Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you’ve got
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot
Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you wanna go
Where everybody knows your name
And they’re always glad you came
You wanna be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name

We cannot read these words without singing them, right? In fact, start singing the Cheers theme song and most people will join in knowing all the words, right?  From 1982 to 1993, Cheers was America’s television equivalent of the corner bar where everybody knows your name.  But the protagonist of the Cheers theme is going through a lot more than your run-of-the-mill stressful workday when you hear all the words to the song written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart-Angelo, words not heard at the beginning of show.  Here is the rest of the forlorn story, so to speak…

All those nights when you’ve got no lights,
The check is in the mail;
And your little angel
Hung the cat up by it’s tail;
And your third fiance didn’t show;

Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee’s dead;
The morning’s looking bright;
And your shrink ran off to Europe,
And didn’t even write;
And your husband wants to be a girl;

You want to go where everybody knows your name…

The writers of this song are going insane with all the troubles brewing around them.  They are hopelessly going through life, finding comfort only in the next drink to dull their senses.  If they do it with others who are also insane, then somehow, it all okay.

But is it?  Is this all there is to life?

Hosea 5, The Message

They Wouldn’t Recognize God If They Saw Him

^1-2 “Listen to this, priests!
    Attention, people of Israel!
Royal family—all ears!
    You’re in charge of justice around here.
But what have you done? Exploited people at Mizpah,
    ripped them off on Tabor,
Victimized them at Shittim.
    I’m going to punish the lot of you.

^3-4 “I know you, Ephraim, inside and out.
    Yes, Israel, I see right through you!
Ephraim, you’ve played your sex-and-religion games long enough.
    All Israel is thoroughly polluted.
They couldn’t turn to God if they wanted to.
    Their evil life is a bad habit.
Every breath they take is a whore’s breath.
    They wouldn’t recognize God if they saw me.

^5-7 “Bloated by arrogance, big as a house,
    they’re a public disgrace,
The lot of them—Israel, Ephraim, Judah—
    lurching and weaving down their guilty streets.
When they decide to get their lives together
    and go off looking for God once again,
They’ll find it’s too late.
    I, God, will be long gone.
They’ve played fast and loose with me for too long,
    filling the country with their bastard offspring.
A plague of locusts will
    devastate their violated land.

^8-9 “Blow the ram’s horn shofar in Gibeah,
    the bugle in Ramah!
Signal the invasion of Sin City!
    Scare the daylights out of Benjamin!
Ephraim will be left wasted,
    a lifeless moonscape.
I’m telling it straight, the unvarnished truth,
    to the tribes of Israel.

¹⁰ “Israel’s rulers are crooks and thieves,
    cheating the people of their land,
And I’m angry, good and angry.
    Every inch of their bodies is going to feel my anger.

^11-12 “Brutal Ephraim is himself brutalized—
    a taste of his own medicine!
He was so determined
    to do it his own worthless way.
Therefore I’m pus to Ephraim,
    dry rot in the house of Judah.

¹³ “When Ephraim saw he was sick
    and Judah saw his pus-filled sores,
Ephraim went running to Assyria,
    went for help to the big king.
But he can’t heal you.
    He can’t cure your oozing sores.

^14-15 “I’m a grizzly charging Ephraim,
    a grizzly with cubs charging Judah.
I’ll rip them to pieces—yes, I will!
    No one can stop me now.
I’ll drag them off.
    No one can help them.
Then I’ll go back to where I came from
    until they come to their senses.
When they finally hit rock bottom,
    maybe they’ll come looking for me.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God speaks through Hosea, His prophet, summarizing the life of His people.  It’s not good.  It seems they have succumbed to a life of following whoever gets their attention and pays attention to them.  They left God.  He did not leave them until God could no longer get their attention.  God is the Judge and they have been pronounced “Guilty!” in His courts of justice.  God condemned the leaders for trapping innocent people and exploiting them. No justice was in the land. They were sinking deep in sin and lacked the power to repent and turn back to God, for their sins had paralyzed them.

Paralyzed people are powerless.  What is the summary of our lives at the moment? Are we so paralyzed by our sins that we just accept them as a way of life? 

Are we so hopelessly lost in sameness of life, that we no longer take notice of God, asking Him what He would like to do for us and in us? 

Do we just want to dull our sense even more and go to a place where everybody else is hopeless, too, so we no longer have to wonder if there is someone or something better?

Isn’t this way of life just another form of arrogance against God?  Our lack of notice, knowing and growing in relationship with God leads to stumbling around in life aimlessly and eventually falling…just like the Proverbs advised…pride goes before a fall.  (Proverbs 16:18)

Israel and Judah were weak, sick nations, according to all the prophets whom God sent to assess the hearts of His people and give diagnosis. Instead of turning to the Lord for healing, however, both turned to the king of Assyria for help. They needed prayer and true repentance, but instead, they trusted politics and useless treaties. All the Lord could do was withdraw and wait for them to seek His face in truth and humility. God certainly has had a lot of practice in the fine art of waiting for each of us to respond to His grace.

Friends, God waits for us to turnround and look fully into His face.  He waits for eyes to be opened wide to see Him for who He really is…the Lover of our souls, the One who created us, the One and Only who died and rose again to save us, the One who knows us better than we know ourselves, the One who counts the hairs on our head and knows the number, the One who knows our name! 

Our name is written on the palm of His Hand.  “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”  (Isaiah 49:16, NIV)  “I’ll never forget you…”—God

Lord,

Thank you for leading us back to you through the words of Hosea. We don’t really want to be a complacent people who merely stumble around letting life happen to us.  We want to realize how fully loved we are as you have told us and live an expectant life to the full!  Lord, may I notice you at work in my life today and stop immediately to give you praise, thanksgiving, honor, and glory!  It won’t be hard to do, because you are always at work!  And Lord, I’m yours.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Israel disobeyed. The national leaders had failed to teach God’s law to the people. Many of God’s chosen people sold their bodies in prostitution, which in turn led to national destruction.

People who have genuine faith and love for God will try to obey God.  No matter what is going on around us, our love for God must be our first thought as we rise and our last thought before we go to bed at night.  Love, trust, and obedience to God brings His gift of peace through all kinds of circumstances.  His love is our way of redemption.  Our relationship with God grows our love for others.  Be faithful to God.  He is forever faithful to us.

