Hello church family! Today finish up the book of Daniel which is yet another kinda weird prophecy about the end of times and what it would look like. Not necessarily the happiest of stuff to consider but kind of facisnating nonetheless I suppose. So let's jump in and see how this book ends! With all these popular stories of Daniel coming back into the picture what have you learned? What has challenged you? I'd love to chat!
Scripture to Read
Audio Bible
Questions to Consider
What does this teach me about God?
What was happening culturally that this was written in response to if you had to guess? Does that change the way that you read it?
What, if anything, feels applicable? What does it challenge me to do in response?
What was my favorite part of the book of Daniel?
- My Thoughts -
Today and yesterday are some of the stronger readings about prophecy of Jesus or at least this "anointed one" reading. Yesterday we had the "son of man descending from the clouds" (Daniel 7:13) and today we have this story about how the son of man will be killed and they will think that his mission was failure but the temple will be rebuilt. That sounds super Jesus to me, but there are also gaps in that as well. They specifically mention Greece as the power, not Rome, and in Revelation that do not speak about Rome at all as that's a past and gone issue by the time of writing. So as fun and tempting it is to read into the prophecies and believe they are about Jesus, we have to be careful about reading Jesus into the Old Testament too much. Not only because that can potentially dishonor our Jewish brothers and sisters who still long for that claimed messiah, but it also opens the door to allow us to read into the Bible in other sections. This is the worst possible way to say this but these type of Jesus prophecies are kind of like a "gateway drug" to Jesus prophecies. Relatively harmless at first, but permits the possibility of greater damage. Celebrate the glimpses of Jesus, but try to avoid putting all eggs into that one basket.
Overall, great book though!
Praying the Hymns
Our prayer for today is inspired by hymn 213 which is basically the same thing as yesterday's hymn but a little more traditional but is a Charles Wesley hymn so yay! I invite you to join your soul with God's as we worship this hymn in mind, body, and spirit. (Words aren't quite the same in the last one as listed below but in the video they are correct. (obviously))
1 Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates;
behold, the King of glory waits;
the King of kings is drawing near;
the Savior of the world is here!
2 Fling wide the portals of your heart;
make it a temple, set apart
from earthly use for heaven's employ,
adorned with prayer and love and joy.
3 Redeemer, come, with us abide;
our hearts to thee we open wide;
let us thy inner presence feel;
thy grace and love in us reveal.