Daniel study

It’s been awhile since my last post, and I have been feeling really busy! I wanted to share something meaningful today, and I have something I’ve been chewing on, but it hasn’t been coming together too clearly in my head! But I’ll do the best I can...

I’ve been participating in a ladies’ Bible study again this fall. This particular study is by Beth Moore, and it’s called Daniel: Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy. It’s really an incredible study. (Just for the record, I don’t think I’ve done a Beth Moore study that wasn’t incredible!) (And also, just for the record, I think any study is probably a lot more incredible when you actually do your homework...which I've been doing faithfully this study for the first time in - ahem - a really long time.) Anyway, even before this study, I had really loved the book of Daniel, just because of the fulfilled prophecy aspect of it. But this study is bringing out a lot of totally new and amazing concepts for me.

For those who are not aware of what the book of Daniel is about, other than the lions’ den part (that was me about two years ago!), I want to explain something really interesting. Toward the beginning of the book of Daniel, there is a pagan king (Nebuchadnezzar) who has a dream about a statue made of different types of metal: head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay. There is a rock "not cut by human hands" that crashes into the statue at its feet. The statue falls, smashes into little bitty pieces, and is blown away in the wind. Then the rock grows into a huge mountain that covers the whole earth. The king is sick with worry over his dream and wants an interpretation.

Long story short, God reveals the dream and its meaning to Daniel, and Daniel tells it to the king. The different types of metal are the different gentile (non-Jewish) kingdoms from the time of King Nebuchadnezzar until the end of history, and the rock/mountain is the eternal kingdom of God. (Daniel 2:44, "...the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people...it will itself endure forever.") Looking back, scholars agree that the first four metals, from the head down, represent kingdoms or empires that have already passed: gold is the Babylonian empire (this was Nebuchadnezzar’s domain), silver is the Medo-Persian empire (which took over the Babylonians in the book of Daniel - remember the story of the handwriting on the wall? That’s the very night the Babylonian empire ended), bronze is the Grecian empire (think Alexander the Great), and iron is the Roman empire. That the feet are of a mix of iron and clay represents strength mixed with weakness, and that the people are not united... and you also can’t help but notice that the iron seems to continue from the legs to the feet, although it’s diluted with clay in the feet. It appears that we are in the "empire of the feet" right now. The Roman empire has passed, although many remnants of it still remain around the world...many systems of government (including ours in the U.S.) have been greatly influenced by the Roman way of doing things.

There are two really cool things that I like about this, and I can’t decide which I like best. One is that four of the kingdoms have already come and gone - so we are looking at fulfilled prophecy! I love it that for centuries upon centuries, no one even knew if Daniel was right. For all the proof that existed, he could have been telling an elaborate, fictional tale - but now, several thousand years later, we can see clearly that he was right on! God holds history in his hand. History and time itself were created by the Lord, and he has absolute control. (I remind myself of that sometimes when things don’t seem to be falling into my little timetable the way that I want them to!)

And the second really cool thing is that four of the kingdoms have already come and gone - so it seems we are near the end of time as we know it - that is, time before the return of Christ! Woo-hoo! Can you imagine how exciting it would be if we were the generation who got to witness the return of Jesus in all his glory and meet Him in the air? Believers for almost two thousand years have waited. But again, God’s timing is perfection. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

So that’s what I love so much about Daniel...and I was totally going somewhere else with this post, but I like that part so much that I got stuck! I think this is long enough for today (especially with no pictures of my kids) or I will probably lose you forever - to other, more interesting and photo-laden blogs! (Just kidding...I hope.)

So, I will share some more about the "new" stuff I’ve been learning in this study in another post.

And I also promise to post pictures of the boys soon, too!