Hosea 4, The Message

No One Is Faithful

^1-3 Attention all Israelites! God’s Message!
    God indicts the whole population:
“No one is faithful. No one loves.
    No one knows the first thing about God.
All this cussing and lying and killing, theft and loose sex,
    sheer anarchy, one murder after another!
And because of all this, the very land itself weeps
    and everything in it is grief-stricken—
animals in the fields and birds on the wing,
    even the fish in the sea are listless, lifeless.

* * *

^4-10 “But don’t look for someone to blame.
    No finger pointing!
You, priest, are the one in the dock.
    You stumble around in broad daylight,
And then the prophets take over and stumble all night.
    Your mother is as bad as you.
My people are ruined
    because they don’t know what’s right or true.
Because you’ve turned your back on knowledge,
    I’ve turned my back on you priests.
Because you refuse to recognize the revelation of God,
    I’m no longer recognizing your children.
The more priests, the more sin.
    They traded in their glory for shame.
They pig out on my people’s sins.
    They can’t wait for the latest in evil.
The result: You can’t tell the people from the priests,
    the priests from the people.
I’m on my way to make them both pay
    and take the consequences of the bad lives they’ve lived.
They’ll eat and be as hungry as ever,
    have sex and get no satisfaction.
They walked out on me, their God,
    for a life of rutting with whores.

They Make a Picnic Out of Religion

^11-14 “Wine and whiskey
    leave my people in a stupor.
They ask questions of a dead tree,
    expect answers from a sturdy walking stick.
Drunk on sex, they can’t find their way home.
    They’ve replaced their God with their genitals.
They worship on the tops of mountains,
    make a picnic out of religion.
Under the oaks and elms on the hills
    they stretch out and take it easy.
Before you know it, your daughters are whores
    and the wives of your sons are sleeping around.
But I’m not going after your whoring daughters
    or the adulterous wives of your sons.
It’s the men who pick up the whores that I’m after,
    the men who worship at the holy whorehouses—
    a stupid people, ruined by whores!

* * *

^15-19 “You’ve ruined your own life, Israel—
    but don’t drag Judah down with you!
Don’t go to the sex shrine at Gilgal,
    don’t go to that sin city Bethel,
Don’t go around saying ‘God bless you’ and not mean it,
    taking God’s name in vain.
Israel is stubborn as a mule.
    How can God lead him like a lamb to open pasture?
Ephraim is addicted to idols.
    Let him go.
When the beer runs out,
    it’s sex, sex, and more sex.
Bold and sordid debauchery—
    how they love it!
The whirlwind has them in its clutches.
    Their sex-worship leaves them finally impotent.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Trust and obedience to God produces joy!  “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” —Jesus  John 15:9-11, NLT

God will not let you go. He has handcuffed himself to you in love. And he owns the only key. You need not win his love. You already have it. And since you can’t win it, you can’t lose it.  “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:38-39, NLT

Gomer was a female, an irascible woman married to a remarkable Hosea. She flirted and hopped from one lover to another. She ruined her life and shattered Hosea’s heart.  Destitute, she was placed for sale in a slave market. Guess who stepped forward to buy her? Hosea, who’d never removed his wedding band. The way he treated her you would have thought she’d never loved another man.

God uses this story, indeed orchestrated this drama, to illustrate his steadfast love for his fickle people.  You and me.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16, NIV  This kind of love is translated as “agape” love—Less an affection, more a decision; less a feeling, more an action.

Stated more simply: Junkyard wrecks and showroom models share equal space in God’s garage.  So, it doesn’t matter who we are or what we have done, God so loves…

Lord,

We ask ourselves, what kind of love is this that you would send your Son to die for us?  It is a redeeming love that goes beyond our wildest thinking but we must stop and think with grateful hearts and loud praise for all you have done to “so love” us.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Love, trust, and obedience is our response to your love.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Like me, you probably enjoy seeing God’s Message as well as reading it.  There is a book by Francine Rivers, one of my favorite novelists who portray Bible characters in their world.  Rivers is gifted at bringing the characters into our lives as if we a part of the story, too.  She writes parallel to God’s Word, so there is no mistake who she is portraying with what God wants to say to us through her stories. 

A movie has been made from one of her novels!  “Redeeming Love” is a must see to get a deeper meaning for the story of Hosea.  I watched it again on Netflix.  You can also catch it on Pure Flix.  The main character is Michael and the prostitute God tells him to take as his wife is Angel.  The story unfolds with pain and agony for both but the details of Hosea are evident as Michael pays a high price to redeem his love, chosen by God for him.  Michael’s love for Angel is relentless and unfailing.  Mm, like God’s love for us?

God looks at us and sees us worthy of redeeming.  What kind of love is this?  God’s love.

“In time they’ll come back…ready for the End of the story of his love.”

Hosea 3, The Message

In Time They’ll Come Back

Then God ordered me, “Start all over: Love your wife again,
    your wife who’s in bed with her latest boyfriend, your cheating wife.
Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people,
    even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.”

^2-3 I did it. I paid good money to get her back.
    It cost me the price of a slave.
Then I told her, “From now on you’re living with me.
    No more whoring, no more sleeping around.
    You’re living with me and I’m living with you.”

* * *

^4-5 The people of Israel are going to live a long time
    stripped of security and protection,
without religion and comfort,
    godless and prayerless.
But in time they’ll come back, these Israelites,
    come back looking for their God and their David-King.
They’ll come back chastened to reverence
    before God and his good gifts, ready for the End of the story of his love.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God loves us.

God pursues us because He loves us more than we love ourselves. 

God loves us relentlessly and paid the price to redeem us.

God forgives us.  There is nothing we have done that He will not forgive.

God wants to bless us with an intimate, loving growing relationship with Him.

God hears our prayers and will answer with what is best for us.

God sent His Son, Jesus to save us and teach us about God’s love with his very life.

God wants us to love Him back but not because He forced or manipulated us—that’s cheap love. 

We love Him because He first love us. (1 John 4:19)

God is love. 

God’s love is what we have been searching for all our lives. 

Come home to His love.

The end is yet to come—life forever with Him!

Lord,

Thank you for teaching us the depth of our love for us through the story of Hosea and his wife.  Thank you for authors who follow you and drive the meaning of your love deeper into our being.  Thank you most of all for your never-ending, relentless, forgiving, unconditional, love that is wrapped around your mercy and grace for us.  I love you, Lord, with all my heart, mind, and soul.  You are my God because of Your Son paying the price for me.  And I am yours.

