The Beasts of Daniel…an overview.

The chapter in which these creatures appear is Daniel 7. But to understand the context, one must go back to Daniel 2 where a vision is given and an explanation of the meaning of a statue. It had a head of gold, chest of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. Then a rock from heaven comes down and destroys the whole thing.
This statue represented 4 empires to come, beginning from Daniels time, each one superceding the one before, and the final to continue right down to the second coming of Christ, which the rock represents.
The first kingdom was Babylon. The second, Media – persia, the third Greece, and the fourth, Rome. Rome would continue till our day except in a different form. The iron on it’s own was pagan Rome, the mixture of iron and clay is papal Rome. So Rome continues to exist, but as a church/state union.

What happens in chapter 7 is the same pattern of empires but with much greater detail. A lion representing Babylon, a bear representing Media-Persia, a Leaopard representing Greece, and a horrible indescribable beast representing Rome. Out of this last beast grows 10 horns, plus another which grew up among them, and displaces 3 of them.

Close, very very close…….part 2

This is a follow up to my previous article which was based around Matthew 24:6-10. I would suggest that if you haven’t read that yet, please do so, as it forms the foundation of what is to follow. For those who did read it, as a reminder I would like to provide a brief summary.

We are presently living in a time of intense war and strife. The past 100 years has seen this planet turned into one vast graveyard as a direct result of war, and compounding disasters in every land and continent. Matthew 24:6 and 7 are being played out before our very eyes. And not only nations are at war, but we also witness sectarian violence, terrorism, gang warfare in our local suburbs, and family violence in our homes. So poignant are the words of Jesus when He described the last days as being as the days of Noah, “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” Genesis 6:11.

Close, very, very close.

Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled:for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
There is a great escalation in verse 7 from the previous verse where war was simply rumour and hearsay. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the world was full of confidence and great expectation of a coming millennium of peace and safety brought about by very recent remarkable advances in scientific knowledge in industry and medicine. Christianity was held dear by the vast majority of those living in the world, before communism took over in Russia, before the Chinese shut out the missionaries from the west, before Japan turned away the church from their doors.

Balaam

I did a study recently on Balaam, taken from Numbers chapters 22-24.

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

There are 4 major players in this drama.
God
Israel
Balak, king of Moab,
Balaam.
……….with supporting roles from an angel, several sundry politicians and noblemen, and one talking donkey named Shoeshine.

God.…Sovereign. His purposes regarding Israel would be accomplished: no outside interference would be tolerated, interestingly though,as we read through toward the end of the drama, we see that it is….

Israel …..herself that interferes with the purposes of God, yet in the beginning, she is not even aware of the drama that is taking place in the hills around her. (Is this not so much like us? There is a warfare going on about us all the time, yet unseen. Evil angels and true faithful angels to God are constantly at work in our lives for good or evil. Unseen for the most part, yet their influence in our lives is ever present. And while we are faithful ourselves to God’s commandments and our wills are surrendered to His will, nothing can stand in our way. But the moment we turn away from the truth, and the path that God would have us to go. He leaves us to our own choices and only then does Satan find advantage over us.)

Balak….Understandably nervous. And so would you be if 3 million people set up camp in your neighborhood and used your letterbox as a boundary marker.