November 10

DANIEL 9

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.³ Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷ To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. ⁸ To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him ¹⁰ and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. – Daniel 9:1-10

DANIEL 9 CONFESSION & FERVENT PRAYER

According to sources Daniel ministered from 605–539/538 BC. This makes him a contemporary of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, though Daniel’s ministry ended after theirs. Jeremiah prophesied the 70 years of captivity. In Jeremiah 25:2 we hear that Jeremiah spoke of this prophecy to all of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Daniel must have heard of Jeremiah’s prediction of the length of Jerusalem’s desolation Jeremiah had revealed that the city would lie in ruins for 70 years and then God would destroy Babylonia.

Daniel’s response to Jeremiah’s prophecy was to plead God for mercy. He fasted and confessed all the sins of God’s people and asked for forgiveness for the idolatry and disobedience. His prayer was full of the knowledge of the God he served very faithfully.

REFLECTION

• What lessons can we learn from Daniel’s response to the word of the Lord?

November 9

DANIEL 8

¹⁸ And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. ¹⁹ He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. ²⁰ As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹ And the goatis the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. ²² As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. ²³ And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. ²⁴ His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. ²⁵ By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. ²⁶ The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” ²⁷ And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.

                                                                     – Daniel 8:18-27

DANIEL 8 GOD’S CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTE MANIFESTED

In this account we see God’s sovereignty over history and events. He has the sole control over what is to come. Another attribute of God manifested in this account is his omniscience which is all-knowing. Only God knows all things, He knows what is to come and how people think and what is in their hearts.

Another characteristic that God showed here is his compassion and provision to Daniel. He knew that Daniel was struggling to understand the vision and so he provided answers to him through an angel. He also comforted him that these events won’t happen until much later so he shouldn’t be so concerned regarding them and must keep these dream interpretations to himself. Isn’t it reassuring to know that God is the only one in control and his plan will come to pass whether we like it or not? Because Daniel was faithful to God, he was given such honor to know future events that will come.

REFLECTION

• What are some attributes and character of God that he has clearly shown you?

November 7

DANIEL 8

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. ² And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. ³ I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. ⁴ I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.⁵ As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. ⁶ He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. ⁷ I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. ⁸ Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. – Daniel 8:1-8

DANIEL 8 VISION OF THE RAM & THE GOAT

According to sources, Daniel was in Susa which is now modern-day Iran when he had this vision. Elam was the name of the province where Susa stood when Daniel wrote this book, not necessarily when he had this vision. Susa became Esther’s home. One hundred seven years later, it was the city from which Nehemiah departed to return to Palestine (Esther 1:2; Nehemiah 1:1). The “citadel” was the palace that housed the royal residence, and it had strong fortifications. According to sources, the “ram” (male sheep) that Daniel saw standing before the canal represented Medo-Persia (Daniel 8:20). The two horns, representing power, symbolized Media and Persia, the two kingdoms that formed an alliance to create Medo-Persia. The goat in verse 5 represents Greece (Daniel 8:21) and the conspicuous horn between his eyes is clearly Alexander the Great as history proves. Normally goats have two horns, so this goat was unusual. Under Alexander, the Greek armies advanced quickly from the west against Persia.

REFLECTION

·       Why do you think Daniel’s vision involved animals and not direct kingdoms?

November 3

DANIEL 7

⁹ “As I looked, thrones were placed,
    and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
    his clothing was white as snow,
    and the hair of his head like pure wool;
    his throne was fiery flames;
    its wheels were burning fire.”
¹⁰ A stream of fire issued
    and came out from before him;
    a thousand thousands served him,
    and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
    the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

¹¹ “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. ¹² As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. – Daniel 7:9-12

DANIEL 7 THE ANCIENT OF DAYS RULE

This account narrates the parts of Daniel’s dream and it focuses on the title of God “Ancient of Days.” According to gotquestions.org website, this title of God is found only three times in the bible namely Daniel 7:9,13 and 22. Verse 22 refers specifically to Jesus whose judgment will be part of the end-times events. In Daniel 7:13, the term “ancient of days” refers to God the Father, and we see Him on His throne as Jesus, the “Son of Man” approaches the throne on clouds. God is a triune God, meaning three Persons in One, and at different times “Ancient of Days” refers to Jesus Christ and at other times, to God the Father. But in the prophetic sense, it clearly refers to Jesus, the Ancient of Days returning to pronounce judgment on the world (Daniel 7:22).”

What does this title of God mean to us Christians? Should we shudder knowing that one of these days, we will be held accountable to how we live our lives? Many of us do not really want to ponder on this title of God because it reminds us how we will be held accountable for every little or big thing we do in life. Daniel’s prophetic vision could be a warning for us all to watch how we live our lives. Are we serving God or ourselves?

REFLECTION

• Why do you think this “judge” title of God scares many people?

November 2

DANIEL 7

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. ² Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. ³ And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. ⁴ The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. ⁵ And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ ⁶ After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. ⁷ After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸ I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. – Daniel 7:1-8

DANIEL 7 FOUR BEASTS IN DANIEL’S DREAM

This account narrates the dream that troubled Daniel concerning the four great beasts. The dream started with the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea and it was from it that the four great beasts came out of. The first beast was described as a lion that had eagles’ wings which were plucked off and it was lifted up from the ground and stood on two feet like a man and was given a man’s mind. The second beast was like a bear and was raised up on one side with three ribs in its mouth between its teeth and was told to come out and eat a lot of flesh. The third was like a leopard with four wings on its back and had four heads and dominion was given to it. The fourth beast, the most horrific one, had great iron teeth and devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what’s left with its feet. It had ten horns that had eyes in each horn and a mouth speaking great things.

The dream greatly worried Daniel and we won’t know its meaning until the next verse in 15-17 where an angel will interpret his dream.

REFLECTION

·       Why do you think Daniel was worried and bothered by his dream?

November 1

DANIEL 6

²⁵ Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. ²⁶ I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion

people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel,

for he is the living God,
    enduring forever;
his kingdom shall never be destroyed,
    and his dominion shall be to the end.
²⁷ He delivers and rescues;
    he works signs and wonders
    in heaven and on earth,
he who has saved Daniel
    from the power of the lions.”

²⁸ So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.        

                                                                   – Daniel 6:25-28

DANIEL 6 TREMBLE & FEAR BEFORE THE LIVING GOD

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Do you know that your life is not yours, it is the Lord’s?

So why would you even doubt your true worth?

The Lord is Almighty, tremble and fear before the living God

He is able to deliver you from all the troubles of this world.

Following the miracle of Daniel in the lion’s den, King Darius made a decree to tremble and fear before Daniel’s God. Whether he believed in God after seeing what the living God can do, it is not mentioned in this account. Instead, he refers to him as the God of Daniel. What is interesting is that he proclaims that he is the living God who endures forever and his kingdom shall never be destroyed. He also declares that he is the deliverer and that he gives signs and wonders in the heaven and the earth. He won’t be able to say these praises if the Holy Spirit wasn’t involved in it. He won’t be able to say these things if God didn’t use him to declare such attributes. God can use any unbeliever to declare his glory. In this case, Darius witnessed a miracle that only a living God can do.

REFLECTION

• What is the difference between knowing God and serving him?