In Jesus Name, Amen

We live in a world filled with love stories.  Most of them are lies.  They are not love stories at all—they are lust stories, sex-fantasy stories, domination stories.  From the cradle we are fed on lies about love.

This would be bad enough if it only messed up human relationships—man and woman, parent and child, friend and friend—but it messes up God-relationships.  The huge, mountainous reality of all existence is that God is love, that God loves the world.  Each single detail of the real world that we face and deal with day after day is permeated by this love. 

God’s story, His Love Letter to us, expresses His desire for us to know Him—to know real love—so we know how to love Him back.  Loving others begins by knowing and loving God and realizing the depth of love God has for us.

But when our minds and imaginations are crippled by lies about love, we have a hard time understanding this fundamental ingredient of daily living, “love” is either as a noun or as a verb.  And if the basic orienting phrase “God is love” is plastered over with cultural graffiti that obscure and deface the truth of the way the world is, we are not going to get very far in living well.  We require true stories of love if we are to live truly.  (Eugene Peterson, MSG, Intro to Hosea)

Let Peterson introduce you to Hosea, God’s prophet, called to an unlikely love–

“Hosea is the prophet of love, but not love as we imagine or fantasize it.  He was a parable of God’s love for his people lived out as God revealed and enacted it—a lived parable.  It is an astonishing story:  a prophet commanded to marry a common whore and have children with her.  It is an even more astonishing message:  God loves us in just this way—goes after us at our worst, keeps after us until he gets us, and makes lovers of men and women who knew nothing of real love.  Once we absorb this story and the words that flow from it, we will know God far more accurately.  And we will be well on our way to being cured of all the sentimentalized and neurotic distortions of love that incapacitate us from dealing with the God who loves us and loving the neighbors who don’t love us.”  –Eugene Peterson, The Message, Intro to Hosea

Hosea 1

This is God’s Message to Hosea son of Beeri. It came to him during the royal reigns of Judah’s kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. This was also the time that Jeroboam son of Joash was king over Israel.

This Whole Country Has Become a Whorehouse

² The first time God spoke to Hosea he said:

“Find a whore and marry her.
    Make this whore the mother of your children.
And here’s why: This whole country
    has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to me, God.”

³ Hosea did it. He picked Gomer daughter of Diblaim. She got pregnant and gave him a son.

^4-5 Then God told him:

“Name him Jezreel. It won’t be long now before
    I’ll make the people of Israel pay for the massacre at Jezreel.
    I’m calling it quits on the kingdom of Israel.
Payday is coming! I’m going to chop Israel’s bows and arrows
    into kindling in the valley of Jezreel.”

* * *

^6-7 Gomer got pregnant again. This time she had a daughter. God told Hosea:

“Name this one No-Mercy. I’m fed up with Israel.
    I’ve run out of mercy. There’s no more forgiveness.
Judah’s another story. I’ll continue having mercy on them.
    I’ll save them. It will be their God who saves them,
Not their armaments and armies,
    not their horsepower and manpower.”

* * *

^8-9 After Gomer had weaned No-Mercy, she got pregnant yet again and had a son. God said:

“Name him Nobody. You’ve become nobodies to me,
    and I, God, am a nobody to you.

^10-11 “But down the road the population of Israel is going to explode past counting, like sand on the ocean beaches. In the very place where they were once named Nobody, they will be named God’s Somebody. Everybody in Judah and everybody in Israel will be assembled as one people. They’ll choose a single leader. There’ll be no stopping them—a great day in Jezreel!”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

On our very worst day—God loves us!  God also loves your worst (to you) neighbor.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16 NIV

“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.  Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT

“If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life!  Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!” Romans 5:10-11, MSG

Adam got us into this mess, but God sent Jesus to get us out!

Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life!  One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.

All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.  Romans 5:18-20, MSG

Dear Friends, THIS is real love.

Lord,

Thank you for teaching us that your love goes far beyond and well above what humans first think.  We judge, manipulate, lie, cheat, coerce and even beg people to love us, when at our worst, you reached out to us and simply loved us, saved us and set us free to love by your forgiving standard of pure mercy and grace.  Your love is greater and higher and greatly desired by a me and the rest of the hurting world seeking love that is real.  You are real.  You are love.  May we love like you love us—without conditions.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

As I read the final chapter of Daniel’s vision of what will happen, I am reminded of the love of God along with the meaning of God’s love as expressed by John.  John was also one to whom God revealed what will happen “in the end” as Jesus comes back to claim His own—the ones who really believe that what God says is really real.  Allow me to introduce you to John…

John defines God’s love:

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”  1 John 4:7-8

God’s love demonstrated:

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  1 John 4: 9-10

How to love completely like God:

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”  1 John 4: 11-12

To love with the love of God in us is to live wisely.  Those who live wisely in this divine love of God that goes beyond human love are those who will “shine brilliantly” according the what Michael shares with Daniel!  And get this, friends…Those who help others find and follow Jesus, the demonstration of God’s love for us, “will glow like stars forever”!  THIS is what it means to live wisely.  Now, back to Daniel’s wrap up…

Daniel 12, The Message

The Worst Trouble the World Has Ever Seen

^1-2 “‘That’s when Michael, the great angel-prince, champion of your people, will step in. It will be a time of trouble, the worst trouble the world has ever seen. But your people will be saved from the trouble, every last one found written in the Book. Many who have been long dead and buried will wake up, some to eternal life, others to eternal shame.

³ “‘Men and women who have lived wisely and well will shine brilliantly, like the cloudless, star-strewn night skies. And those who put others on the right path to life will glow like stars forever.

⁴ “‘This is a confidential report, Daniel, for your eyes and ears only. Keep it secret. Put the book under lock and key until the end. In the interim there is going to be a lot of frantic running around, trying to figure out what’s going on.’

* * *

^5-6 “As I, Daniel, took all this in, two figures appeared, one standing on this bank of the river and one on the other bank. One of them asked a third man who was dressed in linen and who straddled the river, ‘How long is this astonishing story to go on?’

⁷ “The man dressed in linen, who straddled the river, raised both hands to the skies. I heard him solemnly swear by the Eternal One that it would be a time, two times, and half a time, that when the oppressor of the holy people was brought down the story would be complete.

