friends were doing drugs, he would try it just this once. Take the story from the graveyard of a fellow who thought a gang was security. Sin will always make you go further then you meant to go, make you stay longer then you meant to stay, and make you pay more then you meant to pay.
The frequently committed error is a failure to count observation as experience. Belshazzar chose to ignore his father’s experience with God. He saw his father come the know God and the change God made in him. And that counts too! God never wastes what he gives us. Whether taste, or touch, or smell, or sound, or sight, your every experience is jammed packed with meaning and significance to be examined in the light of God. Act 17 says, “God has determined your time before you were here, and the distance you would travel; That you should seek the Lord, if haply you might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from anyone: For in Him we live, and move, and have our being…” Your very existence is both proof and call to worship God. Rest assured, delay in pursuing and serving God is never profitable.
Belshazzar’s opportunity was greater than that of His father and so was his condemnation greater. He has more from the beginning, his father’s story. Instead he has to hear more, see more, smell more, feel more, taste more and then his end came into view. The handwriting was on the wall. There was no turning back.
If you have more, God requires that you do better. We presume upon God by assuming experiences are parallel. We are all dealt our hands from the same deck of life, but look closely, everybody’s cards are different. God judges each of us by what He has perfectly dealt to us. Nebuchadnezzar’s idolatry ended in his salvation while Belshazzar’s idolatry ended in his damnation. The person who says to himself or herself, I will go as far as I can until I see clearly, BE WARNED!!! By the time you can see the reality of your end apart from faith, it’s too late. -- The handwriting is on the wall!
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