⁸ “I heard all this plainly enough, but I didn’t understand it. So I asked, ‘Master, can you explain this to me?’

^9-10 “‘Go on about your business, Daniel,’ he said. ‘The message is confidential and under lock and key until the end, until things are about to be wrapped up. The populace will be washed clean and made like new. But the wicked will just keep on being wicked, without a clue about what is happening. Those who live wisely and well will understand what’s going on.’

* * *

¹¹ “From the time that the daily worship is banished from the Temple and the obscene desecration is set up in its place, there will be 1,290 days.

¹² “Blessed are those who patiently make it through the 1,335 days.

¹³ “And you? Go about your business without fretting or worrying. Relax. When it’s all over, you will be on your feet to receive your reward.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Love God with all our hearts, minds and souls.  Love others like God loves us—unconditionally. This is our “business.”  To obey the command to love is revolutionary to a world searching for real, authentic love.

“Don’t worry or fret” about how it all plays out in the end, relax!  Yes!, that’s what Michael told Daniel…go about the business of loving God back and helping others to find God’s love, too!  This is living wisely—loving others, making God’s love complete in us—full circle.  John, again, backs up what Michael told Daniel—what a parallel to God’s story of love and redemption!

John relates how to spot false prophets:

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”  1 John 4: 1-3

We are overcomers who live wisely with the love of God in us:

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”  1 John 4: 4-6

God’s Love—Our Blessed Assurance!

“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  1 John 4:13-18

And finally, John brings it home with:

“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.  1 John 4:19-21

Mm, this is a “command”, not a suggestion or a feel-good moment in time, but a forever command.  This is living wisely.

Michael concludes his message to Daniel with this: “When it’s all over, you will be on your feet to receive your reward.”

What is the reward—life forever with God!  We long to hear, “well done, good a faithful servant” from the One who loves us most.  How do I know?  The gospels are full of the love of God expressed in Jesus…

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John share story after story of God’s love expressed through the actions of His One and Only Son, Jesus. Jesus also shares what will happen when He comes back.  (Read all of Matthew 25 for a great start!) 

If you don’t get anything else, get this truth and cling to God’s love “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Believe, really believe and be saved forever.  Then live wisely.

We are redeemed because we are so dearly loved.  Live gratefully and humbly like the redeemed so others will see our glow and be drawn to the one who makes us shine, reflecting His glory!

Oh Lord,

Your love is greater still than I can imagine!  Your words go to the depths of my heart with cleansing power.  You have renewed my mind and refreshed my soul!  You have restored the joy of your salvation at work in me.  Thank you for loving me the way you do.  Help me to love others like you love me.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!  I believe!

As I read the revelation of Daniel, I can only think of the chaos produced when the teacher leaves the classroom for a moment.  The teacher gives students work to do, but if the teacher leaves their sight, even for a few moments, then somehow, the children think that the physical absence means they can do what they want and get by with it because the teacher can’t see them.  Chaos soon builds until someone gets hurt or the teacher comes back into the room to gain control of the situation.  The same happens on the playground. 

The playground is a place where most children fight for control.  As teachers, we watch leaders emerge and fall as they play this game.  We call it the “King of the Hill” syndrome.  Let me explain.  Construction workers had left a huge pile of dirt from a project on our playground.  What happens next is inevitable.  Even if a teacher is present, children cannot fight the urge to get to the top of the “mountain” and declare themselves the winner, the “King of the Hill.”  Seconds later, along comes a more powerful student who knocks the kid off his new perch as king.  The fallen end up in the dirt pit at the bottom.  The more powerful student is now King of the Hill until…  Yes, this can go one for hours until the Teacher calls them to come and line up to go back to class.

The angel of God is revealing to Daniel how the world will respond to kings who play the evil game of King of the Hill.  Kings who fall for evil and defy God will seem like they are winning but only for a short time.  Chaos will ensue because the Teacher is not where evil resides and runs rampant.  Kings who defy God will chaotically lead people into fierce, destructive battles to be King of the Hill—all because they want to be God.  Sound familiar?  Satan did the same in heaven just before he was kicked out.  Satan is our real enemy.

The result of playing King of the Hill is describe in this chapter and in chapter 12.

Daniel 11, The Message

“‘And I, in my turn, have been helping him out as best I can ever since the first year in the reign of Darius the Mede.’

The Kings of the South and the North

² “‘But now let me tell you the truth of how things stand: Three more kings of Persia will show up, and then a fourth will become richer than all of them. When he senses that he is powerful enough as a result of his wealth, he will go to war against the entire kingdom of Greece.

^3-4 “‘Then a powerful king will show up and take over a huge territory and run things just as he pleases. But at the height of his power, with everything seemingly under control, his kingdom will split into four parts, like the four points of the compass. But his heirs won’t get in on it. There will be no continuity with his kingship. Others will tear it to pieces and grab whatever they can get for themselves.

^5-6 “‘Next the king of the south will grow strong, but one of his princes will grow stronger than he and rule an even larger territory. After a few years, the two of them will make a pact, and the daughter of the king of the south will marry the king of the north to cement the peace agreement. But her influence will weaken and her child will not survive. She and her servants, her child, and her husband will be betrayed.

^6-9 “‘Sometime later a member of the royal family will show up and take over. He will take command of his army and invade the defenses of the king of the north and win a resounding victory. He will load up their tin gods and all the gold and silver trinkets that go with them and cart them off to Egypt. Eventually, the king of the north will recover and invade the country of the king of the south, but unsuccessfully. He will have to retreat.

¹⁰ “‘But then his sons will raise a huge army and rush down like a flood, a torrential attack, on the defenses of the south.

^11-13 “‘Furious, the king of the south will come out and engage the king of the north and his huge army in battle and rout them. As the corpses are cleared from the field, the king, inflamed with bloodlust, will go on a bloodletting rampage, massacring tens of thousands. But his victory won’t last long, for the king of the north will put together another army bigger than the last one, and after a few years he’ll come back to do battle again with his immense army and endless supplies.

¹⁴ “‘In those times, many others will get into the act and go off to fight against the king of the south. Hotheads from your own people, drunk on dreams, will join them. But they’ll sputter out.

^15-17 “‘When the king of the north arrives, he’ll build siege works and capture the outpost fortress city. The armies of the south will fall to pieces before him. Not even their famous commando shock troops will slow down the attacker. He’ll march in big as you please, as if he owned the place. He’ll take over that beautiful country, Palestine, and make himself at home in it. Then he’ll proceed to get everything, lock, stock, and barrel, in his control. He’ll cook up a peace treaty and even give his daughter in marriage to the king of the south in a plot to destroy him totally. But the plot will fizzle. It won’t succeed.

^18-19 “‘Later, he’ll turn his attention to the coastal regions and capture a bunch of prisoners, but a general will step in and put a stop to his bullying ways. The bully will be bullied! He’ll go back home and tend to his own military affairs. But by then he’ll be washed up and soon will be heard of no more.

²⁰ “‘He will be replaced shortly by a real loser, his rule, reputation, and authority already in shreds. And he won’t last long. He’ll slip out of history quietly, without even a fight.

^21-24 “‘His place will be taken by a reject, a man spurned and passed over for advancement. He’ll surprise everyone, seemingly coming out of nowhere, and will seize the kingdom. He’ll come in like a steamroller, flattening the opposition. Even the Prince of the Covenant will be crushed. After negotiating a cease-fire, he’ll betray its terms. With a few henchmen, he’ll take total control. Arbitrarily and impulsively, he’ll invade the richest provinces. He’ll surpass all his ancestors, near and distant, in his rape of the country, grabbing and looting, living with his cronies in corrupt and lavish luxury.

^24-26 “‘He will make plans against the fortress cities, but they’ll turn out to be shortsighted. He’ll get a great army together, all charged up to fight the king of the south. The king of the south in response will get his army—an even greater army—in place, ready to fight. But he won’t be able to sustain that intensity for long because of the treacherous intrigue in his own ranks, his court having been honeycombed with vicious plots. His army will be smashed, the battlefield filled with corpses.

²⁷ “‘The two kings, each with evil designs on the other, will sit at the conference table and trade lies. Nothing will come of the treaty, which is nothing but a tissue of lies anyway. But that’s not the end of it. There’s more to this story.

²⁸ “‘The king of the north will go home loaded down with plunder, but his mind will be set on destroying the holy covenant as he passes through the country on his way home.

^29-32 “‘One year later he will mount a fresh invasion of the south. But the second invasion won’t compare to the first. When the Roman ships arrive, he will turn tail and go back home. But as he passes through the country, he will be filled with anger at the holy covenant. He will take up with all those who betray the holy covenant, favoring them. The bodyguards surrounding him will march in and desecrate the Sanctuary and citadel. They’ll throw out the daily worship and set up in its place the obscene sacrilege. The king of the north will play up to those who betray the holy covenant, corrupting them even further with his seductive talk, but those who stay courageously loyal to their God will take a strong stand.

^33-35 “‘Those who keep their heads on straight will teach the crowds right from wrong by their example. They’ll be put to severe testing for a season: some killed, some burned, some exiled, some robbed. When the testing is intense, they’ll get some help, but not much. Many of the helpers will be halfhearted at best. The testing will refine, cleanse, and purify those who keep their heads on straight and stay true, for there is still more to come.

^36-39 “‘Meanwhile, the king of the north will do whatever he pleases. He’ll puff himself up and posture himself as greater than any god. He will even dare to brag and boast in defiance of the God of gods. And he’ll get by with it for a while—until this time of wrathful judgment is completed, for what is decreed must be done. He will have no respect for the gods of his ancestors, not even that popular favorite among women, Adonis. Contemptuous of every god and goddess, the king of the north will puff himself up greater than all of them. He’ll even stoop to despising the God of the holy ones, and in the place where God is worshiped he will put on exhibit, with a lavish show of silver and gold and jewels, a new god that no one has ever heard of. Marching under the banner of a strange god, he will attack the key fortresses. He will promote everyone who falls into line behind this god, putting them in positions of power and paying them off with grants of land.

^40-45 “‘In the final wrap-up of this story, the king of the south will confront him. But the king of the north will come at him like a tornado. Unleashing chariots and horses and an armada of ships, he’ll blow away anything in his path. As he enters the beautiful land, people will fall before him like dominoes. Only Edom, Moab, and a few Ammonites will escape. As he reaches out, grabbing country after country, not even Egypt will be exempt. He will confiscate the treasuries of Egyptian gold and silver and other valuables. The Libyans and Ethiopians will fall in with him. Then disturbing reports will come in from the north and east that will throw him into a panic. Towering in rage, he’ll rush to stamp out the threat. But he’ll no sooner have pitched camp between the Mediterranean Sea and the Holy Mountain—all those royal tents!—than he’ll meet his end. And not a soul around who can help!’”

But wait, there’s more…tomorrow the wrap up with reward for those who stood with God is revealed to Daniel.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God wins in the end.  So, knowing this and how much He loves us, we:

• Stay focused on God and what He wants. 
• Pray, wait, trust, and obey what God says. 
• Stay strong and firm on the Rock of our salvation.  Testing is for a moment but God is forever.
• Know God.  Above and around us at this very instant, God’s messengers are at work.
• Don’t give up.  Remember that even when you can’t see it, God is working for our good.
• Go encourage others to not lose faith. Share this King of the Hill lesson with them and receive encouragement ourselves in the telling of the Good News!

Lord,

Thank you for Daniel’s words of what is now and is to come.  We know, without a doubt that you are the Teacher, Master, Savior and Lord, King of kings and Lord of lords.  You have not left the building of our lives.  You are in control.  You have redeemed us.  You are our victory over all that is evil.  Yes, you are God, the One and Only God.  We are not.  We do not want to be.  Continue to teach and transform our lives on earth as we prepare to meet you in a place you have prepared.  You are Life, our Hope, Salvation, Love, Joy and Peace.  To you be the glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen

The Teacher has not left the room…

The Father has promised a kingdom to His Son, and He will keep His promise. One day Jesus will deliver that promised kingdom up to the Father. Knowing the Father’s promise, Satan tempted Jesus by offering Him all the kingdoms of the world in return for His worship; and Jesus refused. Jesus affirmed the kingdom promise to His disciples. When they asked Him when it would be fulfilled, He only told them not to speculate about the times but to get busy doing the work He had left them to do.

The Teacher is preparing the room for each one who believes and follows Him.

(John 14:3)

Many believers have fasted for a day, going about their day, praying instead of eating physical food.  God’s church has promoted prayer and fasting as programs to get people to talk with God and take time to listen.  Some fast to ask God to bless what they want to accomplish as a church.  The latter is not pleasing to God. 

Daniel teaches us that fasting is a time of mourning over sins, tenacious praying for God’s will be done along with courageous waiting.  Waiting?  Wait, what?!  We don’t like to wait, do we?  We want to get alone for a few minutes to pray, asking God for what will relieve our current situation, while expecting an immediate answer that will flow from God’s mouth to our ears.  We want immediate results.  In other words, we want microwave actions for our few minutes of praying.  Done and done. 

The angel messenger teaches Daniel that his prayers were being heard. “From the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard, and I set out to come to you. But I was waylaid…as if to say, “wait, one moment, for we are having spiritual technical difficulties.”  The answer was decided but waiting was involved on the part of the one requesting.

Daniel 10, The Message

A Vision of a Big War

In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was made plain to Daniel, whose Babylonian name was Belteshazzar. The message was true. It dealt with a big war. He understood the message, the understanding coming by revelation:

^2-3 “During those days, I, Daniel, went into mourning over Jerusalem for three weeks. I ate only plain and simple food, no seasoning or meat or wine. I neither bathed nor shaved until the three weeks were up.

^4-6 “On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris. I looked up and to my surprise saw a man dressed in linen with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body was hard and glistening, as if sculpted from a precious stone, his face radiant, his eyes bright and penetrating like torches, his arms and feet glistening like polished bronze, and his voice, deep and resonant, sounded like a huge choir of voices.

^7-8 “I, Daniel, was the only one to see this. The men who were with me, although they didn’t see it, were overcome with fear and ran off and hid, fearing the worst. Left alone after the appearance, abandoned by my friends, I went weak in the knees, the blood drained from my face.

^9-10 “I heard his voice. At the sound of it I fainted, fell flat on the ground, face in the dirt. A hand touched me and pulled me to my hands and knees.

¹¹ “‘Daniel,’ he said, ‘man of quality, listen carefully to my message. And get up on your feet. Stand at attention. I’ve been sent to bring you news.’

“When he had said this, I stood up, but I was still shaking.

^12-14 “‘Relax, Daniel,’ he continued, ‘don’t be afraid. From the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard, and I set out to come to you. But I was waylaid by the angel-prince of the kingdom of Persia and was delayed for a good three weeks. But then Michael, one of the chief angel-princes, intervened to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. And now I’m here to help you understand what will eventually happen to your people. The vision has to do with what’s ahead.’

^15-17 “While he was saying all this, I looked at the ground and said nothing. Then I was surprised by something like a human hand that touched my lips. I opened my mouth and started talking to the messenger: ‘When I saw you, master, I was terror-stricken. My knees turned to water. I couldn’t move. How can I, a lowly servant, speak to you, my master? I’m paralyzed. I can hardly breathe!’

^18-19 “Then this humanlike figure touched me again and gave me strength. He said, ‘Don’t be afraid, friend. Peace. Everything is going to be all right. Take courage. Be strong.’

“Even as he spoke, courage surged up within me. I said, ‘Go ahead, let my master speak. You’ve given me courage.’

^20-21 “He said, ‘Do you know why I’ve come here to you? I now have to go back to fight against the angel-prince of Persia, and when I get him out of the way, the angel-prince of Greece will arrive. But first let me tell you what’s written in The True Book. No one helps me in my fight against these beings except Michael, your angel-prince.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

It’s not as much about doing without regular meals, getting alone to pray, but it’s in the expectant, courageous waiting that humbles us and causes us to LET GO of all we think we control in order to ready ourselves to listen with understanding to the supreme answer that God is about to deliver.

This is our war.  Satan loves busy people who do not wait.  We are most venerable and weak when we refuse to wait on God.

Daniel mourned, fasted, and prayed for his nation for three weeks, but it only seemed God wasn’t listening. On day 22, an angel appeared to Daniel, explaining that God had sent the answer immediately, but he was delayed because of a spiritual battle.  The answer to our prayer often doesn’t come immediately. However, like Daniel, we need to persevere and believe that God’s answer is on the way.

Waiting to God does not involve worry!  It does not mean to fret, make demands, or take control. Nor is waiting inactivity. Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief. Read ALL of Psalm 37 to understand waiting.  Here is a snapshot: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…”  And another snippet, “Hope in the Lord and keep his way.”  This psalm also tells us that God will lift us up in the wait and give us courage as we wait.  Wow, sounds as if we actually grow in the wait, right?

Max Lucado, writer-speaker-pastor, tells his “waiting testimony”: 

“Waiting is easier read than done. It doesn’t come easily for me. I’ve been in a hurry my whole life. Hurrying to school, hurrying to finish homework. Pedal faster, drive quicker. I used to put my wristwatch face on the inside of my arm so I wouldn’t lose the millisecond it took to turn my wrist. What insanity! I wonder if I could have obeyed God’s ancient command to keep the Sabbath holy. To slow life to a crawl for 24 hours. The Sabbath was created for frantic souls like me, people who need this weekly reminder: The world will not stop if you do!”

Waiting is not easy for any of us but very necessary for our communication with the One who loves us most and wants the very best for us.  God instructed His people arriving to the promised to stop their work three times a year and gather for worship.  To stop all work!  To be still, let go and humble themselves before the God of promises and provisions!  Remember, while on the journey to the promised land, (forty years of waiting), God literally gave daily manna food as a reminder that it was necessary to thank God daily for what He had provided—in the wait!  It could not be stored but had to be eaten that day.

Friends, there is always so much more to God’s story than the words on the paper.  God wants our hearts.  God wants us to wait by humbly letting go and letting Him restore the joy of His salvation at work within us.  When this happens, pure, holy peace results.

While Daniel was waiting, God was working. I wonder what if Daniel had given up? Lost faith? Walked away from God?  Better questions: What if I give up? Lose faith? Walk away?  What if you?  Don’t. For heaven’s sake, don’t. All of heaven is warring on our behalf. Above and around us at this very instant, God’s messengers are at work.

Fast, pray, and wait.  It is beneficial for our faith and trust in God.  Lean into the message the angel gave to Daniel today:

“Don’t be afraid, friend. Peace. Everything is going to be all right. Take courage. Be strong.”

“God’s my strength, he’s also my song, and now he’s my salvation.”  Psalm 118:14 MSG

Lord,

Thank you for this message of wait.  In the wait you grow and mature us.  In the wait, new mercies are given.  Great is your faithfulness, O Lord!  All I have needed your hands have provided.  I believe.  All I am I owe to you and give back to you. To you be the glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen

Daniel is teaching us how to pray as well as how to be in prayer—honest and sincere. God wants nothing less than honesty in our talking with him.  God knows our hearts, glad or sad, joyous or troubled, bearing all or keeping it all inside.  Nothing escapes God’s notice when it concerns what is concerning us. 

As we read of Daniel’s visions that tell of things to come that we really don’t want to deal with but is necessary to learn, we come to a place where Daniel, high officer in the Babylonian kingdom, who is more comfortable than most exiles, lays down the royal robes and puts on burlap.  Daniel then falls to his knees in the dust with all of God’s people on his mind.  Daniel is in the ashes crying out for an end to the well-deserved punishment for the hideous, repulsive, rebellious, perverted sins of God’s people.  Daniel, it seems, as taken all that sin upon himself and is crying out to God, asking for God’s compassions to “fail not”, as the scriptures say that Daniel is meditating upon as he prays! 

Daniel is adamant and quite passionate in the admission of all those sins as he tells  God, “Yes, we have all sinned and we all deserve the punishment that you had to dish out, but now, God, how long?”  We must admit, we have prayed the “how long” prayer, right?

God hears prayers like Daniel’s prayer.  And God answers before the prayer is finished!  Friends, what bring me to tears, (yes, that ugly but tender cry), are these words said first before the message of things to come is given: “Daniel…you are so loved.” 

As Daniel prays for hope, Hope is delivered.  “You are so loved.”  Can you just hear God saying these words to Daniel affectionally and compassionately through Gabriel?

Friends, we are so loved by the same God that delivered hope to Daniel.  “For God so loved the world (that’s you and I and all of us on earth) that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16) Jesus, God’s Son, left heaven to walk among us.  He taught us how to love like God loves us.  He showed us who God really is and what He wants.  Jesus then took all our sins and placed them on his shoulders in passionate prayer, taking the “cup” as God asked.  Then Jesus willingly laid down his life for ours, taking all the punishment for those sins that we well deserved and died an excruciating death—Our sins nailed to a cross.  The mission to save the world complete. 

Jesus went to hell and back again to defeat death and rose to life on the Third Day—left that grave—just as He said He would.  Jesus, Our Only Hope.  Jesus, our Savior and now our Lord for all who believe—really believe.

Daniel 9, The Message

God’s Covenant Commitment

^1-4 “Darius, son of Ahasuerus, born a Mede, became king over the land of Babylon. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was meditating on the Scriptures that gave, according to the Word of God to the prophet Jeremiah, the number of years that Jerusalem had to lie in ruins, namely, seventy. I turned to the Master God, asking for an answer—praying earnestly, fasting from meals, wearing rough penitential burlap, and kneeling in the ashes. I poured out my heart, baring my soul to God, my God:

^4-8 “‘O Master, great and august God. You never waver in your covenant commitment, never give up on those who love you and do what you say. Yet we have sinned in every way imaginable. We’ve done evil things, rebelled, dodged and taken detours around your clearly marked paths. We’ve turned a deaf ear to your servants the prophets, who preached your Word to our kings and leaders, our parents, and all the people in the land. You have done everything right, Master, but all we have to show for our lives is guilt and shame, the whole lot of us—people of Judah, citizens of Jerusalem, Israel at home and Israel in exile in all the places we’ve been banished to because of our betrayal of you. Oh yes, God, we’ve been exposed in our shame, all of us—our kings, leaders, parents—before the whole world. And deservedly so, because of our sin.

^9-12 “‘Compassion is our only hope, the compassion of you, the Master, our God, since in our rebellion we’ve forfeited our rights. We paid no attention to you when you told us how to live, the clear teaching that came through your servants the prophets. All of us in Israel ignored what you said. We defied your instructions and did what we pleased. And now we’re paying for it: The solemn curse written out plainly in the revelation to God’s servant Moses is now doing its work among us, the wages of our sin against you. You did to us and our rulers what you said you would do: You brought this catastrophic disaster on us, the worst disaster on record—and in Jerusalem!

^13-14 “‘Just as written in God’s revelation to Moses, the catastrophe was total. Nothing was held back. We kept at our sinning, never giving you a second thought, oblivious to your clear warning, and so you had no choice but to let the disaster loose on us in full force. You, our God, had a perfect right to do this since we persistently and defiantly ignored you.

^15-17 “‘Master, you are our God, for you delivered your people from the land of Egypt in a show of power—people are still talking about it! We confess that we have sinned, that we have lived bad lives. Following the lines of what you have always done in setting things right, setting people right, please stop being so angry with Jerusalem, your very own city, your holy mountain. We know it’s our fault that this has happened, all because of our sins and our parents’ sins, and now we’re an embarrassment to everyone around us. We’re a blot on the neighborhood. So listen, God, to this determined prayer of your servant. Have mercy on your ruined Sanctuary. Act out of who you are, not out of what we are.

¹⁸ “‘Turn your ears our way, God, and listen. Open your eyes and take a long look at our ruined city, this city named after you. We know that we don’t deserve a hearing from you. Our appeal is to your compassion. This prayer is our last and only hope:

¹⁹     “‘Master, listen to us!
    Master, forgive us!
    Master, look at us and do something!
    Master, don’t put us off!
    Your city and your people are named after you:
    You have a stake in us!’

Seventy Sevens

^20-21 “While I was pouring out my heart, baring my sins and the sins of my people Israel, praying my life out before my God, interceding for the holy mountain of my God—while I was absorbed in this praying, the humanlike Gabriel, the one I had seen in an earlier vision, approached me, flying in like a bird about the time of evening worship.

^22-23 “He stood before me and said, ‘Daniel, I have come to make things plain to you. You had no sooner started your prayer when the answer was given. And now I’m here to deliver the answer to you. You are much loved! So listen carefully to the answer, the plain meaning of what is revealed:

²⁴ “‘Seventy sevens are set for your people and for your holy city to throttle rebellion, stop sin, wipe out crime, set things right forever, confirm what the prophet saw, and anoint The Holy of Holies.

^25-26 “‘Here is what you must understand: From the time the word goes out to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Anointed Leader, there will be seven sevens. The rebuilding will take sixty-two sevens, including building streets and digging a moat. Those will be rough times. After the sixty-two sevens, the Anointed Leader will be killed—the end of him. The city and Sanctuary will be laid in ruins by the army of the newly arriving leader. The end will come in a rush, like a flood. War will rage right up to the end, desolation the order of the day.

²⁷ “‘Then for one seven, he will forge many and strong alliances, but halfway through the seven he will banish worship and prayers. At the place of worship, a desecrating obscenity will be set up and remain until finally the desecrator himself is decisively destroyed.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

We are so loved!  Our response?  Love God back!

Believe, repent, and be saved from all our sins. Live expectantly with hope forever!  Watch what God does, hear what God says—and do that!  Trust and obey, for there’s no other way…

Yes, harder stuff is coming, but God wins in the end.  He always has and always will.

Lord,

You are our only Hope for life forever.  You are the One and Only who can be trusted with our very lives for you created us, you know us and you love us still!  The prayer of Daniel, “Master, listen to us! Master, forgive us! Master, look at us and do something! Master, don’t put us off! Your city and your people are named after you: You have a stake in us!” has been answered profoundly and forever by you, dear Jesus!  Thank you for saving us. Thank you for bringing up from the ashes to see the beauty of living life with you. Yes, Lord, I love you back—with all my heart, mind and soul.

In Jesus Name, Amen

There will be an end to this world’s pride, “do it my way” attitudes, pride in ministries, self-promotion through manipulation, the hunger for power and more power and control.  Guess what?  In the end, God wins.  God has always won because He is God.  God is always in control of all that He has created.  Humans are awarded free will to make choices, but God works all things for the good of those who love Him.  On top of all that, Jesus, His Son, set things right with God for all who believe and repent of all sins that have been paid for in full.  God is good and greatly to be praised, indeed!

If we are dazed by what is going on now, there is more to come.  We are not defeated!  Hang on. Get a grip on God’s grace.  Hang on to the Hand who loves you most.  Love like God loves us as if our lives depended on it…because it does.

Daniel 8, The Message

A Vision of a Ram and a Billy Goat

“In King Belshazzar’s third year as king, another vision came to me, Daniel. This was now the second vision.

^2-4 “In the vision, I saw myself in Susa, the capital city of the province Elam, standing at the Ulai Canal. Looking around, I was surprised to see a ram also standing at the gate. The ram had two huge horns, one bigger than the other, but the bigger horn was the last to appear. I watched as the ram charged: first west, then north, then south. No beast could stand up to him. He did just as he pleased, strutting as if he were king of the beasts.

^5-7 “While I was watching this, wondering what it all meant, I saw a billy goat with an immense horn in the middle of its forehead come up out of the west and fly across the whole country, not once touching the ground. The billy goat approached the double-horned ram that I had earlier seen standing at the gate and, enraged, charged it viciously. I watched as, mad with rage, it charged the ram and hit it so hard that it broke off its two horns. The ram didn’t stand a chance against it. The billy goat knocked the ram to the ground and stomped all over it. Nothing could have saved the ram from the goat.

^8-12 “Then the billy goat swelled to an enormous size. At the height of its power its immense horn broke off and four other big horns sprouted in its place, pointing to the four points of the compass. And then from one of these big horns another horn sprouted. It started small, but then grew to an enormous size, facing south and east—toward lovely Palestine. The horn grew tall, reaching to the stars, the heavenly army, and threw some of the stars to the earth and stomped on them. It even dared to challenge the power of God, Prince of the Celestial Army! And then it threw out daily worship and desecrated the Sanctuary. As judgment against their sin, the holy people of God got the same treatment as the daily worship. The horn cast God’s Truth aside. High-handed, it took over everything and everyone.

¹³ “Then I overheard two holy angels talking. One asked, ‘How long is what we see here going to last—the abolishing of daily worship, this devastating judgment against sin, the kicking around of God’s holy people and the Sanctuary?’

¹⁴ “The other answered, ‘Over the course of 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning. Then the Sanctuary will be set right again.’

* * *

¹⁵ “While I, Daniel, was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, suddenly there was a humanlike figure standing before me.

^16-17 “Then I heard a man’s voice from over by the Ulai Canal calling out, ‘Gabriel, tell this man what is going on. Explain the vision to him.’ He came up to me, but when he got close I became terrified and fell facedown on the ground.

^17-18 “He said, ‘Understand that this vision has to do with the time of the end.’ As soon as he spoke, I fainted, my face in the dirt. But he picked me up and put me on my feet.

¹⁹ “And then he continued, ‘I want to tell you what is going to happen as the judgment days of wrath wind down, for there is going to be an end to all this.

^20-22 “‘The double-horned ram you saw stands for the two kings of the Medes and Persians. The billy goat stands for the kingdom of the Greeks. The huge horn on its forehead is the first Greek king. The four horns that sprouted after it was broken off are the four kings that come after him, but without his power.

^23-26 “‘As their kingdoms cool down
    and rebellions heat up,
A king will show up,
    hard-faced, a master trickster.
His power will swell enormously.
    He’ll talk big, high-handedly,
Doing whatever he pleases,
    knocking off heroes and holy ones left and right.
He’ll plot and scheme to make crime flourish—
    and oh, how it will flourish!
He’ll think he’s invincible
    and get rid of anyone who gets in his way.
But when he takes on the Prince of all princes,
    he’ll be smashed to bits—
    but not by human hands.
This vision of the 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning,
    is accurate but confidential.
Keep it to yourself.
    It refers to the far future.’

* * *

²⁷ “I, Daniel, walked around in a daze, unwell for days. Then I got a grip on myself and went back to work taking care of the king’s affairs. But I continued to be upset by the vision. I couldn’t make sense of it.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

So far, Daniel has taught us about passionate, on your knees, praying, tenacious, unrelenting faith and the refusal to give up on the God who saves us.  Right now, as we read about earthly kingdoms who will go to war for top billing in this world, I think of Jesus.  I think of what He did to save me.  I think of how He went to hell, defeated our real enemy and death, and rose again to give us life forever.  For—ever!

So, does it matter who does what to whom?  I feel a song of praise…

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name.
Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain;
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all Heaven and earth proclaim
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,
But there’s something about that name.
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,
But there’s something about that name.

(“There’s Just Something about that Name” by Bill and Gloria Gather)

Final victory…

“Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:1-11)

Lord,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms…

In Jesus Name, Amen